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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Sexual Question, by August Forel
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Sexual Question
+       A Scientific, psychological, hygienic and sociological study
+
+Author: August Forel
+
+Translator: C. F. Marshall
+
+Release Date: September 4, 2009 [EBook #29903]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEXUAL QUESTION ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Jeannie Howse and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+    | Transcriber's Note:                                       |
+    |                                                           |
+    | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has     |
+    | been preserved.                                           |
+    |                                                           |
+    | In this e-text, bold is represented =like this=.          |
+    |                                                           |
+    | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For     |
+    | a complete list, please see the end of this document.     |
+    |                                                           |
+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE
+SEXUAL QUESTION
+
+A SCIENTIFIC, PSYCHOLOGICAL, HYGIENIC
+AND SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY
+
+BY
+AUGUST FOREL, M.D., PH.D., LL.D.
+Formerly Professor of Psychiatry at and Director of the
+Insane Asylum in Zurich (Switzerland)
+
+_ENGLISH ADAPTATION FROM THE SECOND GERMAN
+EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED_
+
+BY
+C.F. MARSHALL, M.D., F.R.C.S.
+Late Assistant Surgeon to the Hospital for
+Diseases of the Skin, London
+
+ILLUSTRATED
+
+_REVISED EDITION_
+
+[Illustration]
+
+BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
+PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS BOOK COMPANY
+HENRY AND PACIFIC STREETS
+1931
+
+
+
+
+Copyright, 1906
+Copyright, 1922
+
+OWNED BY
+PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS BOOK CO.
+
+
+
+
+PRINTED IN U.S.A.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
+
+
+This book is the fruit of long experience and reflection. It has two
+fundamental ideas--the study of nature, and the study of the
+psychology of man in health and in disease.
+
+To harmonize the aspirations of human nature and the data of the
+sociology of the different human races and the different epochs of
+history, with the results of natural science and the laws of mental
+and sexual evolution which these have revealed to us, is a task which
+has become more and more necessary at the present day. It is our duty
+to our descendants to contribute as far as is in our power to its
+accomplishment. In recognition of the immense progress of education
+which we owe to the sweat, the blood, and often to the martyrdom of
+our predecessors, it behoves us to prepare for our children a life
+more happy than ours.
+
+I am well aware of the disproportion which exists between the
+magnitude of my task and the imperfections of my work. I have not been
+able to study as much as should be done the innumerable works which
+treat of the same subject. Others, better versed than myself in the
+literature of the subject, will be able later on to fill this
+regrettable lacuna. I have endeavored, above all things, to study the
+question from all points of view, in order to avoid the errors which
+result from any study which is made from one point of view only. This
+is a thing which has generally been neglected.
+
+I must express my thanks to my friend, _Professor Mahaim_, and
+especially to my publisher and cousin, _S. Steinheil_, for the help
+and excellent advice which they have given me in the revision of my
+work; also to _Professor Boveri_, who has been kind enough to revise
+the figures, 1 to 17.
+
+                                                    DR. A. FOREL.
+
+Chigny prčs Morges (Suisse).
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
+
+
+The text of the first edition has been revised and corrected, but,
+apart from some points of detail, the subject matter has not been
+changed. The examples at the end of Chapter V (First Edition) no
+longer form a special appendix; they have been included in the parts
+of the book which specially concern them; some of them have been
+omitted as being superfluous.
+
+In the domain with which we are concerned the French public are too
+much afraid, I think, of crudities and of calling things by their
+proper name. By veiled words and by indirect locution one may say
+anything, but I have decided not to employ such subterfuges in
+treating of such a vital social question with the seriousness that it
+requires. It seems that there is a fear of young people hearing the
+sexual question spoken of freely and openly; but it is not taken into
+account that in hiding these things under half-understood words one
+only excites their curiosity, and, owing to their being blindfolded,
+they are delivered into the snares and surprises of debauchery.
+
+I cannot better illustrate the error that I have just pointed out than
+by quoting, among several others of the same kind, a letter which I
+have received from a young girl, aged 21 years, intelligent, virtuous,
+educated, and well brought up, but without restraint.
+
+Having read my book she put several questions to me to which I
+replied. On my part I requested her to tell me frankly:
+
+(1). If, in her opinion, I had been mistaken in my judgment of the
+sexual psychology of the normal young girl; (2). If my book had done
+her the least harm, moral or otherwise.
+
+I begged her to criticise me without pity, for I wished above all
+things to be clear on the effect produced by my book. This is her
+letter:
+
+    "I must thank you for the deep and unalterable impression which
+    your book has produced on me. I am a young girl of 21 years, and
+    you know how difficult it is for us to see clearly into those
+    natural things which so closely concern us. I cannot, therefore,
+    thank you too much for the calm enlightenment which has been
+    produced in me, and for the just and humane words which you
+    devote to the education of our sex. I hope one day to have the
+    good fortune to apply to my children the ideas on education with
+    which you have inspired me.
+
+    "You ask me for the impression which your book has made on me.
+    It is true that I am still very young, but I have read much. My
+    mother has brought me up very freely, so that I can count myself
+    among the young girls who are free from prejudice. In spite of
+    this, a sort of internal anxiety or false shame has hindered me
+    from speaking of all the things of which you treat. All that I
+    knew I had read in books or derived by instinct. Although I knew
+    very well that my mother would always answer my questions I
+    never asked any.
+
+    "I declare that latterly my mind had been in a state of
+    veritable chaos. I was obsessed and tormented by a fear of
+    everything of which I was ignorant and some day ought to learn.
+    This is why I was anxious to read your book which a friend
+    showed me. I will now express myself more clearly.
+
+    "The first chapters were difficult for me, not because I could
+    not understand them, but owing to the strange and novel
+    experience which the truth made in me when plainly and
+    scientifically expounded. Wishing to read everything I applied
+    myself to the book laboriously. My first impression was that of
+    disgust for all human beings and mistrust of everything. But I
+    was soon glad to find that I was a very normal young girl, so
+    that this impression soon passed away. I was no longer excited
+    over conversations which I heard, but took a real interest in
+    them, and I was happy to have become acquainted with some one
+    who understood us young girls.
+
+    "I am, therefore, a young girl whose sensations are neither cold
+    nor perverse, and I am always rejoiced, in reading your book, to
+    see with what truth you describe our sexual impressions. Those
+    who maintain that we feel in this way the same as men make me
+    smile. In your book ("Hygiene of Marriage," p. 479) you say that
+    the idea of marriage awakens in a normal young girl a kind of
+    anguish and disgust, and that this feeling disappears as soon as
+    she has found some one whom she loves. This is extremely true
+    and well observed. I am in complete agreement with a friend with
+    whom I have often discussed your book; we young girls are very
+    little attracted by the purely sexual side of marriage, and we
+    should prefer to see children come into the world by some other
+    way than that ordained by Nature. This will, perhaps, make you
+    laugh. However, I think you will understand my feelings.
+
+    "When I had finished reading your book I became absolutely
+    tranquil, and my ideas were enlightened. It goes without saying
+    that it is no longer possible for me to be ingenuous, but I
+    should like to know what one gains by such naivety. It is very
+    easy to be innocent when one knows nothing, and this is of no
+    account. I never thought for a moment to find your book immoral,
+    and that is why I do not think you have done me any harm. Excuse
+    me for having written at such length, but I could not abbreviate
+    when dealing with such a serious question."
+
+The author of this letter has, at my request, authorized me to publish
+it anonymously. I think that the candor, the loyalty and the maturity
+of judgment of the sentiments expressed by this young girl are of much
+more value and are much more healthy than all the prudishness and
+false shame of our conventional morality.
+
+                                                    DR. A. FOREL.
+
+Chigny prčs Morges (Suisse).
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+                                                                  PAGE
+The reproduction of living beings--History of the germ--
+Cell-division--Parthenogenesis--Conjugation--Mneme--Embryonic
+development--Difference of sexes--Castration--Hermaphrodism--
+Heredity--Blastophthoria                                             6
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+The evolution or descent of living beings                           39
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+Natural conditions of mechanism of human coitus--Pregnancy--
+Correlative sexual characters                                       49
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+The sexual appetite in man and woman--Flirtation                    72
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+Love and other irradiations of the sexual appetite in the
+human mind--Psychic irradiations of love in man: Procreative
+instinct, jealousy, sexual braggardism, pornographic spirit,
+sexual hypocrisy, prudery and modesty, old bachelors--Psychic
+irradiations of love in woman: Old maids, passiveness and
+desire, abandon and exaltation, desire for domination,
+petticoat government, desire of maternity and maternal love,
+routine and infatuation, jealousy, dissimulation, coquetry,
+prudery and modesty--Fetichism and anti-fetichism--
+Psychological relations of love to religion                        104
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+Ethnology and history of the sexual life of man and of
+marriage--Origin of marriage--Antiquity of matrimonial
+institutions--Criticism of the doctrine of promiscuity--
+Marriage and celibacy--Sexual advances and demands of
+marriage--Methods of attraction--Liberty of choice--Sexual
+selection--Law of resemblance--Hybrids--Prohibition of
+consanguineous marriages--Role of sentiment and calculation
+in sexual selection--Marriage by purchase--Decadence of
+marriage by purchase--Dowry--Nuptial ceremonies--Forms of
+marriage--Duration of marriage--History of extra-nuptial
+sexual intercourse                                                 144
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+Sexual evolution--Phylogeny and ontogeny of sexual life            192
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+Sexual pathology--Pathology of the sexual organs--Venereal
+disease--Sexual psychology--Reflex anomalies--Psychic
+impotence--Sexual paradoxy--Sexual anęsthesia--Sexual
+hyperęsthesia--Masturbation and onanism--Perversions
+of the sexual appetite: Sadism, masochism, fetichism,
+exhibitionism, homosexual love, sexual inversion, pederosis,
+sodomy--Sexual anomalies in the insane and psychopathic--
+Effects of alcohol on the sexual appetite--Sexual anomalies
+by suggestion and auto-suggestion--Sexual perversions due to
+habit                                                              208
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+The role of suggestion in sexual life--Amorous intoxication        277
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+The relations of the sexual question to money and property--
+Prostitution, proxenetism and venal concubinage                    293
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+The influence of environment on sexual life--Influence of
+climate--Town and country life--Vagabondage--Americanism--
+Saloons and alcohol--Riches and poverty--Rank and social
+position--Individual life--Boarding schools.                       326
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+Religion and sexual life                                           340
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+Rights in sexual life--Civil law--Penal law--A medico-legal
+case                                                               358
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+Medicine and sexual life--Prostitution--Sexual hygiene--
+Extra-nuptial intercourse--Medical advice--Means of
+regulating or preventing conception--Hygiene of marriage--
+Hygiene of pregnancy--Medical advice as to marriage--Medical
+secrecy--Artificial abortion--Treatment of sexual disorders        418
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+Sexual morality                                                    445
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+The sexual question in politics and in political economy           461
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+The sexual question in pedagogy                                    470
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+The sexual question in art                                         489
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+Conclusions--Utopian ideas on the ideal marriage of the
+future--Bibliographical remarks                                    499
+
+
+
+
+THE SEXUAL QUESTION
+
+
+
+
+THE SEXUAL QUESTION
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+My object is to study the sexual question under all its aspects:
+scientific, ethnological, pathological and social, and to seek the
+best solution of the numerous problems connected with it.
+Unfortunately, in publications dealing with this subject, eroticism
+usually plays a considerable part, and it is difficult for an author
+to abstract himself from this, for it is reflected unconsciously in
+his thoughts. As all sentiment, more or less, warps judgment, it is
+the duty of scientific criticism to eliminate eroticism in order to be
+exact and impartial. We shall, therefore, do all that is possible to
+free ourselves from it in the course of the present study.
+
+The sexual question is of fundamental importance for humanity, whose
+happiness and well-being depend largely on the best solution of this
+important problem. In dealing with such a delicate subject I shall
+endeavor to avoid narrow-mindedness and prejudice; I shall avoid
+tiresome quotations, and shall only employ technical terms when
+necessary, as they rather interfere with the comprehension of the
+subject. I shall take care to explain all those which appear to me
+indispensable.
+
+My opinions on the sexual question are based, on the one hand, on my
+scientific study of the human brain, and on the other hand on the long
+personal experience of an alienist who has devoted himself almost as
+much to normal mentality and questions of social hygiene as to
+pathological mentality. I have, however, been obliged to rely on the
+fundamental work of _Westermark_ with regard to ethnology, this
+subject being strange to me. Concerning sexual psycho-pathology I have
+followed the classification of _Krafft-Ebing_.
+
+The sexual question is extraordinarily complex, and we cannot expect
+to find a simple solution for it as we can for the questions of
+alcoholism, slavery, torture, etc. The latter are solved in one
+word--suppression. Suppression of slavery and torture; suppression of
+the usage of alcoholic drinks. We are concerned here with ulcers
+artificially produced and preserved in human society; ulcers which
+must be simply extirpated. Their suppression is nothing but
+beneficial, since, far from being connected with the normal conditions
+of human existence, they place it in peril. Sexual instinct and
+sentiment, on the contrary, have their roots in life itself; they are
+intimately bound up with humanity, and therefore require quite a
+different treatment. But human society has guided them into false and
+pernicious ways. It is important to turn them from these in order to
+tranquilize and regulate their course by damming them up and
+canalizing them.
+
+The fundamental axiom of the sexual question is as follows:
+
+_With man, as with all living beings, the constant object of all
+sexual function, and consequently of sexual love, is the reproduction
+of the species._ It is therefore necessary to treat the question from
+the point of view of the natural sciences, physiology, psychology and
+sociology. This has already been done more than once, but usually in
+erudite treatises which only look upon one side of the question; or,
+on the other hand, in a superficial and often frivolous manner.
+
+To ensure happiness, humanity should desire to reproduce itself in a
+manner which elevates progressively all the physical and mental
+faculties of man, with regard to health and bodily strength, as much
+as to sentiment, intelligence, will, creative imagination, love of
+work, joy of living, and the sentiment of social solidarity. Every
+attempt made to solve the sexual question should, therefore, be
+directed toward the future and toward the happiness of our
+descendants.
+
+It requires much disinterestedness to attempt seriously any sexual
+reform. But, as the human subject is by nature extremely weak, as his
+views are limited, especially in the matter which concerns us, it is
+absolutely necessary, if we would avoid Utopia, to adapt the
+fundamental aim of sexual union to happiness and joy, even to the
+natural weakness of man.
+
+The fundamental difficulty of the problem lies in the necessity for
+such an adaptation, and this difficulty requires us to make a clean
+sweep of prejudices, traditions and prudery. It is this which we wish
+to attempt.
+
+Considered from an exalted point of view, sexual life is beautiful as
+well as good. What there is in it which is shameful and infamous is
+the obscenity and ignominy caused by the coarse passions of egoism and
+folly, allied with ignorance, erotic curiosity and mystic
+superstition, often combined with social narcotic intoxication and
+cerebral anomalies.
+
+We shall divide our subject into nineteen chapters. Chapters I to VII
+deal with the natural history and psychology of sexual life; Chapter
+VIII with its pathology, and Chapters IX to XVIII with its social
+role, that is to say, its connection with the different domains of
+human social life.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE REPRODUCTION OF LIVING BEINGS
+
+_History of the Germ:--Cell-division--Parthenogenesis--
+    Conjugation--Mneme--Embryological Development--Difference of
+    the Sexes--Castration--Hermaphrodism--Heredity--Blastophthoria._
+
+
+A general law of organic life decrees that every living individual is
+gradually transformed in the course of a cycle which is called
+individual life, and which terminates with death, that is by the
+destruction of the greater part of the organism. It then becomes inert
+matter, and the germinative cells alone of all its parts continue its
+life under certain conditions.
+
+=The Cells: Protoplasm. The Nucleus.=--Since the time of
+_Schwann_ (1830) it is agreed that the cell is the most simple
+morphological element which is capable of living. Among the lower
+organisms this element constitutes the entire individual. There is no
+doubt that the cell is already a thing of high organization. It is
+formed of infinitely small elements of very different value and
+chemical constitution, which form what is called _protoplasm_ or the
+cell-substance. But these infinitely small elements are so far
+absolutely unknown. It is in them that must be sought the change from
+inanimate matter, that is the chemical molecule, to living matter, a
+change which was formerly believed to lie in the protoplasm itself,
+before its complicated structure was known. We need not concern
+ourselves here with this question which remains an open one.
+
+Life being established, the cell remains its only known constant
+element. The cell is composed of protoplasm which contains a rounded
+nucleus formed of _nucleo-plasma_. The nucleus is the most important
+part of the cell, and governs its life.
+
+=Cell-division.=--The lowest unicellular organisms, as each cell of a
+multicellular organism, reproduce themselves by division or
+_fission_. Each cell originates from another cell in the following
+manner: the cell divides in the center as well as its nucleus, and in
+this way forms two cells which grow by absorbing by _endosmosis_
+(filtration) the nutritive juices which surround them. Death or
+destruction of the cell is therefore death of the entire organism when
+this is unicellular. But it has been previously reproduced.
+
+We find here already the special and fundamental act of conjugation,
+that is the fusion of two cells into one, which serves to strengthen
+reproduction. This act, common to all living things including man,
+shows us that continuation of life is only possible when from time to
+time different elements, that is elements which have been exposed to
+different influences, combine together. If this conjugation is
+prevented and life is allowed to continue indefinitely by means of
+fission or by budding (_vide infra_), there results a progressive
+weakening and degeneration which leads to the disappearance of the
+whole group thus reproduced.
+
+It is necessary to explain here the results of recent scientific work
+on the intimate phenomena of cell-division, for they are closely
+allied to those of fecundation.
+
+The nucleus of an ordinary cell presents itself in the form of a
+nearly spherical vesicle. Delicate methods of staining have shown that
+the nucleus encloses several round nucleolar corpuscles, and also a
+reticulum which is attached to its membrane and spreads through its
+whole substance. The liquid part of the nucleus fills the meshes of
+this reticular tissue, which stains easily and for this reason is
+named _chromatin_. The phenomena of cell division in well-developed
+cells with nuclei is termed _mitosis_. Certain lower forms of cells
+exist in which the nucleus is not well differentiated. Mitosis begins
+in the nucleus (Plate I). Figure 1 represents the cell before division
+has commenced. In the protoplasm, by the side of the nucleus, is
+formed a small corpuscle (_c_) which is called the _centrosome_. The
+nucleus itself is marked _b_. When the cell commences to divide, the
+meshes of the network of chromatin contract and the centrosome divides
+into two parts (Fig. 2). Shortly afterward the particles of chromatin
+concentrate in the form of convoluted rods called _chromosomes_
+(Figs. 3 and 4). The number of these varies according to the species
+of organism, but remains constant for each animal or vegetable
+species. At the same time the two centrosomes separate from each other
+on each side of the nucleus. The chromosomes then become shorter and
+thicker while the nucleus is completely dissolved in the protoplasm of
+the cell, and its membrane disappears (Fig. 4).
+
+Directly afterwards the chromosomes arrange themselves regularly in
+line, like soldiers at drill, following one of the larger diameters of
+the cell, and forming a barrier between the two centrosomes (Fig. 5).
+Each of the chromosomes then divides into two parallel halves of equal
+thickness (Fig. 6).
+
+Figures 3 and 4 show that, while these changes are being produced,
+each of the two centrosomes is surrounded by stellate rays. Some of
+these rays extending in the direction of the chromosomes, become
+attached to one of their extremities and draw it toward the
+corresponding centrosome (Fig. 7). Thus around each centrosome are
+grouped as many chromosomes as the mother cell possessed itself (Fig.
+8). Simultaneously, the cell enlarges and its protoplasm commences to
+become indented at each end of the diameter previously formed by the
+chromosomes. From this moment the nuclear liquid concentrates itself
+around each of the groups of chromosomes, the rays disappear and the
+cell divides into two halves, each containing a group of chromosomes
+(Fig. 9); the indentation increases so as to form a partition across
+the protoplasm. The chromosomes then form a new meshwork of nuclear
+chromatin, and we have then two cells each with a nucleus and a
+centrosome like the mother cell (Fig. 10).
+
+This is what takes place in the reproduction of all cells of the
+animal and vegetable kingdoms. In the simplest unicellular organisms
+which are known fission constitutes the only means of reproduction. In
+the complicated organisms of the higher plants and animals each cell
+divides in the manner indicated above, both in the embryonic period
+and later on during the development of each of the organs which forms
+the organism. This fact shows more than any other the intimate
+relationship which connects all living organisms. The most remarkable
+thing, perhaps, is the almost mathematical division of the
+chromosomes into two halves, a division which results in the equal
+distribution of their substance through the whole organism. We shall
+return to this point later on.
+
+=Reproduction by Budding. Parthenogenesis.= In the animal and
+vegetable kingdoms the higher organisms become more and more
+complicated. They are no longer composed of a single cell, but of an
+increasing number of these cells combined in a whole, of which each
+part, adapted for a special purpose, is itself formed of cells,
+differentiated as much by their organic form as by their chemical and
+physical constitution. In this way, in plants, are formed the leaves,
+flowers, buds, branches, trunk, bark, etc.; and in animals the skin,
+intestine, glands, blood, muscles, nerves, brain, sense organs, etc.
+In spite of the great complication of the divers living multicellular
+organisms, one often finds among them the power of reproduction by
+fission or by budding. In certain animals and plants, groups of cells
+vegetate in buds which separate from the body later on and form a new
+individual; this occurs among the polypi and plants with bulbs, etc.
+One can even form a tree by means of a cutting. Ants and bees, which
+have not been fecundated, are capable of laying eggs which develop by
+_parthenogenesis_ (virgin parturition) and become complete
+individuals. But these degenerate and disappear if reproduction by
+parthenogenesis or budding is continued during several generations.
+
+Among the higher animals, the vertebrates and man, there is no
+reproduction without conjugation; no parthenogenesis or budding. So
+far as we have studied the question we see in the animal and vegetable
+kingdoms sexual reproduction, or conjugation, as a _sine qua non_ for
+the indefinite continuation of life.
+
+=The Sexual Glands. The Embryo.= However complicated the organism, it
+always possesses a special organ, the cells of which, all of the same
+form, are reserved for the reproduction of the species and especially
+for conjugation. The cells of these organs, called _sexual glands_,
+have the power of reproducing themselves so that they reconstruct the
+whole individual (the type of the species) from which they arose, in
+an almost identical form, by conjugation (sometimes also, for a
+certain time, by parthenogenesis) under certain fixed conditions as
+soon as they leave its body. We can thus say with _Weismann_, speaking
+philosophically, that these germinal cells continue the life of their
+parents, so that in reality death only destroys part of the
+individual, namely, that which has been specially adapted for certain
+exclusively individual ends. Each individual, therefore, continues to
+live in his descendants.
+
+The germinal cell divides into a number of cells called embryonic,
+which become differentiated into layers or groups which later on form
+the different organs of the body. The embryonic period is the name
+given to the period between the exit of the germinal cell from the
+maternal body and the final complete development which it acquires in
+becoming the adult individual. During this period the organism
+undergoes the most singular metamorphoses. In certain cases it forms a
+free embryo which appears to be complete, having a special form and
+mode of life, but which finally becomes transformed into an entirely
+different sexual individual. Thus from the egg of a butterfly there
+first emerges a caterpillar, which lives and grows for some time, then
+changes to a chrysalis and finally to a butterfly. The caterpillar and
+the chrysalis belong to the embryonic period. During this period every
+animal reproduces in an abbreviated manner certain forms which
+resemble more or less those through which its ancestors have passed.
+The caterpillar, for example, resembles the worm which is the ancestor
+of the insects. _Haeckel_ calls this the _fundamental biogenetic law_.
+We are not concerned here with embryology, and will content ourselves
+with some of the main points.
+
+=Germinal Cells. Hermaphrodites.= We now come to _conjugation_. In
+order to avoid complications we will leave aside plants and speak only
+of animals. Among multicellular animals, sometimes in the same
+individual, sometimes in different individuals, occur two kinds of
+sexual glands, each containing one kind of cells--the male cells and
+the female cells. When both kinds of sexual glands occur in the same
+individual, the animal is said to be _hermaphrodite_. When they
+develop in two different individuals the animals are of distinct
+sexes. Snails, for example, are hermaphrodite. There also exist lower
+multicellular animals which reproduce by budding, but among which
+conjugation takes place from time to time. We shall not consider these
+animals any further, as they are too remote to interest us here.
+
+=Spermatozoa and Ova.=--In all the higher animals, including the
+hermaphrodites, the male germinal cells, or _spermatozoa_ are
+characterized by their mobility. Their protoplasm is contractile and
+their form varies according to the species. In man and vertebrate
+animals they resemble infinitely small tadpoles, and their tails are
+equally mobile. The female germinative cell, on the contrary, is
+immobile and much larger than the male cell. Conjugation consists in
+the movement of the male cell, by means of variable mechanism, toward
+the female cell, or egg, into the protoplasm of which it enters. At
+this moment it produces on the surface of the egg a coagulation, which
+prevents the entrance of a second spermatozoid.
+
+The egg and the spermatozoid both consist of protoplasm containing a
+nucleus. But, while the spermatozoid has only a small nucleus and very
+little protoplasm, the egg has a large nucleus and a large quantity of
+protoplasm. In certain species the protoplasm of the egg grows in the
+maternal organism in a regular manner to form the _vitellus_ (yolk of
+egg) which serves as nourishment for the embryo for a long period of
+its existence. This occurs in birds and reptiles.
+
+=Conjugation.=--The phenomena of conjugation were made clear by _van
+Beneden_ and _Hertwig_. These phenomena, as we have seen, commence
+among unicellular organisms. In these they do not constitute
+reproduction, but the vital reėnforcement of certain individuals.
+Conjugation takes place in a different manner in different cases.
+
+For example, a unicellular animal applies itself against one of its
+fellows. The nucleus of each cell divides into two. Then the
+protoplasm of the two cells fuses over the whole surface of contact,
+and half the nucleus of the first cell penetrates the second cell,
+while half the nucleus of the latter enters the first cell. After this
+exchange the cells separate from each other and each exchanged half of
+the nucleus fuses with the primitive half of the nucleus remaining in
+the cell.
+
+From this moment each cell continues to reproduce itself by fission,
+as we have seen above. In another form, two cells meet and fuse
+completely. Their nuclei become applied against each other and each
+exchanges half its substance with the other as in the preceding case,
+so that the final result is the same. In both cases the two conjugated
+cells are identical, and one cannot call them male and female.
+
+=Penetration of the Spermatozoid into the Egg.=--In all the higher
+animals in which the germinal cells are of two kinds, male and female,
+conjugation takes place in rather a different manner. Here, the female
+cell or egg only reproduces itself exceptionally by parthenogenesis.
+It usually contains no chromosomes and often too little chromatin, so
+that it perishes when conjugation does not occur.
+
+The spermatozoid swims by means of its tail to meet the egg. As soon
+as it touches it it penetrates it and the coagulation which we have
+mentioned is produced. This coagulation forms the _vitelline
+membrane_, which prevents the entry of other spermatozoids. If, from
+pathological causes the entry of several spermatozoids takes place,
+there results, according to _Fol_, a double or triple monster.
+
+In Fig. 11 on Plate II, we see the egg with its vitelline membrane and
+nucleus, the chromatin network of which is marked in blue: _b_ shows
+the protoplasm of the egg or _vitellus_; _a_ the vitelline membrane;
+_d_ the spermatozoid which has just entered, and the nucleus of which,
+composed chiefly of chromatin, is colored red, while its tail has
+performed its task and is about to disappear. The letters _e_, _f_,
+and _g_, show a spermatozoid which has arrived too late.
+
+Before the head of the spermatozoid which has entered, appears a
+centrosome (Fig. 12) which it brings to the egg with its small amount
+of protoplasm, and around this centrosome rays form, as in the case of
+cellular fission. At the same time a nuclear liquid arising from the
+protoplasm of the egg becomes concentrated around the chromatin of the
+spermatozoid, while the nucleus of the egg remains in place and does
+not change. The nucleus of the spermatozoid, on the contrary, begins
+to grow rapidly. It forms half the number of chromosomes
+corresponding to the cell of the species to which it belongs, and
+grows at the expense of the vitellus of the egg. During this time the
+centrosome divides into two halves, which progress slowly on each side
+toward the periphery of the egg, as in the case of fission (see Plate
+I), while the chromatin of the chromosomes of the spermatozoid is
+dissolved in the network. The nucleus thus formed by the spermatozoid
+enlarges more and more (Figs. 13 and 14) till it attains the size and
+shape of that of the egg (Fig. 15). The male and female chromatin are
+colored red and blue respectively.
+
+Then only commences activity of the nucleus of the egg, at the same
+time as fresh activity on the part of the nucleus of the spermatozoid.
+Before this, however, the nucleus of the egg has thrown off a part of
+its chromatin called a _polar_ body, and it now possesses only half as
+much chromatin as the other cells of the body of the individual. The
+nucleus of the egg and that of the spermatozoid then begin at the same
+time to concentrate their chromatin in the form of chromosomes (Fig.
+16) which arrange themselves regularly in the middle line exactly as
+shown in Plate I, and divide longitudinally into two halves which are
+then attracted in opposite directions by the rays of each of the
+centrosomes (Fig. 17). Figure 17, of Plate II, thus corresponds
+exactly to Fig. 6, of Plate I.
+
+In fact, the growth of the nucleus of the spermatozoid has given to
+its substance the same power of development as to that of the nucleus
+of the egg. Both enter into conjugation in equal parts, which
+symbolizes the social equality and the rights of the two sexes!
+
+The signification of these facts is as follows: as soon as, in the
+course of development, the conjugated nuclei divide again into two
+cells, as in Figs. 7 to 10, of Plate I, each of these two cells
+contains almost the same quantity of paternal as maternal chromatin.
+We do not say exactly as much, for the paternal and maternal
+influences are not divided equally in the descendants. This phenomenon
+may be explained by what _Semon_ calls alternating ecphoria in mnemic
+dichotomy. (_Vide infra._) As cell division continues in the same way
+during embryonic life, it follows that each cell, or at least each
+nucleus of the future organism, will contain on the average half its
+substance and energy from the paternal and half from the maternal
+side.
+
+=Heredity. The Mneme.=--The secret of heredity lies in the phenomena
+which have been just described. Hereditary influence preserves all its
+primary power and original qualities in the chromosomes, which enlarge
+and divide, while the vitelline substance, absorbed by the chromosomes
+and transformed by the vital chemical processes into the specific
+substance of the chromosomes, loses its specific and plastic vital
+energy, as completely as the food which we swallow loses its energy in
+forming the structure of our living organs. We do not acquire any of
+the characters of the ox by eating beefsteaks; and the spermatozoid,
+after eating much vitelline protoplasm, preserves its own hereditary
+energies, increased and fortified, but without change in their
+qualities.
+
+In this way the nuclear chromatin of our germinal cells becomes the
+carrier of all the hereditary qualities of the species (hereditary
+mneme), and more especially those of our direct ancestors. The
+uniformity of the intracellular phenomena in cell division and
+conjugation proves, however, that, without being capable of
+reproducing the individual, the other non-germinal cells of the body
+may also possess these hereditary energies, and that there exists,
+hidden behind all these facts, an unknown law of life, the explanation
+of which is reserved for the future.
+
+However, a recent work based on an idea of the physiologist, _E.
+Hering_, which looks upon instinct as a kind of memory of the species,
+opens up a new horizon. I refer to the book of _Richard Semon_: "The
+_mneme_ considered as the conservative principle in the transmutations
+of organic life." (_Die Mneme als erhaltendes Prinzip im Wechsel des
+organischen Geschehens_, Leipzig, 1904.)
+
+_Conception of Irritation._[1]--By the aid of the fundamental facts of
+morphological science, biological and psychological, _Semon_ proves
+that _Hering's_ idea is more than an analogy, and that there is a
+fundamental identity in the mechanism of organic life. In order to
+avoid the terminology of psychology which tends to be equivocal,
+_Semon_ employs some new terms to designate his new ideas, based on
+the fundamental conception of _irritation_ in its physiological sense.
+
+_Semon_ defines _irritation_ as an energetic action on the organism
+which determines a series of complicated changes in the irritable
+substance of the living organism. The condition of the organism thus
+modified, which lasts as long as the irritation, is called by _Semon_
+the _state of irritation_. Before the action of irritation, the
+organism is in a condition which _Semon_ calls the _primary state of
+indifference_, and after its action, in the _secondary state of
+indifference_.
+
+_Engram. Ecphoria._--If, when an irritation has entirely ceased, the
+irritable substance of the living organism becomes modified
+permanently during its secondary state of indifference, _Semon_ calls
+the action _engraphic_. To the modification itself he gives the word
+_engram_. The sum of the hereditary and individual engrams thus
+produced in a living organism is designated by the term _mneme_.
+_Semon_ gives the name _ecphoria_ to the revival of the engram by the
+repetition of part only of the original irritation, or by the entire
+but weakened reproduction of the whole state of irritation of the
+organism, which was originally produced in a synchronous manner with
+the primary irritation.
+
+Thus, an engram may be ecphoriated (that is to say, reproduced or
+revived) by the return of one part of the complex of primary
+irritations which produced it. A young dog, for example, is attacked
+by urchins who throw stones at it. It experiences two kinds of
+irritation: (1) the urchins stooping down and throwing stones (optic
+irritation); (2) the pain caused by the stones (tactile irritation).
+
+In its brain are produced two associated series of corresponding
+engrams. Previously, this dog did not react when it saw people stoop
+down. From this moment it will run away and howl at the sight, without
+any stone being thrown at it. Thus the tactile engram will be
+ecphoriated by the repetition of the original associated irritation.
+In the same way, the image of a tree in a known landscape will
+ecphoriate the entire landscape.
+
+Moreover, an engram may be revived by the enfeebled return of the
+primary irritating agent which produced it, or by an analogous
+enfeebled irritation. Thus, the sight of a photograph will revive the
+image of a known person. A certain kind of maize imported for a long
+time into Norway and influenced in that country during many
+generations by the sun of the long summer days, finally accelerated
+its time of maturation. When imported again to the south of Europe it
+first preserved its faculty of accelerated maturation in spite of the
+shortness of the days (_Schübeler_). _Semon_ gives a series of
+analogous examples which show how engrams repeated during several
+generations accumulate and end by becoming ecphoriated when they have
+acquired enough power.
+
+Engrams may be associated simultaneously in space, such as those of
+sight. But they may also be associated in succession, such as those of
+hearing and of ontogeny. Simultaneous engrams are associated in every
+direction with the same intensity. Successive engrams, on the
+contrary, are associated more strongly forwards than backwards, and
+have only two poles. In the succession _a b_, _a_ acts more strongly
+on _b_ than _b_ on _a_. In the successions of engrams it often happens
+that two or more analogous engrams are associated in a manner more or
+less equivalent to a preceding engram. _Semon_ calls this phenomenon
+dichotomy, trichotomy, etc. But in the successions, two engrams cannot
+be ecphoriated simultaneously. Hence the phenomenon which _Semon_
+names _alternating ecphoria_; that is sometimes one, sometimes the
+other of the constituent engrams, for example, of a dichotomy, which
+arrives at ecphoria. Similarly, the engram of the ecphoriated
+dichotomy is most often that which has been previously most often
+repeated.
+
+In the laws of ontogeny and heredity alternating ecphoria plays an
+important part. The branch less often repeated remains latent and the
+other only is ecphoriated. But certain combinations which reėnforce
+the latent branch or paralyze the other may induce ecphoria of the
+first to the second generation.
+
+_Semon_ also shows that the phenomena of regeneration in the embryo,
+as well as those of the adult, obey the law of the mneme.
+
+_Homophony._--The terms engram and ecphoria correspond to the
+well-known introspective phenomena in psychology of memory and the
+association of ideas. Engrams are thus ecphoriated. At the time of
+such phenomena every mnemic irritation of the engrams vibrates
+simultaneously with the state of synchronous irritation produced by a
+new irritation. This simultaneous irritation is named by _Semon_
+_homophony_. When a partial discord is produced between the new
+irritation and the mnemic irritation, the organism always tends to
+reėstablish homophony (harmony). This is seen in psychological
+introspection by activity of attention; in embryology by the
+phenomenon of regeneration; and in phylogeny by that of adaptation.
+
+Relying on these convincing facts, _Semon_ shows that irritative
+actions are only localized at first in their zone of entry (primary
+zone); but that afterward they irradiate or vibrate, gradually
+becoming weaker in the whole organism (not only in the nervous system,
+for they also act on plants). By this means, engraphia, although
+infinitely enfeebled, may finally reach the germinal cells. _Semon_
+then shows how the most feeble engraphias may gradually arrive at
+ecphoria, as the result of numerous repetitions (in phylogeny after
+innumerable generations). This is how the mnemic principle allows us
+to conceive the possibility of an infinitely slow heredity of
+characters acquired by individuals, a heredity resulting from
+prolonged repetition.
+
+The facts invoked by _Weismann_ against the heredity of acquired
+characters lose nothing of their weight by this, for the influence of
+crossing (conjugation) and selection transforms the material organic
+forms in an infinitely more rapid and intense manner than individual
+mnemic engraphias. The latter, on the other hand, furnish the
+explanation of the mutations of _de Vries_, which appear to be only
+sudden ecphoria of accumulated long engraphic actions.
+
+The way in which _Semon_ studies and discusses the laws of the mneme
+in morphology, physiology and psychology, is truly magisterial, and
+the perspective which opens out from these new ideas is extensive. The
+mneme, with the aid of the energetic action of the external world,
+acts on organisms by preserving them and combining them by engraphia,
+while selection eliminates all that is ill-adapted, and homophony
+reėstablishes the equilibrium. The irritations of the external world,
+therefore, furnish the material for the construction of organisms. I
+confess to having been converted by _Semon_ to this way of conceiving
+the heredity of acquired characters. Instead of several nebulous
+hypotheses, we have only one--the nature of mnemic engraphia. It is
+for the future to discover its origin in physical and chemical laws.
+
+I must refer my readers to _Semon's_ book, for this volume of 343
+pages, filled with facts and proofs, cannot be condensed into a few
+paragraphs.
+
+
+=Each Cell bears in itself Ancestral Energy.= As we have already seen,
+the germinal, cells are not the only ones which possess the energies
+of all the characters of the species. On the contrary it becomes more
+and more certain, from further investigation, that each cell of the
+body bears in itself, so to speak, all the energies of the species, as
+is distinctly seen in plants. But in all the cells which are not
+capable of germinating, these energies remain incapable of
+development. It results that such energies, remaining virtual, have no
+practical importance.
+
+In an analogous sense we may say that all the cells of the body are
+hermaphrodite, as all germinal cells, for each possesses in itself the
+undifferentiated energies of each sex. Each spermatozoid contains all
+the energies of the paternal and maternal ancestry of man, and each
+egg those of the paternal and maternal ancestry of woman. The male and
+the female are only the bearers of each kind of germinal cells
+necessary for conjugation, and each of these bearers only differs from
+the others by its sexual cells and by what is called correlative
+sexual differences. But we must not forget that the germinal cells
+themselves are only differentiated at a certain period in the
+development of the embryo; they are thus hermaphrodite originally and
+only become male and female later.
+
+New experiments made on the eggs of sea urchins and other organisms
+have shown that conjugation may be replaced by an external irritating
+agent; for example, the action of certain chemical substances is
+sufficient to make eggs develop by parthenogenesis which would have
+died without this action. An entire being has been successfully
+produced from an egg divided into two by means of a hair. And even
+from the protoplasm of the egg without its nucleus, with the aid of a
+spermatozoid. We must not, however, base premature hypotheses on these
+facts.
+
+When a female cell, or egg, develops without fecundation
+(parthenogenesis) its nucleus enlarges and divides in the same manner
+as conjugated nuclei (mitosis).
+
+A point of general interest is what is called the _specific
+polyembryony_ of certain parasitic insects (hymenoptera of the genus
+_Encyrtus_). According to _Marchal_, their eggs grow and divide into a
+considerable number of secondary eggs, each of which gives rise to an
+embryo and later on a perfect insect. By shaking the eggs of certain
+marine animals they have been caused to divide into several eggs
+and thus to produce several embryos. All the individuals arising from
+the division of the same egg of _Encyrtus_ are of the same sex.
+
+   [Illustration: PLATE I
+
+   CELL DIVISION
+
+   FIG. 1. Cell before division.
+   FIG. 2. Division of centrosome.
+   FIG. 3. Formation of chromosomes.
+   FIG. 4. Dissolution of nucleus.
+   FIG. 5. Lining up of chromosomes.
+   FIG. 6. Division of chromosomes.
+   FIG. 7. Division of chromosomes.
+   FIG. 8. Attraction of chromosomes by centrosomes.
+   FIG. 9. Concentration of nuclei. Division of cell.
+   FIG. 10. Formation of new chromatin.]
+
+   [Illustration: PLATE II
+
+   FERTILIZATION OF THE OVUM BY THE SPERMATOZOID
+
+   DIAGRAM OF OVUM AND SPERMATOZOID
+
+   FIG. 11. _a_, Vitelline membrane; _b_, protoplasm, or vitellus;
+   _c_, nucleus with chromatin; _d_, spermatozoid penetrating egg;
+   _e_, another spermatozoid arrested by the vitelline membrane.
+   FIG. 12. Formation of centrosome.
+   FIG. 13. Formation of male nucleus by spermatozoid. Division of
+   centrosome.
+   FIG. 14. Development of nucleus of spermatozoid.
+   FIG. 15. Nucleus of spermatozoid attains same size as that of
+   ovum.
+   FIG. 16. Formation of male and female chromosomes.
+   FIG. 17. Lining up of male and female chromosomes.]
+
+=Embryology.=--It is not necessary to describe here in detail the
+different changes which the two conjugated cells pass through to
+become an adult man. This is the object of the science of embryology.
+We shall return to this in Chapter III. A few words are necessary,
+however, to explain the general principles.
+
+=Ovulation. The corpus luteum.=--The ovaries of woman (Fig. 18)
+contain a considerable number of cells or ovules, although infinitely
+less than the number of spermatozoids contained in the testicles. From
+time to time some of these ovules enlarge and are surrounded by a
+vesicle with liquid contents, which is called the Graafian follicle.
+At the time of the monthly periods an egg (sometimes two) is
+discharged from its Graafian follicle, from one or other ovary. This
+phenomenon is called _ovulation_. The empty follicle becomes
+cicatrized in the ovary and is called the _corpus luteum_ (yellow
+body).
+
+The egg after its discharge arrives at the abdominal orifice of the
+Fallopian tube, which communicates directly with the abdominal cavity.
+Some authors state that the end of the tube becomes applied against
+the ovary by the aid of muscular movement and, so to speak, sucks in
+the discharged ovule, while others hold that the movements of the
+vibratile cilia, with which the epithelium of the tubes is furnished,
+suffice to draw the ovule into its cavity. Figure 18 explains this
+phenomenon.
+
+Having arrived in the tube, the ovule moves very slowly in the almost
+capillary tube by means of the vibratile cilia and arrives in the
+cavity of the womb. Fecundation probably takes place most often at the
+entrance to the tube or in its canal; sometimes possibly in the womb.
+On some occasions a squad of spermatozoids advances to meet the
+descending egg, and numerous spermatozoids are often found in the
+tubes, even as far as the abdominal cavity.
+
+=Fixation of the egg. Formation of the Decidua.=--After fecundation,
+the egg becomes attached to the mucous membrane of the cavity of the
+womb. This mucous membrane proliferates and becomes gradually detached
+from the womb to form the _membrana decidua_ which envelops the egg
+or ovule. An egg fecundated and fixed in this way may keep its
+position and grow during the first weeks of pregnancy, by the aid of
+villosities covering its envelope which penetrate the wall of the
+womb.
+
+   [Illustration: FIG. 18. Diagrammatic section in median plane of
+   the female genital organs. It shows the position of an ovule
+   which has just been discharged lying in the opening of the right
+   tube, and that of another ovary fecundated and surrounded by the
+   decidual membrane. In reality this could hardly coexist with the
+   other ovule freely discharged. In the right ovary are seen ovules
+   in various degrees of maturity in their Graafian follicles: also
+   a corpus luteum--an empty Graafian follicle after expulsion of
+   the ovule. The figure also shows the end of the penis in the
+   vagina at the moment of ejaculation of semen, and the position of
+   a preventive to avoid fecundation.]
+
+   [Illustration: FIG. 19. The mouth of the tube applied to the
+   ovary at the moment of expulsion of the ovule.]
+
+=The womb. The placenta.= The womb or uterus is the size of a small
+egg flattened in one direction. It terminates below in the neck or
+_cervix_, which is prolonged into the vagina as a projection, called
+the vaginal portion of the uterus. The cavity of the womb is continued
+into the neck and opens below in the vagina by an aperture which is
+round in virgins and is called the external _os uteri_. The walls of
+the womb consist of a thick layer of unstriped muscle. When childbirth
+takes place it causes tearing which makes the external os uteri
+irregular and fissured. During copulation the aperture of the penis or
+male organ is placed nearly opposite the os uteri, which facilitates
+the entrance of spermatozoa into the uterus. (For the illustration of
+these points see Fig. 18.)
+
+The vitellus and the membrane of the egg enlarge with the embryo and
+absorb by endosmosis the nutritive matter necessary for the latter,
+contained in the maternal blood. The womb itself enlarges at the same
+time as the embryo.
+
+   [Illustration: FIG. 20. Human egg of the second week: magnified
+   eight times. (After _Kölliker_.)
+      _Chor._ Chorion or envelope of the egg.
+      _Vill._ Villi of the chorion.
+      _Emb._  Embryo (near the head are seen the branchial arches).
+      _Umb._  Umbilical vesicle.
+      _Am._   Amnion.]
+
+The fasciculus attached to the embryo is the allantois which becomes
+the umbilical cord. The vertebrę are already easy to recognize in this
+embryo. The embryo is formed from a portion of blastoderm, that is to
+say, from the cellular layer applied to the membranes of the egg and
+arising from the successive divisions of the two primary conjugated
+cells and their daughter cells. The embryo has the form of a spatula
+with the head at one end and the tail at the other. From its walls is
+detached a surrounding vesicle (Fig. 20) called the _amnion_, while
+another vesicle, the _umbilical vesicle_, grows from its ventral
+surface and serves, in birds, for the vitelline circulation of the egg
+which is detached from the mother's body.
+
+In man, the umbilical vesicle is unimportant. In its place the
+circulation of the blood takes place by the aid of another vesicle,
+called the _allantois_, which arises from the intestine of the embryo,
+and which becomes attached to the walls of the womb in the form of a
+thick disk called the placenta.
+
+   [Illustration: FIG. 21. Embryo of four weeks (After _Kölliker_).
+      1. Auditory vesicle.
+      2. Ocular vesicle.
+      3. Olfactory fossa.
+      4. Bud forming upper maxilla.
+      5. Bud of lower maxilla.
+      6. Right ear.
+      7. Liver.
+      8. Upper limb.
+      9. Lower limb.
+      10. Caudal extremity.]
+
+The placenta is formed of dilated blood vessels which meet the
+maternal blood vessels, also dilated, in the uterine wall, allantois
+later on becomes the umbilical cord.
+
+In the placenta the embryonic and maternal vessels without actually
+communicating, are placed in intimate contact, which allows nutritive
+matter and oxygen to pass by endosmosis from the maternal vessels to
+those of the embryo. Figure 21 shows a human embryo at the beginning
+of the fifth week of pregnancy.
+
+   [Illustration: FIG. 22. Sagittal section of a primipara in the
+   last month of pregnancy.]
+
+=Duration of pregnancy. Birth.= Pregnancy lasts from conjugation,
+which is synonymous with conception, till birth, that is about nine
+months (ten lunar months of four weeks). The embryo is then ready to
+separate from the maternal body (Fig. 22). By the act of birth it is
+expelled violently, bringing with it the umbilical cord and the
+placenta (Fig. 23). Immediately afterward the empty womb contracts
+strongly and gradually recovers its former size. The sudden
+interruption of its communications with the maternal circulation
+deprives the embryo, which has suddenly become a child, of its
+nutritive matter and oxygen.
+
+   [Illustration: FIG. 23. Sagittal section of frozen body of a
+   woman in labor: the head of the child is engaged in the neck of
+   the womb; the orifice of the neck of the womb (_os uteri_) is
+   already fully dilated and the bag of waters commences to project
+   from the vulva: it is formed by the former membranes of the egg
+   and the decidua.]
+
+In order to avoid suffocation it is obliged to breathe atmospheric air
+immediately, for its blood becomes dark by saturation with carbonic
+acid, which irritates the respiratory nerve centers. The first
+independent act of the new-born child is, therefore, a nervous reflex
+determined by asphyxia, and is performed with the first cry. Soon
+afterward the infant begins to suck, so as not to die of hunger, while
+the umbilical cord, having become useless, shrivels up, and the
+placenta is destroyed (some animals eat it). The new-born infant is
+only distinguished from the embryo soon after birth by its breathing
+and crying.
+
+We may, therefore, say that infancy, especially early infancy, is only
+a continuation of embryonic life. The transformations which the infant
+undergoes from birth to adult age are known to all. They take place
+more and more slowly, except at the relatively short period of
+puberty.
+
+=Formation of the sexual glands.=--We must remember that at a very
+early embryonic period certain groups of cells are reserved to form
+later on the sexual glands. These cells are at first neither male nor
+female, but are undifferentiated; later on they become differentiated
+to form in certain individuals, called males, the testicles with their
+spermatozoa, and in others, called females, the ovaries with their
+eggs. On this differentiation depends the sex of the individual, and,
+according as it takes place in one way or the other, all the rest of
+the body develops with the correlative sexual characters of the
+corresponding sex (at first the external genital organs peculiar to
+each sex, then the beard in man, the breasts in woman, etc).
+
+=Castration. Correlative sexual characters.=--Castration is the term
+applied to the extirpation of the sexual glands. When it takes place
+in infancy it causes a considerable change in the whole subsequent
+development of the body, especially in man, but also in woman. Man
+becomes more slender, preserves a high and infantile voice, and his
+sexual correlative characters develop incompletely or not at all.
+_Eunuchs_ are men castrated, usually in infancy. To ensure more safety
+in their harems the Orientals not only remove the testicles but also
+the penis. Bullocks and horses are bulls and stallions castrated at an
+early age, and can be distinguished at first sight from normal males.
+Females who have undergone castration become fat and sometimes take on
+certain masculine characters. Male human eunuchs have a high-pitched
+voice, a narrow chest; they remain beardless or nearly so, and have an
+effeminate character, often intriguing. In both sexes there is a
+tendency to neurosis and degeneration. It is a mistake to qualify the
+peculiarities of the male eunuch in the terms of female peculiarities;
+there is only a relative tendency. The eunuch is no more a woman than
+a bullock is a cow.
+
+The characters of castrated individuals are due only to ablation of
+the sexual glands themselves--the testicles in man and the ovary in
+woman; mutilation of other sexual organs, internal or external, such
+as the penis, womb, etc., produces no result of this kind. It would
+even appear to result from recent experiments that reimplantation of a
+sexual gland in any part of the body is sufficient to arrest the
+production of the special peculiarities of the eunuch.
+
+All these facts, almost inexplicable hitherto, become comprehensible
+by the aid of the engraphia of the mnemic energies. (Vide above;
+_Semon_). The sexual glands, being of undifferentiated origin, contain
+the energies of both sexes. The ecphoria of one of them provokes that
+of its correlative characters and excludes that of the characters of
+the other. If ecphoria of the sexual glands is arrested by castration
+before it is finished, this paralyzes the predominance of that of its
+corresponding correlative characters and reėstablishes a kind of
+intermediate or undifferentiated equilibrium between the ecphorias of
+the correlative hereditary sexual characters of the two sexes.
+
+On the other hand, if the sexual glands of an adult are removed, his
+body is not sensibly modified. The sexual functions do not cease
+completely, although they cannot lead to fecundation. Men castrated in
+adult age may cohabit with their wives; but the liquid ejaculated is
+not semen but only secretion from the accessory prostatic gland. Adult
+women after castration preserve their sexual appetite, and sometimes
+even their menstruation, for a certain time. They generally become fat
+and often suffer from nervous troubles and change in character. The
+ecphoria of the correlative sexual characters being complete in the
+adult, suppression of the sexual glands can only act on their direct
+functions.
+
+In different species of animals, the correlative sexual characters of
+which we have spoken vary enormously; sometimes the differences are
+insignificant, at other times they are considerable; while we can
+hardly distinguish a male swallow from a female, the cock and hen, the
+peacock and peahen, the stag and hind are very different from each
+other. In man, the correlative sexual characters are very distinct,
+even externally. These characters may extend to all parts of the
+body, even to the brain and mental faculties.
+
+In some of the lower animals, for example the ants, the sexes differ
+remarkably from each other and appear to belong to different
+zoölogical families. The eyes, the form of the head, the color, and
+the whole body differ so much that, when a case of pathological
+lateral hermaphrodism is produced (that is, when the sexual glands are
+male on the one side and female on the other), we can exactly
+determine the male or female character on each portion of the body. We
+thus see hermaphrodite ants with one half of the body male and the
+other half female--black on one side and red on the other, a large eye
+on one side and a small eye on the other, thirteen joints in one
+antenna and twelve in the other, and so on. In this case the mental
+faculties are sometimes female, sometimes male, according as the
+ecphoria of the brain is influenced by the hereditary mneme of the
+male or female part of the hermaphrodite sexual organs, which results
+in a male or female brain. I have seen hermaphrodite ants in which two
+parts of the thorax formed a crossed hermaphrodism; in front, male on
+the right and female on the left, behind female on the right and male
+on the left. Further; among ants which live in societies, the
+progressive transformation of the species, or phylogeny, has produced
+a third sex derived from the female sex--the worker; sometimes there
+is even a fourth--the warrior. In these two forms the wings are
+absent, but the head and brain are much larger; the sexual organs
+remain female, but are very small. While the large brain (pedunculated
+bodies of the supra-esophageal ganglion) is almost rudimentary in the
+male, it is well developed in the female and very large in the worker
+and the warrior. Among these singular animals exist pathological
+hermaphrodites, not only between males and females, but between males
+and workers, and not only lateral but mixed and crossed in all
+possible ways. I have seen a hermaphrodite, whose abdomen and sexual
+organs were almost entirely male, accomplish all the complex
+instinctive actions of a worker of his species (expeditions, attacks
+on a hostile ant heap, abduction of chrysalids), thanks to its head
+and brain which were of the worker type. The female itself is
+incapable of such complex actions. I cite these facts here as material
+for study, for we are only too prone in this domain to generalize
+prematurely and to draw too hasty conclusions. In reality, there is
+still a wide field for study of the greatest interest.
+
+There are animals which are normally and physiologically
+hermaphrodite, for they possess in the normal state male and female
+sexual glands and fecundate themselves, such as the solitary worms, or
+in pairs such as the snails. In the latter case there is copulation,
+during which each animal plays the parts of both male and female.
+
+In man and other vertebrates, hermaphrodism is always abnormal. In man
+it is extremely rare and nearly always very incomplete, being usually
+limited to the external or correlative characters.
+
+=Heredity.=--It results from what we have said that every living being
+reproduces, more or less identically, in its specific characters, the
+whole life of its parents and less remote ancestors, and constitutes
+the continuation of life from a minute part of their bodies.
+
+Each individual life thus repeats an entire cycle of development
+called _ontogeny_, which is peculiar to all individuals of the
+species. Here we must mention three fundamental points:
+
+(1). In its principal characters, each individual is the copy of its
+parents or direct ancestors, with correlative sexual peculiarities
+which we have mentioned, and with individual variations due to the
+combinations of varieties by conjugation, and the alternating or
+unequal ecphorias of hereditary characters; that is to say paternal or
+maternal hereditary engrams.
+
+(2). No individual is absolutely identical with another.
+
+(3). On the average, each individual resembles more especially its
+direct ancestry and its parents, and differs more markedly from its
+parentage the more this is remote.
+
+We shall see later on that the ancestral relationship of the different
+groups, species and varieties of animals has been fairly well fixed,
+and we may say that the third of the laws stated above is equally true
+in a wider sense. In fact the species and varieties of animals which
+are near related resemble each other, while the _genera_, families
+and classes are more dissimilar as their relationship is more remote.
+We employ here the terms resemblance, homology and difference in their
+profound and general sense. Certain purely external resemblances, due
+to phenomena of convergence, must not be considered as homologies in
+the sense of hereditary relationship. Thus, in the language of natural
+history we do not say that a bat resembles a bird, nor that a whale
+resembles a fish, for here the resemblances are due simply to aėrial
+or aquatic life which produces the effects of convergence, while the
+internal structure shows them to be quite dissimilar organisms.
+Although it swims in the sea the whale is a mammal; its fins at first
+sight resemble those of a fish, but they are really the homologues of
+the four limbs of other mammals and contain the corresponding bones.
+
+In man, we see that brothers and sisters resemble each other in a
+general way, but that each one is dissimilar in some respects from the
+others. If we compare different families with many children we find
+that brothers and sisters resemble each other the more their parents
+are alike and come from a uniform ancestry which has undergone little
+crossing, while the crossing of different races and human varieties
+results in the production of individuals which differ from each other
+considerably, even when they come from the same couple.
+
+If we examine things more closely, we find that the characters of each
+of the offspring of the same couple present neither simple repetition
+nor an equal mixture of the peculiarities of the parents, but very
+diverse combinations of the characters of several ancestors. For
+instance, children may bear a striking resemblance to a paternal
+grandfather, a maternal grand-aunt, or a maternal great-grandmother,
+etc. This is called _atavism_. Some children resemble their father,
+others their mother, and others a kind of mixture of father and
+mother.
+
+A closer examination reveals further very curious facts. An infant
+which, in its early years, strongly resembles its father, may later on
+resemble its mother, or inversely. Certain peculiarities of a certain
+ancestor appear suddenly, often at an advanced age. It is needless to
+say that peculiarities concerning the beard cannot appear till this
+has grown, and this simple fact is so characteristic that it has been
+called _hereditary disposition_. Everything may be transmitted by
+heredity, even to the finest shades of sentiment, intelligence and
+will, even to the most insignificant details of the nails, the form of
+the bones, etc. But the combinations of ancestral qualities vary so
+infinitely that it is extremely difficult to recognize them.
+Hereditary dispositions arise from the energy of two conjugated germs
+during the whole of life and till death. Old people sometimes develop
+peculiarities hitherto unknown in them, owing to the fact that one or
+more of their ancestors also presented the same phenomena at an
+advanced age.
+
+_Semon_ has clearly proved that, although forming an infinite number
+of combinations the engrams or hereditary energies never blend in the
+proper sense of the term, and in the light of his exposition the above
+facts are more clearly explained than they had been hitherto. The
+experiments of _Mendel_ have shown in plants a certain alteration in
+the hereditary ecphorias of the products of dissimilar parents.
+
+Certain parental characters, according as they are added or
+subtracted, may disappear during one or two generations, to reappear
+all the more strongly in the following generations. In short, there
+are a number of phenomena, the laws of which may be more clearly
+explained to us in the future.
+
+To sum up, each individual inherits on the average as much from his
+paternal as from his maternal side, although the minute nucleus of the
+spermatozoid is the only agent concerned on the paternal side, while
+the mother provides not only the egg which is much larger, but also
+nutrition during the nine months of embryonic life. We can only
+conclude that in the egg also it is only from the part of the nucleus
+which conjugates with the male nucleus that arise all the inherited
+maternal peculiarities; that all the rest is only utilized as food;
+and that the nutritive blood of the mother in no way influences the
+inherited energies of the offspring.
+
+This shows the capital importance of conjugation and of the substance
+of the conjugated nuclei, especially of their chromatin. The fact
+that, in certain of the lower animals, the protoplasm of the egg
+without nuclei may occasionally produce some phenomena of cell
+division, thanks to its inherited mnemic engrams, in no way alters the
+fundamental principle which alone occurs in man, for this vicarious
+action, which is moreover rudimentary, only happens when the
+protoplasm of the egg is not consumed by the conjugated nuclei.
+
+Parthenogenesis is also a very interesting phenomenon in the history
+of our animal ancestors, but for the same reasons it has no direct
+interest for humanity.
+
+If we take into consideration all the observations of which we have
+just spoken, which are as simple as they are irrefutably demonstrated,
+it is hardly possible to interpret them in any other way than by the
+following hypothesis:
+
+In each sexual gland, male or female, the germinal cells which are
+produced by division of the cells of the embryo, reserved primarily
+for reproduction, differ considerably from each other in quality and
+contain in their infinitely small atoms very diverse and irregularly
+distributed energies, inherited from their different ancestors. Some
+contain more paternal and others more maternal energy, and among the
+former there are some contain, for example, more paternal grandfather
+and others more maternal grandmother, and so on to infinity, till it
+is impossible to discover the ancestral origin of the fully grown
+individual we are examining. The same holds good for the energies of
+the maternal cells.
+
+At the time of conjugation, the qualities of the child which will
+result from it depend therefore on conditions of the ancestral
+qualities of the conjugated egg and spermatozoön. Moreover, although
+of the same size, the nuclei which become conjugated are evidently of
+unequal strength; the energies of one or the other predominate later
+on in the embryo, and still later in man. According to circumstances
+the latter will resemble more or less his paternal or maternal
+progenitors.
+
+Moreover, the different organs of the body may receive their energies
+from different parts of the conjugated nuclei in different degrees. A
+person may have his father's nose and his mother's eyes, the paternal
+grandmother's humor and the maternal grandfather's intelligence, and
+all this with infinite degrees and variations, for it is only a matter
+of more or less accentuated averages. In my own face the two halves
+are distinctly different, one resembling my maternal ancestry and the
+other, in a lesser degree, my paternal ancestry, these points being
+seen distinctly in photographs taken in profile.
+
+Each germinal cell contains the hereditary mneme of its ancestors,
+paternal and maternal, and the two cells united by conjugation (Fig.
+17) that of the ancestors of each of them. We have spoken above of
+ecphorias produced according to _Mendel's_ law and reproducing
+characters which have been latent during one or two generations.
+Darwin was the first to study this interesting fact, which shows how
+atavism often results from the crossing of varieties. There are
+several varieties of fowls which do not brood; if two of these
+varieties, B and C, are crossed excellent brooders are obtained.
+_Semon_ assumes that in each of the non-brooding varieties the
+ancestral energy, A, of the primary species, is weaker than that of
+varieties B and C; we have then A > B, and A < C. But if B is coupled
+with A the product represents the value B + C + A + A. Then B and C
+are in equilibrium; and A being doubled becomes stronger than each of
+them and arrives at ecphoria in their place, which restores the
+faculty of brooding to the product of crossing.
+
+_De Vries_ has shown, in the crossing of varieties with their primary
+species, more or less analogous phenomena which he calls
+"Vicino-variations." Conjugation leads to infinite combinations and
+variations which the law of heredity traverses like a guiding line.
+
+The celebrated zoölogist, _Weismann_, considers that the chromatin of
+each germinal cell contains a considerable quantity of particles each
+of which is capable of forming an entire organism similar to the
+parents; these he calls "ides." According to _Weismann_, each ide is
+subdivided into "determinants" from which each part of the body is
+derived, being potentially predetermined in them. According to the
+action of a yet unknown irritation male or female determinants develop
+in each individual of the animal species with separate sexes. But if
+the determinants are disordered, either by abnormal variations or by
+pathological causes, hermaphrodites or monstrosities may be produced.
+In animals which are normally hermaphrodite (snails, etc.), there is
+only one kind of sexual determinant, while in polymorphous animals
+(ants, etc.), there are as many as the polymorphous forms. The
+conception of "ides" and "determinants" is only a hypothesis to which
+we must not attach much value. The mnemic laws established by _Semon_
+give a much better explanation of the facts.
+
+It has often been maintained that the qualities of higher forms of man
+are exhausted in a few generations, while the mass of mediocrities
+continually produce new genius. The fact that the descendants of
+distinguished men are often mediocre and that remarkable men suddenly
+arise from the common people, appears at first sight to support this
+superficial assertion. It is forgotten, however, that in a people
+whose average mass consists of thousands or millions of individuals,
+while men of higher powers are only counted by units or dozens, all
+this arithmetic is reduced to absurdity by the inequality of numbers,
+as soon as the law of heredity is understood. To make a more exact
+calculation, it would be necessary to compare the number of superior
+men who have arisen from some hundreds of the most distinguished
+families of a country with that of distinguished men who have arisen
+from some millions of the rest of the people, and then calculate the
+percentage. It is also necessary to take into account the means
+employed in the education of the individuals. If education is
+obligatory and gratuitous in a country, this factor will have less
+importance.
+
+Another error which is committed in such cases is to neglect the
+influence of the maternal lineage. A common woman will lower the level
+of the offspring of a distinguished husband, and inversely. In his
+"History of Science and Scientists" _Alphonse de Candolle_ has given
+irrefutable proof that the posterity of high-class men furnishes a
+great number proportionally of men high class in their turn, compared
+with that of the average population. This shows the value of the usual
+twaddle concerning this question. It is inconceivable that the laws of
+heredity should make an exception of the mental qualities of man.
+Moreover, the most deceptive point is the contrast of a man of genius
+with his children, who do not rise to his standard because they
+represent a combination of his ancestral energies with those of their
+mother. This contrast makes the children appear unfavorably, while the
+public has a general tendency to exaggerate the value of a great man.
+
+The theory of the mneme throws light on this subject, by introducing a
+new factor in the question, that of ecphoria of the cerebral engrams
+of the ancestors, accumulated in the hereditary mneme.
+
+=Heredity of Acquired Characters.=--While _Darwin_ and _Haeckel_
+affirmed the possibility of the heredity of characters acquired during
+life by different tissues, for instance the brain, _Weismann_ limits
+the possibility to everything that can modify the nucleoplasm of the
+germinal cells. We must first eliminate the question of the phenomena
+of blastophthoria, which we shall consider next, and which _Weismann_
+was, I think, the first to comprehend, without giving them the name.
+
+On one hand we see the singular effects of castration, which we have
+already considered; on the other hand, an extraordinary constancy in
+the hereditary characters of the species. For more than three thousand
+six hundred years, which corresponds to about eight hundred
+generations, the Jews have been circumcised. Nevertheless, if a Jew
+ceases to circumcise his offspring the prepuce of his children grows
+as it did three thousand six hundred years ago, although, during the
+eight hundred generations in question, its absence from birth has
+prevented it reacting on the germinal cells of the individuals. If the
+engraphia of the external world could sensibly modify in a few
+generations the hereditary mneme of the species, it appears evident
+that the Jewish infants of the present day would be born without
+prepuce, or at least with an atrophied one.
+
+It is on such facts, which are innumerable in natural history, that
+_Weismann_ relies to repudiate absolutely the heredity of characters
+acquired by non-germinal organs and to attribute the development of
+organisms to blends and combinations due to conjugation, or crossing,
+as well as to natural selection, which he regards as all-powerful.
+_Darwin_ well recognized the difficulty in question, and being unable
+to explain the facts, had recourse to the hypothesis of _pangenesis_,
+that is of small particles detached from all parts of the body and
+transported by the blood to the germinal cells, to transmit to them,
+for example, the qualities acquired by the brain during life. This
+hypothesis was so improbable that _Darwin_ himself was forced to
+recognize it. Let us examine the facts.
+
+On the one hand a newly born Chinese transported and brought up in
+France will learn French, and will show no inclination to learn or
+understand Chinese. This well-established fact seems in favor of
+_Weismann_ and against the heredity of acquired characters. But, on
+the other hand, we cannot understand how the evolution of the brain
+and its functions takes place, without admitting that in one way or
+another the characters acquired by habits repeated during many
+generations gradually accumulate in the form of hereditary
+dispositions in the germinal protoplasm. It is certain that our brain
+has progressed since the time when our ancestors were similar to the
+gorilla, or even the cave man at the beginning of the quaternary age.
+How can this cerebral progression be explained only by selection which
+can only eliminate, and by crossings which by themselves can hardly
+raise the average? It is here that the intervention of an unknown
+power is necessary, something unexplained, the action of which has
+been lately recorded in the phenomena of mutations of _de Vries_.
+
+_De Vries_ proves that certain variations appear suddenly and without
+any known cause, and have a much greater tendency to be preserved than
+the variations obtained by crossing and selection. In my opinion the
+phenomena of the mneme revealed by _Hering_ and _Semon_ explain the
+apparent contradictions which have hitherto impaired the theories of
+heredity. Mnemic engraphy explains, by its infinitesimal and repeated
+action through numerous generations, how the external world may little
+by little transmit to the germinal cells the characters which it
+impresses on organisms. The eight hundred generations during which the
+prepuce of the Jews has been cut off have not yet sufficed for the
+ecphoria of the corresponding negative mnemic engraphia; while
+conjugation and selection modify rapidly and strongly in a few
+generations; a fact which is more striking and allows of direct
+experiment. Moreover, a positive engraphia must necessarily act more
+powerfully, and it seems to me that mutations must be the ecphoria of
+accumulated former latent engraphias.
+
+_Merrifield_ and _Standfuss_, by exposing caterpillars and chrysalids
+for varying periods to considerable degrees of cold and heat, have
+determined permanent changes in the specific characters of the
+butterflies which have emerged from them.
+
+_Standfuss_ and _Fischer_ have also shown that, after several
+generations, by continuing the action of cold on the caterpillars, the
+variations thus produced can be preserved even after the cold has
+ceased to act. No doubt the cold acts on the germinal cells as on the
+rest of the body, but the heredity of an acquired character is thus
+demonstrated.
+
+The experiments of _Miss de Chauvin_ on salamanders (_Axolotl_) are
+still more conclusive, for we are dealing here with characters
+acquired through aquatic or aėrial media, which can hardly act on the
+sexual glands. We cannot continue this subject any further and we
+return to the work of _Semon_. It is needless to say that the nature
+of mnemic engraphia remains itself an unknown quantity. As long as we
+are unable to transform inert matter into a living organism we shall
+remain in ignorance. But, when it is accepted with the laws of the
+phenomena which it produces, this unknown quantity, as _Semon_ has
+shown, alone suffices to explain all the rest, and is already a great
+step toward the comprehension of the laws which govern life.
+
+=Blastophthoria.=--By blastophthoria, or deterioration of the germ, I
+mean what might also be called false heredity, that is to say, the
+results of all direct pathogenic or disturbing action, especially that
+of certain intoxications, on the germinal cells, whose hereditary
+determinants are thus changed. Blastophthoria thus acts on germs not
+yet conjugated, through the medium of their bearers, and creates at
+their origin _hereditary stigmata_ of all kinds, while true heredity
+only combines and reproduces the ancestral energies.
+
+Blastophthoria deranges the mneme or hereditary engrams, and
+consequently a more or less considerable part of their ecphorias
+during the life of the individuals which arise from them. It is not a
+question here of the reproduction of the hereditary ancestral energies
+in the descendants (in different combinations) as is the case in the
+heredity which we have just studied, but, on the contrary, a question
+of their perturbation. However, the store of cells reserved as
+germinal cells in the embryo, the germ of which has been damaged by
+blastophthoric action, being usually also affected by the disturbing
+cause, it follows that the pathological change introduced by
+blastophthoria in the hereditary mneme is transmitted to the
+descendants by ordinary heredity. In this way blastophthoria deposits
+the first germ of most pathological degenerations by causing immediate
+deviation of all the determinants of the germ in the same direction.
+
+The most typical and the commonest example of blastophthoria is that
+of alcoholic intoxication. The spermatozoa of alcoholics suffer like
+the other tissues from the toxic action of alcohol on the protoplasm.
+The result of this intoxication of the germs may be that the children
+resulting from their conjugation become idiots, epileptics, dwarfs or
+feeble minded. Thus it is not alcoholism or the craving for drink
+which is inherited. No doubt the peculiarity of badly supporting
+alcohol is inherited by ordinary heredity as a hereditary disposition,
+but it is not this which produces the alcoholic degenerations of the
+race. These are the result of the single blastophthoria. When, on the
+other hand, a man is found to be imbecile or epileptic as the result
+of the insobriety of his father, he preserves the tendency to transmit
+his mental weakness or his epilepsy to his descendants, even when he
+abstains completely from alcoholic drinks. In fact, the chromosomes of
+the spermatozoid, from which about a half of his organism has issued,
+have preserved the pathological derangement produced by the parental
+alcoholism in their hereditary mneme, and have transmitted it to the
+store of germinal cells of the feeble minded or the epileptic, who in
+his turn transmits it to his descendants. From _Weismann's_ point of
+view his hereditary determinants remain pathologically deviated. All
+intoxications which alter the protoplasm of the germinal cells may
+produce blastophthoric degenerations, which continue to menace several
+successive generations in the form of hereditary taints.
+
+Other deviations in the development of the germs may act in an
+analogous manner to blastophthoria. We have mentioned above the
+experiments of _Merrifield_ and _Standfuss_ on the caterpillars of
+certain butterflies. Without being really of a pathological nature,
+these actions of a physical agent on the hereditary energies resemble
+blastophthoria.
+
+Mechanical action on the embryo may also give rise to pathological
+products or even mutilation. Thus, _Weismann_ demonstrated the
+production of degenerate individuals in ants when certain coleoptera
+were introduced in their nest, the ants being fond of the secretion of
+the large glandular hairs of the coleoptera. The exact cause of the
+degeneration has not yet been found, but the fact is certain. In man,
+certain constitutional affections and congenital anomalies are the
+result of certain diseases in the procreators, which have affected the
+germinal cells or the embryo (for instance syphilis). As soon as the
+blastophthoric actions cease in the procreators, those of their
+descendants who live under a normal regimen have evidently a tendency
+to eliminate the blastophthoric organs at the end of several
+generations and to regenerate themselves little by little. Thanks to
+the power of the ancestral mneme which tends to reėstablish homophony.
+However, the data on this subject are insufficient. In this case
+homophony is represented by the normal equilibrium of the different
+typical or normal characters of the species.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] I insert here some passages intended for more advanced readers,
+but this does not imply that they are of less importance. On the
+contrary I strongly advise all my readers to try and understand the
+theories of _Hering_ and _Semon_, which appear to me to throw a new
+light on the question of transformation and heredity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+EVOLUTION OR DESCENT OF LIVING ORGANISMS
+
+
+The theory of evolution is intimately associated with the name of
+_Darwin_, for it was he who established it in the scientific world. In
+reality, the idea of the transformation of organisms was put forward
+by _Lamarck_ more than a century ago, but he did not sufficiently
+support it. The theory of evolution states that the different animal
+and vegetable species are not each of them specially created as such
+from the first, but that they are connected with each other by a real
+and profound relationship, and derived progressively one from another;
+generally from more simple forms, by engraphia and selection. Man
+himself is no exception to this rule, for he is closely related to the
+higher apes.
+
+It is no longer possible to-day to deny the fundamental fact which we
+have just stated. Since _Darwin_, and as the result of the powerful
+impulse which this man of genius gave to natural science, innumerable
+observations and experiments have confirmed the truth of the
+progressive evolution of living beings. Comparative anatomy,
+comparative geography of plants and animals, comparative embryology,
+and the study of the morphology and biology of a number of recently
+discovered plants and animals, have built up more and more the
+genealogical tree, or _phylogeny_, of living beings, that is to say
+their ancestral lineage. The number of varieties and races or
+sub-species increases indefinitely, the more closely they are
+examined.
+
+Researches on the fossil remains of species of animals and plants
+which have been extinct for thousands and millions of years
+(_palęontology_) have also contributed to determine the trunk of the
+great tree of former life. The numerous gaps which still exist between
+these fragmentary documents of former ages are nevertheless too
+considerable for continuous connections to be established in the past
+by the aid of fossils.
+
+We not only know that the different forms of living beings are
+connected to each other by a real relationship, but we can fathom more
+and more deeply the degrees of this relationship, and can often prove
+from which group of animals a given group is descended. In many cases
+we can determine at which period the fauna and flora of two continents
+have been separated from each other, and in what manner they have been
+transformed, each in its own way, while still preserving the general
+characters which were common before their separation. The specialist
+can soon discover what species belong to the old geographically
+differentiated fauna and flora of the country, and what have been
+ulteriorily imported.
+
+I record these facts for the benefit of those persons who have not yet
+understood that it is absolutely useless at the present day to dispute
+the evolution of living beings. Deceived by the divergent opinions of
+scientists concerning hypotheses which endeavor to explain the details
+of evolution, these persons confound the details with the fundamental
+facts of evolution.
+
+=Ontogeny. Phylogeny.=--In the light of the facts of evolution,
+heredity takes quite a new aspect when removed from the old biblical
+idea of the independent creation of species. _Haeckel_ launched into
+the scientific world, under the name of "fundamental biogenetic law,"
+a theory which, without having the right to the title of an immutable
+dogma, explains the facts in a general way, and gives us a guiding
+line along the phylogenetic history of living beings. "_Ontogeny_,"
+that is the history of the embryological development of each
+individual, always consists in a summary and fragmentary repetition of
+_phylogeny_, or the history of the ancestors of the species to which
+the individual belongs. This signifies that, as embryos, we repeat in
+an abridged form the series of types or morphological stages through
+which has passed the series of our animal ancestors, from the
+primitive cell to man. In reality this is only true in a relative way,
+for a considerable part of the ancestral engraphias of the embryo has
+disappeared without leaving any trace; also many embryos, especially
+those which have special conditions of existence outside the body of
+their mother, have acquired special complex organs and corresponding
+functions. Thus, the caterpillars of butterflies with their specific
+and generic peculiarities, hairs, horns, etc., furnish many examples
+of secondary acquired characters which have nothing in common with the
+worm, which is the ancestral type of the butterfly represented by the
+embryonic period when it is a caterpillar. However, many undoubted
+vestiges of the ancestral history are found in the embryos at
+different periods of their development. It is certain that insects
+descended from worms, and there is no doubt that the larvę of insects,
+which are almost worms, represent the ontogenetic repetition of the
+phylogeny of insects.
+
+It is also certain that whales, although they have whalebone instead
+of teeth, have descended from cetacea provided with teeth, which in
+their turn descended from terrestrial mammals. But we find in the
+embryo whale a complete denture which is of no use to it, and which
+disappears in the course of the embryonic period. This denture is
+nothing else than a phylogenetic incident in the ontogeny of the
+whale.
+
+In the fins of cetacea, as in the four limbs of other mammals, we find
+the same bones, which are derived from the bones of the wings and legs
+of their bird ancestors. In birds, the same bones are the phylogenetic
+derivatives of the limbs of reptiles.
+
+All these facts demonstrate with certainty the descent of animal
+forms, a descent which we can follow in all its details. In certain
+ants whose bodies show their close relationship with a slave-keeping
+group, but which have become the parasitic hosts of other ants, we
+find not only the arched mandibles, shaped for rape, but the undoubted
+rudiments of the slave instinct, although this instinct has, perhaps,
+not been exercised by them for thousands of years.
+
+These examples suffice to show that the form and functions of a living
+organism, as well as its mental faculties, are derived not only from
+the most recent direct ancestors of this organism, but that they
+partly mount much higher in the genealogical tree.
+
+Our coccyx is a vestige of the tail of animals. It is from them also
+that we have inherited anger and jealousy, sexual appetites, fear,
+cunning, etc. As long as they remain in use, the oldest inherited
+characters normally remain the most tenacious and are preserved the
+longest. When they cease to be utilized, or become useless, they still
+remain for a long time as rudiments before finally disappearing; for
+instance the vermiform appendix of the intestine and the pineal gland
+of the brain. These rudiments often persist for still a longer time in
+the embryo, as we have seen in the case of the ancestral teeth of the
+embryo whales. We also meet with the stumps of wings in the chrysalis
+of certain ants (_Anergates_), the males of which have lost their
+wings.
+
+=Natural Selection.=--The artificial selection practiced by gardeners
+and cattle breeders led _Darwin_ to his hypothesis of natural
+selection by the struggle for existence. Confirmed in his idea by the
+observation of tropical nature, _Darwin_ thought he could explain the
+origin of living beings by natural selection. It is this hypothesis
+which is properly called _Darwinism_. But the name Darwinism has also
+been given to evolution as a whole, which has been the cause of
+endless confusion. All the mystic and narrow-minded, full of biblical
+prejudice, naturally profit by this confusion to attack the facts of
+evolution and science itself.
+
+=The Struggle for Existence.=--The struggle for existence and natural
+selection are absolutely positive facts, which can be constantly
+verified by the observation of living nature as it is presented to us.
+All living beings eat one another or at any rate struggle against each
+other, plants as well as animals; and, apart from air and water,
+animals are almost entirely nourished by plants and other animals. It
+is obvious that in this perpetual struggle the less adapted and the
+less armed--and by arms we include the powers of reproduction,
+resistance to diseases and to cold, etc.--disappear, while the better
+adapted and the better armed persist. I confess I cannot understand
+the detractors of _Darwin_ who are blind in face of these facts and
+hypnotized by certain conventional suggestions.
+
+On the other hand, what always has been and still remains hypothetical
+is the explanation of the descent of all plants and animals by natural
+selection alone. We have already spoken of the _mutations_ of _de
+Vries_, and the theory of the _mneme_ elaborated by _Semon_, and need
+not repeat them here. Thanks to the idea of _Hering_, worked out by
+_Semon_, the facts are now explained in a satisfactory manner.
+Engraphia, produced in the organisms by the irritating agents of the
+external world, prepares and builds up little by little their
+increasing complications, while selection, by continually eliminating
+the unfit, directs the elaborating work of the mneme and adapts it to
+the surrounding local circumstances.
+
+_De Vries_ has objected that the variations produced by artificial and
+natural selections are mutable, while sudden mutations have a much
+more stable character. But we have just seen that these mutations
+themselves are evidently only the delayed ecphoria of a long ancestral
+engraphia accumulated.
+
+On the other hand, the variations obtained by selection are themselves
+only due to more rapid ecphorias, derived from repeated conjugations
+in a certain direction. _Plate_ and others have shown that they may
+become more and more fixed, if they are well adapted, and thus become
+more tenacious. There is, therefore, no contradiction between the
+fundamental facts, and all is simply and naturally explained by the
+combination of hereditary mnemic engraphia with selection.
+
+Recent study on the transformations of living beings have shown that
+they do not take place in a regularly progressive manner, as _Darwin_
+at first believed, but that periods of relatively rapid transformation
+alternate with periods of relative arrest, both in a general way and
+for each particular species. We see certain species remaining almost
+stationary for an immense time and tending rather to disappear, while
+others vary enormously, showing actual transformation. The
+transplantation of one species to a new environment, for instance to a
+new continent, provokes, as has been proved, a relatively rapid
+transformation. It is evident that mnemic engraphia transforms
+organisms the more rapidly as it changes in nature itself, which is
+the case in the migrations we have just mentioned, and which also
+changes the factors of selection.
+
+Other facts show clearly that the fauna and flora of the present world
+find themselves in a period of recoil with regard to their
+modification. In the tertiary period the fauna and flora of the world
+were richer than to-day; many more older species have disappeared than
+new ones have arisen. This fundamental fact seems due to the extremely
+slow cooling of the earth, and appears to be indicated by the powerful
+growth in tropical climates, the fauna and flora of which resemble
+those of the tertiary period, and, on the other hand by the relative
+poverty and slowness of growth in cold countries.
+
+=Conclusions.=--What are the principal conclusions to which we are led
+by this short study of the ancestral history or phylogeny of man?
+
+(1). The transformation or evolution of living beings is a
+demonstrated fact.
+
+(2). The factors in evolution appear at first sight to be very
+diverse: selection, mutation, climatological, physical and chemical
+factors, etc.
+
+We have seen that they may all be connected with the fundamental
+principle of mnemic engraphia, aided by natural selection. No doubt
+the nature of the mnemic engraphia of external agents in the living
+substance is still unknown. When we are able to connect the laws of
+life with the laws of inert nature, we shall only have before us a
+single great metaphysical mystery, that of the tendency of mundane
+energy to the differentiation of details and the production of
+complicated forms. What is important here is to know that engraphia
+and selection are capable of considerably modifying species in a
+positive or negative manner, for good or evil, improving them by good
+influence and good conjugations, or deteriorating them by bad
+selection or by blastophthoria, which causes them to degenerate. The
+combination of a bad selection with blastophthoric influences
+constitutes the great danger for humanity, and it is here that a
+rational sexual life should intervene.
+
+(3). The mental faculties of animal species, as well as their physical
+characters, depend on their ancestral hereditary mneme. They simply
+represent the internal or introspective side of central activity, and
+the brain obeys the natural laws of the mneme in the same way as the
+other organs.
+
+(4). It follows from all this that phylogeny and selection, the same
+as heredity properly understood, have the right to a fundamental place
+in the sexual question, for the germs which, after each conception,
+reproduce an individual are, on the one hand, bearers of the inherited
+energy of our ancestors, and on the other hand, that of future
+generations. According to the care or neglect of civilized humanity
+they may be transformed for good or evil, progress or recede.
+Unfortunately, owing to religious and other prejudices, the question
+of evolution is not discussed in schools. Hence, the majority of men
+only hear of these things by hearsay in a rough and inexact manner; so
+that a series of phenomena familiar to naturalists and medical men,
+are still dead letters for the rest of the public. This obliges me to
+speak further on some points of detail.
+
+The so-called historical times, that is the times of the Chinese,
+Egyptians and Assyrians, which appear to us extremely remote, are from
+the point of view of evolution very near to us. These ancient peoples,
+at any rate those who were our direct ancestors, or who were closely
+related to them, are thus, in the language of evolution, which takes
+no count of time or of the number of generations, our very near
+relations. The generations which separate them from us and the few
+hundred generations between them and those of their direct ancestors,
+who were at the same time ours, represent a limited period from the
+point of view of the ethnological history of mankind.
+
+On the other hand, if we examine the savage peoples of America, Asia,
+Africa and Australia, which have been specially studied since the
+discovery of America and some of which are actually living, and
+compare them with ourselves and with our ancestors of four thousand
+years ago, we find that they differ infinitely more from us than we
+differ from our ancestors, as their ethnographical and historical
+remains are sufficient to prove.
+
+Among the savage peoples we find races such as the pigmies of
+_Stanley_ (Akkaas), the Weddas of Ceylon, even Australians and
+negroes, whose whole bodily structure differs profoundly from our
+European race and its varieties. The profoundness and constancy of
+these differences clearly show that the relationship of such races to
+ours must be very remote. We are concerned here with veritable races
+or sub-species, or at least with very constant and accentuated
+varieties. It is true that it is difficult to unravel the almost
+inextricable confusion of human races; but we may be certain that the
+savage races and varieties remote from ours, and even certain
+less-remote races such as the Mongols and Malays, are, phylogenetically
+speaking, infinitely less related to us than the ancient Assyrians.
+This indicates that the ancestors which were common to us and these
+races must probably be looked for several thousands of generations
+back, even when their descendants are still living on other continents
+at the present day.
+
+It is easy to explain that human races so different could develop
+separately in continents and under climates with a very different mode
+of life and conditions of development, if we reflect that at these
+remote periods men only had very limited modes of transport and lived
+in a fashion very little different from that of the anthropoid apes,
+so that the ethnological forms were preserved separated from each
+other by small distances. This fact can still be observed among the
+small hostile Indian or Malay tribes, who live in tropical regions and
+often occupy only a few square leagues. The higher civilizations of
+former times could not develop beyond a comparatively limited circle,
+as their means of transport did not allow them to venture too far. The
+conquest of the whole earth by modern civilization by means of the
+mariner's compass, firearms, steam and electricity is thus an
+absolutely contemporaneous event, unique in the history of the world,
+the origin of which hardly goes back more than four hundred years.
+This event has completely upset the natural internal evolution of
+human races, by the fact that all the lower races attacked by
+civilized races armed with guns and alcohol, are destined to rapid and
+complete destruction.
+
+Geology has discovered in the caves of the quaternary period, human
+remains which are much lower in the scale of evolution and much nearer
+the anthropoid apes than the lowest races still living. Their brain,
+as shown by the cranial cavity, was still smaller. Lastly, _Dubois_
+has discovered in Java the cranium of _Pithecanthropus erectus_ which
+is intermediate between that of the orang-utan and man. If more such
+remains are discovered the chain of transition between the apes and
+man will be almost complete.
+
+=Hybridity. Consanguinity.=--Before concluding this chapter we must
+study the question of _hybrids_. It is important to know to what point
+fecundity and descent are influenced by the degree of relationship
+between the two procreators. Conjugation probably arises from the
+general necessity of organisms to reėnforce their race by variety.
+Consanguinity perpetuated is harmful to the species, in the same way
+as parthenogenesis, or indefinite reproduction by fission or budding.
+It produces enfeeblement and degeneration of the race, and leads to
+extinction by causing sterility.
+
+By _consanguinity_ is meant continued sexual union between near
+relatives. It is easy to understand that the conjugation of two germs
+derived from brothers and sisters or from a father and his daughter
+approaches parthenogenesis from the point of view of the mixing of
+hereditary energies. We shall see later on that nearly all peoples
+have a certain repugnance to consanguineous marriages. Among animals,
+natural selection eliminates too consanguineous products.
+
+On the other hand, sexual union between different species, however
+little removed, gives no products. Near species may produce hybrids
+between themselves, but these hybrids are as a rule sterile or nearly
+so, and are incapable of perpetuating their type, which reverts
+rapidly to one of the primitive species.
+
+It has been recently demonstrated that the incapacity of two species
+of animals to produce hybrids is intimately connected with the
+reciprocal toxicity of their blood. When the blood of one species is
+injected into the veins of another the production of hybrids is
+possible between them, at least as far as has been observed. It is
+curious to note that the blood of the anthropoid apes is not toxic for
+man, although these animals are very different from us, and hybrids
+have not yet been produced. This fact helps us to understand how it is
+that the differences which exist between the different human races do
+not prevent the production of hybrids between any two of them. In
+spite of this we may state, without risk of error, that the most
+dissimilar human races give a bad quality of hybrids, which have
+little chance of forming a viable mongrel race. We have not
+sufficient information on this point concerning the lowest human
+races, such as the pigmies and Weddas. On the other hand, mulattoes
+(hybrids between negroes and whites) constitute a race of very bad
+quality and hardly viable, while the hybrids between Indians and
+whites are much more resistant and of relatively better quality.
+
+In this question, the middle course appears without any doubt the true
+one. Unions between near races and varieties, or at least between
+individuals of the same race or variety whose relationship is old, are
+certainly the best. We readily grant that the homogeneity of a race
+has the advantage of fixing its peculiarities in a more durable and
+characteristic fashion; but many inconveniences counterbalance this
+advantage. If we one day, by wise selection and by eliminating all
+sources of blastophthoria obtain a superior quality of human germs, it
+is possible that in the remote future, consanguinity, provided it is
+not exaggerated may lose its dangers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+NATURAL CONDITIONS AND MECHANISM OF HUMAN
+COITUS--PREGNANCY--CORRELATIVE SEXUAL CHARACTERS
+
+
+It is impossible to comprehend the deep meaning and lofty aim of an
+act like that of sexual union without knowing the details of
+conjugation and the origin of man as we have explained them in the
+preceding chapters.
+
+Conjugation requires the bringing together of two cells, and
+consequently the movement of at least one of them. This cellular
+movement suffices for the lower forms of union and is usually limited
+to the male cell. Owing to its movement it plays the active role,
+while the passive role is reserved for the female cell. Hence we see
+in the higher plants the male cells, or pollen, transported to the
+pistil by the wind or by insects, and thence reach the egg by
+mechanical endosmotic attraction which brings about conjugation.
+
+This takes place in an analogous manner in lower animals, but the male
+cell is generally endowed with special movement. As soon as we deal
+with complicated animals, mobile in themselves and composed of cells
+differentiated to form complex organs, we see a second phenomena of
+reproductive movements appear in the animal phylogeny, namely the
+movement of the whole individual bearing male cells toward the
+individual bearing female cells. This simple fact gives rise to the
+formation of correlative sexual differences between the individuals
+bearing each kind of germinal cells. As the result of the evolution of
+these two phylogenetic systems of motor phenomena tending to establish
+conjugation, we obtain for each sex two categories of sexual
+formations:
+
+(1). The _germinal cells themselves_, the female form of which becomes
+larger, more rich in protoplasm, and remains immobile, while the male
+form, or spermatozoid becomes extremely small and is provided with
+motor apparatus (Fig. 11).
+
+(2). The _individuals_ with their correlative sexual differences
+proper to the male and female, disposed in a way to give the male the
+active role and the female the passive role.
+
+Normal hermaphrodism, complete or reciprocal (snails, etc.)
+constitutes an intermediate stage. Here each individual bears two
+kinds of germinal cells and possesses also male and female copulative
+organs, so that there only exists one form of individuals which
+copulate reciprocally; the male organ of one penetrating the female
+organ of the other and vice versa. It is obvious that this excludes
+the formation of correlative individual sexual characters.
+
+In the second category, the male always differs from the female, at
+least in the sexual organs, and usually in other physical and mental
+characters. The difference in the sexual functions leads to the
+formation of differences in other parts of the body, and in instincts
+and sentiments, which find their material expression in the different
+development of the brain.
+
+Certain specific functions in society may, in social animals like the
+ants, lead to the formation or differentiation of a third or fourth
+kind of individuals. This is what is called _polymorphism_. Here it is
+not the sexual function causes the correlative differences of the
+individuals, but division of social labor. The ecphoria of the
+hereditary mneme which produces the polymorphous, and more or less
+asexual individual forms (workers, warriors,) still proceeds through
+the energies of the reproducing germs. Here the action of selection is
+necessary to explain the phenomena.
+
+In man, sexual differentiation has led to the formation of two kinds
+of individuals, differing little in their correlative attributes, but
+each bearing one kind of germinal cells. In sexual union man plays the
+active part, woman, the passive. When sexual activity, in the animal
+kingdom, is no longer limited to the movement of one of the cells but
+requires the displacement of the whole individual, we can quite
+understand that the organization of these individuals must become much
+more complex, and that it requires a central nervous system as a
+directing apparatus. Sexual individuality thus involves collaboration
+of the other organs of the body, and especially that of the central
+organs for reflex movements, the instincts and the higher mental
+faculties of man, in the accomplishment of the fecundating act those
+which are the consequences of it.
+
+From this simple animal origin is evolved the complex sexual love of
+man. The duty of the active or male individual is to bring the
+spermatozoa to a point where they can easily reach the female cells or
+ovules. When this is done the duty of the male is accomplished. In the
+passive or female individual of the higher animals, pairing and
+conjugation are only the commencement of reproductive activity.
+However, this is not the case in the whole animal kingdom. For
+instance, fish have distinct sexes, but in them the female deposits
+her non-fecundated eggs in the water and is not concerned with them
+any further. The male then arrives and discharges his sperm on the
+eggs. In this case fecundation takes place without copulation. With
+such a system sexual love and maternal love lose their _raison
+d'źtre_, for the young fish are capable of providing for themselves as
+soon as they are born. There are, however, a few exceptions, one of
+the most curious being that of certain fish of the Dead Sea, in which
+the male incubates the eggs by taking them into his buccal cavity.
+
+=Reproduction in Vertebrates.=--We should never finish if we were to
+describe even the chief varieties of sexual union among the
+vertebrates. As a rule, the male possesses a copulating organ which
+projects externally, while the female presents an invaginated cavity,
+more or less cylindrical, into which the male organ can penetrate. A
+certain amount of sperm is deposited by the male in the neighborhood
+of the mature ovules (Fig. 18) discharged from the female germinal
+gland or ovary, which renders conjugation possible. By means of their
+mobile tails, the spermatozoa (Fig. 11) are able to reach the ovules
+and fecundate them. The manner in which the egg when fecundated,
+either in the mother's body or after being laid, continues its
+development, varies enormously in different species. The eggs are
+often deposited by the female and the embryo develops outside the
+mother's body. This occurs in insects, mollusks, fish, amphibia,
+reptiles, birds and the lowest mammals or monotremes (ornithorhynchus
+and echidna).
+
+In the lower mammals is developed an organ called the womb which
+allows the embryo to remain longer in the maternal body. This organ is
+very incomplete in them, and a pocket or fold in the skin of the belly
+allows the mother to carry her young, which are extremely embryonic at
+birth, till they have developed sufficiently to live alone. This
+occurs in marsupials (kangaroos and opossums), in which the vagina and
+uterus are double.
+
+In the higher mammals the womb becomes more and more developed,
+opening into a single vagina in the middle line of the abdomen,
+between the two ovaries, and constituting a highly specialized organ
+which allows the mother to preserve the young for a long time in her
+belly. In most mammals the uterus has two elongated diverticula, each
+of which may contain a successive series of embryos. In man it forms a
+single cavity and normally contains a single embryo, occasionally two
+or more. These facts show that the role of the female mammal in
+reproduction is more important than that of the male. But this is not
+all. Whether it still lays eggs, or whether it gives birth to young
+which are more or less developed its sexual role is far from ended.
+The higher oviparous vertebrates, especially the birds, take care of
+their progeniture for some time after laying. The young are still fed
+by the mother, either by milk from the teats, as in mammals, or by
+nourishment obtained from outside, as in birds, or by both methods
+combined or succeeding each other, as in cats.
+
+In many animals the male contributes to the raising of the young; a
+point to which we shall return. Here, we indicate these complicated
+details simply to show that sexual union only contributes one link in
+the long chain of reproduction. Let us study its mechanism in man.
+
+=The Copulatory Organ of Man. The Testicles. The Seminal
+Vesicles.=--Nature is often very sparing even in the highest
+organizations. It has thus combined in the male the urethra with the
+copulatory organ, and the sexual germinal glands, or _testicles_, with
+an accessory gland, the _epididymis_. Hundreds of thousands of
+spermatozoa are contained in the glandular tubes of these organs,
+which, when they are mature can always produce new ones by cell
+division. The spermatozoa accumulate at the extremity of the duct of
+the gland in a reservoir called the _seminal vesicle_, where they
+float in the mucus, thus constituting the seminal fluid or _sperm_.
+This liquid has a special odor. The two seminal vesicles are situated
+in the abdominal cavity underneath the urinary bladder, each having a
+duct which meets that of the other side and opens by the side of it in
+the deep part of the urethra. Here the secretion of several other
+glands, especially of the _prostate_, is added to the sperm and mixes
+with it. The point where the two seminal ducts open into the urethra
+forms a small elevation, the _verumontanum_. From this point the male
+urethra emerges from the abdominal cavity and is continued along the
+special prolongation which forms the penis, or virile member of
+copulation. In the ordinary way the penis only serves for the emission
+of urine. It hangs flaccid and terminates in a rounded swelling called
+the glans, at the end of which opens the urethra (Fig. 18). This
+opening serves also for the emission of the sperm.
+
+=Erection. The Corpus Cavernosum.=--The most curious part of this
+apparatus is the mechanism of _erection_, or the power possessed by
+the penis of swelling under the influence of certain nervous
+irritations, increasing in length and diameter as well as becoming
+rigid. This phenomenon is produced by three organs called the
+_cavernous bodies_ which form the principal bulk of the penis. One of
+them, situated in the middle and underneath and formed by two bodies
+united into one, surrounds the urethra and terminates in front in a
+dilatation which constitutes the glans already mentioned. The two
+others are situated symmetrically on the dorsal part of the penis. All
+three consist of caverns or diverticula formed by blood-vessels, which
+are empty when the penis is flaccid. By a complex nervous mechanism
+based on vascular paralysis due to nervous phenomena called inhibition
+and dynamogeny, the nervous irritations cause an accumulation of blood
+in the spaces of the cavernous bodies which become so gorged with
+blood as to form stiff and hard rods. The size of the penis is thereby
+increased considerably and its stiffness allows it to penetrate the
+vagina of the female. At the same time and by the same mechanism the
+verumontanum swells so as to close the ureter from the bladder, while
+the seminal ducts open toward the urethral orifice. In this way the
+copulatory organ is ready for its function.
+
+Repeated irritations are however necessary to provoke the ejaculation
+of semen. This is finally produced by excitation of a special muscle
+which compresses the seminal vesicles in a spasmodic manner and
+ejaculates the semen by the urethra. After ejaculation, the
+accumulation of blood in the cavernous bodies gradually diminishes and
+the penis again becomes flaccid.
+
+This apparatus is thus very complicated and is put in action by
+several nervous irritations which may be disturbed in many ways in
+affections of the nervous system. We may observe here that the nervous
+centers of erection and ejaculation may be put in action directly by
+the brain, or indirectly by peripheral irritation of the glans.
+
+Those peripheral nerves which provoke sexual excitation are especially
+the nerves of the glans. This possesses a skin or mucous membrane
+which is extremely delicate and is protected against external
+irritation by a fold of skin called the _prepuce_, or foreskin. The
+prepuce is often too narrow so that it cannot be withdrawn behind the
+glans. It then forms a pocket in which sebaceous matter, semen, urine,
+etc., accumulate and decompose. This anomaly, called _phimosis_, does
+not exist among the Jews owing to circumcision, or the removal of the
+prepuce in the newly born, which forms part of their religious rites.
+Hygienic considerations sometimes oblige us to perform this operation
+in others. The bad habit of masturbation, so common in boys, is often
+provoked by phimosis, and shows that simple mechanical irritation of
+the glans, due here to secretions contained in the prepuce, may lead
+to ejaculation of semen as well as to erection.
+
+We have seen above that the male and female germinal glands arise from
+the same primitive organ in the embryo. If the embryo becomes male,
+this organ is transformed into the two testicles which descend
+gradually in the canal of the groin and become placed in the scrotum.
+If it becomes female, the two sexual glands remain in the abdominal
+cavity and are transformed into ovaries.
+
+=The Genital Organs of Woman.=--The organs described in Chapter II
+(Figs. 18 and 19), constitute the internal and more important part of
+the female sexual apparatus. In women, the urethra opens externally on
+its own account. It is much shorter and wider than in men. At its
+external extremity is a small cavernous body called the _clitoris_,
+which corresponds embryologically to the penis in man, and chiefly to
+the glans. Like the latter it is specialized for sexual irritation and
+possesses very sensitive nerves. The opening of the female urethra is
+situated in front of the vulva directly under the pubic bone, at the
+same place as the root of the male penis. From this point, on each
+side of the middle line, extend two longitudinal folds, one external
+covered with skin and called the larger lip of the vulva (Fig. 18,
+_labia majora_), the other internal, hidden under the first, called
+the lesser lip of the vulva (_labia minora_), and covered with thin
+mucous membrane. Between the two lesser lips is the sexual aperture,
+which, with the labia majora and minora is called the _vulva_. This
+opening is distinct from that of the urethra, and leads to the
+internal cavity or _vagina_ (Fig. 18). The vagina is about ten to
+twelve centimeters long (2 to 2-½ inches) and terminates in a
+_cul-de-sac_ which surrounds the vaginal portion of the womb, of which
+we have spoken above.
+
+In virgins the entrance to the vagina is more or less closed by a
+delicate transverse membrane called the _hymen_, which is only
+perforated by a narrow opening. At the first coitus the hymen is torn,
+causing a certain amount of pain and bleeding. The walls of the vagina
+are thrown into transverse folds, which render them somewhat rough.
+The remains of the hymen torn by the first coitus afterward form
+behind the vulva small excrescences named _carunculę myrtiformes_.
+
+In the first chapter we have spoken of the changes undergone by the
+fecundated ovule till it becomes the embryo and then the infant. It
+remains to speak of the mechanism of expulsion of the ovule and of its
+fecundation, as well as the changes in the womb which result from
+these phenomena.
+
+=Menstruation.=--About every four weeks, one or two ovules (rarely
+more) mature and are discharged into the Fallopian tubes, down which
+they pass by the movement of the vibratile cilia of the mucous
+membrane, to the uterus, to the walls of which they become attached if
+they have been fecundated on the way (Fig. 18). Fecundation or
+conjugation takes place most often in the Fallopian tube, sometimes in
+the uterus. The maturation and expulsion of the ovule are generally
+accompanied in women by a nervous phenomenon closely related to
+erection in man. The mucous membrane of the cavity of the uterus is
+very rich in blood vessels which become dilated and gorged with blood
+under the inhibitory influence of certain nerve centers. As the mucous
+membrane is very thin, the result is otherwise than in man; the blood
+transudes through the mucous membrane and flows away. This is called
+_menstruation_ ("courses" or monthly periods). The object of this is,
+no doubt, to prepare the mucous membrane of the womb for the fixation
+of the fecundated egg which will become grafted on its surface. The
+courses in women generally last three or four days, but are often very
+irregular. It is necessary to point out that they do not depend on
+ovulation (expulsion of the egg). The two phenomena may take place
+independently of each other, for menstruation in itself depends only
+on nervous irritation, which may be provoked or averted by hypnotic
+suggestion, for example.
+
+Moreover, there are women who never menstruate and who, in spite of
+this, not only regularly discharge ovules but may be fecundated and
+become pregnant. Usually, however, the two phenomena are associated by
+nervous reflexes, so that menstruation takes place first and then the
+ovule commences its migration.
+
+=The Mechanism of Coitus.=--Copulation, or coitus, takes place as
+follows: After a certain degree of excitation, both mental and
+sensory, the male introduces the erect and stiffened penis into the
+vagina. In the case of advanced pregnancy he should place himself
+behind, so as to avoid injuring the unborn child. Rhythmic movements
+of the two individuals, especially of the man, gradually increase the
+excitation of the mucous membrane or skin of the genital organs of
+each party, till voluptuous sensations, arising chiefly in the glans
+penis and clitoris, spread to the whole nervous system and the entire
+body, constituting what is called the _venereal orgasm_, and
+terminating in the man by the ejaculation of semen.
+
+The localizations of irritability in woman are multiple, and to the
+clitoris must be added the nipples, the vulva, and even, it is said,
+the neck of the womb. In man the parts round the anus may also,
+besides the glans penis, form an excitable region. At the acme of
+erection the glans is turgid, and is applied directly against the neck
+of the womb (Fig. 18). In this way the sperm is ejaculated directly
+against the neck of the womb.
+
+In the woman an analogous phenomenon takes place; the clitoris becomes
+turgid and the mild and repeated friction of the mucous membranes,
+together with contact on other sensitive parts, produces a voluptuous
+sensation as in the man. Through nervous association, the repeated
+excitation determines secretion from certain glands of the vagina
+which lubricate the vulva (glands of _Bartholin_). At the maximum
+point of voluptuous feeling the woman experiences something analogous
+to the venereal orgasm of the man. There is thus manifested in the two
+sexes an intense and reciprocal desire of penetration one by the
+other, a desire which powerfully favors fecundation. In the woman as
+in the man the end of the orgasm is followed by an agreeable
+relaxation which invites sleep.
+
+The hereditary or instinctive nervous actions produce after coitus a
+profound effect of contrast. When the sexual appetite commences, the
+odors, especially those of the sexual organs, the contacts, the
+movements, and the sight of the individual of the opposite sex, all
+increase desire, producing a voluptuous excitation stronger than all
+contrary feeling. Hardly is the sexual act consummated than all
+vanishes like a dream. What was a moment before the object of the most
+violent desire becomes indifferent, and sometimes even excites a
+slight feeling of disgust, at least as regards certain odors,
+sometimes even regarding touch and sight. The name sexual appetite
+(libido sexualis) is given to the passionate and purely sexual desire
+of the two sexes for each other. It varies greatly in different
+individuals.
+
+According to _Ferdy_ and other authors, the neck of the womb, during
+the venereal orgasm of the woman, executes movements of suction in the
+glans penis. I do not know if this is a fact, but it is certain that
+the female orgasm is useless for conception. Absolutely cold women,
+incapable of the least voluptuous sensation are as fruitful as those
+who have pronounced venereal orgasms. It proves that the spermatozoa
+arrive at their goal even when the womb is entirely passive. The great
+variation of sexual desire in different individuals renders mutual
+adaptation often very difficult. The venereal orgasm is sometimes more
+rapid in man, sometimes in woman (more rarely in the latter). This
+inequality is rather to the detriment of the woman, for the man can
+still satisfy himself when the orgasm of the woman has terminated,
+while the contrary is not possible without artificial manipulation.
+Moreover, the frequence and intensity of the sexual appetite are often
+much greater in one than in the other, which is detrimental to both.
+Here again it is the woman who suffers the most, for the man can
+always satisfy himself without the woman having voluptuous sensations.
+What is commonly called good manners generally prevents the conjoints
+from speaking of their sexual desires before marriage. This very often
+results in grave deceptions, dissensions, and often even divorce. I
+shall return to this subject in Chapter XIV.
+
+Voluptuous sensations only represent the means employed by nature to
+bring together the sexes with the object of reproducing the species. A
+woman can be fecundated and give birth to a child by the aid of semen
+injected into the uterus by a syringe. Moreover, it is rather
+exceptional for the venereal orgasm to occur in the two sexes at the
+same moment. It is essential for fecundation that the semen should
+enter the womb. When the spermatozoa have reached the neighborhood of
+the neck of the womb they swim by their own movements, not only along
+the whole uterine cavity, but also along the Fallopian tubes and even
+in the abdominal cavity, so that the force of ejaculation is of little
+importance.
+
+=Pregnancy.=--The womb enlarges considerably during pregnancy. It
+exceeds the size of an adult head, and the muscles of its walls are
+greatly increased, so as to be capable of expelling the child later
+on.
+
+The phenomena of pregnancy, birth and suckling are known to all, so
+that I shall be brief. The almost sudden activity of the breasts after
+childbirth is a very interesting correlative phenomenon. It suffices
+to glance at one who has just become a mother and to observe the
+complications which profoundly influence all her organism with regard
+to the life of the infant, to comprehend to what extent the role of
+sexual life is more important, more profound, even more vital, in
+woman than in man. The latter no doubt requires a more violent
+appetite to urge him to copulation because he plays the active part,
+short though it be. But fecundating coitus having been effected, his
+contribution to the reproduction of the species is ended.
+
+While the activity of man is terminated at conception, that of woman
+only begins at this moment. In the first chapter we have indicated in
+a few words the transformations of the human embryo up to its birth.
+During nine months it grows from the size of a pin's head (the ovule)
+to that of the new-born child. Although a woman seldom bears more than
+one embryo at the same time, twins being rare on the whole, she has
+nevertheless more pain and fatigue to bear than any female animal.
+This is due not only to the fact that our artificial and alcoholized
+civilization, with its specialized labor which disturbs vital
+equilibrium, has made women indolent and degenerate, but also to the
+enormous development of the human brain. The head of the human embryo
+is disproportionately large because the brain, as I showed with
+_Schiller_ in 1889, already contains at birth all the nerve elements
+which it will possess during the rest of its life (_Comptes rendus de
+l'Académie des Sciences_). No doubt these elements are small and
+embryonic but the nerve fibers are ready to be covered with myelin and
+to enter upon their functions, and all this requires a cranium of
+considerable size. But it is not everything for the mother to nourish
+with her blood the brain and the cranium of the child; it is also
+necessary for this relatively large head to pass through the pelvis at
+the time of childbirth, and we know that this moment is the most
+dangerous for the life of the pregnant woman. As boys have on the
+average a larger brain and cranium than those of girls, their birth is
+usually more difficult.
+
+=Accouchement.=--The sexual organs of woman undergo great changes in
+order to render childbirth possible. These organs become larger and
+more vascular, especially the womb, the growth of which is
+astonishing. Originally the size of a small egg (a guinea fowl's) it
+exceeds the size of a human head, and there is an enormous increase of
+muscular tissue in its walls. Large blood vessels develop in the
+uterine wall, especially in the placenta (Figs. 22 and 23), where they
+enter into endosmotic relations with the circulation of the embryo.
+
+From the abdomen of the embryo arises an organ, the _allantois_, which
+is destined to carry the blood-vessels of the embryo to the placenta,
+and at the same time to give rise to the formation of the latter. In
+the placenta the blood-vessels of the embryo are separated from those
+of the mother by walls so thin that the nutritive juices of the
+maternal blood transude into the venous blood of the embryo, as well
+as combined oxygen in the blood necessary for its respiration. Up to
+this point the vitellus of the egg, nourished by endosmosis through
+its membranes, had sufficed for the nutrition of the still very small
+embryo. While these phenomena are taking place, and while the
+substance of the two conjugated germs divides into an ever increasing
+number of cells, which become differentiated in layers to form the
+future organs (Fig. 21), while certain groups of cells are prepared
+some to form the intestinal canal, others the muscles and blood
+vessels, others the skin and organs of sense, others arising from the
+last to form the brain, the spinal cord and the nerves, the mother can
+still live her ordinary life. She suffers, however, from different
+disorders connected with what is passing on in her body.
+
+It is a curious fact that these disorders are more accentuated at the
+commencement of pregnancy, when the womb is hardly enlarged, than at
+the end. They consist chiefly of nervous troubles--slight derangement
+of the cerebral functions and sensations, etc. Obstinate vomiting,
+peculiar desires, and changes of temper are some of the most frequent
+troubles of pregnant women, and probably arise more from local nervous
+irritation than from general transformations of the nutrition of the
+body. The mother's body is becoming adapted to the development of the
+infant in the womb. However embarrassed a woman may be in the last
+months of pregnancy by the great swelling of the belly (Fig. 22) the
+disorders are less accentuated than at the beginning of pregnancy.
+
+During pregnancy menstruation ceases. The sexual appetite is very
+variable; in many pregnant women it is diminished, in others there is
+no change, and it is seldom increased. There are other troubles which
+are more or less frequent, such as varicose veins in the legs caused
+by pressure of the uterus on the veins.
+
+But all the sufferings of pregnancy and childbirth are compensated for
+by the ardent desire of the normal woman to have a child, and by the
+happiness of hearing its first cry. Proud and happy to give life to a
+new human being, which she hopes soon to suckle and carry in her arms,
+she cheerfully bears all the inconveniences and pains of pregnancy and
+childbirth. The latter is actually painful, for in spite of all that
+nature does to relax the pelvis and render it elastic, to dilate the
+neck of the womb, the vagina and the vulva, the passage of the
+enormous head of a human infant through all these relatively narrow
+apertures is extremely difficult (Figs. 22 and 23). The passage is
+forced by the powerful contractions of the muscles of the womb.
+However, they do not always succeed by themselves, and in this case
+the accoucheur is obliged to apply the forceps to extract the head of
+the child. Very often the neck of the womb, the vagina or the perineum
+(the part situated between the anus and the vulva) become torn during
+labor, and this may lead later on to disorders such as prolapse of the
+womb, etc.; disorders which may last through life.
+
+When the child is born, the umbilical cord (that is the transformed
+allantois, Fig. 23) cut, and the placenta extracted, the connecting
+nutrition and respiration between the child and its mother are
+suddenly interrupted. Nourished hitherto by its mother's blood through
+the placenta and the vessels of the umbilical cord which supplied the
+necessary oxygen, the infant is suddenly obliged to breathe and feed
+for itself. Its lungs, hitherto inactive, expand instantaneously under
+the nervous influence produced by the blood saturated with carbonic
+acid, and the first cry is produced. Thus commences individual
+respiration. Several hours later the cessation of maternal nutrition
+causes hunger, and this the reflex movements of suction, and the child
+takes the breast. During this time the empty womb contracts strongly
+and retracts enormously in a few days. The increase of blood produced
+by the maternal organism, by its adaptation to the nutrition of the
+embryo, is then employed in the production of milk in the breasts or
+lactiferous glands, which were already well developed during
+pregnancy.
+
+=Suckling. Maternity.=--The mother is instinctively disposed to suckle
+her child as the infant is to suck. At the end of four to six weeks,
+the womb has almost completely regained its former size.
+
+In savage races suckling at the breast lasts for two years or more. It
+is useless to mention here to what point the capacity for suckling and
+the production of milk have diminished among the modern women of
+civilized countries. This sad sign of degeneration is due to a large
+extent, as _Bunge_ has shown by careful statistics, to the habit of
+taking alcoholic drinks, and is combined with other blastophthoric
+degenerations due to hereditary alcoholism. The future will show
+whether the artificial feeding of infants with cows' milk will benefit
+humanity. In any case it allows infants to survive who would die
+without it. On the other hand the development of a degeneration can
+hardly be an advantage for the species and we should hope for a return
+to the natural rule by abstinence from all alcoholic drinks.
+
+The false modesty of women concerning their pregnancy and everything
+that concerns childbirth, the pleasantries often made with regard to
+pregnant women are a sad sign of the degeneration and even corruption
+of our refined civilization. Pregnant women ought not to hide
+themselves, or to be ashamed to carry a child in their womb; on the
+contrary they should be proud. Such pride would certainly be much more
+justified than that of the fine officers parading in their uniforms.
+The external signs of the formation of humanity are more honorable to
+their bearers than the symbols of destruction, and woman should become
+imbued more and more with this truth! They will then cease to hide
+their pregnancy and to be ashamed of it. Conscious of the grandeur of
+their sexual and social duty they will raise aloft the standard of
+our descent, which is that of the true future life of man, at the same
+time striving for the emancipation of their sex. Viewed in this way,
+the sexual role of woman becomes elevated and solemn. Man should less
+and less maintain his indifference towards the social miseries to
+which the slavery of woman has led, which has lasted thousands of
+years and which has dishonored the highest functions of her sex, by
+abuses without number.
+
+The hygiene of pregnancy, labor and its sequels, is of the highest
+importance. It certainly should not consist in exaggerated care and
+precaution, for in spoiling and softening women by inaction more harm
+than good is done. On the other hand, the social cruelty which
+neglects poor women of the people in confinement, often even without
+giving them sufficient nourishment, is revolting, and it is here
+especially that the reform of social hygiene becomes an elementary
+necessity for humanity.
+
+All that we have just spoken of binds the woman for months or years to
+each of her children, and we can understand that her whole soul is
+adapted in consequence to maternity. Even when birth has detached the
+child from the maternal body, it remains attached to its mother by a
+hundred bonds, not only during the period of suckling, but long
+afterward when the conventions do not violate natural laws. Little
+children are deeply attached to their mother, and while the father is
+impatient with their cries and the embarrassment which they cause, the
+mother takes a natural delight in them. When pregnancies succeed each
+other at reasonable intervals of one or two years, the normal woman
+lives with her children for many years in intimacy which never
+entirely ceases in a family animated by human and social sentiments.
+
+In normal circumstances the special bonds which unite the mother to
+her children last for life, while the father, if all goes well,
+becomes simply the best friend of his growing children. It is time
+that fathers began to recognize these natural laws, instead of
+clinging so tenaciously to the historic and artificial prestige of a
+worm-eaten and unnatural patriarchal authority. No doubt there are
+many pathological and degenerate mothers, but such an anomaly only
+proves the rule that we have just laid down.
+
+=Correlative Sexual Characters.=--The correlative sexual characters,
+which we have previously spoken of in animals, are well known in man.
+Man is in the average larger, broader in the shoulders and more
+robust; his skeleton is more solid but his pelvis narrower. At the age
+of puberty, from 16 to 20 years, the beard grows on the face, while in
+the pubic region hair develops in both sexes. At the same time the
+testicles and external genital organs enlarge. The sexual glands as
+well as the external genital organs have remained so far in an
+embryonic state although the mechanism of erection is already
+established in young boys. But this mechanism, in the normal boy, is
+not associated with any voluptuous sensation or any glandular
+secretion.
+
+Man possesses the rudiments of the correlative sexual characters of
+woman, such as nipples without lactiferous glands, etc. In a general
+way each part of the external genital organs of one sex has its
+corresponding embryonic homologue in the other, which is explained by
+the different transformations which were originally the same in the
+embryo. The clitoris of woman corresponds to the penis of man, the
+labia majora to the scrotum, etc. In certain individuals these
+rudiments are more strongly developed, and may by exaggeration and
+transition lead to pathological hermaphrodism (Chapter I); such are
+bearded women, and those possessing a large clitoris, or beardless men
+with effeminate bodies and small sexual organs. Such cases are not
+examples of hermaphrodism, but of incomplete embryological
+differentiation. They consist in certain correlative sexual characters
+which show a tendency toward the other sex, a tendency which we find,
+from the mental point of view, in homosexuals.
+
+There is also to be noticed the "breaking" of the voice which occurs
+in man at the age of puberty, and is connected with the nervous
+system.
+
+In women the body is smaller and more delicate, the bones weaker, the
+pelvis wider and the chest narrower. The normal woman has no beard
+while the pubic hairs are the same as in man. The pubis, covered with
+a layer of fat, is slightly prominent in women and is called the _mons
+Veneris_. There is more fat under the skin in a woman's body, and the
+voice does not break. After puberty breasts develop with their
+lactiferous glands and nipples for suction. Puberty takes place a
+little earlier in women than in men, and corresponds to the growth of
+the internal and external sexual organs, at the same time that the
+ovules commence to mature and menstruation is established.
+
+The mental correlative sexual characters are much more important than
+those of the body. The psychology of man is different from that of
+woman. Many books have been written on this subject, usually with more
+sentimentality than exactitude. Mysogynists, like the philosopher
+_Schopenhauer_, disparage woman from all points of view, while the
+friends of the female sex often exalt her in an exaggerated manner. In
+contemporary literature we see women authors judging man in quite
+different ways according as they are affected with "misandery" or
+"philandery"--that is enemies or friends of men. Quite recently
+_Moebius_ has published a mysogynistic work on the "Physiological
+Imbecility of Woman." (_Der physiologische Schwachsinn des Weibes_).
+One must be a misogynist of very high degree to introduce the
+pathological notion of imbecility into the evolution of the normal
+mentality of woman. In reality, the individual differences are much
+greater in man and woman from the psychological than from the physical
+point of view, so that they render a definition of the average
+extremely difficult.
+
+We are acquainted with bearded women, athletic women, as well as
+beardless men and puny men. From the mental point of view, there are
+also viragos and men with feminine instincts. Imbeciles are not
+wanting in both sexes, but no reasonable person will deny that an
+intelligent woman is superior to a narrow-minded man even from the
+purely intellectual point of view. In spite of these difficulties, I
+shall attempt to bring forward the principal points which distinguish,
+in a general way, the masculine mind from the feminine, relying on my
+own observations and especially on the mental phenomena of both
+sexes.
+
+=The Weight of the Brain.=--According to statistics, the weight of the
+brain in men of our race is on the average 1350 grammes, while that of
+women averages 1200 grammes. The absolute weight is, however, not of
+much importance, because part of the cerebral substance in the larger
+animals is only for the supply of a greater number of cellular
+elements of the rest of the body, which necessitates a greater number
+of nervous elements.
+
+To make the matter clear, it is necessary to separate the weight of
+the cerebral hemispheres from the other nervous centers, such as the
+cerebellum, corpora striata, the optic thalami, the mid-brain, the
+pons Varolii, the medulla oblongata and the spinal cord, for these
+centers constitute parts which are phylogenetically older, that is to
+say, inherited from lower animal ancestors. Compared with the cerebral
+hemispheres, these nerve centers are relatively more important in
+other vertebrates than in man, and are in more constant proportion to
+the size of the body, the muscular, glandular and sensory elements of
+which they supply. When the intelligence is about the same, they are,
+therefore, compared with the cerebral hemispheres, much more developed
+in the larger than in the smaller animals. For example, they are very
+large in the ox, but small in mice. I have weighed a considerable
+number of human brains separated in this way with the following
+results:
+
+  CEREBRAL HEMISPHERES         OTHER CEREBRAL CENTERS
+  Man 1060 grammes,  78.5%   |   290 grammes, 21.5%
+  Woman 955 grammes, 77.9%   |   270 grammes, 22.1%
+
+Thus the cerebellum and basal ganglia are a little smaller in men than
+in women, compared with the cerebral hemispheres.
+
+These figures appear to show that the cerebral hemispheres in woman
+are on the average a little smaller than in man, even proportionately
+to the stature; for, according to a general law in the animal kingdom,
+woman being smaller, her cerebral hemispheres should be, with equal
+mentality, proportionately a little larger. There are, however, female
+brains larger than many male brains, and the absolute and relative
+size of the cerebral hemispheres does not give a complete measure of
+the productive faculties. Remarkable men have been known to possess
+rather small brains and imbeciles heavy ones. We must not forget the
+great importance of the hereditary or engraphic predispositions of the
+nerve element or _neurone_, to certain activities and especially to
+work in general, that is to say, their aptitude to produce energy, or
+if one prefers it, their disposition to "will."
+
+It is also interesting to consider the relationship of the frontal
+lobe to the rest of the cerebral hemispheres, the frontal lobe being
+without doubt the principal seat of intellectual activity. According
+to _Meynert_, the weight of the frontal lobe in man exceeds that of
+woman, not only absolutely, but relatively to the rest of the brain.
+In his _résumé_ of the statistical data collected on this subject and
+from the results of my own material (autopsies at the asylum of
+Burgholzli in Zurich), _Mercier_ has confirmed the opinion of
+_Meynert_. The average weight of the hemispheres separated from the
+rest of the brain is 1019 grammes in man (frontal lobe 428, the rest
+591), and 930 in woman (frontal lobe 384, rest 546). Here, atrophied
+brains (except general paralytics) have been weighed with others,
+which lowers the average total weight without altering the proportion.
+Thus, the rest of the cerebral hemispheres exceeds the frontal lobe by
+163 grammes in man and 162 grammes in woman, which means that in man
+the frontal lobe constitutes 42 per cent. of the cerebral hemispheres
+and in woman 41.3 per cent. The difference is not great, but it is
+definite, for it is based on a large number of observations.
+
+=Mental Capacity of the Two Sexes.=--The fundamental difference
+between the psychology of woman and that of man is constituted by the
+irradiations of the sexual sphere in the cerebral hemispheres, which
+constitute what may be called _sexual mentality_. We shall discuss
+this in the following chapters, for it constitutes the foundation of
+our subject. We are only concerned here with the correlative
+differences.
+
+Adhering in a general way to the main definitions of psychology, we
+assert that from the purely intellectual point of view, man
+considerably excels woman in his creative imagination, his faculty for
+combination and discovery, and by his critical mind. For a long time
+this was said to be explained by the statement that women had not the
+opportunity of measuring their intelligence against that of men; but,
+thanks to the modern movement of the emancipation of women, this
+assertion becomes more and more untenable. It is so with regard to
+artistic creations, for women have at all times taken part in works of
+art. When certain people maintain that a few generations of activity
+suffice to elevate the intellectual development of women, they
+confound the results of education with those of heredity and phylogeny
+(vide Chapter II). Education is a purely individual matter and only
+requires one generation to produce its results. But neither mnemic
+engraphia, nor even selection can modify hereditary energies in two or
+three generations. Tied down hitherto partly by servitude, the mental
+faculties of woman will doubtless rise and flourish in all their
+natural power as soon as they are absolutely free to develop in
+society equally with those of men, by the aid of equal rights. But
+what does not exist in the hereditary mneme, that is to say in the
+energies of germs, inherited through thousands or millions of years,
+cannot be created in a few generations. The specific characters and
+consequently the sexual characters have quite another constancy than
+is believed by the superficial prattlers, who deafen us with their
+jargon on a question of which they only grasp the surface. There is no
+excuse, at the present day, for confounding hereditary correlative
+sexual characters with the individual results of education. The latter
+are acquired by habit and can only be inherited as such by an
+infinitesimal engraphia, possibly after hundreds of generations.
+
+On the other hand woman possesses, from the intellectual point of
+view, a faculty of reception and comprehension as well as a facility
+of reproduction which are almost equal to those of man. In higher
+education at the universities the women I have had the opportunity of
+observing at Zurich for many years, show a more equal level than that
+of the men. The most intelligent men reproduce best and the most
+stupid men reproduce worse than the corresponding female extremes. I
+do not think one can say much more concerning the purely intellectual
+domain.
+
+Artistic production confirms this opinion. Woman is here on the
+average much inferior as regards creation or production, properly so
+called, and even her best results are wanting in originality and do
+not open up new paths. On the contrary, as virtuosos, women compare
+well with men in simply reproductive art. There are, however,
+exceptional women whose productions are original, creative and
+independent. The philosopher _Stuart Mill_ points out the intuitive
+gift of woman who, led by her individual observations, rapidly and
+clearly discovers a general truth, and applies it in particular cases,
+without troubling with abstract theories. This may be called the
+intuitive or subconscious judgment of woman.
+
+In the domain of sentiment the two sexes differ very much from each
+other, but we cannot say that one surpasses the other. Both are
+passionate, but in different ways. The passions of man are coarser and
+less durable, and are only more elevated when associated with more
+original and more complex intellectual aims. In woman sentiment is
+more delicate and more finely shaded esthetically and morally; it is
+also more durable, at least on the average, although its objects are
+often of a mean and banal nature.
+
+When man compares himself with woman he usually identifies himself,
+more or less unconsciously, with the highest male intellects, with the
+men of genius in art and science, and complaisantly ignores the crowd
+of idiots of his own sex! In the life of sentiment the two sexes may
+complement each other admirably; while man raises the height of the
+ideal and of objects to be attained, woman has the necessary tact to
+soften and refine the tones, and to adapt their shades to each special
+situation, by the aid of her natural intuition, where man risks
+spoiling everything by the violence of his passions and his efforts.
+This reciprocal influence should conduce to the best and highest
+harmony of sentiments in a happy sexual combination.
+
+As regards will power, woman is, in my opinion, on the average
+superior to man. It is in this psychological domain more than in any
+other, that she will always triumph. This is generally misunderstood,
+because men have so far apparently held the scepter of an unlimited
+omnipotence; because by the abuse of brute force, aided by superiority
+of inventive genius, humanity has been hitherto led by strong
+masculine wills, and because the strongest feminine wills have been
+dominated by the law of the right of the stronger. But the
+unprejudiced observer is soon obliged to recognize that the directive
+will of the family is only, in general, represented externally by the
+master. Man parades his authority much more often than he puts it into
+practice; he lacks the perseverance, tenacity and elasticity which
+constitute the true power of will, and which are peculiar to woman. It
+is needless to say that I am only speaking of the average and that
+there are many women whose will power is feeble. But these easily
+become the prey of prostitution, which causes their disappearance.
+This is perhaps one of the causes which have strengthened by selection
+the will power in women. Man is impulsive and violent as regards his
+will power, but often inconstant and irresolute, yielding as soon as
+he has to strive persistently for a certain object. From these facts
+it naturally results that, on the average, it is the man in the family
+who provides the ideas and impulses, but the woman who, with the
+finesse of her tact and perseverance, instinctively makes the
+distinction between the useful and the harmful, utilizing the former
+and constantly combating the latter; not because she is fundamentally
+superior, but because she is more capable of dominating herself, which
+proves the superiority of her will power.
+
+Nothing is more unjust than to disparage one sex relatively to the
+other. The parthenogenesis of the lower animals having ceased in the
+vertebrates, each sex is indispensable, not only to the preservation
+of species, but also to each conception or reproduction of the
+individual. Both are thus equivalent and belong to each other as the
+two halves of a whole, one being incapable of resisting without the
+other. Everything which benefits one of the halves benefits the other.
+If by the magic wand of a fairy, the male half or the female half of
+our humanity, such as it is to-day, was rendered capable and obliged
+to reproduce alone, men would soon degenerate owing to the weakness of
+their will combined with their sensual passions, and women from their
+incapacity to raise their intellectual level by means of creative
+ideas.
+
+We need not dwell here on the numerous psychological peculiarities of
+woman, inherent in her capacity as mother, nor on those of man
+adapted to his muscular strength and to his capacity as protector of
+the family. These are derived from sexual differences which are
+mentioned in Chapter V. Nor need we describe correlative differences
+of less importance which are well known and which arise from those of
+which we have spoken or from direct sexual differences. They can be
+observed, on the one hand, in purely male reunions in saloons, smoking
+rooms and other similar places; on the other hand, in feminine circles
+of all classes, among the common people, among the fashionable, or
+even in philanthropic associations. On the average, woman is more
+artful and more modest; man coarser and more cynical, etc. After much
+personal experience, gained in societies in which the two sexes
+possess the same rights and are admitted to the same titles, I am
+obliged to declare that I have never found any confirmation (at least
+in the German-Swiss country) of the popular saying that gossip and
+intrigue are the special appanage of woman. I have found these two
+vices quite as often in man.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE SEXUAL APPETITE
+
+
+If we sum up the three preceding chapters we arrive at the
+philosophical conclusion that reproduction depends on the general
+natural tendency of all living beings to multiply indefinitely.
+Fission and sexual reproduction arise from the simple fact that the
+growth of each individual is necessarily limited in space as well as
+time. Reproduction is thus destined to assure the continuation of
+life; the individual dies but is perpetuated in his progeny. We do not
+know why the crossing of individuals is rendered necessary by the
+phenomenon of conjugation. On this subject we can only build
+hypotheses, but the study of nature shows us that where conjugation
+ceases reproduction is etiolated and finally disappears, even when it
+is still possible for a certain time.
+
+From the commencement of life there is thus a powerful law of
+attraction with the object of reproduction. At first there are
+unicellular organisms, in which one cell penetrates the other in the
+act of conjugation. Their substances combine intimately, while the
+molecules of each nucleus become so arranged as to give the new
+individual a more fresh and powerful energy of growth.
+
+In the lower multicellular plants and animals which bud, fresh buds
+live at the expense of the old trunk to give life to new branches, and
+the male cells or pollen fecundate the female cells so as to disperse
+the germs capable of growth and of thus reproducing the species. It is
+also the same in the madrepores and other agglomerated animals (such
+as the solitary worms), composed of parameres or metameres, so long as
+a single central nervous system does not coordinate the metameres, or
+primary agglutinated animals, into a single organism.
+
+In the higher animals, the complex polycellular individuals formed by
+the agglomeration of several primitive animals, are transformed into a
+higher and mobile unity by the aid of the great vital apparatus called
+the nervous system, which becomes the mental director of the living
+organism and invests it with its individual character. However, this
+higher unity of life, which always becomes more psychic, that is to
+say, at the same time intellectual, sentimental and voluntary, by its
+complication and its numerous relations with other individuals, this
+unity called the _central nervous system_ cannot do without the
+necessity for reproduction. In animal phylogeny, as soon as
+hermaphrodism has ceased and each individual has become the sole
+bearer of one of the two kinds of sexual cells, the species will
+eventually disappear if the male cells cannot reach the female cells
+by the active movement of the whole individual. Thus is produced the
+marvelous phenomenon of the desire of increase and reproduction,
+originally peculiar to the male cell, penetrating the nervous system,
+that is to say life and soul in its entirety, the life of the higher
+unity of the individual. An ardent desire, a powerful impulse thus
+arises in the nervous system at the time of puberty and attracts the
+individual toward the opposite sex. The care and the pleasure of self
+preservation, which had hitherto fully occupied his attention, become
+effaced by this new impulse. The desire to procreate dominates
+everything. A single pleasure, a single desire, a single passion lays
+hold of the organism and urges it toward the individual of the
+opposite sex, and to become united with it in intimate contact and
+penetration. It is as if the nervous system or the whole organism felt
+as if it had for the moment become a germinal cell, so powerful is the
+desire to unite with the other sex.
+
+In some beautiful verses the German poet-philosopher _Goethe_
+(West-Oestlicher Divan, book VIII, "Suleika") describes the desire to
+procreate (p. 63):
+
+    Und mit eiligem Bestreben
+    Sucht sich, was sich angehört,
+    Und zu ungemessnem Leben
+    Ist Gefühl und Blick gekehrt.
+    Sei's ergreifen, sei es raffen,
+    Wenn es nur sich fasst und hält!
+    Allah braucht nicht mehr zu schaffen,
+    Wir erschaffen seine Welt!
+
+If we look at nature we see everywhere the same desire and the same
+attraction of the sexes for each other; the bird which warbles, the
+mammal which ruts, the insect which hums while pursuing the female
+with implacable tenacity, at the risk of their own life, employing
+sometimes cunning, sometimes dexterity, and sometimes force to attain
+their object. The ardor of the female is not always much less, but she
+uses coquetry, pretending to resist, and simulates repulsion. The more
+eager the male, the more coquettish is the female. If we observe the
+amorous sport of butterflies and birds, we see what efforts it costs
+the male to attain his object. On the other hand when the male is
+clumsy and slow the female often comes toward him or at any rate does
+not resist him, for instance in certain ants the males of which are
+wingless while the females have wings. The final act always consists
+in intimate union at the moment of copulation.
+
+In some animals Nature is prodigal in the means she employs to pursue
+her great object, reproduction, by aid of the sexual appetite. The
+apiary raises hundreds of male bees. As soon as the single queen-bee
+takes wing for its nuptial flight all the males follow, but a single
+male only, the strongest and most nimble, succeeds in reaching her. In
+the intoxication of copulation he abandons all his genital organs to
+the body of the queen and dies. The other males, now useless, are all
+massacred in autumn by the working bees.
+
+Sexual connection among butterflies of the Bombyx family is no less
+marvelous. They live for months as caterpillars and sometimes for two
+years as chrysalids, hibernating in a cocoon in some corner of the
+earth or in the bark of trees. Finally the butterfly, brilliantly
+colored, emerges from the cocoon and spreads its wings. It only
+possesses, however, a rudimentary intestinal canal for the short life
+which remains, for it does not require much nourishment and is only
+devoted to sexual connection. The female remains quiet and waits. The
+male, furnished with large antennę which perceive the odor of the
+female at a distance of several kilometers, commences an infatuated
+flight through the woods and fields, as soon as his wings are
+sufficiently strong. His sole object is to reach the female. Here
+again there are numerous competitors. The one who arrives first
+possesses the female, but expires shortly afterward. His competitors
+die also, exhausted by their long flight and by starvation, but
+without having attained their object. After copulation, the female
+searches for the green plants which will ensure a long caterpillar
+life for her offspring. There she deposits her fecundated eggs in
+considerable numbers and then expires in her turn, like a faded flower
+which has fulfilled the object of its existence and falls after
+leaving the fruit in its place.
+
+The French naturalist _Fabre_ has described these phenomena, relying
+on conclusive experiments, and my own observations and those of other
+naturalists confirm them fully. Among the ants, all the males die
+also, soon after an aėrial nuptial flight, in which copulation is
+generally polyandrous, one male hardly waiting for the preceding one
+to discharge his semen before taking his place. Here the female
+possesses a receptacle for semen which often contains the sperm of
+many males, and which allows it to fecundate the eggs one after
+another for several years as she lays them, and thus to act as the
+mother of an ant's nest during a period which may extend to eleven or
+twelve years, or even more.
+
+In the lower organisms, love consists only in sexual instinct or
+appetite. As soon as the function is accomplished love disappears. It
+is only in the higher animals that we see a more or less durable
+sympathy develop between the two sexes. However, here also and even in
+man the sexual passion intoxicates for the moment all the senses. In
+his sexual rut even man is dominated as by a magic influence, and for
+the time he sees the world only under the aspect inspired by this
+influence. The object loved appears to him under celestial colors,
+which veil all the defects and miseries of reality. Each moment of his
+amorous feeling inspires sentiments which it seems to him should last
+eternally. He swears impossible things and believes in immortal
+happiness. A reciprocal illusion transforms life momentarily into
+mirages of paradise. The most common things, and even certain things
+which usually disgust him, are then the object of the most violent
+desire. But, as soon as the orgasm is ended and the appetite satisfied
+the feeling of satiety appears. A curtain falls on the scene, and, at
+least for the moment, repose and reality reappear.
+
+Such are, in a few words, the general phenomena of the normal sexual
+appetite among sexual organisms in the whole of living nature. I am
+not speaking here of degenerations, such as onanism and prostitution.
+Let us now analyze this appetite further.
+
+The natural appetites are inherited instincts the roots of which lie
+far back in the phylogenetic history of our ancestors. Hunger forms
+the basis for the preservation of the individual, the sexual appetite
+that for the preservation of the species, as soon as reproduction
+takes place by separate sexes. All appetite belongs to the motor side
+of nervous activity; there is something internal which urges us to an
+act, but, on the other hand, one or more sensations may exist at the
+base of this something to put it in action. I have proved, for
+example, that the egg-laying instinct in the corpse fly (_Lucilia
+cęsar_) is only produced by the odor of putrefaction. As soon as the
+antennę, which contain the organ of smell, are removed from these
+flies they cease to lay, while other more severe operations, or
+removal of one antenna only does not produce this result.
+
+The mechanism of appetites is thus a lower mechanism and has its seat
+in the primitive nervous centers. As _Yersin_ has proved, a cricket
+deprived of its brain may copulate so long as the sensory irritations
+can reach the sexual nervous centers.
+
+We can thus say that the mechanism of appetites belongs to automatic
+actions deeply inherited by phylogeny. Although complicated and
+composed of coördinated reflex movements which follow one another in
+regular succession, it has no actual power of modifying the so-called
+voluntary acts, which depend entirely on the cerebral hemispheres, and
+of which we men only have a conscious feeling. The appetites are not
+capable of adapting themselves to new circumstances and cease to be
+produced when the chain is interrupted. We are obliged to admit that
+the instincts or appetites are accompanied by a sub-conscious
+introspection which, as such, can hardly enter into direct relation
+with our higher consciousness, that is, with our ordinary
+consciousness in the waking state.
+
+In spite of this, when their intensity increases, the appetites
+overcoming the central nervous resistances, reach the cerebral
+hemispheres, and consequently our introspection or higher
+consciousness, under a _synthetic or unified appearance_, and
+influence in a high degree the cerebral activities, which are
+reflected in association with all the elements of what we call our
+mind in the proper sense of the term, that is to say, our intellect,
+sentiments and will. It is from this point of view that sexual
+appetite must be considered in order to make it comprehensible. Love,
+with all that appertains to it, belongs as such to our mind, that is,
+to the activity of our cerebral hemispheres, but it is produced there
+by a secondary irradiation from the sexual appetite, which alone
+concerns us at present. We may also remark that sexual ideas when once
+awakened in the cerebral hemispheres by sexual appetite, are worked up
+there by the attention, that is to say by concentrated cerebral
+activity, then associated with other ideas, which on their side react
+strongly on the sexual appetite, developing or paralyzing it,
+attracting or repelling it, or finally transforming its attributes and
+objects.
+
+By sexual desire (libido sexualis) we mean the manner in which the
+sexual appetite manifests itself in man. Each term may be employed for
+the other.
+
+=The Sexual Appetite in Man.=--Man represents the active element in
+sexual union, and in him the sexual appetite, or desire for coitus, is
+at first the stronger. This desire develops spontaneously, and the
+role of fecundator represents the principal male activity. This
+appetite powerfully affects the male mind, although sexual life plays
+a less important part in him than in the female.
+
+In boys, the sexual appetite is often prematurely awakened, excited in
+unnatural ways by bad example. Moreover, it varies enormously in
+different individuals, a point to which we shall return when dealing
+with pathology. Leaving aside unnatural appetites and abnormal forms
+of sexual instinct we shall describe here its most spontaneous and
+normal form.
+
+=Puberty. Awakening of the Sexual Instinct in Boys.=--Sooner or later
+in different individuals, the boy pays attention to his erections,
+which are at first produced in a reflex and involuntary manner.
+Mental development and reflection, so precocious in man, are causes
+which draw attention to the differences of the sexes before the sexual
+appetite is developed. It is, however, the first signs of this
+appetite which concentrate the attention on these differences, for in
+their absence, the boy is more indifferent to them than to the
+straight or crooked form of a nose. Man has the habit of passing by
+without notice anything which does not interest him, and this is why
+we find, in individuals whose sexual appetite is developed late or
+feebly, an indifference and ignorance in these matters which appear
+almost incredible to those whose sexual appetite is precocious and
+violent; while, on the contrary, the lively interest which the latter
+show in everything concerning the sexes appears foolish and absurd to
+the sexually indifferent.
+
+The pairing of animals, even of insects, awakens a curious interest in
+those whose sexual dispositions are strong and precocious; they
+comprehend very quickly the reason and are led to draw analogies with
+their own sensations in the same domain. The aspect of the female sex
+has, however, a much stronger action still on the normal man. But here
+is produced a peculiar phenomenon. What especially excites the boy in
+the aspect of the female sex is anything unusual; the sight of certain
+parts of the skin which are normally covered, the clothes or
+ornaments, particular odors, women whom the boy is not accustomed to
+see, etc. It is for this reason that brothers and sisters do not
+excite, or excite very little, their reciprocal sexual appetite, at
+least if there are no anomalies or exceptional exhibitions. The sexual
+appetites of boys among savage peoples who live naked is hardly at all
+excited by naked girls; on the other hand, it is strongly excited by
+those who are clothed or ornamented in a peculiar manner. The sexual
+appetite of a Mahometan is strongly excited by the nudity of the
+feminine face, that of the European by that of a woman's legs, because
+women are accustomed to veil their faces in the first case and their
+legs in the second. These are naturally only relative differences.
+When the sexual appetite of man is violent and unsatisfied woman
+excites it in a general way, if she is not too old or repulsive.
+
+A second important character of the normal sexual appetite is the
+special attraction that appearances of health and strength in woman
+produce in man. Healthy forms, normal odors, a normal voice, a skin
+healthy in appearance and to the touch, constitute attractions which
+charm and excite man, while all that is unhealthy or faded, every
+pathological odor, produce a repulsive effect and hinders or
+diminishes sexual desire.
+
+Everything connected with the sexual organs, their appearance, touch
+and odor, tend to excite the sexual appetite, all the more when they
+are usually covered; it is the same with the breasts.
+
+The first sexual sensations are of a quite indeterminate nature;
+something unconscious and obscure inclines the boy toward the female
+sex and makes it appear desirable. A boy may thus become enamored of
+the portrait of a woman with a swelling bosom and alluring eyes and be
+seized with desire, either at their sight or only on remembrance. This
+desire is not concentrated especially on the sexual act, as with an
+adult who is already experienced in these matters; it is more
+generalized and vague, although sensual.
+
+For a long time, these repeated aspirations, impulses and desires,
+remain unsatisfied. In different individuals the imagination
+associates the most diverse images with such manifestations of the
+sexual appetite. The objects of the latter appear in dreams and
+provoke nocturnal erections. The boy soon remarks a sensory
+localization of his appetites in his sexual organs, especially in the
+glans penis, but also in the surrounding parts, and the known or only
+vaguely defined image of the female sexual organs, which is hardly
+present at the first appearance of his desires, begin to excite him
+more and more.
+
+In natural or savage man, as well as in animals, the boy then makes
+attempts at coitus and soon attains his object, for, in the state of
+nature, man marries as soon as puberty is attained.
+
+=Nocturnal Emissions.=--In civilized man such difficulties are opposed
+to marriage, that he replaces it by prostitution, or by more or less
+unnatural means, as soon as his sexual appetite becomes strong. In
+those who abstain, the images produced by sexual excitation, combined
+with erections, act more strongly during sleep than waking and
+produce ejaculations of semen called nocturnal emissions or
+pollutions. These generally occur during erotic dreams, and as the
+dreams produce the illusion of real perception, in quality as well as
+in intensity, it is not surprising that they are followed by an orgasm
+and ejaculation of semen.
+
+=Masturbation.=--In the waking state the unsatisfied sexual appetite
+may produce such excitation that the boy applies friction to the glans
+penis, which cause voluptuous sensations. As soon as he has made this
+discovery he repeats the act and provokes ejaculation of semen
+artificially. Thus arises the bad habit of masturbation or onanism, a
+habit which is both depressing and exhausting, which takes an
+increasing hold on those who practice it. Although from the purely
+mechanical point of view masturbation causes a more normal ejaculation
+than nocturnal emissions, which are often interrupted by awakening and
+the vanishing of the dream which produced them, it has a much more
+harmful effect, by its frequency and especially by its depressing
+action on sentiment and will. We shall return to this subject in
+Chapter VIII.
+
+The accumulation of semen in the seminal vesicles strongly excites the
+sexual appetite of man, and he is momentarily satisfied by their
+evacuation. But we shall soon see that this purely organic or
+mechanical excitation, which seems at first to be only adapted for
+natural wants, does not in man play the principal role. We can easily
+understand that it cannot be the principal moving power of the sexual
+act. In fact, for any of the animals in which copulation occurs, the
+possibility of accomplishing this is not connected solely with the
+accumulation of semen, for it depends on obtaining a female. It is
+necessary, therefore, for the accumulated semen to wait, and for the
+perception of the female by the aid of the senses to excite the male
+to coitus.
+
+=External Signs of the Sexual Appetite.=--Like every other desire the
+sexual appetite betrays itself by the physionomy. This consists in the
+play of cerebral activity, that is the thoughts, sentiments and
+resolutions, on the muscles by means of motor nerves and nerve
+centers. It is not limited to the face but extends to the whole body.
+The abdomen, the hands and even the feet have their physionomy; that
+of the muscles of the face and eyes is, however, the most active and
+most expressive. Sexual desire betrays itself in looks, by the
+expression of the face and by certain movements in the presence of the
+female sex. Men differ greatly in the way in which they betray or hide
+their sentiments and thoughts by the play of their muscles, so that
+the inner self is not always reflected without. Moreover, the
+expression of sexual desire by the play of the physionomy may be
+confounded with that of other sentiments, so that one who appears
+libidinous is not always so in reality, and inversely.
+
+=Continence in Man.=--Abstinence or sexual continence is by no means
+impracticable for a normal young man of average constitution,
+assiduous in intellectual and physical work, abstaining from all
+artificial excitations, especially from all narcotics and alcohol in
+particular, for these substances paralyze the judgment and will. When
+sexual maturity is complete, that is after about twenty years,
+continence is usually facilitated by nocturnal emissions accompanied
+by corresponding dreams. The health does not suffer from these in any
+way. However, in the long run this state cannot be considered as
+normal, especially when there is no hope of it coming to an end in a
+reasonable time. What is much more abnormal are the numerous
+artificial sexual excitations that civilization brings with it.
+
+=Sexual Power.=--The individual variations in the sexual instinct are
+enormous, and may be said to vary from zero to an intense and
+perpetual excitation called _Satyriasis_. By sexual power is
+understood the faculty of accomplishing coitus. This power in the
+first place requires strong and complete erections, as well as the
+faculty of following them by frequent seminal ejaculations, without
+being precipitate. Impotence or incapacity for coitus belongs to
+pathology and consists usually in the absence or defectiveness of
+erections. Sexual power and appetite generally go together, but not
+always, for it is possible to be powerful with feeble sexual appetite,
+and intense appetite sometimes goes with impotence; the latter
+condition, it is true, is pathological. Sexual power also varies so
+much in individuals that it is hardly possible to fix a limit between
+the normal and the pathological.
+
+The sexual power and appetite in man are strongest on the average
+between 20 and 40 years, especially between 25 and 35. But, while
+young men of 18 to 20 years or more may be still tranquil, without
+having had seminal ejaculations, one often finds, among races who
+mature earlier, boys of 12 or 16 who are fully developed both in
+sexual power and appetite. In our Aryan races, however, when this
+occurs before the age of 14, it is a case of pathological precocity.
+The late appearance of sexual power and appetite is rather a sign of
+strength and health.
+
+After the age of 40, the sexual power slowly diminishes, and after the
+seventieth year, or even before this, becomes extinct. Exceptionally
+one finds old men of 80 who are still capable. Normally the sexual
+appetite diminishes with age; often, however, especially when it is
+artificially excited, it lasts longer than sexual power.
+
+As regards sexual power we must distinguish between that of copulation
+and that of fecundation. The power may exist without the latter, when
+the testicles have ceased to functionate, while the other glands, in
+particular the prostate, second the venereal orgasm by their
+secretion, when the power of erection is still preserved. Inversely,
+the testicles may contain healthy spermatozoa in the impotent. In this
+case artificial fecundation by the syringe is practicable.
+
+=Individual Variations in Sexual Power.=--The fact that there are men
+who for several years can copulate several times a day proves to what
+extent sexual power varies in man. Sexual excitation and desire may
+sometimes attain such a degree that they are repeated a few minutes
+after ejaculation. It is not rare for a man to perform coitus ten or
+fifteen times in a single night, in brothels and elsewhere, although
+such excess borders on the domain of pathology. I know a case in which
+coitus was performed thirty times. I was once consulted by an old
+woman of 65 who complained of the insatiable sexual appetite of her
+husband, aged 73! He awakened her every morning at three o'clock to
+have connection, before going to work. Not content with this, he
+repeated the performance every evening and often also after the
+mid-day meal. Inversely, I have seen healthy looking husbands, at the
+age of greatest sexual power, accuse themselves of excess for having
+cohabited with their wives once a month or less. The reformer,
+_Luther_, who was a practical man, laid down the average rule of two
+or three connections a week in marriage, at the time of highest sexual
+power. I may say that my numerous observations as a physician have
+generally confirmed this rule, which seems to me to conform very well
+to the normal state to which man has become gradually adapted during
+thousands of years.
+
+Husbands who would consider this average as an imprescriptible right
+would, however, make wrong pretensions, for it is quite possible for a
+normal man to contain himself much longer, and it is his duty to do
+so, not only when his wife is ill, but also during menstruation and
+pregnancy.
+
+The question of sexual relations during pregnancy is more difficult,
+on account of its long duration. In this case caution is necessary,
+but total abstinence from sexual connection is, in my opinion,
+superfluous.
+
+=The Desire of Change in Man.=--A peculiarity of the sexual appetite
+in man, which is fatal for society, is his desire for change. This
+desire is not only one of the principal causes of polygamy, but also
+of prostitution and other analogous organizations. It arises from the
+want of sexual attraction in what one is accustomed to and from the
+stronger excitation produced by all that is new; a phenomenon of which
+we have spoken above. On the average, woman has a hereditary
+disposition which is much more monogamous than man. The sexual
+appetite thus loses its intensity from the prolonged habit of
+connection with the same woman, but, becomes much more intense with
+other women, if not in all men at any rate in most. Such desires may
+generally be overcome by the aid of a true and noble love, and by
+sentiments of duty and fidelity toward the family and toward a
+respected wife. We cannot, however, deny that they exist, nor that
+they are the cause of the worst excesses, and the most violent scenes,
+often with a tragic result. We shall return to this subject later.
+
+=Excitation and Cooling of the Sexual Appetite.=--Without touching the
+domain of pathology, I must again dwell on the great individual
+diversity of the objects of the male sexual appetite. It is usually
+young but mature female forms of healthy appearance, and especially
+the sight of the nudity of certain parts of the body which are usually
+covered, particularly the breasts and sexual organs, which most
+strongly excite the sexual appetite in man. It is the same with the
+corresponding odors. The voice, the physionomy, the clothing and many
+other details may also provoke his desires. There are, however, men
+who are more excited by thin and pale women.
+
+Certain attributes excite one and not another; for instance, the hair,
+certain odors, certain forms of face, a certain fashion of clothing,
+the form of the breasts, etc. The peculiarities, which are absent in
+women with whom a man has been on familiar terms in his youth are
+generally those which attract the most. In sexual matters contrasts
+tend to mutual attraction. Thin people often become enamored of fat,
+short ones of long ones, and inversely. One cannot, however, fix any
+rules. One often sees young men excited at the sight of women of older
+age, and old men enamored of very young women, even of children. All
+these discrepancies constitute the more important points of origin of
+sexual pathology. In spite of all, there still exist a great number of
+tranquil men with monogamous instincts and not fond of change. Lastly,
+we must not forget that super-abundant feeding and idleness exalt the
+sexual appetite and tend to polygamy, while hard work, especially
+physical, and frugal diet diminish it.
+
+It is needless to say that the mental qualities react powerfully on
+the sexual appetite. A quarrelsome temper, coldness and repulsion on
+the part of a woman cool the desires of the man, while an ardent
+sexual desire on the part of the woman, her love and tenderness, tend
+to increase and maintain them. We are dealing here with purely animal
+sexual instinct, and we may state that the sexual appetite of woman
+generally excites strongly that of man, and considerably increases his
+pleasure during coitus. There are, however, exceptions in the inverse
+sense, in which coldness and disgust on the part of the woman excite
+the passion of certain men, who have, however, no taste for libidinous
+women. All degrees are found in this domain.
+
+Active in the sexual act the man desires corresponding sentiments in
+the woman. But, on the other hand, all want of natural reserve, and
+delicate sentiment, and all cynical sexual provocation on the part of
+a woman, produce in the normal man a repulsive effect. The normal
+woman possesses an admirable instinct in these matters and knows how
+to betray her feelings in a sufficiently fine and delicate manner, so
+as not to hurt those of the man.
+
+A phenomenon, which we shall meet with in Chapter VIII, under the name
+of _psychic impotence_, shows the powerful and disturbing interference
+of thoughts on the automatic action of instinctive sexual activity. A
+momentary psychic impotence is not necessarily pathological. While
+voluptuous sensations alternate during coitus with desire and
+corresponding erotic representations, a sudden idea of the
+ridiculousness of the situation, signs of pain or of bad temper in the
+woman, the idea of impotence or of the real object of coitus; finally,
+anything which acts as a contrast to the sensations and impulses of
+coitus, may interrupt it, so that the voluptuous sensations and sexual
+appetite disappear and erection subsides. Voluntary efforts are often
+incapable of putting things right again. The charm is broken, and only
+new images and new sentiments associated instinctively with the sexual
+appetite can be reėstablished, by making the subconscious state
+preponderate over the reasoning consciousness.
+
+=Influence of Modern Civilization. Pornography.=--Human sexuality has
+been unfortunately perverted and in part grossly altered by
+civilization, which has even developed it artificially in a
+pathological sense. The point has been reached of considering as
+normal, relations which are in reality absolutely abnormal. For
+example, it is maintained that prostitution produces normal coitus in
+man. How can this term be seriously employed in speaking of connection
+with a prostitute who is absolutely indifferent to it, and who seeks
+only to excite her clients artificially and to get their money,
+without mentioning venereal diseases which she so often presents them
+with! Forgetful of the natural aim of the sexual appetite,
+civilization has transformed it into artificial enjoyment, and has
+invented all possible means to increase and diversify it.
+
+As far back as the history of civilization goes we see this state of
+affairs, and in this sense we are neither better nor worse than our
+ancestors. But we possess more diverse and more refined measures than
+barbarian peoples, and than our direct ancestors, to satisfy our
+unwholesome desires. Modern art in particular often serves to excite
+eroticism, and we must frankly admit that it often descends to the
+level of pornography. Hypocritical indignation against those who dare
+to say this often serves only to cover in the name of art the most
+indecent excitants of eroticism.
+
+Photography and all the perfected methods of reproduction of pictures,
+the increasing means of travel which facilitate clandestine sexual
+relations, the industrial art which ornaments our apartments, the
+increasing luxury and comfort of dwellings, beds, etc., are, at the
+present day, so many factors in the science of erotic voluptuousness.
+Prostitution itself has become adapted to all the pathological
+excrescences of vice. In a word, the artificial culture of the human
+sexual appetite has given rise to a veritable high school of
+debauchery. The artistic and realistic representations of erotic
+sexual scenes, so widespread at the present day, are much more capable
+of exciting the sexual appetite than the crude and unnatural pictures
+of former days, when, however, erotic objects of art generally
+belonged to a few rich persons or to museums.
+
+=Influence of Repeated Sexual Excitations.=--The artificial and varied
+repetition of sexual excitation, by means of objects which provoke it,
+increases the sexual appetite. This cannot be doubted, for the law of
+exercise is a general truth in the physiology of the nervous system.
+This law, which is also called the law of training, shows that every
+kind of nervous activity is increased by exercise. A man becomes a
+glutton by accustoming himself to eat too much, a good walker by
+exercising his legs. The habit of wearing fine clothes or of washing
+in cold water causes these things to become a necessity. By
+continually occupying ourselves with a certain thing, we take a liking
+for it and often become virtuosos. By always thinking of a disease we
+are led to imagine that we suffer from it. A melody too often repeated
+often becomes automatic and we whistle or hum it unconsciously.
+
+Inversely, inactivity weakens the effect of irritations which
+correspond to it. By neglecting certain activities or the provocation
+of certain sensations, these diminish in intensity, and we cease more
+and more to be affected by them. We become idle when we are inactive,
+for the cerebral resistance accumulates, and idleness renders the
+renewal of the corresponding activity more difficult. It is not
+surprising, therefore, to find this law in the phenomena of the sexual
+appetite, which diminishes with abstinence and increases with repeated
+excitation and satisfaction. However, another force, that of the
+accumulation of semen in the seminal vesicles, associated with an old
+natural inherited instinct, often counteracts the law of exercise of
+the nervous system, as the empty stomach excites the instinct of
+nutrition. But, however imperious the hunger, and however
+indispensable its satisfaction for the maintenance of life, this does
+not impair the truth of the old saying, "Appetite comes by eating."
+
+The exaggerated desire for sleep experienced by idle people is an
+analogous phenomenon. Although sufficient sleep is a necessity for
+healthy and productive cerebral activity, an exaggerated desire for
+sleep may be artificially developed.
+
+These phenomena are of fundamental importance in the question of the
+sexual appetite. Here, the well-known axiom of moderation which says,
+"Abuse does not exclude use" finds its application. An English
+commentator on _Cicero_ erroneously attributes to him the following:
+"True moderation consists in the absolute domination of the passions
+and appetites, as well as all wrong desires, by reason. It exacts
+total abstinence from all things which are not good and which are not
+of an absolutely innocent character." This definition is excellent,
+although it is not _Cicero's_. It excludes, for example, the use of a
+toxic substance such as alcohol, which is not a natural food, but not
+the moderate satisfaction of the sexual appetite which is normally
+intended for the preservation of the species, for this satisfaction
+may be good or bad, normal or vicious, innocent or criminal, according
+to circumstances. In this connection, the application of the right
+measure, and choice of the appropriate object raise delicate and
+complicated questions. So-called moral sermons lead to nothing in this
+domain.
+
+After numerous personal observations made on very diverse individuals
+who have consulted me with regard to sexual questions, I think I can
+affirm that when a man wishes to be loyal to himself he is generally
+able to distinguish between natural desire and artificial excitation
+of the sexual appetite. To be pursued and tormented by sexual images
+and desires, even when striving against them, and when the legitimate
+and normal occasion to satisfy them is absent, is not the same thing
+as to pass the time in inventing means of artificial excitement to
+pleasure and orgy while leading an idle and egoistic life. I speak
+here of the normal man and not of certain pathological states in which
+the sexual appetite takes the character of a perpetual obsession, even
+against the will of the patient. By serious and persevering work and
+by avoiding all means of excitation, the sexual appetite can usually
+be kept within the bounds of moderation.
+
+We have mentioned above pornographic art as one of the means which
+artificially excite the sexual appetite. Along with the interested
+exploitation of the habit of taking alcoholic drinks, exploitation of
+the sexual appetite constitutes one of the largest fields of what may
+be called _social brigandage_. Besides pornographic pictures, the
+principal means employed to artificially excite the sexual weaknesses
+of man are the following:
+
+_Pornographic novels_ in which sexual desire is excited by all the
+artifice of the novelist, and in which the illustrations often rival
+those we have just spoken of to seduce the purchaser.
+
+_Alcohol_ which, by paralyzing the judgment and will as well as moral
+inhibitory sentiments, excites the sexual appetite and renders it
+grossly impulsive. Its first fumes make man enterprising, and he falls
+an easy prey to proxenetism and prostitution, although it soon weakens
+the sexual power.
+
+But it is the modern arsenal of _prostitution_ which plays the
+principal role. The proxenets (pimps) exploit both the sexual
+appetites of men and the weakness and venality of women. Their chief
+source of gain consisting in the artificial excitation of the male
+sexual appetite by all possible means, their art consists in dressing
+their merchandise, the prostitutes, with attractive refinement,
+especially when dealing with rich clients who pay well. It is on this
+soil that are cultivated the most disgusting artifices, intended to
+excite even the most pathological appetites.
+
+Other causes are added to lucre, or are the consequences of it. A boy
+led to masturbation by pornographic pictures, or by the seduction of a
+corrupted individual, becomes in his turn the seducer of his comrades.
+Certain libidinous and unscrupulous women have often persuaded
+adolescents and schoolboys to sleep with them, thus awakening
+precocious and unhealthy sexual appetites.
+
+Such habits which excite the sexual appetite and cause it to
+degenerate artificially, develop in their turn a mode of sexual
+boasting in men, the effects of which are deplorable. To appear manly,
+the boy thinks he ought to have a cigar in his mouth, even if it makes
+him sick. In the same way the spirit of imitation leads youth to
+prostitution. The fear of not doing as the others and especially the
+terror of ridicule constitute a powerful lever which is abused and
+exploited. Fearing mockery, a youth is the more easily seduced by bad
+example the less he is put on guard by parents or true friends.
+Instead of explaining to him in time, seriously and affectionately,
+the nature of sexual connection, its effects and dangers, he is
+abandoned to the chance of the worst seductions.
+
+In this way the sexual appetite is not only artificially increased and
+often directed into unnatural channels, but also leads to the
+poisoning and ruin of youth by venereal diseases, to say nothing of
+alcoholism.
+
+We have referred especially to educated youth, but the youth of the
+lower classes are perhaps in a still worse condition, owing to the
+promiscuity of their life in miserable dwellings. They often witness
+coitus between their parents, or are themselves trained in evil ways
+for purposes of exploitation.
+
+It is astonishing that the results of such abominable deviation of the
+sexual appetite are not worse. No doubt excesses disturb the ties of
+marriage and of the family, and often provoke impotence and other
+disorders of the sexual functions. It must, however, be admitted that
+their satellites, the venereal diseases, and their most common
+companion, alcoholism, are in reality the greatest destroyers of
+health, and make much more considerable ravages in society than the
+artificial increase and abnormal deviations of the sexual appetite
+itself. However, the latter by themselves very often poison the mind
+and social morality, as we shall have occasion to see.
+
+Immoderate sexual desire, provoked in men by the artificial
+excitations of prostitution, etc., is a bad acquisition. It renders
+difficult the accustomance to marriage, fidelity and ideal and
+life-long love for the same woman. It is true, that many old _roués_
+and _habitués_ of brothels later on become faithful husbands and
+fathers, especially when they have had the luck to escape venereal
+disease.
+
+But whoever looks behind the scenes may soon convince himself that the
+happiness of most unions of this kind is very relative. The
+degradation of the sexual sentiment of a man who has long been
+accustomed to live with prostitutes is never entirely effaced, and
+generally leaves indelible traces in the human brain.
+
+I readily admit that a man with good hereditary dispositions, who has
+only yielded for a short time to seductive influences, may be reformed
+by a true and profound love. But even in him, excesses leave traces
+which later on may easily lead him astray when he becomes tired of the
+monotony of conjugal relations with the same woman. On the other hand,
+we must also recognize that sexual relations in themselves, even in
+marriage, create a habit which often urges a married man to
+extra-nuptial coitus, even when he had remained continent before
+marriage.
+
+The tricks which are played on a man by his sexual appetite,
+especially by his polygamous instincts, must not, however, be
+confounded with the systematic, artificial and abnormal training of
+the same appetite. The physical and psychic attractions of a woman are
+capable of completely diverting the sexual desires of a man from their
+primary object, and of directing them on the siren who captivates his
+senses. The elements of the sexual appetite here form an inextricable
+mixture with those of love, and constitute the inexhaustible theme of
+novels and most true and sensational love stories.
+
+Hereditary pathological dispositions play a considerable role in many
+cases of this kind. Also, marriages of sudden and passionate love (we
+are not dealing here with love marriages concluded after sufficient
+reflection and deep mutual acquaintanceship) are not more stable than
+the so-called "_mariages de convenance_," for passionate natures,
+usually more or less pathological, are apt to fall from one extreme to
+the other. The power exercised by sexual passion in such cases is
+terrible. It produces conditions that may lead to suicide or
+assassination. In men whose power of reason is neither strong nor
+independent, opinions and conceptions are frequently changed; love may
+change to hatred and hatred to love, the sentiment of justice may lead
+to injustice, the loyal man may become a liar, etc. In fact the sexual
+appetite is let loose like a hurricane in the brain and becomes the
+despot of the whole mind. The sexual passion has often been compared
+to drunkenness or to mental disease. Even in its mildest forms it
+often renders the husband incapable of sexual connection with his
+wife.
+
+For example, a man may cherish, respect and even adore his wife, and
+yet her presence and touch may not appeal to his senses, nor excite
+his appetite or erection; while some low-minded woman will produce in
+him an irresistible sensual attraction, even when he experiences
+neither esteem nor love for her. In such cases sexual appetite is in
+more or less radical opposition to love. Such extreme phenomena are
+not rare, but hardly common. Although excited to coitus with the woman
+in question, the husband would not in any case have her for wife, nor
+even have children by her, for after the slightest reflection he
+despises and fears her. Here, the sexual appetite represents the old
+atavistic animal instinct, attracted by libidinous looks, exuberant
+charms, in a word by the sensual aspect of woman.
+
+On the contrary, in a higher domain of the human mind, the sentiments
+of sympathy of true love, deeply associated with fidelity, and with
+intellectual and moral intimacy, unite against the elementary power of
+the animal instinct. Here we see dwelling in the same breast (or, to
+speak more correctly, in the same central nervous system) two souls,
+which struggle with each other.
+
+We are not dealing here with cases in which a new passion arrives to
+turn the man from his old affection. No doubt the extreme cases of
+which we have spoken are not usual, but we see in most men more or
+less considerable mixtures of analogous sentiments in all possible
+degrees, especially when the woman loved loses her physical
+attractions from age or other causes.
+
+=The Procreative Instinct.=--The sexual appetite of man does not
+consist exclusively in the desire for coitus. In many cases it is
+combined, more or less strongly and more or less consciously, with the
+desire to procreate children. Unfortunately, this desire is far from
+being always associated with higher sentiments and with love of
+children or the paternal instinct. In fact, conscious reasoning plays
+a smaller part than the animal instinct of self-expansion. We shall
+see later on that the procreative instinct often plays an important
+role in our present civilization.
+
+=The Sexual Appetite in Woman.=--In the sexual act the role of the
+woman differs from that of the man not only by being passive, but also
+by the absence of seminal ejaculations. In spite of this the analogies
+are considerable. The erection of the clitoris and its voluptuous
+sensations, the secretion from the glands of _Bartholin_ which
+resembles ejaculation in the male, the venereal orgasm itself which
+often exceeds in intensity that of man, are phenomena which establish
+harmony in sexual connection.
+
+Although the organic phenomenon of the accumulation of semen in the
+seminal vesicles is absent in woman, there is produced in the nerve
+centers, after prolonged abstinence, an accumulation of sexual desire
+corresponding to that of man. A married woman confessed to me, when I
+reproached her for being unfaithful to her husband, that she desired
+coitus at least once a fortnight, and that when her husband was not
+there, she took the first comer. No doubt the sentiments of this woman
+were hardly feminine, but her sexual appetite was relatively normal.
+
+=Frequency of the Sexual Appetite in Woman.=--As regards pure sexual
+appetite, extremes are much more common and more considerable in woman
+than in man. In her this appetite is developed much less often
+spontaneously than in him, and where it is so, it is generally later.
+Voluptuous sensations are usually only awakened by coitus.
+
+In a considerable number of women the sexual appetite is completely
+absent. For these, coitus is a disagreeable, often disgusting, or at
+any rate an indifferent act. What is more singular, at least for
+masculine comprehension, and what gives rise to the most frequent
+"quid pro quos," is the fact that such women, absolutely cold as
+regards sexual sensations, are often great coquettes, over-exciting
+the sexual appetites of man, and have often a great desire for love
+and caresses. This is more easy to understand if we reflect that the
+unsatiated desires of the normal woman are less inclined toward coitus
+than toward the assemblage of consequences of this act, which are so
+important for her whole life. When the sight of a certain man awakes
+in a young girl sympathetic desires and transports, she aspires to
+procreate children with this man only, to give herself to him as a
+slave, to receive his caresses, to be loved by him only, that he may
+become both the support and master of her whole life. It is a question
+of general sentiments of indefinite nature, of a powerful desire to
+become a mother and enjoy domestic comfort, to realize a poetic and
+chivalrous ideal in man, to gratify a general sensual need distributed
+over the whole body and in no way concentrated in the sexual organs or
+in the desire for coitus.
+
+=Nature of the Sexual Appetite in Woman.=--The zone of sexual
+excitation is less specially limited to the sexual organs in woman
+than in man. The nipples constitute in her an entire zone and their
+friction excites voluptuousness. If we consider the importance in the
+life of woman, of pregnancy, suckling, and all the maternal functions,
+we can understand why the mixture of her sentiments and sensations is
+so different from that of man. Her smaller stature and strength,
+together with her passive role in coitus, explain why she aspires to a
+strong male support. This is simply a question of natural phylogenetic
+adaptation. This is why a young girl sighs for a courageous, strong
+and enterprising man, who is superior to her, whom she is obliged to
+respect, and in whose arms she feels secure. Strength and skill in man
+are the ideal of the young savage and uncultured girl, his
+intellectual and moral superiority that of the young cultivated girl.
+
+As a rule women are much more the slaves of their instincts and habits
+than men. In primitive peoples, hardiness and boldness in men were
+qualities which made for success. This explains why, even at the
+present day, the boldest and most audacious Don Juans excite most
+strongly the sexual desires of women, and succeed in turning the heads
+of most young girls, in spite of their worst faults in other respects.
+Nothing is more repugnant to the feminine instinct than timidity and
+awkwardness in man. In our time women become more and more
+enthusiastic over the intellectual superiority of man, which excites
+their desire. Without being indifferent to it, simple bodily beauty in
+man excites the appetite of women to a less extent. It is astonishing
+to see to what point women often become enamored of old, ugly or
+deformed men. We shall see later on that the normal woman is much more
+particular than man in giving her love. While the normal man is
+generally attracted to coitus by nearly every more-or-less young and
+healthy woman, this is by no means the case in the normal woman with
+regard to man. She is also much more constant than man from the sexual
+point of view. It is rarely possible for her to experience sexual
+desire for several men at once; her senses are nearly always attracted
+to one lover only.
+
+The instinct of procreation is much stronger in woman than in man, and
+is combined with the desire to give herself passively, to play the
+part of one who devotes herself, who is conquered, mastered and
+subjugated. These negative aspirations form part of the normal sexual
+appetite of woman.
+
+A peculiarity of the sexual sentiments of woman is an ill-defined
+pathological phenomenon with normal sensations, a phenomenon which in
+man, on the contrary, forms a very marked contrast with the latter; I
+refer to the _homosexual_ appetite, in which the object is an
+individual of the same sex. Normally, the adult man produces on
+another man an absolutely repulsive effect from the sexual point of
+view; it is only pathological subjects, or those excited by sexual
+privation who are affected with sensual desires for other men. But in
+woman a certain sensual desire for caresses, connected more or less
+with unconscious and ill-defined sexual sensations, is not limited to
+the male sex but extends to other women, to children, and even to
+animals, apart from pathologically inverted sexual appetites. Young
+normal girls often like to sleep together in the same bed, to caress
+and kiss each other, which is not the case with normal young men. In
+the male sex such sensual caresses are nearly always accompanied and
+provoked by sexual appetite, which is not the case in women. As we
+have already seen, man may separate true love from the sexual appetite
+to such an extent that two minds, each feeling in a different way, may
+inhabit the same brain. A man may be a loving and devoted husband and
+at the same time satisfy his animal appetites with prostitutes. In
+woman, such sexual dualism is much more rare and always unnatural, the
+normal woman being much less capable than man of separating love from
+sexual appetite.
+
+These facts explain the singular caprices of the sexual appetite and
+orgasm in the normal woman, in whom these phenomena are not easily
+produced without love.
+
+The same woman who loves one man and not another is susceptible to
+sexual appetite and voluptuous sensations when she cohabits with the
+first, while she is often absolutely cold and insensible to the most
+passionate embraces of the second. This fact explains the possibility
+of prostitution as it exists among women. The worst prostitutes, who
+have connection with innumerable paying clients without feeling the
+least pleasure, generally have a "protector" with whom they are
+enamored and to whom they devote all their love and sincere orgasms,
+all the time allowing themselves to be plundered and exploited by him.
+
+What the normal woman requires from man is love, tenderness, a firm
+support for life, a certain chivalrous nature, and children. She can
+renounce the voluptuous sensations of coitus infinitely more easily
+than the exigencies I have just indicated, which are for her the
+principal things. Nothing makes a woman more indignant than the
+indifference of her husband, when, for instance, he treats her simply
+as a housekeeper. Some have maintained that the average woman is more
+sensual than man, others that she is less so. Both these statements
+are false: she is sensual _in another manner_.
+
+All the peculiarities of the sexual appetite in woman are thus the
+combined product of: (1) the profound influence of the sexual
+functions on her whole existence; (2) her passive sexual role; (3) her
+special mental faculties. By these, and more especially by her passive
+sexual role, are explained her instinctive coquettishness, her love of
+fiery and personal adornment, in a word her desire to please men by
+her external appearance, by her looks, movements and grace. These
+phenomena betray the instinctive sexual desires of the young girl,
+which as we have just seen, do not normally correspond to a direct
+desire for coitus.
+
+While a virgin experiences in her youth the sensations we have just
+described, things change after marriage, and as a general rule after
+repeated sexual connections. If these do not provoke voluptuous
+sensations in some women, they do in the majority, and this is no
+doubt the normal state of affairs. Habit, then, produces an increasing
+desire for coitus and its sensations, and it is not rare, in the
+course of a long life in common, for the roles to be reversed and the
+woman become more libidinous than the man. This partly explains why so
+many widows are anxious to remarry. They easily attain their object,
+as men quickly succumb to the sexual desire of woman when it is
+expressed in an unequivocal manner.
+
+In widows, two strong sentiments struggle against each other, with
+variable results in different individuals; on the one hand, feminine
+constancy in love, and the memory of the deceased; on the other hand,
+the acquired habit of sexual connection and its voluptuous sensations,
+which leaves a void and appeals for compensation. The sexual appetite
+being equal, the first sentiment prevails generally in religious women
+or those of a deeply moral or sentimental character, while the second
+prevails in women of more material or less-refined nature, or in those
+simply guided by their reason. In these internal struggles, the more
+delicate sentiments and the stronger will of the woman result from the
+fact that when she wishes she can overcome her appetites much better
+than man. But, in spite of this, the power of the sexual appetite
+plays an important part in the inward struggle we have just mentioned.
+When this appetite is absent there is no struggle, and the widow's
+conduct is dictated either by her own convenience, or by the instinct
+which naturally leads a woman to yield to the amorous advances of a
+man.
+
+At the critical age, that is the time when menstruation ceases,
+neither the sexual appetite nor voluptuous sensations disappear,
+although desire diminishes normally as age advances. In this respect
+it is curious to note that old women possess no sexual attraction for
+men, while they often feel libidinous desires almost as strongly as
+young women. This is a kind of natural anomaly.
+
+As we have already stated, individual differences in the sexual
+appetite are much greater in woman than in man. Some women are
+extremely excitable, and from their first youth experience violent
+sexual desire, causing them to masturbate or to throw themselves onto
+men. Such women are usually polyandrous by nature, although the sexual
+appetite in woman is normally much more monogamous than that of man.
+Such excesses in woman take on a more pathological character than in
+man, and go under the name of _nymphomania_. The insatiability of
+these females, who may be met with in all classes of society, may
+become fabulous. Night and day, with short interruptions for sleeping
+and eating, they are, in extreme cases, anxious for coitus. They
+become less exhausted than men, because their orgasm is not
+accompanied by loss of semen.
+
+Although in the normal state woman is naturally full of delicacy and
+sentiments of modesty, nothing is easier than to make these disappear
+completely by training her systematically to sexual immodesty or to
+prostitution. Here we observe the effects of the routine and
+suggestible character of feminine psychology, of the tendency of woman
+to become the slave of habit and custom, as well as of her
+perseverance when her determined will pursues a definite end.
+Prostitution gives us sad proofs of this fact.
+
+The psychology of prostitutes is very peculiar. Attempts to restore
+them to a moral life nearly always fail hopelessly; it is rare to see
+them permanently successful. Most of these women have a heredity of
+bad quality and are of weak character, idle and libidinous. They find
+it much easier to gain their living by prostitution, and forget their
+work, if they have ever learned any. The poverty, drunkenness and
+shame which follow seduction and illegitimate birth have no doubt
+driven more than one prostitute to her sad trade, but the naturally
+evil dispositions of these women constitute without any doubt the
+principal cause. Alcohol, venereal diseases and bad habits, combined
+with continually repeated sexual degradation, afterwards determine
+progressive decadence.
+
+Some of these women, however, of better quality, only surrender
+themselves to prostitution by compulsion; they suffer from this
+existence and strive to escape from it. The grisettes and lorettes[2]
+form a group intermediate between prostitution and natural love; they
+are women who hire themselves for a time to one man in particular, and
+are maintained and paid by him in return for satisfying his sexual
+appetites. Here again, sexual desire only exceptionally plays the
+chief role. The conduct of these women results from their loose
+character and pecuniary interest.
+
+If, therefore, we admit on the one hand that the sexual excesses of
+the female sex are especially grafted on hereditary disposition of
+character, or are primarily due to strong appetites, we are obliged on
+the other hand to recognize that the great role played by sexuality in
+the brain of woman renders it more difficult for her than for man to
+return to better ways when she has once prostituted herself, or when
+she has surrendered in any way to sexual licentiousness, even when her
+original quality was not bad.
+
+In man the sexual appetite is much more easily separated than in woman
+from other instincts, sentiments and intellectual life in general, and
+possesses in him, however powerful it may be, a much more transient
+character, which prevents it dominating the whole mental life.
+
+I have dwelt so much on this point because it is essential to know the
+differences which exist between man and woman in this respect, and to
+take them into account if we wish to give a just and healthy judgment
+on the sexual question from the social point of view. The more it is
+our duty to give the same rights to both sexes, the more absurd it is
+to disregard the profoundness of their differences and to imagine that
+these can ever be effaced.
+
+=Flirtation.=--If we look in an English dictionary for the meaning of
+the word _flirt_, we find it equivalent to coquetry. But this English
+term has become fixed and modernized in another sense which has become
+international, to express the old idea of a series of well-known
+phenomena which must be clearly distinguished from coquetry.
+
+Coquetry, an especially feminine attribute, is not in itself dependent
+on the sexual appetite; it is an indirect irradiation, purely
+psychical, and we shall speak of it later on. Flirtation, as we now
+understand the term, is directly connected with the sexual appetite,
+and constitutes its external impression in all the wealth of its
+forms, as much in man as in woman. In a word, flirtation is a
+polymorphous language which clearly expresses the sexual desires of an
+individual to the one who awakens these desires, actual coitus alone
+excepted.
+
+Flirtation may be practiced in a more or less unconscious manner. It
+is by itself neither a psychic attribute nor sexual appetite, for a
+human being may so hide and overcome his appetites that no one remarks
+them; and on the contrary, he may simulate sexual appetite without
+feeling it, or at any rate behave in such a way as to excite it in his
+partner. Flirtation thus consists in an activity calculated to
+disclose the eroticism of the subject as well as to excite that of
+others. It is needless to say that the nature of coquetry disposes to
+flirtation.
+
+Flirtation comprises all the sport of love, kisses, caresses and all
+kinds of sexual excitation even to orgasm, without reaching the
+consummation of coitus. All degrees may be noted; and, according to
+temperament, flirtation may be limited to slight excitation of the
+sexual appetite or may extend to violent and rapidly increasing
+emissions. The considerable individual differences which exist in
+sexual sensibility result in the same perception or the same act
+having little effect on one individual, while it excites another to a
+high degree. In the latter case, especially in man, flirtation may
+even lead to venereal orgasm without coitus, and even without any
+manipulations which resemble it. A woman of exuberant form, assuming
+sensual and voluptuous attitudes, may thus provoke an ejaculation by
+the slight and repeated friction of her dress against the penis of an
+excitable dancer.
+
+The same thing often occurs when a passionate couple caress and
+embrace each other without the genital organs being touched or even
+exposed. In this respect the woman is better protected than the man,
+but when she is very excitable an orgasm may be produced in her during
+the caresses of a passionate flirtation by the pressure or friction of
+her legs against each other (a variety of masturbation in woman).
+
+As a rule, however, things do not go so far as this in flirtation. The
+sight and touch are used alternately. The eyes play an important part,
+for they may express much and consequently act powerfully. A pressure
+of the hands, an apparently chance movement, touching the dress and
+the skin, etc., are the usual means of flirtation. In situations where
+people are close together or pressed against each other, as in railway
+carriages, or at table, the legs play a well-known part, by pressure
+of the knees and feet.
+
+This dumb conversation of the sexual appetite begins at first in a
+prudent and apparently innocent manner, so that the acting party does
+not risk being taxed with impropriety; but as soon as he who began the
+flirtation perceives that his slight invitations are welcome he grows
+bolder, a tacit mutual agreement is established, and the game
+continues without a single word betraying the reciprocal sensations.
+Many who practice flirtation, both men and women, avoid betraying
+themselves by words, and they take pleasure in this mutual excitation
+of their genital sensibility, however incomplete it may be.
+
+Flirtation may assume very different forms according to education and
+temperament. The action of alcohol on the brain develops the coarsest
+forms of flirtation. Every one knows the clumsy embraces of
+semi-intoxicated persons which can often be seen at night or on
+Sundays and holidays, in the street or in railway carriages, etc. I
+designate these by the term "alcoholic flirtation." Even in the best
+and most refined society flirtation loses its delicacy even under the
+effect of the slightest degree of alcoholic intoxication.
+
+Flirtation assumes a more delicate and more complicated character,
+rendering it gracious and full of charm, in persons of higher
+education, especially when they are highly intellectual or artistic.
+
+We must also mention the intellectual variety of flirtation which is
+not expressed by sight or touch, but only by language. Delicate
+allusions to sexual matters and somewhat lascivious conversation
+excite eroticism as much as looks and touch. According to the
+education of the persons concerned, this talk may be coarse and
+vulgar, or on the contrary refined and full of wit, managed with more
+or less skill, or clumsily. Here the natural finesse of woman plays a
+considerable part. Men wanting in tact are clumsy and offensive in
+their attempts at flirtation, and thus extinguish instead of exciting
+the woman's eroticism. The manner in which alcoholic flirtation
+manifests itself in cynical, dull, obtrusive and stupid conversation,
+corresponds to its other forms of expression. Woman desires
+flirtation; but does not wish it to assume an unbecoming form.
+
+One can say anything to a woman; all depends on the way in which it is
+said. I have seen lady doctors with whom one could discuss the most
+ticklish subjects, profoundly shocked by the misplaced pleasantries of
+a tactless professor. In themselves these pleasantries were quite
+innocent for medical ears, as my lady colleagues were finally obliged
+to admit, when I pointed out to them the specially feminine character
+of their psychic reaction, proving to them that they listened without
+a frown to things ten times worse, when the lecturer gave them a moral
+tone.
+
+Men also generally feel disgusted with the dull, cynical or clumsy
+form of female eroticism, although they are not usually over-refined
+themselves in this respect.
+
+This last phenomenon leads us to distinguish between flirtation in man
+and in woman. For woman it constitutes the only permissible way of
+expressing erotic sentiments, and even then much restraint is imposed
+on her. Circumstances develop in her the art of flirtation and give
+it remarkable finesse. Unless she exposes herself to great danger,
+woman can only leave her sensuality to be guessed. Every audacious and
+tactless provocation fails in its object; it drives away the men and
+destroys a young girl's reputation. Even when possessed by the most
+violent erotic desire woman cannot ostensibly depart from her passive
+role without compromising herself. Nevertheless, she succeeds on the
+whole very easily in exciting the passions of man, by the aid of a few
+artifices. No doubt she does not entirely dominate him by this means.
+She must be very delicate and adroit, at any rate at first, in the
+provocative art of flirtation. These frivolities are greatly
+facilitated by her whole nature and by the character of her habitual
+eroticism. Man, on the other hand, may be more audacious in the
+expression of his passion. This brings us back to what has been said
+concerning the sexual differences.
+
+A whole volume could be written on the forms of flirtation, which is
+the indispensable expression of all sexual desire. Among engaged
+couples it assumes a legal character and even a conventional form. The
+way in which barmaids flirt with their customers is also somewhat
+conventional, although in quite a different way. In society,
+flirtation is generally seasoned with more Attic salt, whether it is
+not allowed to exceed certain limits, or whether it leads to free
+liaisons after the manner of the Greek hetaira. In the country, among
+peasant girls and boys it takes a grosser form, if not more sensual,
+than among the cultivated classes; in the latter, language takes the
+principal part. Among rich idlers in watering places, large hotels,
+and even in some sanatoriums, flirtation takes a dominant place and
+constitutes, in all its degrees, the chief occupation of a great
+number of the visitors. It grows like a weed wherever man has a
+monotonous occupation or suffers from the ennui of idleness.
+
+In certain individuals, flirtation takes the place of coitus from the
+sensual, and love from the sentimental point of view. There are modern
+crazy natures who spend their existence in all kinds of artificial
+excitation of the senses, creatures of both sexes incapable of a
+useful action.
+
+As a momentary and transient expression of all the necessities of
+love, flirtation has a right to existence; but, when cultivated on its
+own account and always remaining as flirtation, it becomes a symptom
+of degeneration or sexual depravity, among idle, crazy and vicious
+persons of all kinds.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[2] The terms _grisette_ and _lorette_ are now obsolete, and the names
+given to this class of women constantly varies. I shall, nevertheless,
+employ them in the course of this work because they clearly define
+certain special varieties of remunerated concubinage.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+LOVE AND OTHER IRRADIATIONS OF THE SEXUAL APPETITE IN THE HUMAN MIND
+
+
+=Generalities. Jealousy.=--We have seen that the mechanism of the
+appetites consists in instincts inherited from our animal ancestors by
+mnemic engraphia and selection, and that it is situated in the
+primordial or lower cerebral centers (basal ganglia, spinal cord,
+etc.). In some of the lower animals we already find other instinctive
+nervous reactions which constitute the indirect effects or derivatives
+of the sexual appetite. The most evident of these is _jealousy_, or
+the feeling of grief and anger produced in an individual when the
+object of his sexual appetite is disputed by another individual of the
+same sex. Jealousy may also arise from other instincts, such as those
+of nutrition, ambition, etc.; but it forms one of the most typical
+complements of the sexual appetite, and leads, as we know, to furious
+combats, especially between males, sometimes also between females.
+
+Owing to its profoundly hereditary origin, this passion has a very
+instinctive character, and might quite as well have been mentioned in
+the preceding chapter. I deal with it here because it is naturally
+associated with other irradiations of the sexual appetite, and because
+it has a peculiarly mental character.
+
+=Relation Between Love and Sexual Appetite. Sympathy.=--Having entered
+the higher brain, or organ of mind, and become modified, complicated,
+and combined with the different branches of psychic activity, the
+sexual appetite takes the name of _love_, properly so-called. In order
+to better understand the relations of love to the sexual appetite we
+must refer to Chapter II. Let us begin with a short exposition of the
+phylogeny of the sentiments of sympathy, or the altruistic and social
+sentiments.
+
+In the lower animals with no separate sexes egoism reigns absolutely.
+Each individual eats as much as it wants, then divides, buds or
+conjugates, thus fulfilling the sole object of its existence. The same
+principle holds in the lower stages of reproduction by separate sexes.
+Spiders give us a good example. In these, copulation is a dangerous
+act for the male, for if he is not extremely careful he is devoured by
+the female, sometimes even before having attained his object, often
+soon afterward, in order that nothing may be lost. However, the female
+shows a certain consideration for her eggs, and sometimes even for the
+young after they are hatched.
+
+In higher stages of the animal kingdom sentiments of sympathy may be
+observed, derived from the sexual union of individuals. These are
+sentiments of attachment of the male for the female, and especially of
+the female (sometimes the male also) for their progeny.
+
+Such sentiments become developed and may be transformed into intense
+love between the sexes, of long duration. Birds, for instance, often
+remain faithful for many years, and even for life. From these simple
+facts is evolved the intimate relationship which exists between sexual
+love and other sentiments of sympathy, that is to say affection, or
+love in the more vague and more extended sense of the term.
+
+To every sentiment of sympathy between two individuals (sympathy forms
+part of the sentiments of pleasure) there is a corresponding contrary
+correlative sentiment of grief, when the object of sympathy dies,
+becomes sick, takes flight or is carried off. This sentiment often
+takes the form of simple sadness, but it may attain a degree of
+incurable melancholy. Among certain monkeys and parrots, we often see
+the death of one of the conjoints lead to the refusal of all food and
+finally to death of the survivor, after increasing sadness and
+depression. Removal of the young produces a profound sadness in the
+female ape. But when an animal discovers the cause of the grief, when,
+for instance, a stranger attempts to take away his mate or his young,
+a mixed reaction of sentiment is produced, that is to say anger or
+even fury against the perpetrator of the deed.
+
+Jealousy is only a special form of this anger. The sentiment of anger
+and its violent and hostile expression constitute the natural reaction
+against one who disturbs a sentiment of pleasure, a reaction which
+tends to reėstablish the latter. The power of the sentiment of anger
+increases with the offensive and defensive faculties, while, in weak
+and peaceful beings, terror and sadness to a great extent take their
+place. On the other hand, the sight of defenseless prey suffices to
+provoke, in the rapacious who are strong and well armed, by simple
+reflex association, a cruel sentiment of voluptuous anger, which is
+also observed in man.
+
+=Sentiment of Duty.=--Another derivative of the sentiment of sympathy
+is that of _duty_, that is the moral sense. All sentiment of love or
+sympathy urges the one who loves to certain acts destined to increase
+the welfare of the object loved. This is why the mother nourishes her
+young and plucks feathers and hairs to make them a soft bed; and why
+the father brings food to his wife and young, and defends them against
+their enemies. All these acts, which are not to the advantage of the
+individual but to the object or objects of his sympathy, exact more or
+less laborious efforts, courage in the face of danger, etc. They thus
+provoke an internal struggle between the sentiment of sympathy and
+egoism, or the unpleasantness of undertaking things which are
+troublesome and disagreeable for the individual himself. From this
+struggle between two opposed series of sentiments is derived a third
+group of complex or mixed sentiments, that of duty, or _moral
+conscience_. When the sentiment of sympathy prevails, when the animal
+does his duty toward his young and his conjoint, he feels a sentiment
+of pleasure, of duty accomplished. If, on the contrary, he has been
+negligent, the egoistic instincts having for the moment prevailed, the
+remorse of conscience results, that is the painful uneasiness which
+follows all disobedience to the instinctive sentiments of sympathy.
+This uneasiness accumulates in the brain in the form of
+self-discontent, and may lead to an accentuated sentiment of
+_repentance_.
+
+These phenomena exist both in the male and in the female, and if it
+was not so, the accomplishment of duty would be impossible; the cat
+would run away instead of defending her young; would eat her prey
+instead of giving it to them, etc. We thus see the elements of human
+social sentiment already very marked in many animals. Remorse and
+repentance can only be formed on the basis of preėxisting sentiments
+of sympathy.
+
+=Sentiment of Kinship.=--A higher degree of the sentiments of sympathy
+is developed when these do not remain limited to a temporary union,
+but when the union of the sexes is transformed into durable or even
+life-long marriage, as we see in monkeys and in most birds. In another
+manner the sentiments of sympathy are developed by extension of the
+family community to a greater number of individuals, who are grouped
+together for the common defense, as we see in swallows, crows, and to
+a higher degree, in the large organized communities of social animals,
+as the beavers, bees, ants, etc. In the latter, the sentiment of
+sympathy and duty nearly always affects all the individuals of the
+community, while anger and jealousy are extended toward every being
+which does not form part of it.
+
+We must be blinded by prejudice not to comprehend that these same
+general facts, revealed by the study of biology and animal psychology,
+are repeated in the human mind. Some animals are even superior to the
+majority of men in the intensity of their sentiments of sympathy and
+duty, as well as in love and conjugal fidelity--monkeys and parrots,
+for example. In the social insects, such as the ants and bees, with
+their communities so solidly organized and so finely coördinated on
+the basis of instinct, the sentiment of social duty has almost
+entirely replaced the individual sentiments of sympathy. An ant or a
+bee only loves, so to speak, the whole assemblage of his companions.
+It does not sacrifice itself for any one of them in particular, but
+only for the community. In these animals the individual is only
+regarded as a number in the community whose motto is--one for all, but
+never all for one.
+
+In bees especially, the degree of sympathy extended to a member or a
+class of the hive is exactly proportional to the utility of this
+member to the community. The working bees will kill themselves or die
+of hunger in order to nourish their queen, while in the autumn they
+ruthlessly massacre all the males or drones which have become
+useless.
+
+=Sentiments of Patriotism and Humanity.=--The human brain, so powerful
+and so complicated, contains a little of all these things, with
+enormous individual variations. In man, the sentiments of sympathy and
+duty relate especially to the family, that is to say, they are to a
+great extent limited to individuals interested in a sexual community,
+viz., the conjoints and children, as occurs generally in mammals. It
+follows that sentiments of sympathy connected with larger communities
+such as remote relatives, the clan, the community, the country, those
+who speak the same language, etc., are relatively much weaker, and
+result from education and custom rather than from instinct. The
+weakest sentiment is certainly that of _humanity_, which regards each
+man as a brother and companion, and from which is evolved the general
+sentiment of solidarity or social duty. How can it be otherwise in a
+species which has lived for thousands or perhaps millions of years as
+small hostile tribes, separated from each other? Primitive men were so
+destitute of all humanitarian sentiment that they not only killed one
+another and practiced mutual slavery, but also martyred, tortured and
+even devoured one another.
+
+In spite of all this, and as the result of custom and life in common,
+the individual sentiments of sympathy in man are easily extended to
+members of other races, especially as regards different sexes, so much
+so that enemies conquered and taken prisoners often became later on,
+owing to life in common, the friends or mates of their conquerors.
+
+=Antipathy.=--Inversely, individual antipathies and enmity often occur
+not only between members of the same tribe but even between those of
+the same family. The latter may lead to parricide, fratricide,
+infanticide, or assassination of a conjoint.
+
+=Phylogeny of Love.=--The social life of ants offers us some
+instructive analogies. In spite of the intense hostility of different
+colonies of ants among themselves, there may be obtained by habitude,
+often after many desperate combats, alliances between colonies which
+were hitherto enemies, even between colonies of different species.
+These alliances henceforth become permanent. This is very curious to
+observe at the time when the alliance begins to be formed. We then see
+certain individual hatreds persist, to a varying extent, for several
+days. Certain individuals of the weaker party are maltreated by other
+individuals of the conquering party. They cut off their limbs and
+antennę and often martyrize them to death with a rabidness that sadly
+resembles human sentiments! Hatred and dispute between individuals of
+the same colony of ants are, on the other hand, extremely rare. I can
+guarantee the correctness of all these observations, having often
+repeated them myself and having recorded them in my works on the
+habits of ants. Moreover, they have since been confirmed by other
+writers.
+
+After what we have just said, and especially if we take into
+consideration the numerous observations which have been made in
+biology, we can hardly doubt that the sentiment of sexual attraction,
+or the sexual appetite, has been the primary source of nearly all, if
+not all, the sentiments of sympathy and duty which have been developed
+in animals and especially in man. Many of these sentiments are no
+doubt little by little completely differentiated and rendered entirely
+independent of sexual sentiment, forming a series of corresponding
+conceptions adapted to divers social objects in the form of sentiments
+of amity. The latter in their turn have often become the generators of
+social formations and of a more generalized altruism. Many others,
+however, have remained more or less consciously associated with the
+sexual appetite, as is certainly the case in man.
+
+This short sketch which we have given of the phylogenetic history of
+love and its derivatives is sufficient to show the immense influence
+which sexual life has exercised on the whole development of the human
+mind.
+
+On the other hand, we must avoid exaggerating the actual importance of
+this influence. Young children, who possess neither sexual appetite
+nor corresponding sensations, already give evidence not only of
+intense sentiments of sympathy and antipathy, anger and jealousy, but
+also of commiseration, when they see those whom they love suffer; they
+may even show that they already possess the sentiment of duty or
+disinterested devotion. All these phylogenetic derivatives of the
+sentiments of sexual attraction are thus developed in the individual
+long before the sexual instinct itself, from which they have become
+absolutely independent. This does not prevent them being powerfully
+influenced by the sexual instinct when this awakes, or from being
+associated with its direct derivatives when the sexual appetite,
+properly so-called, is absent. Thus we see absolutely cold women
+become loving and devoted wives and mothers, and possessing a highly
+developed sense of kinship. Maternal love is a sentiment of sympathy
+derived from the sexual sentiment, adapted directly to children, who
+are the products of sexual life.
+
+=Constellations.=--From all this results the immense complication of
+the peculiarities of the human mind which are connected with love.
+Individual variations of the disposition to sexual appetite are
+combined with individual dispositions to the higher qualities of
+mind--general sentiments, intelligence and will--to form the most
+diverse individual combinations, which we may call _constellations_.
+Moreover, inherited individual dispositions are combined in man with a
+great number of experiences and remembrances, acquired in all domains
+in the course of his life, accumulating them in his brain by what is
+called education or adaptation to environment. From the immense
+complexity of energies resulting from hereditary dispositions combined
+with acquired factors, the resolutions and acts of man are derived,
+without his being able to account for the infinite multiplicity of
+causes which determine them.
+
+It is thus that a man may be a model of conduct or morality, simply
+from the fact that his sexual appetite is almost nil. Another, on the
+contrary, suffers from an exaggerated sexual appetite, but is devoted,
+conscientious, and even scrupulous; this results in violent internal
+struggles, from which he does not always emerge victorious. A third is
+moderate in his appetites; if his sentiment of duty is strong and he
+possesses a strong will, he will resist his desires, while if his will
+is weak or his moral sense defective, he will succumb to the first
+temptation.
+
+Love and sexual appetite may be intimately connected or completely
+separated in the same individual. In the same way that a cold woman
+may be a good mother, a very sensual woman may be a bad one, but the
+inverse may also be met with.
+
+=Love.=--I speak here of the true love of a higher nature of one sex
+for the other, or _sexual love_, which is not simple friendship, but
+is combined with sexual appetite. To write on love is almost to pour
+water into the ocean, for literature is three parts composed of
+dissertations on love. There can be no doubt that the normal man feels
+a great desire for love. The irradiations of love in the mind
+constitute one of the fundamental conditions of human happiness and
+one of the principal objects of life. Unfortunately, the question is
+too often treated with exaggerated sentiment, or on the other hand,
+with sensual cynicism; it is examined from one side only, or else it
+is misunderstood.
+
+First of all, love appears to be usually kindled by the sexual
+appetite. This is the celebrated story of Cupid's arrow. One falls in
+love with a face, a look, a smile, a white breast, a sweet and
+melodious voice, etc. However, the relations between love and sexual
+appetite are extremely delicate and complex. In man, the second may
+exist without the first and love may often persist without appetite,
+while in woman the two things are difficult to separate, and in any
+case, in her, the original appetite without love is much more rare.
+The two things are thus not identical; even the most materialistic and
+libidinous egoist will agree to this, if he is not too narrow-minded.
+
+It may also happen that love precedes appetite, and this often leads
+to the most happy unions. Two characters may have extreme mutual
+sympathy, and this purely intellectual and sentimental sympathy may at
+first develop without a shadow of sensuality. This is nearly always
+the case when it exists from infancy. In modern society an enormous
+number of sexual unions, or marriages, are consummated without a trace
+of love, and are based on pure speculation, conventionality or
+fortune. Here it is tacitly assumed that the normal sexual appetite
+combined with custom will cement the marriage and render it durable.
+As the normal man has not, as a rule, extreme sentiments, such
+prevision is usually realized on the whole, the conjoints becoming
+gradually adapted to one another, more or less successfully according
+to the discoveries which are made after marriage.
+
+Even when they are relatively true, love stories generally deal with
+exceptional cases, often even pathological; for the average marriage
+does not appear to the novelist sufficiently piquant or interesting to
+captivate his readers. We are not concerned here with extremes, or
+with the tragic situations met with in novels, but with normal and
+ordinary love, as it most often occurs in reality.
+
+After what we have just said, it is clear that love is derived from
+two factors: (1) _momentary sexual passion_; (2) _the hereditary and
+instinctive sentiments of sympathy which are derived from the
+primordial sexual appetite of our animal ancestors, but which have
+become completely independent of this appetite_. Between these two
+terms are placed the sentiments of sympathy experienced by the
+individual in his former life, which have most often been provoked by
+sexual desire for an individual of the opposite sex, and which may be
+evoked by the aid of remembrance, kindled afresh, and contribute
+strongly to maintain constancy of love. These different sentiments
+pass into each other in all possible shades, and continually react on
+each other. Sexual appetite, for example, awakens sympathy, and is
+awakened by the latter in its turn; on the contrary, it is cooled or
+extinguished under the influence of bad conduct on the part of the
+person loved.
+
+Let us here recall a law of the sentiments of sympathy, a law which is
+well known, but generally forgotten in human calculations. Man loves
+best those to whom he devotes himself, and not those from whom he
+receives benefits.[3] It is easy to be convinced of the reality of
+this fact in the relations of parents to their children, as well as in
+marriage. When one of the conjoints in marriage adulates the other,
+the latter may easily find this adulation quite natural, and may love
+the other conjoint much less than a spoilt child, to which is devoted
+all the transports of an unreasonable affection. The spoilt child, the
+object of such blind affection, more often responds to it by
+indifference, or even by ingratitude, disdain and impertinence. We
+find everywhere this play of sentiments, which considerably impedes
+mutuality in love. It may even concern inanimate objects. We like a
+garden, a house or a book over which we have taken much pains, and we
+remain indifferent to the most beautiful and precious gifts which come
+by themselves without our making any effort to obtain them. In the
+same way, the child becomes attached to some toy which he has made
+himself, and disdains the costly presents given by his parents. As a
+poet has said: "Man only enjoys for long and without remorse the goods
+dearly paid for by his efforts." (Sully-Prudhomme: "_Le Bonheur_.")
+
+There is, therefore, a profound psychology in the old and wise saying
+that true love expresses itself as often by refusal as by compliance,
+and should always associate itself with reason. No doubt this is not
+primitive love; it is a love elevated and purified by its combination
+with the elements of intelligence.
+
+In marriage, more than one husband thinks he ought to be separated
+from his wife and children so as not to spoil them. There is no need
+of a long explanation to show the fallacy of this idea. To be
+complete, love should be reciprocal, and to remain mutual it requires
+mutual education in marriage. Every husband should above all be
+separated from himself, and not from his wife. If each one did all in
+his power to promote the happiness of the other, this altruistic
+effort would strengthen his own sentiments of sympathy. This requires
+a constant and loyal effort on each side, but it avoids the illusion
+of a false love, provoked by the senses, vanishing like smoke or
+becoming changed to hatred. Without being blind to the weaknesses of
+his partner he must learn to like them as forming part of the person
+to whom he has devoted his heart, and employ all his skill in
+correcting them by affection, instead of increasing his own weakness
+by leaning on them. It is necessary, therefore, neither to admire nor
+to dislike the defects of the loved one, but to try and attenuate them
+by aid of integral love.
+
+Love has been defined as "dual egoism." The reciprocal adulation of
+two human beings easily degenerates into egoistic enmity toward the
+rest of the human race, and this often reacts harmfully on the quality
+of love. Human solidarity is too great, especially at the present day,
+for such exclusivism in love not to suffer.
+
+I would define ideal love as follows: _After mature consideration, a
+man and a woman are led by sexual attraction, combined with harmony of
+character, to form a union in which they stimulate each other to
+social work, commencing this work with their mutual education and that
+of their children._
+
+Such a conception of love refines this sentiment and purifies it to
+such an extent that it loses all its pettiness, and it is pettiness
+which so often causes it to degenerate, even in its most loyal forms.
+The social work in common of a man and woman united by true affection,
+full of tenderness and devotion for one another, mutually encouraging
+each other to perseverance and to action, will easily triumph over
+petty jealousies and all other instinctive reactions of the
+phylogenetic exclusiveness of natural love. The sentiments of love
+will thus become ever more ideal, and will no longer provide egoism
+with the soil of idleness and comfort on which it grows like a weed.
+
+=Inconvenience of Abstinence from Sexual Connection Between Married
+Couples by Medical Orders.=--It is a matter of common observation that
+in marriage, at least during mature life, sexual connection
+strengthens and maintains love, even when it only constitutes part of
+that which cements tenderness and affection. In many cases I have
+observed that medical orders, given no doubt with good intentions, and
+forbidding sexual connection, on account of certain morbid conditions,
+have had the effect of cooling the sentiments of love and sympathy and
+producing indifference which soon becomes incurable. Physicians should
+always bear this in mind in their prescriptions, of which they too
+often see the immediate object only. The medical prohibition of sexual
+connection in marriage should be reserved for cases of absolute
+necessity. For example: A virtuous and capable man marries for love an
+intelligent but somewhat ill-developed girl. The marriage is happy and
+they have several children. But after a time certain local disorders
+in the woman induce the medical man to forbid sexual connection with
+her husband. They begin to sleep in separate rooms, and little by
+little intimate love becomes so far cooled that the renewal of sexual
+relations later on becomes impossible. The husband's sentiments are so
+much affected as to render him unfaithful to his moral principles,
+and to lead him occasionally to visit prostitutes. Although they have
+become essentially strangers to each other, the husband and wife
+continue to live together an apparently happy life; but this is far
+from always the case.
+
+=Durable Love.=--It may be stated as a principle that true and
+elevated love is durable, and that the sudden passion which lets loose
+the sexual appetite toward an individual of the opposite sex, hitherto
+a stranger, in no way represents the measure of true love. Passion
+warps the judgment, conceals the most evident faults, colors
+everything in celestial purple, renders the lovers blind, and veils
+the true character of each from the other. We are only speaking here
+of cases where each is loyal and where the sexual appetite is not
+associated with the cold calculations of egoism. Reason only returns
+when the first tempest of a passion which seemed insatiable has
+subsided, when the honeymoon of marriage, or of a free union, has
+passed. Then only is it possible to see if what remains is true love,
+indifference, hatred or a mixture of these three sentiments, capable
+or not of becoming more or less adaptable and tolerable. This is why
+sudden amours are always dangerous, and why only long and profound
+mutual acquaintance before marriage can lead to a happy and lasting
+union.
+
+Even in this case the unforseen is not absent, for it is very rarely
+that one knows a man and his ancestry; moreover, acquired diseases or
+mental anomalies may cause his character to degenerate later on.
+
+Let us now examine some psychic phenomena more or less connected with
+love. For reasons which we have mentioned the irradiations of sexual
+love are on the whole less developed in man than in woman.
+
+
+PSYCHIC IRRADIATIONS OF LOVE IN MAN
+
+=Masculine Audacity.=--In the normal male the sentiment of sexual
+power favors self-exaltation, while the contrary sentiment of
+impotence, or even that of mediocre sexual power, depresses this
+sentiment of exaltation. Yet, in reality, the sexual power of man has
+not the capital importance for a normal and virgin woman that men
+imagine, influenced as they are by self-exaltation; what imposes on
+women is especially masculine audacity, and in sexual matters this
+increases with experience and practice. The company of prostitutes
+often renders men incapable of understanding feminine psychology, for
+prostitutes are hardly more than automata trained for the use of male
+sensuality. When men look among these for the sexual psychology of
+woman they only find their own mirror.
+
+Man's flirtation, and his art of paying court to women are naturally
+combined with his audacity, as we have already observed in birds and
+mammals, and some of the lower animals. The male seeks to please the
+female to gain her favors. The brilliant colors of butterflies and
+birds, song, skill and proof of strength, often come to the aid of the
+male sexual instinct. Even in certain animals supplicant and plaintive
+sounds assist the male after his repeated refusal, apparently or in
+reality, by the female. We shall see in Chapter VI that savage men
+have a much greater tendency to tattoo and adorn themselves than have
+the women.
+
+The art which man employs to seduce and conquer woman has been
+described to satiety in romances and novels, as well as in
+ethnographic works; so that we shall not dwell on it here. On the
+contrary, we shall show that in higher civilizations man is in general
+more sought after than woman, so that the latter has surpassed him in
+the art of flirtation or sexual conquest.
+
+It is also important to remark to what extent the increase of man's
+mental complexity transforms his sexual tactics. The simple, natural,
+and at the same time bashful, modest manner, in which a naļve young
+man seeks to conquer a heart, usually produces no effect on the
+fashionable young lady, experienced in all refined pleasures and
+saturated with unhealthy novels. These young women are much more
+easily seduced by the art of Don Juan and the old _roués_, who are
+more adequate to deal with them because they have studied practically
+the psychology of the modern woman.
+
+=Instinct of Procreation.=--Another irradiation of the male sexual
+instinct, connected with the preceding, is the instinct of
+procreation. If there were no other difficulties or consequences, man
+would without the least doubt be instinctively inclined to copulate
+with as many women as he could, and procreate as many children as
+possible. The more he is capable of satisfying his procreative
+instinct, the more he becomes self-exalted, as he thus sees himself
+multiplied and feels his power extended by the possession of a great
+number of wives and children. This is one of the principal causes
+which urge rich men and polygamous peoples to possess many women.
+
+Coitus without object, like that of prostitution, can only assuage the
+sexual appetite and does not satisfy any of its higher irradiations.
+It is well known that a happy betrothal, reposing on true love, and
+not on pecuniary interests, often transforms a young man from
+pessimism to optimism, from misogyny to philogyny. Skeptics smile at
+this transformation and regard it as only the transient intoxication
+of love. This may be true in some cases, but, as we have seen above,
+when love is ennobled by deep understanding and mutual education, when
+each knows and respects the other, the transformation remains
+definite, and is strengthened so much that the honeymoon of the silver
+wedding is often happier and more exalted than that which followed
+marriage. We can then say that the optimism created by sexual union
+cemented by true love rests on the normal accomplishment of the object
+of life. I cannot too often repeat that work in common, especially
+social work, on the part of the conjoints, is necessary for their
+happiness to be complete, and to survive in the one who remains after
+the decease of the other.
+
+=Jealousy.=--The worst irradiation, or rather the worst reaction of
+contrast of love, which we have inherited from our animal ancestors,
+and that which is the most deeply rooted, is _jealousy_. Jealousy is a
+heritage of animals and barbarism; that is what I would say to all
+those who, in the name of offended honor, would grant it rights and
+even place it on a pedestal. It is ten times better for a woman to
+marry an unfaithful than a jealous husband. From the phylogenetic
+point of view, jealousy originates in the struggle for the possession
+of woman, at a period when right depended only on brute force. Cunning
+and violence contended with each other, and when the conqueror was in
+possession of a female, he had to guard her jealously to prevent her
+being abducted. Furious combats ensued. As soon as an unaccustomed
+approach, a look or anything else awakened the least suspicion of the
+presence of a rival, the male was tormented with a continual and
+instinctive feeling of defiance and distrust, often increased by the
+remembrance of the sadness of former defeats and the impotent rage
+which followed.
+
+The results of male jealousy in the history of marriage are truly
+incredible. I may mention the iron girdles with locks--the so-called
+girdles of chastity--which we still see in certain museums, which the
+knights of the Middle Ages put on their wives when they set off to the
+wars, in order to appease their jealousy. Many savage peoples do not
+content themselves with severely punishing adultery in woman, even by
+death, but even simple conversations with a strange man. Jealousy
+transforms marriage into a hell. It is often exalted in man to the
+point of a mania for persecution, to which it is analogous. It is also
+a very common symptom of alcoholism. Then the life of the unfortunate
+woman who is the object of it becomes a continual martyrdom. Perpetual
+suspicion accompanied by insults, threats and violent words, and even
+homicide may be the result of this atrocious passion.
+
+Even in its more moderate and normal form, jealousy is a torment, for
+distrust and suspicion poison love. We often hear of justified
+jealousy; I maintain, on the contrary, that jealousy is never
+justified, and that it is only the brutal stupidity of an atavistic
+heritage, or a pathological symptom. A reasonable man who has doubts
+as to the fidelity of his wife has certainly the right to assure
+himself of their correctness. But of what use is it to be jealous? If
+he finds his suspicions false he has, by his manner, made his wife
+unnecessarily unhappy and destroyed conjugal confidence and happiness.
+If, on the contrary, his suspicions are well founded he has only to
+choose between one of two ways. If it is a case of amorous
+intoxication suggested by another man to his wife, who is often very
+unhappy about it, she may then be restored to her husband and
+pardoned, for in this case affection only can cure her, never
+jealousy. If, however, love for her husband is entirely extinguished
+in her, or if she is only a false intriguer without character,
+jealousy is even more absurd, for the game is not worth the candle,
+and immediate divorce is necessary.
+
+Unfortunately, man only possesses very little control over his
+feelings when these are violent. The jealous person by nature, that is
+by heredity, is generally incurable and poisons his own existence at
+the same time as that of his wife. Such individuals should never
+marry.
+
+In lunatic asylums, in law, and in novels jealousy plays an important
+part, for it is one of the most fruitful sources of tragedies and
+human unhappiness. The combined and persevering efforts of education
+and selection are necessary to gradually eliminate it from the human
+brain. We often hear it said of man and woman that they are not
+jealous enough, because they are too indulgent toward the
+extra-nuptial inclinations of their conjoint. When such indulgence
+rests on cynical indifference or on pecuniary interests, it is not the
+want of jealousy but the want of moral sense which is to blame. If it
+arises from real and reasoned love, it should on the contrary be
+highly respected and praised. I would wish all heroes of offended
+honor and all defenders of jealousy to reflect on the following case:
+
+A man of high position, and the father of five children, lived in the
+most happy union. One day he made the acquaintance of a friend of his
+wife, a very intelligent and well-educated lady. Frequent visits and
+long conversations led to intimacy which developed into violent
+reciprocal love. However, the lady refused to abandon herself
+entirely. The husband confessed everything to his wife, even to the
+smallest details, and the lady did the same. Instead of becoming
+jealous, the wife had the good sense and the courage to treat the two
+lovers not only with indulgence, but a true and profound affection.
+The loyalty of each of the parties interested greatly facilitated the
+gradual _dénouement_ of a difficult situation, without the family
+affections suffering. But the _dénouement_ would have been quite as
+peaceful if the lady had yielded to sexual connection with the
+husband. In fact, the wife herself considered this question very
+seriously and calmly, in case the fire could not be otherwise
+extinguished.
+
+I ask in all sincerity, if such mild and humane treatment of an
+unfortunate love affair, in which the three interested parties each
+strove to avoid all scandal and everything which could damage their
+mutual reputation, I ask if this good and loyal treatment is not, from
+the moral standpoint, far superior to scenes of jealousy, duels,
+divorces and all their consequences, things which are all sanctioned
+and even sanctified by custom?
+
+I also know many cases where the husbands of women who have fallen in
+love with other men have conducted themselves in an equally noble and
+reasonable manner, even when their wives had been completely
+unfaithful, and the results have always been good. It is needless to
+say that I do not wish to maintain that a husband should tolerate
+indefinitely the bad conduct of his wife, nor a woman that of her
+husband; but this is another thing.
+
+=Sexual Braggardism.=--Let us pass on to another irradiation of the
+male sexual appetite--sexual braggardism. This arises from
+self-exaltation evolved from the sexual power of man. Like jealousy,
+this sentiment is no doubt inherited from our animal ancestors, and it
+finds its analogy, or rather its caricature, in the cock, the peacock,
+the turkey, and in general among the richly adorned males of
+polygamous species. Although on the whole more innocent, the results
+of this atavistic instinct are no more elevated than those of
+jealousy. The sentiment of sexual power induces men, especially those
+of lower mental caliber, to boast of their sexual conquests and
+exaggerate them. It is needless to say that success does not go to the
+unskillful boaster, but to the one who relates his audacious exploits
+in a casual way. The Don Juan experienced in the art of seduction
+approaches women with audacity and _aplomb_, and usually imposes on
+them considerably, whatever his ignorance of other things. He has
+instinctively learnt one thing: viz., the weakness of woman in the
+face of the male form, theatrical effect, uniforms, an audacious act,
+a fierce mustache, etc. He has learnt that these fireworks hypnotize
+her and silence her reason, and that she is then capable of enthusiasm
+for the most doubtful cavalier and delivers herself to him bound hand
+and foot, provided his self-assurance does not desert him.
+
+I may say here that it is most often men of low intellect, weak in
+judgment and principles, who think themselves most superior to the
+feminine sex, and who behave as tyrants to their wives.
+
+Sexual braggardism has, moreover, grave consequences for the man
+himself, for it urges him to excesses which far exceed his appetites
+and especially his natural wants. In spite of other advantages, he
+wishes to shine by these excesses among his fellows and even among the
+grisettes whose minds are full of sexual matters.
+
+Male sexual braggardism contributes with sexual appetite to entice
+reserved and high-minded young men toward prostitutes, against their
+better instincts, their reason and their moral sense. Alcohol
+especially facilitates the degeneration of sexual life.
+
+=The Pornographic Spirit.=--The term _eroticism_ is given to the state
+of excitation of the sexual appetite. When a person cultivates it
+artificially and abandons himself to purely animal sensuality, without
+combining it with higher intellectual or moral aspirations, there
+develop in the mind irradiations which may be designated by the term
+_pornographic spirit_. The entire circle of ideas of such individuals
+is so impregnated with eroticism that all their thoughts and
+sentiments are colored by it. They see everywhere, even in the most
+innocent objects, the most lewd allusions. Woman is only regarded by
+them as an object of sexual enjoyment, and her mind only appears to
+such satyrs as an ignoble erotic caricature, which is disgusting to
+every man capable of lofty sentiments.
+
+Owing to its usually sensual and gross nature, male eroticism has
+succeeded in modeling a whole class of women in whom ideal character
+in their desires is wanting. Instead of recognizing his own work and
+the vile image of his own person in these unnatural women, the
+libertine, as we have already seen, imagines them as the normal type
+of woman. From the height of his presumption, he then despises woman
+and does not perceive that it is himself whom he despises; for on the
+whole, from the sexual point of view, the dependent woman of to-day
+conforms herself to man and becomes what he makes her. The number of
+coitus, their details, the size and form of the sexual organs, the
+pleasure of having cut out other men, and especially the pathological
+perversions of the sexual appetite, form the chief object of the
+thoughts and conversations of pornographic minds. Each tries to outdo
+the others in sexual enormities, and the virtuosity of these gentlemen
+in this domain is only surpassed by their ignorance and incapacity in
+all others.
+
+Prostitution and all the modern sexual degeneration which marches
+under the hypocritical flag of Christianity, civilization and
+monogamy, have so far developed the pornographic spirit that men
+living in centers of debauchery, centers which are unfortunately
+extending more and more from town to country, lose all conception of
+the noble qualities natural to the feminine sentiment and to true
+love, or only preserve a few shreds of it which they treat with
+ridicule. Many men have admitted this to me, after being much
+astonished when I was obliged to give them quite another conception of
+love and woman, without introducing the least trace of religion. No
+doubt certain better individuals, fallen by chance into debauchery,
+speak respectfully of a mother or a sister, for whom they profess an
+almost religious worship. They regard these as beings apart, as
+species of a lost race of demigods, and they do not perceive that they
+discredit them and drag them in the mud by their contempt and
+pornographic conception of woman in general, a conception which is
+moreover often altered to profound pessimism.
+
+In the relatively moral circles of society, our description would no
+doubt be taxed with exaggeration, because natures a little more
+refined have the habit of acting like the ostrich who hides his head
+in the sand, that is to say of turning their eyes away from the
+pornographic swamp with disgust so as not to see it, and thus avoid it
+instinctively. But this maneuver serves no purpose: the facts remain
+as they are.
+
+Eroticism is no more a vice than sexual anęsthesia is a virtue. Even
+when they are chaste, men of libidinous nature require a strong will
+to resist all the artificial seductions which excite their sensuality.
+This is why the bog of debauchery engulfs so many men of a naturally
+good nature. In this sense, cold natures are better off; they can
+cover themselves with the glory of a "virtue" the resplendent rays of
+which become lost in a penumbra of defects and weaknesses from which
+these natures suffer in other domains.
+
+=Sexual Hypocrisy.=--Hypocrisy is a peculiarity deeply rooted in the
+human mind. We can affirm that whoever pretends never to have been a
+hypocrite lies, quite as much as one who swears he has never lied. But
+nowhere, save perhaps in the domain of religion, does hypocrisy play a
+greater part than in the sexual domain. Nowhere is there so much
+falsehood, and men who are most honest on other points make no scruple
+of deceiving their wives in this respect. I do not speak here of the
+simulation of sentiments of love, for it is too banal, and there is no
+need to be too exacting over this point, for there are strong
+attenuating circumstances.
+
+First of all, erotic feelings are capable of blinding man for the
+moment, as far as persuading him of the eternal duration of love and
+fidelity which he promises the object of his appetites, as well as of
+the reality of the celestial qualities under which this object appears
+to him, or with which it pleases him to adorn it. Two persons mutually
+excited by sexual passion are fascinated by the illusions of a mirage,
+which often vanishes soon afterward, so that it is not rare to see
+them on the following day hurling the most violent abuse at each
+other.
+
+Those who have not been witnesses of such events may hardly believe
+them. It is sufficient, however, to be a magistrate or to read the
+reports of lawsuits between debased persons as the result of love
+quarrels, broken engagements or marriages, seductions, etc., to study
+the letters that the two parties have written before and after their
+quarrel, in order to be convinced of the correctness of what we have
+said above. In the first letters the lovers adulate each other and
+adorn each other with the most hyperbolic epithets, swearing eternal
+love and fidelity, and deluding each other in the most absurd manner.
+In letters written sometimes only a few days later we are astonished
+to see the same individuals grossly insulting each other and mutually
+covering themselves with ignoble calumnies. This is how passion
+without reason passes through the furnaces of love and hatred,
+dragging after it all the artificial scaffolding of what man imagines
+to be his right based on logic, but which is in reality only a tissue
+of ridiculous contradictions, the automatic and inept product of his
+emotional state. Such contrasts are so frequent that we can easily
+recognize the expression of a psychological law, due to the mirages of
+the amorous passions on the one hand and the inverse reaction on the
+other.
+
+Nevertheless hypocrisy has its good side. It has been said not without
+reason that "hypocrisy is a concession which vice makes to virtue." In
+their nakedness human thoughts are often so sadly vulgar and so
+offensive that a little varnish improves them. In this sense, and when
+it comes from a feeling of shame or good-will, hypocrisy deserves a
+good deal of the eulogy which Mark Twain has heaped on it in his
+charming satire, "The Decadence of the Art of Lying."
+
+In the sexual question hypocrisy is directly provoked by the tyranny
+and barbarism of what are called good manners, often even by the law.
+In this sense it constitutes a response of human nature to the forms
+and customs derived from the right of the stronger or from religious
+superstitions, as well as from the dogmas resulting from them.
+
+By the term _sexual hypocrisy_ I do not mean the repugnant forms of
+hypocrisy pure and simple, in which man only exploits love indirectly
+for an interested end, for instance when he simulates love to obtain a
+rich wife. I only speak of the forms of hypocrisy which are directly
+evolved from the sexual appetite or from love.
+
+It is from this point of view that we must judge sexual hypocrisy, and
+if I have laid special stress on its good points, it is in view of
+marriage, where it assists the education of noble and elevated
+sentiments even in the hypocrite. By praising the virtues of his
+helpmate with a little exaggeration, these are made to appear more
+noble. If the time is spent in saying disagreeable truths, love is
+soon stifled and killed. On the contrary, if each conjoint attributes
+to the other as fine qualities as possible, each is finally persuaded
+that the other really possesses them, and then realizes them himself,
+at any rate in part.
+
+The worst of hypocrisies is that which is the product of base
+pecuniary interests, or of a gross sexual appetite without love, or
+lastly by the pressure of conventional or religious customs. Good
+hypocrisy consists in the repression of all that is base in the
+sentiments, inclinations and passions; in the fact that one strives to
+hide it from others, even from one's self, and to suggest in its place
+as many amiable qualities as possible, so as to strengthen in a
+disinterested manner the object of one's love in noble sentiments.
+This kind of hypocrisy is in reality an indirect product of altruistic
+sentiments. One perceives with pain on reflecting, either the absence
+of spontaneous sentiments of sympathy, or the presence of disgust and
+bad temper, and one strives to hide the thing by sympathetic
+expressions for which one seeks an object, and to which one would wish
+to give a durable character. Loyal efforts made in this direction
+often succeed in correcting the egoistic humor with which one is
+affected, and in giving rise to the sentiments one desires to
+experience. One must not, however, by only looking at one side of the
+question, allow such efforts to degenerate into maladroit blindness,
+which will only have the effect of spoiling the person one loves.
+
+=Egoistic Love.=--It is obvious that the psychic irradiations of the
+sexual sense are strongly influenced by the individuality of the one
+who loves. The egoist loves in a manner naively egoistic. He is not
+wanting in fine words, but in his opinion all sentiment and respect is
+due to his person, while he reduces to a minimum his duties toward the
+object of his love. He exacts much from the other and gives little.
+The good man with altruistic sentiments feels things in an inverse
+way; he exacts little from others, and much from himself.
+
+Love differs in different natures, according as they are calm or
+lively, imbecile or intelligent, well educated or otherwise: the will
+plays a great part here. Weakness and impulsiveness are found in love,
+as well as energy and perseverance. In the last point woman is
+superior, owing to the greater constancy of her love. There is thus no
+domain of the mind which is not influenced by love, and which does not
+react on love in its turn.
+
+Intellectual occupations are facilitated by a happy love, while they
+are usually hindered by the sorrows of love. Even men of science, so
+proud of their calmness, are often more influenced than one would
+think in their scientific opinions by their emotional sentiments.
+Without a man being aware of it, his sentiments insinuate themselves
+into the opinions which he believes to be of a purely intellectual
+nature, and direct them unconsciously with much more power than he
+generally imagines. Such influences act chiefly on individuals
+disposed to sentimentality. In love, these individuals resemble
+two-edged swords; the intensity of their emotional reactions and
+sentiments drives them from one extreme to another, from foolish
+happiness to despair or fury. The situation becomes still more grave
+when such storms burst among impulsive persons of weak will and
+limited intelligence. Under such circumstances ill-assorted alliances
+are formed which lead to violent quarrels, and sometimes even to
+crime. When jealousy comes on the scene the man often kills the woman
+and commits suicide.
+
+It would seem that such crime can only arise from egoism; this is
+often the case, but not always. Despair may often lead to such acts,
+without any motive of vengeance, or even of jealousy. The storm of
+passion drives weak-minded persons to impulsive actions, the motives
+of which are very difficult to analyze. After these tragedies of
+murder preceding suicide, when the murderer survives, he often
+expresses himself as follows: "I was in such a state of despair and
+excitement that I saw no other issue than death for both of us."
+
+=Prudery. Modesty.=--The sentiment of modesty originates in the fear
+of everything which is novel and unusual, and is complicated by
+natural timidity. This sentiment is especially strong in children. The
+sentiment of sexual modesty in man thus rests on timidity and on the
+fear of not doing as others do. It betrays itself toward women by
+awkwardness and bashfulness behind which eroticism is often ill
+concealed. The timid and bashful man carefully endeavors to hide his
+sexual feelings from others. The object of modesty is in itself
+immaterial to the psychology of this sentiment, and shame is sometimes
+inspired not only by very different things but even by opposite
+things. One youth is ashamed of appearing erotic, another of appearing
+too little erotic, according to the opinion of his neighbors.
+
+Modesty depends on the custom of covering or exposing certain parts of
+the body, and people who live in a state of nature are as much ashamed
+of clothes as we are ashamed of nudity. Moreover, man soon becomes
+accustomed to fashion, and the same English girl who blushes at the
+sight of a few inches of bare skin in her own country, finds it quite
+natural to see naked negroes in the tropics.
+
+The artificial and systematic cultivation of an exaggerated sentiment
+of modesty produces _prudery_, the bad results of which are, however,
+less than those of pornography. There are young people so modest that
+the simple thought of sexual matters overexcites them terribly. By
+associating their own erotic feelings, of which they feel ashamed,
+with sexual ideas, they invest these with terrifying attributes, and
+become quite unhappy; in this way they are often led to masturbation.
+They are, however, excessively frightened at this also and imagine its
+effects so terrible that they think themselves lost. Their exaggerated
+feelings of modesty often prevent them confiding in some charitable
+person. However, they rarely find reasonable consolers; some ridicule
+them, while others regard them as iniquitous, which only increases
+their terror and drives them to extremes.
+
+The sexual sentiment of modesty very often becomes unhealthy, and is
+then easily combined with pathological sexual conditions.
+
+Prudery is, so to speak, sexual modesty codified and dogmatized. It is
+indeterminate, because the object of modesty is purely conventional,
+and man has no valid reason to regard any part of his body as
+shameful. Normal man ought only to be ashamed of bad thoughts and
+actions, contrary to his moral conscience. The latter should be based
+on natural human altruism only, and not artificially misled by dogma.
+
+=The Old Bachelor.=--The importance of the psychic irradiations of
+love is shown perhaps more clearly from the results of their presence
+in old bachelors than from any other consideration. In our time, no
+doubt, the state of the old bachelor rarely means the renunciation of
+the satisfaction of sexual appetite, although it generally entails the
+renunciation of love. There are, no doubt, two kinds of old bachelors,
+those who are chaste and those who are not. The old bachelor no doubt
+leads a less empty existence than the old maid, but the void exists
+none the less. Man also needs compensation for the absence of love and
+family, but his brain is more capable than that of woman of finding
+this compensation in hard intellectual work or in some other
+employment.
+
+The old bachelor is generally pessimistic and morose. He easily
+becomes the slave of his fads and hobbies, and the peculiarities of
+his character are proverbial. His egoism knows no bounds, and his
+altruistic impulses usually find too few objects or echoes.
+
+The chastity of some old bachelors conceals sexual anomalies. But even
+apart from this, the old celibate easily becomes shy, affected,
+misanthropic or misogynistic, at least if some energetic friend does
+not induce him to utilize his power of work in some useful sphere. At
+other times he lavishes exaggerated admiration on women and worships
+them in a pompous manner.
+
+In a separate category come those old bachelors who are chaste and
+celibate for high moral reasons, and whose life is spent in social
+work, although they are only men and cannot for this reason free
+themselves from all the peculiarities we have mentioned. In a word,
+the object of life is partly wanting in the best of old bachelors, and
+this void not only affects his sentiments but his whole mental being.
+His general tendency to pessimism and egoism would be sufficient alone
+to provoke an energetic protest against the abandonment of social
+power to celibates.
+
+The old bachelor who is not chaste generally descends to pornography,
+only becoming acquainted with the worst side of woman. He becomes a
+misogynist because he wrongly attributes to all women the character of
+those only with whom he has intimate relations. We have already
+pointed out this phenomenon in speaking of male eroticism. The
+philosopher, Schopenhauer, was an example of this kind.
+
+
+PSYCHIC IRRADIATIONS OF LOVE IN WOMEN
+
+In speaking of love in man we have already touched on many points
+which differentiate it from that of woman. In the latter, the most
+prominent peculiarity is the dominant role which it plays in the
+brain. Without love woman abjures her nature and ceases to be normal.
+
+=The Old Maid.=--What we have said of old bachelors applies in a still
+more marked degree, to old maids. Still more than men they have need
+of compensation for sexual love, to avoid losing their natural
+qualities and becoming dried-up beings or useless egoists. But, if the
+void left by love is greater in her, woman possesses such natural
+energy and perseverance, combined with such great power of devotion,
+that on the whole she is more capable than man of accomplishing the
+work which the void in her existence requires. Unfortunately, many
+women do not understand this. On the other hand, those who devote
+themselves to social philanthropic works, to art or literature, to
+nursing the sick or to other useful occupations, instead of amusing
+themselves with futile things, may greatly distinguish themselves in
+such social pursuits, and thus obtain real compensation for the loss
+of love.
+
+In this respect woman was formerly misunderstood. The modern movement
+of her emancipation shows more and more what she is capable of and
+promises much more in the future.
+
+As to the old maid who lives alone with her egoism, her whims and
+fancies generally exceed those of the old bachelor. She has not the
+faculty of creating anything original by her own intellect, so that,
+having lost love, all her mental power shrinks up. Her cat, her little
+dog, and the daily care of her person and small household occupy her
+whole mind. It is not surprising that such persons generally create a
+pitiable and ridiculous impression.
+
+Between these two extremes there exists a category of unmarried women
+whose sexual love finds compensation in the love they bear for a
+parent or a friend (male or female), which although not sexual is none
+the less ardent. Such occupation for their sentiments improves their
+state of mind and partially fills the void; however, it is not
+sufficient as a rule and only constitutes a last resource. This kind
+of devotion, by its exclusiveness, often produces bad results, for its
+horizon is too limited. If the object of love, which is generally too
+pampered, dies or abandons her, she loses her head; grief, bitterness
+and pessimism never leave her, unless she finds consolation in
+religious exaltation, which is often observed in other women deprived
+of love. This last peculiarity is met with, moreover, in all classes
+of women, even among the married.
+
+=Passiveness of Woman. Sexual Appetite.=--Ideal love should never be
+dual egoism. What happens when two persons live exclusively for each
+other, if one of them dies? The survivor sinks into inconsolable
+despair, all that his heart was attached to is dead, because his love
+did not extend to other human beings, nor to social works. Widows then
+become as pitiable as old maids, although in another way, when they
+have lost the object of their exclusive love. This is why we recommend
+social work, not only for celibates, but also for loving couples.
+
+I again emphasize the fact that in normal women, especially young
+girls, the sexual appetite is subordinate to love. In the young girl
+love is a mixture of exalted admiration for masculine courage and
+grandeur, and an ardent desire for affection and maternity. She wishes
+to be outwardly dominated by a man, but to dominate him by her heart.
+This sentimentalism of the young girl, joined to the passive role of
+her sex, produces in her a state of exaltation which often borders on
+ecstasy and then overcomes all the resistance of will and reason. The
+woman surrenders herself to the man of whom she is enamored, or who
+has conquered or hypnotized her. She is vanquished by his embraces and
+follows him submissively, and in such a state of mind she is capable
+of any folly.
+
+Although more violent and impetuous in his love, man loses his
+_sang-froid_ on the whole much less than woman. We can therefore say
+that the relative power of sentiment is on the average greater in
+woman, in spite of her passive role.
+
+I cannot protest too strongly against the way in which men of the day
+disparage women and misunderstand them. In the way in which a young
+girl abandons herself to their sexual appetites, in caresses, and in
+the ecstasy of her love, they think they see the proof of a purely
+sensual eroticism, identical to their libidinous desire for coitus,
+while in reality she usually does not think of it, at any rate at
+first. The first coitus is usually painful to woman, often repugnant.
+Many are the cases where young girls, even when they knew the terrible
+social and individual dangers of their weakness, even when they have
+perhaps once already experienced the consequences, let the man abuse
+them without a word of complaint, without a trace of sexual pleasure
+or venereal orgasm, simply to please the one who desires them, because
+he is so good and amiable, and because refusal would give him so much
+pain. In his violent passion and in his egoism, man is generally
+incapable of understanding the power of this stoicism of a mind which
+surrenders itself in spite of all dangers and all its interests. He
+confounds his own appetites with the sentiments of the woman, and
+finds in this false interpretation of feminine psychology the excuses
+for the cowardice of which he gives proof when he yields to his
+passions. The psychology of the young girl who surrenders herself has
+been admirably depicted by Goethe in _Gretchen_ ("Faust"), as well as
+by de Maupassant on several occasions.
+
+It is necessary to know all these facts in order to estimate at its
+true value the ignominy of our social institutions and their bearing
+on woman's life. If men did not so misunderstand women, and especially
+if they were aware of the deep injustice of our customs and laws with
+regard to them, the better ones, at least, would think twice before
+seducing young girls, to abandon them afterward with their children. I
+am only speaking now of true love and not of the extortion so often
+practiced by women of low character, or those already educated in
+vice.
+
+I shall say no more concerning eroticism, which really exists in many
+women, especially in those who are already experienced in sexual
+matters. On the other hand there are women who deceive their husbands
+and allow themselves to be seduced by any Don Juan, even when they
+have never had the least sexual appetite, or felt a single venereal
+orgasm. They allow themselves to be dragged in the mud and lose their
+reputation, their fortune and their family; they even let their
+seducer trample them under foot; they become defamed and treated as
+women without character, without honor and without any notion of duty.
+They are simply poor feeble creatures incapable of resisting
+masculine proposals. With good psychological training they would often
+become better women, active, devoted and full of life. It seems hardly
+credible, but it is true, that one sometimes finds in this category
+women who are highly gifted. It is then said that they are wanting in
+moral sense, but this is not always correct. In other respects they
+may be faithful to their duty, devoted, sometimes even energetic and
+heroic; but they submit to masculine influence to such a degree that
+they cannot conceive how to resist it. They find it quite natural to
+give way to it and their mind does not understand that the complete
+abandonment of their body to the man they love should not necessarily
+follow immediately after the abandonment of their heart, or even after
+the first kiss. It is impossible for them to make distinctions or to
+trace limits.
+
+=Idealism in Woman.=--The cases I have just described are extreme,
+although very common; they give the note of a general phenomenon of
+feminine love in its exaltation. It is needless to say that reasonable
+women of high character behave themselves in quite another manner,
+however profound their love. Nevertheless the trait which we have just
+described is nearly always found at the bottom of all true love in
+woman, however much it may be veiled, dissimulated or conquered.
+
+It is not always audacity or heroic deeds like those of the bold
+cavaliers of former days which excite love in woman. The external
+qualities of man, such as beauty and elegance, etc., also play a part,
+although their effect may be less decisive than that of the bodily
+charms of woman in exciting love in man. Intellectual superiority,
+high moral actions, and mental qualities in general, easily affect the
+heart of woman, which becomes exalted under their influence. But every
+man who becomes famous either for good or evil, the fashionable actor,
+the celebrated tenor, etc., has the power of exciting love in women.
+Women without education or those of inferior mental quality are
+naturally more easily affected by the bodily strength of man, and by
+his external appearance in general. Many women are especially liable
+to succumb under the influence of all that is mystic. These become
+infatuated by preachers, and religious enthusiasts, to say nothing of
+hypocrites.
+
+Nothing is sadder than the contrast between the exalted love of a
+virtuous and chaste young girl, and the debauched life, with its
+traits of cynical pornography, of the majority of young men. Guy de
+Maupassant has described this contrast in a most striking manner in
+his romance entitled "_Une Vie_." I know a number of cases in which
+the complete ignorance of young married women with regard to sexual
+relations, combined with the cynical lewdness of their husbands, has
+transformed the exalted love of a young girl into profound disgust,
+and has sometimes even caused mental disorders. Although not very
+common, the psychoses resulting from the deception and shock of the
+nuptial night are not very rare. But what is much worse than this
+douche of cold water which suddenly substitutes the reality of coitus
+for the ideal exaltation of sentiment, are the subsequent discoveries
+made by the young wife, when the cynical mind of her husband on the
+subject of sexual connection and love is unveiled to her in all its
+grossness, resulting from his previous life of debauchery. Torn and
+sullied in its deepest fibers, the feminine mind then becomes the seat
+of a desperate struggle between reality full of deceptions and the
+illusions of a dream of happiness.
+
+If it is only a question of bad habits, or want of tact in the
+husband, behind which there exists perhaps true love, the wounds in
+the woman's sentiment may heal and intimacy may develop; but when the
+cynicism is too marked, when the habits of sexual debauchery are too
+inveterate, the love of a virtuous woman is soon stifled, and is
+changed to resignation and disgust, often to martyrdom or hatred.
+
+In other cases the woman is weak and ill-developed and allows herself
+to sink to the level of her husband's sentiments. Sometimes, the
+crisis is accentuated and leads to divorce. In de Maupassant's "_Une
+Vie_," he describes with profound insight the continuous deceptions of
+a young innocent and sentimental girl who marries an egoistic roué,
+and whose life is transformed into martyrdom and completely ruined. De
+Maupassant's romances contain such true psychology of sexual life and
+love in all their forms, often even in their exceptional aberrations,
+that they furnish an admirable illustration to the present chapter.
+
+=Petticoat Government.=--A series of most important irradiations of
+love in woman results from the need she feels of being, if not
+dominated, at least protected by her husband. To be happy, a woman
+must be able to respect her husband and even regard him with more or
+less veneration; she must see in him the realization of an ideal,
+either of bodily strength, courage, unselfishness or superior
+intellect. If this is not the case, the husband easily falls under the
+petticoat government, or indifference and antipathy may develop in the
+wife, at least if misfortune or illness in the husband does not excite
+her pity and transform her into a resigned nurse.
+
+Petticoat government can hardly make a household truly happy, for here
+the positions are reversed and the wife rules because the husband is
+weak. But the normal instinct of woman is to rule over the heart of
+man, not over his intelligence or on his will. Ruling in these last
+domains may flatter a woman's vanity and render it dominating, but it
+never satisfies her heart, and this is why the woman who rules is so
+often unfaithful to her husband, if not in deed, at least in thought.
+
+In such a union she has not found the true love which she sought, and
+for this reason, if her moral principles are weak, she looks for
+compensation in some Don Juan. If the woman in question has a strong
+character, or if she is sexually cold, she may easily become sour and
+bitter. These women, who are not rare, are to be dreaded; their
+plighted love is transformed into hatred, bad temper or jealousy, and
+only finds satisfaction in the torment of others.
+
+The psychology of this kind of woman is interesting. They are not
+usually conscious of their malice. The chronic bitterness resulting
+from an unfortunate hereditary disposition in their character, as much
+as from their outraged feelings, makes them take a dislike to the
+world and renders them incapable of seeing anything but the worst side
+of people. They become accustomed to disparage everything
+automatically, to take offense at everything and to speak ill of
+everything on every occasion. They are unhappy, but they find a
+diabolical joy in all misfortune where they see the confirmation of
+their somber prophecies, the only satisfaction which is capable of
+exalting them.
+
+We have just said that a certain constitutional disposition is
+necessary for such a deplorable change in feminine sentiments to be
+produced; but this disposition is often only developed under the
+influence of circumstances which we have indicated or analogous ones.
+
+It is impossible for the life in common of two conjoints not to reveal
+their reciprocal failings. But true love generally suffices to
+definitely cement a union, provided that the wife finds a support in
+the steadfast nature of her husband, which then serves as her ideal.
+It is also necessary that the husband, finding sentiments of devoted
+love in his wife, should reciprocate them. These conditions are
+sufficient, if both devote their efforts to the maintenance of their
+family and the social welfare.
+
+=Maternal Love.=--The most profound and most natural irradiation of
+the sexual appetite in woman is _maternal love_. A mother who does not
+love her children is an unnatural being, and a man who does not
+understand the desires of maternity in his wife, and does not respect
+them, is not worthy of her love. Sometimes egoism renders a man
+jealous of the love which his wife bears to his children. At other
+times, the father may show more love for the children than their
+mother; such exceptions only prove the rule.
+
+The most beautiful and most natural of the irradiations of love is the
+joy of parents at the birth of their children, a joy which is one of
+the strongest bonds of conjugal affection, and which helps the couple
+in triumphing over the conflicting elements in their characters, and
+in raising the moral level of their reciprocal sentiments, for it
+realizes the natural object of sexual union.
+
+A true woman rejoices at the progress of her pregnancy. The last pains
+of childbirth have hardly ceased before she laughs with joy, and
+pride, at hearing the first cries of the newly born. The instinctive
+outburst of maternal love toward the new-born child corresponds to a
+natural imprescriptible right of the child, for it needs the continual
+care of its mother. Nothing is so beautiful in the world as the
+radiant joy of a young mother nursing her child, and no sign of
+degeneration is more painful than that of mothers who abandon their
+children without absolute necessity, to strange hands.
+
+On the other hand reason must intervene. The instructive transports of
+maternal love soon require a counterpoise. It is important to prevent
+them from degenerating into unreasonable spoiling, by scientific and
+medical education of the infants. Modern medical art has made great
+progress in this direction, but unfortunately, egoism, negligence,
+routine, the desire of enjoyment, or often the poverty of many mothers
+prevent them from benefiting from this progress and applying it as
+they should. Instead of looking after their children they leave them
+to nurses. The latter may be necessary to help and instruct young
+wives during their first childbirth; but a natural mother will profit
+by these instructions and will herself become an excellent nurse,
+because she will feel her natural ties and will consecrate herself to
+them with the devotion of a maternal love heightened and refined by
+reason and knowledge. Among the lower classes the poverty and
+ignorance of mothers, often also their thoughtlessness and indolence,
+are an obstacle to the rational education of infants.
+
+"=Monkey's Love.="--Maternal love thus constitutes the most important
+irradiation of the sexual instincts in woman. It very easily
+degenerates into weakness, that is to say into unreasonable passion
+and blind compliance with all the faults of the child, which the
+mother excuses and transforms into virtues. The foibles of maternal
+love do much harm to the child and are often the origin of bitter
+deceptions. Hereditary weakness of character here plays a great, or
+even the principal part. Nevertheless, maternal foibles have other
+causes--riches, absence of culture, idleness, too few children, etc.
+
+The best antidote for this unreasonable maternal love, which the
+Germans call "monkey's love" consists in active occupations for the
+mother, combined with a healthy education of her character. Work alone
+is not sufficient, if the mother has limited ideas, and if she is not
+freed from routine, ignorance, superstition and weakness of will.
+
+=Sentiments and Perseverance.=--The power of love in woman does not
+rest alone on the varied harmony of her sentiments of sympathy for her
+husband and children, and on the extraordinary finesse and natural
+tact which she adds to it; such qualities make her, no doubt, the ray
+of sunshine in the family life, but more powerful still are the
+tenacity and perseverance of her love.
+
+In general, it is by will-power that woman is superior to man, and it
+is in the domain of love that this superiority shines in all its
+glory. As a general rule it is the wife who sustains the family. Among
+the common people, it is she who economizes, she who watches carefully
+over all and corrects the failings, the passionate and impulsive acts,
+the discouragements, so frequent with the husband. How often do we see
+the father abandon the children, waste his earnings and leave his
+situation under some futile pretext, while his courageous wife,
+although suffering from hunger and destitution, holds firm and manages
+to save the debris which has escaped the excesses and egoism of the
+husband.
+
+The husband of a feeble or alcoholic wife sometimes becomes the sole
+support of the family, but such exceptions only prove the rule, that
+where the normal love and courage of woman are wanting, the family
+becomes broken up, for man very rarely possesses the necessary
+faculties for its preservation.
+
+It follows from these facts that the modern tendency of women to
+become pleasure-seekers, and to take a dislike to maternity, leads to
+complete degeneration of society. This is a grave social evil, which
+rapidly changes the qualities and power of expansion of a race, and
+which must be cured in time, or the race affected by it will be
+supplanted by others.
+
+If the feminine mind is generally wanting in intellectual imagination
+and power of combination, it is all the more powerful in the practical
+intuition of its judgment and in sentimental imagination. The finesse
+of its moral and ęsthetic sentiments, its natural tact, its
+instructive desire to put some element of poetry into all the details
+of life, contribute to form true family happiness, a happiness which
+the husband and children too often enjoy without fully realizing the
+devoted labor, the love and the pains which the mother has given to
+create it.
+
+=Routine.=--The reverse of the irradiations of love in woman is
+constituted by her failings, which we have already partly indicated.
+We may add that her intelligence is usually superficial, that she
+attributes an exaggerated importance to trifles, that she often does
+not understand the object of ideal conceptions, and remains attached
+by routine to all her hobbies. This routine represents in feminine
+psychology the excess of a tenacious will applied only to the
+repetition of what has been taught. In the family, woman constitutes
+the conservative element because sentiment in her much more than in
+man, combined with persevering tenacity, predominates over
+intelligence; but sentiments represent everywhere and always the
+conservative element in the human mind.
+
+This is why woman is the strongest supporter of dogmas, customs,
+fashions, prejudices and mysticism. It is not that she herself is more
+disposed than man to mystic beliefs, but these when once dogmatized
+dazzle the eyes of the suffering with visions of compensation in a
+better world. In this way a number of unhappy or disappointed women
+are affected with religious exaltation and thus cling to the hope of
+happiness after death which they believe will compensate them for the
+vicissitudes of their existence.
+
+The other reverses of the feminine character, such as want of logic,
+obstinacy, love of trinkets, etc., result from the fundamental
+weakness of the feminine mind which we have just analyzed. Moreover,
+the social dependence in which man has placed woman, both from the
+legal and educational points of view, tend to increase her failings.
+Many people fear that women's suffrage would hinder progress, for the
+reasons we have just indicated, but they forget that the actual
+suffrage of men is to a great extent exercised by their wives,
+indirectly and unconsciously. This fact alone shows that the
+education, and legal emancipation of women can only be beneficial to
+progress, especially as they would contribute to the education of men,
+too prone to degenerate on account of their presumptuous and
+tyrannical autocracy.
+
+Woman has an instinctive admiration for men of high intellect and
+lofty sentiments, and strives to imitate those who provoke her
+admiration, and carry out their ideas. Let us therefore give women
+their proper rights, equal to ours, at the same time giving them a
+higher education and the same free instruction as ourselves; we shall
+then see them abandon the obscure paths of mysticism, to devote
+themselves to social progress.
+
+=Jealousy in Woman.=--Other irradiations of love in woman are similar
+to those of man. Jealousy is perhaps not much less developed in woman
+than in man. It is less brutal and violent but more instinctive and
+persevering; it manifests itself by quarrels, needle pricks,
+chicanery, petty tyrannies and all kinds of tricks which poison
+existence as much as man's jealousy, and are quite as inefficient
+against infidelity. In the highest degree of passion the jealous man
+uses violence or resorts to firearms, while the woman scratches,
+poisons or stabs. Among savages, jealous women bite off their rivals'
+noses; in civilized countries they throw sulphuric acid in the face.
+The object is the same in both cases--to disfigure.
+
+Amorous illusions produced in woman by the sexual appetite are
+analogous to those of man, but are modified by feminine attributes. It
+is the same with hypocrisy. The passive role of woman in sexual life
+obliges her only to betray her feelings to the object of her desires
+in a reserved and prudent manner. She cannot make advances toward man
+without contravening the conventions and risking her reputation. She
+therefore has to be more skillful in the art of dissimulation. This
+gives us no right to accuse her of falseness, for this art is natural,
+instinctive and imposed by custom. Her desire for love and maternity
+unconsciously urges her to make herself as desirable as possible to
+man by her grace and allurements. Her stolen glances and sighs, and
+the play of her expression serve to betray her ardor as through a
+veil. Behind this furtive play, especially calculated to excite the
+passions of man, are hidden, in the natural and good woman, a world of
+delicate feelings, ideal aspirations, energy and perseverance, which
+are much more loyal and honest than the motives revealed by the more
+brusque and daring manner in which man expresses his desires. The fine
+phrases by which man's love is expressed generally cover sentiments
+which are much less pure and calculations much more egoistic than the
+relatively innocent play of the young girl. No doubt there are false
+women whose amorous wiles are only a spider's web, but we are speaking
+here of the average, and not of exceptions.
+
+=Coquetry.=--The sexual braggardism of man is only found in some
+prostitutes; it is replaced in woman by coquetry and the desire to
+please. Vain women profit by the natural grace and beauty of their sex
+and person, not only to attract and please men, but also to shine
+among their fellows, to make other women pale before their brilliance
+and their elegance. Coquettes take infinite pains in this art. All
+their efforts and all their thoughts are directed only to increase
+their charm by the brilliancy of their toilette, the refinement of
+their attire, the arrangement of their hair, their perfumes, paint and
+powder, etc. It is here that the narrowness of the mind of woman is
+revealed in all its meanness.
+
+To describe feminine coquetry would oblige me to descend to banality.
+If we go to a ball or a fashionable _soirée_, if we observe women at
+the theater, their toilettes, their looks and expressions, or if we
+read a novel by Guy de Maupassant, "Fort Comme la Mort," or "Nōtre
+Coeur," for example, we can study all the degrees and all the
+degeneration of this part of the sexual psychology of women. Many of
+them have such bad taste that they transform themselves into
+caricatures; dye their hair, paint their eyebrows and lips to give
+themselves the appearance of what they are not, or to make themselves
+appear young and beautiful.
+
+These artifices of civilized countries resemble the tattooing,
+nose-rings, etc., with which savage women adorn themselves. The latter
+are represented by earrings, bracelets and necklaces. All these
+customs constitute irradiations of the sexual appetite or the desire
+to please men. Male sexual inverts (vide Chap. VIII) also practice
+them, and often also certain dandies with otherwise normal sexual
+instincts.
+
+=The Pornographic Spirit in Woman.=--This is absolutely contrary to
+the normal feminine nature, which cannot be said of eroticism. Among
+prostitutes, as we have seen, the pornographic spirit is only the echo
+of their male companions, and in spite of this, we still find a
+vestige of modesty even in them. No doubt, in very erotic women,
+sexual excitations may lead to indecent acts and expressions, but
+these are rare exceptions and of a pathological nature.
+
+Natural feminine eroticism, not artificially perverted, only shows
+itself openly in complete intimacy, and even here modesty and the
+ęsthetic sense of woman correct and attenuate it. Normally, all
+obscenity and cynicism disgusts women and only inspires them with
+contempt for the male sex. On the other hand, they are easily
+stimulated to eroticism by pictures or novels, if they are
+sufficiently ęsthetic, or even moral. This is a great danger for both
+sexes, especially for woman--eroticism dissimulated under hypocritical
+forms, and intended to idealize dishonest intentions (vide de
+Maupassant: "_Ce Cochon de Morin_").
+
+=Modesty and Prudery in Woman.=--In woman the sentiments of modesty
+and prudery have a peculiar character, which results from her natural
+disgust for pornography on the one hand, and also from her attachment
+to fashion and prejudice. Many women have a perfect terror of exposing
+certain parts of their body, even to a medical man. This fact depends
+on convention, and sometimes on the absence or perversion of sexual
+feelings. Brought up to prudery, sometimes to an absurd extent as in
+England, these women lose their natural feeling and often suffer from
+the excitation, indignation, and perpetual fright, which result from
+it. The exaggerations of prudery, moreover, easily lead to opposite
+excesses, or else degenerate into hypocrisy. The prude is ashamed of
+the most natural things, and undergoes continual torment.
+
+Prudery can be created or cured by education in childhood. It may be
+created by isolation, by covering all parts of the body, and
+especially by making children regard nudity as shameful. On the other
+hand, it may be cured by mixed bathing, by accustoming the child to
+consider the human body, in all its parts and functions, as something
+natural of which one need not be ashamed, lastly by giving instruction
+on the relations of the sexes, in due time and in a serious manner,
+instead of replying to ingenuous questions by pious falsehoods, by
+equivocation, or by an air of mystery.
+
+The chapter on love is infinite, and its relations to the sexual
+appetite make it still more complex. We shall confine ourselves to
+indicating two more of its irradiations, peculiar to each sex, but
+having for each a physionomy corresponding to its own mentality.
+
+
+FETICHISM AND ANTI-FETICHISM
+
+"We understand by fetiches, objects, portions of objects, or even
+simply the qualities of objects which, from their association with a
+certain person or with the idea of this person, produce a kind of
+charm or at least a profound impression, which in no way corresponds
+to the nature of the object itself."--(Krafft-Ebing.) The fetich thus
+symbolizes a person in whom we have such a profound interest that
+everything connected with her disturbs our feelings. It is we
+ourselves who place in the fetich the charm arising from the person
+whom it symbolizes for us.
+
+In many religions fetichism plays an important part, so much so that
+fetiches such as amulets or relics produce ecstasy in the faithful.
+
+Binet, Krafft-Ebing and others give the name _erotic fetichism_ to the
+charm which certain objects or certain parts of the body exercise in a
+similar way on the sexual desires or even on love, in the sense that
+their simple representation is powerfully associated with the erotic
+image of a person of the other sex, or with a particular variety of
+sexual excitation. In both man and woman certain portions of the
+clothes or the body, the hair, the foot and hand, or certain odors of
+the person desired, may take the character of fetiches. It is the same
+with certain intellectual peculiarities and certain expressions of the
+features. In man, the woman's hair, her hands or feet, her
+handkerchief, perfumes, etc., often play the part of erotic fetiches.
+
+We may call _anti-fetiches_ certain objects or certain qualities
+which, on the contrary, destroy eroticism. Certain odors, the tone of
+a voice, an ugly nose, a garment in bad taste, an awkward manner,
+often suffice to destroy eroticism by causing disgust for a person,
+and their simple representation is enough to make her unbearable.
+Symbolizing disgust, the anti-fetich paralyzes the sexual appetite and
+love.
+
+In normal love, it is especially by association of ideas in calling to
+mind the image of the person loved that the fetich plays the part of
+an exciting agent. It often, however, becomes itself the more special
+object of the sexual appetite, while the anti-fetich produces the
+opposite effect. But, in degenerates (vide Chap. VIII) it is sometimes
+exclusively to the fetich itself that an irresistible sexual appetite
+is addressed, the irradiation of which becomes a ridiculous caricature
+of love.
+
+We thus see that normal love is based on an extremely complex
+synthesis, on a symphony of harmonious sensations, sentiments and
+conceptions, combined in all kinds of tones and shades. The
+pathological aberrations of which we shall speak, demonstrate this by
+forcing one tone or another to the more or less marked exclusion of
+the rest.
+
+
+PSYCHOLOGICAL RELATIONS OF LOVE TO RELIGION
+
+Love and eroticism play a great part in religion, and many derivatives
+of religious sentiment are intimately associated with the sexual
+appetite. As Krafft-Ebing says, _religious ecstasy_ is closely related
+to _amorous ecstasy_, and very often appears in the guise of
+consolation and compensation for an unhappy or disappointed love, or
+even in the absence of sexual love. In the insane, religion and
+eroticism are combined in a very characteristic manner. Among a number
+of peoples certain cruel religious customs are the result of
+transformed erotic conceptions.
+
+As in religion, there is something mystical in love; the ineffable
+dream of eternal ecstasy. This is why the two kinds of mystic and
+erotic exaltation become blended in religions.
+
+Krafft-Ebing attributes the cruelty found in many religions to
+_sadism_ (sexual lust excited by the sufferings of others). (Vide
+Chap. VIII.)
+
+"The relationship so often established between religion, lust and
+cruelty can be reduced almost to the following formula: at the acme of
+their development, the religious and sexual passions show a
+concordance in quality and in quantity of excitation, and may
+consequently replace each other, under certain circumstances. Under
+special pathological influences, both may be transformed into
+cruelty."--(Krafft-Ebing.)
+
+We shall return to this subject in Chapters VIII and XII.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[3] This tendency of man has been analyzed with a very refined
+psychology by _Labiche_, in one of his most celebrated comedies: "_Le
+voyage de M. Perichon._"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+ETHNOLOGY AND HISTORY OF SEXUAL LIFE IN MAN AND IN MARRIAGE
+
+
+In the study of the sexual question it is absolutely necessary to
+guard against subjectiveness and all preconceived theory, and to avoid
+sentimentalism as well as eroticism. These two dangers play a
+considerable part in the study of human sexual life. Presented in a
+conscientious and scientific way the history of marriage furnishes us
+the most trustworthy material for the study of the sexual relations of
+man in social life. It is from this material that we can learn the
+relative importance of the different psychological and
+psycho-pathological factors in social evolution. But, to furnish valid
+material, history must not only be based on trustworthy and veracious
+sources; it must also give a comparative study of the sexual relations
+which exist in most, if not all, of the peoples actually existing. The
+present savage tribes no doubt resemble more closely the primitive
+peoples than our hybrid agglomeration of the civilized world.
+Moreover, the modern study of ethnology gives us more certain
+information than the uncertain, incomplete and often fabulous
+statements of ancient documents. I am speaking here of primitive
+history, and not of the Greek and Roman civilizations. Unfortunately
+the correctness of ethnological observations, and especially their
+interpretation, still leave much to be desired.
+
+Edward Westermark, professor at Helsingfors, in his "History of Human
+Marriage," has given us a monumental work, which is remarkable, not
+only for the richness and exactness of its material, but also for the
+clearness and good sense of its criticism. I shall give a _résumé_ of
+Westermark's results, as the subject is beyond the domain of my
+special studies. The author has collected a great number of
+observations in order to avoid erroneous conclusions. He warns the
+reader against a hasty generalization, which attributes without proof
+certain customs of living savage tribes to our primitive ancestors.
+
+
+ORIGIN OF MARRIAGE
+
+In the previous chapter we have considered the phylogeny of love in
+general. We have seen that some of the lower animals, such as the ants
+and bees, give evidence of an instinctive social altruism much greater
+than that of man, while other animals, such as birds, are superior to
+us as regards monogamous conjugal fidelity. But it is a question here
+of analogies due to phenomena of convergence, and these animals are of
+interest to us only as remote objects of comparison.
+
+As regards marriage in primitive man, we can only compare ourselves
+with the living animals most closely allied to us, viz. the
+_anthropoid apes_.
+
+In most mammals, marriage (if we may give this name to their sexual
+union) is only of very short duration, depending on the time necessary
+for the procreation of a single brood of young. After copulation the
+male generally pays little attention to the female, beyond protecting
+her for a certain time. In the anthropoid apes (orang-utan,
+chimpanzee, gorilla and gibbon) however, we find monogamous marriage
+and the institution of family life. The male protects the female and
+the young, and the latter are often of different ages, showing the
+existence of conjugal fidelity extending beyond one birth. While the
+female and the young remain in their nest, perched on a tree, the male
+takes his place at the foot of the tree and watches over the safety of
+the family.
+
+According to Westermark this was probably the same in primitive man.
+Formed by the father, the mother and the children, the family was in
+primitive man a general institution, based on monogamy, polygamy or
+polyandry. The wife looked after the children, and the husband
+protected the family. No doubt, the husband was not particularly
+anxious for the welfare of his wife and children, but concerned
+himself chiefly in the satisfaction of his sexual appetite and his
+pride. He was useful, however, in building the nest, or hut, in
+procuring the necessary food, and in defending his family.
+
+Most legends relate that primitive man lived in promiscuity with
+women, without marriage, and that marriage was instituted by some god
+or by some law. But this opinion, which is still held by most modern
+authors, is quite erroneous, as Westermark has demonstrated in a
+masterly manner, by the aid of documents which are absolutely
+conclusive.
+
+The duty of the husband to provide food for the family is a general
+law among savage peoples. A confirmation of this law is found in the
+fact that most often in polygamous races the man has only the right to
+as many wives as he can support. Every man must give proof that he is
+capable of feeding his family. Even after divorce the husband's duties
+continue, and may even be transmitted to his heirs. For example, among
+certain peoples, his brother is obliged to marry his widow. The
+husband's duties appear to be inherited from the higher apes, among
+whom conjugal fidelity lasts longer than the sexual appetite. This
+fidelity has therefore deep phylogenetic roots in our nature, and we
+shall see later on that we cannot neglect it without compromising our
+social state (Chap. XIII).
+
+The following is the definition of marriage as given by Westermark:
+_Marriage is a sexual union of variable duration between men and
+women, a union which is continued after copulation, at least till the
+birth of the child._
+
+According to this definition, there may be monogamous, polygamous and
+polyandrous marriages, as well as marriage in groups and limited
+marriage. It is evident that permanent monogamous unions, such as
+occur in birds and the higher apes, are, according to this definition,
+true marriages, of better quality even than those of many men.
+
+Among animals which have a definite rutting period, marriage cannot
+depend solely on the sexual appetite, or egoistic eroticism, without
+ceasing with the rut. It follows from this that natural selection and
+the mneme (engraphia) have derived from the sexual appetite certain
+social or altruistic instincts, with the object of preserving the
+species by protection of the young. Although not the only means of
+preserving the species, such instincts are certainly important.
+
+The family is thus the root of marriage. This explains the custom,
+among certain races, of marriage only becoming valid after the birth
+of a child. In many forms of marriage by purchase, the wife is even
+bound to return to her husband the sum paid for her if she remains
+sterile, and among many savages the marriage is only celebrated after
+the birth of the first child. In Borneo, relations between the sexes
+are free till pregnancy occurs, and it is this which determines the
+duties of marriage. In this respect, these savages are more just and
+wiser than us.
+
+In man, a special reason in favor of marriage is the fact that he has
+no rutting period. In animals the rutting period is generally
+regulated so that the young are born exactly at the time of year when
+they will find food most abundant. For example, the muscardin
+copulates in July and brings forth young in August, at the time when
+nuts are ripe, while elephants, whales and certain monkeys, who find
+food at all seasons, do not copulate at any definite period.
+
+The anthropoid apes, however, have a rutting period, and something
+analogous is found among certain human races (Californians, Hindus and
+certain Australians) in the spring, when sexual orgies are indulged
+in. In man there is no particular correlation between eroticism and
+the possibility of easily obtaining food for the children at the time
+of birth. Nevertheless, a recrudescence of the sexual appetite is
+generally observed in the spring and beginning of summer, with a
+corresponding increase in the number of conceptions. This is probably
+explained by the fact that infants born in the autumn or winter are
+more robust. Moreover, natural selection has almost entirely ceased in
+civilized peoples, owing to the artificial means used to rear
+children, and to the diminution which results from their mortality.
+
+We thus see that the institution of marriage in man does not depend on
+the excitation of the sexual appetite, for this is, on the whole,
+continuous.
+
+
+ANTIQUITY OF MATRIMONIAL INSTITUTIONS
+
+The fact that the anthropoid apes produce feeble and dependent young,
+whose infancy is long, has probably been the origin of marriage.
+Kautsky says that in primitive man the child belongs to the clan; but
+this is an error. Originally, human societies were composed of
+families, or rather associations of families. In primitive man, these
+families play the fundamental role and constitute the nucleus of
+society. In the anthropoid ape we already find the family, but not the
+clan. This must also have been the case with the pithecanthropoids and
+other extinct transitory forms. In fact, the lowest savages still live
+as isolated families like the carnivorous mammals, rather than in
+clans or tribes. This is the case, for example, with the Weddas of
+Ceylon, the indigenes of Terra del Fuego, the aboriginal Australians,
+the Esquimaux and certain Indians of Brazil. In this way they have
+better conditions for subsistence.
+
+In primitive times therefore, man lived in families, on the produce of
+the chase. Later on, the spirit of discovery, the more abundant food
+obtained by traps and by the cultivation of plants allowed men to live
+in tribes. Thus, intellectual development was the first cause of
+social life in man, and Lubbock is certainly wrong in considering that
+the establishment of clans dates further back than the first beginning
+of civilization. Westermark's conclusions are as follows:
+
+(1). _At no period of human existence has family life been replaced by
+clan life._
+
+(2). _Conjugal life is a heritage from ancestors who lived in a
+similar way to the anthropoid apes of the present day._
+
+(3). _Although less intimately and less constantly bound to the
+children than to the mother, the father has always been in man the
+protector of the family._
+
+
+CRITICISM OF THE DOCTRINE OF PROMISCUITY
+
+Most sociologists believe with Lubbock, Bachofen, MacLennan, Bastian,
+Giraud-Teulon, Wilkens, and others that primitive man lived in sexual
+promiscuity. If we agree with Westermark that the term marriage
+includes polygamy, polyandry and limited marriage, the opinion of
+these authors is wrong. What they have considered as promiscuity can
+always be included in one of these forms of marriage, even among the
+indigenes of Hayti, whose life is the most debauched. The author who
+has most confused the question is Fison, with his dogmatic theories
+concerning the Australians. Obliged to admit that promiscuity does not
+exist among these people, he still maintains that it existed formerly.
+Curr, who was better acquainted than Fison with the Australians, has
+proved that they are normally monogamous.
+
+Similar statements of Bastian, Wilkens and others concerning the
+Kustchins, the natives of Terra del Fuego, are also incorrect. In none
+of the African tribes is there communion of women, the men, on the
+other hand, are extremely jealous. Promiscuity is not observed among
+savage and primitive races, but among people already civilized, such
+as the Buddhist Butias, in whom man knows neither honor nor jealousy.
+The savage Weddas are monogamous, and one of their proverbs says:
+"Death alone can separate woman from man."
+
+There is in reality only one true form of promiscuity--the
+prostitution of modern civilized races, who have introduced it among
+savages, subjecting them to gratify their own lust. Among many savage
+races there exists, on the contrary, a very severe monogamy, and they
+punish with death every seducer and illegitimate child, as well as the
+mother. Among others, however, considerable sexual freedom is allowed
+before or after marriage. It is impossible to lay down definite rules,
+but one thing may be regarded as universal, viz., that the sexual
+depravity of savage races most often arises from the influence of
+civilized people who immigrate among them and systematically introduce
+immorality and debauchery. It is the white colonists who appropriate
+the women of savage races and train them in the worst forms of
+prostitution. It is the white colonists who introduce alcoholic drink
+which disorganizes the most virtuous and loyal habits, and ends with
+ruin.
+
+Certain Arab clans exploit European habits of prostitution by sending
+their young girls to brothels for purposes of gain. When they have
+accumulated a sufficient fortune they return home and marry one of
+their fellow countrymen. Similar customs are observed among other
+races.
+
+In this connection Westermark points out that the more advanced is
+civilization, the greater is the number of illegitimate births, and
+the more widespread is prostitution. In Europe, the proportion of
+natural children and of prostitutes is nearly double in the towns what
+it is in the country. This shows the absurdity of regarding
+promiscuity as a primitive state; on the contrary, it is a rotten
+fruit of civilization, and especially of semi-civilization. Primitive
+customs are generally chaste, and it is civilization which corrupts
+them. In Europe, prostitution is increasing, while marriage is
+becoming less frequent; it is the latter which constitutes the
+primitive and normal state.
+
+Westermark admits, as we have mentioned above, that sexual liberty
+before or after marriage exists among certain tribes; but in spite of
+this the custom of careful choice always exists among these people,
+and this renders their unions comparatively lasting. He cites as an
+example the Tounghtas of India, who practice sexual connection before
+marriage, but among whom these connections nearly always lead to
+marriage; this race considers prostitution as dishonorable.
+
+We must, however, make one objection to Westermark. Promiscuity in
+itself is not necessarily prostitution, for the latter signifies
+especially the sale of the body, which is not the case in promiscuity.
+The fundamental fact which prevents us admitting the existence of
+primitive promiscuity among savage races is the following: As soon as
+the two sexes are free, the monogamous instinct of the woman and
+jealousy of both sexes combine to reėstablish marriage. True
+promiscuity can only exist by means of a sort of legal obligation,
+such as exists in the colony of Oneidas in New York. In this colony
+the members formally agree to mutual and free sexual intercourse. We
+must not forget that prostitution is only kept up in women by the
+thirst for lucre, and ceases immediately this element disappears.
+
+Before the Reformation there existed in Scotland a singular custom
+called "hand-fasting," by which young men had the right to choose a
+companion for a year, at the end of which time they could either
+separate or become married according to their inclination.
+
+On the other hand, Lubbock mentions certain customs in Greece and
+India, the worship of _phallus_, for example, which obliged young
+girls to give themselves to all men. But these customs were not among
+primitive races but resulted from the eroticism of highly civilized
+nations. Thus, Lubbock's argument concerning the existence of
+primitive promiscuity falls to the ground.
+
+Certain savage nations offer their daughters or their servants, rarely
+their wives, to their guests. A _jus primę nocti_ (right to the first
+night) has also existed and will sometimes exist in some tribes, but
+this right is reserved for the chiefs, kings or priests, and allows
+them to have sexual intercourse before the husband with every newly
+married woman during the first night of the nuptials. This is a
+barbarous custom based on the right of the stronger, and analogous to
+the privileges claimed by the European nobles from their serfs or
+peasants. But such abuses do not constitute promiscuity, as Lubbock
+maintains.
+
+In many countries the courtesans and concubines were held in high
+esteem, and are so even at the present day, more than is supposed; but
+this again is not a question of promiscuity.
+
+Morgan has deduced his theories of promiscuity from terms employed in
+certain savage dialects to designate relationship. These conclusions
+are false and Morgan, like others, has been led into error by the
+obscurity of the language of these people. The simple fact that
+paternal parentage is recognised among them proves the absurdity of
+Morgan's reasoning, for promiscuity cannot recognize paternal
+parentage.
+
+In 1860 Bachofen drew attention to the ancient custom of naming the
+children after the maternal side, and it is now certain that this
+custom has existed among many primitive races, while in others
+children were named after the paternal side. The term _matriarchy_ is
+given to denomination after the maternal side. MacLennan maintains the
+existence of matriarchy in promiscuity, but this is inadmissible.
+Maternity is self-evident, while paternity can only be proved
+indirectly by the aid of reasoning. No doubt all nations appear to
+have recognized the real part which the father takes in every
+conception, and from this results the singular custom among certain
+tribes, in which the husband retires to his couch and fasts during the
+accouchement of his wife.
+
+Westermark explains matriarchy in a simpler and more natural way, by
+the intimate relations of the child to the mother. Children,
+especially when they are still young, follow the mother when she
+separates from the father. Matriarchy is quite natural in marriages of
+short duration, with change of wives, and in polygamy; while, in
+monogamous nations, it is _patriarchy_, or denomination after the
+paternal line, which dominates.
+
+Among nations where the denomination of uncles exists, and where the
+married woman lives with her family till she has a child, matriarchy
+results quite naturally from this fact. In Japanese families who have
+only daughters, the husband of the eldest takes his wife's family
+name. Among savages in general, the name has a great importance. When
+rank and property are only inherited in the female line, the children
+are always named after this line. We are thus concerned here with very
+complex questions which have nothing to do with promiscuity.
+
+Maine has proved that prostitution and promiscuity lead to sterility
+and decadence. Among the few tribes in which polyandry is the rule,
+especially in Thibet, several brothers generally have the same wife.
+But they usually alternate, and never dwell together. In the fifteenth
+century, in the Canary Islands, every woman had three husbands, each
+of whom lived with her for a month, and the one who was to possess her
+during the following month had to work both for her and for the other
+two husbands. Polyandry has always originated in scarcity of women.
+
+The jealousy of men, which has never ceased to exist, gives the
+clearest proof of the impossibility of promiscuity. Polyandry is only
+possible among a few feeble and degenerate races who ignore jealousy.
+These tribes are diminishing and tend to disappear. The jealousy of
+savages is generally so terrible that among them a woman who commits
+adultery is usually put to death along with her seducer. Sometimes
+they are content with cutting off her nose or inflicting other
+chastisement. It is from jealousy that results the obligation of
+chastity in the woman.
+
+Religious ideas on the future of man after death are often combined
+with these ideas; this is why chastity, death, or even all kinds of
+torture are, in certain countries, imposed on the woman after death of
+the husband.
+
+It must not be forgotten that among most savages the wife is regarded
+as the property of her husband. If the latter lends his wife to a
+guest, he offers her as part of a feast. This is not, however,
+promiscuity, and we must understand that these people have quite
+different sentiments to ours. In clans or tribes the most powerful men
+have always had the youngest and most beautiful wives.
+
+To sum up, there is not the shadow of proof in support of the doctrine
+of primitive promiscuity, a doctrine which is based on purely
+hypothetical grounds.
+
+
+MARRIAGE AND CELIBACY
+
+Among animals the voluntary celibate exists only among the females of
+certain birds which have become widowed, and even then the case is
+rare. In savage man, nearly every individual marries, and the women
+look upon celibacy or widowhood almost in the same way as death. The
+savage despises celibates as thieves or sorcerers. In his opinion a
+man without a wife is not a man. He therefore marries at a much
+earlier age than civilized man, sometimes even (in Greenland) before
+fecundation is possible. Among certain Indians men sometimes marry at
+the age of nine or ten years, generally between fourteen and eighteen;
+the girls between nine and twelve. In some comparatively civilized
+nations the celibate is so much despised that they go as far as
+marrying the spirits of departed children! Among the Greeks, celibates
+were punished, and among the Romans they were taxed heavily. Celibacy
+becomes more rare the further we go back in the history of the human
+race; celibacy increases with the corruption of morals. It is
+civilization which does most harm to marriage, especially in the large
+towns, and the age at which people marry becomes more and more
+advanced, although in Europe there are more women than men. Want of
+money and insufficient salaries diminish more and more the number of
+marriages in the large centers, while among savages, and also among
+our peasants, the women and children are one of the principal sources
+of wealth, because they work and have few needs. Among the middle
+classes, on the contrary, the wife is a source of expense, as well as
+the education of the children. For men, the length of intellectual and
+professional education (and military service in many countries) cause
+marriage to be postponed and celibacy is obligatory at the time when
+the sexual appetite is most powerful. Thus, the more civilization
+advances, the longer is marriage postponed. The refinement and the
+multiplicity of pleasures also diminish the attractions of marriage.
+
+Lastly, intellectual culture exalts the desire for the ideal, so that
+men and women well suited to each other meet less frequently, as their
+mutual adaptation becomes more complicated.
+
+Nevertheless, I must repeat here what I have already said concerning
+the way in which novelists present us with the extreme passions of
+ill-balanced people and describe them as types, the normal man being
+too prosaic to attract their readers. Rotten as it is with neurotic
+degenerates, our modern society is certainly not wanting in
+pathological models for the novelists, but it is nevertheless false to
+always put these into prominence. The cultured man of well-balanced
+mind, adapts himself to marriage on the whole very well, and is not
+always so difficult to please. However, it must be recognized that
+marriage becomes less easy if a too high ideal is expected from it.
+With characteristic prudence, Westermark does not answer the question
+whether marriage will progressively diminish in the future.
+
+=The Cult of Virgins. Sanctity of the Celibate.=--Among many savages
+the singular idea obtains that there is something impure in sexual
+intercourse. The celibacy ordained by several religions originates
+from ideas of this kind.
+
+Many nations have worshiped virgins, for instance the vestal virgins
+of the Romans. The mother of Buddha was declared to be holy and pure,
+Buddha having been conceived supernaturally, according to the legend.
+A Buddhist monk is forbidden to have sexual intercourse, even with
+animals! Celibacy among certain priests exists also in China.
+
+Among the Hebrews, the idea of the impurity of marriage had got a
+footing, and this no doubt powerfully influenced Christianity. St.
+Paul thus places celibacy higher than marriage, and this is how the
+idea became established among the fathers of the Church that the
+repression of all sensuality was a cardinal virtue, and that God had
+contemplated in paradise an asexual reproduction of the human species,
+which was annulled by the fall of Adam. Men who remained pure were to
+be immortal. "The earth is filled with marriage and the heavens with
+virginity," says Jeremiah. Such are the ideas which have given rise to
+the obligation of celibacy for priests.
+
+Westermark thinks that the idea of impurity attached to sexual
+intercourse is possibly derived from the instinctive repugnance
+experienced by members of the same family to have sexual intercourse
+between themselves. Banished from the family circle this intercourse
+was tainted with a stigma which offended modesty, and by the
+association of ideas so common in man, this stigma was extended to
+legal marriage outside the family. Moreover, religious celibacy is
+complicated by ascetic conceptions, and the idea of the impurity of
+sexual intercourse is by no means general.
+
+For my part, I think rather that the jealousy natural to both sexes
+has gradually compelled them to limit their sexual intercourse to
+intimacy and to conceal it. But man is ashamed of everything which he
+conceals, and we shall soon see that the sentiment of modesty concerns
+all parts of the body which are concealed. This simple fact is
+sufficient to give rise to the idea that coitus is impure, and I do
+not think it necessary to seek any further explanation.
+
+
+ADVANCES MADE BY ONE SEX TO THE OTHER--DEMANDS IN MARRIAGE
+
+A natural law compels the male germinal cell to move toward the egg;
+exceptions to this law are rare, the female germinal cells being
+larger and produced in less number. It follows that in copulation, or
+the union of individual sexual entities, man included, it is the male
+which is the active party and makes the advances. Among certain tribes
+(Paraguayans, Garos, Moquis), however, it is the female who makes the
+advances. Everyone knows the combats for the female which takes place
+between the male of animals, cocks and stags for example. Among
+certain Indians similar struggles are also observed, after which the
+vanquished has to surrender his wife to the conqueror. The same custom
+obtained among the ancient Greeks, as we see in the suitors for
+Penelope. In Ireland similar customs prevailed up to the last few
+centuries.
+
+On the other hand, we often see among savages and among birds the
+favors of the female obtained by assiduous courtship rather than by
+combat. In some savage tribes struggles take place between the females
+for possession of the male. However, it is usually coquetry in all its
+degrees which furnishes woman with the basis for her advances. In many
+nations, if not in most, women have the right to refuse a demand for
+marriage.
+
+
+METHODS OF ATTRACTION
+
+=Adornment in the Two Sexes.=--Vanity is older than man, for it is
+found in many animals. The lowest and most savage peoples adorn
+themselves. Tattooing, staining the skin, rings on the arms and feet,
+in the lips, nose and ears serve to attract one sex toward the other.
+A Santal woman may carry as much as fifteen kilogrammes of ornaments
+on her body. Vanity leads to incredible eccentricities, certain
+tribes, for example, pull out their teeth to increase their
+attractions. Absurdities of this kind are often associated with
+religious ideas, although the latter generally play a secondary part.
+The true origin of these customs lies in vanity, combined with the
+sexual desire to captivate. In hot climates, at any rate, the savages
+only commenced to cover their bodies with clothes with the object of
+pleasing by personal adornment. The religious observances attached to
+the custom of adornment are not primitive. The latter is derived from
+the sexual appetite and from vanity, and has only been incorporated in
+the dogmas of religious mysticism after being first established in the
+habits of the people.
+
+Among savages the men are more inclined to personal adornment and to
+coquetry than the women. This is not due to the inferior social
+position of the women, for those who enjoy the greatest liberty are
+often less extensively tattooed than those who are reduced to slavery.
+The true reason is that the man risks much more than the woman by
+remaining celibate, and this obliges him to take more pains than the
+women to make himself fascinating. As a rule the wives of savages
+attach less importance to their personal appearance than to that of
+their husbands, and the vanity of the latter is guided chiefly by the
+taste of their wives. The objects with which savages adorn themselves
+are generally trophies.
+
+Among civilized people, on the contrary, the men have a much wider
+choice and many women remain celibate. This is one of the reasons
+which compel women to study their personal appearance and the art of
+flirtation. In Europe, earrings represent the last vestige of the
+savage methods of adornment.
+
+=Sentiment of Shame of the Genital Organs. Nudity.=--What is the
+origin of the fact that man is ashamed of his genital organs? Nothing
+of the kind occurs in animals. The psychologist, Wundt, maintains that
+man has always had a sexual sentiment of modesty. This is not correct,
+for many races present no trace of it, and sometimes cover all parts
+of their body except the genital organs. In some, the men, and in
+others the women go absolutely naked. Originally, clothes were only
+worn for adornment or for protection against the cold. The Massais
+would be ashamed to hide their penis, and it is their custom to
+exhibit it. Other savages cover the glans penis only with a small cap;
+they retire to pass water, but regard themselves as fully dressed so
+long as the glans penis is covered. The girdles and other garments of
+savage women are intended for ornament, and as a means of attraction;
+they have nothing to do with modesty. In a society where every one
+goes naked, nudity seems quite natural, and provokes neither shame nor
+eroticism. The custom of adorning the sexual organs then serves as a
+means of attraction, both in men and women. The short transparent
+skirts of a ballet dancer are in reality much more immodest than the
+nudity of the female savages. A great naturalist has said that veiled
+forms provoke the sexual appetite more than nudity. Snow remarks that
+association with naked savages excites much less sensuality than the
+society of fashionably dressed women in our salons. Read also remarks
+"Nothing is more moral or less calculated to excite the passions than
+nudity." It is needless to say that this statement is only correct
+when nudity is a matter of custom, for in sexual matters it is always
+novelty which attracts. Pious persons have tried to make savages
+modest by clothing them, but have only produced the contrary effect.
+Savage women regard it as shameful to cover their sexual organs. The
+naturalist, Wallace, found in one tribe a young girl who possessed a
+dress, but who was quite as much ashamed of clothing herself with it
+as one of our ladies would be of undressing before strangers.
+
+It is only owing to the custom of wearing clothes that nudity provokes
+the sexual appetite. This custom develops artificially a sentiment of
+modesty with regard to nudity, which increases progressively in
+intensity and is especially marked in aged women. It is not so much
+habit, as to the feeling of progressive deterioration of their charms,
+which leads the latter to cover themselves as they grow older, and is
+part of the instinctive ęsthetic sentiment of woman.
+
+At the orgies and fźtes held among savages the women cover their
+sexual organs with certain objects, as a means to excite the men.
+Complete nudity is found more often in savage women than in the men.
+
+Later on when it became the custom to wear clothes, nudity became
+attractive and was considered shameful. This is why the Chinese feel
+shame at exposing their feet, the Mahometans their faces, and some
+savages even the ends of their fingers.
+
+Certain customs, like circumcision among the Jews, Polynesians and
+Australians; the artificial elongation of the lips of the vulva in
+Hottentots, Malays, and North American Indians, originated, according
+to Westermark, in the intention of exciting the sexual appetite, or of
+introducing variety into its satisfaction. Later on routine, which
+sanctions everything, transferred these customs into religious cult.
+It is possible, however, that among the Jews, who are a practical
+race, the hygienic advantage of circumcision took a part in its
+transformation into a rite.
+
+To resume, everything derogatory to established custom excites the
+sentiment of shame or modesty, not only in sexual matters but in
+others. Most children are ashamed of not behaving exactly as their
+comrades or their brothers and sisters, and are very uncomfortable if
+they are obliged to behave otherwise. All sentiments of morality and
+modesty rest on conventionalities. The savage women burst into
+laughter when the naked companions of Livingstone turned their backs
+from modesty. The sentiment of modesty or shame thus depends only on
+exceptional violation of an old custom. This is why unconventional
+ways in one of the sexes (especially in woman) tend to offend the
+sentiments of modesty, and usually excite the sexual appetite of the
+other sex.
+
+
+LIBERTY OF CHOICE IN MARRIAGE--PATRIARCHISM
+
+Among savages, the women sometimes have the right of giving their hand
+in marriage, sometimes not. The latter case is not surprising in
+countries where women are considered as merchandise. Among the
+Esquimaux every girl is betrothed from birth. Among the Boschimans,
+Ashantis, etc., the unborn girl is even betrothed while she is in her
+mother's womb! These betrothals are generally arranged by the maternal
+parents together with the mother.
+
+Very often, however, the consent of the woman is required; or, the
+marriage may be only valid after the birth of the first child on
+condition of the woman's consent.
+
+Among the American Indians, if the woman is not a consenting party she
+elopes with her lover and thus escapes the would-be-husband. In this
+way elopement has gradually become a recognized institution among
+certain races. I was told by a Bulgarian that the peasants in his
+country buy their wives from the father, generally for two or three
+hundred francs, but if the father demands too much, the women are
+raped. After this marriage becomes indispensable and the father
+receives nothing, for, in Bulgaria, which is not yet spoiled by
+civilization, unions apart from marriage are considered as a terrible
+disgrace.
+
+In certain races, the woman has a free choice among several men and
+her wish becomes law, so that the parents have no voice in the matter;
+this occurs among the natives of the Celebes. The bridegroom is
+nevertheless obliged to pay the dowry demanded. Similar customs
+prevail among other races.
+
+Westermark comes to the conclusion that in the primitive state of
+humanity the women had a much freer choice than afterward. Marriage by
+purchase developed later and constituted an intermediate stage. When
+the first civilizations became more complicated and recognized the
+value of woman's labor, the fathers began to sell their daughters, as
+we now see savage tribes abandon their women to prostitution with the
+white man. But in primitive times, when there was neither
+civilization, money, nor labor, properly so-called, each individual
+fought for his life and the father had no more possibility of selling
+his daughter as a slave than a gorilla or an orang-utan would have
+to-day.
+
+Marriage by rape, which occurred after wars when the women were
+abducted and married against their will, must not be confounded with
+marriage by elopement which takes place with the woman's consent, and
+of which the latest fashion is elopement by automobile.
+
+Among savages, the boys are also most often the property of the
+father, who has the right to sell them and even to put them to death.
+But they become free at the age of puberty and then have the right to
+marry according to their inclination without being forced by their
+parents.
+
+There existed and still exist many patriarchal races (certain Indians
+and Asiatics, for example) among whom the father possesses unlimited
+power. The older he is the more he is honored, and the more his power
+is uncontested. All the children and grandchildren, with their wives
+and children, eat at his table; none of his descendants can marry
+without his consent, etc. The effects of patriarchism are deplorable
+and very immoral. The patriarch abuses his power--gives his old wives
+to his children and takes the young ones, for example. The purest and
+most virtuous Japanese girl is obliged to go to a brothel if her
+father orders it. The patriarch has the power of life and death over
+both sexes, and from this is derived the cult of ancestors. At the
+present day we see immorality of this kind in the Russian patriarchism
+among the peasants; the fathers have the custom of misusing their
+sons' wives. Patriarchism thus degenerates into atrocious tyranny on
+the part of the chief of the family, who becomes looked upon as a
+god.
+
+A law which is common in the Latin races, which forbids marriage
+before the age of thirty, without the consent of the father, is a
+vestige of patriarchism.
+
+We see, therefore, that quite primitive savage races approached our
+most modern ideas in liberty of choice in marriage. Between these two
+periods humanity was under the yoke of a barbarous error--the
+intermediate stage of marriage by purchase and patriarchal autocracy.
+There has existed and still exists more than one aberration of this
+kind in the intermediate stages of civilization; for instance,
+torture, slavery and the use of narcotic substances, such as alcohol.
+
+
+SEXUAL SELECTION
+
+By sexual selection we mean union by choice among males and females.
+In the vertebrates, the female chooses much more commonly than the
+male, the latter being more disposed to pair with all the females than
+the females with all the males. We may certainly admit that this was
+also the case in primitive man, especially when there existed a
+rutting period, for then the sexual appetite was more violent.
+Moreover, even at the present day, women are on the average more
+difficult to please and more strict in their choice than men.
+
+In the case of hybrids it is generally the male which violates the law
+of instinct. Female slaves often flee from their free husbands, but we
+never see male slaves abandon their free wives. Among savage races the
+woman is always more difficult to please than the man. Among
+half-breeds, it is nearly always the father who belongs to a higher
+race. The inverse rarely occurs; it is exceptional for a white woman
+to marry a negro. The same thing is reproduced among ourselves; we
+often see a cultured man marry an uneducated woman, but a cultured
+woman seldom marries a laborer.
+
+It is especially among savages that the woman prefers the man who is
+strongest, most skillful, most ardent, and most audacious. Heroes
+always haunt the minds of women, who love to throw themselves at the
+head of conquerors. The ideal of certain women in Borneo is a husband
+who has killed many enemies and possesses their heads (head-hunters of
+Borneo). This psychological trait responds to natural selection, for
+the women obtain by this custom better protectors and stronger
+children.
+
+On the other hand, man looks instinctively for a young, healthy and
+well-developed woman. It is on this basis that Greek art formed Eros
+and Aphrodite, designating the latter as goddess of both love and
+beauty.
+
+=Conception of Beauty.=--The conception of beauty is very relative.
+The Australians laugh at our long noses and the natives of
+Cochin-China at our white teeth and red cheeks. Certain savage women
+bind their legs below the knees to make them swell, this effect being
+part of their idea of beauty. The Chinese admire the deformed feet of
+their women and their prominent cheek bones. In each nation the
+conception of beauty generally corresponds to the ideal type of the
+race, for both sexes. As a general rule muscle is admired in man and
+fullness of figure in woman. The Hottentots like women's breasts to be
+so pendulous that they can throw them over shoulder, and suckle the
+infants carried on their backs; they also admire the elongated lips of
+the vulva.
+
+There are, therefore, few general typical characters of sexual
+preference; these are especially the ideal type of the race and the
+health of both sexes, voluptuous forms and grace in women, muscular
+strength and dexterity in men. Everything else is relative and
+variable, and depends on the local point of view, customs, race,
+individual taste, etc.
+
+Thus, according to the conception of ęsthetics, tattooing, the
+arrangement of the hair and beard, deformations of the nose, cranium,
+or feet, are admired by different peoples. Each race extols its own
+peculiarities; the European compares a woman's breasts to snow, the
+Malay to gold, etc. The natives of Coromandel paint their gods black
+and their devils white, while in Europe it is the reverse.
+
+The association of love with beauty is not based on ęsthetic
+sentiments, for the latter are disinterested, while the original
+instinct of love is interested. The association of the two things
+depends on the instinctive necessity of health, combined with the
+sexual appetite, although custom has produced numerous aberrations.
+Everything which differs markedly from the type of the race is more
+or less pathological. This is why instinct, determined by natural
+selection, repels it.
+
+Fashion also rules among savages, but is less changeable among them
+than with us, and their taste for adornment only varies in the narrow
+circle of their customs.
+
+Climate has a powerful action on the types of races, the latter being
+generally adapted to the climate in which they live. Thus, the
+European becomes darker in the tropics while negroes and Indians
+become paler in the north.
+
+
+LAWS OF RESEMBLANCE--HYBRIDS
+
+Every animal species has an instinctive repugnance to pair with
+another. Even where they are possible, natural hybrids are rare, and
+only become a little more frequent in domestic animals and plants. The
+fecundity of hybrids diminishes when they have connection among
+themselves, and this explains why the instinct for such connections
+tends to gradually disappear.
+
+In his book on "The Mneme," Semon explains the infecundity of hybrids
+in a very plausible manner, by the disorder that a too large quantity
+of dissimilar hereditary engrams causes in the hereditary mneme of two
+conjugated cells. When the parents differ from each other only in a
+moderate degree homophony may still be reėstablished, and then the
+divergencies have a very favorable effect on the product, by the new
+combinations which they furnish in the course of its development.
+
+Moral ideas follow the course of instincts, and this explains why
+sexual connection with animals is regarded as a horrible crime. This
+is especially produced by pathological aberration, or when one sex is
+completely isolated from the other. There is also a certain degree of
+aversion to copulation between different races, in animals as well as
+man; for example, between sheep and horses of different races, and
+between white men, negroes and Indians. There are, however, many
+hybrids or half-breeds in South America, and in Mexico they even
+constitute two-thirds of the population.
+
+Broca maintained that human hybrids produced by the crossing of remote
+races, for example, between English and negroes or Australians, were
+usually sterile. Westermark disputes this, but agrees that these
+hybrids become enfeebled in a few generations. It has also been
+established that mixed marriage between Jews and Aryans are generally
+less fecund; but this fact is not yet sufficiently explained.
+Mulattoes, or hybrids between negroes and whites, constitute a
+degenerate race and hardly viable, at any rate if their descendants do
+not return entirely to one of the original races. Half-breeds between
+whites and American Indians, also called Ladinos, seem on the contrary
+to form a viable race, but one of little valor.
+
+
+PROHIBITION OF CONSANGUINEOUS MARRIAGES
+
+Sexual union between near relations nearly always causes a feeling of
+repugnance in man, and has been stigmatized by the term _incest_.
+Coitus between mother and son especially excites disgust. Sexual
+connection between parents and children, as well as between brothers
+and sisters is, however, common among certain tribes. Many other races
+allow marriage between brothers and sisters, but this is elsewhere
+generally condemned.
+
+Among the Weddas, marriage between an elder brother and his younger
+sister is considered normal, while that between a younger brother and
+his elder sister, or between a nephew and his aunt, is regarded as
+unnatural. The latter simply shows that unions between young men and
+old women are not natural. Unions between brothers and sisters, and
+especially between half-brothers and half-sisters were licit among the
+Persians, Egyptians, Syrians, Athenians and ancient Jews. Those
+between uncles and nieces (more rarely between aunts and nephews) are
+sometimes permitted, sometimes prohibited. With the exception of Spain
+and Russia marriages between first cousins are allowed in Europe.
+
+=Exogamy and Endogamy.=--Among many savages the prohibition of
+consanguineous marriage may be extended to relationship of the third
+degree. Marriage may even be prohibited among all members of the same
+tribe or clan, even when they are not related. This is called
+_exogamous_ marriage, and reaches its extreme development among the
+Australians, who are only allowed to marry into remote clans.
+
+We thus see that the great majority of savages extend their idea of
+incest much further than we do. The reason of this has been much
+discussed. It was formerly said that consanguineous marriage was
+contrary to the commandments of God; that it offended the natural
+sentiment of modesty; that it obscures relationship, etc. Nowadays, it
+is said to be injurious to posterity. Ethnography teaches us, however,
+that these statements are of little value.
+
+Along with the exogamy of many tribes there is among other savages a
+system of _endogamy_, described by MacLennan; this is the prohibition
+of marriage between different clans. Spencer and MacLennan have
+different explanations of this custom which seem hardly natural.
+Westermark appears to be nearer the truth in remarking as follows: The
+sexual appetite, especially in man, is excited by new impressions and
+cooled by habit. It is not the fact of a man and woman being related,
+but intimate companionship since youth, which produces in them a
+repugnance to sexual union. We find the same repugnance between
+adopted brothers and sisters and between friends who have been
+intimate since childhood. When, on the contrary, brothers and sisters
+or near relatives have been separated from each other since an early
+age, they often fall in love with each other when they meet later on.
+There is, therefore, no innate or instinctive repugnance to incest in
+itself, but only against sexual union between individuals who have
+lived together since childhood. As it is parents and their children
+who are usually in this situation, everything is explained simply and
+clearly.
+
+The causes of exogamy are explained in the same way, by the fact that
+members of the same clan often live together in close intimacy. It is
+the small clans, formed of thirty or fifty individuals of a few
+families living together, which have the most severe laws against
+incest or endogamy. Where the families live in separate homes, such
+prohibitions do not exist. The Maoris, who are endogamous, inhabit
+villages which are widely separated, and marriage between relations is
+allowed. Endogamy generally exists where the clan life is little
+developed, and where relatives know and see little of each other. The
+aversion to marriage between persons living together has thus created
+prohibition of marriage between relations as well as that of marriage
+between members of the same clan. It is the same reason which has led
+to the prohibition of marriage between brothers-and sisters-in-law,
+between brothers and adopted sisters, etc. In people living in small
+communities, endogamy does not appear to have ever existed.
+
+Incest between relatives living together appears to have everywhere
+the same natural cause--the scarcity of women in isolated families
+living in remote districts. There is also a psycho-pathological form
+of incest associated with morbid appetites in the families of
+degenerates. In animals living alone and whose families break up very
+rapidly (cats for example) incestuous unions, between parents and
+young, for instance, are quite common.
+
+Let us now consider the scientific side of the question. We see
+everywhere that sexual union between quite distinct animal species
+gives no result. At the most, certain closely allied species, such as
+the ass and the horse, the rabbit and the hare, give progeny which are
+themselves sterile (mules, etc.). The feebleness and sterility of
+hybrids derived from widely separated races or nearly allied different
+species proves the deficiency in vital force of the offspring of
+fundamentally dissimilar procreators. But, on the other hand, the
+dangers of continuous consanguineous reproduction are no less evident.
+Perpetual unions between brothers and sisters for several generations,
+lead to degeneration of the race. For example, the still-births will
+be 25 per cent. instead of 8 per cent., which is the figure in
+ordinary crossings. The prejudice against consanguineous unions may,
+however, depend on the accumulation of certain pathological defects.
+
+Westermark admits that it is difficult to show clearly that
+consanguineous marriages are prejudicial in man. The consanguinity
+which causes evil effects in animals concerns long-continued unions
+between parents and children or brothers and sisters. But this never
+occurs in man. Animals and plants may be perpetuated for many years in
+the closest consanguinity without degeneration resulting. Among the
+Persians and Egyptians, intimate unions have existed for a long time
+without producing degeneration.
+
+On the other hand, breeders of animals tell us that a single drop of
+new blood (or rather sperm) is enough to counteract all the evil
+effects of consanguinity. In man the most frequent incests are always
+interrupted by some other union. The Ptolemies, who nearly always
+married their sisters, nieces or cousins, lived long and were far from
+being sterile. In Ceylon, the Weddas perpetuate their consanguineous
+unions; insanity is rare among them, but they are small, unfruitful
+and tend to become extinct.
+
+In Europe, the question of marriages between first cousins has been
+much discussed, and it has been constantly attempted to prove that
+they are injurious. Nevertheless, when we examine the question
+impartially, we always find that the prejudices against them do not
+arrive from consanguinity, but from certain pathological defects, such
+as insanity, hemophilia, etc., which are naturally perpetuated by
+consanguineous unions when they are accumulated in one family, as well
+as when two insane persons of different families marry. Therefore it
+is not consanguineous unions in themselves (which are always
+accidental in man and interrupted by others) but the hereditary
+reproduction of pathological defects, often of blastophthoric origin,
+which are the real cause of the evil. Statistics have clearly proved
+that marriage between first cousins plays no part in the causes of
+insanity.
+
+Influenced, no doubt, by general opinion, Westermark tries to believe
+in some instinctive repulsion of man for consanguineous unions. If in
+modern society such unions, perpetuated between parents and children,
+brothers and sisters, were still produced as in animals I should agree
+that they might be injurious to the species; but, considering how
+cosmopolitan and mixed is our modern society, I cannot make the
+concession. On the contrary, I maintain that the isolated unions which
+still take place between relatives in civilized countries are so
+exceptional that they do not present the least danger, excepting among
+the families of degenerates. It is therefore only a question of
+superstition. What we have to guard against are unions between
+pathological individuals and blastophthoric influences. We must not
+forget that many degenerates and idiots have a great pathological
+tendency to incest, and this is no doubt why the effect has been
+confounded with the cause.
+
+Westermark himself gives us a striking example. Since the most remote
+times the inhabitants of the Commune of Bats, composed of 3,300
+persons, have intermarried; yet this population is very healthy and
+vigorous and shows no sign of degeneration. On the other hand, we have
+seen that contrasts produce a mutual attraction in the domain of love,
+while strong resemblances rather repel. Bernardin de St. Pierre has
+said that love is created by contrasts; the greater the contrast the
+greater the love. Schopenhauer remarks as follows: "Every individual
+seeks in the opposite sex peculiarities which contrast with his own;
+the most masculine man seeks the most feminine woman, while small and
+feeble men love large and strong women; people with short noses prefer
+long ones, tall and thin men prefer short and stout women. All this
+increases fecundity." Thus instinct is sufficient to protect humanity
+against consanguinity, each sex instinctively seeking the contrasts
+which consanguinity diminishes.
+
+
+SENTIMENT AND CALCULATION IN SEXUAL SELECTION
+
+Youth, beauty, health, finery and flirtation excite the sexual
+appetite. Many other sentiments are accessory, such as admiration, the
+pleasure of possession, respect, pity, etc. Inclination is an
+important element, but in no way necessary to sexual union.
+
+In the lower stages of human development, tenderness toward children
+is much stronger than sexual love. Among many savage races the love of
+a man for his wife is completely wanting, as well as that of the wife
+for her husband. In this case marriage depends on reciprocal
+convenience, on the desire to have children, and profits by personal
+comfort and the satisfaction of a purely animal sexual appetite.
+However, among these people the parents have a tender regard for their
+children. The husband has the right to beat his wife, but the wife is
+considered as unnatural or even criminal if she beats her children.
+Among the North American Indians, for example, conjugal love is, so to
+speak, unknown. On the other hand, in other savage races, such as the
+Touaregs, the Niam-Niams, the New Caledonians, the Tonganese and
+Australians, the conjoints have a deep affection for each other, and
+the husband often commits suicide on the death of his wife. On the
+whole, the sentiments of affection of the conjoints are the result of
+a long sexual life in common, and they are especially strengthened by
+the love of the parents for their children.
+
+As a rule, the mutual attachment of conjoints for each other among
+cultivated races is developed along with altruism. The tenderness and
+refinement of love as they exist at the present day among highly
+civilized races were unknown to most savages and to the older
+civilizations. In China it is considered good manners to beat the
+wife, and when a poor Chinaman treats his wife with consideration, it
+is to avoid having to buy another. What the Arab understands by love
+is only sexual appetite, and among the ancient Greeks it was nearly
+the same.
+
+In civilized Europe mental culture progresses in the direction of
+equality of rights between the two sexes, so that a man regards his
+wife more as a companion who is his equal and no longer a slave.
+Community of interests, opinions, sentiments and culture constitute a
+primary condition for sentiments of mutual sympathy and favors
+affection. No doubt, excitation of the sexual appetite by contrasts
+acts here as an antagonistic force. Contrast should not be so great as
+to exclude sympathy.
+
+Too great difference in age is dangerous for attachment, for it causes
+too great a divergence in the aims and interests of life. Education
+and social equality also favors love, and this tends to preserve class
+distinction. It is rare for a well-educated man to fall in love with a
+peasant, or a laboring man with an educated woman, except in a sensual
+way. Men generally avoid marriage with individuals of another race, or
+of another religion.
+
+Endogamy and exogamy do not form such an absolute contrast as at first
+sight might appear. Even among exogamous races, there is a limit which
+must not be passed. These races often prohibit marriage with
+individuals of another race. Among the Arabs, for example, the
+instinct of ethnical separation is so strong, that the same Bedouin
+wife who will prostitute herself for money with Turks or Europeans,
+would think it dishonorable to marry one of them. In this way custom
+produces endogamy of caste and class among the same people. The same
+with the nobility; in ancient Rome it was forbidden for a patrician to
+marry a plebeian. Sometimes an endogamy of religious origin is met
+with, among the Jews for example.
+
+Children are treasures for the man of low culture, while they become a
+burden to the cultivated man. In spite of this the natural man
+ardently desires children. In Switzerland, two-fifths of the divorces
+occur in sterile unions, although the latter only form one-fifth of
+all marriages.
+
+Calculation often smothers sentiment when it becomes the basis of
+marriage. We live to-day under the sway of Mammon, with the result
+that the influence of love, strength, beauty, capacity for work,
+intelligence, skill, character and even health, count for little
+compared with money in the question of marriage. This sad sign is
+really a new form of marriage by purchase, hypocritically disguised.
+
+
+MARRIAGE BY RAPE AND MARRIAGE BY PURCHASE
+
+The rape of women is an established custom in some regions. Certain
+marriage ceremonies prove that rape was formerly much more common than
+at the present day. Among certain Indian tribes the simulation of rape
+and abduction of the woman form part of the marriage ceremonies;
+custom requiring that the woman must feign to resist.
+
+According to Spencer, marriage by rape originated in the prudery of
+woman, while MacLennan attributes it to the predominance of exogamy;
+but, in reality, marriage by rape exists in races which are absolutely
+endogamous. Westermark believes it arose from the repugnance to unions
+contracted in a narrow circle. The savage has difficulty in procuring
+a wife without giving the father compensation; besides, his own
+repugnance to the companions of his childhood and the prejudices
+against unions between relations, as well as the enmity of other
+clans, all increase the difficulties to be overcome. This is why he
+often decides on rape. Marriage by rape has not, however, been the
+rule at any period, and on the whole, unions concluded by mutual
+agreement have always predominated.
+
+Marriage by purchase has followed marriage by rape, and forms a
+slightly higher stage of civilization, developed by exchange of money
+or other symbols. It first appears, in Australia, for example, as
+marriage by exchange (exchange of a woman for a sister or a daughter).
+Afterward young men gain their wives by working as servants for the
+father. In marriage by purchase the price is based on the beauty,
+health and social position of the woman. A young girl is generally
+worth more than a widow or a rejected woman. Skill in female manual
+labor also increases the price. Among the Indians of British Columbia
+a wife will cost from twenty to forty pounds sterling, while in Oregon
+they are exchanged for bisons' skins or blankets. Among the Kaffirs
+from three to ten cows is a low price, twenty to thirty a high price
+for a wife. When a wife was given gratis, her parents had a right to
+the children. Marriage by purchase and by exchange still exists among
+the lower races as it formerly ruled among civilized peoples. We still
+possess the rudiments.
+
+Marriage by rape or by purchase has, however, never been in general
+usage. Certain races in India and Africa considered it a disgrace to
+pay a price for a wife.
+
+From the historical point of view it is interesting to note that, in
+the ceremonies of marriage by purchase, a simulated and symbolical
+rape of the betrothed still recalls the old form of marriage by rape;
+also, in races where a higher form has replaced marriage by purchase,
+traces of the latter are still preserved in certain nuptial symbols.
+
+
+DECADENCE OF MARRIAGE BY PURCHASE--THE DOT
+
+The position of woman has undergone steady improvement in higher
+civilization by the progress of altruism. This is why culture, in
+India, China, Greece, Rome and Germany, etc., has gradually
+discredited marriage by purchase. This was at first replaced by the
+custom of giving wedding presents to the bride; afterward the opposite
+custom was introduced of the bride bringing her _dot_ to the
+bridegroom.
+
+A singular transition between these two systems is constituted by
+simulated purchase, in which the bridegroom offers presents to the
+bride's parents, which are afterward returned to him. Among certain
+savages the bride's parents return the purchase money of their
+daughter to the bridegroom in another form. Such restitution was often
+the origin of the _dot_.
+
+Among the Romans the _dot_ became the property of the husband, and
+from this is derived the modern custom which usually gives the husband
+the right to administer his wife's _dot_, which remains the property
+of the wife and her family.
+
+Among the Mexicans, where divorce for conjugal discord is frequent,
+and among certain Mahometans, division of property exists in marriage,
+and the wife's property is returned to her when she is separated or
+divorced.
+
+In Europe at the present time, especially under the influence of
+French customs, there is established a kind of marriage by inverse
+purchase (which already existed among the Greeks), in the sense that
+the parents of young girls obtain husbands for them by means of a
+large _dot_. Westermark concludes this subject with the following
+words: "If she does not possess special personal attractions, a young
+girl without a _dot_, at the present day, runs a great chance of not
+getting married. This state of things is quite naturally developed in
+a society where monogamy is legally enforced; where women are more
+numerous than men; where many men never marry, and where married women
+too often lead a life of idleness." If we add to this: "in a society
+where Mammon rules as absolute master," the picture will not be
+wanting in accuracy.
+
+
+NUPTIAL CUSTOMS AND CEREMONIES
+
+In primitive races where the wife is simply bought like merchandise,
+often after mutual agreement, nuptial ceremonies do not exist. They
+generally originate later from the symbols of a form of marriage since
+abandoned. The ceremony being concluded and the marriage recognized as
+legal, it is followed by feasting. Certain religious ceremonies are
+generally combined with marriage. The customs of our modern marriages
+arise from the same source. At the time of early Christianity there
+were no religious ceremonies and even up till the year 1563, the date
+of the end of the Council of Trent, religious benediction of marriage
+was not obligatory. Luther held that marriage should be purely civil,
+but legal civil marriage was only introduced among us by the French
+Revolution, while it had existed in remote times among the Peruvians,
+Nicaraguans and others. Among certain races, marriages concluded
+without _dot_, without ceremony, or without purchase, and even those
+between different castes, are often regarded as concubinage.
+
+
+FORMS OF MARRIAGE
+
+Leaving aside hermaphrodites, such as the snails, in which each
+individual has both kinds of sexual organs and plays the part of both
+male and female, there are among animals with separate sexes five
+forms of conjugal union:
+
+(1). _Temporary or perpetual monogamy_, or marriage between one
+individual of one sex and one of the other sex. This is the case with
+most birds and mammals and many races of man.
+
+(2). _Polygymy or polygamy_, or the marriage of one male with several
+females. This occurs in ruminants, stags, fowls, and other animals, as
+well as in some human beings; for example, the Islamites, negroes,
+American Indians, Mormons, etc.
+
+(3). _Polyandry_, or the marriage of one female with several males.
+This is met with chiefly in the ants, in which each female is
+generally fecundated successively by several males. In most of the
+higher animals, the jealousy of the males renders polyandry
+impossible. In man it is rare but exists among certain races.
+
+(4). _Marriage in groups_, or marriage between several males and
+several females. This singular custom is rare but exists in the Togas,
+a tribe of savages. I am not aware of its existence among animals.
+
+(5). _Promiscuity_, or free sexual intercourse between males and
+females. This occurs in many animals, especially in the lower animals
+in which the sexual instinct of the male is not associated with any
+regard for the female or the progeny. Promiscuity is still more
+natural when the female does not look after her young after she has
+laid her eggs. Nevertheless, in most animals the female limits herself
+to sexual intercourse before each brood, so that real promiscuity is
+not so frequent as would at first appear. In man, on the contrary, it
+attains its apogee in prostitution, which is the only absolutely
+complete form of promiscuity. But the result of prostitution as
+regards the preservation of the species, which is the proper object of
+all sexual union, is absolutely destructive.
+
+Polygamy or polygymy were licit among most ancient races, and is so
+still among most savages and among many civilized nations; but it has
+several varieties.
+
+In Mexico, Peru, Japan and China a man only possesses one legitimate
+wife, but has several concubines whose children are considered as
+legitimate as those of his wife. Polygamy existed legally among the
+Jews up to the Middle Ages. King Solomon possessed seven hundred wives
+and three hundred concubines. In Islamite countries the Jews are still
+polygamous. The Koran allows them four wives and as many concubines as
+they please. The latter do not enjoy the protection of their father,
+but apart from this they have the same rights as the legitimate wives.
+The Hindus and Persians are polygamous. The Romans were strictly
+monogamous, but they also had concubines.
+
+In Christian Europe, polygamy has occasionally been allowed or
+tolerated: St. Augustus did not condemn it. Luther allowed Philip of
+Hesse to marry two wives; and after the treaty of Westphalia bigamy
+was allowed because of the depopulation of Germany. The mistresses of
+the present princes are a relic of polygamy. Jesus having said nothing
+concerning polygamy, Luther did not prohibit it.
+
+The Mormons have introduced it into their religion. The negro king of
+Loango shows us what degree polygamy may reach among princes and
+chiefs, for he possesses seven thousand wives, while the chiefs of the
+Fiji Islands are content with twenty to one hundred.
+
+Among savage races we find monogamy in the natives of the Andaman
+islands, among the Touaregs, the Weddas, the Iroquois, the Wyandottes,
+and even in some Australian tribes. With others, polygamy is only
+permitted to the chiefs. But most of the population are monogamous
+even among polygamous races, and there are very few peoples in which
+all the men possess several wives. In India, 95 per cent. of the
+Islamites are monogamous, and in Persia even 98 per cent. Polygamy is
+nearly everywhere a privilege of princes, chiefs, and rich men.
+
+The two following facts also show a tendency to monogamy among
+polygamous races:
+
+(1). One of the wives, generally the first, has prerogatives over the
+others.
+
+(2). In reality, the polygamous man nearly always gives sexual
+preference to one only, or to a few of his wives. There are, however,
+some polygamous races in which the husband has sexual intercourse with
+each of his wives according to a regular programme, taking each of
+them in turn for several days, weeks or months. With others, on the
+contrary, a number of married women remain in reality virgins, because
+the husband does not desire them, and they are nothing more than
+domestics. Among these people the husband as a rule only takes a
+second wife when the first has grown old, so that bigamy becomes the
+ordinary form of marriage.
+
+The Cingalese were polyandrous before the English conquest, and so
+many as seven men had one wife in common. Polyandry is especially the
+custom in Thibet. Among polyandrous peoples the husbands are not all
+on the same footing of equality, some hold an inferior position,
+corresponding nearly to that of concubines, another sign of the
+tendency to monogamy.
+
+Among the Togas marriage in groups is constituted as follows: All the
+brothers are husbands of the wife of the elder brother, and all the
+sisters of this wife are at the same time wives of their
+brothers-in-law. If we except prostitution, this is the only case in
+man which approaches promiscuity. Marriage in groups, however, is
+extremely restricted promiscuity.
+
+To resume, monogamy is by far the most widespread form of marriage.
+This is explained by the relative number of men to women. It has often
+been stated that the number of individuals of the two sexes is nearly
+the same, and this has been used as an argument in favor of monogamy.
+But this statement is incorrect; sometimes it is the men, but more
+often the women, who predominate. Among the natives of Oregon there
+are seven hundred men to eleven hundred and eighty-five women. Among
+the Punkas and other races the number of women is two or three times
+greater than that of the men. In Kotcha-Hamba there is only one man to
+five women. Among other races there are, on the contrary, more men
+than women, especially in Australia, Tasmania, and Hayti. In the
+latter island there is only one woman to five men. In Cashmere there
+are three men to one woman. Among the negroes, on the contrary, the
+women predominate, sometimes in the proportion of three to one, but
+more generally as three to two.
+
+In Europe, more boys than girls are born on the average, but from the
+age of fifteen to twenty the numbers become equal, and after twenty
+the women predominate. This is due to the greater mortality among men,
+owing to war, the greater danger of masculine occupations, and also to
+alcoholism. In the fifteen largest towns in Switzerland alcoholism is
+the direct or indirect cause of death in 10.5 per cent. of men above
+the age of twenty.
+
+Among savages the women often take part in war, for instance the
+Amazons of Dahomey. Drinking habits are also the same or absent in
+both sexes, which equalizes matters. When the men predominate in these
+people, this is often due to infanticide committed on young girls, and
+also to overwork of the women. With the Cingalese the natality of boys
+is greater than that of girls, while in Asia Minor two girls, in
+Arabia even four girls, are born to one boy. The Arab says, "Allah has
+given us more women than men; it is, therefore, clear that polygamy is
+a divine commandment."
+
+=Production of Sexes at Will.=--I will say a few words on the question
+of the causes of production of the sexes. There is no want of
+hypotheses, assertions, nor even of experiments on this subject; but,
+we are obliged to admit that up to the present we know nothing
+certain. No one has yet succeeded in producing experimentally in
+animals males or females at will. According to one theory, which has
+created much impression, overfeeding produces females and underfeeding
+males. Although this appears to be true in certain cases among some
+animals, it is in no way proved in a positive manner.
+
+It has also been suggested that selection produces the sex which is
+deficient in numbers; but here again proofs are wanting. It has been
+maintained that crossing tends to breed females, while consanguineous
+marriages produce males; in other words, that mongrel races show an
+excess of female births, while races in which marriages are very
+consanguineous, and polyandrous tribes show an excess of males. It is
+much better to leave this question alone till science has furnished us
+with conclusive proofs. Certain results obtained with the lower
+animals give hope that the future may shed some light on this point.
+
+Again, marriage customs are not always in relation to the excess of
+one of the sexes. Races in which men predominate are not always
+polyandrous, and those in which women are in excess are not always
+polygamous; sometimes even the contrary exists. Polygamy is thus not
+always due to a surplus of female births, or to the death of many men,
+but often to religious prescripts, as among the Islamites and Mormons.
+In polyandry, poverty often plays a greater part than consanguineous
+marriages or surplus of male births. Religious prescription of the
+husband's continence during his wife's menstrual periods, pregnancy,
+and even the period of nursing, a period which often lasts from two to
+four years in savages, is an important cause of polyandry. At Sierra
+Leone, coitus of the husband with his wife before the last-born child
+can walk is regarded as a crime.
+
+Although very advantageous to the wife's health this custom is
+entirely based on religious ideas and superstitions. Many savages
+consider that every woman is impure and bewitched during her monthly
+periods, during pregnancy and suckling. If we add to this the fact
+that, being usually treated as beasts, the women soon grow old, we can
+easily understand that the men are inclined to polygamy. It is
+remarkable with what rapidity the savage woman grows old. She is only
+fresh from thirteen to twenty years; after twenty-five she is old and
+sterile, and a little later she has the aspect of an old sorceress.
+This premature senility is not so much due to early sexual intercourse
+as to the terribly hard work they undergo, and also to the prolonged
+period of suckling.
+
+Another cause of polygamy is man's natural desire for change. The
+negroes of Angola exchange wives. The instinct of procreation, love of
+glory and riches coöperate with the sterility of many women in
+propagating polygamy. Certain races only tolerate it when the woman is
+sterile, or has only daughters, which clearly proves that it is based
+on the fear of remaining without male descendants.
+
+On the whole, savage women are less fecund than civilized, owing to
+their long continence during the two or four years nursing of each
+child. If we add to this the high infant mortality, we can understand
+how polygamy becomes among these people a means of reproduction in the
+struggle for existence, and even in African races a natural law. A
+native of Central Africa may have a hundred wives, who also act as
+servants and retainers. In this case polygamy is the expression of
+pomp and wealth. It is especially developed in agricultural peoples
+owing to the value of the woman's labor. On the other hand it is
+impossible among nomadic tribes. In Dahomey the king had thousands of
+wives, the nobility hundreds, the simple citizen a dozen and the
+soldier none at all.
+
+Jealousy and rivalry among the wives is not always the rule in
+polygamous families. In equatorial Africa the wives themselves incline
+to polygamy and regard a rich man who restricts the number of his
+wives as miserly. Livingstone relates that the women of Makololo
+declared they would not live in monogamous England, for any
+respectable man should prove his wealth by the number of his wives. We
+must not forget that among most savages the moral conception of good
+and evil are confounded with that of riches and poverty. In reality,
+the supernumerary wives bought by a polygamist are simply slaves. His
+power and authority do not easily allow jealousy among them;
+nevertheless suicide sometimes occurs among the old wives who have
+been passed over in favor of younger ones. Sometimes they kill their
+children at the same time. Among the Indians of Terra del Fuego a hut
+containing three or four women often resembles a battlefield. We have
+already pointed out the way in which jealous Fiji women cut off the
+noses of their rivals. Among the Islamites and Hindus intrigue and
+jealousy are common with the women; the same in Abyssinia, among the
+Hovas of Madagascar and the Zulus. The Hova term for polygamy is
+_rafy_, which signifies adversary. To prevent the jealousy of his
+wives the polygamous man often places them in separate houses; this is
+common among the South American Indians.
+
+In Colombia I made the acquaintance of a French explorer, Le Comte de
+Brettes, who has studied closely the Goajires Indians by becoming
+himself a member of the tribe. The country of the Goajires is a
+peninsula of Colombia bordering on Venezuela. Polygamy among these
+people is very interesting. When a young Goajire wishes to marry he
+has to pay the bride's parents a number of cattle, but the consent of
+the bride is necessary. Besides this the husband has to clear a
+certain area of forest, plant vegetables and build a hut. He must then
+make a present of all this to his wife and add to it the necessary
+cattle. The wife thus becomes the legal proprietor of the house and
+land, and it is she who rules over the domain. The husband only has
+authority over the male children; but the wife is strictly enforced to
+be faithful. If he wishes to marry a second wife, he is obliged to buy
+her also and present her with similar property as the first, in
+another district. The two wives can never dwell together in the same
+house nor in the same district; each of them is thus a proprietor on
+her own account. In this manner the different wives of a Goajire are
+not only independent, but separated from each other and have no
+communication; this excludes all jealousy, especially as these women
+have a deep respect for the laws of their country. Under such
+conditions polygamy can hardly extend to more than two women without
+exhausting the forces a man requires to cultivate each of the domains.
+We thus see that certain forms of polygamy, combined with
+matriarchism, are compatible with high social position of the wife,
+for among the Goajires and other Indian tribes the man passes from one
+wife to the other, while it is the wife who is mistress of the house,
+the children and the domain.
+
+However, we may say that on the whole monogamy reigns where there is
+more altruism, respect for women and sentiment for family life; for
+instance, in Nicaragua, among the Dyaks, the Andamanese, etc., in whom
+the wife is highly esteemed and possesses political influence. The
+wife is also proprietor of the house among the Santalese and
+Mounda-Kols.
+
+In the question we are considering the nature of the amorous passions
+also plays a great part. When they are purely sensual they do not last
+long as a rule; but when love arises from mental affinities it may be
+prolonged till old age. Bain remarks that other passions, such as
+maternal love, hatred, the desire of domination may be extended to
+many objects, while love has a tendency to concentrate itself on a
+single one which then takes preėminence over the others and tends to
+monogamy. We have seen that birds and monkeys generally love only one
+female. With some conjugal love is so strong that one of the conjoints
+cannot survive the other; this fact has been observed with certainty,
+even when the survivor was provided with another mate. Thus, the male
+of a certain species of monkey (_Hapale jacchus_) after the death of
+his mate, covers his eyes with his hands, ceases to eat and remains in
+the same position till he dies. Suicide for love is not rare among
+certain savage races; a point to which we shall return later.
+
+Westermark is certainly right in considering this tendency of love to
+concentrate itself on a single object as one of the most powerful
+factors in monogamy. Jealousy is no doubt the reverse of such
+sentiment, but is the profound despair at seeing the sole object of
+love desert or become unfaithful. On the other hand, this
+concentration of love, which may be excellent for isolated families
+living alone after the manner of wild beasts, is in no way adapted to
+a society of which all the members are responsible. This is a point we
+must insist upon. There is certainly a real antinomy which is
+difficult to reconcile between this dual egoism of exclusive and
+concentrated love and social solidarity or human altruism. The problem
+is not insoluble, but we must admit that the solution is not easy.
+
+To resume, we first of all observe an evolution from monogamy toward
+polygamy. The higher apes and the most primitive men are monogamous;
+among these there are no differences of rank, nor class distinctions,
+and they live in very small groups. Wealth, civilization, larger
+communities, agriculture and the domination of castes have gradually
+given rise to polygamy. Thus, the ancient Hindus were at first
+monogamous and later on became polygamous. The prerogative of the
+first wife over the others is only a vestige of monogamy in polygamy.
+
+A higher degree of culture then diminishes warfare, shortens the
+period of nursing, does away with the prejudices against coitus during
+pregnancy, and improves the social position of women. Ageing less
+quickly, and adding to her bodily charms those of her mental
+development woman restores man to monogamy. As the same time wives and
+children gradually cease to constitute riches, and this diminishes the
+instinct of procreation. Finally, machinery replaces the female labor
+of former times. In this way, with a higher degree of human culture,
+all the factors tend to restore monogamy.
+
+The instinctive desires of woman are monogamous. The progress of
+civilization is continually extending her rights, and the more refined
+sentiments of sympathy among civilized people are less and less
+compatible with polygamy. As regards polyandry, Westermark shows that
+it has always been an exception and that it has only been established
+among phlegmatic races, having a certain degree of civilization and
+being unacquainted with jealousy.
+
+Spencer believes that monogamy will prevail in the future, while
+Lubbock inclines to polygamy. Westermark thinks that if the progress
+of civilization continues as hitherto to become more altruistic, and
+that if love tends to become more refined, the conjoints having more
+and more regard for each other, monogamy will always become more
+strict.
+
+For my part, I think it idle to prophesy. If mental culture ever
+succeeds in overcoming brutality and barbarism, and if it continues to
+make real progress, I do not think that any of the old systems of
+marriage will persist in their primary form. Primitive monogamy
+adapted to an unsocial savage condition, is incompatible with the
+social requirements which become more and more imposed upon humanity.
+Marriage by purchase and Islamite polygamy, which regard woman as
+merchandise and place her entirely under the dependence of man, are
+barbarous customs of semi-civilized people, which have already fallen
+into disuse. Polyandry is contrary to human nature and to the
+requirements of reproduction, and its implantation is everywhere a
+sign of decadence. Our present religious monogamy, completed by the
+shameful promiscuity of prostitution, is both hypocritical and
+unhealthy. Till the contrary is proved, I consider the most
+advantageous form of marriage for the future a kind of free monogamy
+(eventually polygamy), accompanied by obligations relative to the
+procreation of children and to the children procreated. Polyandry
+should only have an accessory right to existence in certain
+pathological or exceptional cases. We shall return to this point
+later.
+
+
+DURATION OF MARRIAGE
+
+Among birds, marriage is generally concluded for life; among mammals
+rarely for more than a year, with the exception of the anthropoid apes
+and man.
+
+The duration of marriage varies enormously in man. Among the
+Andamanese, the Weddas, certain Papous, marriage can only cease with
+death. Among the North American Indians, on the contrary, it is only
+concluded for a limited period. Among the Wyandottes the custom exists
+of trial marriages for several days. In Greenland, divorce often takes
+place at the end of six months. Among the Creeks marriage does not
+last more than a year. In this way is constituted a kind of polygamy
+by succession or limited monogamy, which results in the father not
+knowing his children.
+
+Among the Botocudos, marriage is performed without ceremonies and only
+lasts a short time; it can be broken off on the slightest pretext, for
+the pleasure of changing; divorce then becomes as frequent as
+marriage. This is also the case in Queensland, Tasmania and the Samoan
+islands. Among the Dyaks and Cingalese, quite young men and women have
+already had several wives or husbands; a man often marries and deserts
+the same woman several times, to take others during the intervals.
+Among the Mantras there are men who have been married forty or fifty
+times.
+
+In Persia a woman may marry for periods varying from one hour to
+ninety-nine years. In Egypt similar customs are met with; a monthly
+change is allowed, so that a man may marry twenty or thirty times in
+two years. Among the Maues of Sahara the women consider it
+fashionable to marry as often as possible, and a long married life is
+considered by them as vulgar. The Abyssinians, negroes, etc., marry on
+trial or for limited periods. Among the Greeks, Romans and ancient
+Germans, divorce was very frequent.
+
+In nearly all savage tribes, and in a number of civilized people the
+man possesses an unlimited right of rejection. The Hovas compare
+marriage to a loosely tied knot. Among the ancient Jews, Romans,
+Greeks and Germans, discontent of the husband was a sufficient reason
+for rejection. On the contrary, among a number of savage races
+(Westermark mentions about twenty-five) rejection and divorce are
+extremely rare and marriage lasts for life.
+
+It is especially where there are children that divorce is rare. With
+most races, sterility of the wife and adultery constitute the
+principal causes of legal divorce.
+
+Among civilized races marriage for life is much more common than with
+savages. This was the case with the Aztecs, etc. Among the Chinese
+there exist seven reasons for divorce: sterility, unchastity,
+negligence toward parents-in-law, talkativeness, desertion, ill-temper
+and chronic disease. In Japan the laws are similar, but in spite of
+this divorce is rare in China and Japan.
+
+In Christian countries divorce was formerly permitted and was only
+prohibited by the Council of Trent. The modern Catholic says: "Man
+must not separate what God has united." Among many savages, on the
+contrary, divorce is left to the free will of the married couple.
+Elsewhere it is sometimes the man, sometimes both husband and wife who
+have the right to exact divorce for divers reasons, such as
+drunkenness, adultery, prodigality, etc. In Europe, as elsewhere, it
+is the desire for change which is the most common cause of divorce.
+
+Children constitute the surest cement against conjugal separations.
+With most savages the rejected wife regains not only her _dot_, but
+also part of the common property, or even the whole of it. On the
+contrary, the purchase value of the wife is only as a rule returned to
+the husband when sterility, adultery or other grave reasons are the
+causes of divorce. It results from this that divorce is always very
+rare among peoples where the women are very dear.
+
+The right of the children after divorce varies a good deal in
+different races; sometimes they are adjudged to the husband, sometimes
+to the wife. Divorced women often become prostitutes, for example,
+among the Chinese and Arabs. As a rule, marriages for love are more
+lasting than others, especially when the couple were acquainted before
+marriage.
+
+It is extremely probable that in primitive man marriage only lasted
+till the birth of a child, or at the most a few years. With
+civilization the duration of marriage has been prolonged, higher
+motives having become added to bodily charms, sexual appetite and the
+instinct of procreation, and tending toward more lasting unions.
+
+Moral reasons have given rise to laws of protection in marriage, but
+the mania which man possesses of dogmatizing on everything has often
+caused these laws to degenerate into abuse or religious absurdities.
+In this way the modern form of our Christian monogamy has been imposed
+by a tyrannical dogma of the Roman Church; a dogma which no doubt
+started from an ideal point of view, but fell into disuse in practice,
+owing to the fact that it did not take sufficient account of the
+natural conditions and sexual requirements of the race. This explains
+the present tendency to greater legal liberty, even when the moral
+causes which tend to render monogamous unions durable multiply with
+the progress of civilization.
+
+
+HISTORY OF EXTRA-CONJUGAL SEXUAL INTERCOURSE
+
+As monogamous marriage exists among the anthropoid apes, we have every
+reason to believe that it existed with primitive man. In neither case
+has it been the result of artificial laws, but the result of brute
+force and congenital instincts inherited by natural evolution. It
+often happened that one male vanquished another and took possession of
+the female, or wife, of the vanquished. Others abducted the female by
+surprise. Later on, marriage by exchange or by purchase, derived from
+marriage by rape, probably constituted the first stage toward a legal
+monogamous or polygamous union, as an element in the most primitive
+human conventional organizations. In this way we can imagine the main
+points of the prehistoric evolution of marriage.
+
+When the conception of marriage took on a legal character, either that
+of possession by the male, or that of a more or less equitable
+contract between the two sexes, we can easily imagine that sexual
+intercourse apart from marriage resulted as an inevitable complement.
+Every artificial barrier which the human mind opposes to natural
+instincts immediately gives rise to a movement of opposition on the
+part of the latter. The matrimonial laws of primitive or
+semi-civilized races punished adultery in the most barbarous manner by
+torture and death, but were unable to prevent the sexual passions
+pursuing their course in one way or another.
+
+Certain abuses or exceptions had, therefore, to be tolerated, or
+certain complementary institutions had to be organized. However, these
+laws generally branded all forms of sexual intercourse apart from
+marriage, with the stigma of inferiority, or contempt, if not of
+crime. The woman, being the weaker, was naturally the one to suffer
+most from this stigma and its consequences.
+
+The great diversity in the customs of different human tribes, makes it
+necessary, in order to avoid errors, to guard against generalizing
+without strong reasons. We cannot, however, here enter into details
+which would lead us too far. We can, however, affirm that among the
+lower or primitive races brute force played the principal role and was
+the fundamental support of marriage, while in higher civilizations
+legal regulation took the upper hand, however absurd or even immoral
+it might be.
+
+Illegal or extra-conjugal forms of sexual intercourse have always
+formed two principal groups: _prostitution_ and _concubinage_. No
+doubt, these two varieties are insensibly connected by numerous shades
+of transition, but as their development depends on different
+principles we must distinguish these two forms.
+
+Prostitution is a trade in which a human being sells her body for
+money, while concubinage consists in more or less free sexual
+intercourse apart from marriage, the motive of which is simply the
+sexual appetite, convenience or love, although sometimes violence
+plays a part in it. We therefore find in extra-marital sexual
+intercourse the same motives as in legal unions; legal or religious
+sanction only is wanting.
+
+It is needless to say that the motives which lead to concubinage may
+be more or less tainted by interested calculation. In all
+civilizations concubinage and prostitution constitute the complement
+of legal marriage. Their regulation has ever produced the singular
+results of surrounding them with a moral nimbus.
+
+In Babylon, every woman once in her life, had to prostitute herself
+for money to any stranger at the temple of Venus. Solon founded houses
+of prostitution for the people and furnished them with slaves, "in
+order to protect the sanctity of marriage against the passions of
+youth."
+
+The Romans had also their houses of prostitution or lupanari, public
+or private, as well as free prostitutes. In the Middle Ages,
+prostitution developed especially after the Crusades. It is related
+that the Council of Constance attracted fifteen hundred prostitutes to
+this town. Prostitutes followed the armies everywhere.
+
+In India, young girls give themselves to the priests, who are the
+representatives of God and enjoy great honors. Under the name of
+Temple girls, the girls of the flower boats of China are really
+prostitutes. It is the same with the puzes of Java, the girls in the
+Japanese tea-houses, etc. In some civilized states, certain refined
+and intelligent prostitutes have always obtained great honors and high
+favors, only charging high prices, and ending by substituting for
+prostitution the pecuniary exploitation of rich men whom they have
+seduced.
+
+Concubinage may be more or less free. The concubines were formerly
+often slaves, possessed by men in high positions, in addition to their
+wives. At the present day the omnipotence of money produces almost
+analogous results. Free concubinage, in which sexual intercourse
+between the two contracting parties is absolutely free and more or
+less independent of pecuniary questions, is very different and of a
+higher moral character. It has also existed in antiquity in various
+forms. The Greek hetairas were concubines of high position, no doubt
+prostitutes of a kind and giving themselves for money; but they became
+the friends or companions of great men. Living in luxury, especially
+at the time of Pericles and later, several of them became celebrated;
+statues were raised to them and they became the concubines of kings.
+Phryne served as the model for the statue of Venus, and offered to
+restore the halls of the Thebeans at her own expense. Thais was the
+mistress of Alexander and gave heirs to the throne. The neglected
+education of the Greek wives caused the intellectual accomplishments
+of the hetairas to shine by contrast.
+
+The whole question regarding the Greek customs is summed up in a few
+words by Demosthenes: "We marry wives in order to have legitimate
+children and a faithful guardian for our household; we have concubines
+for our daily service, and hetairas for the enjoyment of love."
+
+In some countries, such as Japan, the children of concubines are
+considered by the husbands as legitimate, and have the same rights as
+those of his wife; this gives concubinage the character of marriage of
+the second rank.
+
+In modern times hetairas are not wanting. Under the title of
+courtesans and mistresses, we find them everywhere as the favorites of
+kings and nobles, as mistresses of men in high positions, and often
+playing the part of vampires in all classes of society.
+
+On the other hand, women of high position or wealth have also their
+favorites, whom we may call male hetairas. Certain female members of
+royal families have at all times furnished examples of this kind.
+
+At all periods in the history of civilized races, pathology has also
+led to extra-conjugal sexual intercourse. Here, homosexual love in
+general, and love of boys or pediastry, has always played the
+principal part. We shall speak of this in Chapter VIII. Among the
+Hebrews, Persians, Etruscans, and especially the Greeks, it was held
+in high esteem. The Greek philosophers regarded it as based on an
+ideal homosexual love, and not as a vile form of prostitution. Solon,
+Aristides, Sophocles, Phidias, and Socrates were strongly suspected of
+homosexual practices, and they regarded this form of love as superior
+to the normal love of woman. Lesbian love, and other sexual
+aberrations, such as sadism, have also played a historical role, as we
+shall see.
+
+
+CONCLUSIONS
+
+Primitive human marriage was probably of short duration; when man
+later on became carnivorous, and had to obtain food for his children
+by hunting, sexual unions assumed a more constant character. It is not
+the class or the tribe, but the family which constituted the primitive
+social condition of man, a condition in which marriage was a heritage
+from "pithecomorphous" ancestors, _i.e._, related to monkeys.
+
+Free sexual intercourse before marriage and frequent changes in the
+latter were then no doubt very common, but true promiscuity has never
+been the rule in primitive man.
+
+Patriarchism with its disastrous consequences has been the result of
+the preponderance of male power. In a higher degree of civilization
+this preponderance has produced marriage by purchase and polygamy. The
+barbarous form of the latter is now decreasing.
+
+A true higher culture leads gradually to durable love based on
+altruism and ethics, _i.e._, a relative and free monogamy.
+
+The development of marriage in civilization has gradually increased
+the rights of woman, and marriage contracts tend more and more in
+their modern forms to stipulate for complete equality of rights for
+both sexes. As Westermark says: "The history of human marriage is the
+history of a union in which women have gradually triumphed over the
+passions, prejudices and egoism of men." The term reėmancipation of
+women is historically more correct than the simple term emancipation,
+for before the institution of marriage, woman was free. Invented by
+the stronger male when he began to reason, marriage was at first only
+the servitude of woman. To give her complete liberty, it must be
+transformed afresh from top to bottom.
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+=Influence of the Race on Sexual Life.=--If I were an ethnographer I
+should attempt to establish whether, and in what way, racial
+differences affect the sexual life of man; but the question is so
+delicate that it would require a skilled specialist to settle it. With
+the exception of the pages dealing with the history of extra-conjugal
+intercourse, the statements in this chapter are based on the work of
+Westermark. The chief difficulty consists in separating, in the
+customs of each race, that which arises from habit and historical
+tradition from that which depends on more or less specific hereditary
+peculiarities. It is here very easy to fall into error in formulating
+false conclusions.
+
+A good deal has been said concerning the hot blood of warm climates,
+and on the whole it appears true that people who inhabit these
+climates have a more violent and more precocious sexual temperament
+than those who live in cold regions. But this is not a racial
+character. The Jews, who have preserved their race unaltered in all
+climates and under all possible conditions of existence, furnish an
+object lesson which is particularly appropriate to decide the
+question. The traits of their character are reflected in their sexual
+life. Their sexual appetites are generally strong and their love is
+distinguished by great family attachment. Their sexual life is also
+influenced by their mercantile spirit, and we find them everywhere
+connected with the traffic of women and prostitution. They are not
+very jealous and are much addicted to concubinage, at the same time
+remaining affectionate to their wife and family.
+
+The Mongols also lead a very intense sexual life. Among the
+polyandrous people of Thibet jealousy appears to be completely absent:
+this may be the result of custom or may be due to phylogenetic
+instinct. The Mormons, who are descended from monogamous races,
+confirm the idea that polygamy is not a specific racial character. It
+would be interesting to study the mixed races of North America from
+this point of view. At first sight, it seems that the Americanization
+of customs in the mixture of races of the United States is also
+extended to sexual life, and that we cannot discover the fundamental
+differences between the Irish, Scandinavians, French, Germans and
+Italians who constitute this mixture. But it is possible that this is
+only a superficial impression, and that a deeper study of the details
+would lead to another result. One thing appears to be unquestionable
+in the negro race; that is the violence of its sexual passion combined
+with its mental inferiority.
+
+A striking trait is furnished by the French race which has remained
+pure in the eastern provinces of Canada, whose sexual customs are very
+different from those of the present population of France. The French
+Canadian is extremely pure and chaste, leads a regular life and has a
+numerous family. Families of fifteen or twenty are not rare among
+French Canadians. We can here, therefore, observe the effect of
+climate and custom on a single race. For reasons mentioned above, I
+shall content myself with a few remarks, but I am certain that a
+profound study of the question would discover, in the character of the
+individuals, specific peculiarities of their race which are only
+marked externally by customs. It is obvious that such characters will
+be all the more distinct, the more the race differs from its
+congeners, and the purer its ethnical separation. As among animals, it
+is necessary to distinguish between slight variations, and races or
+sub-species which are more constant and more divergent. Hereditary or
+phylogenetic individual differences must also be distinguished from
+those of races or varieties.
+
+=Weight of the Brain in Different Races and Sexes.=--Bebel has stated
+that among savages the difference between the brain of the men and
+women is less than among civilized people. This statement is quite
+wrong. Prof. Rudolph Martin, of Zurich, has given me statistics of the
+cranial capacity of the two sexes in different races, drawn from
+reliable sources. According to Martin the weight of the brain
+represents about 87 per cent. of the cranial capacity. His table of
+statistics is given on the opposite page.
+
+These figures show that the difference between the two sexes is always
+about the same, while the average absolute weight of the brain in the
+two sexes is lower in the lower races. Reckoning it 87 per cent. of
+the cranial capacity, it is in the Weddas 1111 grammes for males and
+991 grammes for females, which corresponds to the weight of the
+brains of idiots or general paralytics with us. Martin assures me that
+in the Malay peninsula he has found as much difference between the men
+and women as in Europeans.
+
+According to Martin, men living at the present day may be divided into
+three classes according to their cranial capacity:
+
+                                         MEN.             WOMEN.
+  Aristencephalous (large brains)     over 1450 gr.    over 1300 gr.
+  Euencephalous (medium brains)       1300 to 1450.    1150 to 1300.
+  Oligencephalous (small brains)      under 1300.      under 1150.
+
+
+AVERAGE CRANIAL CAPACITY IN DIFFERENT RACES
+
+                                             Men   Women  Difference
+               {Badois   { 48 Craniums m. }  1513  1330   183
+               {         { 26     "    f. }
+Civilized      {
+               {Bavarian {100     "    m. }  1503  1335   168 (11.2 %)
+               {         {100     "    f. }
+
+               {Malay    { 26     "    m. }  1414  1223   191
+               {         {  2     "    f. }
+Semi-Civilized {
+               {Aino     { 87     "    m. }  1462  1308   154
+               {         { 64     "    f. }
+
+Lowest Race              { 22     "    m. }  1277  1139   138 (10.8%)
+Weddas                   { 10     "    m. }
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+SEXUAL EVOLUTION
+
+
+The evolution of every living being is twofold. We must distinguish:
+(1) its _ontogeny_, or the entire cycle of development of the
+individual from its conception till natural death at an advanced age;
+(2) its _phylogeny_, or the series of organic forms through which its
+ancestors passed, by successive transformations, from the primitive
+cells of the oldest and most obscure geological periods, up to its
+present organization.
+
+In its chief outlines ontogeny is determined by phylogeny by means of
+the laws of heredity, even when it is only an abridged recapitulation.
+
+Regarded from this point of view the sexual life of man is also based
+on phylogenetic conditions, determined by his ancestral lineage.
+Moreover, it presents an individual or ontogenetic evolution during
+the life of each person, which in its principal traits is
+predetermined in the germ, by the phylogenetic or hereditary energies
+of the species. The phenomena of the hereditary mneme show clearly how
+ontogeny is the result of engraphia combined with selection, in the
+series of ancestors. We have already mentioned these points on several
+occasions, but must now review the whole question.
+
+
+PHYLOGENY OF SEXUAL LIFE
+
+In Chapter II we have briefly described phylogeny in general or
+metamorphosis, and in the first part of Chapter IV we have specially
+considered the phylogeny of the sexual appetite in the phenomenon of
+cell division and conjugation of nuclei in unicellular organisms,
+which we have described in Chapter I. In order for animals to
+reproduce themselves without degenerating, crossing, or the
+combination of different germs, is necessary, and such combinations
+are only possible by the mutual attraction of two kinds of germinal
+cells. But, when the individual becomes multicellular and bears only
+one kind of germinal cells, the attractive energy which was originally
+limited to these cells is transmitted to the whole organism, and this
+necessitates the existence of sensory and motor nerve centers.
+
+The attraction of one kind of germinal cell and its bearer for the
+other must also be more or less mutual. As a rule the bearer of one of
+the germinal cells becomes active and penetrating; that of the other
+passive and receptive. However, the latter, who after copulation (when
+this occurs) becomes the sole bearer of the future individual, is
+obliged to desire union with the active bearer of the other germinal
+cell, so that reproduction may become harmonious. This is the basis on
+which is founded sexual reproduction, and with it the sexual appetite,
+in plants (as regards cellular conjugation only) as well as in
+animals, but especially in the latter, in whom the germinal cells are
+carried by mobile and independent individuals. On the same basis is
+developed the difference between the sexual appetite in man and woman,
+as well as that between love and the other irradiations of this
+appetite in the mental life of both sexes. (Vide Chapters IV and V.)
+
+The immense complication of human sexual life makes us regard animals
+with a certain degree of contempt, and flatter our vanity in
+qualifying the baser part of our sexual appetite by the term _animal
+instinct_. But we are really very unjust toward animals. This
+injustice is partly due to the fact that vocal and written language
+gives us a means of penetrating into the psychology of our fellow
+creatures. By the aid of the common symbolism of our thoughts it is
+easy for us to compare them. Language thus enables us to construct a
+general human psychology. The absence of language, even in the higher
+animals, renders it difficult for us to penetrate their mind. Our
+inductive reasoning in this matter is very uncertain, for we can only
+judge the mental power of animals by their acts. The brain, and
+consequently the mind, of the higher mammals being less highly
+organized than that of man, their sexual psychology is also more
+primitive, and differs from ours in proportion to the cerebral
+development of the species. Comparative anatomy confirms this fact in
+the whole series of organisms which possess a central nervous system.
+The psychology of the higher apes is thus nearer our own than that of
+the dog; the psychology of the dog resembles ours more than that of
+the rabbit, etc.
+
+On the other hand, the highly developed cerebral organization of man,
+although it has complicated the mental irradiations of his sexual
+appetite, has not always ennobled them; on the contrary, it has often
+directed them into pernicious paths. We have seen in Chapter VI
+numerous and striking proofs of the degeneration, brutality and
+cruelty of the manifestations of the human sexual appetite, and we
+shall study them further in Chapter VIII. Comparative biology shows us
+that the sexual appetite is transformed into love in very different
+ways. In order to avoid the immensity of detail of comparative biology
+I shall only give a few examples.
+
+While the female spider often kills and eats the male, monkeys, and
+parrots give proof of such a great mutual attachment that when one of
+the conjoints dies the other sinks into complete despair, ceases to
+eat, and perishes in its turn.
+
+In this domain we find singular adaptations to special conditions of
+existence. Among the bees and ants, a third class of individuals, or
+neuters, formed by differentiation of females, do not copulate, and
+lay at the most a few eggs which are not fecundated and which
+occasionally develop by parthenogenesis.
+
+Among the termites, another species of social ants, a similar state of
+things exists, but the neuters, or workers, are derived from the male
+sex as well as the female and their sexual organs are quite
+rudimentary. The third sex, or worker, not only has a cerebral
+development superior to the sexual individuals, but also inherits the
+social sympathetic irradiations of the sexual appetite, which results
+in his devotion to a brood which is not his own. Among the social
+insects the males are little more than flying sexual organs, which
+after copulation are incapable of leading an independent existence and
+die of hunger and exhaustion in the case of ants or termites, or are
+massacred by the workers in the case of bees.
+
+The fecundated females, on their part, become breeding machines whose
+activity is incessant. Among the ants, however, the females are at
+first capable of nourishing a few larvę by the aid of a portion of
+their eggs and their secretions, till the workers are hatched, who
+henceforth undertake all the work including the maternal care of the
+brood.
+
+Whoever has observed the fidelity of a pair of swallows and the way in
+which the male and female nourish and rear their young, must be struck
+by the analogy to the conjugal and family love of the faithful type of
+human beings. This is especially remarkable when the same couple
+return every year to the old nest. This family life of the swallows
+does not prevent a certain social life, which manifests itself in
+organized attacks on birds of prey, and in combined emigration in the
+autumn and spring.
+
+On the other hand, we are instinctively indignant at the want of
+fidelity in other animals, between conjoints, parents and offspring
+(dogs and rabbits, for instance), because we involuntarily expect to
+find in them our own moral sense, which is not at all just.
+
+From the phylogenetic point of view we can only compare ourselves to
+the higher apes, by their analogies with primitive man. (Vide Chapter
+VI.) The question which concerns us here is as follows: If we consider
+the peculiarities of our sexual customs with those of our direct
+ancestors, what are those which are derived from ancient and profound
+phylogenetic instincts, those which are derived from less profound
+ancestral energies (_i.e._, relatively more recent) and lastly those
+which depend simply on old customs fixed by tradition, prejudice and
+habit? If we are careful we shall immediately recognize that it is not
+only the sexual appetite itself, but also a large part of its
+correlatives and irradiations, in which the phylogenetic roots are
+deep. Jealousy, coquetry, instinctive maternal love, fidelity and
+conjugal love, which are more or less developed in primitive man, are
+also present in monkeys and birds. We have even seen that the conjugal
+fidelity of these often exceeds our own. It is, therefore, not true
+that our animal ancestors are only allied to us by sexual appetite; on
+the contrary, we must admit that they have much more noble sentiments
+and instincts, derived it is true from this appetite, but belonging to
+the domain of a higher social morality. All that we can say in a
+general way concerning the complex entanglement of our sentiments and
+instincts is that, the most deeply rooted characters in human nature
+are at the same time, phylogenetically speaking, the most ancient.
+
+Among the most profound instincts of sexual life, we find moral and
+intellectual incongruities. Along with excitement of the sexual
+appetite in the male by the odor of the female genital organs, or by
+the sight of erotic pictures, we find the most touching conjugal love,
+and life-long devotion of one conjoint for the other and for the
+children. Prostitution, marriage by purchase, religious marriage,
+disgrace attached to illegitimate births, conjugal and family rights
+of one or the other sex, etc., are, on the contrary, things which do
+not depend on recent phylogeny, but only on the customs and traditions
+of certain races. They are partly outgrowths from egoism, the spirit
+of domination, mysticism and hypocrisy, and partly the shifts of an
+overheated social life which is becoming more and more complicated.
+
+Westermark's studies are very instructive in this respect. All the
+absurdities and contradictions, brought to light by the historical and
+ethnographical study of the customs and matrimonial abuses in man,
+allow us to clearly distinguish that which is due to fashion or
+custom, from that which is deeply rooted in our heredity. To avoid
+repetition I refer my readers to Chapter VI, to examine the
+differences between heredity and custom.
+
+Between these two extremes there is, however, one important domain,
+viz., that of _recent phylogeny_, or in other words _variation_. The
+fixed appetites and instincts of the species which are proper to every
+normal man, and are as we have seen fundamentally connected with many
+animal forms, belong to ancient and profound phylogeny. But there is
+another group of very variable peculiarities, strongly developed in
+some men and little in others, sometimes completely absent, which do
+not depend on custom but on what is called individual hereditary
+disposition, or individual character. While some men have monogamous
+instincts others are polygamous. Some men are by instinct and heredity
+very egoistic, others more altruistic. This peculiarity is reflected
+in their sexual life and changes the character of their love (but not
+that of their sexual instinct). The egoist may love his wife, but this
+love is interested and very different from that of the altruist.
+Between the two extremes there is an infinite number of gradations
+according to the nature of the instincts and dispositions. The same
+man may be a good and generous father, and a social exploiter with
+neither shame nor pity. Another will pose as a social benefactor,
+while at home he is an egoist and a tyrant. The individual
+dispositions of recent phylogeny are combined in every way with
+education, customs, habit and social position to produce results which
+are often paradoxical, and the factors of which are ambition, vanity,
+temper, etc. Recent phylogeny is reflected also in many of the
+irradiations of the sexual appetite of which we have spoken in Chapter
+V. Audacity, jealousy, sexual braggardism, hypocrisy, prudery,
+pornography, coquetry, exaltation, etc., depend in each particular
+case, according to their degree of development, on a combination of
+individual sexual hereditary dispositions with individual dispositions
+in the other domains of sentiment, intelligence and will. In this way,
+the sexual individuality of one man is constituted in a very complex
+and very different way to that of other men, owing to the high
+development of the human brain, as well as to the infinite variability
+and adaptability of his aptitudes. It is impossible to give even an
+incomplete explanation of all the symphonic gradations (often
+cacophonic) which represent an individuality, or to fix clearly what
+distinguishes it from others. However, when the principle is
+understood, it is not difficult to estimate the sexual individuality
+of each person more or less correctly.
+
+Strong hereditary dispositions of character may be recognized in early
+infancy. When the ancestry of a man is well known the roots of his
+recent phylogeny may be traced to his ancestors. Here we observe the
+effect of crossing between varieties or different races, or on the
+contrary that of consanguinity. This effect is observed in character
+and in sexual disposition, as much as in the shape of the nose, or the
+color of the skin and hair, etc. It is important that men should learn
+to know themselves, and also study each other from this point of view
+before marrying. On the whole, we may say that the average civilized
+man of our race possesses as his "phylogenetic baggage" a strong
+sexual appetite, very variable sentiments of love, generally somewhat
+mediocre, (we have seen that conjugal love is more strongly developed
+in most monkeys than in man), lastly altruistic or social sentiments
+which are still deplorably weak. The latter, no doubt, form no part of
+the sexual life, but they must be taken into consideration for they
+are its most important derivatives, and it is indispensable for our
+modern social life to develop them in harmony with family and conjugal
+love.
+
+Hereditary instincts can easily be observed in children. When one of
+them is good, it gives evidence at an early age of the sentiments of
+sympathy or altruism, such as pity and affection, as well as an
+instinctive sentiment of duty, the object of which is not yet social.
+All these sentiments are at first only applied to human individuals
+known to the child, domestic animals, or even inanimate objects. On
+the other hand, the ant, from the beginning of its existence, shows an
+inherited instinct or sentiment of complete social duty. In man,
+social sentiments properly so-called, have to be acquired by
+education, but they require for their expansion a considerable degree
+of inherited sentiments of sympathy and duty. A person without morals
+can easily acquire social phraseology but not social sentiment. A few
+more points require to be considered.
+
+Monogamy is no doubt an old and well-established phylogenetic
+heritage, while polygamy is on the whole rather an aberration produced
+by individual power and wealth. But phylogenetic monogamy is by no
+means identical with the religious or other formality of our present
+legal monogamy. It assumes first of all an early marriage immediately
+after puberty, while our civilization has placed between this and
+marriage, which it only allows later as a rule, the unhealthy swamp of
+prostitution, which so often sows in the individual the destructive
+seed for his future legal union, before this has taken place. Again,
+phylogenetic monogamy imposes no legal constraint; on the contrary, it
+assumes a free, natural and instinctive inclination in each of the
+conjoints, when it is not the result of the brute force of the male.
+Lastly, it by no means excludes a change after a certain time. We are
+speaking only of man, and not of birds and monkeys, who are more
+monogamous than ourselves.
+
+Monogamy without children has little reason for its existence and must
+be considered simply as a means to satisfy the sexual appetite or as a
+union for convenience. It is the same with certain marriages between
+individuals of very different ages, especially the marriage of a young
+man with a woman already old and sterile.
+
+As far as we can ascertain, the majority of sexual perversions, of
+which we shall speak in Chapter VIII, are a sad pathological
+acquisition of the human race. We observe, however, especially in the
+higher mammals, acts of pederasty between males when the female is
+wanting.
+
+The sexual repulsion which normally exists between animals of
+different species rests on a selective basis, the hereditary mneme of
+their reciprocal germs being unable to place itself in homophony, and
+their blood also having a mutual toxic action. In speaking of sodomy
+we shall see that this instinctive repulsion may disappear in
+pathological cases, both in man and in animals, owing to bad habits or
+unsatisfied sexual appetite. We cannot absolutely demonstrate the
+phylogenetic existence of an instinctive disgust for consanguineous
+sexual intercourse.
+
+The sexual advances made by women in civilized countries, show how
+easily we may be deceived in attributing to a phylogenetic or
+hereditary origin, certain details which are only due to external
+circumstances. In man, the bearer of the active germ, the instinct of
+sexual advance has deep phylogenetic roots. It is quite natural to him
+and is evident among savage races, where the man risks more by
+remaining single than the woman. Violent combats between rivals to
+obtain the woman, who remains passive like most animals, are evidence
+of this.
+
+Civilization has changed all this, and has developed two castes of
+women, the old maids and the prostitutes. The latter satisfy the
+appetites of men in an artificial and unhealthy manner, while marriage
+and family cares only bring them labor and burdens instead of riches.
+Owing to the promiscuous polyandry of prostitution, man can always
+obtain enough women, while woman can with difficulty obtain a suitable
+husband. These circumstances have more and more developed the art of
+flirtation, coquetry and advances on the part of girls, and we can now
+see, especially in the United States, that advances come more and more
+from the female side, if not in principle, at any rate in fact. This
+is not a question of a phylogenetic or hereditary transformation of
+the sexes among civilized peoples, but an unhealthy effect resulting
+from abnormal circumstances, that is the non-satisfaction of the
+sexual desires of woman, together with the satiety of those of men.
+Woman makes advances from the fear of remaining celibate; she will
+cease to do so when the unnatural causes which have produced this
+state of things have been done away with.
+
+As a rule, a normal and adaptable man will conduct himself in sexual
+matters as in others according to the prevailing fashion. He will most
+often succeed in accommodating his sentiments to those of his
+conjoint. On the other hand, this average representative of normal
+mediocrity easily becomes the slave of routine and incapable of new
+ideas. However normal he may be, he has less faculty of adaptation or
+mental plasticity and less liberty, than a man of higher nature
+independent of prejudices.
+
+
+ONTOGENY OF SEXUAL LIFE
+
+The first striking fact in the ontogeny of sexual life is the
+following: All the sexual organs, both external and internal, remain
+in an embryonic and non-functional state, not only in the embryo but
+for a long time in the child. The organs and their elements exist, but
+they are still small, imperfectly developed, and in a state of rest.
+At the time of puberty, which varies in different individuals, the
+sexual glands and the other copulatory apparatus enlarge and begin to
+functionate. In the European races puberty occurs between the age of
+twelve and seventeen years in girls, and between fourteen and nineteen
+in boys; it is generally earlier in the South and later in the North.
+It is curious to note that the correlative irradiations of the sexual
+appetite in the human mind develop much earlier than the organs, or
+even the sexual appetite. Again, the sexual appetite often appears
+before the normal development of the genital organs. In other rare
+cases the sexual appetite is absent in the adult, even when the
+corresponding organs are well-developed. (Vide Chapter VIII.) Such
+irregularities of the sexual appetite belong to the domain of
+pathology.
+
+On the other hand, it is quite normal for young girls and boys to show
+early signs of mental differences corresponding to those we have
+described in Chapter V. In young girls we observe coquetry and
+jealousy and the desire for finery. Their love of dolls and the care
+they take of them, is very characteristic of the precocious instinct
+of their sex. This is an early sign of instinctive maternal love,
+before the development of any sexual sensation or function. Among boys
+we observe a tendency to brag and to boast of their strength before
+girls, to show their contempt for dolls and the coquetry of little
+girls, and also to pose as protectors, etc.
+
+Sexual jealousy already exists in young children. We see little boys,
+seeking for the favors of little girls, show violent jealousy when
+another is preferred to them. All these phenomena depend either on
+subconscious instincts, or on vague sexual presentiments which play a
+large part in the infantile exaltation of sentiment. Portraits of
+pretty women, the sight of certain parts of the body or feminine
+clothing often provoke exalted sentiments in boys; girls rather admire
+boldness, an imposing presence and often beauty, in the other sex.
+
+Puberty is produced by certain phenomena which occur in the sexual
+organs. In the boy erections occur at an early age when the penis is
+still very small. It is curious to note that certain pathological
+conditions and friction of the glans penis, especially in the case of
+phimosis and as a result of bad example, are often sufficient to
+produce sexual sensations and appetites in very young boys. The same
+thing is produced in little girls by excitation of the clitoris. All
+these phenomena lead to onanism or masturbation, of which we shall
+speak later on. As the testicles of young boys do not secrete semen,
+masturbation only provokes secretion from the accessory glands, but
+this is accompanied by orgasm.
+
+More singular still are cases of coitus between little boys and girls
+whose sexual glands are still undeveloped and produce no germinal
+cells. Although they are pathological, these phenomena are
+characteristic, because they clearly show that the brain has acquired
+by phylogeny a sexual appetite relatively independent of the
+development of the sexual glands. No doubt the sexual appetite does
+not develop, or disappears, in eunuchs when they are castrated quite
+young; but it is preserved together with the secretions and functions
+of the external genitals when castration is performed after puberty is
+established.
+
+The important conclusion which results from these facts is that the
+existence of a sexual excitation or appetite of this nature is not
+sufficient to prove that they are normal. In Chapter VIII we shall
+prove that not only the anomalies of the hereditary sexual
+disposition, but artificial excitations and bad habits may also
+produce all kinds of misconduct and excesses which should be
+energetically combated.
+
+We have described in Chapter IV the great individual variations of the
+sexual appetite in the two sexes, as well as that of the sexual power
+in man. The sexual power and appetite in man are strongest between the
+years of twenty and forty. We may even consider this period as the
+most advantageous for the procreation of strong and healthy offspring
+and that the procreator is at his best before the age of thirty.
+
+The ontogenetic development of the sexual appetite and love generally
+produces in man a peculiar phenomenon. While habitual gratification
+and education of the sexual appetite tends to make it more and more
+calculating and cynical, love, on the contrary, becomes more elevated
+and refined with age and less egoistical than in youth. Owing to
+general mental development, the education of sentiments progresses and
+becomes refined, while the sexual appetite diminishes in intensity and
+becomes more imperious and more coarse. We are only speaking here of
+normal cases.
+
+In youth, the intoxication of love combined with intense sexual
+appetite triumphs; when the appetite is once satisfied the unbridled
+and egoistic passions of this age come to the surface and are often
+antagonistic to love. At a more advanced age, on the contrary, love
+becomes more constant and more tranquil. The mistake that is so often
+made is the confusion of love with sexual appetite. The novelists who
+speculate on the eroticism of the public are no doubt more interested
+in describing sexual passion and amorous intoxication, with all the
+catastrophes and conflicts which arise from them, than the tranquil
+and regular love of a couple more advanced in age, the greatest
+happiness of which consists in harmony of sentiment and thought, as
+well as the mutual regard and devotion of the couple for each other.
+
+Sexual appetite and sexual power in man become extinguished between
+the ages of sixty and eighty; old men of eighty are sometimes still
+capable, but they are no longer fecund. As a rule sexual power
+diminishes before sexual appetite, and this sometimes leads old men to
+use artificial means to revive their power, or to satisfy their sexual
+desires. This explains why the egoists who have never known true love
+often become so base in their sexual manifestations when they grow
+old. Their experience of sexual life makes them experts in the art of
+seduction. If this fact appears to be antagonistic to the law that
+true love is refined with advancing age, we must bear in mind that the
+ontogenetic development of the sexual appetite is not the same as that
+of love; that in some respects it develops in a contrary direction;
+and that the result may consequently become inverted according as one
+or other predominates. It is needless to say that there are a number
+of intermediate gradations, and that inverse phenomena may be produced
+concurrently in the same individual.
+
+According to Westermark elderly men generally fall more easily in love
+with middle-aged women than with young girls. No doubt this is often
+the case when reason and love predominate, but it is necessary to
+avoid generalization, and it is curious to observe how often very old
+men become enamored of quite young girls, as the latter may fall in
+love with old men. It is common knowledge that young girls do not
+marry old graybeards solely for their money or their name. No doubt
+this is not uncommon, but I have often seen girls of eighteen or
+twenty fall in love with old _roués_, when money, name and position
+were theirs and not the man's. However, in such cases it is most often
+the old man who is amorous. Westermark maintains that this condition
+is not normal, and we shall see that very often it is a case of
+commencing _senile dementia_, a pathological cerebral condition in
+which the sexual appetite becomes suddenly revived.
+
+The love of a young girl for an old man may be explained by the
+intellectual superiority of the old man or by the absence of another
+object for love. It is often also due to hysteria and consequently
+pathological.
+
+In old age, when the sexual life of two conjoints is extinguished,
+there remains a purified love which colors the evening of their life
+with autumn tints. The modern detractors of marriage too often forget
+this phenomenon. No doubt the evening of conjugal life is often
+troubled with discord and sorrow, but then it is usually a question of
+"_mariage de convenance_," marriage for money or position, mutual
+misunderstanding, or irreflective amorous intoxication. Quarrels may
+also arise when pathological conditions become introduced into
+marriage.
+
+In woman, sexual ontogeny is not the same as in man. She matures
+earlier and more rapidly. In our race, a woman at eighteen is sexually
+mature; between eighteen and twenty-five she is in the best condition
+for sexual life; toward fifty the menopause occurs, and with it
+cessation of fecundity. Hence the period during which a woman is
+fecund is much shorter than in man and terminates much earlier.
+
+Owing to this, the development of the intellectual and sentimental
+irradiations of the sexual appetite in woman is more rapid than in
+man. A young girl is much more mature and full grown as regards her
+reproductive power than a young man. These phenomena extend to the
+whole mental life of woman, who is less capable of an ulterior
+development in old age than man, because she generally becomes settled
+and automatic much more rapidly than the latter. No doubt these
+phenomena are partly due to the defective mental education of women,
+but this explanation is insufficient. Here again we must distinguish
+the phylogenetic disposition of woman from the effects of education
+during her ontogenetic development.
+
+The sexual appetite of woman manifests itself at first in vague
+desires, in a want of love, and does not as a rule develop locally
+till after coitus. It often follows that in ontogenetic evolution the
+sexual appetite of women increases at a more advanced age (between
+thirty and forty). At this age women often become enamored with young
+boys, whom they seduce easily. Widows are especially disposed to form
+unions with men younger than themselves; these unions are rarely
+happy, for the woman who is older than her husband easily becomes
+jealous, and the husband soon becomes tired of a woman whose charms
+have faded. We can therefore affirm that, as a rule, in order to be
+both normal and lasting, a monogamous union requires that the husband
+should be from six to twelve years older than his wife, and that the
+latter should marry as young as possible.
+
+In the sexual ontogeny of normal woman, pregnancies, childbirth, the
+nursing and education of children play an infinitely greater role than
+the sexual appetite. These important events in woman's life, together
+with affection for her husband occupy a great part of the cerebral
+activity of every woman, and are at the same time the conditions for
+her true happiness.
+
+We should expect the sexual appetite in woman to diminish or cease at
+the menopause; but this is not usually the case, and elderly women are
+sometimes tormented by the sexual appetite, which is all the more
+painful because men are not attracted by them. Such hyperęsthesia
+cannot, however, be considered as normal; most often the sexual
+appetite diminishes with age and is replaced, as in man, by the
+tranquil love of old age, of which we have spoken.
+
+Old women are often spoken of with contempt. No doubt, unsatisfied
+passions and wounded feelings of all kinds, want of intellectual
+culture and high ideals, and especially a pathological condition of
+the brain, make many old women anything but amiable. I am, however,
+convinced that the elevation of woman's social position, and greater
+care in her education, will considerably facilitate the development of
+her faculties. Education should not develop mundane qualities in
+women, but depth of sentiment. There are many aged women who can be
+cited as examples of activity and perseverance, for their sound and
+clear judgment, as well as for their affability and simplicity of
+manners. Although their intellectual productiveness ceases earlier
+than that of man, this in no way excludes an excellent and persevering
+activity of mind, combined with much judgment and sentimental
+qualities. A woman who is growing old and has lost the members of her
+family, especially her husband, requires some object to replace them
+in her affection. To devote herself to social activity will be the
+best antidote against the peevish, querulous or sorrowful moods which
+so easily take possession of the aged woman. It appears that love,
+which is a phylogenetic derivative of the sexual appetite, and which
+in middle life is intimately associated with this appetite, becomes
+afterwards more and more independent of it and then requires more
+compensation. There is here a great adaptation of love to life, an
+adaptation which it is necessary to bear in mind.
+
+In infancy the individual is naturally egoistic; his appetites all
+tend to self-preservation. There are even then, however, great
+individual differences, and we meet with children who are endowed with
+a remarkable sentiment of duty and a great sensibility to the troubles
+of others. After puberty man's sexual desire leads him to love, toward
+dual egoism, and this desire becomes the principal factor in the
+reproduction of the species. In old age the individual has no
+reproductive aims to fulfill; his life is only a burden on society, if
+it is not directed with a view to benefit others and society in
+general. By expansion and purification love, at first sexual, is
+gradually transformed into purely humanitarian love, _i.e._,
+altruistic or social. At least this is what it should be, and then the
+fundamental biogenetic law of Haeckel (ontogeny is an abridged
+repetition of phylogeny) will receive an ultimate confirmation. Our
+primitive unicellular animal ancestor lived for itself alone; later on
+sexual reproduction without love was established; then conjugal and
+family love appeared (birds, monkeys, mammals, etc.), finally social
+love or altruism was produced, _i.e._, the sense of social solidarity
+based on the sentiment of duty.
+
+The last is still very weak in man, while some animal species, such as
+the bees and ants, have developed it in a more complete manner, on the
+basis of instinct. According to this natural law, all social
+organization naturally develops altruism or the sentiment of duty. The
+history of humanity proves that our social union is only developed
+slowly and laboriously through innumerable contests, and that it is
+derived, directly or indirectly, from the family union of individuals.
+Extension of communication on the surface of the earth causes the
+artificial development of social organization to advance much more
+rapidly than the natural phylogenetic development by evolution of the
+sentiments or social instincts. The latter are, however, forced to
+follow the movement, resting first on the deep roots of family and
+friendly altruism, as well as on that of caste or clan (patriotism);
+_i.e._, on sentiments of sympathy and duty toward certain individuals
+who are more closely connected with us, sentiments which are
+hereditary in man. A vague general humanitarian sentiment, a hothouse
+flower which is still feeble, has already commenced to grow on this
+natural basis. Let us hope that it will live.
+
+It would be a fundamental error to try and found social solidarity
+solely on our phylogenetic sentiments of sympathy, or on our ideal
+faculty of devotion and self-sacrifice; but to try and take egoism as
+a basis for this solidarity is a still greater error. We must not make
+an antinomy of egoism and altruism, but regard them as two elements
+inseparable from all human society, as well as the individuals who
+compose it. We cannot deny that the altruist, endowed with strong
+sentiments of sympathy and duty, is an excellent social worker, while
+the pure egoist constitutes an element of decomposition for society.
+It is, therefore, a social duty to proceed by the sexual route to a
+selection which will cause the first to multiply and eliminate the
+second as far as possible by sterilizing his germs.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+SEXUAL PATHOLOGY
+
+
+On this subject we refer the reader to the well-known work of
+Krafft-Ebing, "Psychopathia Sexualis,"[4] in which will be found a
+number of observations, the details of which we cannot enter into
+here. We may first of all say that with the exception of venereal
+diseases the genital organs by themselves only play a very small part
+in sexual pathology. The brain is the true domain of nearly all sexual
+anomalies.
+
+In the second place, we may remark that the disorders of sexual life
+only rarely belong to acute affections which the physician can treat
+with pharmaceutical or other common remedies. They almost exclusively
+originate in the mental constitution, _i.e._, in the hereditary
+dispositions of the brain of the individual. But the pathology of
+mental or cerebral conditions offers an extremely vast field, capable
+of so much extension that no definite limit can be fixed between the
+normal state and morbid states, which are themselves connected by
+numerous transitions. A great number of acts due to mental conditions
+which the public and even learned theologians, jurists and physicians
+not initiated in psychiatry, consider as criminal, sinful, or
+infamous, are only the product of pathological aberrations due to
+hereditary dispositions. I was recently consulted by a patient of this
+kind, otherwise possessed of noble sentiments, who told me that a
+physician in Germany to whom he related his troubles, turned on him
+furiously and said, "These things are filthy; you are a pig; hold your
+tongue and get away from here!" As a matter of fact this unfortunate
+patient was sustaining a heroic struggle against his perverted
+pathological sexual appetites. Knowing little or nothing of these
+matters human society, with few exceptions, is of the same opinion as
+the ignorant doctor mentioned above. For this reason I think it
+necessary at least to give an outline of phenomena which, although
+very repulsive in themselves, throw much light on the sexual question.
+
+
+PATHOLOGY OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS
+
+Every deformity, disease or operation which destroys the sexual glands
+in the child, or prevents them from developing, gives rise to the
+phenomena which we have described when speaking of castration. This is
+the case, for instance, with cryptorchidism in which the testicles
+remain in the inguinal canal and become atrophied, instead of
+descending into the scrotum. The following case is an example, and is
+interesting in other respects:
+
+    A young man was affected with imbecility and congenital
+    cryptorchidism with atrophy of the testicles. A eunuch from
+    birth, he developed no sexual appetite and no correlative
+    masculine character. To make a man of him, his too eager aunts
+    married him to a strong girl, who was anything but innocent. She
+    attempted by all kinds of manipulations to cure the sexual
+    blindness of her husband; but this was a waste of labor, as the
+    unhappy wretch only regarded the performance as disgusting and
+    filthy. He was violently excited and became somnambulistic.
+
+    Soon afterwards the wife consoled herself with a lover of normal
+    sexual power, and they both overwhelmed the poor eunuch with
+    raillery. The latter, becoming furious, offered his wife a cake
+    poisoned with arsenic on her birthday, but she saw through the
+    stratagem. The poor wretch was sent for trial and condemned to a
+    long term of imprisonment for attempted poisoning. I consider
+    this judgment as a legal crime. In spite of my protests,
+    imbecility was not admitted, and the somnambulism was looked
+    upon as simulated.
+
+On the other hand, the same lesions when they occur in the adult
+neither destroy the correlative sexual characters, nor the power of
+coitus, nor the voluptuous sensation of the orgasm.
+
+In man, _aspermia_ sometimes occurs; the testicles appear to be well
+formed, but the semen contains no spermatozoa. In spite of this the
+aspermatic individual generally has erections, a certain amount of
+sexual power and orgasm, and is capable of amorous feelings, although
+his sexual functions are generally feeble. But he is incapable of
+fecundating a woman.
+
+Some women who have never menstruated possess normal ovaries and may
+become pregnant.
+
+Tuberculosis, tumors and inflammations of the testicles and ovaries
+may cause sterility.
+
+The erection of the penis is often rendered impossible by certain
+deformities, such as _hypospadias_ and _epispadias_, in which the
+urethral canal opens respectively below or above the penis.
+
+Involuntary emissions of semen without erection, with or without
+voluptuous sensation, is called _spermatorrhea_. This is often a
+result of onanism, nervousness or constipation. Too much importance
+has been attached to it. In hypochondriacs spermatorrhea becomes a
+bugbear, which often makes them the dupes of charlatans. The less
+attention is paid to it the quicker it disappears; especially when it
+is of purely nervous origin, as is usually the case.
+
+Phimosis, or narrowness of the opening of the prepuce is nearly always
+of embryonic origin. It prevents the glans penis from becoming
+exposed, at least during erection. It is a very common condition and
+very disagreeable. If the prepuce is forcibly drawn back behind the
+glans penis before erection, as is often the case in masturbation, the
+penis is gripped by the prepuce so that it cannot sometimes be drawn
+forward and inflammation with oedema results; this condition is called
+_paraphimosis_, and may become dangerous. Secretions, urine and semen
+accumulate and decompose in a phimosed prepuce, cause irritation and
+lead to masturbation. All cases of phimosis should be operated upon in
+infancy, by complete or partial circumcision.
+
+In women, the number of diseases which prevent conception is much
+greater than in man. The ovary may undergo cystic degeneration or
+become the seat of a tumor; but affections of the uterus and vagina
+cause more sterility than ovarian affections. This results chiefly
+from catarrh and inflammation which destroy the spermatozoa before
+they can reach the egg during its descent. Disorders of menstruation
+have much less influence on fecundity. The womb sometimes remains in
+an _infantile state_, which may also cause sterility. Other diseases
+of the female sexual organs have a more general pathological
+character and hardly influence sexual intercourse.
+
+A method of rendering women sterile without castration (removal of the
+ovaries) consists in interrupting the communication between the
+ovaries and the womb by dislocation of the Fallopian tubes: this
+avoids all the evil effects of castration.
+
+Certain inflammations and displacements of the uterus and ovaries are
+often the origin of pains, indispositions and nervous disorders in
+women. Irregularity and pain in menstruation are a frequent cause of
+neuroticism.
+
+The hymen is seldom so strongly developed as to offer a serious
+obstacle to coitus; but when this occurs it may be removed by a slight
+operation. Young women often suffer from vaginismus, or painful spasms
+occurring when an object, such as the finger or penis, is introduced
+into the vagina.
+
+Hermaphrodism in man is always pathological, extremely rare, and when
+it exists nearly always incomplete. These cases are generally
+incomplete mixtures concerning principally the correlative characters.
+A double function only exists in legends. I have myself seen a
+celebrated hermaphrodite named Catherine Hohmann who had a well-formed
+testicle on the left side enclosed in a fold of skin which resembled
+the larger lip of the vulva, while the penis was very short and
+resembled a clitoris. This individual, who was baptized as a woman,
+was certainly male on one side; on the other hand, the feminine nature
+was more than problematical. Menstruation was alleged to have occurred
+but was not established with certainty, any more than an ovary or
+uterus.
+
+Much more frequent are inverted correlative sexual characters, such as
+bearded women, men with breasts; also mental sexual inversions, of
+which we shall speak later.
+
+
+VENEREAL DISEASES[5]
+
+We cannot give here a complete description of the venereal diseases,
+which constitute a terrible evil for humanity, by bringing a great
+deal of misfortunes and decadence into family and social life. Let us
+first point out the common error which attributes to sexual excess the
+evil effects which are really due to venereal disease. Although it may
+be uncommon, one may be infected by these diseases after an innocent
+kiss, a cut finger, by sitting on a privy contaminated by a person
+suffering from venereal disease, by the use of contaminated linen,
+etc., etc. A pachydermatous Don Juan, on the contrary, may abandon
+himself to the wildest sexual excess without being infected, if he is
+prudent and has good luck. On the other hand, young men may be
+infected after having been with a prostitute only once in their lives,
+and thus ruin their whole existence.
+
+There are three kinds of venereal disease, which we will describe in a
+few words. To these may be added certain parasites, such as crab-lice
+and the itch, which are easily communicated by sexual intercourse with
+infected persons, but also in other ways.
+
+=Gonorrhea or Clap.=--This disease consists in a purulent inflammation
+of the urethra caused by a microbe called the _gonococcus_. When
+treated properly it may be cured in a few weeks, but very often the
+inflammation becomes chronic and attacks the neighboring organs.
+Chronic clap, or "morning-drop," may lead in the male to permanent
+stricture of the urethra, which in turn may produce retention of
+urine, catarrh of the bladder and disease of the kidneys, which may be
+fatal. One attack of gonorrhea in no way protects against a second
+infection, but rather predisposes to it, and when this disease becomes
+chronic exacerbations or relapses of the acute stage often occur
+without fresh infection.
+
+In women the results of gonorrhea are, if possible, still worse than
+in men, because it is more difficult to cure. A prostitute affected
+with gonorrhea may infect an enormous number of men, and in this case
+medical inspection of brothels is no guarantee. The gonococci are
+concealed in all the corners and folds of the internal genital organs
+of woman, where they set up inflammation of the womb, the Fallopian
+tubes and even the ovaries, which may lead to adhesions between the
+abdominal organs. Women affected with chronic gonorrhea generally
+become sterile. When the womb and the ovaries are affected there is
+much suffering and the woman may be confined to bed for some years.
+Stricture of the urethra and inflammation of the bladder are more rare
+in women than in men, as the result of gonorrhea.
+
+But gonorrhea is not confined to the adults of both sexes. The
+innocent child, who at birth has to pass through its mother's vulva,
+when this is affected with gonorrhea, undergoes a baptism of gonococci
+which attack the conjunctiva of the eyes and set up a severe purulent
+inflammation, called ophthalmia of the newly born (_ophthalmia
+neonatorum_). This is one of the chief causes of total blindness, and
+if the child is not entirely blind, there are often large white
+patches left on the cornea which considerably interfere with sight.
+Gonorrheal ophthalmia may also occur in adults by conveying pus from
+the urethra to the eyes by the fingers.
+
+=Syphilis.=--This disease is still more formidable than gonorrhea. It
+is caused by a microbe which has been recently discovered (_Spirochęta
+pallida_). Syphilis is much more chronic than gonorrhea and commences
+with a small sore indurated at its base and called the hard chancre.
+This is situated on the genital organs or elsewhere; in the mouth, for
+instance, when this has been in contact with the buccal or genital
+organs of a person infected with syphilis. The syphilitic poison
+spreads through the body by means of the blood and lymph. At the end
+of a few weeks eruptions appear on the body and face, and then
+commences a series of disasters the cause of which may be suspended
+over the victim for his whole life, like the sword of Damocles, even
+when he believes himself cured; for the cure of syphilis is often
+uncertain. This disease may remain latent for months and years, to
+reappear later on in different organs and cause fresh lesions.
+
+Syphilis causes ulcers of the skin and mucous membranes; it sometimes
+causes decay of the bones; it may cause disease of the internal
+organs, such as the liver and lungs; it affects the walls of the blood
+vessels, causing them to become hard and brittle (atheroma); it causes
+disease of the eyes, especially of the iris and retina, tumors (or
+gummata) in the brain, paralysis etc. In fact, it spares none of the
+organs of the body.
+
+Among the most terrible results of syphilis we must mention _locomotor
+ataxy_ (sclerosis of the posterior columns of the spinal cord), with
+its lightning pains and paralysis of the legs and arms; also _general
+paralysis of the insane_, which by causing gradual atrophy of the
+brain, destroys one after the other, sensations, movements and all the
+mental faculties. These two diseases, which are so common at the
+present day, only occur in old syphilitics, five to twenty years, or
+more often ten to fifteen years after infection, and as a rule in
+persons who think they have been completely cured. Both these diseases
+are fatal. Before causing death, locomotor ataxy causes intolerable
+pain for several years. General paralysis first gives rise to
+grandiose ideas, and after disintegrating the human personality bit by
+bit, ends by transforming the individual into a being much inferior to
+animals, and of an aspect as miserable as it is repulsive. A general
+paralytic in his last stage is little more than a vegetating ruin, in
+whom the nervous activities are decomposed little by little, after the
+gradual disappearance of all the mental faculties. This is the result
+of slow atrophy of the brain and gradual destruction of its
+microscopic elements, or _neurones_.
+
+The early stages of syphilis may easily pass unnoticed owing to their
+partly latent and completely painless character. Small eruptions may
+be mistaken for other affections, and mercurial treatment generally
+disperses the symptoms of _primary_ and _secondary_ syphilis. But
+syphilitics who are apparently cured are never safe from being
+attacked, after perhaps many years, with locomotor ataxy, general
+paralysis or the _tertiary_ or _quaternary_ manifestations of
+syphilis, such as disease of the bones, internal organs, eyes, brain,
+etc. The sores of the first two or three years of syphilis are
+contagious but painless, and hence do not prevent coitus when they
+occur in the genitals. After three years syphilis becomes less
+contagious, but there is no definite time limit and cases have been
+recorded in which contagious lesions occurred ten or fifteen years
+after the onset of the disease.
+
+A syphilitic man may transmit the disease to his children without
+infecting his wife, and these children may die before birth or may be
+born with congenital syphilis. This is due to the spermatozoa being
+infected with syphilis. However, this is fortunately not always the
+case, for many cured syphilitics have healthy children. A child
+affected with congenital syphilis (from the father) may infect the
+mother during pregnancy; this is called "syphilis by conception."
+Congenital syphilis may also cause locomotor ataxy and general
+paralysis.
+
+It is difficult to enumerate all the infirmities which syphilis in the
+parents may transmit to the children. Syphilis often renders marriage
+sterile. It is more frequent in men than in women, because the number
+of prostitutes is small compared with the number of men who go with
+them; a single prostitute may contaminate a whole regiment. On their
+part, the clients of prostitutes convey gonorrhea and syphilis to
+their wives, thus spreading in society this abominable plague and all
+the evils resulting from it.
+
+=Soft Chancre.=--The third kind of venereal disease is the soft
+chancre, thus called in distinction to hard chancre, which is the
+primary sore of syphilis. Soft chancre is the least dangerous and the
+least common of the three diseases. It consists of an ulcer which
+remains localized to the genital organs (unless it is complicated with
+syphilis, which is frequent). The ulcerated parts are destroyed, but
+the sore heals generally without trouble.
+
+Venereal diseases constitute one of the worst satellites of the sexual
+appetite. If men were not so ignorant and careless, it would be on the
+whole easy to avoid them and cause their gradual disappearance. One of
+the most absurd and infamous organizations which can be imagined is
+that of the State regulation of prostitution which, under the pretext
+of hygiene, compels prostitutes to be registered by the police or to
+live in brothels. They then undergo regular medical examination, the
+object of which is to prevent those who are diseased from practicing
+their trade, and compel them to be treated in hospital. We shall see
+later on that this system absolutely fails in its object, for the
+simple reason that the treatment of venereal diseases is by no means
+the panacea which many people imagine.
+
+The first attack of gonorrhea in man is very often spontaneously
+cured, while unskillful treatment often aggravates it. The relapses of
+this disease, on the other hand, especially in their chronic form,
+often resist all kinds of treatment and sometimes become incurable.
+The gonococci become hidden in the folds of the deep parts of the
+mucous membrane, both in men and women, and cannot all be destroyed.
+With regard to syphilis, mercurial treatment, although remarkable in
+its immediate effect, requires prolonged administration. And it is by
+such means that it is proposed to make prostitutes clean! There is
+only one radical cure for venereal diseases; that is not to contract
+them! However, this does not prevent us from recommending all those
+who are affected with them to seek immediate treatment by a skilled
+specialist.
+
+It is sad to see ladies of high position defending such barbarous
+institutions as proxenetism (the business of keeping brothels) and the
+regulation of prostitution, imagining that they thereby protect their
+daughters against seduction. Such aberration can only be explained by
+suggestive influence on the part of men. Among men, and especially
+among many physicians, the belief in the efficacy of regulation
+depends on a mixture of blind routine, faith in authority and want of
+judgment, combined perhaps with more or less unconscious eroticism. We
+shall consider this point in detail later on.
+
+One of the most tragic effects of venereal disease is the
+contamination of an innocent wife, whose whole life, hitherto chaste
+and pure, becomes brutally deprived of its fruits, and whose dreams of
+the ideal and hopes of happiness become swamped in the mire with which
+prostitution has contaminated her. Is it surprising that love in such
+cases becomes replaced by bitterness and despair? Some modern authors,
+such as Brieux (_Les Avariés_) and André Couvreur (_La Graine_), have
+pictured in their dramas and novels the tragic effects of venereal
+disease and heredity in the family, as well as their social
+consequences. What is deplorable, is the enormous proportion of
+persons who are infected with venereal diseases.
+
+
+SEXUAL PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
+
+With the exception of what is called sexual inversion and pathological
+love of the insane, sexual psychopathology (_i.e._, sexual pathology
+of mind) is chiefly limited to the domain of the sexual appetite, and
+originates mainly in fetichism (see Chapter V), to which it is closely
+allied. Let us first examine certain anomalies which partly concern
+the lower nervous functions.
+
+First of all a general question presents itself. Hereditary or
+congenital sexual anomalies have been distinguished from those which
+are said to result from vicious habits. Krafft-Ebing, in his
+celebrated book which we have already quoted, makes a capital
+difference between these two causes, and stigmatizes the acquired
+vices with great indignation. I do not deny that there is reason for
+the distinction, but we must take exception to two fundamental errors
+in the manner in which the facts are presented.
+
+In the first place, the difference between hereditary and acquired
+sexual anomalies is only relative and gradual, so that it is necessary
+to avoid opposing one against the other. When an anomaly arrives
+spontaneously in the first sexual glimmer of the child's mind during
+its development, it is obvious that it is the expression of a profound
+hereditary taint, the result of blastophthoria or of unfortunate
+combinations of ancestral energies which have been associated by the
+conjugation of the two procreative germs. In such a case it is
+comparatively easy to prove that this is a pathological symptom
+independent of the will of the individual. But a continuous series of
+degrees in the intensity of a hereditary predisposition to a certain
+sexual anomaly, or to other anomalies or peculiarities apt to provoke
+this anomaly, insensibly connects the purely hereditary pathological
+appetite with that which is simply the effect of acquired vicious
+habits. In this way a strong hereditary predisposition may exaggerate
+a moderate normal sexual appetite, or may give it a pathological
+direction under influences which would have had no effect in a less
+predisposed individual. Again, a slightly marked tendency to
+homosexuality in a man may increase under the seductive influence of a
+passionate invert, when the same individual would have lost this
+tendency if he had fallen seriously in love with a woman. On the other
+hand, the invert would have no influence on an individual who was not
+predisposed.
+
+If the hereditary disposition is very strong, it is developed
+spontaneously or under the influence of very slight circumstances. If
+it is mediocre, it may remain latent and even become extinct when
+favorable circumstances do not awaken it. When it is entirely absent
+the most powerful seduction and the most evil influence cannot give
+rise to the corresponding anomaly. These facts are sufficient to show
+what abuse is made of the term _acquired vice_. Under this heading are
+designated a number of peculiarities the roots of which are to a great
+extent contained in the germ of heredity.
+
+The power of words on the human mind produces antinomies which do not
+really exist; such is the case with the terms _vice_ and _disease_.
+Vices depend on a hereditary mnemic disposition, of varying strength
+and more or less pathological, or at any rate unilateral (_i.e._,
+developed in one direction only, or connected with a single group of
+objects); according to the good or evil influence of the environment
+they may develop, become limited or even fail to appear. Inversely, we
+may say that many diseases, especially of the brain, are the source of
+vices.
+
+In the second place, it follows from this fundamental principle, that
+the vicious and apparently acquired conduct of certain individuals
+should not be considered as the product of perverted free will, but
+rather as the unfortunate and destructive result of a bad hereditary
+disposition developed under the influence of the bad habits of a
+corrupt environment. This environment being itself composed of men,
+there is a vicious circle of cause and effect which will not escape
+the mind of the thoughtful reader. Bad habits are made by hereditary
+forces, and bad habits develop in their turn by custom, and may even
+create, by blastophthoria, vicious hereditary dispositions. The
+indignation of the moralists who condemn vicious persons are very like
+the temper of a child who strikes the fire which burnt him.
+
+
+REFLEX ANOMALIES
+
+We have already mentioned vaginismus, which is often produced in women
+by the first coitus. Priapism in man is somewhat analogous to
+vaginismus. It is produced by an exaggerated reflex irritability of
+the nerve centers for erection, and results in continual and painful
+erections, which sometimes end in ejaculation without sensation.
+Another anomaly, more or less reflex and very frequent, produces
+voluptuous sensations and premature ejaculation after short and
+incomplete erections. In some nervous women also, the venereal orgasm
+occurs very rapidly and briefly. These anomalies belong to the domain
+of medicine and are of little importance for our subject.
+
+
+PSYCHIC IMPOTENCE
+
+Psychic impotence is a symptom which occurs accidentally in the normal
+state and very frequently in psychopathological conditions.
+
+A representation or idea of any kind, may suddenly paralyze by
+suggestive action the normal reflex mechanism of the center for
+erection. The blood ceases to accumulate in the corpora cavernosa and
+erection is either arrested or not produced at all. For example, a
+very excited lover, who has had strong erections at the moment when he
+prepared to copulate, may be suddenly overcome with the idea that he
+will fail, or by some other thought which paralyzes erection and
+renders coitus impossible. The remembrance of such a failure and the
+distress and shame attached to it, even efforts to produce erection
+indirectly for another attempt, constitute further causes of
+inhibition of the cerebro-spinal activity; they temporarily extinguish
+the sexual appetite, and prevent by their interference the automatic
+mechanism of erection which they strive to produce. The greater the
+fear of failure, the more the psychic impotence increases. This
+phenomenon may be limited to a certain woman, but it is more often
+general. Sometimes an incomplete erection is produced, which is
+insufficient.
+
+This condition, which depends on auto-suggestion, is best treated by
+hypnotic suggestion. The sentiment of impotence powerfully depresses a
+man, and the depression increases his impotence. This condition often,
+however, disappears by itself.
+
+A special variety of psychic impotence is that in which erection takes
+place, but the idea of ejaculation predominates so much that it
+paralyzes the voluptuous sensations, and causes ejaculation to occur
+without pleasure, or even erection to cease.
+
+Impotence may occur at the first coitus, or may come on gradually. It
+is often produced suddenly at the time of marriage in persons who
+have hitherto been very capable, even in Don Juans. Men may have
+normal erections and pollutions, but these may be stopped by
+counter-suggestions at each attempt at coitus. Habitual masturbation
+may in some cases contribute to produce impotence, but we must not
+generalize from such cases, nor construct a dogma from them, for
+continence may also be a cause of impotence.
+
+All these details, which are combined in all kinds of ways with other
+sexual troubles, but which are also produced alone in men who are
+otherwise normal, throw much light on the relation of the momentary
+mental state of man to his sexual appetite and the accomplishment of
+coitus.
+
+I do not know under what heading the following case should be placed:
+
+    A young man of steady habits, and normal sexual appetite, had
+    always abstained from sexual connection and masturbation. He
+    only had emissions during sleep. The latter were accompanied by
+    erotic dreams, but never produced an orgasm, while disagreeable
+    sensations occurred on waking. He married for love a woman in
+    whom the hymen was resistant, and vaginismus occurred on each
+    attempt at coitus. These attempts failed constantly in spite of
+    the most intense love and the most ardent desire for children on
+    both sides. The husband's erections were incomplete, and he
+    never had an ejaculation except when asleep. By the aid of
+    hypnotism I succeeded in strengthening his erections, and an
+    operation on the hymen cured his wife's vaginismus. The first
+    attempts at coitus were not immediately successful, but
+    suggestion acted after a time; finally the attempts were crowned
+    with success, and followed by a first and second pregnancy. The
+    children were healthy.
+
+    In this case, the impotence, which had lasted about eighteen
+    months, did not affect the mutual love and respect of the
+    couple, because the husband's affection combined with his sexual
+    appetite had sufficed for the happiness of a woman who was on
+    the whole normal.
+
+This case is very instructive in several ways, for it gives a good
+example of the nature of the sexual instinct in woman; it also shows
+how the auto-suggestion of emissions occurring only during sleep may
+hinder copulation in the waking state. But such phenomena are
+extremely rare.
+
+It is hardly necessary to say that there is no true impotence in
+woman; but the same mental paralysis may occur as in man, preventing
+orgasm and often causing disgust.
+
+
+SEXUAL PARADOXY
+
+By this term is understood the appearance of the sexual appetite, or
+even of love, at an abnormal age. Infantile paradoxy is, however, very
+different to senile paradoxy.
+
+Infantile paradoxy must not be confounded with certain forms of
+masturbation, to which we shall return. Some races, especially in the
+tropics, have a much earlier sexual development than others; depending
+more on race than climate. In some, sexual maturity occurs in boys
+between the age of twelve and fourteen, and in girls between nine and
+ten years, while in others the former are hardly mature at twenty and
+the latter before seventeen or eighteen. Again, individual variations
+may be very great in the same race. But, owing to hereditary
+satyriasis or nymphomania, we sometimes in our own country see sexual
+appetite appear in children of eight, seven, or even three or four
+years of age, in a spontaneous manner without any external excitation.
+Lombroso mentions the case of a girl three years old who had an
+irresistible tendency to onanism. I have myself observed the two
+following cases:
+
+    (1). A boy of seven years, the son of a brothel keeper, and a
+    kind of satyr who committed great excesses, began spontaneously
+    to attack little girls of his own age or even younger. He was so
+    artful that all means failed in curing him of this habit, and he
+    was sent to an asylum of which I was superintendent. He then
+    tried to renew his exploits with a boy older than himself. He
+    was also idle and disposed to all kinds of folly. He did not,
+    however, attempt to copulate with adult women or men. His sexual
+    organs were absolutely infantile, without any abnormal
+    development. His paradoxy was thus of cerebral origin.
+
+    (2). _A girl of nine years was brought to my office addicted to
+    self-abuse. Upon examination, I found this child highly
+    neurotic, the major part of her life had been under unhygienic
+    atmosphere, case history, father psychopathic, had been in an
+    insane asylum, mother ęnemic. The child was sent to a state
+    institution for girls and improved remarkably._
+
+In this case I was told that there was no hereditary taint, but such
+statements prove nothing. Individuals of this kind generally become
+criminals, or else give themselves up to masturbation or prostitution.
+
+Occasionally, the sexual appetite may be preserved for a long time in
+old men, or reappear for a time, with or without sexual power, but as
+a rule, the paradoxy of old men is the initial symptom of _senile
+dementia_. As this disorder is only commencing when sexual excitation
+occurs, it is not noticed, and the patient is regarded as an immoral,
+vicious or criminal individual. I have seen a patient of this kind
+masturbate openly in an asylum, so great was his sexual excitation.
+
+In most old men affected with senile sexual paradoxy, the sexual
+appetite is directed toward very young girls or even children, which
+aggravates their case from the legal point of view. Very often this
+appetite is perverted and assumes one of the forms we shall speak of
+later. Some of these old men are still capable, but others are not,
+and then their excitation only manifests itself in manipulations of
+the genital organs, etc. Such cases play a considerable part in law
+scandals. The patient (for so he must be called) often becomes the
+victim of blackmail on the part of vicious girls or children, incited
+by unnatural parents. One often sees also, at the onset of senile
+dementia, an old man become enamored of some prostitute or adventuress
+who makes him marry her and thus takes possession of his fortune. The
+law generally makes the matter valid, under the pretext that
+individual liberty must be respected. Such sanction consists in
+reality in sacrificing a patient for the profit of a female swindler.
+
+
+SEXUAL ANĘSTHESIA OR CONGENITAL ABSENCE OF THE SEXUAL SENSE AND
+APPETITE
+
+Sexual sensations are so intimately connected with the sexual appetite
+that it is difficult to separate them. No doubt in the adult a certain
+degree of sexual appetite may exist without any voluptuous sensation,
+but this is a secondary phenomenon.
+
+Complete sexual anęsthesia is very rare in man; it is not a special
+form of anomaly, but the reduction to zero of a normal sensation and
+the appetite which corresponds to it. The characteristic feature of
+these cases is that, contrary to what occurs in eunuchs and
+cryptorchids, not only the testicles, but all the correlative sexual
+attributes (the beard, voice, character, etc.) are normally developed,
+and are in no way inverted as in homosexual individuals. Sexual
+anęsthesia causes no more suffering than color-blindness, but like the
+latter it occasions individual troubles resulting from misunderstanding.
+The sexual anęsthetic, having a more or less false idea of marriage,
+often marries in complete ignorance, and the results are then
+disastrous, thanks to our laws and customs.
+
+In women, sexual anęsthesia is very common. Krafft-Ebing is wrong in
+maintaining that in all such cases the women are always neurotic. A
+number of absolutely normal and intelligent women remain all their
+life completely cold from the sexual point of view, apart from the
+normally passive character of the female sex in coitus. It is rather
+the very libidinous woman who is pathological.
+
+We have seen that the normal sexual sentiment of woman is developed
+rather in the direction of love, and desire for children. Erotic men
+often complain of the sexual coldness of their wives, which is
+disagreeable to them; for pleasure in one sex excites and completes
+that of the other. Cold women submit to coitus as a duty, or at any
+rate only mentally enjoy their husband's caresses.
+
+Sexual anęsthesia occurs normally in old age. It may occur at an
+earlier age, owing to destruction or atrophy of the sexual glands,
+great excesses, or on the contrary, extreme continence. Certain
+diseases and psychoses may also cause it.
+
+The following are a few examples of sexual anęsthesia:
+
+    (1). A normally built man, of high culture and moral sense, was
+    affected with complete sexual anęsthesia since birth. He
+    occasionally had nocturnal emissions, and also matutinal
+    erections, but no erotic images. When he arrived at mature age
+    he had no idea of sexual intercourse, and was completely
+    indifferent to everything concerning sexuality. He did not even
+    comprehend anything relating to sexual affairs, and his replies
+    reminded me of conversations with color-blind persons on the
+    distinction between red and green! According to his ideas,
+    marriage was an intellectual and sentimental union in which
+    children came by themselves!
+
+    He eventually married a young girl, well educated but extremely
+    prudish. One can imagine the revelations which followed! The
+    wife, who had a strong desire for children, soon perceived the
+    sexual blindness of her husband. She became very unhappy and
+    bitterly reproached him. The husband then became aware that
+    there should be something in marriage which he had not taken
+    into account; but the explanations of coitus by the medical man
+    were useless, and hypnotic suggestion was incapable of producing
+    the least sexual sensation.
+
+    In spite of all this, the husband was full of respect and
+    affection for his wife, but was incapable of simulating the
+    least sexual appetite. As regards the wife, what she required
+    was not coitus, which was simply a means to an end, but
+    children. However, her prudery made her prefer this state of
+    things to a divorce, which would create scandal. We may notice
+    that in such cases erections are only produced mechanically
+    during sleep, which renders coitus impossible.
+
+    (2). A timid but vain young man of retiring habits, sexually
+    cold, had occasional nocturnal emissions sometimes accompanied
+    by slightly erotic dreams. Although better informed than the
+    preceding case on sexual relations, his sexual appetite was
+    almost entirely absent, and he regarded marriage as a purely
+    intellectual alliance. He married an intelligent and passionate
+    young girl whose sexual appetite was strongly developed, and at
+    once began to treat her with great coldness, as a kind of
+    domestic servant.
+
+    The wife's family were in favor of divorce, but having pity on
+    the husband, sent him to me for advice. I explained the matter
+    to him, made him understand that the fault was entirely on his
+    side, and that his first duty was to show affection for his
+    wife, or if not, to accept divorce. The effect was purely
+    psychical, and from this moment he became amiable and
+    affectionate toward his wife. This was sufficient to cause the
+    wife to give up the idea of divorce. I then told her that, on
+    account of her husband's timidity and anomaly, the only thing to
+    do was to reverse their roles, and for her to make the sexual
+    advances. I have not heard anything more from this singular
+    couple.
+
+    (3). A young man who had never had sexual connection before
+    marriage, in spite of a strong sexual appetite, made the
+    acquaintance of an intelligent young girl of excellent
+    character. Marriage followed, and the wife was loyal to her
+    husband, but remained sexually cold. She was insensible to
+    coitus and only regarded it as a disagreeable complement of
+    love. In spite of this she was fond of caresses, devoted to her
+    husband, and had several children.
+
+    (4). An intelligent and cultured man, normal from the sexual
+    point of view, who had frequented prostitutes in his youth, but
+    not excessively, married a rather nervous but apparently very
+    amorous young woman. The marriage night produced on her the
+    effect of a cold douche, and coitus offended and horrified her.
+    The husband in his discomfiture took patience; but his love,
+    which was never very strong, became shattered. To avoid all
+    scandal each of the conjoints practiced dissimulation and
+    adapted themselves more or less to each other. The wife allowed
+    coitus, the husband tolerated her coldness. Several children
+    were born, but the family was unhappy, and after a few years
+    divorce put an end to it.
+
+
+SEXUAL HYPERĘSTHESIA, OR EXAGGERATION OF THE SEXUAL APPETITE
+
+This anomaly may be congenital, for example, in the sexual paradoxy of
+children. Every one knows the Don Juans and Messalinas with their
+insatiable appetites. These types of sexual hyperęsthesia are
+certainly less frequent and more abnormal in women than in men, but
+the intensity is as great or greater.
+
+Sexual hyperęsthesia manifests itself by desires excited by every
+sensorial perception relating to the opposite sex, or simply by
+objects which recall it to the imagination; so that fetichism plays a
+great part in this condition. The feeling of satiety is hardly
+experienced at all, or only for a short time after each orgasm.
+Nymphomaniacs and satyrs are possessed by an insatiable sexual desire,
+often associated with certain sensations of anguish. This
+hyperęsthesia, even when it is not hereditary, may be developed up to
+a certain point by continued or repeated artificial excitations.
+
+In women it is during or after menstruation that the sexual appetite
+and consequently sexual hyperęsthesia are generally strongest, but
+there are many individual variations in this respect, and sometimes
+the opposite occurs.
+
+The effect of sexual hyperęsthesia is to direct the appetite toward
+any object capable of satisfying it. When the other sex is wanting,
+masturbation is generally resorted to. All mucous membranes (anus,
+mouth, etc.) and even inanimate objects may serve to satisfy the
+pathologically exalted appetite of such individuals. Men most
+distinguished in other respects may abandon themselves to the most
+foolish or abominable practices.
+
+_Animals are often used to satisfy the hyperęsthetic sexual appetite
+in both sexes. The healthy woman is not prone to such desires, unless
+of psychopathic taint. Men visit prostitutes, and become excited at
+the sight of every woman who is neither too old nor too repulsive.
+Some individuals of this kind are pursued night and day by erotic
+images, which may even become an obsession and a veritable torment._
+
+A further degree of sexual hyperęsthesia is called _Satyriasis_ in
+man, and _nymphomania_ in woman. I have observed in women two very
+different varieties of sexual hyperęsthesia. In one, true nymphomania,
+the subjects are attracted toward man bodily and mentally with an
+elementary force; in these the whole brain follows the appetite in
+quite a feminine manner. Other women, on the contrary, are driven to
+masturbation by a purely peripheral excitation; they have erotic
+dreams with venereal orgasms which torment rather than please them;
+but they do not fall in love easily, and may have difficulty in the
+choice of a husband. Their mind alone remains feminine, full of tact
+and delicacy in its sentiments, while their lower nerve centers react
+in a more masculine and at the same time more pathological manner.
+There are many transitional forms between these two extremes.
+
+Sexual hyperęsthetics are often unhappy, and consult the physician for
+relief from the perpetual excitation which torments them. They attempt
+to master themselves and check their appetite in all ways, and are
+sometimes affected with nervous or mental depression. It is important,
+however, to recognize the fact, that many sexual hyperęsthetics remain
+quite fresh and active, and attain an advanced age, provided they
+escape alcohol and venereal disease.
+
+When sexual hyperęsthesia results chiefly from artificially acquired
+habits it may often be cured by hypnotic suggestion, and establishing
+self-control; but when it is hereditary and very intense, and
+especially when it is connected with infantile paradoxy or other
+anomalies, castration may be the only efficient remedy. When it is
+chiefly acquired, any strong diversion which turns the mind from
+sexual preoccupation to other subjects may have an excellent curative
+effect. The most intense hereditary cases may constitute a plague for
+the individual and for society, and it is then that castration may
+become a blessing by calming the obsessed patient, by giving him the
+opportunity for useful occupation, and by preventing him from abusing
+his fellows and procreating beings similar to himself.
+
+Nymphomaniacs often have polyandrous instincts, and they then become
+more insatiable than men. Several cases of this kind have been
+published in the press, and examples of such women are not rare in
+history. When a woman is possessed by passion she often loses all
+sense of shame, all moral sense and all discretion, as regards the
+object of her desires. She pays no attention to anything which is
+opposed to her passion, but may be full of reserve, tact and
+good-feeling in all other respects. Cases of this kind, however, have
+always a more or less marked pathological character.
+
+In man, satyriasis is very frequent. It often happens that a husband
+continually forces his wife to coitus, even during menstruation. We
+have mentioned already the case of an old peasant of seventy who thus
+abused his poor old wife. In such cases conjugal infidelity very
+commonly occurs. The cynicism of such individuals may go so far that
+they have intercourse with prostitutes or servants in the presence of
+their wives, or even abuse their own children. The wife behaves in
+these cases in different ways according to her character. Many
+tolerate everything and do not complain, for the sake of their
+children; others leave the husband or divorce him; some commit
+suicide.
+
+It would seem quite natural for nymphomaniacs to marry satyrs, but we
+must bear in mind the evil results for posterity from such an
+accumulation of the sexual appetite.
+
+
+MASTURBATION OR ONANISM
+
+The term onanism is derived from the name of Onan, son of Juda and
+Suah and grandson of Israel. According to the Old Testament, Onan's
+father wished him to marry his brother's widow and have children by
+her; but this did not please Onan, and he provoked ejaculation of
+semen by friction, in order to avoid having children by his
+sister-in-law. "This offended God who slew him."
+
+We have already shown that in the child the sexual appetite manifests
+itself in a kind of obscure presentiment and vague sensations in the
+genital organs. If a young man cannot satisfy his sexual appetite
+naturally, the latter when it increases in strength provokes erotic
+dreams and nocturnal emissions; or artificial excitation of the penis
+may be practiced to produce orgasms: the latter phenomenon is called
+_masturbation_.
+
+Masturbation in man is performed by friction of the penis with the
+hand or against some soft body. In the latter case especially erotic
+images of naked women or female sexual organs is associated with
+onanism. This kind of masturbation may be called _compensatory_,
+because it does not depend on an anomaly of the sexual appetite, but
+serves to satisfy a natural want by compensation. There are a whole
+series of manipulations employed for the same object, which constitute
+the psychic equivalent of compensating masturbation. _In remote
+garrisons and in boys' schools the more libidinous individuals,
+usually those mentally tainted, often practice mutual masturbation or
+sodomy. This is the sex complex of the degenerate individual and in an
+effort to exterminate these pathological manifestations, they are
+being penalized by law, throughout the civilized world. It is
+unnecessary to prolong this enumeration. Those we have mentioned are
+the most common and it is agreed that men who are addicted to these
+practices are decidedly psychopathic, whether it may be caused by
+faulty heredity or anomaly in the psychology of the individual, this
+still remains to be proven. In reality they are often normal in other
+respects, but simply affected with sexual hyperęsthesia. Sometimes
+they are feeble-minded individuals who have recourse to such practices
+because they are derided by women. Others are cynics, more or less
+vicious in other respects._
+
+Compensatory masturbation is extremely widespread, but it is as a rule
+neither recognized nor admitted because it is easy to conceal.
+Although depressing for those whose will power is overcome by an
+excitation which they cannot conquer, it is relatively the least
+dangerous form of onanism. At the most it leads to a certain amount of
+nervous and mental exhaustion by abuse of the facility of thus
+procuring a venereal orgasm. The loss of substance from frequent
+seminal ejaculations is also more or less weakening, although the
+secretion from the prostate plays a much greater part than the semen.
+But what especially affects the nervous system, is the repeated loss
+of the will, and the failure of resolutions made many times to
+overcome the desire for orgasm.
+
+Here, as elsewhere, effect is too often confounded with cause. Because
+men of feeble will power are addicted to onanism, it is imagined that
+the latter is the cause of the weakness of will. In itself, a seminal
+ejaculation provoked by masturbation is no more dangerous than a
+nocturnal emission; both are often accompanied by nervous sensations
+which are more disagreeable and exhausting than normal coitus. I must,
+however, point out that the effects of moderate masturbation in the
+adult have been greatly exaggerated, either by confounding the effect
+with its cause, or for mercenary objects, by driving timid persons to
+charlatans or to prostitutes.
+
+The active sexual appetite of man, increased by the accumulation of
+semen, is absent in woman. She does not have nocturnal emissions
+accompanied by voluptuous sensations which spontaneously awaken sexual
+desire. For this reason a pathological sexual excitability is
+necessary to spontaneously provoke in woman voluptuous dreams or
+masturbation. For the same reason we cannot speak of compensatory
+masturbation in woman. Onanism, however, is not uncommon among women,
+although less frequent than in men. It results either from artificial
+and local excitations, from bad example, or from pathological
+hyperęsthesia. When once the habit is acquired, repetition is produced
+by the difficulty of resisting voluptuous desires.
+
+Women perform masturbation by friction of the clitoris with the
+finger, or by introducing various hard and rounded objects into the
+vagina and imitating the movements of coitus; often also by rubbing
+the crossed thighs against each other. In the insane, masturbation is
+sometimes practiced to an excessive extent. Some hysterical women
+introduce objects into the urethra during masturbation and cause
+severe inflammation of the bladder.
+
+Another variety of sexual excitation which is often substituted for
+coitus among women, is the practice of mutual licking of the clitoris
+with the tongue (_cunnilingus_). Although not so dangerous as has been
+maintained, these habits are aberrations of the sexual appetite, and
+it is needless to say that every human being should abstain from them
+out of self-respect.
+
+The man who, for some reason or another, cannot obtain normal coitus
+should content himself with nocturnal emissions, and the woman with
+voluptuous dreams, and should both abstain from active and voluntary
+excitations. For my part, I consider prostitution, or "love" which is
+bought, as a variety of compensatory masturbation, and not as normal
+copulation. Coitus with a prostitute, generally infected with venereal
+disease, who receives new clients continually, has as little affinity
+with love as with the normal object of the sexual appetite--reproduction;
+and its moral value is certainly inferior to that of onanism.
+
+A second form of masturbation occurs in very young children from
+accidental irritation; in boys from phimosis; in girls from itching
+due to worms (oxyuris) about the anus and vulva. Innocent as regards
+its cause, this form of onanism may become dangerous by habit.
+Attention should therefore be paid to phimosis and worms, and the
+former treated by circumcision and the latter by the usual remedies.
+
+A third kind of masturbation is caused by example and imitation. This
+often occurs in schools and among children in general; and in this way
+very precocious sexual excitation may develop and become a habit
+difficult to suppress. The onanism of young children is certainly
+worse than that which begins after puberty; it not only renders the
+child idle and bashful, or increases these faults; but it also
+interferes with nutrition and digestion and develops a tendency to
+sexual perversion and to impotence. It often ceases, however, after
+careful supervision, combined with physical exercise and fresh air,
+and direction of the attention to other things. On the whole, the
+danger of this form of onanism has also been exaggerated. In most
+cases it is cured, when it is not based on abnormal predispositions or
+on an indolent and feeble character. Love and normal sexual
+intercourse are naturally the best remedies for masturbation due to
+seduction and habit, as soon as the subject has reached sexual
+maturity.
+
+We may include as a fourth form of masturbation the cases of paradoxy
+which we have mentioned previously. In this case onanism is produced
+spontaneously as the result of psycho-sexual precocity or hereditary
+pathological satyriasis.
+
+With the exception of the last paradoxical form which is based on
+incurable satyriasis, all the kinds of onanism which we have mentioned
+hitherto can only be successfully treated by kindness and confidence,
+combined with work and direction of the mind to wholesome and
+attractive subjects; not by threats or punishment. The new reformatory
+schools called _Landerziehungsheime_ (Vide Chapter XVII) are an
+excellent remedy for onanism, for they keep the child occupied from
+morning to night and hardly leave him any time for bad habits; when he
+goes to bed he is too tired to do anything but sleep. However, great
+prudence and active supervision is required in these cases.
+
+The fifth class is constituted by the onanism of sexual inverts, and
+may be called _essential onanism_. This concerns men whose sexual
+appetite is directed toward their own sex instead of the other. They
+are called _homosexual_, and mutual onanism is, so to speak, the
+normal satisfaction of their inverted appetite. We shall refer to this
+again later on. While normal sexual intercourse is the best and most
+rational remedy for compensatory masturbation, there is no question of
+it here. Marriage is the worst and most scandalous remedy in such
+cases. It is therefore of the greatest importance in order to judge
+of the nature of the masturbation, to inquire into the kind of erotic
+images with which it is associated. If, in the case of a man, the
+images are those of women, it is simply a case of compensatory
+masturbation; but if the images are masculine, it is a case of sexual
+inversion. If masturbation is not accompanied by any images, the
+question remains doubtful. In young children this is explained by the
+fact that the psycho-sexual irradiations are not yet developed; but
+after puberty the absence of images as an object of eroticism suggests
+a certain anomaly and sometimes depends on a latent tendency to
+inversion.
+
+=Relation of Masturbation to Hypochondriasis.=--Some onanists become
+much distressed, and reproach themselves for having spoilt their lives
+by their bad habit. They give way to lamentations before their doctor
+and their acquaintances, wring their hands with despair, and beg every
+one to come to their aid. They look upon themselves as poor sinners
+whose lives have been ruined, either by their own fault or by others.
+They have read Lamert's "Personal Preservation," or other sensational
+books which excite both the fear and the sexual desire of weak
+characters, whom they are intended to exploit. These poor devils
+believe themselves lost, and are truly pitiable objects. These form
+the types which are paraded as terrible examples in books on onanism
+which make timid persons' hair stand on end.
+
+When these unfortunate onanists are questioned on all the
+circumstances of the act of which they accuse themselves, we generally
+arrive at the following results:
+
+We recognize that we have to deal with psychopathic or neurotic
+subjects more or less tainted by heredity, timid and shunning their
+fellows, easily impressed by imagination, possessed of unhealthy
+sentiments and ideas; in fact, hypochondriacs, predisposed to look
+upon every sensation or slight indisposition as a grave disorder
+threatening their health or life. They thus live in perpetual anxiety.
+This mental anomaly has for a long time preceded the onanism, even if
+they have masturbated, which is often even not the case.
+
+Among the numerous patients of this kind that I have treated, there
+were many who had simply had nocturnal emissions since puberty, but
+they regarded themselves as lost men through masturbation! Many others
+no doubt practice compensatory masturbation, generally because their
+timid nature prevents them from frequenting prostitutes, or committing
+other sexual excesses, while the way in which they analyze their
+sensations easily leads them to onanism. On the other hand, they are
+generally so afraid that they do not give way to excessive
+masturbation, perhaps only once or twice a week or even less often, so
+that the normal frequency of coitus, according to Luther, is often not
+attained and seldom exceeded. Among these persons we find few
+precocious or excessive onanists. I admit, however, that a
+hypochondriacal constitution predisposes somewhat to onanism.
+
+But, what I wish to lay stress upon, is that the onanists who are full
+of lamentation and self-reproach are neither the most numerous nor
+those who commit the greatest excess. The worst onanists, those who
+provoke several ejaculations daily, belong to the category of sexual
+hyperęsthetics. These have not the classical aspect attributed to them
+by tradition; they are not pale and terrified creatures, but rather
+lewd individuals who are early transformed into impudent Don Juans.
+They may be as courageous, as clever and as strong as others and yet
+be disposed to all kinds of evil tricks and follies. It is, therefore,
+not true, as is so often said, that it is possible to recognize a
+masturbator by his face or manner.
+
+These excessive onanists no doubt do themselves harm in various ways,
+but the great error of taking sexual hypochondriasis for the type of
+onanists, is to confound cause with effect. Sexual hypochondriasis is
+in no way the effect of onanism, but precedes it, and onanism is
+rather its effect, or is simply associated with it. It is obvious that
+onanism, by its depressing effect, aggravates a mind beset with
+hypochondriacal anxieties.
+
+It results from these facts, first, that a sexual hypochondriac should
+be treated as a hypochondriac and not as an onanist; secondly, that
+the worst slaves of masturbation are not to be looked for among pale
+and dejected individuals.
+
+Among women, especially young girls, hypochondriasis is not common and
+cases of sexual hypochondriacs who accuse themselves of masturbating
+are rare among them. Women who masturbate generally keep their secret
+and are apparently very little affected by it. However, onanism does
+them nearly as much harm as men; it is true they have no loss of
+semen, but the repetition and intensity of the nervous irritation are
+greater than in man, and it is this which causes most exhaustion. In
+spite of this, it is curious to observe that women who masturbate are
+generally less ashamed than men, and are apparently less depressed by
+it. We must bear in mind that the loss of semen by masturbation has in
+man a peculiarly depressing effect, for it lacks its object and
+represents an absolutely abnormal satisfaction of the sexual appetite.
+
+It may be objected that this difference is due to another cause, that
+women who masturbate have less moral tone and are especially depraved
+individuals. I agree that this is often the case, but far from always.
+The intensity of the sexual excitability in women has nothing in
+common with their character; it may be associated with high
+intelligence, with high moral and ęsthetic qualities, and even with a
+strong will. On the other hand, deficiency in moral sense and will may
+occur with sexual frigidity, and, as we have already seen, may lead to
+sexual excess without any voluptuous sensation, in accordance with the
+peculiarities of feminine sentiment. These facts show how complex are
+the causes of a given effect in the sexual domain.
+
+
+PERVERSIONS OF THE SEXUAL APPETITE OR PARĘSTHESIA OF THE SEXUAL
+SENSATION
+
+We are here concerned with sexual appetite provoked by inadequate
+objects. Krafft-Ebing having made a profound study of this question we
+shall follow his subdivisions in the main.
+
+=Perverted Sexual Appetite Directed Toward the Opposite Sex.=--(A.)
+_Sadism_ (association of sexual desire with cruelty and violence).
+History shows us a number of celebrated persons who satisfied their
+sexual desire by making martyrs of their victims, up to complete
+butchery. The most atrocious types of this kind are perhaps assassins
+such as "Jack the Ripper," who lie in wait for their victims like
+cats, pounce on them, revel in their terror, assassinate them by
+inches, and wallow voluptuously in their blood.
+
+The term sadism is derived from the celebrated Marquis de Sade, a
+French author, whose obscene romances overflow with cruel
+voluptuousness. Certain reminiscences of sadism are common both in man
+and woman. At the moment of highest excitation in coitus it is not
+uncommon for one or other of the couple to bite or scratch in the
+ecstasy of their amorous embraces. Lombroso remarks on the brutal
+excesses of soldiers when excited after battle. This is so to speak an
+inversion of sadism as regards cause and effect. After the exaltation
+of combat, that of desire possesses the mind, as in the inverse
+direction exaltation of desire gives rise in certain cases to that of
+violence and thirst for blood.
+
+Krafft-Ebing draws attention to the fact that love and anger are the
+two most violent effective conditions, and are at the same time the
+two powers which provoke the most motor discharges. This explains why
+they may be associated in the delirium of unbridled passions. To these
+facts is added an atavistic relic of the instinct of man's ancestors,
+the males of whom fought furiously to conquer the females by violence,
+which provoked desire in them, after the subjection of the object of
+their sexual appetite. True sadism can, however, only become effective
+by the combination of two causes: (1) by an exalted and absolutely
+pathological association of sexual desire with a sanguinary instinct,
+and with the desire to illtreat and overcome a victim; (2) by an
+almost absolute absence of moral sense and sympathy, combined with a
+violent and egoistic sexual passion. It is evident that the slight
+more or less sadic impulses which may involuntarily occur in the
+performance of normal coitus, are quite exempt from the second of
+these causes.
+
+Krafft-Ebing maintains that sadism is usually, if not always,
+congenital and hereditary. Sadism is for a long time restrained by
+fear, education or moral sentiments. It is only gradually, when normal
+coitus cannot procure for the perverted sexual appetite the
+satisfaction it requires, that the sadist gives way to his passion;
+this gives the latter a false appearance of acquired vice.
+
+The highest degree of sadism leads to assassination. In this way human
+tigers entice young girls into a wood and cut them to pieces. Some
+begin by forcing them to coitus, after frightening them, or half
+strangling them; others masturbate in their ripped up entrails. But
+some others have no desire for coitus, nor anything resembling it,
+their desire being satisfied only by the sight of the terror,
+suffering and blood of their victim, whom they torture before killing.
+Others again associate desire with the rage of a wild beast to such a
+point that they swallow parts of their victim's body and drink the
+blood.
+
+Sadists become experts in the art of assassination without discovery.
+The cynicism with which some of them have described their sensations
+shows their cold indifference toward the tragic and the horrible.
+Krafft-Ebing describes a series of atrocious types of this kind, and
+unfortunately the press and the criminal law courts continually give
+us fresh examples. Some sadists assassinate children, others men, when
+their perversion is complicated with pederasty or sexual inversion.
+(The story of Bluebeard is probably based on the successive crimes of
+a sadic.)
+
+Sadists do not always confine their attacks to living people; some of
+them are _necrophiles_, who violate dead bodies and cut them in
+pieces: others again kill animals, whose sufferings and blood serve to
+satisfy their desires.
+
+Some sadists satisfy themselves by flogging prostitutes or pricking
+them till they bleed, while others prefer to martyrize their victims
+slowly, and thus procure the maximum of pleasure. Others again are
+contented with scenes symbolical of servitude, in which women are
+compelled to adore and supplicate them, etc. The humiliation of women
+takes part in the sadist appetite of man and often degenerates into
+fetichism. Simple imagination in which he plays the part of a tyrant,
+and which are complicated with onanism or normal coitus, often suffice
+to satisfy the sadist. Some sadists soil themselves with the
+excrements of the woman they "love!" When sadism assumes the character
+of a symbol or a fetich, seminal ejaculation and sensation generally
+occur without contact with the woman's body.
+
+Sadism is more common in men, but occurs also in women. Messalina and
+Catherine de Médici are historical examples. The latter had her maids
+of honor flogged before her eyes, and said she was bathing in roses
+when she witnessed the massacre of the Huguenots. Women in whom sadism
+takes a milder form are contented with biting a man till he bleeds,
+during coitus.
+
+Sadism appears to be most often an effect of hereditary alcoholic
+blastophthoria.
+
+(B). _Masochism_ (association of sexual desire with submission to
+cruelty and violence). The term masochism is applied by Krafft-Ebing
+to a form of sexual perversion described by Sacher-Masoch in several
+of his romances. Masochism is exactly the converse of sadism. The
+desire of the masochist is excited by humiliation, submission, and
+even blows; the pain he feels when he is flogged gives him intense
+pleasure. Like sadism, this perversion may be incomplete. When it is
+complete the masochist is affected with psychic impotence and is
+incapable of normal coitus. Ill-treatment and humiliation are alone
+capable of causing him erections, seminal ejaculations and pleasure.
+However, comedies representing his humiliation, or corresponding
+efforts of his imagination may succeed in replacing the reality and
+procure the desired effect.
+
+Like sadism, masochism is hereditary and congenital. When the first
+sexual sensations are produced, the masochist child sighs for a
+dominating woman who will illtreat him and make him her slave. His
+imagination is transported by the idea of being on his knees, of being
+trodden under foot, or bound in chains by her, etc. The cruel heroine
+of his heart must ridicule and humiliate him as much as possible.
+Corporal punishment with a beneficial object does not satisfy the true
+masochist. Rousseau, in his "Confessions," reveals the sexual feelings
+of the masochist.
+
+It is remarkable how far poetic conceptions are combined with the
+perversion of sexual sensations in masochists, leading them to dream
+of an imperious and cruel woman to whom they devote a love as humble
+as it is exalted, while normal coitus causes them no pleasure, and can
+sometimes only be accomplished with the aid of masochistic images.
+These images may also be accompanied by onanism. It is very common for
+masochists to become flagellants, and to be flogged or trampled on by
+prostitutes. But it often happens that they only feel pain instead of
+pleasure, when the comedy which they have started appears revealed in
+all its absurdity, showing them a woman paid to illtreat them, and not
+doing it for her own enjoyment. Some masochists take pleasure in
+imagining themselves assassinated by a woman, or even cut in pieces.
+Others organize theatrical performances in which imperious women play
+the part of judges, before whom they appear naked and are flogged and
+condemned to death. Others again are contented with imagining these
+performances, combining them sometimes with coitus or masturbation.
+
+Krafft-Ebing is no doubt right in considering the lucubrations of the
+poet Baudelaire, and his necrophile imagination of his own carrion
+hung on a gibbet and devoured by vultures, as a mixture of sadism and
+masochism. He sought out the most repulsive women of all races,
+Chinese, negresses, dwarfs, giants, or modern women as artificial as
+possible, to satisfy his pathological instinct. The following case
+quoted by Krafft-Ebing from Hammond, is typical:
+
+A married man and father of several children was sometimes subject to
+attacks during which he visited a brothel, where he chose two or three
+of the fattest women. He stripped the upper part of his body, lay on
+the floor, crossed his hands, shut his eyes and ordered the women to
+tread with all their force on his chest, neck and face. Sometimes he
+required a still heavier woman or more cruel manipulations. After two
+or three hours he was satisfied, paid the women liberally and regaled
+them with wine, rubbed his bruises, dressed himself and returned to
+his office, to repeat this singular performance a week later.
+
+Krafft-Ebing describes, as masked masochism, certain cases of
+fetichism in which the nature of the fetich which causes sexual
+excitation and the manner in which it is used prove a desire for
+maltreatment and humiliation by a woman. This is especially the case
+with shoe and foot fetichism. Among those who are affected with this
+pathological specialty, voluptuous sensations are produced when they
+are trodden on by a woman's shoes or feet. They even dream of women's
+shoes and feet. Some of them put nails in their shoes, the pain of
+which gives them voluptuous sensations. Lastly, the shoes alone,
+especially when they touch the penis, are sufficient to excite their
+sexual desire. Other masked masochists are excited by the secretions
+or even excrements of women.
+
+I have been consulted by a typical masochist, who, being very
+religious, was convinced that his perverted sexual appetite was a sin.
+He therefore married, thinking that God and repentance would change
+him. But when married he naturally found himself absolutely impotent
+and incapable of coitus.
+
+If masochism is common in men, it is produced in women rather as an
+exaggeration in the domain of her normal sexual sensations, for it is
+to a great extent in harmony with her passive sexual role. Woman does
+not like the weak man who submits to her. She prefers a master on whom
+she can lean. In fact, normal women do not like their husbands to ask
+advice from them too often, nor to be wanting in decision and
+self-confidence. On the contrary they like them to be firm and even
+somewhat imperious, provided they are not unkind. It is notorious that
+many women like to be beaten by their husbands, and are not content
+unless this is done. This appears to be especially common in Russia.
+Accentuated forms of pathological masochism are, however, rare in
+women.
+
+Masochism presents a certain analogy with the religious ecstasy of
+fakirs and flagellants who flog themselves. These individuals appear
+to become exalted in a kind of ecstatic convulsion with the idea of
+pleasing God or gaining Heaven by their martyrdom. We may add that,
+like sadism, masochism occurs in sexual inverts, but always having the
+same sex for its object. I know an old gentleman whose only pleasure
+consisted in receiving a shower of blows: as a boy, like Rousseau he
+tried by all kinds of ruses to obtain corporal punishment: when he
+grew up this became impossible and he devised tricks to urge
+schoolboys to fight each other, pretending to be angry and exciting
+their spirit of contradiction: the boys then pretended to fight him,
+and this sufficed for the rest of his life to excite erections and
+seminal ejaculations. This gentleman was a lawyer and told me his
+history, hoping that suggestion might cure him.
+
+The eroticism produced by submission to pain and humiliation is often
+blended with that produced by performing acts of cruelty. These
+mixtures of sadism and masochism have been investigated by Schrenk
+Notzing, who concludes that they are intimately related.
+
+_Fetichism_ (production of voluptuous sensations by contact with or by
+the sight of certain portions of the body or clothes of woman). We
+have already mentioned this symptom and have seen the part it plays in
+some forms of masochism. A masked form of fetichism forms part of the
+normal sexual appetite, in the sense that certain parts of the body or
+clothes, certain odors, etc., especially excite the sexual desire of
+many people by recalling the individual to whom they belong.
+Therefore, parts of the body which normally excite sexual desire--the
+breasts, sexual organs, or other parts of the body usually
+covered--cannot be regarded as pathological fetiches.
+
+The true fetichist is a very pathological being, whose entire sexual
+appetite, often with all its irradiations in the higher sphere of
+love, if we can speak of love in such cases, is limited to certain
+objects connected with woman. The most common fetiches are women's
+handkerchiefs, gloves, velvet or shoes; or their hair, hands or feet,
+etc. In these cases the fetich plays the essential part, and is in no
+way associated with the image of a woman. The fetich is the sole
+object of "love." The sight or touch of the fetich, the pleasure of
+pressing it against the heart or the genital organs, are alone capable
+of producing erections and ejaculations. There are even fetichists
+whose sexual desire is only excited by the sight of certain feminine
+deformities, such as clubfoot, squint, etc. Hairdressers, who
+masturbate after dressing women's hair, are well-known examples of
+fetichism.
+
+Certain feminine costumes may serve as fetiches, and these are kept in
+some brothels to satisfy certain customers. Shoe fetichism is more
+common than that of clothes or handkerchiefs. Krafft-Ebing mentions a
+typical case of the psychic irradiation of fetichism; the individual
+in question thought it immoral and scandalous that women's shoes
+should be exposed in shop windows. Others blush when they see such
+things in the windows. Fetichism is essentially a masculine
+perversion. I have been consulted by a fetichist who all his life had
+only felt erotic at the sight of shoes; later on he married, and his
+sexual desire becoming more and more concentrated on pointed and
+fashionable shoes, especially women's, but also men's, he could only
+obtain pleasure with his wife when she put on the shoes he was in love
+with, or when he put them on himself. The sight of shoes in shop
+windows always made him blush, while the female body made no
+impression on him. He could not buy the shoes he desired most, owing
+to a sentiment of shame, and the sight of them was often sufficient to
+produce erection and ejaculation.
+
+_Exhibitionism._ There is a class of individuals, especially men,
+whose sole sexual desire consists in masturbating in the presence of
+women. They lie in wait behind some wall or bush, and masturbate
+openly when women pass that way. In these subjects an orgasm is only
+produced when they are observed by women. As soon as ejaculation has
+occurred they fly to avoid the police. They never attempt to molest
+the women whose presence excites them to this performance.
+
+These cases are not uncommon and naturally cause much scandal, so that
+the poor wretches seldom escape the police. These unfortunate persons
+who sometimes hold high social positions, have often been previously
+convicted, but cannot as a rule overcome their passion, which has much
+worse consequences for them than for the women and children whom they
+frighten or annoy.
+
+Exhibitionism is not rare among insane women and I have myself treated
+two typical cases. I do not know whether it occurs in women of sound
+mind, but at all events they cannot be addicted to it without running
+great risk.
+
+=Sexual Inversion or Homosexual Love.=--However shocking or absurd the
+aberrations of the sexual appetite and its irradiations may be, of
+which we have spoken hitherto, they are at any rate derived from
+originally normal intercourse with adults of the opposite sex. Those
+we have now to deal with are distinguished by the fact that, not only
+the appetite itself, but all its psychic irradiations are directed to
+the same sex as the perverted individual, the latter being horrified
+at the idea of genital contact with the opposite sex, quite as much as
+a normal man is horrified at the idea of homosexual union. This
+horror is, however, confined to sexual matters, and in no way concerns
+those of social life. It is therefore a question of sexual desire of
+man for man, and woman for woman.
+
+What we have to deal with here has no connection with compensation as
+in cases of compensatory masturbation or pederasty, which are
+practiced, for want of anything better, by individuals whose normal
+sexual appetite cannot be satisfied otherwise. When excitation and
+desire become too strong, the purely animal (spinal) irritation of the
+sexual appetite may drive a man or woman to satisfy themselves by
+means which would otherwise disgust them.
+
+A. _Homosexual love in man._ It seems absurd that the whole sexual
+appetite and amorous ideals of a man can be directed all his life to
+persons of his own sex. This pathological phenomenon, however, is as
+common as it is certain, although its psychological and normal import
+has long been misapprehended, as much in judicial circles as by the
+general public. It is the inverts themselves, aided by psychiatrists,
+who have finally thrown light on the subject. An invert, named Ulrich,
+announced himself publicly as the apostle of homosexual love,
+describing inverts under the name of _Urnings_, a name which is still
+used in Germany. Ulrich and his disciples endeavored to prove an
+absurdity by maintaining that homosexuals are a special kind of normal
+men, and by attempting to obtain legal sanction for this kind of love.
+Ulrich gives the name _Dionings_ to men whose sexual appetite is
+normal, _i.e._, directed toward women. Such a pretension appears
+necessarily ridiculous to every man whose sexual sense is normal, and
+it is obviously absurd to apply the term "normal" to a sexual appetite
+absolutely devoid of its natural object, procreation. But this is
+quite characteristic of the sentiments of inverts.
+
+Hirschfeld, of Berlin, has recently attempted to show that homosexuals
+constitute a variety of normal man; but he plays with words and facts,
+invoking the names of celebrated inverts, and wrongly asserts that
+inversion is not hereditary.
+
+From the first dawn of sexual feeling in youth, male inverts have the
+same feelings as girls toward other boys. They feel the need for
+passive submission, they become easily enraptured over novels and
+dress, they like to occupy themselves with feminine pursuits, to dress
+like girls and to frequent women's societies. They regard women as
+friends, as persons with whom they have a fellow-feeling. They
+generally, but not always, have a banal sentimentalism, they are fond
+of religious forms and ceremonies, they admire fine clothes and
+luxurious apartments; they dress their hair and "fake" themselves with
+a coquetry which often exceeds that of women. They are not all like
+this, but one or other of these traits predominates in different
+individuals.
+
+Their sexual appetite, usually very strong and precocious, begins with
+an exalted love for some male friend. I have treated a great number of
+inverts and have always been struck with the intensity of their
+passion. Among other cases, I may mention that of an invert hospital
+attendant, who fell madly in love with one of his comrades and covered
+ten meters of white tape with the name of his beloved. The most
+passionate love letters, vows of fidelity till death, the most
+ferocious jealousy toward other friends of their beloved, and even
+ceremonies symbolical of marriage, are daily events among the
+homosexuals.
+
+The invert does not so easily become enamored of another invert as of
+normal men. These have a special attraction for him, but as they
+generally repulse him with disgust, or threaten to expose or exploit
+him, he is often obliged to content himself with his fellows. These
+gentlemen form among themselves a secret brotherhood, a kind of
+freemasonry which is recognized by signs.
+
+The first appearance of the homosexual appetite with its youthful
+impulses, causes love and happiness to appear to the invert in a
+special aspect, determined by the inverted irradiation of his sexual
+appetite. It represents the aim of his life as an amorous union with
+his beloved, and shapes his idylls, his romance and his ideal to this
+end. But later on, when his sexual desire increases and when he
+discovers that the majority of men feel differently to him, that the
+human race is reproduced by the union of men and women, etc., he
+becomes unhappy. He perceives that it would be both ridiculous and
+dangerous to reveal his inner feelings, and generally gives way to
+masturbation. But all social barriers which oppose his appetite only
+increase his desire, and he becomes less and less able to dominate his
+passion for certain young men. The disgust and indignation of the
+latter, when they discover that they are not the object of simple
+affection but of perverted sexual love, are expressed only too
+clearly, and the poor invert sees himself condemned to perpetual
+torment in trying to hide his most violent desires and his most
+intimate and ideal aspirations, and finally to live in continual dread
+of being betrayed and prosecuted. It is thus easy to understand that
+he is happy in the discovery that his fellows form a secret society,
+and he associates with them immediately, when his moral sense and will
+are not strong enough to be proof against it.
+
+_If the invert succeeds in finding a male to his liking and with a
+similar degenerative state of mind to his own, he will pay him the
+attention that the normal man would to a woman. It is therefore
+reasonable to believe that this mode of inversion is likewise an
+expression of pathological manifestation of the individual; usually
+accompanied by neurosis and a like corresponding deficiency in the
+physical makeup of the individual._
+
+The invert's ideal would be to obtain a legal license for marriage
+between men; but they are not very constant in their love and are much
+inclined to polyandry. Sexual love for women inspires them with
+contempt; they regard it as low and disgusting, at the most only good
+for the production of young inverts!
+
+Homosexual love has played a much greater part in the world's history
+than is generally believed. The Count de Platen and Sapho were
+inverts. The inverts themselves maintain that it was the same with
+Plato, Frederick the Great, Socrates, etc.; but this is not proved. In
+the East and in Brazil, homosexual love is very common.
+
+My experience agrees with that of Krafft-Ebing, that homosexual love
+is pathological in nature, and that nearly all inverts are in a more
+or less marked degree psychopaths or neurotics, whose sexual appetite
+is not only abnormal but usually also exalted. Insane inverts, such as
+King Louis II of Bavaria, a great number of the insane, affected, for
+example, with _Pseudologia phantastica_ (pathological swindlers), and
+who are also homosexual, show the intimate relationship which exists
+between sexual inversion (also called "uranism") and the psychoses.
+
+I agree with Rudin that the psycho-pathological phenomena presented by
+the majority of inverts are primitive and hereditary, and that they
+are hardly ever the effect of their tormented life, as Hirschfeld,
+Ulrich and their disciples maintain. The vexations, anxieties and
+other torments that they suffer may no doubt play a part in developing
+certain nervous conditions previously latent, but they can never
+create hereditary taints. We may admit that sexual inversion
+corresponds to a kind of partial hermaphrodism, in which the sexual
+glands and copulatory organs have the characters of one of the sexes,
+while the brain has, to a great extent, those of the other sex; but
+the phenomenon is none the less pathological.
+
+The inverts with whom we have most to do, especially in public asylums
+and at the courts of justice, are cynics and debauchees in spite of
+the ideal which they parade; but we should be wrong in concluding that
+this is always the case. The cynics make themselves heard because they
+do not restrain themselves. In my private practice I have known many
+very well-conducted inverts, possessing the most delicate sentiments,
+who had become pessimists owing to the shame and grief of a state of
+mind which they hid from the world.
+
+Inverts of this class often commit suicide, after having carried on in
+silence a desperate struggle against their morbid appetite, because
+they prefer death to defeat, which they consider a dishonor. The
+victims of these tragedies deserve all our pity, and sometimes our
+respect. Such individuals generally hold aloof from the brotherhood of
+inverts which they look upon with fear or disgust.
+
+In the picture of homosexuals there are two lamentable shadows, which
+are largely due to the severity with which most legislations track and
+condemn these unfortunate beings.
+
+(1). As soon as an invert realizes his abnormal and dangerous
+situation in society, in which he feels a pariah, he often makes up
+his mind to follow the advice of ignorant friends, and even, alas, of
+ignorant doctors, and try and cure himself by marriage. Sometimes he
+begins by visiting a brothel to see if he is capable of normal coitus
+with a woman. In this he often succeeds, if he is able to picture to
+himself a man in the person of the prostitute. He tries to persuade
+himself that the disgust which he felt at this experimental coitus was
+due to the fact that the "love" was bought; and he then decides to
+enter into conjugal life. This is at the same time the greatest
+absurdity and the worst action possible for him to commit, for his
+wife becomes a martyr and soon feels herself deceived, abandoned and
+despised. The invert treats her as a servant; he rarely has sexual
+intercourse with her, sometimes not at all, and only performs it with
+repugnance with a view to the procreation of young inverts, who will
+rise to his ideal. He invites his male lovers to his house and they
+indulge in orgies, especially when the wife, despised and neglected,
+has separated from him. Such marriages, which are fortunately less
+common since this question has been better understood, generally end
+in divorce, preceded by bitter and mutual deceptions. It is really
+criminal to favor them when we know what they lead to. (_It is against
+such unions, and against sexual indulgence of this nature, that the
+law ought to exert itself._)
+
+(2). A second very grave result of homosexual love is the continual
+blackmail which is levied on inverts by all kinds of scamps. Public
+urinals are common meeting places for inverts. The blackmailers, who
+know this very well, follow them there and offer themselves for money;
+but as soon as they find out the name of their victim and his
+financial position, they begin to extort hush-money, threatening to
+prosecute him if he does not pay what they ask. If the invert is rich
+or of high position he has only to yield to the extortion, emigrate or
+commit suicide. In this way the life of most well-to-do inverts is
+ruined by perpetual anxieties, emotions and torments, because their
+morbid appetite instinctively urges them to abandon themselves to men
+who feel differently to themselves.
+
+_Moll, Krafft-Ebing and Hirschfeld have written at great length on
+sexual inversion. The law takes a just point of view and is generally
+severe as regards this anomaly, especially in Germanic countries. Even
+homosexual love that does not affect minors nor insane persons, is a
+sign of degeneracy, but produces no offspring and consequently dies
+out by means of selection. We hope, therefore, that this type may be
+extinct some day, although it is still decidedly numerous, principally
+in the larger cities of the world. When a normal man is tormented by
+an invert, it is much easier to get rid of him than for a young girl
+to protect herself against the importunities of a man._
+
+It is quite another thing when the invert pays his attentions to
+minors, or when his appetites are complicated with dangerous sexual
+paręsthesias, such as sadism. Not long ago the terrible case of a
+sadist invert, Dippold, startled civilized Europe. By the aid of
+cruelty and intimidation this wretch martyrized two young boys
+confided to him for their education to such a degree that one of them
+died. Legal protection of the two sexes against sexual abuses of all
+kinds should be extended at least to the age of seventeen or eighteen.
+
+Sexual inversion has two curious results which have not received
+sufficient attention. Human society regards it as quite natural and
+without danger for individuals of the same sex to bathe, sleep and
+live together. In lunatic asylums, prisons, reformatories, etc., men
+are attended to by men, and women by women. The vow of chastity of
+Catholic priests and nuns leads in the same way to separation of the
+sexes. In all these customs sexual inversion has not been taken into
+consideration. It is not surprising, therefore, that homosexuals take
+advantage of this state of affairs and seek these situations which
+give them the opportunity for satisfying their perverted passions
+without running much danger. _They willingly choose a career suitable
+for their degenerate purposes, and especially that of attendant in
+lunatic asylums. In the latter case they take advantage of the mental
+condition of the patients and their incapacity to make complaints. In
+public baths inverts can freely enjoy the sight of naked men._
+
+So far we have only spoken of complete inversion; but there are
+transitional stages. Many individuals are neutral, animated by
+sensations floating between the two sexes. Krafft-Ebing even speaks
+of psycho-sexual hermaphrodites, who are equally attracted by either
+sex, and cohabit sometimes with one, sometimes with the other. I knew
+a married man who was very capable with his wife but in spite of this
+was unfaithful to her, both with men and with other women. He was
+convicted several times for pederasty with men and young boys, and
+confessed to me that he had more pleasure from homosexual intercourse
+than from normal connection with women, but could satisfy himself
+either way. An incomplete invert declared to me that his ideal would
+be a man.
+
+Along with these cases there is a series of homosexuals in whom it is
+assumed that inversion has been acquired, because they commenced with
+a normal sexual desire for women. After being seduced by homosexuals,
+who initiate them in mutual onanism or pederasty, they are suddenly or
+gradually disgusted with women and become inverts (vide _Suggestion_).
+In reality, these are only relatively cases of acquired inversion. If
+we except the cases which depend on pure suggestion of which we shall
+speak later, there is a latent hereditary disposition to inversion,
+which is awakened on the first occasion and then develops strongly. It
+is easy to prove that men with normal sexual instincts immediately
+abandon the habits of onanism or pederasty which they have contracted
+through bad example or seduction, or by compensation for the want of
+the normal object, as soon as they can obtain normal sexual
+intercourse with one or more women. It is, therefore, false to regard
+homosexual sensations as depending on vice and depravity: they are a
+pathological product of abnormal hereditary sexual dispositions. At
+any rate, this is a general rule which has few exceptions.
+
+Sexual inversion is so widespread that in certain countries, for
+instance Brazil, and even in some European towns, there are brothels
+with men instead of women.
+
+I will mention here a very curious case of purely psychical but
+complete inversion of the sexual personality, combined with complete
+sexual anęsthesia:
+
+    A man, aged 22, the son of an inebriate, with one imbecile
+    sister. Of delicate constitution, but very intelligent, he was
+    possessed since infancy with the idea that he was a girl,
+    although his genital organs were properly formed and were
+    normally developed at puberty. He had a horror of the society of
+    boys, and of all masculine work, while he was quite happy in
+    performing all the household duties of a woman. An irresistible
+    obsession urged him to dress himself as a woman, and neither
+    contempt, ridicule, nor punishment could cure him of it.
+    Attempts to give him employment as a boy in a small town failed
+    completely. His girlish manners made him suspected by the
+    police, who took him for a girl dressed in boy's clothes, and
+    threatened to arrest him. When he was compelled to put on male
+    attire he consoled himself with wearing a woman's chemise and
+    corset underneath.
+
+    I carefully examined this individual and found him affected with
+    complete sexual anęsthesia. He had a horror of everything
+    connected with the sexual appetite, but the idea of sexual
+    intercourse with men was still more repugnant than that of
+    normal coitus with women. Although the testicles and penis
+    appeared absolutely normal, he never had erections. His voice
+    was high pitched and his whole manner suggested that of a
+    eunuch.
+
+This case is very instructive, for it clearly shows how the
+psycho-sexual personality may be predetermined by heredity in the
+brain alone, independently of the sexual organs, and even act without
+a trace of sexual sensation or appetite. This was undoubtedly a case
+of alcoholic blastophthoria and not ordinary heredity.
+
+Krafft-Ebing describes the following scene, taken from a Berlin
+journal, dated February, 1894, which gives a good idea of the manners
+and customs of the homosexual fraternity:
+
+"_The misogynist's ball._ Almost all the social elements of Berlin
+have their club or meeting place--the fat, the bald, the bachelors,
+the widowers--why not the misogynists? This variety of the human
+species, whose society is hardly edifying, but whose psychology is
+peculiar, held a fancy dress ball a few days ago. The sale, or rather
+the distribution of tickets was kept very private. Their meeting place
+is a well-known dancing hall. We enter the hall about midnight.
+Dancing is going on to the music of a good orchestra. A thick cloud of
+smoke obscures the lamps and prevents us at first from distinguishing
+the details of the scene. It is only during an interval that we can
+make a closer examination. Most of the people are masked, dress coats
+and ball dresses are exceptional.
+
+"But what do I see? This lady in rose tarlatan, who has just
+pirouetted before us has a cigar in her mouth and smokes like a
+trooper. She has also a small beard, half hidden by paint. And she is
+now talking to an "angel" in tights, very _décolleté_, with bare arms
+crossed behind her, also smoking. They have men's voices and the
+conversation is also masculine, for it turns on 'this cursed tobacco
+will not draw.' Two men dressed as women!
+
+"A clown in conventional costume leaning against a pillar is speaking
+tender words to a ballet dancer, with his arm round her waist. She has
+a Titian head, a fine profile and good figure. Her brilliant earrings,
+her necklace, her shapely shoulders and arms seem to proclaim her sex,
+when suddenly disengaging herself from the embracing arm she turns
+away with a yawn, saying in a bass voice, 'Emile, why are you so
+tiresome to-day?' The novice hardly believes his eyes: the ballet
+dancer is also a man.
+
+"Becoming suspicious, we continue our investigations, beginning to
+think that the world is here upside down. Here is a man who comes
+tripping along; but no, it cannot be a man, in spite of the small and
+carefully curled mustache. The dressing of the hair, the powder and
+paint on the face, the blackened eyebrows, the gold earrings, the
+bouquet of flowers on the breast and shoulder, the elegant black gown,
+the gold bracelets, the fan held in a white-gloved hand--none of these
+things suggest a man. And with what coquetry he fans himself; how he
+dances and skips about! Nevertheless, Nature has created this doll in
+the form of a man. He is a salesman in one of the large sweet shops,
+and the ballet dancer is his colleague!
+
+"At the table in the corner there is a convivial meeting; several
+elderly gentlemen are gathered round a group of very _décolleté_
+'ladies' sitting over a glass of wine and cracking jokes which are
+anything but delicate. 'Who are these three ladies?' 'Ladies! laughs
+my better-informed companion; well, the one on the right with the
+brown hair and short fancy dress is a hair-dresser; the second, the
+blonde with the pearl necklace is known here by the name of Miss
+Ella, and he is a ladies' tailor; the third is the celebrated Lottie.'
+
+"But this cannot be a man? The waist, the bust, the delicate arms, the
+whole appearance is feminine! I am told that Lottie was formerly an
+accountant. To-day she, or rather he, is simply 'Lottie,' and takes
+pleasure in deceiving men as to his sex as long as possible. At this
+moment Lottie is singing a song in a contralto voice acquired by
+prolonged practice, which a female singer might envy. Lottie has also
+taken female parts on the stage. Nowadays the former accountant is so
+imbued with his female role that he seldom appears in the street
+except in woman's attire, and even wears an embroidered nightdress.
+
+"On closer examination of the persons present, I discovered to my
+astonishment several acquaintances. My bootmaker, whom I should never
+have taken for a misogynist, appears to-night as a troubador with
+sword and plumed cap; and his 'Leonora,' in the costume of a bride,
+generally serves me with Havanas in a cigar store. When Leonora
+removed her gloves I recognized her at once by her large chilblained
+hands. Here is my haberdasher promenading in an indelicate costume as
+Bacchus; also a Diana, dressed up atrociously, who is really a waiter
+at a café.
+
+"It is impossible to describe the real 'ladies' who are at this ball.
+They only associate with each other and avoid the women-hating men;
+while the latter also keep to themselves and absolutely ignore the
+fair sex."
+
+=B. Feminine Sexual Inversion and Homosexual Love.=--Sexual inversion
+is not rare in women, but manifests itself less publicly than the
+corresponding masculine inversion. It is called Lesbian love or
+_saphism_; and the women inverts are known as _tribades_. They are
+described in history, but may also be observed in modern towns. _They
+satisfy their pathological appetite by degenerate practices heretofore
+mentioned in harmony with their inverted mentality._ The feminine
+invert likes to dress as a man and feels like a man toward other
+women. She goes in for manly games, wears her hair short, and takes to
+men's occupations in general. Her sexual appetite is often much
+exalted and then she becomes a veritable feminine Don Juan. I have
+known several women of this kind, who held veritable orgies and
+induced a whole series of young girls to become their lovers, in the
+way we have just indicated.
+
+Here again, as in masculine inversion, there is a true irradiated
+love. Inverts want to marry and swear eternal fidelity; they celebrate
+their betrothals, even openly, the invert in male attire representing
+the bridegroom; or sometimes they have secret symbols, such as
+exchanging rings, etc. These sexual orgies are often seasoned with
+alcohol.
+
+_The excesses of female inverts exceed those of the male. This is
+their one thought, night and day, almost without interruption.
+Jealousy is also as strong as among male inverts. However, these
+nymphomaniac inverts are not very common._
+
+A characteristic peculiarity of feminine inversion depends on the
+irradiation of the sexual appetite in woman (_vide_ Chapters IV and
+V). We have seen that there is much less distinction in woman between
+love and local sensations of pleasure, and between friendship and
+love, than in man. When a woman invert wishes to seduce a normal girl,
+it is easy for her to do so. She first wins her affection by the aid
+of the caresses of an exalted platonic love, which is not uncommon
+among women; kisses, embraces, and sleeping in the same bed are much
+more common among girls than boys, and little by little the invert
+succeeds in causing voluptuous sensations in her victim. Very often
+the object of these caresses does not recognize that there is anything
+abnormal in all this, or gives way to her sensations without
+reflection, and then becomes amorous in her turn. I will give an
+example:
+
+A female invert, dressed as a young man, succeeded in winning the love
+of a normal girl, and was formally betrothed to her. Soon afterwards
+the woman was unmasked, arrested and sent to an asylum, where she was
+made to put on woman's clothes. But the young girl who had been
+deceived continued to be amorous and visited her "lover," who embraced
+her before every one, in a state of voluptuous ecstasy, which I
+witnessed myself. When this scene was over, I took the young girl
+aside and expressed my astonishment at seeing her continue to have any
+regard for the sham "young man" who had deceived her. Her reply was
+characteristic of a woman: "Ah! you see, doctor, I love him, and I
+cannot help it!"
+
+What can one reply to such logic? A psychic love of this kind is
+hardly possible in man; but if we go to the bottom of the matter and
+study the nature of woman, we can understand how certain feminine
+exaltations may be unconsciously transformed into love, platonic at
+first, afterwards sexual. At first, "they understand each other so
+well," and have so much mutual sympathy; they give each other pet
+names, they kiss and embrace, and perform all kinds of tender actions.
+Finally, a graduated scale of caresses leads almost unconsciously to
+sexual excitation.
+
+_This is how it happens that a normal woman, systematically seduced by
+an invert, may become madly in love with her and commit sexual
+excesses with her for years, becoming herself essentially
+pathological. The case only becomes really pathological when it is
+definitely fixed by long habit; a thing which easily occurs in woman,
+owing to the constant and monogamous nature of her love._
+
+Krafft-Ebing's cases show the same phenomena, (for instance the invert
+called "Count Sandor" and her victims). In these cases also young
+girls, seduced by inverts, fell into despair and even threatened to
+commit suicide when their seducers abandoned them. On the other hand,
+when a normal man, seduced by an invert, practices mutual masturbation
+the affair remains localized and limited to purely animal sensations
+of pleasure which do not irradiate to his psychic life; such
+irradiations only occur in the invert, so that his victims are always
+ready to abandon him without the least regret. If we except children,
+it therefore follows that the so-called male victims are nearly always
+blackmailers, or simply offer themselves for money.
+
+In fact, the normal man entirely separates the sympathy, or even the
+exalted affection, which he feels for another man, from all sexual
+sensations, and has not the least desire to kiss or caress his best
+friend, still less to have sexual intercourse with him. All sensual
+caresses between men are, therefore, suggestive of inversion even in
+places where women are absent.
+
+In the normal woman, on the contrary, as we have already mentioned,
+sentiments of exalted sympathy easily provoke the desire for kisses
+and caresses, and these caresses often cause in women a certain amount
+of vague sensual pleasure. When this pleasure leads to progressive
+tenderness and ends in mutual onanism, etc., it nevertheless remains
+intimately connected with psychic exaltations and sentiments of
+sympathy, from which it cannot be separated as in man.
+
+In a former chapter we have described the difference between the two
+sexes, but nowhere is it more distinctly shown than in the relations
+between a female invert and her victims.
+
+It is therefore much more difficult in woman than in man to
+distinguish in particular cases between the hereditary disposition to
+inversion, and saphism acquired by seduction or habit. The latter is
+common in prostitutes and libidinous women.
+
+As we have already said, the pure female invert feels like a man. The
+idea of coitus with men is repugnant to her. She apes the habits,
+manners and clothes of men. Female inverts have been known to wear
+men's uniforms and perform military service for years, and even behave
+as heroes; their sex sometimes only being discovered after their
+death.
+
+=Sexual Appetite for Children. (Pederosis.)=--It may be questioned
+whether this is a special category, for many sexual assaults committed
+on children are simply the effect of senile dementia, or abuse of
+children to satisfy an otherwise normal sexual appetite. I have,
+however, observed cases where children were so specially, or even
+exclusively, the object of the sexual appetite, that I cannot doubt
+the existence of a special hereditary perversion in this direction.
+
+No doubt, most of those who abuse children are also capable of coitus
+with women, or else they are inverts, sadists, etc.; but with many of
+them sexual passion for children is so marked from their youth upward,
+that it shows a special hereditary disposition. For this pathological
+disposition, thus defined, I propose the term _pederosis_; that of
+_pederasty_ applying to degeneracy between man and man, whatever
+causes lead to it. Krafft-Ebing, who does not believe in the existence
+of a hereditary pederosis, gives the name _erotic pedophilia_ to the
+abuse of children by depraved persons.
+
+The following are cases of exclusive and hereditary pederosis: A
+talented artist, possessing high moral sentiments, was affected from
+his youth with a sexual appetite exclusively directed toward little
+girls of five or six years. At the age of twelve they ceased to
+attract him. He was quite indifferent to adults of both sexes, and
+never accomplished coitus. _Having recognized in good time the anomaly
+of his appetite, he succeeded in mastering it all his life, and
+through education on the subject as well as a general physical
+development, he neutralized these morbid desires, particularly through
+the training of his mind to cleaner and more wholesome topics. A great
+help in this type of condition is work therapy. His moral sentiments
+and principles were always strong enough to prevent him going any
+further, and he eventually obtained relief. But this condition gave
+rise to increasing nervous irritation and melancholic depression._
+
+In another man, the sexual appetite, also perverted since its origin,
+was directed only toward boys of twelve or sixteen. At one time girls
+of the same age excited him, while he was quite indifferent toward
+adult women and men.
+
+In rare cases the sexual appetite of certain women is directed toward
+little boys.
+
+=Sexual Appetite for Animals. (Sodomy or Bestiality.)=[6]--A human
+sexual appetite exclusively directed toward animals is certainly not
+common. Coitus between man and animals usually takes place for want of
+the opportunity for normal satisfaction, or else as the result of
+satyriasis, nymphomania or desire for change. I have observed it
+especially in idiots and imbeciles who are ridiculed by girls. To
+console themselves, they give vent to their feelings with a patient
+cow or goat in the silence of the stable: for this act they get
+several years imprisonment, for the law on this point is severe.
+Certain degraded libertines satisfy their hyperęsthetic and perverted
+appetites with goats or even with large birds or rabbits.
+
+There are, however, cases where a pathological sexual appetite is
+specially directed toward animals, and it is curious to observe the
+frequent preference of certain individuals for small animals which
+they skin (fowls, geese, rabbits), and thus put to death.
+
+_Bestiality is not rare in women who are also subject to this filthy,
+obnoxious and degenerative practice. Even if we put aside cases of
+torture inflicted on small animals and if we avoid all prejudices, we
+can still, in all normality, consider bestiality as a crime,
+manifested by the depraved mind. In fact, considered from the point of
+view of law and humanity, bestiality is one of the most indecent of
+all the pathological aberrations of the sexual appetite. Human
+imagination only has marked it with the stigma of moral depravement
+and has made it a crime. But it is recognized scientifically that it
+is a state of mental inferiority and often a sign of idiotic tendency,
+usually accompanied by a case history, tainted heredity and highly
+neurotic constitution. Ęstheticism has reason for complaint, and more
+than one painter or sculptor has represented the union of Leda with
+the Swan. It is certainly much better for society, for an idiot or an
+imbecile to be castrated than for him to make a girl pregnant and
+breed more idiots._
+
+_In cases of this kind which I have known and which were brought to
+justice, I consider that the real sinner, the sodomite, should be
+confined to an insane asylum under medical attention, and not, as at
+present, to be condemned to imprisonment, thus making a martyr of him
+for no reason, and putting the ban of society upon him. It is needless
+to say that cases of sodomy complicated by cruelty or sadism, should
+be judged differently._
+
+There are also other hereditary or constitutional perversions, more or
+less characteristic, of the sexual appetite, but we cannot enumerate
+all of them. We may mention, however, the erotic excitement which some
+men feel at the sight of statues of women, which urges them to
+masturbate against these statues.
+
+
+SEXUAL ANOMALIES IN THE INSANE AND IN PSYCHOPATHS
+
+When one is familiar with the population of a lunatic asylum, one is
+struck by a singular phenomenon, from the sexual point of view. A
+great number of insane women give evidence of intense sexual desire.
+This desire is manifested in some by incessant masturbation; in others
+by obscene conversation; in many others, by imaginary love, sometimes
+sensual, sometimes platonic; often by direct provocation to coitus
+addressed to the medical officers; but especially by perpetual scenes
+of jealousy, and often by reciprocal suspicions regarding their sexual
+life. In fact, a lunatic asylum reveals to us, in the form of
+repulsive caricatures, all gradations and variations of a more or less
+degenerate feminine sexual life, coquetry, wearing all kinds of
+ornaments, jealous anger, erotic excitement, etc.
+
+The sexual excitation of the insane often makes them soil themselves
+with urine and excrements, and heap insults on persons whom their
+diseased imagination suspects of sexual assaults or immodest acts
+toward themselves or others. They have a tendency to believe
+themselves betrothed or married to kings, emperors, Jesus Christ or
+God. Pregnancy and childbirth play a large part in their delirium.
+Some patients imagine themselves pregnant and pretend that they were
+fecundated secretly. Afterwards they believe that some one has taken
+away their child while they were asleep.
+
+One of my former patients once accused me of going to her bed at night
+and fecundating her every week. She also accused me of having hidden
+the hundreds of children which I was supposed to have procreated with
+her, and martyred them. Owing to these hallucinations she heard their
+cries day and night.
+
+Another patient, affected with curable acute mania, was so erotic
+during her attacks that she made advances toward all the doctors who
+visited her. Her mind was full of such erotic images that after her
+cure she was frightened of being pregnant, although she had passed the
+whole of her time of detention under supervision by female attendants.
+Women who in their normal state are most modest or sexually cold may
+be most erotic when they become insane, and may even behave as
+prostitutes. This is especially observed in periodic hypomania. It is
+a well-known fact in the female divisions of lunatic asylums, that the
+doctors are always surrounded by erotic patients, who catch hold of
+their clothes and pinch them, and try and embrace or scratch them
+according as they are amorous or jealous, so that they often have
+trouble in escaping from these signs of violent love or furious
+jealousy.
+
+On the other hand, in the male divisions of asylums, one is astonished
+at the indifference and profound sexual apathy of nearly all insane
+men. Some practice masturbation and others attempt pederasty, but all
+with a philosophical calmness due to their dementia. Young women may
+even go among them without any fear of assaults or indecent language.
+It is only a few of the most violent who are exceptions to this rule.
+
+A young lady doctor, assistant medical officer to the asylum at
+Zurich, made her visits alone among all the males, even the most
+violent, without any inconvenience; while, in the female divisions,
+she was approached by the erotic patients as much as were the male
+assistants. I mention this fact because some people wrongly imagine
+that the sexual excitation of insane women is due to the visits of
+male doctors. These facts are very striking and furnish perhaps the
+best proof that the feminine sexual appetite is especially situated in
+the higher brain, while the masculine appetite is situated more in the
+lower cerebral centers, as we have shown above. Mental alienation is
+due to irritations of the higher brain, and this explains why in women
+it lets loose such violent sexual passions and images, and why there
+is so little of this in men.
+
+The sexual pathological symptoms of the insane are as follows:
+
+(1). _Erotomania_ (satyriasis and nymphomania), or abnormal exaltation
+of the sexual appetite. This is especially seen in acute mania, in the
+early stages of general paralysis and senile dementia, also
+temporarily or permanently in other psychoses. It is manifested by
+sexual excesses, obscene language or excessive masturbation. All these
+symptoms disappear after the attack of insanity.
+
+(2). _Sexual anęsthesia_ or _hypoęsthesia_ or even _impotence_ may
+occur in the later stages of general paralysis and senile dementia. At
+the commencement of general paralysis there is often violent sexual
+desire combined with more or less complete impotence. The same thing
+occurs, as we shall see, in alcoholism.
+
+(3). Subjects affected with systematic delirium of persecution and
+grandeur (paranoia) sometimes commit atrocious sexual excesses, and
+often tyrannize and torment in a terrible way the women who are their
+victims. It is especially in the religious forms of this delirium,
+combined with fanatic ecstasy, that the most repulsive sexual orgies
+occur. I have treated a patient with paranoia who, full of pious
+sayings, regarded himself as a kind of prophet. He made a poor girl
+and her mother sleep in his room and had connection with them
+alternately. Finally, he mixed his semen in coffee with the girl's
+menstrual blood and made her drink the mixture, pretending that this
+was a religious ceremony intended to produce a strong race. In the end
+he set fire to the house of these poor women.
+
+Subjects affected with partial paranoia often turn the heads of
+susceptible women by the aid of ascetic religious phraseology, to
+gratify afterwards their sexual passions. The worst cases are those
+who are able to hide from the public their delirious ideas, and pass
+for normal individuals, misunderstood victims, or even saints. I have
+examined a very orthodox clergyman, highly esteemed by his
+congregation on account of his ascetic and enthusiastic preaching. In
+his own home he illtreated his wife, half strangled her, and exacted
+all kinds of sexual depravity. Unfortunately, the nature of his
+delirium was not very evident, and he dissimulated so well that the
+jurists would not admit his irresponsibility, in spite of my medical
+certificate. His wife was obliged to run away to escape from her
+martyrdom. The community of property in force in this family
+completely ruined this unfortunate woman. The husband was not a
+hypocrite, but simply insane. Volumes could be written on sexual
+atrocities committed by such people.
+
+I will mention briefly the systematic delirium directed toward
+pathological love. This is a very common symptom in insane women who
+combine their amorous sentiments for man with the maddest ideas and
+hallucinations. An insane woman suddenly discovers that the object of
+her love is a king or Jesus Christ, and that she is betrothed to him.
+In her delirium she imagines herself to be queen of the world. In her
+dreams and hallucinations her king or Christ is in bed with her and
+she imagines she has connection with him. Still under the influence
+of hallucinations, she believes herself pregnant and carries an
+imaginary child for nine months in her womb. She may even imagine that
+she has given birth to a child, and that the child has been taken away
+from her by the aid of narcotics, as we have seen above. Although
+there is an infinite variety in the gradations, the pathological
+images of the cerebral sexual sphere of insane women always revolve
+round this eternal theme.
+
+These pathological irradiations of the sexual sphere are associated
+voluntarily with jealous obsessions and ideas of persecution, which
+make the subjects furious, and which are confirmed by their
+paręsthesias and hallucinations. Illusions of memory play a great part
+in these cases, for the subjects have often never felt what they
+complain of, and it is then a question of veritable hallucinational
+memory. We may here observe by the way that, even among healthy
+people, the sexual passions, like the others, always tend to falsify
+memory, making things appear in the exclusive sense of the affective
+state. Once fixed in the memory, such conceptions, the false tendency
+of which was originally based on passion, gradually assume the
+subjective character of certainty. Cool-headed people, or those whose
+affective state directs them to contrary conceptions, then see in such
+individuals a deliberate intention to misrepresent the facts. This is
+the reason why people so often hurl mutual insults at each others
+heads, calling each other liars and calumniators, owing to the
+affective illusion of memory.
+
+(4). One of the worst of the sexual anomalies in the insane is
+_pathological jealousy_, especially in men. Their wives then become
+martyrs, especially in cases of alcoholism and paranoia. It is not
+uncommon for assassination to put an end to their torments. Among
+insane women, jealousy is certainly not less, but they have less legal
+power and less muscular strength. The most violent jealousy is found
+in alcoholics.
+
+Jealous delirium renders the subject furious; a word, a look, or some
+trivial circumstance are enough for him to prove the infidelity of his
+wife. The latter has to avoid the slightest thing which might arouse
+jealousy, but all in vain; reserve and even prudery are regarded by
+the jealous husband as hypocrisy. The unfortunate man watches his
+wife, night and day, like a watchdog: he threatens and insults her
+with no reason, and calumniates her in all ways, even in the presence
+of a third party. He even lays elaborate traps for her. Cases of this
+kind are legion.
+
+(5). It is necessary to say that the _sexual paręsthesias_, of which
+we have spoken, sadism, masochism, fetichism, inversion, etc., often
+occur in the insane.
+
+(6). The most atrocious sexual crimes are very often the work of
+idiots or imbeciles, but especially _moral idiots_, _i.e._, persons
+whose idiocy is limited to the moral sense, who are also called simply
+_amoral_. This is due to hereditary taint, an innate absence of all
+sentiments of sympathy, pity and duty. Rape, violation of children,
+sexual assassination, etc., are usually due to the concomitant action
+of moral idiocy and violent or perverted sexual passions.
+
+(7). _Hypochondria_ also causes singular results in the sexual sphere.
+We have already dealt with the masturbation of certain hypochondriacs,
+which is often wholly or partly imaginary. Others believe they have
+committed terrible sexual excesses, when nothing of the kind has
+occurred. I have seen a hypochondriac married and strongly built, who
+believed his health was ruined because he cohabited with his wife once
+every two or three months. Other hypochondriacs become impotent simply
+because they think they are. Others again imagine they are affected
+with venereal disease, which they have never contracted.
+
+(8). Hysterical men and women have a very peculiar sexuality. Hysteria
+depends on auto-suggestion or on an exalted and morbid dissociability
+of psychic activity. A single idea is sufficient in a hysterical
+subject, to produce the realization of what it represents. The
+passionate imagination may lead to opinions and actions which are
+absolutely contradictory. Love and hatred often alternate by
+transformation. According to the influences to which she is exposed,
+the same hysterical woman may become a good or evil genius.
+
+In the sexual domain the same extremes are produced in a very striking
+manner. Inflamed by love, a hysterical woman may exhibit phenomenal
+eroticism and the most violent sexual excesses, while indifference,
+disgust, or simply distraction by other ideas will render her
+absolutely frigid. Cold as ice toward other men, she may have
+insatiable sexual desire for the man she loves.
+
+The question is often raised whether a woman can love more than once
+in her life. There is no doubt that many women are so monogamous by
+instinct that they cannot love more than once; but it is also certain
+that a hysterical woman is capable of loving several times, and very
+different persons at different periods of her life. The personality of
+certain erotic hysterical women is even so dissociable that they can
+love with all their strength several men at the same time. But the
+hysterical woman is also capable of hating a man with as much ardor as
+she formerly loved him; or, on the contrary, of loving the one she
+formerly hated, according to the suggestion of the moment. The same
+phenomena occur in hysterical men.
+
+For the same reasons the quality of the sexual sensations and
+sentiments may vary in a hysterical subject according to the
+influences it is subjected to, and pass from the normal to the
+perverted state, or inversely. I have observed a case where a highly
+cultured hysterical subject, in her early youth, fell in love with
+another young girl. At this period her sentiments were purely
+homosexual; her love for the young girl was clearly inverted and
+accompanied by intense sexual desire, while she was absolutely
+indifferent to men. Later on, a man fell in love with her, and she
+yielded to him rather from pity and feminine passiveness than from
+love. Still later she fell passionately in love with another man,
+quite as much as she had been with the young girl of her early youth.
+Her latest love was both exalted and libidinous. Her sexual appetite
+had thus taken the normal direction under the influence of a
+hetero-sexual affection.
+
+In hysterical men analogous changes occur less easily, on account of
+the nature of masculine sexuality which distinguishes more clearly
+between the mind and the appetite; but these changes are observed
+sometimes. In woman, the hysterical imagination and dissociation
+facilitate a polyandrous irradiation of the sexual appetite, which is
+otherwise rare in the female sex. In this respect the sexuality of
+hysterical women resembles that of men and differs from that of
+normal women. Hysterical men, on the other hand, become more feminine,
+not by their appetite being less polygamous, but by the more
+dissociated form of their thoughts and sentiments.
+
+(9). A variety of the pathological love of abnormal individuals is
+_imaginary love_, not founded on delirious ideas. Certain psychopaths
+of both sexes are convinced that they love some one, but they suddenly
+perceive during their betrothal, or even only after marriage, that
+they are mistaken and that they have never loved the person in
+question. Such illusions are the cause of numerous broken engagements,
+divorce and conjugal bitterness.
+
+(10). _Amorous tyranny_ constitutes another variety in the pathology
+of love. Lovers of this kind constantly tyrannize and torment the
+object of their passion, by their desires, their observations, their
+sensitive temper, their contradictions, their exigencies and their
+jealousy. This atrocious manner of loving is common in both sexes;
+perhaps more so in women than men.
+
+(11). The _love of psychopaths_ is a subject which has no end. If
+human society was better acquainted with psychopathology a great deal
+of conjugal misunderstanding and misery would be avoided.
+
+I have known a woman who would not allow her husband to shut himself
+in the water-closet, for fear he would take the servant with him!
+Another became madly jealous if a woman sat opposite her husband and
+cast the least glance at him; the unfortunate husband not knowing
+where to look, in the street or in hotels, so as to escape his wife's
+jealousy. It is still worse when the husband is jealous.
+
+Other psychopaths torment the object of their love by the perpetual
+care they take over imaginary dangers or the slightest indispositions.
+Others again are affected with hyperęsthesia, and the least noise, the
+slightest touch, or any sudden sensation, is enough to throw them into
+excitement and make them a nuisance both to themselves and to their
+surroundings.
+
+The pathological exaltation of sentiments, which causes the most
+trifling things to appear as deliberate offenses, and malicious
+intentions, is still more to be feared. The disproportion between
+love and sexual appetite also torments many psychopaths, either when a
+deep love is combined with sexual indifference or disgust at coitus,
+or even pain (vaginismus, in women, for example); or when an intense
+sexual appetite is combined with want of love or ferocious egoism
+(especially in men).
+
+Certain psychopaths appear profoundly amorous but behave like brutes
+to the object of their love. These are the individuals who are always
+ready to strangle their sweetheart, to stab or shoot her, if she does
+not immediately yield to their desires; or else the feeble creatures
+who threaten to commit suicide if their love is not returned.
+
+Others, tormented by a pathological eroticism are continually annoying
+young and virtuous girls with their obsessions and their pathological
+grossness. I have seen a psychopath of this kind write letters and
+even post cards to a young girl, on which he had drawn pictures of the
+female genitals, by way of gallantry. In women, hatred and vengeance,
+aroused by jealousy, are especially blind and tenacious when the
+chronic passions of psychopathia intervene; this being due to the
+perseverance natural to the sex. By the aid of their refined
+intrigues; by their misrepresented statements due to the illusions of
+a memory distorted by passion, but uttered with a consummate dramatic
+art, some women may play a truly diabolical role, and even deceive a
+whole tribunal. When we get to the bottom of the matter, we often find
+that the primary cause of the evil is a sexual passion embellished and
+idealized afterwards by all kinds of noble motives, but in reality
+more or less unconsciously hypocritical. While deceiving others, these
+psychopathic women also deceive themselves. There are also a number of
+male psychopaths quite analogous to the above and generally
+hysterical.
+
+Other morbid symptoms, such as obsessions and pathological impulses,
+have a certain importance as regards sexual appetite and love. Love or
+rejection, as well as other sexual images, may become the objects of
+obsessions, and then cause the subjects much torment, but without
+harming their surroundings; for the obsessed generally remain passive.
+Pathological impulse to actions may, on the contrary, become dangerous
+and lead to violation, whether combined with perversion or not.
+
+(12). We have seen that _senile paradoxy_ often shows itself, as a
+symptom of senile dementia, by a sexual appetite for children. This is
+the initial symptom of the complaint, and may lead to the commission
+of assault. The holy indignation of the public, and often of ignorant
+judges, against these depraved old men often result in the public
+contempt or even the imprisonment of poor patients who have hitherto
+led a blameless life, and who have simply become victims of senile
+degeneration of the arteries of the brain.
+
+(13). I will mention another case which I have observed, which shows
+how complex hereditary cerebral pathology may become, and lead in turn
+to crime, madness and sexual perversion; giving rise to the most
+tragic scenes of human life, and to the degeneration of families.
+
+    A very charming and intelligent, but deceitful man, an amoral
+    person whose heredity was strongly tainted with mental disease,
+    had strong sexual instincts partly inverted. He was attracted
+    rather more by men than by women, but committed excesses with
+    both sexes. He married a virtuous and intelligent midwife. At
+    long intervals he had three attacks of acute mania, but was
+    cured after each attack and procreated two boys and a girl. When
+    he was sane he spent his time in deceitful occupations and
+    speculation and never worked honestly to earn his living. He
+    behaved well toward his wife, but this did not prevent him
+    committing pederasty with men. He was often convicted for
+    pederasty and swindling, and I treated him several times in an
+    asylum. His poor wife complained bitterly, but found consolation
+    in her husband's apparent love, but especially in the careful
+    education of her children. But when the children grew up, her
+    illusions disappeared one after another. The daughter became
+    feeble-minded, and one of the sons became a bad character. The
+    mother consoled herself with the second son who appeared honest
+    and hard-working. The father was then in an asylum, his relapses
+    having led the tribunal to institute an inquiry into his mental
+    condition. One day the mother came to me in despair and showed
+    me a letter written by the son of the father, which she had
+    opened; the contents were as follows: "Miserable father, when
+    you receive this letter I shall be no longer in this world; but
+    before dying I wish to curse you. You have been the disgrace of
+    the family. You have caused misery to our mother and her
+    children by your crimes. Why did you bring me into this world?
+    For a long time I have felt evil instincts developing in me like
+    a cursed heritage. I struggle in vain against them; but the more
+    I struggle the more I feel I must succumb. I am incapable of
+    resisting much longer; but I will not become a criminal like
+    you, so I shall hang myself to-night, and I curse you again
+    before doing it."
+
+    The unfortunate son did in fact commit suicide, and drove his
+    mother to despair. I showed the father his son's letter, but he
+    only smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
+
+The following is another example:
+
+    A man of 50, married, and the father of six children, ranging
+    from 6 to 24 years of age, violated them all, both girls and
+    boys. The whole family were abnormal and perverse. A son of 18
+    had sexual intercourse with his mother and sister. The father
+    also had intercourse with dogs and cats. The jury before whom I
+    brought the case regarded the man as mad, but he was condemned
+    to ten years' imprisonment. An asylum for dangerous and
+    perverted lunatics is urgently required for such cases.
+
+
+EFFECTS OF NARCOTICS, ESPECIALLY ALCOHOL, ON THE SEXUAL APPETITE
+
+The functional cerebral paralyses produced by narcotics closely
+resemble in their psychopathological physiognomy the organic paralyses
+which result from slow atrophy of the cerebral cortex, as in general
+paralysis--exaltation of sentiment, tremor and slowness of movement up
+to total paralysis, disorders of orientation in time and space,
+profound mental dissociation affecting the subconscious automatic
+actions.
+
+At the same time the individual loses the exact appreciation of his
+own personality and of the external world; he regards himself as very
+capable in body and mind while he is becoming more and more powerless;
+and everything appears rose-colored at the time when he is in a most
+critical state. He believes himself possessed of great muscular
+strength when paralysis makes him stagger, and so on.
+
+At the commencement of narcosis the phenomena are somewhat different
+from what they become later; a certain amount of excitement
+predominates, as well as the spirit of enterprise and exaltation of
+the appetites; while later on paralysis, relaxation and somnolence
+play the principal part.
+
+Narcosis acts in a similar way on the genetic sense. It begins by
+exciting sexual desire, but diminishes the power. As Shakespere says:
+"Lechery it provokes and unprovokes; it provokes the desire but it
+takes away the performance." (Macbeth, Act II, Scene iii.) No doubt
+the narcotics are not all equal in action, and each has its specific
+peculiarities; but the words of Shakespere express the essential
+effect of all narcotics on the sexual appetite: First of all
+excitation of the appetite with the disappearance of moral and
+intellectual inhibitory representations, and reėnforcement of the
+spirit of enterprise; afterwards, progressive paralysis of sexual
+power, and finally extinction of the initial appetite itself.
+
+These phenomena are of capital importance in alcoholic narcosis, which
+plays the principal part in civilized countries. The initial
+excitation is here very accentuated. If we make a closer examination,
+however, we find from the first a relaxation of sexual activity and a
+weakening of all sensory irritations. In coitus, erections are
+produced more slowly; the voluptuous sensations, it is true, are of
+great subjective intensity, but they are developed more slowly and
+there is more difficulty in producing ejaculation. The subsequent
+relaxation is very great, and a man who is even only slightly
+intoxicated cannot perform coitus as rapidly, nor repeat it so often,
+as when he has taken no alcoholic liquor. When the narcosis increases
+the impotence becomes complete. Owing to the illusion produced by the
+narcosis, however, a drunken man generally imagines himself to be very
+capable.
+
+The gross and clumsy form which flirtation assumes under the action of
+alcohol is only too well known. The gross and persistent obscenity of
+drunken persons in railway carriages and other places toward women is
+an example of alcoholic flirtation. (_Vide_ Chapter IV.)
+
+Another peculiarity of the sexual appetite in alcoholic narcosis is
+its bestiality. The higher irradiations of love are completely
+paralyzed and sensuality becomes unrestrained, even in men who, when
+sober, are full of refined sentiments.
+
+The depraving effect of alcohol on the sexual appetite is therefore
+unlimited. Alcohol does not limit itself to giving free play to a
+bestial appetite, by paralyzing reason and sentiments of sympathy and
+duty; it also has a strong tendency to pervert the appetite itself. In
+a considerable proportion of cases of exhibitionism, inversion,
+pederosis, sodomy, etc., the development of the perversion is greatly
+favored, or even directly produced, by the action of alcohol,
+especially when there is a latent predisposition. I have observed a
+whole series of perversions in persons whose sexual appetite was
+normal when they were sober, but became perverted on the slightest
+intoxication. I am convinced that if more attention was paid to the
+subject the number of cases in which alcohol increases the perversion,
+or is even necessary for its development, would be increased.
+
+But what is of much greater importance is the fact that acute and
+chronic alcoholic intoxication deteriorates the germinal protoplasm of
+the procreators. I refer the reader to what I have said at the end of
+Chapter I on blastophthoria. The recent researches of Bezzola seem to
+prove that the old belief in the bad quality of children conceived
+during drunkenness is not without foundation. Relying on the Swiss
+census of 1900, in which there figure nine thousand idiots, and after
+careful examination of the bulletins concerning them, this author has
+proved that there are two acute annual maximum periods for the
+conception of idiots (calculated from nine months before birth): the
+periods of carnival and vintage, when the people drink most. In the
+wine-growing districts the maximum conception of idiots at the time of
+vintage is enormous, while it is almost _nil_ at other periods.
+Moreover, these two maximum periods come at the time of year when
+conception is at a minimum among the rest of the population; the
+maximum of normal conceptions occurring at the beginning of summer.
+
+If these facts are confirmed by further research, we may conclude that
+even acute alcoholism has a blastophthoric action. We may, therefore,
+assume that when a germinal cell leaves its gland at the moment when
+it is impregnated with alcohol, and achieves conjugation, it is unable
+to return to its normal condition, for want of opportunity to be
+completely and promptly cleansed by nutrition and the circulation.
+This explains how it may transmit to the individual which develops
+from it all kinds of taints and defects.
+
+After what we have said, we can tabulate the destructive effects of
+the narcotic poisons and alcohol in particular, in the sexual domain,
+both from the individual and social points of view, as follows:
+
+(1). Irreflective sexual unions, resulting from exaltation of the
+sexual appetite and temporary paralysis of the sentiments which
+inhibit such unions in persons who are not under the influence of
+alcohol. These include the seduction of girls, orgies with prostitutes
+in brothels, and the procreation of children with low-class women, or
+under unfavorable conditions.
+
+(2). Increase of venereal disease. I have made statistics which show
+that about 75 per cent. of venereal disease is contracted by men under
+the influence of alcohol, chiefly by persons who are slightly
+intoxicated and rendered enterprising thereby.
+
+(3). All kinds of misfortunes and catastrophes, such as illegitimate
+pregnancies, despair, suicide, etc., resulting from irreflective
+sexual unions and venereal disease.
+
+(4). The production of the majority of sexual crimes also resulting
+from the exasperation of eroticism combined with irreflection and
+general motor impulsiveness. Jealousy here plays a great part. The
+most important statistics (for example, those of Baer, in Germany),
+prove that from 50 to 75 per cent. of criminal assaults are committed
+under the influence of alcohol. Indecent exposure, etc., is due to
+alcohol in 75 or 80 per cent.
+
+(5). Exaltation and sometimes development of sexual perversion.
+
+(6). Creation of hereditary alcoholic blastophthoria, either as the
+result of a single drinking bout, or from habitual drunkenness. The
+offspring tainted with alcoholic blastophthoria suffer from various
+bodily and physical anomalies, among which are dwarfism, rickets, a
+predisposition to tuberculosis and epilepsy, moral idiocy and idiocy
+in general, a disposition to crime and mental diseases, sexual
+perversions, loss of suckling in women, and many other misfortunes.
+
+(7). The delirium of jealousy is a specific symptom of chronic
+alcoholism. Its effects are terrible and lead to all kinds of sorts of
+infamies, assaults and even assassination.
+
+(8). Alcohol is also the almost indispensable vehicle of prostitution
+and proxenetism, which could not be maintained without it, at any rate
+in their present disgusting and brutal form.
+
+(9). The coarseness and vulgarity of alcoholic eroticism produce in
+public places, as well as in private, an importunate and obscene form
+of flirtation, which is brutally and cynically opposed to all
+sentiments of propriety and modesty.
+
+The above statements refer chiefly to men. Among women, alcoholism is
+less common, at least in continental Europe; in England, however,
+drunken women are often seen in the streets. Among prostitutes,
+however, alcoholism is almost universal. Proxenetism makes use of
+alcohol to compromise and seduce girls and thus lead them to
+prostitution. When they have once fallen they often drink to forget
+the horror of their situation.
+
+The action of alcohol on the feminine sexual appetite is very
+peculiar. The appetite is generally exalted, while the power is not
+affected, owing to the passive role of woman in coitus. At first,
+paralysis of the psychic inhibitions and their higher irradiations
+(love, duty, modesty, etc.) by alcohol deprives the woman of nearly
+all power of resistance against the sexual desire of the man. It
+results from this that an intoxicated woman becomes the easy prey of a
+man whose sexual appetite is excited. The following case is
+instructive from this point of view:
+
+    A young girl of good position married a man of weak and vulgar
+    character. Both were rather fond of drink. When she became
+    pregnant the wife took large quantities of wine, by the doctor's
+    orders, and this led her to inebriety. The friends and
+    acquaintances of the husband found this amusing, and began to
+    flirt with her to such an extent that she fell a victim to their
+    sexual appetites, in her continual state of semi-intoxication.
+    The husband at first had not the courage to put an end to this
+    and did not wish to divorce her, for pecuniary reasons; for the
+    wife had the money. He finally decided to send her to an asylum
+    which I superintended, to cure her alcoholism.
+
+    From the antecedents of the patient, I expected to see a cynical
+    and erotic woman; but she was nothing of the kind. Although
+    hardly sober, this woman was modest and well-behaved. What
+    struck me most was her extreme of modesty, which at first made
+    it difficult for me to investigate her psychological state. Her
+    conduct was exemplary the whole time, and she eventually
+    confided to me that it was not so much sexual desire as the
+    profound indifference and feebleness developed by inebriety
+    which had caused her to give way. Before leaving the asylum she
+    joined a total abstinence society, returned to her husband and
+    succeeded in converting him also to total abstinence. She kept
+    to her pledge and lived afterwards in conjugal peace and
+    happiness, without ever relapsing into her old infidelity. I saw
+    her several years afterwards with her husband, happy and
+    flourishing.
+
+I have mentioned this case to show that, even in women, sexual excess
+does not necessarily destroy the character, the sentiments of modesty,
+nor the will. It all depends on their cause. If there is congenital
+weakness of character, the evil is irreparable; but if it is only due
+to external forces which can be eliminated in time, its effect may
+often be permanently suppressed. Some female inebriates are sexually
+cold and repulse men; but others are erotic and even nymphomaniacs.
+
+Whosoever has the welfare of humanity at heart, and takes the trouble
+to reflect on the ravages caused by alcohol in human society, should
+have the courage to make a slight effort and renounce all alcoholic
+drink--say for six months at first, as an experiment--in order to
+combat the social alcoholic misery by force of example, instead of
+empty phrases. He will then discover, like all abstainers, that the
+usage of alcohol (including wine, cider and beer) however small the
+quantity consumed, only serves to maintain a habit which is vicious
+and disastrous to society, by giving the contagious example of
+so-called moderation, to which a great number of persons cannot
+restrict themselves. He will then abstain for the rest of his days,
+and it will become more and more incomprehensible to him how humanity
+has been led, first by the spirit of imitation, later by the
+conservation of prejudices, to develop, maintain and defend such a
+social abuse by the aid of a legion of sophisms.
+
+
+SEXUAL ANOMALIES AND PERVERSIONS BY SUGGESTION AND AUTO-SUGGESTION
+
+The role of the phenomena of suggestion in sexual life is much greater
+than is generally supposed. I shall return to this subject in a
+special chapter, but I may state here that there is a category of
+sexual perversions and anomalies of all kinds which are not hereditary
+but acquired, and which Krafft-Ebing, although he cites striking
+examples, wrongly attributes to the effect of sexual excess and
+depravity, or which he compares to ordinary psychopathia, while in
+reality they are only the direct effect of strong suggestion or
+auto-suggestion.
+
+I place in this category the cases where a man, whose sexuality has
+hitherto been normal, suddenly becomes pathological as the result of
+some circumstance which produces on him a profound impression. For
+instance, the sexual appetite of an individual may be strongly
+excited, in a brothel or elsewhere, by an erotic woman whose feet or
+shoes are especially elegant. The sight of this well-fitted foot
+exalts his sexual desire to a high degree. From this moment feminine
+shoes, by subjective association, exercise on him an irresistible
+erotic power, which dominates everything else and transforms him into
+a fetichist; the female body no longer elicits his appetite, the
+latter having become the slave of the image of shoes only. (Shoe
+fetichism.)
+
+Sexual inversion may also be acquired by suggestion, when a normal man
+becomes excited by acts of masturbation or pederasty, or simply by
+some psychic image with a strongly suggestive action. He may thus lose
+his normal sexual appetite for women and become homosexual.
+
+These phenomena occur especially in individuals whose suggestibility
+is pathological or hysterical, or even simply exaggerated. But these
+individuals are numerous, and this fact gives us the explanation of a
+large proportion of acquired sexual anomalies, at the same time
+indicating the means of curing them. In such cases, it is not a
+question of moral depravity, nor necessarily of a latent hereditary
+predisposition, but simply of a single sudden suggestive action,
+sometimes repeated.
+
+Among other cases, I may mention that of a well-educated man of very
+refined sentiments, deeply in love with his wife, but very
+suggestible, who became suddenly impotent and homosexual as the result
+of a simple idea-image which became fixed in his mind and subjected it
+by suggestion. His strong character enabled him to resist intercourse
+with males, but he fell into despair and became very unhappy. I am
+convinced that a careful study would reveal an increasing number of
+cases of psychopathia acquired by suggestion or auto-suggestion.
+
+Cases of this kind may be spontaneously cured. Treatment by suggestion
+is indicated and may act directly or indirectly. Everything which is
+of a functional psychic nature may occur by suggestion, or be, on the
+contrary, eradicated by suggestion. The important point is to
+emphasize the fact that whenever a man, hitherto normal, is affected,
+without apparent cause, with a more or less sudden sexual anomaly, and
+which is consequently not the effect of long habit, suggestion or
+auto-suggestion should be borne in mind.
+
+These two conceptions can, moreover, be hardly distinguished, for the
+things which cause suggestion are usually the sensory perceptions of
+sight, smell, touch and hearing, associated with certain situations,
+or with an intense affective state which fixes them in the brain.
+Sometimes it is a question of simple imaginative ideas. The cases
+where a hypnotizer intentionally suggests sexual perversion probably
+exist only in theory. We are, therefore, concerned with fortuitous
+suggestions, acting through persons, situations, objects or ideas,
+which excite the mind by the impression they produce on the sentiments
+and the sexual appetite.
+
+
+SEXUAL PERVERSIONS DUE TO HABIT
+
+Without being congenital and without depending on a special
+predisposition, all the perversions of the sexual appetite that we
+have just described may be acquired, by means of the artificial and
+continued excitation of a sexual appetite which seeks satisfaction in
+change and unusual situations: Moreover, perverse satisfaction of the
+sexual appetite is often resorted to--onanism, pederasty or oral
+coitus--either to avoid conception, or with the idea of escaping
+venereal disease, or in the case of onanism, to avoid publicity,
+trouble or expense. As we have seen above alcohol favors the
+development of sexual perversions.
+
+It is evident that a commerce in women systematically tolerated by the
+state, as is the proxenetism of regulated prostitution, employs all
+means imaginable to attract and excite its clients. In this way
+prostitution becomes the high-school for all the refinements of sexual
+perversion. It not only offers special objects required by individuals
+tainted by heredity with various perversions, but it artificially
+develops perverse habits in the normal man. The manipulations of
+sadism or masochism are even utilized to revive a sexual appetite
+weakened by abuse. Individuals who have become impotent often try to
+excite themselves by observing the coitus of others. In fact a leaven
+of corruption and ignominy ferments on the dunghill of venal and
+artificial excitation of the sexual appetite.
+
+The apostles of Mammon and Bacchus, the former by interest, the latter
+by the aid of a narcosis which paralyzes the higher sentiments and
+reflection, work in concert to maintain this foul swamp. The same
+individuals very commonly combine the two apostleships and become
+themselves the victims of their false gods, after sacrificing hundreds
+of their fellows.
+
+To make matters more clear I will recapitulate as follows:
+
+(1). _We often meet with pederasty without a trace of inversion of the
+sexual appetite. It is also practiced on women by the psychopathic
+male. But the normal man hardly ever prefers it to normal coitus._
+
+(2). _Compensatory masturbation is very common and ceases with the
+opportunity for normal coitus._
+
+(3). _Sodomy is also often compensatory._
+
+(4). _It is the same with assaults on children, which seldom depend on
+a hereditary disposition._
+
+(5). _Lesbian love, a form of degeneracy, artificial excitation of the
+clitoris by the tongue or otherwise, may have quite a different origin
+than from sexual inversion or other perversions._
+
+All these things take place chiefly in brothels or with prostitutes,
+in barracks, boarding-schools, convents, and other isolated places
+where men and women live alone and separated from the other sex.
+
+Sadism, masochism, fetichism and exhibitionism are much more rarely
+the result of habits, because their object and the images with which
+they are associated do not offer compensation for the normal
+excitation of the sexual appetite, or only do so insufficiently.
+
+I am here obliged to contradict Krafft-Ebing, who regards
+exhibitionism as the effect of the impotence of certain individuals
+depraved by excesses, or as the unconscious act of certain epileptics.
+No doubt the two conditions which he mentions may present themselves,
+but the exhibitionists I have observed have all been psychopaths whose
+perversion was primordial and hereditary, with the exception of some
+females in whom perversion originated in suggestion or alcoholism,
+which had at any rate aroused the disposition.
+
+Lesbian love merits special mention. Owing to the clitoris being more
+or less concealed, women are often not satisfied by coitus, especially
+when the ejaculation of the male takes place too quickly. Consequently
+a number of normal women prefer to procure an orgasm by means of
+lesbian love (_cunnilingus_.) There are clubs of female perverts, many
+of whom are not homosexual by heredity.
+
+Although they differ from hereditary perversions, acquired perversions
+are connected with the former by a series of latent hereditary
+dispositions, more or less marked, and often difficult to distinguish
+in particular cases, especially when suggestion is blended with them.
+
+Among the entirely hereditary and congenital sexual perversions, many
+occur in individuals who are well conducted and often possessed of
+delicate and altruistic sentiments. This point is not sufficiently
+recognized. Such persons are nearly always more or less neurotic in
+other respects. They are disheartened by their perversion and are so
+much ashamed of it that they often prefer to carry their secret to the
+grave rather than confide it to their doctor.
+
+Others sometimes confess to a doctor, and the life of a martyr, who
+is always contemplating suicide, is revealed to him. Individuals of
+feeble, cynical, egoistic or abnormal natures, whose number is legion
+in the corrupt centers of modern civilization, yield to their
+perversion and often come before the tribunals, or else become objects
+of public contempt. As it is this class which generally become known,
+it is assumed by too hasty generalization that sexual perverts are
+necessarily cynical, vicious or weak-minded individuals; but this
+induction is false. It is unfortunately impossible to estimate the
+number of sexual perversions dissimulated by a large number of
+pessimists of both sexes, generally celibate and usually males.
+
+I do not pretend that, when sexual perversion is neither hereditary
+nor favored by a latent hereditary predisposition, nor developed or
+fixed by alcoholism, it is usually possible to cure it by suggestion.
+This often acts even in cases where alcohol has aroused a hereditary
+taint. The incorrigible recidivists among the sexual perverts are, I
+am convinced, either hereditary or strongly predisposed, or
+degenerated by alcoholism. The original will power of the pervert is
+also of great importance. Weak-willed perverts always tend to relapse.
+
+The social sanitation of sexual intercourse would certainly reduce to
+a minimum the compensatory perversions of normal persons who abstain
+from alcohol. The prohibition of alcoholic drink would definitely
+eliminate not only the perversions directly due to alcohol, but
+gradually also those due to alcoholic blastophthoria in the
+descendants. Other hereditary perversions, not of alcoholic origin,
+can only be definitely eliminated by healthy selection.
+
+Perversions acquired by suggestion or auto-suggestion should be
+combated by suppression of the depraved examples which cause them, as
+well as by treatment by suggestion. It is needless to say that sexual
+perverts should always abstain from alcoholic drinks.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[4] English translation by F.J. Rebman: Rebman Co., New York.
+
+[5] For further information on this subject see _Marshall's_
+"Syphilology and Venereal Disease," (London, Balliere, Tindall & Co.);
+also _Marshall's_ translation of _Fournier's_ "Treatment and
+Prophylaxis of Syphilis," (New York: Rebman Co.)
+
+[6] _Krafft-Ebing_ describes bestiality (connection with animals) and
+pederasty under the general term of sodomy, but points out that the
+original meaning of sodomy used in Genesis (Chapter XIX) signified
+pederasty, _i.e._, anal coitus between men.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+SUGGESTION IN SEXUAL LIFE--AMOROUS INTOXICATION
+
+
+=Suggestion. Cerebral Activity. Consciousness. Subconsciousness and
+Amnesia. Auto-suggestion.=--The explanation of the phenomena of
+hypnotism and suggestion by Liébeault and Bernheim has been a
+veritable scientific revelation for human psychology. Unfortunately it
+has remained to a great extent unknown to the public and the majority
+of medical men and jurists. Even at the present day, this subject is
+regarded either in the light of magic and occult phenomena, or as
+being connected with imposture and charlatanism. This results from the
+incapacity of most men to think in a psychological and philosophical
+manner, to observe for themselves and to take into account the
+connection which exists between the mind and cerebral activity.
+
+I must point out the common error of many physicians, who do not
+understand the psychological nature of hypnotism, and who place it,
+like Dubois, in antinomy with psychotherapy. Hypnotism and suggestion
+in the waking state are one and the same thing; but what the
+physicians I have mentioned understand by suggestion in the waking
+state--psychotherapy, action by will power, etc.--is only a chaos of
+misapplied terms and psychological phenomena, only half understood by
+them. Sleep by suggestion is only one of the phenomena of suggestion.
+
+I must refer the reader to Bernheim's book on "_La Suggestion et ses
+Applications ą la Thérapeutique_," and to my book on hypnotism ("_Der
+Hypnotismus und die Suggestive Psychotherapie._" Stuttgart, 1902), for
+I cannot enter into the details here. I will, however, attempt to make
+clear the action of suggestion in order to explain its connection with
+the sexual sensations and sentiments.
+
+Suggestion consists in the action of ideas or representations on the
+activity of the brain in general, and on some of its activities in
+particular. The terms _idea-force_ and _ideoplasty_ have been
+employed; but all ideas are at the same time forces and are more or
+less ideoplastic according to the nature and intensity of the cerebral
+activity which corresponds to them. Every representation which appears
+in our consciousness is at the same time a cerebral activity. I will
+explain by the aid of an example the relation which exists between the
+play of our _conscious_ ideas and what is incorrectly called our
+_unconscious_ cerebral activity.
+
+For reasons which are too long to explain here, I call _subconscious_
+all which is usually called unconscious, because I maintain that there
+is probably nothing unconscious in our nervous activity, and that what
+appears to be so is in reality accompanied by an introspection,
+subordinated like its corresponding activity to the great and clear
+introspection of the higher brain, which accompanies the concentrated
+and mobile activity of what we call our attention in the waking state.
+No doubt, we do not as a rule perceive our subconscious activities,
+for want of sufficient intensity in their association with the series
+of aperceptions (states subsequent to attentional activity). But we
+possess a number of observations, due especially to hypnotism, which
+allow us to infer by analogy the existence of subordinated
+introspections corresponding to the cerebral activities which appear
+to us unconscious.
+
+For example, I think of my wife. This idea immediately calls to mind
+that of a journey that I intend to take with her, and in its turn the
+idea of the journey recalls that of the trunk I shall use to pack my
+effects. Almost as rapidly as lightning, the three ideas: (1) my wife;
+(2) the journey; (3) the trunk, apparently succeed each other in my
+consciousness. But, according to the old scholasticism, the idea of
+the journey is awakened by that of my wife, and that of my trunk by
+that of the journey, which would, therefore, be its "cause." But a
+little observation soon shows that the succession of our conscious
+ideas is not so easily explained, for at every moment representations
+appear which have no logical relation to those which precede them,
+and cannot be caused by them, nor by immediate sensory perceptions
+coming from without.
+
+At a time when the activity of the brain was not understood, the
+existence of an essential mind and a free will were assumed,
+independent of the law of the conservation of energy and of the law of
+causality, independent therefore of the brain, the activity of which
+they commanded more or less at their pleasure. This conception is
+based on ignorance of the facts.
+
+Let us return to our example: why does the idea of my wife call to
+mind that of the journey? It might quite as well suggest others. In
+reality, a number of ideas, or subconscious cerebral activities, act
+at the same time as that of my wife to give rise to the idea of the
+journey. This journey had already been decided on before thinking of
+it at the moment in question, and the resolution that I had taken to
+make it had left in my brain latent impressions (engrams) which
+slumbered there; such as those of the date of departure, the duration
+of the journey, its termination, precautions to be taken for the house
+during our absence, things to take with us, expenses, etc., etc.
+During the infinitely short time when the idea of journey appears in
+my consciousness, between that of my wife and that of my trunk, I have
+no consciousness of all these things. They are, however, closely
+associated with the idea of journey, and in connection with it by the
+thousand threads of a subconscious and latent cerebral force which
+takes place in my cerebral nerve-elements (neurones); and it is their
+hidden action which awakens the idea of journey and directs my
+attention to it, at the same time weakening by their divers
+interferences the intensity of other associated engrams; in particular
+that of the sentiment of traveling, and thereby preventing a series of
+ideo-motor sensations relating to departure from becoming predominant.
+
+What suddenly appears in my consciousness is the verbal representation
+symbolized by the word _journey_; a general representation of
+synthetic nature, and consequently nebulous. It is the words of
+language only which allow me to synthetize a general idea in a short
+and definite form. Thus, the cerebral flash _journey_ which follows
+the idea of my wife is not caused by the latter idea alone; it has
+been mainly drawn from its obscurity and brought before the mobile
+conscious attention, by the action of the thousand subconscious
+threads, some of which we have just mentioned, and which have at the
+same time determined its quality.
+
+Without my being aware of it, these dynamic threads, or latent
+engrams, have to a great extent determined the kind of idea which will
+follow that of _journey_, and which will seem to me to be caused by
+this last alone, namely the idea of _trunk_. The idea of journey might
+equally well have awakened other images, such as those of the
+acquaintances whom I should meet, or of the town I intended to visit.
+Why that of the trunk? This is simply because the care of the effects
+to be taken, the place they should occupy, etc., revolved
+unconsciously but strongly in my brain, and for the moment
+predominated over other subconscious associations.
+
+This simple example shows us that in reality the three successive
+ideas, _wife_, _journey_, _trunk_, are more under the influence of
+sentiments, representations and former volitions in a latent and
+subconscious state, than dependent on each other. But these latter
+activities are themselves the product of other antecedent activities
+of my brain, extraordinarily diverse and complex. I will attempt to
+make things a little more complete and comprehensible by the aid of a
+comparison.
+
+A man finds himself in the middle of a compact and moving crowd. He
+cries out to attract the attention of the crowd. His voice is heard by
+those immediately around him, but is lost on the moving mass. Against
+his will he is carried away by the crowd in the direction of the
+strongest movement. But if the crowd is immobile and tranquil the same
+man may make himself heard, and may even force his way through the
+crowd and impel it in his turn by the impression that his words have
+made on it.
+
+Something analogous to this occurs in the action of an idea according
+as it is produced in a brain which is awake, active and strongly
+associated, or on the contrary in a brain which rests and sleeps. The
+brain which is active and strongly associated resembles the agitated
+crowd which carries away everything by its activity. In this case a
+single idea, like a single man, cries out in vain, _i.e._, is produced
+strongly; it will not impel, but will be carried away or stifled,
+unless it already possesses, by the former remembrances (engrams)
+which it may revive, a particular power over the brain. It is the same
+with the agitated crowd; if the man who cries out is already known and
+has influence and power, he may arrest it and even bring it toward the
+center of his agitation. The brain which is at rest or sleeping,
+_i.e._, feebly associated and not active, resembles the immobile
+crowd. Even when it is new and has not yet become fixed in the memory,
+an idea may produce a deep impression, and awaken activities in its
+own direction. I repeat, if this idea has already acted more or less
+powerfully on the cerebral activity that it has often carried with it,
+it has accustomed this to follow it (_i.e._, fortified the engrams and
+facilitated their ecphoria), and then the powerful associated engrams
+which it has left in the organ of thought, will often be capable of
+carrying everything with them, even to the center of the agitation.
+
+In this way I succeeded in suddenly calming by hypnotism a woman who
+was mad with despair over the tragic death of half her family in a
+fire, by the simple fact that I had often hypnotized her previously.
+Immediately after the hypnosis she went away quietly to the place of
+the disaster and was the only one to keep her presence of mind and put
+things in order.
+
+I refer the reader to what has been said concerning the mneme (Chapter
+I). Semon's theory throws light on these questions.
+
+The first thing necessary for suggestion or hypnotism is to put the
+brain of the subject in a state of relative repose, so as to prepare a
+soil ready to receive suggestions. These are then made so as to always
+increase the cerebral repose, in order to weaken the action of the
+threads of subconscious association of which we have spoken above.
+Lastly, the suggestion (or idea which symbolizes the effect it is
+desired to obtain) is accentuated as much as possible, and in a form
+which at once excludes all contradiction. For this purpose everything
+should be utilized--sentiments and associations which are easily
+introduced, agreeable or repulsive sensations, volitions, etc. Nothing
+paralyzes a suggestive effect so much as emotions, violent sentiments
+in general, inclinations, or repulsions which act in the opposite
+direction, whether they arise from fear, despair, hatred, sadness,
+joy, love or any kind of affective conditions. The same brain,
+accessible to all kinds of suggestions, will repress some of them as
+soon as it feels a deep sympathy for their contrary. We may suggest in
+vain to an amorous woman, the hatred or disgust of her lover, for the
+sentiment of love is stronger than the effect of a strange suggestion,
+and every suggestion which opposes the strongest aspirations of
+sentiment provokes mistrust and repulsion, which in their turn destroy
+all suggestive power.
+
+As we have indicated in our comparison, every suggestion which has
+succeeded leaves a strong trace, or engram, in the brain. It has
+opened a way by breaking down a barrier or a chasm, and its effect,
+which appeared hitherto difficult or impossible to realize, will
+henceforth be much more easy to obtain. This is why considerable
+cerebral repose is often necessary at first to open a way for a
+suggestion, while later on its effect can often be obtained even
+during the agitation of cerebral activity strongly associated with or
+even led by violent momentary sentiments.
+
+The chief characteristic of suggestive action, is that it traverses
+the paths of subconscious activity, so that its effect occurs
+unexpectedly in our consciousness.
+
+For example, I suggest to a man that his forehead itches. As soon as
+he feels it he is surprised, being unable to understand how my
+prophecy has been transformed into real itching. He then believes in
+my power over his nervous system, _i.e._, that his brain becomes more
+receptive to my words, and offers less resistance after having proved
+the value of my predictions. It matters little whether these are
+directed toward sensations or movements, or vaso-motor actions causing
+blushing and blanching, or suppression or bringing on of menstruation
+(in the case of a woman), etc. My influence over him by suggestion
+will increase; _i.e._, his brain will accustom itself to the
+suggestions which I give it by letting them dissociate its activity.
+This tendency to be influenced by suggestion is very contagious by
+example. When A influences B successfully, and C, D, E, F and G are
+witnesses of the fact, they will be much more easily influenced by A
+in the same direction; and so on. This explains suggestion affecting
+the masses.
+
+It is quite indifferent whether the subjective sentiment of sleep
+occurs more or less in the state of hypnosis or suggestion. This
+sentiment depends chiefly on the presence or absence of a variable
+degree of amnesia (want of memory to awaken). But amnesia only depends
+on the rupture, often fortuitous and unimportant, of the chain of
+remembrances in the series of super-conscious or attentional states of
+cerebral activity.
+
+In somnambulists, who are the most suggestible people, we can produce
+or suppress amnesia at will by a single word, and make them forget or
+remember what has passed. I must dwell on this point, because of the
+current dogma which assumes an essential difference between hypnotism
+and suggestion in the waking state. Such an assumption is based on
+false conception of the psychology of suggestion. The only difference
+consists in the suggestion of amnesia, or the subjective sentiment of
+sleep; or, if one prefers it, the subjective remembrance of sleep
+opposed to the remembrance of having been awakened. But these two
+remembrances may be voluntarily connected with the same past state of
+the brain.
+
+By _auto-suggestion_ is meant the suggestive action of spontaneous
+ideas--that is to say, ideas which are not suggested to the subject by
+any other person, but the effect of which is identical to that of
+external suggestions. An idea, a sentiment, dominates the mind,
+overcomes all its antagonists and produces a strong suggestive effect
+on the whole nervous system in the direction which it symbolizes. The
+idea of being unable to sleep often produces insomnia; the idea of
+sexual impotence may at once inhibit erection and render coitus
+impossible. The idea of yawning makes one yawn; that of coitus
+provokes erections; the idea of shame causes blushing; that of fear
+blanching; that of pity weeping.
+
+But it often happens unconsciously, in yawning for example, that one
+man suggests it to another who begins to yawn; or the sight of certain
+objects, the hearing of certain sounds, provokes suggestions. Thus the
+sight of an object belonging to a certain woman may cause an erection;
+the odor of some article of diet which has caused indigestion is
+sufficient to cause nausea, etc. We thus see that there is a series of
+transitions between external intentional suggestion and
+auto-suggestion, in the form of suggestion of objects and unconscious
+or involuntary suggestion of persons. The conception of true or
+intentional suggestion infers the determined will of one man
+influencing another by suggestion; there is no other criterion.
+
+It is quite another question whether the one who suggests wishes to
+benefit his subject, or wishes on the contrary to abuse him or make
+him ridiculous.
+
+=Sympathy. Love and Suggestion.=--It is of great importance for us to
+know that sympathy and confidence are the fundamental elements of
+success in suggestive action. Even when deceived by the one who
+hypnotizes him, the subject may yield to him while he is not aware of
+it. But there is here a point to be noted. A man may very well see
+clearly with his reason and his logic, he may understand that harm is
+done to him, he may even curse a thing or a person when he reflects,
+and in spite of this be instinctively and subconsciously attracted
+toward this thing or this person, like a moth to a candle, when
+certain sentiments of sympathy or attraction urge him to it. The two
+following examples will make this more clear:
+
+    (1). An actor fell in love with a hysterical married woman. This
+    woman was very polyandrous, and deceived not only her husband
+    but the actor and many others. The actor tried with all the
+    power of his reason to be delivered from the tyrannical charm of
+    this siren; but the power of attraction of the woman was so
+    strong that he could not succeed in resisting her. He came to me
+    in despair and begged me to rid him of his passion by hypnotism.
+    I realized the difficulty of the situation but did my best to
+    help him. Although aided by his reason, all my suggestions were
+    overcome by the violence of the passion that his hysterical
+    seducer had inspired in him, and I obtained absolutely no
+    result.
+
+    (2). A well-educated, unmarried woman became so enamored of a
+    young man, that she was consumed with passion, grew thin, and
+    lost her appetite and sleep. Having exchanged ideas with the
+    young man for some time, she became convinced that their two
+    characters were not suited to each other, and that
+    incompatibility of temper and quarrels would necessarily follow
+    marriage. She therefore resisted with all her power and came to
+    me to be cured of her passion by suggestion. My failure in the
+    preceding case increased my skepticism, but I did my best to
+    succeed; the result, however, was no better than with the actor
+    in the preceding case. Time and separation alone gradually
+    restored equilibrium in this lady's nervous system.
+
+These two cases are very instructive. Suggestion can only successfully
+combat powerful sentiments by arousing other sentiments of sympathy
+which increase little by little and finally become substituted for the
+preceding ones. This brings us to a very difficult question.
+
+In order to influence other persons by suggestion, it is above all
+things necessary to try and associate the ideas which we suggest to
+them with sentiments of sympathy, so as to arouse in them the
+impression that the object to be attained is desirable and agreeable,
+or at any rate that it constitutes a necessity. The woman who
+surrenders to the mercy of her conqueror often experiences a kind of
+pleasure which is associated with the passiveness of her sexual
+sentiments. It is the same in the male masochist.
+
+The physician who hypnotizes is obliged to awaken sentiments of
+sympathy in his subject to combat with their assistance the sentiments
+associated with the morbid state which it is desired to suppress. This
+is usually free from danger when there is no natural sexual attraction
+between the hypnotizer and the hypnotized; when, for example, a normal
+man hypnotizes another man, a normal woman another woman, or an invert
+another invert. Otherwise there is a risk of exciting sexual
+sympathies difficult to eliminate afterwards, when necessary
+precautions have not been taken at first. These attractive sexual
+sensations or sentiments may affect both the hypnotizer and the
+hypnotized and provoke love scenes, which are fatal to success.
+
+For example, a hysterical baroness, whose sexual desire had been
+excited by hypnotism, fell in love with a person named Czinsky, whose
+case was studied and published by Schrenck-Notzing. This baroness
+experienced a kind of suggested love against which her reason resisted
+to a certain extent, while her hypnotizer, himself amorous, lost his
+head. One might say in such a case that suggestion only reėnforced the
+very human sentiments which occur in all love stories of everyday
+life. Between normal love and suggested love there is such an infinite
+number of gradations that it is impossible to fix exactly the limits
+which separate them.
+
+A hypnotizer may abuse his suggestive power to exploit the love of the
+hypnotized. I have been consulted in a case where an old woman had
+hypnotized a rich young man and had so powerfully influenced him that
+he abandoned his family and married her. As in the case of Czinsky,
+the abuse was obvious. The case was even more grave, for this old
+woman acted only from mercenary motives; in fact, she procured young
+girls for her husband, so as not to lose her suggestive influence
+after marriage: Czinsky, on the contrary, was truly amorous.
+
+As a general rule we may say that, when amorous intoxication is the
+result of intentional suggestion, the subject obeys a certain
+sentiment of constraint, which he may describe later on when he has
+succeeded in recovering himself. He feels a kind of duplication of his
+personality, and perceives that the excitation of his sexual desire,
+as well as his love, have a somewhat forced nature, against which his
+reason attempts to defend him. This reaction often only appears
+afterwards, when the sympathetic action of suggestion begins to fade.
+
+Here again the gradations are infinite, and no absolute rules can be
+formulated, for if the hypnotizer is very skillful and does not let
+his intentions appear, the subjective sentiment of constraint may be
+absolutely wanting; _i.e._, never become conscious. If, however, the
+hypnotizer is clumsy and the subject a hysterical woman, love is often
+transformed into hatred in the latter soon afterwards, as is so often
+the case in these subjects, and she may afterwards be convinced by
+auto-suggestion that she was the object of artificial constraint or
+even violence, and describe imaginary or unnatural events as if they
+were real; while she was simply amorous after the fashion of
+hysterical subjects.
+
+It is quite otherwise with cases where a hypnotizer produces in a
+hypnotized woman a state of deep somnambulism and does harm to her
+without her knowledge. Here the victim is absolutely without will, and
+incapable of resisting. These last cases are much more easy to decide,
+especially from the legal point of view; but, as far as we are now
+concerned, the first cases are the most important.
+
+The amorous irradiations produced by the sexual appetite react on the
+latter and increase it. They awaken sentiments of reciprocal sympathy,
+from which results a mutual attraction similar to that of animals.
+Suggestive action depends on the mastery we obtain over the associated
+constellations of subconscious engrams, and we have already become
+acquainted with the phylogenetic and actual relationship which exists
+between sexual sensations and sensations of sympathy. The simple
+juxtaposition of these facts clearly shows that powerful affinities
+exist between suggestion and love. I use the word "affinity"
+advisedly, for we must not go further and regard the two things as
+identical. Fortunately, the majority of curable patients may be cured
+by the prudent awakening of a slight degree of sympathy, and by the
+common efforts made by the hypnotizer and the hypnotized to subdue the
+morbid symptoms, without anything but a certain sentiment of
+reciprocal friendship resulting. On the other hand two human beings
+may be united by sexual love, without either being able to hypnotize
+the other. This is especially the case when, for example, two
+conjoints have known each other for many years, or when two persons of
+higher intelligence, who are not too dependent on their sexual
+intercourse, meet each other.
+
+I am obliged to dwell on these facts, so that my ideas may not be
+falsely interpreted, by premature generalization. On the other hand,
+when a strongly associated brain suggests to a weak brain of the
+opposite sex sentiments of sympathy and makes use of them to arouse
+the sexual appetite, it may produce a suggested love which closely
+resembles natural amorous intoxication. If the discovery of an
+imposture or abuse of power on the part of the hypnotizer weakens or
+destroys the effect of suggestion, the hypnotized subject recovers
+herself. Despite and repentance may then transform her love into
+hatred.
+
+In other cases there is a struggle between sexual desire and the
+disillusion of a deceived love, which often serves as the tragic
+motive in romance and the drama. The following is a typical case of
+suggested love without formal hypnotic proceedings:
+
+    An old _roué_ aged sixty, married and the father of a family,
+    persecuted a very suggestible young girl with his attentions,
+    and systematically seduced her by means of erotic readings. He
+    produced such an impression on this young girl that she became
+    hypnotized and fell in love with the old _roué_ She lost all
+    conscience, became deceitful and untruthful by suggestion, and
+    compromised herself and her family. Her seducer was poor, so
+    that it was not his fortune that attracted her. She knew very
+    well that this union could lead to nothing, but could not
+    resist, and eloped with him. Later on she came to her senses and
+    left him.
+
+According to an old proverb, young girls laugh at old men and only
+marry them reluctantly or for their money; but in reality this is by
+no means always true.
+
+=Amorous Intoxication.=--Let us now compare these phenomena with those
+of ordinary life called _amorous intoxication_. The affinities are at
+once apparent. A man and a woman meet and take a fancy for each other.
+The reciprocal action of looks, speech and touch, in fact all the
+apparatus of the senses and the mind, awakens in both of them
+sentiments of sympathy and sexual desire which mutually strengthens
+each other. Sexual desire invests every action and appearance of the
+loved object with an ever-increasing halo of charm and splendor, and
+this halo of sexual origin increases in its turn the sentiments of
+sympathy; and the sentiments of sympathy increase the sexual desire.
+In this way mutual suggestions grow like a snowball, and rapidly
+attain the culminating point of amorous intoxication, or what is
+called being _madly in love_.
+
+All this depends only on reciprocal illusion. The more violent and
+foolish the amorous intoxication, without preparation or reflexion,
+and the less the individuals know each other, the more rapidly these
+illusions collapse, like a castle of cards, as soon as some douche of
+cold water sobers the two lovers. Thus indifference, disgust, and even
+hatred, follow "love."
+
+The suggestive element in love is here apparent. Just as a hypnotized
+person will eagerly swallow a raw potato which he takes for an orange;
+so will a person madly in love regard an ugly or wicked girl as a
+goddess, or an amorous girl find her ideal of chivalry and manliness
+in an egoistic Don Juan.
+
+The affinity is still more evident when the amorous intoxication is
+only on one side, while the other plays the part of seducer. When
+motives of pecuniary interest are not the only cause of seduction, and
+even often when they are, the seducer generally brings into play his
+sexual appetite, but only as a collaborator in his work of seduction
+without allowing himself to be dominated by it. In this case one is
+the seducer and the other the seduced. The seducer plays the part of
+the hypnotizer who suggests, while the seduced plays the part of the
+hypnotized, unless the seduction is due to fear, weakness of mind or
+good nature. The seducer is no doubt more or less under erotic
+influence, but never completely. The seduced, on the contrary, falls
+completely under the power of the seducer. The thoughts, sentiments
+and will are all directed by the impulses of the seducer. The latter
+acquires his ascendancy by means of a kind of suggestive power, often
+assisted by the sexual appetite.
+
+In many cases the seduced gives way by pure suggestion of love without
+sexual desire. These are precisely the cases that the law does not
+foresee, and jurists cannot usually understand. In ordinary life, the
+man most often plays the part of seducer or hypnotizer; but this is
+not always the case. Antony, who threw himself at the feet of
+Cleopatra and obeyed her least gesture, was evidently hypnotized.
+Antonys are not rare even at the present day; but they do not
+constitute the rule, nor the normal state.
+
+As we have just described it, suggestion plays a great role in love,
+and explains to a great extent the phenomena of illusion produced by
+amorous intoxication. In spite of the act which deifies it and the
+ecstatic happiness that accompanies it, we must admit that amorous
+intoxication, with its illusory suggestions uncontrolled by reason,
+brings more poison than true happiness into human life. I will attempt
+to explain the matter more clearly. When two human beings with loyal
+instincts have learned to know each other sufficiently, honestly
+avowing their reciprocal feelings and their past life, at the same
+time subduing their sensual appetites and judging the latter with
+calmness, so as to be convinced that they may reasonably hope to form
+a durable and happy union, then only may they abandon themselves to
+amorous intoxication, but not before. The fact that the latter makes
+each lover appear to the other in the most ideal light only serves to
+strengthen the feelings of sympathy and make them last for life.
+
+On the other hand, two egoists calculating coldly, even if they have
+strong sexual appetites and trouble themselves very little with
+reflections on their intellect, may contract a comparatively happy
+marriage, based simply on reciprocal convenience and interest; a
+marriage in which amorous intoxication only plays a very small part,
+or none at all.
+
+The latter case is of great frequency. The novel which delights in the
+description of admirable or ignoble sentiments, and which shows a
+special preference for bizarre and sensational situations, often of a
+pathological nature, makes us forget that the majority of mediocre and
+normal men are little susceptible to the suggestions of amorous
+intoxication, and that they give vent to their sexual desires in a
+more or less reflective and calculating frame of mind, like a
+_gourmand_. This is not poetical, I admit, but it is much more human.
+Many women also become _gourmands_ in sexual matters.
+
+In all this sexual commerce there are only vestiges or caricatures of
+the poetry of amorous intoxication. It is no longer a question of deep
+love, but of essentially commonplace sexual enjoyment, wisely and
+prudently adapted to other objects of concupiscence, such as money,
+social position, titles, business, etc.
+
+If the poets and the preachers of morality apostrophize me with
+indignation saying that this is the prostitution of love, I shall be
+obliged to protest. So long as sexual enjoyment is not bought, there
+is no prostitution. Man has as much right to a certain agreeable
+satisfaction of his sexual appetite, even without exalted sentiments,
+as he has to satisfy his hunger and thirst, as long as he does no harm
+to anyone. But, I repeat, this question has nothing to do with amorous
+intoxication. The latter is a powerful shock to the whole mind, to the
+principal spheres of cerebral activity, by a suggestive effect,
+usually with the aid of the sexual appetite, but sometimes without
+it.
+
+Amorous intoxication naturally differs in quality and in intensity in
+different individuals. In a person with ideal tendencies it may awaken
+the finest harmonies of the symphony of human sentiments, while brutal
+and debased persons may wallow in the mud.
+
+=Suggestion in Art.=--Suggestion does not act only in the sexual
+sphere, but on the whole mental life. In ęsthetics and in art it has
+an immense and irresistible influence, which gives rise to all the
+capricious exaltations of fashion. The average artist is more or less
+the slave of the ęsthetic suggestions which are in fashion, but the
+average members of the public are absolutely dominated by them.
+Originating in a correct idea of certain effects of light, the most
+absurd exaggerations may become accepted as beautiful and natural by
+an imitative public devoid of personal judgment, by the aid of
+suggestion. These deplorable effects of suggestion may last a long
+time till their nullity or their absurdity causes them gradually to
+disappear. But they are usually replaced by other absurdities.
+
+=Suggestive Action in Sexual Anomalies.=--In very suggestible persons
+the sexual appetite may be easily led astray by sensory impressions
+created by perverse images. In this way the erotic imagination of a
+very suggestible boy, excited indirectly by another boy, may even make
+the latter the object of his sexual desire. This is how homosexual
+inclinations may be formed by suggestion and maintained by mutual
+masturbation, pederasty, etc. The duration of a perversion of this
+kind often depends on the power of the erotic image which suggested
+sexual desire. This is also the case with onanism, sodomy, etc.; and
+in the inverse direction with impotence.
+
+These facts explain at the same time why and how suggestion may cure
+or ameliorate the anomalies of sexual life. Just as suggestion may
+excite or pervert the sexual appetite, so may it calm it and put it in
+the right direction, unless there is a deeply rooted hereditary
+perversion. We can nearly always considerably attenuate too-frequent
+emissions, masturbation and perversions by suggestion, and often
+entirely cure their acquired forms.
+
+I must here point out that when we have succeeded in removing by
+suggestion a perversion based in whole or in part on organic or
+hereditary causes, this result is always more or less precarious, and
+does not give the physician the right to give his sanction to
+marriage. The following case shows us what prudence on the part of the
+hypnotizer can do with patients of this kind:
+
+    A young girl, of good education, was troubled with intense
+    sexual desire. She was incapable of resisting masturbation and
+    dreamed at night that men and animals were in contact with her
+    vulva. These dreams caused intense excitement and were
+    accompanied by orgasms. The treatment of a patient of this kind
+    by suggestion was no easy matter. However, with the aid of a
+    local sedative, the action of which it is needless to say was
+    purely suggestive and was combined with appropriate verbal
+    suggestions, I succeeded not only in suppressing the onanism,
+    but also in almost completely curing the nervous exhaustion of
+    this young girl, so that she was afterwards able to resume work.
+
+I may add that the patient was hypnotized in the presence of others,
+which can always be done in such cases with a little tact. This is a
+rule from which the physician should never depart.
+
+I cannot enter into more details on this subject, but what I have said
+will suffice to draw the attention of my readers to the action of
+suggestion in the sexual appetite and in love.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE SEXUAL QUESTION IN RELATION TO MONEY AND PROPERTY PROSTITUTION,
+PROXENETISM AND VENAL CONCUBINAGE
+
+
+GENERAL REMARKS
+
+In Chapter VI we have studied the historical development of human
+marriage as a continuation of the phylogeny of our species, and we
+have shown that marriage by purchase and different forms of polygamy
+constitute a kind of intermediate stage and at the same time an
+aberration of civilization, which has resulted from the association of
+men, combined with the birth of individual property.
+
+When we consider a being of high mentality and deeply rooted
+individualism such as man, in whom the instinct of love and family are
+so strong, led by the inevitable force of circumstances to live in the
+society of his fellows, we can easily understand that certain
+individuals of a higher mentality than the others will endeavor to
+dominate the weaker and less intelligent, and exploit them for their
+own profit and that of their family.
+
+Analogous tendencies are seen in certain animals. Among the bees the
+old workers appropriate the produce of the work of others. Certain
+ants practice a form of slavery, based, it is true on instinct, in
+stealing the pupę of weaker species which, after hatching, become the
+servants of the idle robbers.
+
+In incomplete animal societies, such as those of the ruminants,
+certain monkeys, etc., the old males, sometimes also the more
+courageous females (cows, for example) direct the herd and become
+recognized as chiefs by the others. But in these cases the personal
+property of objects or even living beings takes no part, because the
+animals have not yet learned its value.
+
+Other animals living isolated show the first tendencies toward
+personal property; for example, the nest where they hoard their
+provisions, while others, such as the ants, bees, wasps, etc., have
+the sentiment of collective property well developed. For instance, a
+swarm of ants regards plants with grubs as its property, and defends
+them in consequence.
+
+As soon as he has attained a primitive degree of culture, man
+comprehends that the possession, not only of land and the produce of
+work, but also the persons of other men, may profit him; and this
+leads to slavery. The male being the stronger soon combines the
+satisfaction of his sexual appetite with the advantage of property, by
+placing the woman more and more under his dependence and exploiting
+her. In this way woman becomes an object for sale and exchange, which
+will procure the purchaser, besides satisfaction for his sexual
+appetite, a docile slave and worker and a procreator of children, a
+source of other workers.
+
+This motive, so clearly revealed by ethnography and history,
+sufficiently explains the ignoble traffic that man has made of love,
+or rather of sexual appetite. We have seen in Chapter VI the profit
+made by polygamous barbarians by the possession of many wives and
+children, which led more and more to the buying and selling of the
+latter. These customs are instinctively related to the traffic of
+slaves. Our modern civilization has happily abolished these taints,
+but money still influences our sexual life by measures which are
+hardly any better. The complication and refinement of civilized life
+have made women and children objects of luxury, and not a source of
+wealth as in former times. This is due to two causes. On the one hand,
+a wider and more humane conception of the social position of women and
+children has extended their rights. Man cannot now exploit them to the
+same extent as in the time of patriarchism, while the father of the
+family has, on the contrary, the duty of maintaining his wife and
+family, and of giving the latter a proper education. Among the poor,
+the exploitation of the wife and children still exists; but in the
+case of the rich and cultured the inverse phenomenon is produced. With
+the intention of making his family happy and distinguished, the father
+brings it up in luxury and idleness, and this produces a very harmful
+result. The increasing refinement of modern life and its pleasures
+leads to effeminacy. It bears upon the whole of society and
+degenerates into an artificial desire for brilliancy and show, which
+makes it increasingly difficult to obtain a simple and sober education
+for the family. Men and women, especially the latter, do their best to
+eclipse each other in their table, their toilet, the comfort and
+luxury of their apartments, their pleasures and distractions, their
+banquets and _fźtes_. An enormous mass of the produce of human labor
+is thus dissipated in futilities, for the benefit of unbridled
+frivolity and luxury. It is owing to this that a civilization which,
+thanks to science and progress, far surpasses all those which have
+preceded it in the richness of its means of production for the wants
+of humanity, not only shows more and more rich with superfluous
+wealth, but also more and more poor who vegetate from the want of it.
+
+What is still more grave is that, for reasons of economy, the
+intelligent, educated and cultured marry less often and procreate
+fewer children. Again, our descendants degenerate more and more, owing
+to the consumption of alcohol or other narcotics, and the unhealthy
+life they lead. This degeneration is dissimulated by their
+well-nourished appearance, but is revealed in their increasing
+neuropathic tendency. They become accustomed to a number of artificial
+wants, which make them increasingly difficult to satisfy. This results
+in their exacting from society much more than they give to it by their
+work; whereas each ought to give to society more than he receives from
+it. As evil omens, I must mention the idleness of many women with
+regard to household and manual work. What are the effects of this
+state of things on the sexual life of modern society? They are of
+three kinds:
+
+(1) _Marriage for money_; (2) _prostitution_, exploited by
+proxenetism, and between the two (3) _venal concubinage_.
+
+
+MARRIAGE FOR MONEY
+
+Marriage for money is the modern form or derivative of marriage by
+purchase. Formerly one bought a wife and sold a daughter; to-day one
+is sold to a wife and buys a son-in-law. The improvement consists in
+the fact that the buyer and the bought are no longer in the positions
+of proprietor and object possessed, respectively. Nevertheless,
+marriage at the present day gives rise to much traffic, speculation
+and exploitation of an evil nature.
+
+These things are so well known that I need not dwell upon them. In
+place of love, force of character, capacity, harmony of sentiments,
+intellectual and bodily health, money is the _alpha et omega_ of
+marriage. Money dazzles most men so that they are blind to everything
+else. They no longer understand that the health and the physical and
+moral worth of a woman constitute a capital which is far preferable to
+all the title-deeds deposited in the coffers of the future
+father-in-law, which are rapidly squandered by children tainted with
+bad physical or mental heredity. In this way ignorance of the laws of
+heredity and the rapacity of pecuniary interests perpetually tend
+toward the antisocial procreation of a degenerate posterity.
+
+Inversely, a number of capable and healthy men and women remain
+celibate and sterile for want of money. Capital exploits them as
+workers and prevents them from reproducing their race; or else their
+own foresight induces them to avoid procreation.
+
+A characteristic sign is observed in military circles, especially in
+the German army where officers who are not well-to-do are forbidden to
+marry a woman unless she has a certain income. The officer must bring
+up his family in accordance with his position. This system, which it
+is sought to justify by all kinds of reasons, shows how the worship of
+the golden calf and class prejudices may degenerate our manners and
+customs. Without fortune one cannot serve the country as an officer,
+or marry, except by selling oneself to a rich woman. In other terms,
+an officer cannot marry according to his own inclination unless he
+possesses a certain fortune. No doubt there are officers who marry for
+love; nevertheless, they are not only obliged to have a certain
+fortune, but the woman they marry must have a certain social position
+and have been well educated. The wife of an officer has to take part
+in balls and official gatherings. She is forbidden to carry on openly
+any business, and her parents must not even be shopkeepers! In a
+German town, one of my relatives heard a rich mother say to her
+daughter, who could not make up her mind to marry a gentleman who
+proposed to her: "If you do not want him, let him go; we do not wish
+to persuade you. We have plenty of money, and if you want to marry
+later on we can easily buy you an officer!"
+
+In the tyranny of class marriages, it is money which almost always
+decides the question. Formerly birth and nobility were everything, and
+it was these which brought power and fortune; nowadays money has
+replaced them, and has monopolized universal power. If an energetic
+and intelligent man revolts, by returning to modest and primitive
+customs, if he dresses simply, performs manual labor, takes his meals
+at the same table as his servants, etc., he is despised and is not
+received into what is called good society.
+
+It is only up to a certain point, and with the exercise of great
+prudence, that any attempt can be made to react against the whirlwind
+of our unbridled luxury, and it is in marriage that this becomes most
+delicate and most difficult. A well-brought-up and well-educated man
+with no money, who wishes to marry while he is a student, so as to
+avoid prostitution or other evils; who is content to live in humble
+quarters with his wife, each doing their own work, will have great
+difficulty in finding a well-nurtured girl to consent to such an
+arrangement. Everything has to be regulated according to the fashion,
+customs and prejudices of the class in which he lives, and this
+usually renders marriage impossible, as long as he has not what is
+called a position. But no one will blame the same student for living
+in concubinage with a grisette. Why cannot the same means of existence
+which allow concubinage suffice for marriage? With this question I
+only touch on a problem to which we shall return, at the same time
+pointing out the canker which corrupts our modern sexual life.
+
+By marriage for money we understand marriage which is based on
+interest and not on love. It is not always a question of money; for
+position, name, titles and convenience often complicate the question.
+Sometimes a ruined aristocrat marries a rich tradesman's daughter, in
+order to repair his fortune, while the vanity of his _fiancée_ makes a
+title a desirable acquisition. Sometimes a coquette, by clever
+flirtation, will simulate a love which she does not feel, to catch a
+rich man in her net. But more commonly there is calculation on both
+sides and both are duped.
+
+Marriage for money is not confined to the rich but also occurs among
+peasants and working people. Everywhere it constitutes one of the
+principal corrupting elements of sexual intercourse and procreation.
+Hard-working servants who have succeeded in saving a few hundred
+dollars are often married for the sake of this small sum, and then
+abandoned as soon as the husband has squandered it. I do not pretend
+that a marriage for money can never be happy; it may happen that the
+contract is an honest one and that love follows it more or less
+haltingly, especially when the calculators have taken into account
+character and health, etc., as well as money.
+
+There is no need for me to continue this theme any further, and I
+shall conclude by stating that this system opens the door to
+hypocrisy, deceit and abuse of all kinds. It is not without reason
+that marriage for money has been branded with the name of _fashionable
+prostitution_.
+
+
+PROSTITUTION AND PROXENETISM
+
+Prostitution is a very ancient institution and a sign of degeneration
+which is found more or less among all nations. When woman is an
+article for sale it is not surprising that those whose moral worth is
+weak take the traffic into their own hands when they can, and sell
+themselves to men to satisfy their sexual appetites, instead of
+allowing themselves to be passively exploited as articles of commerce.
+Man being the stronger finds it advantageous in the lower and
+barbarous states of civilization to monopolize this traffic for his
+own profit, and deliver the women under his domination to
+prostitution. We have seen that fathers give their daughters, and
+husbands their wives to prostitution.
+
+For the same reason, the woman who prostitutes herself in our modern
+civilization, always runs the risk of being abused without payment;
+which is not to be wondered at considering the doubtful quality of the
+usual clients of the prostitute. It is therefore natural that she
+should seek for a means of protection. She thus takes a male
+protector, or "bully," whom she pays; or else she joins the service
+of those who make a business of prostitution--or _proxenetism_.
+Proxenetism and protectors are thus the parasites of prostitution.
+
+Prostitution flourished amongst the ancients and also in the Middle
+Ages, especially after the Crusades (Chapter VI). I do not propose to
+write the history of prostitution; it is sufficient to be acquainted
+with that of the present day. I may, however, remark that among a
+number of primitive races, and in young and progressive nations, whose
+sexual life is still comparatively pure, prostitution is only feebly
+developed. It is especially to Napoleon I that we owe the present form
+of regulation and organization of prostitutes. Like all his
+legislation on marriage and sexual intercourse, this regulation is the
+living expression of his sentiments toward woman; oppression of the
+female sex, contempt of its rights, and degradation of its individuals
+to the state of articles of pleasure for men, and machines for
+reproduction.
+
+=Organization and Regulation of Prostitution.=--We have just seen the
+social conditions under which prostitution becomes quite naturally
+organized, with its protectors and its proxenetism. There is another
+factor to be added--that of venereal disease. The infectious germs of
+syphilis and gonorrhea are usually met with in the genital organs of
+man and woman; so that every coitus between a healthy and an infected
+individual may infect the former. Hence the danger of the spread of
+infection increases with the number of mutations in sexual
+intercourse. If a woman offers herself systematically to all the men
+who wish for her, the probability that she will be infected by one of
+them increases in proportion to the number of clients.
+
+In the second place, as soon as she is infected, the danger is
+increased by the number of men who have connection with her, for she
+will probably infect a large proportion of them.
+
+While paying much attention to venereal diseases and their
+consequences, medicine has shown itself inconceivably blind in not
+comprehending the bearing of this elementary arithmetic. We must take
+into account the fact that the complete cure of syphilis is very
+difficult, if not impossible, to prove; that this disease is extremely
+infectious, at least during the first two years of its course; and
+that it extends to the blood and the whole organism, so that it may be
+communicated, not only by large visible sores, but by small
+excoriations hidden in the mucous membrane of the vagina or the mouth,
+etc.
+
+We must also remember that gonorrhea is less painful in woman than in
+man, and that, even in the latter, it ceases to be painful when it
+becomes chronic. We may add that the microbes (the gonococci) are very
+difficult to reach in all the recesses of the mucous membrane of the
+sexual organs in which they are hidden, and that in women they
+penetrate as far as the womb, when a cure becomes almost impossible.
+
+If we consider that the sexual organs of woman form deep and hidden
+cavities which it is very difficult to examine thoroughly, in spite of
+all the apparatus of modern surgery, and that the mouth in prostitutes
+is also frequently contaminated by unnatural manipulations; lastly,
+that no part of their body is absolutely indemnified, it is easy to
+understand the great danger of infection in public prostitution.
+
+Recognizing the danger of venereal disease, the regulation of
+prostitution was instituted by medical men with the good intention of
+eliminating or of diminishing its danger, since they regarded its
+suppression as impossible. This system consists in the official
+supervision and inscription of every woman who prostitutes herself.
+She is given an official form which obliges her to submit to medical
+examination once a week or once a fortnight, under the penalty of
+being arrested and punished.
+
+To facilitate medical control, regulation generally endeavors to lodge
+prostitutes in brothels or _lupanars_, under the direction of a
+proxenet. In theory, the brothel is not exactly considered as a State
+institution of public health; the word _toleration_ being used in this
+connection, signifying that it is regarded as a tolerated evil.
+Nevertheless, this distinction only rests on uncertain and subtle
+characters. To tolerate, to license, to organize, to recognize and
+favor, to protect and recommend are notions which merge into one
+another insensibly. As soon as the State tolerates prostitution and
+brothels, it is obliged to enter into official contracts with
+prostitutes and proxenetism; therefore, it recognizes them. Moreover,
+the services which it renders must be paid for. It is therefore
+necessary that prostitutes and proxenets should pay their tribute to
+the State and to the doctors: but "the one who pays commands."
+
+No doubt this proverb must not be taken to the letter, nevertheless
+the one who pays always exerts a certain pressure on the one who
+receives, and for this reason proxenets and inscribed prostitutes have
+some idea that they form part of an official institution, which raises
+their position not only in their own eyes but in those of the
+irreflective masses. I will cite two examples which show how
+effectively the public organization of a vicious social anomaly
+confuses ideas in persons of limited intelligence.
+
+One of my friends was engaged in combating the official regulation of
+prostitution. A woman, who misunderstood his object, came to him
+complaining bitterly of the loose life her daughter was leading, and
+asked him if he could not help her by placing her in a brothel
+licensed by the State; she would then be under the care of a paternal
+government!
+
+An old proxenet in Paris requested the authorities to transfer the
+management of her brothel to her daughter, aged nineteen. Her house,
+she said, was honest and managed in a loyal and religious spirit; her
+daughter was capable and initiated into the business and would carry
+it on in the same irreproachable manner as hitherto.
+
+These two examples of ingenuousness are sufficiently characteristic of
+the morality of the system. In _La Maison Tellier_ Guy de Maupassant
+has depicted with his masterly pen the psychology of the prostitute,
+the proxenet, and their clients.
+
+For reasons previously mentioned no real confidence can be placed in
+periodical medical examination of prostitutes; on the contrary it
+gives the male public a false security. The object of these medical
+visits is to eliminate diseased women from circulation and compel them
+to submit to hospital treatment. But any one acquainted with the facts
+knows that the treatment is illusory. In a short time every woman in a
+brothel is infected, with very few exceptions. But, on the one hand,
+the proxenets and the prostitutes have every interest in shortening
+the time in hospital; and, on the other hand, the visiting doctor,
+who often lives partly by their fees, is obliged to treat them with
+respect. [In Paris, the doctors in charge of the inspection of
+prostitutes are paid by the State, and do not depend on fees from the
+women.] The treatment of venereal disease being of long duration and
+very uncertain in its effects, a vicious circle is formed.
+
+A conscientious Dutch doctor, Chanfleury van Issjelstein, who
+attempted to eliminate all infected prostitutes from the brothels,
+succeeded in almost emptying them, by subjecting the infected women to
+prolonged treatment in hospital. This led to a revolt which endangered
+his life, and he had to abandon his scheme.
+
+In ordinary hospital practice only visible sores are treated, and
+gonorrheal discharges as long as they are apparent; the prostitutes
+are then allowed to return to their brothels. Moreover, inspection is
+made too rapidly; for, if every woman was examined carefully from head
+to foot every week, neither the brothels, the prostitutes nor the
+doctors could exist.
+
+Certain persons have made the proposition, as ridiculous as it is
+radical, of submitting every man who visits a prostitute to medical
+inspection! This would indeed be the only means of preventing the
+infection of prostitutes. But I ask my readers to imagine such a
+measure put in practice. Is it likely that the _habitués_ of brothels,
+some of whom visit prostitutes nearly every day or oftener, would make
+this known to a doctor in their town, and submit, before each coitus,
+to a medical examination which would cost them more time and money
+than their pleasure! Can one imagine doctors examining whole _queues_
+of clients waiting their turn in brothels when business is brisk!
+
+Whilst an independent prostitute still possesses some human sentiment
+and a vestige of modesty which cause her to choose as far as possible
+a limited number of clients, the police certificate of regulation
+officially places the woman who receives it in the class of the
+pariahs of society, and this leads to her losing the little that
+remains of her womanly nature. In brothels, the last vestige of her
+human nature is trampled under foot.
+
+=Degrees of Prostitution. Protectors.=--Several degrees can be
+recognized in private prostitution. A variety of prostitute rather
+less low than others, looks for clients at public balls, certain cafés
+and other doubtful localities, and hires herself to a certain number
+of temporary acquaintances. The lowest and most common form of private
+prostitution is that of the streets. Generally at night, but sometimes
+in the daytime, these prostitutes, dressed so as to attract attention,
+promenade in certain well-known and frequented streets, and solicit
+passers-by. This is the common method employed in nearly all towns.
+This solicitation is supervised by the police in countries where
+prostitution is regulated, and is only permitted to women who possess
+their certificate of inscription.
+
+Here the "protector" (bully) intervenes, and keeps an eye on the
+clients at the prostitute's house, or sometimes in the street. If they
+do not pay up, or pay too little, or if they threaten or ill-treat the
+woman, the protector administers a drubbing, and sometimes relieves
+them of their purse or clothes.
+
+At the same time the protector spies on the police for the benefit of
+the prostitute. Sometimes he assumes the position of legitimate
+husband, so as to facilitate taking rooms. A "husband" of this kind,
+with a citizen's rights, is very useful to foreign prostitutes, for
+without him they would risk expulsion. The protector is generally a
+scamp of the worst kind, an absolutely depraved and idle vagabond who
+is entirely maintained by his "wife."
+
+Some protectors shine by their sexual power, and are at the same time
+the real lovers of the prostitutes, who keep them, and are plundered
+by them. While they submit to coitus with their clients without any
+pleasure, and only simulate voluptuous sensations, they abandon
+themselves to their protectors or lovers with ardor. It is needless to
+add that the protectors are often criminals, or of the criminal type.
+Those who are well acquainted with prostitution declare that it would
+be impossible without the protector, who is at the same time the
+friend, protector and exploiter of the prostitute, while the brothel
+keeper is only concerned with her wholesale systematic exploitation.
+
+=Brothels and Proxenets.=--Under the pretext of avoiding the dangers
+of prostitution in the streets, brothels were organized. These are
+generally managed by an elderly female profligate, often in
+partnership with a "husband," who is only a superior kind of
+protector. Officially, the prostitutes are free lodgers in the
+brothel, but in reality they are often prisoners or slaves. They are
+well fed and dressed in a way to attract the clients as much as
+possible. Clothes, food, etc., are placed to their account and the
+crafty brothel keeper generally manages to get them into debt so as to
+always remain their creditor. In this way these miserable outcasts of
+society, who are generally incapable of claiming their legal rights,
+are more or less reduced to slavery. Apparently they are free, but in
+reality they can hardly leave the house without paying their debts,
+and the brothel keeper who wishes to keep them arranges so that they
+cannot pay it.
+
+It is not always easy to distinguish between the different classes of
+prostitutes: the prostitute of the brothel, the street prostitute
+under inscription or not, the private prostitute and lorette or
+grisette. Sometimes a woman may rise from one class to another; but
+more often she falls lower and lower.
+
+We may mention here one of the dangers of brothels. Their good
+organization, their medical supervision, etc., are extolled; but the
+great danger of the arithmetical progression of mutations in sexual
+intercourse is ignored. While a private prostitute rarely receives
+more than one client in an evening, and is not absolutely obliged to
+receive more, every prostitute in a brothel is forced to receive as
+many as present themselves. A girl may thus have connection with men
+twenty or thirty times in the same night.
+
+Under certain circumstances, for instance at the time of conscription
+for recruits at Brussels, the brothels are besieged to such a point
+that one man has hardly time to finish coitus before another comes to
+take his place. It is obvious that such "file firing" greatly
+increases the danger of venereal infection, since a single infected
+person is sufficient to contaminate innumerable clients (even without
+the woman herself becoming infected).
+
+It is often denied that the brothel is a prison, yet this fact has
+been often demonstrated. When, as in France, the police can arrest a
+prostitute at pleasure--often a virtuous young girl who is taken for
+such--and put her on the inscription list, the thing is obvious. I
+have treated a girl who became the mistress of a police agent in Paris
+under the threat of being inscribed as a prostitute.
+
+Again, besides the debts we have spoken of, the proxenets have many
+other ways of keeping prostitutes under their dependence. It is very
+difficult for ignorant girls, placed under the ban of society, to
+return to a free and virtuous life. But if a girl shows signs of
+wishing to leave a brothel, heroic measures are adopted, in the form
+of international exchange. A girl who is unacquainted with the
+language of the country is naturally more incapable of gaining her
+freedom than one who does. This is one of the reasons why the brothels
+of different countries exchange their women.
+
+This expedient, which also satisfies clients who desire a change,
+leads to the exportation of women from one country to another, under
+false pretenses, such as the promise of lucrative and easy situations.
+In this way young Swiss girls are exported to Hungary, Hungarians to
+Switzerland, Germans to France, French to England, Europeans to
+Buenos-Ayres, creoles to Europe, etc. For example, if a young French
+girl has been exported to Buda-Pest or Buenos-Ayres, we may be certain
+that she will lose all inclination to run away; for what can she do--a
+stranger without a cent, with her ignorance and want of character,
+alone in the streets, when she does not understand a word of the
+language?
+
+=White Slavery.=--The modern commerce in female slaves of civilized
+Europe destined for prostitution is closely connected with the facts
+we have just described. The manner in which brothels exchange their
+merchandise only concerns one side of the question. The principal art
+consists in obtaining young girls, of twelve to seventeen years of
+age, for the brothels. This traffic is formally prohibited by most
+laws; but what are laws made for, if not to be broken? There are so
+many means of training children under some pretext or other, before
+they are independent enough to escape this life of infamy. There are
+so many depraved or hungry parents who are ready to sell their
+children if, in hypocritical but transparent language, a good
+situation is promised them with payment in advance.
+
+During a railway journey, I was myself a witness of the manner in
+which a young girl of twelve was sold in this way and sent to
+Pressburg. I was also simple enough to try and appeal for the
+intervention of a consul and an ambassador to prevent the perpetration
+of the crime. They only replied by shrugging their shoulders. How
+could I prove the matter before a tribunal? The child was accompanied
+by a woman who admitted to me that there could hardly be any other
+question than the sale of the child for prostitution. She had only
+been ordered to take the child to Vienna, where they would come and
+take her. This shows the impotence of any person who tries to prevent
+such infamies.
+
+During the last few years an international organization has at last
+been formed to combat white slavery; but so far it has not obtained
+much result. By the aid of depraved parents and all their criminal
+system of seduction, the proxenets always find a way of attaining
+their object. Moreover, it is difficult to see how the State can
+prevent proxenetism from obtaining its merchandise, so long as it
+tolerates and licenses it. We must remember that very young girls,
+almost children, are the most easy to seduce and the most sought
+after.
+
+=The Training of Prostitutes.=--The most repugnant aspect of
+proxenetism is the seduction and systematic training of the girls. The
+desire for money and fine dresses, the promise of good situations, and
+especially alcoholic intoxication, all play their part in the
+diabolical art of proxenetism. Many young girls, frivolous and fond of
+pleasure, but not wishing to go any further, are easily seduced under
+the influence of wine. As soon as some protector has succeeded in
+seducing a girl, he trades on her shame and fear of discovery, adding
+threats and blackmail. When she has become sufficiently accustomed to
+sexual intercourse, she is initiated into the high-school of vice, and
+systematically instructed in exciting the sexual appetites of men by
+all possible means, natural or otherwise. She is first of all taught
+how to simulate the venereal orgasm by her movements, breathing, etc.;
+to practice _coitus ab ore_, etc.; to conform to the pathological
+requirements of masochists, sadists, etc., (Chapter VIII). Girls who
+have been seduced and abandoned, and those who have had illegitimate
+children, are the most suitable objects for exploitation by the
+jackals of proxenetism. If it is objected that the majority of
+prostitutes have a bad hereditary taint, and that their frivolity and
+idleness incline them from the first to their trade, I reply that
+frivolity and love of pleasure are not at all the same thing as the
+ignoble slavery and disgusting life of a prostitute in a brothel.
+
+The part played by alcohol in prostitution has not been estimated at
+its true value. The coarser and more degraded forms of prostitution
+would not be possible without it. It is by the aid of alcoholic orgies
+that most girls are seduced, and by chronic drunkenness that they
+sustain themselves in their degradation.
+
+=Localized Prostitution.=--In certain towns, Hamburg for instance, an
+attempt has been made to establish an organization intermediate
+between the brothel and private prostitution, by compelling all
+prostitutes to inhabit certain special streets which are reserved for
+them, at the same time being inscribed by the police. The result has
+been deplorable, and these streets have become uninhabitable. It must
+be borne in mind that the owners or managers of these houses become
+from this fact more or less analogous to proxenets. Whoever lets his
+house for such an object must possess very little sentiment of modesty
+and duty, for he lives indirectly on the produce of prostitution.
+
+=Clandestine Brothels.=--Besides the official brothels, of which we
+have spoken, there are a number of secret organizations of all kinds,
+which the State is the less able to prevent as it organizes and
+tolerates prostitution and proxenetism on its own account. A number of
+taverns possess secret chambers which are only small brothels, in
+which the servants act at the same time as prostitutes.
+
+It is the same with many small shops (gloves, perfumes, etc.), whose
+innocent appearance only serves as a blind. A number of _cafés
+chantants_ are also connected with prostitution and proxenetism.
+Certain tobacco shops, etc., sell obscene objects such as pornographic
+pictures. All these things act especially on youth and become
+disseminated in colleges.
+
+=The Number of Prostitutes.=--The number of prostitutes has been
+estimated at 30,000 in Berlin, 40,000 in Paris, and 60,000 in London.
+It can hardly be assumed that all these women have a pathological
+heredity. As soon as the State recognizes the right of existence of
+this dung-heap, by its toleration and organization, corruption
+hitherto hidden and ashamed raises its head and becomes more and more
+bold, even dragging public organs into its sink. It is the public
+especially, but also the authorities and the doctors who become
+corrupted by contact with official proxenetism, which confuses the
+ideas of morality in every one's head (vide _La Maison Tellier_, de
+Maupassant). They shut their eyes to the haunts of vice. The proxenets
+feel that they are important personages, and the more enterprising of
+them very often enjoy secret favors and receive visits from State
+officials, and even married persons of high position. It is not
+difficult for any one who reflects a little to see what this state of
+things leads to.
+
+=Prostitution and the Police.=--The police know very well that in
+certain brothels prostitution is not only associated with alcoholic
+excess, but that certain houses become the haunts of criminals. They
+even regard certain low-class brothels and taverns frequented by
+prostitutes as very useful for the discovery of criminals. Spies of
+all kinds are met with in these places, from the secret agent who
+tracks a criminal and flirts at the same time with the prostitutes, to
+the counter-spy employed by the proxenets to watch the secret agent.
+It is here that the criminal world acquires its rakish manners, but
+its weakness for women and alcohol cause it to fall early into the
+traps of the secret police. It is here also, as well as in the salons
+of high-class proxenetism, that we meet with those indefinable
+individuals who are to-day secret agents of the government, to-morrow
+false noblemen or criminals, and the day after proxenets, and whom a
+former minister of the German Empire designated by the euphemistic
+term of "non-gentleman."
+
+=The Psychology of Prostitutes and the Cause of Prostitution.=--The
+psychology of prostitutes is a difficult and complicated subject.
+According to the point of view of those who judge them, they are
+considered as women of evil and incorrigible instincts, or as the
+victims of our bad social organizations. These two assertions are by
+their exclusiveness equally false. Urged by Christian charity, many
+societies for the improvement of morality have attempted to rescue
+fallen women; but, as might be expected, the results have not been
+satisfactory. In fact, the mind of woman is quite differently
+dominated by sexual ideas and their irradiations than that of man. It
+is also less plastic, and becomes more easily the slave of habit and
+routine. If, therefore, a woman has been systematically trained in
+sexual aberrations from her youth upward, all her ideas are
+concentrated on debauch and sexual intercourse, so that it becomes
+impossible later on to restore her to a life of serious social duty.
+Rare exceptions confirm this rule. Moreover, sexual excitation in
+women awakens sexual desire, which becomes exalted by repetition and
+habit.
+
+On the other hand, it is necessary to recognize that girls who are
+idle, of weak character, hysterical, easily suggestible, coquettes or
+nymphomaniacs, are subjects specially disposed to become seduced.
+Lastly, poverty is one of the most powerful auxiliaries of
+prostitution. I do not wish to be sentimental, nor to give too much
+weight to the well-known statement that a poor woman prostitutes
+herself to appease her children's hunger, or her own. No doubt this
+happens among the oriental Jews and among the proletariat of large
+towns, but it is, on the whole, exceptional.
+
+Poverty acts indirectly in a much more intense and efficacious manner.
+First of all it compels the proletariat to live in the most disgusting
+promiscuity. Not only do the father, the mother and the children
+occupy the same room, but they sleep there, often in the same bed. The
+children are witnesses of their parents' coitus and become initiated
+in sexual intercourse, often in its most bestial form, under the
+influence of alcohol, for example. Neglected and herded together with
+other children, most of them as badly brought up as themselves, from
+their early youth they become acquainted not only with the most gross
+and filthy things, but also with the most pathological and deformed
+excrescences of the unhealthy life of towns. In the proletariat of
+certain towns there are few girls of fourteen years of age who are
+still virgins.
+
+Again, poverty urges parents to exploit their children, for it is easy
+to deliver them into the hands of proxenetism. But this is not
+confined to the poorest classes; among small tradespeople, poverty is
+also an indirect agent of prostitution. Here again the effect of
+pitiless exploitation is seen; in certain occupations which leave the
+girls free evenings, and also in certain shops, the proprietor only
+pays his employés an absurdly small salary, because they can add to it
+by prostitution. For this reason, many saleswomen, dressmakers, etc.,
+are obliged to content themselves with a minimum wage. When they
+complain, and especially when they are good looking, they are often
+given to understand that with their attractive appearance it is very
+easy for them to increase their income, for many a young man would be
+glad to "befriend them," to say nothing of other insinuations of the
+same kind. I have already pointed out how waitresses are utilized as
+bait in certain taverns, etc. Let us cite a few figures:
+
+About 80 per cent. of the prostitutes in Paris have some occupation
+besides prostitution.
+
+In factories, shops, etc., the average wage of men is 4 francs 20. per
+day; that of women 2 francs 20.; but in domestic service it is only 2
+francs 10. for men and 1 franc 10., or even 90 centimes for women,
+even where the latter do the same work! Is it to be wondered that they
+have recourse to prostitution?
+
+=High-class Brothels.=--In these establishments the life of the
+prostitute is much more agreeable: the goods of superior quality
+demanded by rich and fastidious clients requires better treatment and
+special care. I will cite a case published in the annual report of the
+Société de Pestalozzi (for cruelty to children) at Vienna:
+
+    "In October, 1904, the Tyrolean Society for Abandoned Infancy
+    sent us the papers of a young Tyrolean girl of eighteen, who was
+    found at Venice under police control. Our attention was drawn to
+    the youth of this girl and the incapacity of the father to
+    induce her to reform. We were requested to restore her, if
+    possible, to an honest life.
+
+    We made the usual inquiries. Having many brothers and sisters,
+    this girl, at the age of fourteen, obtained a situation at
+    Innsbruck, where she was badly treated. She went away and gave
+    herself gradually to prostitution, latterly at Vienna.
+
+    We had an interview with her at our office and ascertained that
+    she had experienced ill-treatment at Innsbruck. She had a modest
+    demeanor and made a good impression. She regarded her future
+    with equanimity, admitting that she was excluded from society,
+    but speaking of her trade as seriously as if it was licit and
+    officially recognized.
+
+    She assured us that her parents, having great difficulty in
+    gaining a livelihood, agreed with her in her choice of a
+    "business." She was on very good terms with them and sent them
+    money.
+
+    To obtain a certificate from the police, the consent of her
+    parents was necessary. Her mother had told her that if she
+    remained pious and honest no one could reproach her. She held
+    "Madame" (the proprietress of the brothel) in high esteem, on
+    account of her kind treatment of her "boarders." The house in
+    which she was located was first-class, both as regards clients
+    and treatment. There were about a dozen young girls there, most
+    of them younger than herself, all with their parents' consent;
+    and many of them sent home what they earned.
+
+    She said that her companions were very happy, being well fed and
+    clothed, and earning from 120 to 240 crowns a month. With much
+    ingenuousness she told us how Madame, whom she greatly
+    respected, had looked after two old "boarders," who no longer
+    had any clients. She also had a protector.
+
+    We tried to induce her to commence another life, promising her a
+    situation, but she refused, saying that even if she wished to do
+    so Madame would not let her go; besides, she would always be
+    reproached for her past life, and she did not wish to live with
+    people who would always despise her. She had already suffered
+    enough trouble and did not wish to launch on the unknown.
+    Moreover, she had lost her former habits and had never learnt
+    anything seriously. In short, she did not wish to give up her
+    pleasant and comfortable life!
+
+    This conversation led us to the conclusion that the case in
+    question was not of a nature to justify any action on the part
+    of our society for the rescue of young women.
+
+    In spite of her tender age, this girl gave us the impression of
+    mature judgment. It appeared already much too late to attempt to
+    recommence her education. She also showed signs of great anxiety
+    when we spoke to her of leaving her brothel.
+
+This case requires no comment; it gives a good idea of our social
+condition. The religious piety of this girl, and her profound
+veneration for "Madame," are typical of the deviation of moral sense
+by the suggestion of environment.
+
+=Varieties in Prostitutes.=--We thus see that prostitutes constitute a
+collection of very different individuals. Although it may be true
+that, on the average, their ranks are recruited from girls who are
+coarse, shameless, depraved and alcoholic, it is no less false to
+conclude that all are of bad heredity. A considerable number are
+pathological individuals, including hysterical subjects, nymphomaniacs
+and other psychopaths. Others again are naturally amoral, stupid, idle
+and deceitful, or have been accustomed to vicious surroundings from
+infancy; or else they are of an absolutely indifferent and apathetic
+nature, or very suggestible and yielding to every seduction and
+external impulse. The latter perhaps form the largest contingent,
+because they most easily become the prey of proxenetism.
+
+Many of them have fallen by seduction. Ashamed of their first error,
+and not having the courage to bear the consequences, they gradually
+sink into the swamp of prostitution. Illegitimate births play a great
+part here.
+
+A certain class of prostitutes ply their trade simply from poverty and
+want, being ashamed of it but profiting by it to maintain their
+family. But poverty acts chiefly in combination with other causes.
+
+There still remains a very limited group formed by individuals who
+give themselves up to prostitution for love of it. These are generally
+women with a morbid and violent sexual appetite, joined to want of
+moral sense. Rich women, even countesses and princesses have been
+known to become prostitutes.
+
+This diversity among prostitutes explains why there are different
+degrees in prostitution. Although its depravity is often more or less
+masked by fine clothes and good cheer, the lowest level is represented
+by the girl of the brothels, who is little more than an instrument for
+coitus in the hands of proxenetism (with the exception of certain
+high-class brothels). It is the prostitutes of low-class brothels for
+soldiers who lead the most miserable life. Such houses only keep
+refuse merchandise, _i.e._, old prostitutes who are no good for
+anything else. There is no sadder sight than a soldiers' brothel.
+
+The prostitution in _cafés_, scent shops, glove shops, etc.,
+constitutes a slightly higher grade. As regards danger of venereal
+infection this is as great as anywhere, but the girls are rather more
+independent and lead a more natural life. It is precisely because
+these places are not under legal protection, that the patrons or
+protectors of prostitutes cannot employ the terrorism of licensed
+proxenets.
+
+The free prostitutes of the streets are about on the same level. They
+are not dependent on proxenetism, but only on their protector and
+proprietor, which is a trifle less degrading. What degrades them most
+of all is police inscription, obligatory medical inspection, and the
+miserable system of solicitation on the pavement. It is necessary to
+have lost all feeling of modesty, and to possess a cynical audacity to
+become a street prostitute.
+
+Prostitutes who only practice occasionally and have not the courage to
+solicit, nor to be inscribed by the police, belong to a higher level.
+But in countries where regulation is in force they always run the risk
+of being arrested by the police and put on the inscription list. These
+private prostitutes constitute the intermediate stage between
+prostitution properly so-called, and venal concubinage, which we shall
+speak of later.
+
+The army of prostitutes is partly composed of pathological
+individuals. Alcohol and vicious habits increase their abnormal
+tendencies, so that their behavior leaves nothing wanting in the way
+of temper, impulsiveness, cynicism and insolence. This is seen every
+day in hospitals for venereal disease. As soon as a prostitute finds
+her physical condition improve after a few days in hospital, sexual
+abstinence arouses her appetite to such an extent that she indulges in
+lesbian love with her companions, or shows herself naked at the
+windows, etc. Some prostitutes of better quality suffer at first from
+the scandalous tone of the brothel, but they generally become used to
+it, and end with adopting it themselves. Honest women, infected
+accidentally or by their husbands, suffer martyrdom when they are sent
+to the venereal divisions of hospitals.
+
+=The Fate of Prostitutes.=--What becomes of prostitutes in the course
+of time? They cannot remain very long in the brothels for they only
+accept young and fine-looking girls. It would be interesting to follow
+the fate of all these women. At all events nothing is more absurd than
+the common saying that the suppression of brothels increases
+prostitution in the streets, and that their introduction suppresses
+it. It is obvious that, as the women in brothels have to be
+continually renewed, they must be continually thrown onto the streets.
+No doubt many prostitutes die at an early age from the results of
+alcohol and syphilis. The only resource left to many, when they are
+ejected from the brothels, is to solicit in the streets or to join
+clandestine brothels or taverns of the same nature.
+
+The most profligate, those who look upon their profession from the
+artistic or the commercial points of view, know how to advance
+themselves and become "Madames"; but these are comparatively few in
+number. Some end in suicide or lunatic asylums.
+
+As a last resource, when no man will have anything to do with them,
+many of them take to the lowest occupations, such as cleaning
+lavatories, etc. At Munich it used to be proverbial that the class of
+"Radiweiber" and "Nussweiber" (old women selling nuts etc., at the
+street corners) were mostly recruited from old prostitutes.
+Occasionally a better class prostitute succeeds in getting married.
+
+If we consider without prejudice the miserable life of a prostitute,
+we cannot hear the term "_fille de joie_" without a feeling of sadness
+and indignation, for it conveys such bitter and tragic irony. If we
+could ourselves experience the true state of mind which is hidden
+behind the smiles and songs of so many miserable singers at café
+concerts, and behind the brazen artifices of many prostitutes; if we
+could learn their past life and the cause of their fall, no man with a
+spark of pity or sympathy for his fellows could relish with a light
+heart a "joy" bought at such a price. For those who read German, I
+recommend on this subject: _Tagebuch einer Verlornen_, by Marguerite
+Böhme. (Berlin: Fontane, 1905.)
+
+=Prostitution and Sexual Perversion.=--If it is true that many
+prostitutes have a pathological heredity, it is still more sure that
+they often have to submit to the fancies of pathological clients. The
+numerous sexual anomalies, of which we have spoken in Chapter VIII,
+are closely connected with prostitution. The refinement of modern
+civilization is so complete that it supplies localities and women for
+the special use of each pathological form of the sexual appetite.
+
+So far we have only spoken of female prostitutes, and we have seen how
+they conform to the customs of sadists, masochists, etc. They allow
+themselves to be maltreated by the former, and maltreat the latter; or
+else they play at exhibitions symbolical of cruelty or humiliation.
+
+For male inverts, on the other hand, there exist male brothels, in
+which young boys practice pederasty for money. For certain rich
+_roués_, or for those affected with pederosis, children are kept. This
+last class of goods is very dear, for there is always a risk of the
+law intervening. Young virgins also fetch a high price; and they even
+try to sew up the hymen after their defloration, so as to offer them
+several times as virgins!
+
+With what we have said in Chapter VIII, these indications will suffice
+to show that modern prostitution and proxenetism constitute a public
+disgrace, intended to exploit the unbridled desires of men for profit.
+This system has been defended on the grounds of hygiene and the
+protection of virtuous women against the assaults of men, etc. In
+reality, it has resulted in corrupting and effeminating men; in
+restricting the normal sexual intercourse of youth in its natural
+association with an inconsiderate love; in degrading love itself; in
+debarring a great number of capable and virtuous women from marriage,
+from love, and from sexual intercourse in general; lastly, in causing
+complete aberration of the whole sexual life of modern society.
+
+Contemporary literature has begun to consider the psychology of
+prostitution. We have already mentioned _La Maison Tellier_ by de
+Maupassant; Zola's _Nana_ is the history of a high-class prostitute
+related in the well-known realistic manner of the celebrated novelist,
+in which he describes the sexual depravity existing in certain
+Parisian circles of the Second Empire.
+
+I will now make a few remarks concerning a social movement organized
+against the regulation of prostitution, called abolitionism.
+
+=Abolitionism and Regulation.=--An Englishwoman, Mrs. Josephine
+Butler, undertook, in the name of liberty, a campaign against
+proxenetism, white slavery and the State regulation of prostitution.
+She also attacked the injustice of the Code Napoleon toward women,
+especially the prohibition of inquiry into paternity, which throws
+girls who have been seduced into the arms of prostitution. The
+abolitionists contest the right of police inscription of prostitutes
+under the pretext of hygiene, of submitting them against their will to
+medical inspection, and of keeping them in brothels. They claim severe
+laws against proxenetism and oppose toleration.
+
+In medical circles the system of regulation has generally been
+defended. It is urged that society has the right to protect itself
+against dangerous infection, and that, with this object, it has as
+much right to treat infected prostitutes compulsorily, as those
+affected with smallpox or cholera. Owing to their shameful trade, they
+maintain that these women have lost all claim to special
+consideration.
+
+This argument appears very reasonable at first sight, but it takes
+quite a different aspect when the facts are examined more thoroughly.
+
+First of all the comparison with smallpox and cholera is illogical,
+for these diseases endanger the innocent public, while the man who
+makes use of prostitution is quite aware of the danger he runs.
+Society is under no obligation to provide healthy prostitutes for the
+use of Don Juan.
+
+Against this it is stated that innocent wives are often infected and
+made to suffer for the sins of their husbands. But such an extensive
+blending of the State with family life does not appear to be
+admissible, and would lead to crying abuses. Society has neither the
+right nor the duty to facilitate the dangerous or injurious acts of
+certain individuals at the expense of others, by rendering them less
+dangerous, so that certain third parties may be less liable to suffer.
+This is an absurd sophism. The duty of society is to make responsible
+the one who has committed the dangerous or injurious act, and to
+punish him if he has done harm. Here, on the contrary, one only of
+the culprits (the prostitute) is compelled to keep to her vile trade,
+while the man who makes use of her, and often infects her, is free
+from any responsibility. Moreover, the State has no right to act
+against responsible persons under the pretext that their future
+sentiments or actions would have dangerous consequences for others;
+this would lead to arbitrary abuse of power. The insane, and habitual
+criminals make the only exceptions, for their abnormal and
+irresponsible cerebral organization is a perpetual danger to society.
+
+There is one question, however, which arises: Can prostitution in
+itself be regarded as a misdemeanor punishable by law? If this were
+the case, the client would have to be punished as well as the
+prostitute; or both of them be sent to reformatories. This is the only
+logical consequence, for in such cases the two contractors are equally
+guilty, and also equally dangerous as regards infection.
+
+How, therefore, can the system be justified which brands and inscribes
+the prostitute only; which is not content with tolerating her vile
+trade instead of punishing it, but gives it official sanction, causing
+her to fall lower and lower; which finally, to crown the work,
+licenses the proxenetism which exploits her vice? It is difficult to
+imagine more complete hypocrisy, or a more contradictory system.
+
+In former times when slavery was allowed, men's will and pleasure were
+sufficient to justify such measures, which created for their profit a
+class of female pariahs; and this was frankly and openly admitted.
+Nowadays, the equal rights of women which are officially recognized in
+civilized countries no longer allow it, and hygienic arguments only
+can give such modern barbarity the hypocritical appearance of
+justification. Lunatics and criminals are only locked up as a measure
+of safety, and to attempt to improve them; but their bodies are not
+allowed to become an object of commerce for the pleasure of other
+members of society.
+
+But the results of honestly interpreted statistics contradict the
+apparent justification of the regulation of prostitution, in the name
+of hygiene. It is intended to furnish men with a means of coitus free
+from danger; but the facts prove that venereal disease has not been
+diminished by this means. The false security given to men officially
+by regulation makes them all the more careless. The multiplication of
+the sexual connections of each prostitute increases the danger of
+infection at least as much as the elimination of a few diseased
+persons diminishes it.
+
+The corruption of the State and its officials, especially the police
+and the medical inspectors of brothels, the general depravity which
+results from official toleration, and the perversion of ideas of
+morality among the public, increase habits of prostitution, and with
+it the danger of infection. Assured of impunity the pimps and their
+acolytes become more and more audacious and extend their business,
+while the prostitutes, whose number is increased by this system, seek
+to escape the police and practice their trade clandestinely. It is no
+wonder that the swamp to be purified becomes more and more infectious.
+Can it be conscientiously said that hygiene has benefited? This is
+well seen in Geneva and in France. It is enough to compare the number
+of cases of venereal disease and of prostitutes in countries where
+regulation is in force, with those which do not employ it, to show the
+complete fiasco of the system from the hygienic point of view. On the
+average, the number of infectious cases is nearly the same with or
+without regulation and depends on many other causes. I cannot enter
+into the details here and must refer to the statistics and to the
+works published by the Abolitionist Federation (6 Rue St. Léger,
+Geneva).
+
+Of all that has been published, nothing appears to me more conclusive
+than the masterly statistics of Mounier, for Holland, in 1889. Even
+among medical men, the originators of regulation, the abolitionist
+point of view is steadily gaining ground. It is beginning to be
+understood that the toleration of proxenetism, and even the
+inscription and medical inspection of prostitutes, are vicious methods
+of social sanitation against venereal infection.
+
+But by the suppression of official toleration and regulation, the
+question of prostitution is in no way settled. This has only a
+negative action, important for the tactics of those who wish to upset
+a scandalous abuse, but which does not respond to the higher task of
+extirpating the root of the evil. The positive work will only begin
+when the State is relieved of its shameful compact with proxenetism
+and prostitution.
+
+In the following chapters we shall examine the remedies which must be
+applied to our sexual anarchy, the result of masculine autocracy, as
+Russian anarchy is the result of Tsarism. I will first make a few
+observations from the medical and hygienic point of view, to the
+partisans of regulation. They exclaim that the abolitionists are
+fanatics, who, from their absence of scientific spirit, will deluge
+society with venereal disease. This bogy has no sound foundation. The
+State regulation of prostitution applied to certain women has not
+diminished the amount of venereal disease, because it does not reach
+it. The State concession of an unnatural vice cannot be hygienic.
+Moreover, it is impossible to completely disinfect prostitutes, this
+disinfection is quite illusory, unless it is also applied to their
+clients, which is impracticable.
+
+In France, where the system of regulation has existed for a long time
+in its strictest form, venereal diseases are extremely prevalent;
+while in Switzerland, where it only exists at Geneva, having been
+suppressed for some years in the Canton of Zurich, they are less
+frequent. Geneva is not less contaminated than other towns in
+Switzerland, in spite of its model brothels, and Zurich has lately, by
+popular vote, confirmed abolition by a crushing majority, in
+opposition to a few interested persons who wished to reėstablish the
+brothels under futile and fallacious pretexts. Some clandestine
+brothels still exist in towns where the authorities shut their eyes.
+
+It has also been maintained that the number of sexual misdemeanors
+would increase with the suppression of brothels. This is another
+illusion. The majority of sexual misdemeanors are due to psychic
+anomalies (Chapter VIII) or to the effects of alcoholic intoxication.
+If they have any relation to prostitution, it is rather that of being
+favored by its orgies.
+
+=Remedies for the Evil.=--What is wanted first of all are severe laws
+against proxenetism. It is indisputable that commerce made with the
+body of one's neighbor is illegal, even when the latter gives
+consent. It is a crime or misdemeanor which should be prosecuted like
+negro slavery or usury. We should not wait for a complaint to be
+lodged, but prosecute proxenetism officially, for the victims are
+hindered by shame from coming forward. The pimps of proxenetism are
+recruited from the dregs of society. In this domain, as in the others,
+penal law should not be put in force; the object should be the
+protection of society and the improvement of the criminal.
+
+As regards prostitution itself, it cannot be made a misdemeanor
+without opening the door too widely to complete arbitrariness. The
+State cannot prevent a responsible adult from disposing of his own
+body, without introducing religion and metaphysics into legislation;
+but the State can require those who practice prostitution not to
+molest the public. It has, therefore, the right to punish solicitation
+in the streets by fine or imprisonment, especially in often repeated
+offenses. It can also give persons of both sexes, who are victims of
+venereal disease, the right of claiming damages by civil law. The
+legality of this right of indemnity has been much contested. In my
+opinion it is legitimate when the State no longer tolerates or
+regulates prostitution; but so long as it does this, and submits
+prostitutes to obligatory medical treatment, the States takes the
+responsibility of their health. Under the régime of regulation, an
+infected person could logically claim damages from the State, or, at
+any rate from the pimps of licensed proxenetism.
+
+The question of responsibility is quite different when prostitution is
+free. The sexual intercourse of a free prostitute with a man may be
+regarded as a private contract in which each party has the same rights
+and obligations. If one of the two contractors deceives the other by
+concealing venereal disease, the latter has the right to claim
+damages, if there is sufficient proof of infection from this source.
+
+The right of indemnity does not, however, constitute the principal
+point. In order to successfully combat prostitution and venereal
+disease, fundamental social reforms are necessary.
+
+(1). First of all the system of exploitation of the poor by the rich
+should be put an end to, the work of the poor being remunerated at
+its true value. This requires a social transformation of the relations
+between capital and labor.
+
+(2). The use of narcotics, and especially alcohol, should be
+suppressed.
+
+(3). The false modesty concerning sexual intercourse should be done
+away with.
+
+(4). The public should be instructed in the dangers of venereal
+disease and in the means of preventing contamination. The only certain
+means of curing them consists in not contracting them.
+
+(5). Cleanliness should be universally encouraged, especially in
+sexual intercourse.
+
+(6). Preventive measures should be employed in every coitus, the
+object of which is not procreation.
+
+(7). The treatment of venereal diseases in hospitals should be carried
+out in a decent and humane manner, so as not to shock the modesty of
+either sex, especially women, and so that patients need not be ashamed
+of submitting to medical treatment. Nowadays the venereal divisions of
+hospitals often more resemble brothels. This state of things makes it
+impossible for any woman with a particle of modesty to stay in these
+places. It is evident that women who are more or less virtuous, and
+even the better class of prostitutes, will avoid such hospital
+treatment as much as possible, and will thereby become the worst
+sources of infection.
+
+By treating venereal disease in hospital with more regard for decency
+and modesty, by abolishing the brand of shame, and by separating
+patients according to their behavior, we might succeed in improving a
+state of things which is often unbearable. Patients with venereal
+diseases would then more willingly submit to hospital treatment and
+would be more easily cured. In Italy much progress has already been
+made in this direction.
+
+In conclusion, I am convinced that if we should be contented for the
+present with damming up prostitution and suppressing the causes which
+render prostitutes more and more abject, without yet being able to
+abolish the whole evil, a transformation of our social life, and
+especially the suppression of the reign of capital as a means of
+exploitation of the work of others, and suppression of the use of
+alcoholic drinks, would eventually succeed in the gradual extinction
+of prostitution and the substitution of concubinage, which has much
+less evil results.
+
+
+VENAL CONCUBINAGE
+
+Venal concubinage occupies an intermediate position between
+prostitution and concubinage. It is distinguished from the latter by
+the fact that it is remunerated; but the distinction is very fine.
+
+=Lorettes.=--This is an old term which may be applied to paid women
+who are not regular prostitutes. It is hardly possible to distinguish
+them from clandestine prostitutes (not on the police inscription).
+They are women who do not practice solicitation or sell themselves to
+the first comer, but generally keep to one man for a time.
+
+=Grisettes.=--The Parisian grisette, whose type has become classic, is
+a higher class of woman who, at any rate in her primitive simplicity,
+was not wanting in romance. Relations with a grisette may be compared
+to limited and free marriage, in which there is comparative fidelity.
+
+Like some of the free prostitutes, the grisette does not live only on
+the support of her lover. She is often a dressmaker or a shop-girl,
+and makes arrangements with a lover so as to live more comfortably.
+
+When the grisette acts as her lover's housekeeper and lives with him
+on terms of the closest intimacy, the _liaison_ takes a more serious
+character and there is a certain degree of affection or even love.
+However, all these concubinages are generally limited to a few weeks
+or months, so that the natural love of the woman becomes blunted by
+successive polyandry. It is always more or less a question of "an
+accessory business."
+
+There are all kinds of lorettes and grisettes, but as a rule they are
+generally attached to small tradesmen, students, workingmen, etc.,
+rather than to rich men. It is a kind of contract for a limited
+period. This system is very widespread in large towns, where the
+inhabitants do not interfere with each other's affairs; but is
+difficult to manage in small towns, where every one knows everybody.
+
+=Mistresses.=--These may be called the aristocrats of the species.
+Here we see more distinctly the transition from venal love to free
+concubinage based on mutual love. The _hetaira_ of the ancient Greeks
+(vide Chapter VI) corresponded more or less to the modern mistresses,
+especially to the intelligent mistresses of men in high positions. In
+certain respects we may say that George Sand, for example, was a
+_hetaira_ from pure love, while among the Greek _hetaira_ money played
+a great part. Some mistresses are paid; others live on terms of
+equality with their lovers; others again maintain their lovers. We
+must also distinguish between mistresses who live with married men,
+and those who live with bachelors.
+
+The most typical case is that where a bachelor who wishes to remain
+free takes a mistress, whom he also makes mistress of his house, and
+who thus becomes an illegitimate wife who may separate from him when
+it pleases her. Some women contract this kind of union without being
+actually paid, simply for their maintenance, in return for which they
+do the housework. Here there is no actual sale of the body. The
+contract may be indefinite or limited. In such cases the effect of
+money on the attitude of the man toward his mistress is evident; his
+tone is generally less respectful toward paid mistresses than toward
+those who are not paid. The love of the paid mistress is little more
+durable or more intense than that of the grisette, the situation being
+almost the same.
+
+Zola's _Nana_ prostituted herself regularly with rich men: secondly,
+she was the mistress of Fontan, who plays the part of a high-class
+protector; thirdly, she fell in love with Georges in quite an idyllic
+fashion. Bordenave, the manager, had good reason in wishing his
+theater to be called a brothel, as he was more of a pimp than a
+theatrical manager. This example, a little far-fetched, shows how
+ideas pass from one to another in this elastic domain.
+
+There are also married mistresses. The position of mistress to a
+married man is, on the whole, more delicate than that of mistress to a
+bachelor. We are only concerned here with paid mistresses. They seldom
+give themselves to married men except when the home life of the latter
+is more or less disorganized; when the husband is separated from the
+wife, or when he lives in open warfare with her. A married man, on the
+contrary, may secretly visit brothels or private prostitutes, often
+even with his wife's knowledge, because the prostitute can have no
+influence in family affairs. This reason has even been used for the
+defense of prostitution. It is true that married men often have
+connection with other women, and the term mistress has been applied to
+the women who take part in this intercourse, whether they or their
+lover, or both of them, are already married. But in this case money is
+usually only a secondary consideration, when the households concerned
+are not broken up. It is often only the maneuver of an intriguer who
+tries to separate a husband from his wife to marry him herself and
+monopolize his fortune. It is sufficient to show how difficult it
+often is to distinguish the paid mistress from the woman who does not
+give herself from interest but from passion, or from the intriguing
+adventuress who tries to make a good catch.
+
+Lorettes, grisettes and paid mistresses seldom have children. These
+women are more rarely infected with venereal diseases than
+prostitutes, but they are better acquainted with the methods of
+preventing conception.
+
+The fate of the children of venal concubines is generally very sad.
+They are not the fruits of love but of a sexual union based on
+idleness and lewdness. If conception occurs in spite of all
+precautions, artificial abortion is attempted, or if this fails the
+child is sent to the "baby farmer," who gets rid of it. The women who
+dispose of their children in this way are often of the better class;
+common prostitutes often love and take care of their children, while
+the young ladies of society generally try and get rid of their
+illegitimate children, because they are much more compromised. Some
+married women even do not hesitate to perform abortion when a child
+inconveniences them.
+
+We have only mentioned the fourth group of women with which we are
+concerned, because of its mercantile nature. Every union in which a
+human being gives love for money is unnatural. Venal love is not true
+love, but an improper contract between man and woman, with the object
+of satisfying the sexual appetite, without any regard to the higher
+object intended by nature. It sometimes happens that similar
+contracts are made in the inverse direction, when a nymphomaniacal
+woman purchases a fine young man, under some pretext or other. Inverts
+also pay boys to satisfy their perverted appetites.
+
+However unsavory may be the contents of the present chapter, it was
+necessary to write it in order to give a clear idea of the subject.
+Under the pretense of virtue venal love has too long been covered with
+a veil of hypocrisy. Prostitution, marriage for money and venal
+concubinage are, each in its way, elements of corruption and decadence
+which, combined with alcohol, gambling, speculation, the greed for
+money and pleasure in general, threaten our modern culture with ruin.
+Among these anomalies, the State organization of prostitution being
+the most monstrous, it is necessary to begin with its suppression.
+
+Among the ancients, the goddess Venus or Aphrodite was the symbol of
+beauty and love. Although somewhat sly, she was fecund, full of desire
+and charm, and embodied not only the natural aspirations of man, but
+also his artistic ideal. Nowadays, she is dragged in the mire by two
+false gods--Bacchus, who makes a gross and vulgar brute of her, and
+Mammon, who transforms her into a venal prostitute--while a
+hypocritical religious asceticism, endeavors in vain to confine her in
+a strait-waistcoat. May the progress of science and culture find the
+power to deliver her from the tyranny of her two infamous companions,
+deified by human ignorance and bestiality. Then only will the goddess
+of love appear in all her glory!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT ON SEXUAL LIFE
+
+
+However strong may be the hereditary sexual instincts which an
+individual has inherited by phylogeny from his ancestors, and however
+violent their internal outbreaks in his ontogeny, it is necessary to
+recognize that an organism so complicated as that of man is capable of
+adapting itself to its environment to a remarkable and varied degree,
+and that consequently external influences react strongly on the sexual
+appetite. We will now examine these influences, so far as they are not
+dealt with in other chapters.
+
+=Influence of Climate.=--Warm climates appear to excite the intensity
+of sexual life; man matures more quickly and is more disposed to
+sexual excess. I am not aware of other influences that can be
+attributed to climate. It is, moreover, possible that the direct
+influence of heat has been confounded with the indirect action it
+exerts in the conditions of human existence. In cold countries life is
+more laborious, and this diminishes the intensity of the sexual
+appetite. In warm countries man has not so much concern with
+dwellings, clothes and heating; life is greatly simplified, and this
+freedom from anxiety inclines him to greater sexual activity.
+
+=Town and Country. Isolation. Sociability. Life in Factories.=--The
+social relations of man exert a great influence on sexual life.
+Hermits and those who live on isolated farms are interesting in this
+respect. Solitude generally leads man to chronic melancholia and to
+abnormal peculiarities, unless he has a library in his hermitage, when
+he may live in the spirit of the intellectual sociability derived from
+the study of books.
+
+It is quite otherwise with one who has no intellectual occupation, or
+one who has lived in solitude from infancy. In this case the hermit
+becomes a kind of savage, without any intellectual development, and
+reverts more or less to the state of primitive man.
+
+An adult who establishes himself in solitude without providing himself
+with intellectual capital becomes strongly inclined to depressing
+psychoses. This is observed among the isolated farmers, according to
+Professor Seguin, of New York. The man who lives alone, or surrounded
+only by the members of his family becomes disposed to certain sexual
+anomalies, such as incest, sodomy and masturbation.
+
+It is among the agricultural population that we meet with the most
+normal sexual relations and the best hygiene. The French Canadians
+form a good example, and it is the same generally where agriculture is
+practiced by independent peasants, not alcoholized, and having divided
+property. Agricultural families generally procreate more children and
+healthier ones than urban families. No doubt modern medical hygiene,
+both public and private, has made so much progress in towns that there
+may be, at a certain age, proportionally more living children than in
+the country; but the country children are of stronger constitution and
+more healthy in every way.
+
+I had the opportunity of confirming this opinion while I was
+superintendent of a lunatic asylum for many years. I found it was
+impossible to recruit from the town a good staff of nurses of either
+sex.
+
+The inhabitant of towns, it is true, learns his work more quickly, but
+he lacks patience, perseverance and character, and soon shows himself
+wanting in the accomplishment of his physical and moral duties. The
+countryman, on the contrary, is at first slow and clumsy, but soon
+becomes more capable and careful, and more amenable to education. This
+shows that, on the average, the hereditary dispositions of the
+country-bred child are better than those of the town-bred child. The
+latter develops more rapidly and more completely his natural
+dispositions, owing to social intercourse, while the country-bred
+child, although he appears at first sight less intelligent, is really
+better endowed on the average than the town child. The superficial
+observer is easily deceived, but country life accumulates more reserve
+force in the organism than urban life.
+
+Sexual excesses in the country are more conformable to nature. Apart
+from marriage, we meet with concubinage, infidelity, and sometimes
+prostitution, but these excesses are never widely spread in small
+places where every one knows each other. An extensive study of the
+alcohol question has shown me that hereditary degenerations and sexual
+evils in the country are principally due to alcoholism and its
+blastophthoria (vide Chapter I). But when factories, mining
+industries, etc., create unhealthy conditions in the country, the evil
+influences of urban life are implanted there, often in a still higher
+degree.
+
+The society of large towns is made up of many different circles, who
+have little or no relations with each other, do not know each other,
+and seldom concern themselves about each other. The individual is only
+known in his own circle. This circumstance favors the increase of vice
+and depravity. In addition to this, the insanitary dwellings, the life
+of excitement and innumerable pleasures, all tend to produce a
+restless and unnatural existence. The best conditions of existence for
+man are contact with nature, air and light, sufficient physical
+exercise combined with steady work for the brain, which requires
+exercise as much as the other organs; this is just what is wanting
+among the poor, in the town and in the factory. Instead of this they
+are offered unhealthy nocturnal pleasures and a prostitution which
+spreads itself everywhere with all the dangerous effects we have
+described. The result is that they become incapable of nourishing and
+raising their children properly, often even of procreating them in
+healthy and natural love.
+
+Such are the conditions of the lower classes in large towns. Along
+with prostitution, venereal disease and alcohol, the wretched
+dwellings in many places lead to infamous promiscuity. In factories
+and mines things are still worse. In these places there is a swarm of
+people continually engaged in most unhealthy occupations, and only
+leaving their work to indulge in the most repugnant sexual excesses.
+The rapacity, frivolity and luxury of society lead to alcoholism,
+poverty, promiscuity and prostitution among the lower classes and
+cause complete degeneration of entire industrial populations.
+
+In the Canton of Zurich I have had the opportunity of closely
+observing the physical and moral effects of this degeneration. The
+individuals most incapable as hospital attendants were always factory
+hands. These wretched beings were generally so atrophied in body and
+mind that they were no use for anything except the weaving of silk and
+cotton. In the large English towns, such as Liverpool, and among the
+population of certain mining districts in Belgium, I have met with
+even worse degeneration of the human species. Modesty, morality and
+health are destroyed in this swarming human mass--dirty, anęmic,
+tuberculous, rickety, imbecile, or hysterical--and there is no
+distinction between the factory girl and the prostitute. In certain
+Belgian districts which are a prey to alcoholism, one sometimes sees
+human beings copulating in the streets like animals, or like the
+drunken Kaffirs in South Africa. What can we expect from the
+descendants of a population so completely degenerate? Marriage and
+even concubinage among peasants is golden in comparison!
+
+I will now draw attention to a contemporary phenomenon of the greatest
+interest. The immense development of means of transport, combined with
+progress in the sanitation of dwellings, favors the transportation of
+town to country and country to town. This brings together the two
+modes of human life, and in this I see the dawn of salvation in the
+future. The modern towns of North America, thanks to the great
+extension of their territory, already resemble the country to a great
+extent, each house being surrounded by a garden. The electric tramways
+shorten distances and facilitate this manner of building towns. As
+means of communication become still more simplified and cheapened, the
+advantages of country life will be joined to those of the town without
+suffering from the promiscuity of the latter. The disadvantages of
+country life consist in atrophy of the intellectual dispositions from
+want of contact; improvement in means of transport will bring this
+contact to the country. The result of such distribution of the
+territory of a civilized state, such as I have in view, might be
+called an _Agropolis_--an urbanized country or a countrified town. It
+would then be possible to live a life more ideal in human sentiments,
+and healthier as regards material and sexual matters.
+
+The state of the countryman or peasant is advantageous for marriage,
+not only because it does not offer such a suitable soil for
+prostitution, but because the danger of venereal disease is
+diminished, and the procreation of healthy offspring favors conjugal
+happiness and constancy in sexual union. From the religious point of
+view, the freedom in sexual intercourse which prevails among country
+people before marriage is looked upon as immoral; but this is a
+natural phenomenon similar to the "marriage by trial" of certain
+savage races, or the "hand-fasting" of the Scotch people, of which we
+have spoken in Chapter VI. People who tolerate and defend prostitution
+should be ashamed of their hypocrisy and of the manner in which they
+distort morality, when in the same breath they reproach peasants with
+their natural but illegitimate unions.
+
+It is needless to say that other causes of degeneration may exist in
+the country as well as in towns; for instance, certain endemic
+diseases, such as myxoedema and malaria, the brutish life of certain
+tribes, perpetuation of degeneracy by consanguineous unions, etc.
+
+The worst state is certainly that of the proletariat of large towns,
+which is generally associated with crime. In the community of pimps,
+criminals and decadents in general, is constituted a special social
+outlook, which regards the greatest scamp in the light of a hero. When
+a child shows a precocious criminal disposition it is looked upon in
+these circles as a child of much promise. Honest and virtuous children
+are considered in this society as imbeciles, or even as traitors and
+spies, and are consequently despised, hated and ill-treated. The
+deleterious influences we have mentioned do not act alone, but are
+often associated with other factors in causing degeneration of the
+sexual life. When other influences preponderate, we may sometimes
+observe depravity in the country, and on the contrary, healthy and
+normal conditions in certain towns. We must always avoid exaggerating
+the importance of a single factor in making generalizations. Certain
+country villages, the inhabitants of which have become alcoholized and
+degraded, may present a much more unhealthy sexual life than certain
+sober and well-governed towns.
+
+=Vagabondage.=--In the _Archiv für Rassen und Gesellschafts biologie_
+of 1905 (Archives of the biology of races and of society), Doctor
+Jörger relates the history of the descendants of a couple of
+vagabonds, which he carefully studied for several generations. Nearly
+all the members of this family became vagabonds, thieves, prostitutes,
+and other society pests. Vain attempts were made to give a good
+education to some of them, but they ran away from school to lead the
+lives of vagabonds or criminals. In a few of them only, education gave
+some results, but not at all brilliant. In this family, alcoholism and
+its blastophthoria played a considerable part.
+
+We can hardly admit that the mnemic phenomena explained in Chapter I
+could have acted appreciably in two or three hundred years, a period
+much too short for the human species. No doubt the common ancestor of
+the above family of vagabonds descended from a family of vagabonds. I
+do not, however, think I am wrong in attributing to blastophthoria,
+superposed on the disastrous combinations of germs which is inevitable
+in the life of vagabonds, the principal cause of this typical
+degeneration of the family, a degeneration in which sexual degradation
+strongly predominates. I recommend Doctor Jörger's work to any one
+interested in this question. It would be useful to draw up
+genealogical tables, with the medical and psychological descriptions
+of the whole population of a small town.
+
+=Americanism.=--By this term I designate an unhealthy feature of
+sexual life, common among the educated classes of the United States,
+and apparently originating in the greed for dollars, which is more
+prevalent in North America than anywhere else. I refer to the
+unnatural life which Americans lead, and more especially to its sexual
+aspect.
+
+The true American citizen despises agricultural work and manual labor
+in general, especially for women. His aim is to centralize labor by
+means of machinery and commerce, so as to concern himself only with
+business, intellectual occupations and sport. American women consider
+muscular work and labor in the country as degrading to their sex. This
+is a relic of the days of slavery, when all manual labor was left to
+negroes, and is so to a great extent at the present day.
+
+Desirous of remaining young and fresh as long as possible, fearing the
+dangers and troubles of childbirth and the bringing-up of children,
+the American woman has an increasing aversion to pregnancy,
+childbirth, suckling and the rearing of large families.
+
+Since the emancipation of negroes has caused domestic servants in the
+United States to become expensive luxuries, family life has been to a
+great extent replaced by life in hotels and boarding-houses, and this
+has furnished another reason for avoiding conception and large
+families.
+
+It is evident that this form of emancipation of women is absolutely
+deleterious and that it leads to degeneration, if not to extinction of
+the race. The mixed Aryan (European) race of North America will
+diminish and become gradually extinguished, even without emigration,
+and will soon be replaced by Chinese or negroes. It is necessary for
+woman to labor as well as man, and she ought not to avoid the
+fulfillment of her natural position. Every race which does not
+understand this necessity ends in extinction. A woman's ideal ought
+not to consist in reading novels and lolling in rocking chairs, nor in
+working only in offices and shops, so as to preserve her delicate skin
+and graceful figure. She ought to develop herself strongly and
+healthily by working along with man in body and mind, and by
+procreating numerous children, when she is strong, robust and
+intelligent. But this does not nullify the advantage that may accrue
+from limiting the number of conceptions, when the bodily and mental
+qualities are wanting in the procreators.
+
+=Saloons and Alcohol.=--I desire to draw attention once more to the
+evil influence of saloons and bars. The drink habit corrupts the whole
+of sexual life. It is the origin of the most hideous forms of
+prostitution and proxenetism, and leads to the seduction of girls. I
+must mention again the barmaids whose business it is to attract
+customers by exciting their sexual desire, at the same time exploiting
+themselves by prostitution. These saloons are dens of iniquity in
+which alcohol and prostitution are inextricably confounded. In Germany
+they have become a veritable social plague.
+
+Drink makes men and women not only gross and sensual, but also
+negligent, imprudent and irreflective. The saloon takes men from their
+homes, and drink directly diminishes the population. This is seen in
+Russia by comparing the abstainers with the drinkers, the former being
+much more fecund. The statistics of Doctor Bezzola show that a single
+drinking bout may have a blastophthoric effect. From this and from
+other causes result the deplorable consequences of coitus which takes
+place during drunkenness.[7]
+
+=Wealth and Poverty.=--While in former civilizations the rich man
+regarded a multiplicity of wives and children as a condition or cause
+of his wealth and also as its result, in our modern civilization the
+number of children diminishes with the increase of prosperity.
+Children have ceased to be as formerly a source of wealth; on the
+contrary, they occasion much expense for their education. Again, the
+higher the social position of woman the more she fears pregnancy. Her
+life of ease makes her weaker and more delicate, so that she becomes
+less fit for the procreation of children. This phenomenon is an
+unhealthy product of culture and reaches a truly pathological degree
+in America.
+
+We have mentioned marriage for money, which is the prostitution of the
+rich, and poverty, which is one of the causes of common prostitution,
+and we have seen how money influences sexual intercourse. We may now
+state the general principle that a mediocrity living in comfortable
+circumstances without immediate daily wants, under good hygienic
+conditions, but requiring a man to work for his living, constitutes
+the best condition both for a healthy sexual life and for health and
+happiness in general. This is the _aurea mediocritas_, or modest
+competence, the excellence of which was recognized by the ancients.
+
+The sexuality of the rich man degenerates by luxury, comfort, excess
+and idleness, and by the fact that he is already satiated in his
+youth. That of the poor man is no less degenerate, owing to bad food,
+unhealthy dwellings, neglected education, and by vicious example which
+at the opposite extreme, resembles in many points that of the rich
+man; the exploiter and the exploited meeting in the dens of vice. Such
+is the case with gambling hells, with dens for prostitution and
+sexual anomalies, where the poor blackmail the rich, while the latter
+in their capacity as social exploiters help to maintain poverty and
+prostitution.
+
+Money makes sexual intercourse unnatural; in place of letting coitus
+take its natural course, it makes it an object of amusement and
+pleasure, and also of speculation, and it debases the bodies of
+wretched girls by making them objects of commerce.
+
+Unfortunately, the increasing facility of obtaining money without
+working for it, due to civilization, not only corrupts the sexual life
+of the wealthy and the poverty stricken, but has the same effect on
+the middle classes. A healthy and normal sexual life must be
+associated with honest and arduous work. We have already remarked that
+the solution of the sexual question depends partly on the suppression
+of alcoholic drink. We may add that another side of the question
+depends on the extirpation of the greed for money. If human beings
+could work for the social welfare without private interest, sexual
+relations would soon take their natural course. But it must be
+admitted that it is difficult to find a practical solution for the
+problem of social economy.
+
+=Rank and Social Position.=--Class distinction and social position
+have always played a part in sexual life. This is especially the case
+where certain class customs and prejudices prescribe a special code
+for marriage. The consanguinity of the nobility and of royal families,
+who can only marry among themselves, has resulted in obvious
+degeneration. Originally there was the desire to preserve the purity
+of noble blood, and rules formulated with this object at first had
+some success; but in the long run the exclusiveness of such selection
+produces degeneration of the group which puts it into practice.
+
+On the other hand, the severe rules which govern marriages among the
+nobility have resulted in driving the latter to extra-nuptial sexual
+intercourse. In their sexual excesses, the nobility, and even crowned
+heads, seldom amuse themselves with honest and virtuous girls of the
+working classes, but more generally with actresses of loose morals,
+dancing girls, and hysterical sirens and adventuresses of all kinds,
+so long as they are pretty. Since the time of the feudal system, the
+nobility, having lost its real reason for existence, only lives on its
+traditions. It remains in general in a state of idle depravity,
+faithful to its old traditions, except when it has succeeded in
+adapting itself to the work of modern life. It has, in fact, preserved
+the vices of its ancestors rather than their virtues.
+
+The more than doubtful offspring of extra-nuptial intercourse among
+the nobility have often been adopted or raised to the nobility.
+Moreover, kings and princes have often ennobled unworthy persons who
+had succeeded in pandering to their follies or exciting their sexual
+passions. It is, therefore, not to be wondered at if in the offspring
+of such unions, the blood of the highest nobility is tainted with that
+of the worst kinds of heredity.
+
+Another sign or effect of the degeneration of the nobility is found in
+the marriages they so often contract with wealthy heiresses, often of
+mediocre quality, in order to repair their escutcheon. In the Middle
+Ages, the nobility regarded it as degrading to work for their living,
+and this prejudice accelerated their degeneration; for nowadays the
+heroic and chivalrous deeds of the Middle Ages have little opportunity
+for their performance.
+
+Other social classes present certain sexual peculiarities; for example
+the disastrous consequences of celibacy among the Catholic priests.
+This excludes an important and intelligent portion of the species from
+reproduction, and also favors clandestine debauchery.
+
+The army and navy also exert a detrimental action on sexual life.
+First of all they foster one of the lowest forms of prostitution;
+soldiers' women are proverbial, and one of them alone may infect a
+whole regiment. In the second place, the absence of normal sexual
+intercourse favors all kinds of perversion, such as pederasty,
+masturbation, etc. The abominable sexual life of soldiers and sailors
+corrupts them to such an extent that when they marry later on they
+come to their wives with filthy habits, to say nothing of syphilis and
+gonorrhea. The result is the procreation of offspring who are more or
+less tainted in body and mind by the effects of venereal disease
+combined with alcohol. We have already mentioned the rules which
+forbid German officers to marry a woman unless she possesses a certain
+fortune.
+
+In the Norwegian mercantile marine the customs contrast happily with
+those we have just mentioned, and permit officers to live on board
+with their wives. In all respects the Norwegian serves as a model in
+the sexual question; does he not favor conjugal life by only charging
+half-price on the boats for women who travel with their husbands!
+
+Other classes have a less obvious influence on sexual life. On the
+whole, however, all sexual isolation of castes has an unfavorable
+influence. Wherever the prejudices of a caste compel its members to
+intermarry, certain special degenerations are produced. Good quality
+in man is not derived from class or position, but from true innate or
+hereditary nobility of character, and this alone should be the object
+of positive selection, without any distinction of classes.
+
+=Individual Life.=--There is no doubt that the mode of life of the
+individual exerts an influence on his sexual life. High living
+combined with little bodily exercise generally increases the sexual
+appetite, while insufficient food combined with severe muscular work
+diminishes it.
+
+Intellectual work acts in a variable manner. A distinguished
+psychologist assured me that intense intellectual work excited his
+sexual appetite; others have said the opposite. As a rule, a sedentary
+life increases the sexual appetite; a life full of occupation and
+muscular activity diminishes it. But the question is complicated by
+other influences.
+
+Alcohol diminishes sexual power, while exalting desire or even
+perverting it. The artificial excitants of the sexual appetite,
+cultivated by modern civilization by interested speculation, act in
+rather a different way. Erotic pictures, obscene novels and dramas,
+etc., constitute an unhealthy medium in our centers of civilization,
+which overexcites and corrupts the sexual appetite. The more delicate
+and poisonous the perfume of this atmosphere and the more ęsthetic the
+refinement by which it titillates the senses, the greater is its
+destructive action.
+
+The question of the reunion or separation of the sexes plays an
+important part. Life in common among girls and boys from infancy
+usually diminishes sexual excitation, in the same way as among
+brothers and sisters. We find something analogous in different
+branches of human activity where the two sexes live together; for
+instance, at college, in the fields, and in general where work and
+play is common to both sexes.
+
+There are, however, certain exceptions to this rule, which must not be
+taken too generally. Under certain circumstances, life in common of
+the two sexes leads to unfavorable and even perverted sexual
+excitation. This is especially the case when alcohol adds its
+influence; also among nervous or ill-balanced individuals. In my
+opinion it is absolutely unreasonable for the superintendent of a
+lunatic asylum to organize balls at which the insane of both sexes are
+provided with beer or wine. I have only seen bad results from this,
+while I have obtained excellent effects from a temporary reunion of
+the insane of both sexes, by avoiding all alcoholic drinks as well as
+everything which could excite the sexual appetite, such as dancing, or
+the bringing together of erotic or perverted individuals. A young
+female onanist who suffered from sexual excitement complicated with a
+nervous condition, complained to me of being obliged to work as a
+telegraphist among young men, as this continually excited her
+eroticism without the possibility of satisfying it.
+
+This situation, which is a common one in both sexes, gives us a
+valuable indication. No doubt life in common for the two sexes is
+normal and natural, but only on the condition that it leads eventually
+to normal sexual intercourse as the result of love. It is neither
+healthy nor normal to excite an appetite continually without
+satisfying it. Any one who wishes to live a continent life, for
+religious or other reasons, ought not to expose himself to continual
+excitement by too great intimacy with the opposite sex; he should, on
+the contrary, avoid everything which tends to excite his sexual
+appetite and seek everything which tends to pacify it. I am not
+referring here to individuals of a naturally cold and indifferent
+nature, who run little or no risk under such circumstances.
+
+Certain occupations, such as those of employees in stores, telegraph
+offices, etc., in which the two sexes are closely associated in their
+work, constitute from this point of view a double-edged sword. Other
+unhealthy and monotonous occupations, combined with bad conditions of
+food and lodging, and with all kinds of seduction--factory hands for
+example--have a positively deleterious effect on sexual life, which
+becomes absolutely depraved when the two sexes work together. The
+situation is hardly any better when they are only separated during
+working hours.
+
+=Internats.=--All internats, _i.e._, all establishments where
+individuals of the same sex live in the same dwelling for a long time,
+exert a peculiar influence on sexual life--schools and convents, for
+example.
+
+The great inconvenience of all these establishments lies in the danger
+of contamination from habits of onanism or pederasty. Inverts are
+strongly attracted towards internats, where they find their heart's
+desire where they can easily indulge their perverted passions; the
+dormitory of such an institution having the same effect on them as
+that of a girl's school would have on a young man. (Vide Chapter
+VIII.)
+
+This is a matter which has not received sufficient attention in
+organizing boarding-schools for boys and girls, because it was not
+known that homosexual instincts are hereditary and innate. Such cases
+were regarded only as acquired bad habits.
+
+Lunatic asylums are especially attractive to sexual inverts, who apply
+for the positions of attendants or nurse so as to be able to indulge
+their passions on the insane patients, who are incapable of betraying
+them.
+
+Without being homosexual, nor even seduced by inverts, many normal but
+erotic individuals try to satisfy their sexual appetite on their
+companions--boys by pederasty, girls by lesbian love, and both sexes
+by mutual onanism.
+
+The chief danger is that of some sexually perverted individual gaining
+entry to a boarding-school and contaminating numbers of normal
+individuals, without anything being discovered; because it is much
+more difficult to supervise a school than a family. This could be
+remedied better by confidence between masters and pupils than by
+supervision.
+
+=Varia.=--I should never finish if I attempted to describe all the
+influences of environment. The examples mentioned will suffice to
+show that, in a natural appetite such as the sexual, the two extremes
+of asceticism and excess lead to evil and unnatural aberrations, and
+that the important point is to find or create a healthy environment
+for a healthy sexual life.
+
+We hear a good deal about good or bad luck or chance in the matter of
+love. I do not deny that fortuitous circumstances often determine the
+happiness of an individual in his love affairs. But it is all the more
+deplorable that what is called the good manners of society make it so
+difficult to correct Cupid's blunders. There is room for improvement
+in this direction, and many spoilt lives and much unhappiness might be
+avoided. The unfavorable influence of environment might often be
+corrected by separation or change, if this could be done in time.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[7] Vide "Alkoholvergiftung und Degeneration" by Bunge: Leipzig 1904;
+and "Hygiene of the Nerves and Mind" by Forel: Stuttgart 1905.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+RELIGION AND SEXUAL LIFE
+
+
+=Transformation of Profane Customs into Religious
+Dogmas.=--Ethnography has taught us that in the course of time human
+tribes often unconsciously transform profane customs into integral
+parts of their religion, either by attributing them to a divine
+origin, or by elevating them to the rank of commandments of the gods,
+or by connecting them with other dogmas, combining them with worship,
+etc.
+
+Sexual connection plays an important part in this matter. A great
+number of religious rites and customs are nothing else than the
+customs of sexual life (taken in its widest sense) which have been
+symbolized; inversely, a number of dogmas have for their only motive
+the application of a religious basis to sexual customs, which gives
+them more authority.
+
+The religious rites react powerfully on the sexual life and on the way
+in which the members of the tribe or people understand it. We will
+give a few striking examples.
+
+We have seen in Chapter VI that polygamy depends first on the idea of
+ownership, and secondly on marriage by purchase, to which it owes its
+historic origin. But the fact that Islamism and Mormonism, for
+example, have made polygamy an integral part of their religious
+dogmas, has given to the whole organization of the Mahometans and
+Mormons, as well as to their point of view of existence, a particular
+direction which cannot be ignored. In reality, we are just as
+polygamous as they are, but our theoretical and religious sexual
+morality is monogamous while theirs is polygamous, each based on
+contradictory "divine commandments."
+
+Among certain Buddhists, the wife is compelled to follow her husband
+to the grave, which naturally influences sexual life profoundly.
+
+Among many savage races there exists matriarchism, which gives the
+woman a high social position. This has even been made a religious
+dogma, while it simply originates from the natural and just idea that
+the mother is much more intimately connected with the children than
+the father.
+
+The duty imposed on men to marry the widow of their brother originated
+from a profane command intended to regulate unions; eventually this
+was made a religious dogma. In the same way circumcision among the
+Jews had its origin in a hygienic custom having no relation to
+religious faith. This did not prevent it becoming later on as
+important a custom as baptism in Christianity. For the Jewish people
+it has the advantage of protecting them to a great extent from
+venereal infection, and against one of the chief causes of
+masturbation.
+
+=Catholicism.=--We have already spoken of the celibacy of the Catholic
+priests and of its lay origin. The Catholic religion also contains a
+series of detailed precepts concerning sexual connection in general
+and marriage in particular; precepts which were only gradually
+transformed into religious dogmas. As they determine to a great extent
+opinions and manners in the sexual domain, they exert a considerable
+social influence.
+
+The absolute interdiction of divorce among the Catholics (man has not
+the right to separate those whom God has joined together) seals
+forever the most unfortunate unions and leads to misfortunes of all
+kinds, separation of the married couple, _liaisons_ apart from
+marriage, etc. According to Liguori, the Catholic Church prescribes a
+number of details concerning sexual relations in marriage. The woman
+who, during coitus places herself upon the man instead of under him,
+commits a sin. The position and manner of performing coitus are
+prescribed in the most minute details, and the holy fathers make the
+woman play a part unworthy of her position as wife, while according
+the man the widest liberty.
+
+In truly Catholic marriage it is prescribed to procreate as many
+children as possible, and all preventive measures in coitus are
+severely condemned. Hence, if the woman is very fruitful, the husband
+has only the choice between complete abstention from coitus (when both
+conjoints are in agreement) and pregnancies following without
+interruption. The woman never has the right to refuse coitus to her
+husband, nor the latter to refuse it to his wife, so long as he is
+capable of accomplishing it.
+
+It is easy to understand what powerful effects such precepts have had
+and still have on the conjugal life of the Catholics, particularly on
+the quantity and quality of their descendants.
+
+=Aural Confession.=--Confession requires special mention. In his book,
+"Fifty Years in the Roman Church" (Jeheber, Geneva), on page 151,
+Father Chiniqui, the celebrated Canadian reformer, who later on became
+a Protestant, and for many years played an important part in the
+Canadian Catholic clergy, mentions the points on which the confessor
+interrogates the penitents of both sexes. One cannot reproach him with
+being incompetent.
+
+No doubt the Church of to-day would reply that the confessor is not
+obliged to put all these questions and that the details are left to
+his tact. We will agree that there is a difference between the Canada
+of the last century, a new and primitive country, and the Europe of
+the present day. But I maintain: First, that the confessor does not
+content himself with listening to what the penitents of both sexes
+tell him, but that it is his duty to interrogate them; secondly, that
+a celibate Catholic person, extremely serious and virtuous, to whom I
+put the question unawares, informed me that not only are sexual
+matters dealt with at the confessional, but that they play the
+principal role. And, as it is a question of warning the penitents
+against so-called sins, mortal or not, or of absolving them, I fail to
+see how the priest can avoid speaking of them, when the detailed
+precepts of which we have spoken exist.
+
+I reproduce here the original Latin text. It deals with questions
+which have been treated in Chapter VIII, so that I shall dispense with
+giving a translation.
+
+The confessor puts the following questions to his penitents:
+
+1. _Peccant uxores, quae susceptum viri semen ejiciunt, vel ejicere
+conantur_ (Dens, vol. VII, p. 147).
+
+2. _Peccant conjuges mortaliter, si, copula incepta, prohibeant
+seminationem._
+
+3. _Si vir jam seminaverit, dubium fit an femina lethaliter peccat,
+si se retrahat a seminando; aut peccat lethaliter vir non expectando
+seminationem uxoris_ (p. 153).
+
+4. _Peccant conjuges inter se circa actum conjugalem. Debet servari
+modus, sive situs; uno ut non servetur debitum vas, sed copula
+habeatur in vase praepostero, aliquoque non naturali. Si fiat
+accedendo a postero, a latere, stando, sedendo, vel si vir sit
+succumbus_ (p. 166).
+
+5. _Impotentia. Est incapacitas perficiendi copulam carnalem perfectam
+cum seminatione viri in vase se debito, seu, de se, aptam generationi.
+Vel, ut si mulier sit nimis arcta respectu unius non respectu
+alterius_ (p. 273).
+
+6. _Notatur quod pollutio, in mulieribus possit perfici, ita ut semen
+earum non effluat extra membrum genitale. Indicium istius allegat
+Billuart, si scilicet mulier sensiat seminis resolutionem cum magno
+voluptatis sensu, qua completa, passio satiatur_ (vol. IV, p. 168).
+
+7. _Uxor se accusans, in confessione, quod negaverit debitum,
+interrogatur an ex pleno rigore juris sui id petiverit_ (vol. VII, p.
+168).
+
+8. _Confessarius poenitentem, qui confitetur se peccasse cum
+sacerdote, vel solicitatem ab eo ad turpia, potest interrogare utrum
+ille sacerdos sit ejus confessarius, an in confessione sollicitaverit_
+(vol. VI, p. 297).
+
+In volumes V and VII of Dens may be found many such precepts,
+impossible to reproduce, on which the pious casuist desires his
+penitents to be examined.
+
+Let us now pass on to the celebrated Liguori. Among numerous other
+obscene questions of a refined erotic nature, every confessor is bound
+to put the two following to his penitents:
+
+1. _Quaerat an sit semper mortale, si vir immitat pudenda in os
+uxoris...?_
+
+_Verius affirmo, quia in hoc actu, ob calorem oris, adest proximum
+periculum pollutionis, et videtur nova species luxuriae contra
+naturam, dicta irruminatio._
+
+2. _Eodem modo, Sanchez damnat virum de mortali qui, in actu copulae,
+immite ret digitum in vas praeposterum uxoris; quia, ut ait, in hoc
+actu, adest affectus ad-Sodomiam_ (Liguori, t. VI, p. 935).
+
+Let us now leave the celebrated Liguori and pass on to Burchard, the
+bishop of Worms. He has written a book on the questions which the
+priest should put at the confessional. Although this book no longer
+exists it has been for ages the guide of the Roman Catholic priests at
+the confessional. Dens, Liguori, Debreyne, etc., have taken from it
+their most savory passages, to recommend them as a study for our
+present confessors. We will give a few examples:
+
+(_a_) To young men:
+
+1. _Fecisti solus tecum fornicationem ut quidam facere solent; ita
+dico ut ipse tuum membrum virile in manum tuam acciperes, et sic
+duceres praeputium tuum, et manu propria commoveres, ut sic per illam
+delectationem semen projiceres?_
+
+2. _Fornicationem fecisti cum masculo intra coxas; ita dico ut tuum
+virile membrum intra coxas alterius mitteres, et sic agitando semen
+funderes?_
+
+3. _Fecisti fornicationem, ut quidam facere solent, ut tuum virile
+membrum in lignum perforatum aut in aliquod hujus modi mitteres et sic
+per illam commotionem et delectationem semen projiceres?_
+
+4. _Fecisti fornicationem contra naturam, id est, cum masculis vel
+animalibus coire, id est, cum equo, cum vacca vel asina, vel aliquo
+animali?_ (vol. I, p. 136).
+
+(_b_) To young girls or women (same collection, p. 115):
+
+1. _Fecisti quod quaedam mulieres solent, quoddam molimen, aut
+machinamentum in modum virilis membri ad mensuram tuae voluptatis, et
+illud loco verendorum tuorum aut alterius cum aliquibus ligaturis ut
+fornicationem faceres cum aliis mulieribus, vel alio eodem
+instrumento, sive alio tecum?_
+
+2. _Fecisti quod quaedam mulieres facere solent, ut jam supra dicto
+molimine vel alio aliquo machinamento, tu ipsa in te solam faceres
+fornicationem?_
+
+3. _Fecisti quod quaedam mulieres facere solent, quando libidinem se
+vexantem extinguere volunt, quae se conjugunt quasi coire debeant et
+possint, et conjungunt invicem puerperio sua, et si fricando pruritum
+illarum extinguere desiderant?_
+
+4. _Fecisti quod quaedam mulieres facere solent, ut cum filio tuo
+parvulo fornicationem faceres, ita dico ut filium tuum supra
+turpidinem tuam poneres ut sic imitaberis fornicationem?_
+
+5. _Fecisti quod quaedam mulieres facere solent, ut succumberes aliquo
+jumento et illud jumentum ad coitum qualicumque posses ingenio ut sic
+coiret tecum?_
+
+The celebrated Debreyne has written a whole book on the same subject
+for the instruction of young confessors, and in it he has enumerated
+all kinds of debauchery and sexual perversion which he could imagine,
+"Maechiology," or _Treatise on all the Sins against the Sixth_
+(seventh in the Decalogue) _and the Ninth_ (tenth) _Commandments_, as
+well as on all questions of married life connected with them.
+
+This book is very celebrated and is widely studied in the Roman
+Church. We only quote from it the two following questions:
+
+To men:
+
+_Ad cognoscendum an usque ad pollutionem se tetigerint, quando tempore
+et quo fine se tetigerint; an tunc quoddam motus in corpore experti
+fuerint, et per quantum temporis spatium; an cessantibus tactibus
+nihil insolitum et turpe acciderit; ad non longe majorem in corpore
+voluptatem perciperint in fine inactum quam in eorum principio; an tum
+in fine quando magnam delectationem carnalem senserunt, omnes motus
+corporis cessaverint; an non malefacti fuerint?_ etc., etc.
+
+To girls:
+
+_Quae sese tetigisse fatentur, an non aliquem pruritum extinguere
+tentaverit, et utrum pruritus ille cessaverit cum magnam senserint
+voluptatem; an tunc ipsimet tactus cessaverint?_
+
+Among a thousand other analogous precepts the reverend Kenrick, bishop
+of Boston, in the United States, gives the following to his
+confessors:
+
+_Uxor quae, in usu matrimonii, se vertit, ut non recipiat semen, vel
+statim post illud acceptum surgit, ut expellatur, lethaliter peccat;
+sed opus non est ut diu resuspina jaceat, quum matrix, brevi semen
+attrahat, et mox, arctissime claudatur._
+
+_Puellae patienti licet se vertere et conari ut non recipiat semen,
+quod injuria et emittitur; sed, acceptum non licet expellere, quia jam
+possessionem pacificam habet et haud absque injuria naturae
+ejiceretur._
+
+_Conjuges senes plerumque coeunt absque culpa, licet contingat semen
+extra vas effundi; id enim per accidens fit ex infirmitati naturae._
+
+_Quod si vires adeo sint fractae ut nulla sit seminandi intra vas
+spes, jam nequeunt jure conjugi uti_ (vol. III, p. 317).
+
+Such is the teaching of Chiniqui, the man whose courage and powerful
+individuality succeeded in introducing abstinence from alcohol in
+Canada. His long life was that of a pioneer and an inflexible champion
+of social and moral reform in that country, based on Christianity. He
+died at the age of ninety.
+
+I have quoted the erotic precepts of the confessional from him, as I
+was anxious to quote from an absolutely reliable source. It was not
+with a light heart that Chiniqui abandoned the Catholic Church, but
+only after violent and bitter struggles with conscience, struggles of
+which he relates the tragic episodes, and which lasted for many years.
+
+He commences the chapter from which we have quoted with the following
+words: "Let legislators, fathers and husbands read this chapter and
+ask themselves the question whether the respect which they owe to
+their mothers, their wives and their daughters does not impose upon
+them the duty of forbidding auricular confession. How is it possible
+for a young girl to remain pure in mind after such conversations with
+an unmarried man? Is she not more prepared for the depths of vice than
+for conjugal life?" The author of these lines is a man who was obliged
+for many years to be a confessor himself, and who understood to what
+extent confession corrupted the sexual life of women and priests. It
+is true that persons, priests or women, of strong character, and
+especially those with a cold nature from the sexual point of view, may
+resist such sexual excitation. But has confession been specially
+instituted for this type of character? Every one who is not a
+hypocrite will own that it is exactly the contrary.
+
+=Religious Prudery.=--The results of such a combination of sexual life
+with religious prescriptions are a mixture of ridiculous prudery and
+continual eroticism. In certain convents (those of the nuns of
+Galicia, for example) the nuns forbid their pupils to wash the sexual
+organs, because it is improper! In Austria the nuns often cover the
+crucifix in their bedroom with a handkerchief, "so that Christ cannot
+see their nakedness"! But the convents of nuns, in the Middle Ages,
+were often transformed into brothels; and it is not uncommon to see
+hypocrites or the subjects of erotic hysteria (both men and women)
+perform sexual orgies of the worst kind under the cloak of religious
+ecstasy.
+
+=Hottentots. Eunuchs.=--Among the Hottentots, the lips of the vulva
+(_labia minora_) in women are artificially elongated, and among the
+Orientals eunuchs are made. In themselves these two operations have
+certainly nothing to do with religion and only originated in profane
+customs. In the course of time they were made religious precepts,
+which has deeply rooted them in the customs of the people.
+
+=Religious Eroticism.=--The examples which we have cited show to what
+extent man is disposed to clothe his eroticism with the cloak of
+religion. He then attributes a divine origin to his desires and lays
+the precepts which he attaches to them on the commandments of his God
+or gods, so as to sanctify them. Hence, the unnatural influence of a
+mysticism, which is nothing else than the crystallized product of the
+fantastic imagination of men, raised to a dogma, imposes itself
+indirectly on natural sexual life, by entering at the back door under
+the cloak of religion. It is obvious that grave abuses or even vices
+often acquire the seal and power of religious precepts; while in the
+same domain a number of other customs or precepts are based on good
+hygienic or moral principles, for example, circumcision and conjugal
+fidelity.
+
+It is perhaps in the domain of pathology that the relations of
+religion to sexual life are the most striking (see Chapter VIII). We
+must not forget that the facts of reproduction seem to ignorant people
+and especially to barbarians, to be of a very mysterious nature. These
+people have no idea of germinal cells or their conjugation. They see
+in conception, embryogeny, pregnancy and birth, the miraculous effects
+of a divine and occult higher power--of the divinity, often even of
+the devil.
+
+The violent excitement which is associated with the sexual appetite
+and with love urges man to ecstasy; hence it is not to be wondered at
+that eroticism is so often complicated by ecstatic religious
+sentiments.
+
+In his book on Psychopathia sexualis, Krafft-Ebing remarks how easily
+religion, poetry and eroticism are combined and mingled in the obscure
+feelings and presentiments of maturing youth. In the life of saints
+there is always the question of sexual temptations, in which the most
+elevated and ideal sentiments are mixed with the most repugnant erotic
+images. On the same basis are developed the sexual orgies of different
+religious fźtes in the ancient world, as well as in certain modern
+sects.
+
+Mysticism, religious ecstasy and sexual voluptuousness are often
+combined in a real trinity, and one often sees unsatisfied sensuality
+seek compensation in religious exaltation. Krafft-Ebing cites the
+following cases from Friedreich's "Legal Psychology" (p. 389):
+
+    In this way the nun Blaubekin was perpetually tormented by the
+    thought of what happened to the part of Jesus' body removed by
+    circumcision.
+
+    In order to make his devotions to the lamb of God, Véronique
+    Juliani, who was canonized by Pope Pius II, took into his
+    chamber a terrestrial lamb, embraced it and sucked its breasts.
+
+    Saint Catherine of Gźnes often suffered from such internal heat,
+    that, to cool herself, she laid on the ground, crying: "Love,
+    love, I can do no more!" In doing this she felt a peculiar
+    inclination for her confessor. One day, putting his hand to her
+    nose, she perceived an odor which penetrated her heart, "a
+    celestial odor the voluptuousness of which could wake the dead."
+
+=The Role of Mental Pathology in Religious Eroticism.=--Among the
+insane, and especially in women, but also in men afflicted with
+_paranoia_ (a mental disease) we often find a strange and repugnant
+mixture of eroticism and religious images. Such are the everlasting
+betrothals with Christ, the Virgin Mary, with God or with the Holy
+Spirit, betrothals in which the venereal orgasm is combined with
+imaginary coitus and masturbation, followed by imaginary pregnancy and
+childbirth. These symptoms give us a clear indication of the relation
+which exists between eroticism and religious exaltation. The French
+alienists have even designated them by the characteristic term of
+"erotico-religious delirium." A single visit to the female division of
+a lunatic asylum is often sufficient to satisfy the visitor.
+
+A point which has received less attention is the immense historical
+influence which certain psychopathological personalities, chiefly
+hysterical subjects, but also some crazy persons or hereditary
+visionaries, have exercised at all times on human destiny, usually by
+the aid of the suggestive effects of sexual and religious ideas
+(erotico-religious), the connections of which have not always been
+clear.
+
+Every psychiatrist knows the insane whose delirium is combined with
+religious or mystic exaltation, and who by the mysticism of their
+delirium have exercised and continue to exercise a profound influence
+on the mass of humanity which surround them--"Panurge's Sheep," if I
+may use the expression. These people are themselves so dominated by
+the pathological influence of their auto-suggestions or their delirium
+that they behave with the fanaticism of fakirs, and exhibit an
+extraordinary energy and perseverance in the pursuit of the object of
+their morbid ideas. By their assurance, the sentiment of
+infallibility, and the fire of faith which is manifested in their
+prophetical manner, they fascinate the feeble brains of the people who
+surround them and attract them by their suggestive action.
+
+A very human and often powerful eroticism is usually associated with
+their delirium; but it is covered by a cloak of religious ecstasy,
+which imposes on natures disposed to exaltation, and renders them
+blind to the ignominy which often lies under this ecstasy.
+
+What makes these patients so persuasive is the fact that they are
+themselves persuaded. Even the normal man, we must admit, is guided
+less by reason than by sentiment, and the persons we have just
+described exert a powerful action on sentiment, and this more by their
+piercing glance, their prophetic and dominating tone, their manner and
+appearance, than by the extremely confused text of their discourses
+and doctrines.
+
+In this way there are always arising small epidemics of attraction in
+which a group of individuals allows itself to be infatuated by
+so-called prophets, messiahs, holy virgins and other visionaries, who
+are only lunatics or crazy persons. Under their influence are produced
+certain forms of insanity by contagion, which have been called double,
+triple or quadruple madness, and which may sometimes take the form of
+an epidemic.
+
+When the "prophet" is more consistent in his words and actions, or
+when his environment is still very ignorant and superstitious, the
+crowd of believers increases still more rapidly, and thus one sees
+even at the present day in less-civilized countries new sects or
+religious guilds, more or less ephemeral, in which the spirit of the
+prophet sometimes stirs up grave sexual orgies.
+
+Among more cultured people the prophet is generally exposed or sent to
+a lunatic asylum, much to the indignation of his disciples, who often
+consist of his wife and children and a few feeble-minded
+acquaintances.
+
+Thanks to the cheapness of printing, these prophets often publish
+their new religious system and sell it among their dupes. I possess a
+small library of works of this kind which have been sent me by their
+authors; probably with the idea that they might one day be taken for
+fools, and to prove to me in advance that they were not.
+
+According to them, God has personally revealed to them the new truth
+in which they believe, and has appointed them as prophets. Erotic
+images are generally associated with their system. One of them, whose
+system is astronomical, divides the planets into males and females.
+Another, a lunatic, describes the pathological sexual sensations by
+the term of "psycho-sexual contact by action at a distance." These are
+phenomena which we meet with at each step in psychiatry, and which
+give the clue to what follows.
+
+=The Historical Role of Mental Anomalies which are Not Very Apparent
+and Border on Genius. Their Influence on Religious Eroticism.=--These
+persons are not always afflicted with paranoia or other grave
+psychoses, but often hereditary and constitutional psychopaths who are
+only half-crazy or simply hysterical, and who may, in spite of this
+defect, possess a certain degree of intellectual power, an energetic
+will and the fire of enthusiasm. Things then take an essentially
+different course, even when they rest on an analogous basis.
+
+The prophet combines with his exaltation a logic which is often very
+concise in its details, although applied on a morbid basis. Moreover,
+he clothes his utterances in fine and poetical language, and in this
+way succeeds in rallying round him, not a flock of Panurge's ignorant
+sheep, but more elevated people and even a considerable proportion of
+the surrounding society. In this case pathological exaltation may be
+united to a high moral and intellectual ideal, which is very apt to
+veil the bizarre fancies of the prophet. We thus meet with the
+astonishing but undeniable fact that certain great historical
+personalities who have exercised a powerful influence on humanity were
+of more or less pathological nature. We discover among them
+erotico-religious traits, more or less marked, often even as the
+leading threads of their arguments.
+
+This important category of individuals constitutes a whole series of
+transitions between the insane prophets of whom we have spoken and
+well-balanced men of genius. It is often very difficult to understand
+and interpret the series of intermediate forms, so graduating and so
+variable, which exist between insanity and genius. It is necessary to
+guard against any exclusive generalization in one way or the other.
+
+In any case, the fact that many men of genius are of pathological
+nature does not authorize us to regard every person of genius or
+originality as insane, whether he attacks the routine and prejudices
+of his contemporaries, or whether he opens up new horizons and goes
+out of the beaten track. Let me cite a few examples.
+
+Joan of Arc was, in my opinion, a hysterical genius whose
+hallucinations were auto-suggestive. The distress of France had
+profoundly agitated her, and, fired with the desire to save her
+country, her brain was affected by auto-suggestion with hallucinations
+of the voices of saints and visions, which pointed out her mission and
+which she regarded as coming from real saints in heaven. At that
+period such things were common enough and need not surprise us. In
+spite of her good sense and modesty, Joan of Arc was urged by an
+exaltation unconscious of self. By a destiny as astonishing as
+providential, this young girl of genius, and at the same time
+pathological, exalted by ecstatic hallucinations, led France to a
+victorious war of freedom. The most conscientious historical sources
+show that the morality of Joan of Arc was pure and above reproach. Her
+replies to the invidious questions of the Inquisition are admirable
+and bear witness both to her high intelligence and the moral elevation
+of her sentiments. It is evident that the sentiments of love were
+transformed in her into religious ecstasy and enthusiasm for the ideal
+of her mission, a frequent occurrence among women.
+
+Another remarkable example is that of Thomas ą Becket. The sudden
+transformation of this man of the world into an ascetic priest (it is
+true, on the occasion of his nomination as archbishop), from this
+devoted friend and servitor of the king of England into his most
+violent adversary, and into a champion of the Church against the
+State, evidently represents the auto-suggestive transformation of a
+hysterical subject, for this is the only way of explaining such a
+sudden and complete contradiction which caused him to change suddenly
+from one fanaticism to a contrary one.
+
+The religious exaltation of the Mormon prophet, Smith, was no doubt
+combined with eroticism, which made him organize his sect on the basis
+of polygamy.
+
+Mahomet also had visions, and sexual connection plays an important
+part in his teaching and prophesies. The apostle St. Paul was also a
+visionary who passed suddenly from one extreme to another as the
+result of hallucination. Pascal, Napoleon, and Rousseau presented very
+marked pathological traits.
+
+Although some of these cases have no direct connection with the sexual
+question, I have mentioned them to show how such personalities exert
+their influence on the masses, and through them on history. As soon as
+they acquire authority, their peculiar ideas and sexual conceptions,
+however exclusive or even absurd they may be, react strongly on their
+contemporaries, as we see to-day the ascetic ideas of Tolstoi
+influence his numerous disciples.
+
+Sudden conversions, whatever may be their nature, especially when the
+convert goes from one extreme to another, are not the fruit of reason,
+but depend on suggestion or auto-suggestion and especially on
+pathological suggestibility. (Vide Chapter IX).
+
+In other respects sexual anomalies often govern the acts of hysterical
+persons and other psychopaths. The Roman emperors, Nero, Tiberius and
+Caligula were almost certainly sadists and enjoyed sexual pleasure at
+the sight of the sufferings of their victims. Valerie, Messalina and
+Catherine de Médici were also female sadists. Under the hypocritical
+veil of religion, Catherine de Médici was the principal instigator of
+the Massacre of St. Bartholomew at Paris, and wallowed in pleasure at
+the sight of the massacre of the Huguenots.
+
+On the other hand, masochism may give tone to the thoughts and sexual
+feelings of certain persons of great influence, such as Rousseau, and
+to sects of ascetics, such as the fakirs, etc.
+
+Involuntarily, therefore, the sexual feelings of every prophet and
+founder of religion, even during a short period of his life only,
+influence more or less his religious system and consequently the laws
+of morality based on it, which remain after his death.
+
+Hence it is that sentiments, as variable in different individuals as
+sexual sentiments, are obliged to submit to the constraint of fixed
+and tyrannical dogmas which martyrize for centuries, or even thousands
+of years, men who have other opinions than the founder of the religion
+or its interpreters who succeed him.
+
+In religion we see everywhere idealized eroticism, and often idealism
+perfumed with eroticism. The Songs of Solomon, the original sense of
+which was very lay, like that of most religious matters, has been made
+allegorical and applied to the Christian Church, but it was and will
+always remain an erotic poem.
+
+It is hardly necessary to add that natural eroticism very often leads
+the severe and ascetic preachers of morality to the grossest
+hypocrisy. Priests and other pious persons often preach an idealized
+asceticism, while in secret they commit the most disgusting sexual
+excesses.
+
+We must not, however, judge such crying inconsistencies too severely;
+they are to a great extent unconscious and are the result of the shock
+of passion against the tyranny of dogma, prejudice, and public
+opinion. They are often also the result of mental anomalies. When
+science is allowed to enlighten sexual life freely and openly, the
+hypocrisy of normal people will cease, and that of the abnormal will
+be recognized in time and prevented from doing harm.
+
+=Transformation of Eroticism into Religious Sentiment.=--In ordinary
+life we find everywhere traces of the mixture of religion with sexual
+sensations and images. The religious ceremonies of marriage among all
+peoples constitute a significant remnant thereof.
+
+When we look for the causes of sudden and progressive religious
+exaltation we often discover that it is nothing else than compensation
+for disappointed love. I refer here to true and fervid exaltation,
+identified with the whole inner consciousness, and not to the religion
+of habit which the average man scarcely remembers in his daily life,
+and only observes on Sunday in the form of a conventional promenade,
+or a contribution to the church. This religion of habit is only an
+empty form, which awakes no sentiment, and consequently is associated
+with no sensation, even erotic, in its followers.
+
+In other individuals it may be otherwise, and certainly was so
+formerly. Everything goes to prove that the exalted sentiments of
+sympathy from which our religion is to a great extent derived, such as
+the holy fervor, the devotional ardor and the delights of ecstasy
+which it has so often procured for its followers and still procures
+for some of them, whether their object be God, Allah, Jehovah, Jesus
+Christ, Buddha, Vishnu, the Virgin Mary, or the Saints, that these
+sentiments have to a great extent their roots in primary erotic
+sensations and sentiments, or represent the direct transformation of
+them.
+
+It is needless to say that all this may take place quite unconsciously
+and with the purest intentions. I hasten to add that the majority of
+true religious sentiments come from quite a different source.
+
+When we study the religious sentiment profoundly, especially in the
+Christian religion, and Catholicism in particular, we find at each
+step its astonishing connection with eroticism. We find it in the
+exalted adoration of holy women, such as Mary Magdalene, Marie de
+Bethany, for Jesus, in the holy legends, in the worship of the Virgin
+Mary in the Middle Ages, and especially in art. The ecstatic Madonnas
+in our art galleries cast their fervent regards on Jesus or on the
+heavens. The expression in Murillo's "Immaculate Conception" may be
+interpreted by the highest voluptuous exaltation of love as well as by
+holy transfiguration. The "Saints" of Correggio regard the Holy Virgin
+with an amorous ardor which may be celestial, but appears in reality
+extremely terrestrial and human.
+
+Numerous sects, both ancient and modern, have entered on the scene in
+a hardly less libidinous manner; for example, the sexual excesses of
+the anabaptists in former times and the sexual ecstasies of certain
+modern sects in America.
+
+If the objection is raised that these sects are the pathological
+excrescences of religion, I reply with their disciples as follows: "We
+have come into the world because your State religions are sunk in
+indifference, hypocrisy and hollow formality, offering nothing to the
+human heart but empty phrases. It behooves us to awaken from this
+sleep. We want enthusiasm and fervor to transform the inner life of
+man and convert him." These words, which we can see and hear
+everywhere by opening our eyes and ears, constitute a formal avowal of
+the suggestive factor in religion. (See Chapter IX.)
+
+In the Canton of Zurich I have myself often had occasion to observe,
+especially among women, the followers of the singular sect of the
+Pastor Zeller, of Maennedorf. He is a kind of visionary prophet who
+heals people after the manner of Christ and John the Baptist, by
+placing his hands on them and anointing them with oil. The cures which
+he obtains are due naturally to suggestion, like those of Lourdes, but
+he attributes them to divine miracles. He even told me naively that he
+heard a grinding (crepitation) in a broken bone, which he regarded as
+a miraculous cure! A crowd of women, mostly hysterical, collected
+around this man with an ardor which was unconsciously directed much
+more to his person than to that of God or Christ whom he was supposed
+to symbolize. I have treated patients who had been to him, and who
+associated with his person both the mildest and the most carnal erotic
+images--of course, in the innocence of their hearts.
+
+It is far from me to reproach this sincere man and many others of the
+same kind, especially the priests who are surrounded by a halo of
+sanctity pushed to ecstasy. I only maintain that when a human being
+exalts himself in the search for pure-mindedness and sanctity, thus
+denying his true nature, he is always in danger of falling
+unconsciously into the most gross sensuality, and at the same time of
+sanctifying this sensuality.
+
+=Description of Religious Eroticism by the Poets.=--The Swiss poet,
+Gottfried Keller, with his peculiar genius has described religious
+eroticism in an admirable way, especially in his seven legends. Read,
+for example, _Dorothea's Blumenkörbchen_ (Dorothea's little
+flower-basket), in which the terrestial lover of Dorothea ends by
+becoming jealous of her celestial lover, of whom she always speaks in
+the most exalted sentiments. Wherever she went she spoke in the most
+tender terms and expressed the most ardent desire for a celestial
+lover that she had found, who waited in immortal beauty to press her
+against his shining breast. When the wicked prefect had bound Dorothea
+on the gridiron under which was placed a slow fire, this hurt her
+delicate body, and she uttered smothered cries. Then her terrestrial
+lover, Theophilus, forcing his way through the crowd, burst her bonds
+and said with a sad smile, "Does it hurt you, Dorothea?" But when
+suddenly freed from all pain she immediately replied: "How could it
+hurt me, Theophilus? I lay on the roses of the lover I adore! This is
+my wedding day!" Keller shows us here, along with eroticism, the
+suggestive effect of ecstasy, which among martyrs, may reach the most
+complete anęsthesia.
+
+Goethe has also described erotico-religious ecstasy; for example, at
+the end of the second part of Faust, in the prayers addressed by
+certain anchorites to the queen of heaven.
+
+=Distinction Between Religion and the Ecstasy Derived from
+Eroticism.=--It would be quite false to maintain that religion in
+itself arises from sexual sensations. The terror of death and the
+enigmas of existence, the sentiments of human weakness and
+insufficiency of life, the want of consolation for all miseries, the
+hope of a future life, all play an important part in the origin of
+religions. On the other hand, it is necessary to recognize the
+considerable role of the erotic sexual factor in religious sentiments
+and dogmas, where on the one hand it leads to ardent fervor, while on
+the other hand it tyrannizes, especially by the exclusiveness of its
+residues transformed into dogmas, the natural expansion of the erotic
+sentiments which are so variable in individuals.
+
+One of the most difficult and important future tasks of social science
+toward humanity is, therefore, to set free sexual relations from the
+tyranny of religious dogmas, by placing them in harmony with the true
+and purely human laws of natural ethics.
+
+=Compensations.=--In the animal series we have seen that sentiments of
+sympathy are derived, in a general way, by phylogeny, from the
+sentiments of sexual attraction, and we often see in man a sexual
+love, deceived, despised or transfigured, seek compensation or
+idealization in the fervor or religious exaltation. The question
+naturally presents itself whether this compensation or this ideal is
+indispensable, and if other objects of a human and not mystical nature
+cannot take its place.
+
+There are, in my opinion, purely human ideals, which are capable of
+transfiguring erotic love "religiously" quite as well as the mysticism
+of so-called divine revelations. Christianity is called the religion
+of love, and the apostle Paul even places charity higher than faith.
+But what is charity but the synthesis of the social sentiments of
+sympathy, devotion and self-denial, for the benefit of humanity?
+Cannot it, therefore, be established on another basis than that of
+cheques to be drawn on paradise? Cannot exaltation and fervor apply
+their powerful faith, the beauty of their form and the elevation of
+their sentiments to the social ideal and the future welfare of our
+children? Cannot we replace the cult of religious legends, the
+adoration of the works of Jehovah and Christ, as they are given in the
+Bible, by the religion of our descendants and their welfare?
+
+In my opinion, the suggestion of religious ecstasy and love might well
+be directed toward the benefit of society. Its fanaticism is admirably
+adapted to shake the indifference and indolence of men; but this
+source of energy should not be wasted in the adoration of legendary
+mirages, but used for the efficacious culture of a true human religion
+of love on earth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+RIGHTS IN SEXUAL LIFE--GENERALITIES
+
+
+=Rights and Liberty.=--Human ideas of right are very curious. Every
+one appeals to right and liberty, and naturally thinks of himself
+first, without perceiving that in continually claiming his proper
+rights, he tramples under foot those of others. How beautiful are
+these words Rights and Liberty! But in everyday life in what an
+uncompromising way they oppose each other! To give satisfaction to my
+rights and liberty, the right of complete development, according to my
+natural sentiments, is a thing which is perfectly impossible; or, is
+only practicable by constantly infringing the right and liberty of my
+fellow beings.
+
+Nevertheless people keep harping on this theme; with the exalted tone
+of intimate conviction they inveigh against our social organization,
+cursing the malice of others, but show themselves perfectly incapable
+of resolving the contradictions which gave rise to their thirst for
+liberty and justice.
+
+The cry of despair addressed to right and liberty by modern society is
+nothing else than the expression of the instinctive sentiment of anger
+and revolt produced by the natural evolution of our phylogeny. The
+savage instincts, still considerable in the hereditary foundation of
+human nature (the mneme), revolt against the straight-jacket placed on
+them by social life, and against the want of liberty on the earth,
+which is already too small for humanity.
+
+The natural man is eager for expansion and liberty, and accustoms
+himself with difficulty to the severe restrictions which social
+necessities impose upon him. His nature is still that of a
+semi-nomadic animal, living as an autocrat with his family, possessed
+of a number of egoistic wants, and, wherever he goes, opposing the
+rights, liberties and desires of other men, who generally compel him
+to subordinate his desires to theirs. This is the true reason of this
+impotent cry of vexation and anger against the malice of others and
+the defectiveness of social organization. And yet this cry is
+absolutely necessary, in order that we may find and put in practice a
+social formula as tolerable as possible for the future. But, if we
+except the question of capital and labor, there is no domain in which
+social hindrance is so cruelly felt as in the sexual.
+
+What is human right? Apart from formally admitted distinctions we
+shall divide what is called right from the psychological and human
+point of view into two categories of ideas; _natural rights_ and
+_conventional rights_.
+
+=Natural Rights. Right of the Stronger.=--Natural right is quite a
+relative idea: the right to life and its conditions. But, as in this
+world, which is said to be created by a personal and perfect God,
+things are so amicably arranged that living creatures can only exist
+by devouring one another, the oldest effective natural right of every
+living being is precisely that of devouring others weaker than itself.
+This is the right of the stronger. Therefore, the absolute natural
+right is the right of the stronger.
+
+=Rights of Groups. Ants.=--These notions become altered, however, if
+we regard them from the point of view of _relative_ natural right.
+This does not concern all living beings, but only certain groups. The
+rights of groups are relative from a double point of view. On the one
+hand they give the group of individuals concerned the right of
+interfering with the right to life of other groups, even to
+extinction. On the other hand--and this is the better aspect of the
+rights of groups--they are completed by what are called the duties of
+each individual toward others of the same group, that is to say, the
+obligation to have regard for and even protect their rights equally as
+his own. The rights of a group include the social rights and duties in
+the limits of that group.
+
+It is among animals, especially the ants, that we find the most ideal
+organization of the rights of a group. Each individual of the ant
+colony acts in the interests of the community, which are the same as
+its own. It has the right to be nourished and housed and to satisfy
+all its immediate wants, but at the same time it is its duty to labor
+unceasingly in building and repairing the common dwelling, to nourish
+its fellows, to aid in the reproduction and bringing-up of the brood,
+to defend the community and even to take the offensive against every
+living being who does not belong to the community, in order to
+increase its resources.
+
+The rights and duties have here become completely _instinctive by
+adaptation_, that is to say, they are performed without commands or
+instruction. They result spontaneously from the natural organization
+of ants without the least external obligation intervening. Here, the
+cry of distress of the ferocious human beast, of whom we have just
+spoken, is completely absent, for duty is replaced by instinct or by
+appetite, and its accomplishment is accompanied by a natural sentiment
+of pleasure. Every ant could be idle without being punished by its
+comrades, if it were capable of wishing to be so, but this is
+impossible. Communities of ants can only exist on the basis of the
+social instinct of labor and mutual support, without which they would
+immediately disappear.
+
+=Egoism and the Rights of Groups in Man. Human Rights.=--The notions
+of the rights of groups in man are infinitely more complicated and
+more difficult to understand. As we have already seen, the most
+primordial instinctive sentiment in man is limited to his family and
+his immediate surroundings. But here even it leaves much to be
+desired. Family disputes, quarrels between brothers and sisters are
+frequent enough; parricide, fratricide and infanticide are not rare.
+In addition to this, beyond the narrow circle of the family, disputes,
+hatred between individuals, deception, robbery and many worse things
+are always the order of the day. In struggles between parties and
+classes, in the abuse of privileges of caste and fortune, in war, in
+commerce, in a word in everything, private interests of egoism take
+precedence of the general interests of humanity.
+
+These facts, and a thousand other pitiable phenomena of the same kind
+in human society, bear witness to the egoistic and rapacious nature of
+man, which proves how little the social instinct is developed in his
+brain. Human society is founded much more on custom and tradition,
+imposed by the force of circumstances, than on nature. Human infants
+resemble kittens at first much more than young social beings. In
+primitive times, when the earth appeared large to man, the rights of
+groups were limited to small communities which looked upon other men,
+the same as animals and plants, as legitimate prey. Cannibalism and
+even the chase show clearly that man began by becoming more rapacious
+and more carnivorous than his pithecanthropoid ancestor, and his
+cousin the ape of the present day.
+
+It is only later, after the progressive enlargement of stronger
+communities at the expense of weaker; still later, when man commenced
+to comprehend the sufferings for the community which result from the
+autocracy and passion for unlimited pleasure of a few persons;
+finally, when he discovered the narrow limits of the earth, that
+notions of humanity and humanitarianism, that is to say the sentiment
+of human solidarity, were able to develop in the general conscience.
+It was, however, one of the ancients who said "I am a man and nothing
+human can be strange to me." But in his time, as in that of Jesus
+Christ, civilization was already far advanced and influenced by the
+wide humanitarian ideas, more ancient still, of the Assyrians and the
+Buddhists.
+
+Every one who reflects will understand that the relativity of the
+rights of groups in man and that of the duties which correspond to
+them, must in time expand and be applied, little by little, to all the
+human inhabitants of the earth. What is more difficult is the
+definition of what should be understood under the term of humanity,
+capable of being socialized and cultivated.
+
+No doubt, the gap which exists between the lowest living human race
+and the highest ape is considerable and without direct transition.
+However, we gradually begin to recognize, on the one hand, that we
+have certain duties toward animals, at least toward those which serve
+us, and, on the other hand, we know that certain of the lower human
+races, such as the pigmies, the Veddas and even the Negroes, are
+inaccessible to a higher civilization, and especially incapable by
+themselves of maintaining what a number of their individuals learn by
+training when they live among us. We shall, therefore, have to choose
+finally between the gradual extinction of these races or that of our
+own.
+
+It is not my business to deal with this question here, to trace the
+limits of civilizable humanity, or to examine the rights and duties of
+civilized men to each other relatively to the rest of the living
+world; or, in other words, to what extent civilized man should have
+the relative right of subjecting other living beings, exploiting them
+in his own interests, nourishing them, or eventually exterminating
+them for the safety of his own existence.
+
+As regards the animal and vegetable kingdoms, from the amoeba to the
+orang-utan, the question is simple enough and settled. It is much more
+difficult to decide for men and for peoples separated from us by great
+racial differences. I must emphasize the profoundness of this
+difference. It is evident that the higher cultivated races, or rather
+blends of races, which live to-day will do better to live in peace
+than to mutually exterminate each other.
+
+It is necessary to discuss these questions at the risk of hurting the
+feelings of sentimental persons. But what is the use of being blind to
+such patent facts? It is not too soon to look closely into the future,
+and it is only thus that we can arrive at any useful result. The
+natural rights of man should evolve more and more from a complex of
+social rights and duties toward a single great group, which we may
+call _civilized humanity_, the relative limits of which can only be
+traced by repeated trials and by practical experience. The instincts
+of the wild beast are still so deeply rooted, even in civilized men,
+that they can only be adapted gradually and even painfully to a
+natural right thus understood and limited. We must honestly admit that
+such a right only merits very relatively the denomination of _natural
+rights_. In fact, social rights are necessarily artificial in man. A
+few elementary rights and duties only are quite natural, especially in
+the sexual domain. We are concerned here with adaptations in the form
+of instincts which serve for the support and development of the
+family, as well as for the protection of the individual. Among these
+we may mention the right to life, the duty of labor and the right to
+labor, the right of the infant to be nourished by its mother and to be
+cared for and protected by its parents, the duty of parents to nourish
+their children, the duty of the husband to protect his wife, the right
+to obtain nourishment from the animal and vegetable kingdoms, the
+right to satisfy the sexual appetite, etc.
+
+There exists, however, a series of other rights and duties, which are
+so necessary that they may be termed natural. Such are the right to
+possess a dwelling place; to defend one's life against attack; to
+think and believe what one wishes so long as one does not impose one's
+ideas and faith on others; the duty to respect the life and property
+of one's neighbor; the duty to give a healthy and sufficient education
+to youth, both in body and mind, etc.
+
+If we regard the matter without prejudice, certain rights and duties
+which have been hitherto considered as natural and self-evident,
+become very doubtful. Such are ecclesiastical and religious rights and
+duties, patriotic and national duties, the rights and duties of war,
+the rights of privileged classes, the rights of property, etc. It is
+clear, from an unprejudiced examination of the development of
+humanity, that these so-called rights and duties are only the historic
+legacies of mysticism or of limited human groupings, and in great part
+artificial. The rights and duties of members of the groups in question
+consisted in mutually protecting their opinions and their national and
+religious interests, etc., and in subjecting or even trampling under
+foot those of other human groups. These lead us quite naturally to the
+second category of general notions of rights.
+
+=Conventional Rights.=--To speak correctly, conventional rights are
+not rights. They are simply a dogmatic sanction applied to all kinds
+of customs and abuses that men have appropriated, according to local
+circumstances and their fortuitous conquests or acquisitions. Here,
+the consequences of the natural rights of the stronger, religious
+mysticisms and all sorts of human passions, the sexual appetite
+especially, play a very varied and complex role.
+
+The absurdity and injustice of conventional rights is shown by the
+difference, often even the absolute contrast, of the corresponding
+conception of rights among different peoples. In one, polygamy is a
+right and even a divine institution; in another, it is a crime.
+Individual murder is generally considered as criminal, but in warfare
+the slaughter of masses becomes a duty and even a virtue. Theft and
+rapine are regarded in times of peace as crimes, but in time of war,
+under the form of annexation and plunder they are the uncontested
+rights of the victor. In a kingdom, the monarch is looked upon as a
+holy person and offense to his majesty as a crime; in a democracy, it
+is individual domination which is regarded as criminal.
+
+Falsehood and mental restriction are, in certain cases at least, the
+rights or even the duty of the Catholic, who is only forbidden to
+swear falsely in the name of God and religion, while others consider
+all falsehood more or less unjustifiable; others again regard every
+oath as sinful.
+
+The contradictions, inconsistencies, unnatural prescripts and
+tyrannies of what is called conventional rights in different peoples
+are innumerable, and the notions of our rights which we have inherited
+from the Romans are not much better.
+
+=Retaliation.=--In historical epochs, we see the rights of the
+stronger succeeded by certain notions of rights which may still be
+considered as primordial; such is the law of retaliation or lynch law,
+based on the natural sentiment of vengeance, which is itself derived
+from anger, jealousy and pride, and says "An eye for an eye and a
+tooth for a tooth." The law of retaliation is very natural and very
+human. Although of savage origin, it has at least the merit of
+recognizing in men an equal right in retaliation for injury caused in
+a brutal fashion, without considering inner motives.
+
+=Expiation.=--We also find in the old law another notion derived
+partly from the preceding, but chiefly from religious mysticism--the
+notion of expiation. After constructing in his own image a divinity
+blinded by human passions, man attributed to him, from fear of
+vengeance, sentiments of anger and indignation regarding his baseness
+and malice toward his neighbor. He then conciliated the divinity and
+appeased his wrath by making sacrifices, human or otherwise.
+
+At first, sacrifices were not made of criminals or guilty persons, but
+of innocent lambs, men or beasts, sometimes with all kinds of torture,
+to appease the supposed wrath of the gods. Gradually, however, these
+customs became more humane and were changed to the notions of
+expiation which we still have. Whosoever has committed a crime should
+expiate it by some kind of pain, eventually by death. In our modern
+penal law, notions of expiation and retaliation are blended, and when
+we study its roots in ethnology we are not surprised to see the
+expiation and punishment of so-called crimes against God or religion.
+We find in this fact a singular mixture of religious and judicial
+notions. A curious way of appeasing the divinity is the sacrifice of
+animals and other offerings which ancient and savage peoples made and
+still make, in returning thanks for victory or some other good
+fortune, or to appease supposed wrath.
+
+=Themis.=--In spite of all these errors, ancient civilization
+represented as the ideal of right a goddess of justice, _Themis_, with
+eyes blindfolded and holding scales in her hands. The scales signified
+that right and wrong should be carefully weighed against each other;
+the bandage, that the judge should pronounce his verdict without
+regard to persons, and be inaccessible to all outside influence. For
+the limited ideas of that period, little removed from retaliation and
+expiation, this blind woman with her scales was a sufficient
+representation of justice. She had no need to trouble about the
+psychology of human nature, mental disorders, diminished
+responsibility or ideal social improvement.
+
+=Themis Unblindfolded. Fallacy of Free-will.=--Nowadays the task of
+our goddess is not so simple, for the progress of humanity and
+science, especially of psychology and psychiatry, oblige her whether
+she wishes or not, to completely remove her bandage, so as to see
+clearly into the human brain.
+
+It is not simply a question of knowing whether an accused person has
+or has not committed the act which he is accused of, but also whether
+he knew what he was doing, what were the motives which urged him, and
+who is the real instigator of the misdeed. Alcohol, mental anomalies
+and diseases, suggestions, passions, etc., concur in influencing the
+human brain so that it is hardly responsible for its acts.
+
+Again, on further examination, we find that the accepted and
+historical notion of free-will, that is to say the absolute liberty of
+man's will, which constitutes the very existence of our old penal law,
+becomes not only more problematical, but may even be considered as a
+purely human illusion, resting on the fact that the indirect and
+remote motives of our actions are mainly subconscious.
+
+The great philosopher, Spinoza, has already demonstrated this truth in
+a masterly manner, and modern science confirms it in all respects.
+Every effect has its cause, and all our resolutions are the result of
+the activities of our brain, in their turn determined or influenced by
+hereditary engrams (instincts and dispositions) or acquired
+(memories), which are their internal causes, and combine with causes
+acting from without. Let us admit freely the fallacy of the old axiom
+of human free-will and endeavor to understand that what we consider as
+free will is nothing else than the very variable faculty of our brain,
+more or less developed in different individuals, of adapting its
+activity to that of its environment, and especially to that of other
+men. Also let us endeavor to take into account that our will and all
+our actions are, consciously or unconsciously, determined by a complex
+of energies or hereditary engrams (character), combined with those
+which have acted upon us from without during our life, as well as with
+emotional or intellectual sensory impressions.
+
+Our whole conception of rights, and especially of penal law, should
+then change. We should entirely do away with _retaliation_, a
+barbarous relic of a more or less animal sentiment of our ancestors,
+and _expiation_, the relic of a superannuated and superstitious
+mysticism. Modern and truly scientific reformers of penal law have
+already taken account of this necessity. But, in spite of the complete
+inefficacy of the old penal system as regards the diminution of crime,
+they have so far only put into practice few of their ideas.
+
+=Justification of Rights and Laws.=--After what we have just said,
+there only remain, two reasons to justify the existence of rights and
+laws:
+
+(1). To protect human society against criminals, and in general to
+institute ideas and laws with a view to regulate the mutual interests
+of men, in such a way as to result in natural conditions of existence
+as advantageous as possible, both for the individual and for society:
+
+(2). To study the causes of crimes, social conflicts, imperfections
+and inequalities, so as to obtain, by contending against these causes,
+an improvement in men and their social condition. It is true that what
+we demand here means a complete transformation of the notions of
+conventional right, not only in our old penal law, but also to a great
+extent in civil law; but this transformation is inevitable and has
+even already commenced. Its object is to liberate right from the grasp
+of an old metaphysico-religious dogmatism, and from crystalized
+doctrines derived from superannuated custom and abuse, and to found
+itself on the applied and social natural history of man, who then only
+will merit the name of _homo sapiens_ which was given to him by
+Linnaeus, the great nomenclator of living beings.
+
+Jurists have already too long based metaphysics on old barbarous
+customs and superstitious mysticism, transformed into dogmas. It is
+time that Themis removed her bandage, studied psychology,
+psychopathology and science, and submitted the impartial handling of
+her scales to the influence of truer and juster human factors, even if
+her work thereby becomes more difficult and more complicated.
+
+=Sexual Rights.=--While sexual sentiments form part of the most sacred
+and intimate conditions of individual happiness, they are also closely
+and indissolubly connected with the social welfare of humanity. In no
+domain is it more difficult to combine harmoniously the welfare of the
+community with that of the individual, and this is why questions of
+right in sexual matters are among the most difficult to solve.
+
+The satisfaction of the sexual appetite in man is part of his natural
+rights. Natural science compels us to formulate this principle; yet it
+is a dogma the consequences of which may become very grave and even
+fatal; for the satisfaction of a man's sexual appetite implies, not
+only the direct participation of one or more human beings in a common
+act, but also that of a much greater number in its indirect effects;
+and it may occasion, according to circumstances, more harm than good.
+
+If the question of reproduction did not exist, it would be more easy
+to put individualism in more or less harmonious accord with
+socialism. It is thus the sexual relations which present the greatest
+difficulties in the social domain.
+
+In spite of the considerable progress which has been accomplished, our
+modern law is still based to a great extent on the barbarous principle
+of the legal inequality of the sexes. The mind of man and that of
+woman are no doubt of different quality; nevertheless, in a society
+which does not possess asexual individuals like that of the ants and
+bees, and in which the two sexes are compelled to work together
+harmoniously for the social welfare, there is no reason to subordinate
+one sex to the other. Man may have 130 or 150 grammes more brain
+tissue than woman and be superior to her in his faculty of combination
+and invention, but this is no reason why we should only accord his
+wife and mother inferior social rights to his own. His bodily strength
+will always protect him against the possible encroachments of woman.
+
+A first postulate is, therefore, the equality of the two sexes before
+the law. A second postulate consists in the emancipation of infancy,
+in the sense that it should never be considered as an object of
+possession or of exploitation, as was and is still so often the case.
+
+These are the fundamental principles of a normal sexual law. In no
+animal do we find the abuses which man is permitted to practice toward
+his wife and children. Let us now pass on to special questions.
+
+
+CIVIL LAW
+
+The object of civil law is to regulate the relations of men to each
+ether. Properly speaking it does not punish, that is to say, it
+requires no expiation and is not concerned with crime. It seeks to
+improve the social basis for mutual obligations and contracts.
+Nevertheless, it borders on penal law as regards the question of
+damages which one individual must pay another whom he has injured even
+involuntarily, as well as by the coercive measures, both
+administrative and operative, which it employs.
+
+Although resting on a natural basis better adapted to the social
+welfare than penal law, civil law still contains the traditions of
+religious mysticism and the abuse of conventional right.
+
+I shall here analyze in a few words what concerns our subject in
+actual civil law, and shall point out the modifications which appear
+to me desirable. It is, however, impossible for me to enter into the
+details of codes, owing to absence of special knowledge. Moreover,
+this would lead us too far from our subject.
+
+=Marriage and Sexual Relations in General.=--The coitus of two
+individuals, performed with mutual deliberation and causing no harm to
+a third person, should be considered as a private affair, and should
+have no connection with either civil or penal law.
+
+However great may be the necessary restrictions of this general axiom,
+it must be recognized as valid in principle. Society has no right to
+restrict the liberty of individuals so long as it, or one of its
+members, is not injured by these individuals. So long as coitus is
+freely performed by adult and responsible persons, has no indirect
+consequences, and does not cause fecundation, neither society nor any
+one is injured.
+
+In the practice of law this axiom is not yet generally accepted. Many
+laws, especially among the Germanic peoples, punish concubinage, or
+extra-nuptial coitus. Even when concubinage is tolerated, it is
+considered illegitimate, so that the woman who gives herself to it and
+the children who result from it, have much to suffer. Although they
+constitute simple religious precepts, the ordinances of Liguori and
+others concerning coitus influence in a high degree sexual relations
+in Catholic countries.
+
+As a rule, coitus is only legally recognized as licit in marriage. But
+we have seen in Chapter VI how elastic is the term marriage, which
+varies from polygamy and monogamy to polyandry, and from marriage for
+short periods to indissoluble marriage, to say nothing of the cases
+where women are sacrificed on their husbands' tombs. We have seen that
+religious traditions, arising themselves from barbarous customs, play
+a great part in conjugal law. It is only by infinite trouble that the
+principle of civil marriage has made its way in modern civilized
+states. Even to-day, religious marriage is in some countries only form
+of union which is legally recognized. These simple facts show to what
+extent we are still hidebound by tradition.
+
+The idea that marriage is a divine institution and that man has the
+right to contract, but not to dissolve it, is still a widespread
+belief, however bizarre it may be. We shall not enter here into the
+detail of the religious forms of marriage, which is referred to in
+Chapters VI and XII.
+
+It is evident, from our modern and scientific point of view, which is
+purely human and social, that civil law only can be recognized as
+valid. Religious forms and ceremonies must be considered as belonging
+to a private domain. For this reason they concern neither the State
+nor society, and should be refused all legal character; for it is our
+duty to strive and liberate humanity from the tyranny of all imposed
+creeds, as we should combat all so-called State religion.
+
+=Civil Marriage.=--What then is civil marriage, and what ought it to
+be? Our actual civil marriage is the result of trials and compromises
+which require improvement. It is a contract between two persons of
+opposite sex whose mutual object is the reproduction of the human
+species. In this contract the law is unfortunately too much concerned
+with the personal relations of the two contracting parties, and too
+little with the interests of their eventual posterity, which
+necessitates care and attention on the part of the social legislator.
+Moreover, the traditional conception of the dependence of woman
+disturbs the purity and justice of civil marriage.
+
+In my opinion, the first fundamental principles of civil marriage
+should be absolute legal equality of the two conjoints and complete
+separation of property. The momentary amorous intoxication of a woman
+should not allow a man to appropriate her property in whole or in
+part; only truly barbarous laws could permit such iniquity, and they
+should be banished from all the codes of civilized countries.
+Moreover, in countries where woman enjoys important rights, the
+community of property furnishes those who are unscrupulous with the
+means of completely despoiling their husbands.
+
+Further, in common conjugal life, the domestic work of the wife should
+not be considered as obligatory and requiring no special
+remuneration. Her work has as much right to be considered as that of
+the husband, and should be entered to the wife as an asset.
+
+Community of property is so immoral that it should be considered
+invalid in case of ulterior dispute, when it has been instituted by
+private contract. It is the business of the conjoints to put it in
+practice if they wish, so long as they are of one mind. But when
+dissensions or divorce take place, it only injures the one who has
+remained honest, and at the same time the children.
+
+This is why such contracts ought never be definitely binding to the
+conjoints. Even if the marriage is not unhappy, the extravagances or
+blunders of one of the conjoints may ruin the whole family, in the
+case of common property.
+
+The _duration_ of marriage is very important. If a marriage contract
+exacts sexual fidelity till death, divorce is nonsense. Yet, in
+practice, it is obvious cruelty to keep two individuals legally bound
+together who can no longer live with each other. Thus, the provision
+and license of divorce are necessities of civil law which are
+certainly not ideal, but which cannot be passed over without favoring
+family disturbance and without sanctioning illegality and evil.
+
+Among the most frequent causes of divorce are desire for change in the
+husband, venereal diseases, disputes, incompatibility of temper,
+mental disorders, immorality, ill-treatment and crime. The sterility
+of one of the conjoints and incapacity for coitus may also be
+mentioned as reasons for divorce, although in certain circumstances,
+as we shall see, limited polyandry or polygyny may be much more humane
+than divorce.
+
+As soon as divorce is admitted, important and complicated questions of
+law arise when there are children. We shall refer to these later. The
+legal license of complete divorce thus transforms marriage into a
+temporary contract, which is not so far removed as one would think
+from the ideal relations of free love.
+
+We will examine the circumstances which, apart from the procreation of
+children, may attribute legal importance to the sexual relations of
+two persons. I must first of all observe that, if it wishes, civil
+legislation can very well create a state of things which gives to
+children born outside marriage the same rights and the same social
+position as legitimate children, and I will even add that such social
+equality would respond to the most elementary sentiments of human
+rights, if these were not already influenced in advance by prejudice
+and mysticism.
+
+=Minors.=--Civil law should stipulate that minors have not the right
+to marry. This may appear cruel in certain cases, but society has the
+right and the duty to intervene. Minors should be protected against
+all sexual abuse. A young girl under the age of seventeen and a boy
+under eighteen or twenty should be prevented from all sexual
+relations. This is a postulate of individual and social hygiene and
+consequently of all healthy matrimonial law.
+
+=Lunatics.=--The same applies to lunatics, who are legally comparable
+to minors. Have we the right to forcibly separate a married couple, or
+a couple living in concubinage, because one of the conjoints has
+become insane, when the other does not wish for separation? In Germany
+the procedure of nullity of marriage has been invented for these
+cases, but without gaining much. I shall return to this point in
+connection with another subject, but I may remark here that it is not
+the continuation of marriage nor that of sexual connection which
+injures society, but only the procreation of children. Therefore it is
+only the procreation of children, which should be legally prohibited,
+and sexual connection only when the healthy conjoint agrees to its
+suppression, or when the interests of the afflicted one necessitate
+it.
+
+In the future these particular cases may be regulated in the most
+convenient and humane way possible.
+
+Certain bodily infirmities which one of the conjoints has concealed
+from the other, or of which he was not himself aware, should also
+impair the validity of the marriage contract. Such are chronic
+infectious diseases, especially venereal, impotence in the man and
+sterility in the woman, when the cause was previously known. But here
+again, the law should only intervene at the request of the person
+injured, and to take certain measures to prevent the procreation of
+abortions, without interfering with sexual connection.
+
+=Adultery.=--An important question is that of adultery. Here again, we
+are of opinion that the law has not performed its duty. Proved
+adultery, when fidelity has been promised by contract should give the
+injured party the right of immediate and absolute divorce.
+
+Certain forms of adultery, which take place with the assent of the two
+conjoints, have in reality the character of bigamy and should neither
+be recognized by civil nor penal law. I will cite as an example, the
+case where two conjoints wish to live together for various reasons,
+while the impotence, disease or sterility of one of them induces him
+to concede to the other liberty of sexual connection with a third
+person, apart from marriage. In such a case neither society nor any
+one else is injured and all motive for legal intervention is wanting
+(vide André Couvreur: _La Graine_).
+
+=Divorce.=--The question of divorce becomes extremely difficult when
+one of the conjoints wishes for it and the other does not, and when no
+other reason exists for determining the marriage. We are here
+concerned with the malicious caprices of the god of love, from which
+the world will never be free.
+
+In my opinion, the law in such cases can only do one thing, and that
+is to protect the rights of the children, if there are any, and to
+compel the inconstant conjoint to provide for their nourishment.
+
+The law should also protect the pecuniary and other civil rights of
+the conjoint who wishes to continue life in common. Here especially we
+can recognize the necessity for the separation of property. On the
+other hand, I am convinced that it is useless to maintain at any price
+a union which one party does not wish for. In practice no good results
+from it; it is rather a moral question than a question of law.
+
+In such cases we may observe the despair of the conjoint who has
+remained faithful, both in the marital and legal relations of
+marriage. The law cannot do everything, and here it is powerless; all
+that it can do is to exact delay and attempt at reconciliation, which
+sometimes succeeds.
+
+=The Right to Satisfaction of the Sexual Appetite.=--We now come to a
+delicate question. The right to satisfy the sexual appetite must
+necessarily be restricted in more than one respect if injury to third
+parties is to be avoided. If we except certain pathological cases, the
+chief difficulty lies in the fact that the normal sexual appetite can
+only be satisfied by the cohabitation of two persons, and that what
+satisfies the one may often injure or deeply wound the other, and even
+the children. The matter may go so far as to concern penal law, and we
+shall refer to it again in this connection. But, even from the point
+of view of civil law, permission to satisfy the sexual appetite must
+necessarily depend on the consent of both parties. In my opinion no
+exception to this rule can be tolerated.
+
+It is not enough to protect minors; it is also necessary to prevent
+the abuse of the persons of adults against their will. The institution
+of so-called Christian marriage still contains barbarous dispositions
+in this respect, the wife being generally obliged to surrender herself
+to her lord and master as often as he pleases. This is the dark side
+of the picture which exacts sexual fidelity in man.
+
+Inversely, for physiological reasons, a very erotic and sexually
+exacting woman cannot obtain satisfaction, man being incapable of
+commanding erections voluntarily. She can only bring an action for
+divorce if she can prove that her husband is completely impotent.
+
+It is sufficient to reflect on these facts to see how difficult is the
+regulation of sexual connection by law. The legislation of details in
+this domain becomes of necessity an injustice.
+
+We have already considered the great individual variability of the
+sexual appetite. Attempts to regulate it by the rules of a monogamous
+matrimonial code are absurd and impracticable. With all the respect
+due to the moral sentiments of Tolstoi, we are obliged to declare that
+his ascetic opinions on sexual relations are only the dreams of an
+enthusiast.
+
+When a libidinous man marries a young girl who is sexually frigid, and
+when coitus continues to be a horror to his wife, it is quite as cruel
+to demand continence in the husband as submission in his wife. In such
+cases, the conditions can only be made tolerable by divorce, consent
+to concubinage, or bigamy, when a relative adaptation cannot be
+obtained by mutual concessions. At present our prejudices only allow
+divorce in such cases.
+
+When a man and woman are already tied by pregnancy or by a child, and
+when, apart from the differences in their sexual appetites, love and
+concord reign between them, separation would be cruel.
+
+I readily agree that such extreme circumstances should not be the
+rule, and that in many cases the one who is the more erotic can
+restrain himself, and the one who is cold become accustomed to coitus.
+Nevertheless, in the present chapter we are not concerned with morals
+but with rights, and we have only to reply to the question of knowing
+what should be done when, in sexual connection between two conjoints,
+one desires it and the other does not.
+
+The concentration of sexual passion on a single individual, which is
+generally good from the social point of view, is fatal in these
+special cases. A man falls passionately in love with a woman, or a
+woman with a man, but instead of being reciprocal this love is
+despised by the other. Such a misfortune, which often leads to the
+most tragic consequences, not only in novels but also in real life, is
+only reparable by the renunciation of the one who loves. It is surely
+less cruel to renounce a proposed union than to become the sexual prey
+of a person one does not love. It is, therefore, inhuman and immoral,
+as much in religion as in poetry, to preach in any form, the
+exclusiveness of sentiments, the indissolubility of monogamous
+marriage, and the immutability of love.
+
+It has often been stated that a woman can only love once in her life.
+Such a false and cruel generalization must be energetically opposed.
+It is the business of sentimental poets to delude themselves with such
+sentiments, but those who think it a duty to adhere to dogmas of this
+kind are to be pitied. It is not only death or illness of one of the
+conjoints, dissensions and infidelity, which may cause separation of a
+sexual union, but as is frequently the case, rejected love may
+transform into perpetual martyrdom the life of a person imbued with
+such ideas. The ascetic sentimentalism which results from this has a
+strong element of suggestion which is bad to cultivate.
+
+If we would give the one who does not love the absolute right of
+repelling the sexual advances of the other, not only the law but
+morality should in return allow the rejected lover to make another
+choice, where his desire for love will find an echo.
+
+At the present day many people, especially women, prefer to endure
+their unhappiness and even that of their children to the opprobrium to
+which they are often exposed by public opinion in divorce or
+remarriage, or even in becoming engaged to another person, when their
+love has been rejected. It is, therefore, the duty of the legislator
+to banish from the law everything which may appear to sanction such
+opprobrium.
+
+Most laws recognize not only impotence, but also assault, cruelty,
+venereal disease, adultery, etc., as grounds for divorce, but the
+pressure of public opinion causes the existing laws to be too little
+used. We must remember that such violations of conjugal duties give
+the injured party the right of claiming damages.
+
+Nevertheless, we may say that the simplest civil action by one
+conjoint against the other is veritably monstrous when it is not
+accompanied by an action for divorce. When once the couple have come
+to legal disputes, their marriage is in reality dissolved and its
+continuation is an absurdity.
+
+=Venereal Diseases.=--A very important question from the humanitarian
+and hygienic point of view is that of venereal disease. A man (or
+woman) who knows himself (or herself) to be affected with a venereal
+disease in an infectious state, and who in spite of this has
+connection with a woman, should be regarded as a criminal, at least if
+the woman with whom he has connection is not affected with the same
+disease.
+
+Here the law should intervene by awarding heavy damages to the party
+who has been infected; eventually it may be treated as a criminal
+offense. In such cases claim should be made by the injured party, but
+unfortunately this is seldom done owing to feelings of shame. In the
+future, however, we may hope that the law may be improved for the
+benefit of humanity, for this would be one of the most efficacious
+means of combating venereal disease, and hence avoiding much
+misfortune for families and children.
+
+It would also be desirable to prevent the procreation of syphilitic
+infants, for instance, by the use of preventatives (vide Chapter XIV).
+
+=Prostitution.=--Another difficult question is that of the relation of
+civil law to prostitution. All State regulation of prostitution is to
+be absolutely condemned; but what position should civil law take up
+with regard to free prostitution? We have already seen what an
+abominable social evil is this commerce in human bodies, as regards
+social morality. But it is absolutely useless to try and abolish this
+commerce without attacking its lord and master--_money_. The venality
+of man implies the commerce of his body, and as long as everything can
+be got for money, coitus can be bought. It is, therefore, this
+venality which must be attacked, not only by condemning it in words
+but by cutting its roots. If the State will not withdraw its
+protecting hand from prostitution, it might at least combat
+proxenetism and the public manifestations of prostitution, by all the
+legal and administrative measures at its disposal. It would thus
+reduce the matter to intimate personal relations.
+
+Let us hope that, little by little, a social organization more just to
+labor and wages, combined with the prohibition of alcoholic drinks,
+will, in the future, annihilate the causes of commerce in human
+bodies.
+
+=Children as a Reason for Civil Marriage.=--To resume; we find that
+civil marriage should, by progressive reforms, become a much more free
+contract than it is at present, having for its object a common sexual
+life. The law should abandon its useless and often harmful chicanery
+concerning the questions of sexual relations and love, and regulate
+more carefully the duties of parents toward their children, and thus
+protect future generations against the abuse of the present
+generation.
+
+The difference which exists between marriage and free love should
+gradually disappear, by instituting natural intimate relations on the
+basis of sentiments of social morality, instead of maintaining the
+pretended divine origin of a social institution. It is difficult to
+avoid a smile when we hear the term "divine institution" applied to
+the marriage of a rich girl with a man who has been bought for her.
+(Vide Chapter X.)
+
+Various propositions have been made to give more dignity to the unions
+of free love, which now exist and which always have existed. Modern
+women have remarked that the absurd custom of naming the celibate
+woman differently to the married stigmatizes in society a number of
+poor women and innocent children, and that it would be quite as just
+to apply the term "damoiseau" to celibate men as "mademoiselle" to
+non-married girls. An unmarried woman who has a child, and who has
+only committed the sin of obeying nature, is branded with the stamp of
+shame.
+
+It is the children who constitute the true bond of marriage and give
+it a legal character. When there are no children all legal and State
+interference with conjugal affairs loses its sense so long as no one
+is injured, and civil marriage can then be greatly simplified. I
+maintain that so long as a sterile union, of whatever kind, between
+responsible persons is voluntary, provokes no conflict between those
+who have contracted it, and causes no injury to a third party, the law
+has no right to meddle with it; because this union does not concern
+society nor any of its members, excepting the two parties interested,
+who are in accord.
+
+At the present time, in many countries, the existing laws can be
+utilized to form marriage contracts stipulating separation of
+property, the right of each of the conjoints to the produce of his or
+her work, as well as certain reciprocal rights and duties between the
+parents and children. Matters can thus be arranged so as to correct
+more or less the defects of the law.
+
+=Marriage of Inverts.=--A peculiar and characteristic phenomenon is
+the ardent desire of many sexual perverts, especially inverts, to
+become secretly engaged or married to the abnormal homosexual object
+of their love. It is needless to say that there can be no question of
+legal regulation of such pathological marriages. But the law may
+ignore them when they do no harm to any one, and regard them as
+private affairs, especially when they prevent much worse evils, such
+as the marriage of an invert to a normal individual.
+
+=Civil Rights of Children. Matriarchism.=--As we have already said, it
+is the children who constitute the real phylogenetic and
+psychological bonds in marriage and the family, bonds which are deeply
+rooted in human nature. This is so true that among many savage
+peoples, if not in most, marriage is not considered legal as long as
+it is sterile. Even among civilized people sterile women are generally
+regarded as of less value. We may, therefore, regard the article in
+the Code Napoleon which forbids inquiry into paternity as an unnatural
+measure, or as a monstrosity of civil law.
+
+Two human beings who procreate others contract common duties and
+responsibility of the highest importance. They are, perhaps, the
+highest social duties that man can assume. Is it not then infamous and
+unnatural to legally liberate one only of the procreators, the man,
+from all his responsibilities, simply because certain religious or
+civil formalities were omitted before procreation?
+
+Is the man less guilty than the woman in procreation apart from
+marriage, if we can use the term guilt in such cases? Is it not a
+ridiculous and cruel irony to call _natural children_ those born apart
+from marriage? Perhaps legitimate children are supernatural, or
+unnatural! Is it not infamous to brand with the seal of shame, even
+before their birth, poor illegitimate children, and to confirm this
+indignity by making them bear their mother's name instead of their
+father's?
+
+The most elementary natural law exacts that all children, whether
+"legitimate" or "illegitimate," should have the same social rights,
+and that they should bear either the name of their real father or that
+of their mother; the latter denomination would be the more natural and
+logical. Denomination by the maternal line corresponds to the system
+of matriarchism (Chapters VI and XIX), which is often met with among
+savage races, and which is more just and leads to less abuse than
+patriarchism. Moreover, when women shall have obtained their proper
+rights, there will be an end of the exclusive authority of one of the
+conjoints in marriage.
+
+Equality in the rights of the two sexes will naturally lead to
+denomination in the maternal line, for reasons of simplicity, the
+mother being more closely related to the child than the father.
+Maternity may, no doubt, be sometimes uncertain, as in the case of
+foundlings or changelings, but on the whole it is infinitely more easy
+to establish than paternity. It is sufficient for the mother to have
+sexual connection with two men at the time of conception to render
+paternity doubtful. Again, the mother has a number of pains, cares and
+dangers to undergo in the course of the procreation and education of
+children, which the father escapes. Nature thus gives the mother the
+right to give her name to the family. Our legislation is unfortunately
+far from recognizing such natural right. We may nevertheless form a
+primary proposition, because in my opinion its recognition would avoid
+much complicated litigation:
+
+_In nature, whenever the offspring of an animal have a protracted and
+dependent infancy, it is the duty of the parents to nourish them and
+bring them up. To allow human parents to dispense with this duty, on
+the grounds of badly constructed and unnatural social theories, is to
+encourage promiscuity, and consequently degeneration of society. It is
+easy to change social customs which are only based on artificial
+dogmas sanctioned by tradition, fashion and habit, whether they are of
+a religious nature or otherwise. But a social organization can never
+violate with impunity the true laws of human nature which are deeply
+rooted in our phylogenetic instincts, without disastrous effects._
+
+In Chapters VI and VII we have given irrefutable proof that family
+life and the sentiments of sympathy between husband and wife, parents
+and children, constitute the phylogenetic basis of the sexual
+relations of humanity. Whatever may be the egoistic polygamous
+instincts of man, we can affirm that a natural and true monogamy
+constitutes the highest and best form of his sexual relations and of
+his love. No doubt there are many exceptions which must be taken into
+account. It is absurd to shut our eyes to the fact that our degenerate
+social customs have created unnatural circumstances in which parents
+behave shamefully toward their children, exploiting them, training
+them systematically to mendacity, prostitution and crime, or else
+ill-treating them. We even see unnatural parents, to save legal
+consequences, get rid of children who inconvenience them by the aid of
+slow and coldly calculated martyrdom, which leads them to certain
+death. It is, therefore, necessary to establish special legal
+provision for all these exceptional cases, to protect children against
+the power of unworthy parents and all forms of abuse.
+
+I must here draw attention to the impulse which has recently been
+given to Austrian legislation on the protection of children, by Lydia
+von Wolfring. The State brings up, in philanthropic institutions,
+children who have been maltreated, neglected or abandoned, after
+removal from their unworthy parents, but without relieving the latter
+of their duty in providing nourishment. According to Miss Wolfring's
+system, they are cared for by honest couples without children who wish
+for them, under the supervision of the aforesaid institutions. In this
+way the children enjoy family life.
+
+For educational reasons, the natural family may be imitated in these
+artificial ones, by giving to each couple children of both sexes and
+different ages. The result is perfect: I have seen in Vienna
+artificial families of ten children formed in this way. This shows
+again the rule confirmed by the exception; it would be better for the
+good seed to be more fruitful and the bad sterile.
+
+The normal condition must, however, always be for parents to bring up
+their own children. But here the State and the school should come to
+their aid, and even intervene with authority; for society is under the
+obligation of educating its children to a certain degree of culture,
+and maternal or paternal authority should not have the right to
+prevent or even attenuate this social work. Obligatory and gratuitous
+education is thus a duty of the State which is becoming more and more
+recognized everywhere, although it is still very incomplete and often
+badly carried out.
+
+The State should, moreover, protect the children by restricting the
+power of parents more than is done at present. The child should not be
+allowed to become an object for exploitation by its parents. It has
+also the right to be protected against all unmerited punishment and
+ill-treatment. Corporal punishment, which is still practiced in some
+schools, is a relic of barbarism which ought to disappear.
+
+The State should severely enforce the duty of the procreators of
+children to nourish their offspring. Rich or poor, no father or mother
+should escape this duty, whether the child is legitimate or
+illegitimate. In our imperfect social condition, it is still much too
+easy for the man to escape and abandon his child to the mother, or to
+public charity. He should be compelled to provide for the life and
+education of his children, whether legitimate or illegitimate, if he
+does not bring them up himself. If unable to provide money, he should
+do the equivalent in labor. Such measures, strictly enforced, would be
+more efficacious than all the complicated laws on sexual relations, in
+maintaining monogamy and fidelity.
+
+I repeat, that these measures should apply to all unworthy parents
+from whom we are obliged to remove the children. These parents are not
+always of the poorer class.
+
+It may be objected that I am unjust in charging such duties to poor
+people who can often hardly keep themselves. I agree that in the
+present state of society it is quite impossible for many parents to
+undertake such important duties. But duty means right, and it is
+evident that we must place rights by the side of the duties which we
+impose on parents.
+
+True justice in this question can only be attained by the essential
+progress of socialism. By socialism, I do not mean certain vague
+communistic doctrines, nor the Utopias of anarchists who imagine that
+"man was born good," but simply an essential social progress in the
+struggle against the domination of individual capital, that is to say,
+usury applied to the labor of others owing to the possession of means
+of production, which is now left to speculators. Men should be enabled
+to enjoy the product of their labor, so that they can lead a human
+life worthy of the name, in sexual matters as in others. But this is
+not all.
+
+From the social point of view, it is absolutely unjust that men who
+procreate children should alone bear the burden of the future
+generation. We know the egoistic proverb of the celibates, who say: "I
+have the right to take life easily, to enjoy myself and be idle, if I
+renounce the happiness of having children, either of my own accord or
+from necessity." This proverb, which may be transposed into "after me
+the deluge," cannot be recognized by any healthy social legislation.
+It is the duty of the State to relieve large families, to facilitate
+the procreation of healthy children, and to impose more work and taxes
+(for instance, artificial families) on sterile individuals. The old
+laws were better than ours in this respect.
+
+I have mentioned above the excellent custom, which exists at the
+present day in Norway, of only charging half-price on the boats to
+married women and other female members of the same family. I cannot
+here enter into the details of this question, but if such reforms are
+some day realized, if universal compulsory education, pensions for old
+age, orphans and invalids, etc., are introduced, then no man will have
+valid motives for escaping the duty of feeding his children and
+bringing them up decently in family life. This will be left only to
+the idle and vicious.
+
+Moreover, I can support my propositions by facts. If we compare the
+nature of delinquents, abandoned children, vagabonds, etc., in a
+country where little or nothing has been done for the people (Russia,
+Galicia, Vienna, etc.), with that of the same individuals in
+Switzerland, for example, where much has already been done for the
+poor, we find this result: In Switzerland, these individuals are
+nearly all tainted with alcoholism or pathological heredity; they
+consist of alcoholics, incorrigibles, and congenital decadents, and
+education can do little for them, because nearly all those who have a
+better hereditary foundation have been able to earn their living by
+honest work. In Russia, Galicia, and even in Vienna, we are, on the
+contrary, astonished to see how many honest natures there are among
+the disinherited, when they are provided with work and education.
+
+This fact speaks more than the contradictory statements which the
+fanatics of party politics hurl at each other's heads.
+
+=Inquiry into Paternity.=--It will be objected that inquiry into
+paternity is often very difficult and dangerous. I do not deny this;
+but, when women have obtained their natural rights, and when the
+education of young girls is guided by the principles which we have
+enunciated in Chapter XVII, the matter will become much easier.
+Moreover, even now, we can with energy and good will determine
+paternity in most cases. Although the great improvement in means of
+transport assists fugitives, it also favors the discovery and arrest
+of individuals all over the world. International relations between all
+civilized states are improving from day to day. When the world is more
+completely conquered by civilization, we may hope that it will become
+increasingly difficult for evildoers to escape their duties.
+
+Regarding this question from all points of view it is impossible for
+us to give up this primordial condition for the preservation of human
+society, which consists in making parents responsible for the
+nourishment and education of their children.
+
+The famous ideas of phalanstery and promiscuity, so often advanced,
+originated in theoretical and dogmatic minds which had lost their
+instinctive sense of human nature, and ignored what natural science
+and ethnology have revealed to us.
+
+But the responsibility of parents extends to another domain--the duty
+of not procreating children who are unhealthy in body and mind. We
+shall return to this question later on.
+
+=Guardianship.=--An excellent institution of our present legislation
+is that of the guardianship of orphans, lunatics, etc. It requires to
+be developed extensively and with care. On the contrary, an evil
+custom is the right accorded by certain countries to parishes charged
+with poor and abandoned orphans, of delivering them by public tender
+to the man who offers the lowest pension--and only requires them for
+work. This system results in odious abuse, such as neglect, mendicity
+and ill-treatment.
+
+The fate of illegitimate children who are "farmed out" is still worse.
+A tacit alliance is established between rapacity on the one hand and
+social sexual hypocrisy on the other. A number of infanticides and
+abortions result, either from poverty, or from sentiments of shame due
+to our moral customs. Here, civil law and penal law should combine and
+take energetic humanitarian measures to put a stop to this sad abuse.
+An excellent institution is that of homes in the country established
+for unmarried mothers and their children, and for abandoned mothers in
+general.
+
+=Free Love and Civil Marriage.=--When all the propositions we have
+drawn up have been realized by social legislation, the difference
+which now exists between marriage and free love will be little more
+than a form. The consequences of these two kinds of union will become
+the same, both for parents and children; the only distinction will
+consist in the existence or non-existence of official control. True
+monogamy will lose nothing, but will gain much.
+
+We shall not then have obligatory monogamy as at present, absolute in
+form, artificially maintained by the aid of prostitution, that is by
+the most disgusting form of promiscuity which renders monogamy
+illusory; but we shall have in its place a relative monogamy much more
+solidly built on the natural rights of the two sexes, it is true more
+free in form, but fundamentally much stronger in the natural and
+instinctive duties dictated by a truly free and reasoned union, as
+well as by the duties by which parents will be bound to their
+children.
+
+=Form and Duration of Civil Marriage.=--Although it may be true that
+monogamy constitutes the most normal and natural form of family union,
+and offers the best conditions for lasting happiness, both for parents
+and children, we must be blindly prejudiced not to admit that it is
+unnatural to consider it as the only sheet anchor in sexual
+relationship, the only admissible form of marriage, and to make it a
+straight-jacket. History and ethnography show us that polygamous races
+are strongly developed and are still developing; on the other hand, it
+is true that polyandrous races degenerate.
+
+Again, impartial observation of our Christian monogamy shows us that
+it depends to a great extent on appearances, that it is full of
+trickery and hypocrisy, and that to legally enforce it for life must
+be considered as absolutely impossible.
+
+In Catholic countries which prohibit divorce, the latter has been
+replaced by separation, and this becomes the most constant source of
+adultery. The more the laws of a country impede divorce, the more one
+must close one's eyes to promiscuity or prostitution, which has even
+been regulated by the State by the aid of proxenetism, all the while
+preaching monogamy in a loud voice.
+
+These bitter lessons which practice has given to the partisan, of
+obligatory monogamy, prove the absurdity of attempting to restrain the
+natural appetites of man by force and by artificial obstacles. That
+which succeeds, not without difficulty, with some strong characters,
+and more easily with naturally cold temperaments, is impossible to
+realize in the masses.
+
+Polyandry is usually the result of poverty, and the polyandrous races
+are little fecund and tend to disappear. The normal man is
+instinctively more polygynous than the normal woman is polyandrous.
+There are, however, cases where polyandry is justifiable. There are
+women whose sexual appetite, more or less pathological, is so
+insatiable that a normal man is incapable of satisfying it.
+
+If such women were served by several Don Juans by means of a free
+contract, this would be better than giving themselves in despair to
+prostitution (there are some prostitutes created by nymphomania). This
+system would also be better than the seduction of normal young girls
+by the Don Juans in question.
+
+Polygyny is still more indicated when the sterility of the woman or
+her repugnance to sexual intercourse cause family disturbances.
+
+In speaking of polygamy in Chapter VI, we have shown that it exists in
+several forms, and that these are not all so humiliating for the women
+as people think, who only know of the shameful abuses of the
+Mussulman's harem. What lowers the moral level of polygyny is
+especially the barbarous system of marriage by purchase, by which the
+women become slaves burdened with heavy labor, and are in a state of
+legal dependence. We have seen that polygyny has a higher moral
+character among certain Indian tribes where matriarchism rules, and
+where the wife is mistress of the house and family. The danger of
+degradation of the woman ceases when she is equal to the man as
+regards rights and property. In fact, in such a social state, polygyny
+can only constitute an exception. It is here entirely free and becomes
+all the more innocent because divorce is facilitated and strict laws
+on the feeding and education of the children limit the male sexual
+appetite.
+
+I even venture to maintain that the stability of monogamous marriage,
+which should be based on mutual sentiments of respect and love, would
+be much better guaranteed than hitherto by legal liberty of conjugal
+ties, and by duty to children such as I have proposed. If this became
+recognized as conventional, men and women fit to understand each
+other and love in a lasting manner, would find suitable mates more
+easily, and would become united more permanently when their chains
+were voluntary.
+
+If marriages on trial became more frequent in the form of short
+unions, ending with separation, this would not be a great evil, for
+similar unions occur every day in a much baser form. Moreover, the
+effect of legislation with regard to children would put a curb on
+immorality and passion, which cause their worst effects.
+
+If the objection is raised that this would lead immoral people to
+avoid the procreation of children so as to enjoy more varied sexual
+pleasures, I reply that this would be beneficial, for this anti-social
+class of individuals would be eliminated by sterility, by a kind of
+negative selection. We thus place two natural appetites in antagonism;
+that of procreation on the one hand, and sexual enjoyment on the
+other. Whoever inclines to the first, which is the higher and tends to
+preserve the species, is obliged to restrain himself in the second,
+without, however, falling into unnatural asceticism.
+
+=Consanguineous Marriages.=--To avoid injurious consanguinity, it is
+sufficient, in my opinion, to prohibit the procreation of children
+between direct and collateral relations, especially between parents
+and children and between brothers and sisters. Anything more than this
+is only useless chicanery. Laws which prohibit marriage between
+relations by alliance are absurd, for instance those which forbid a
+widower to marry his sister-in-law (deceased wife's sister), etc.
+Among some peoples such unions are ordained by law!
+
+There is also no valid reason to prohibit unions between first cousins
+or between uncles and aunts, with nephews and nieces. There is nothing
+to prove that such marriages are injurious to the offspring. What is
+harmful is the accumulation of hereditary taints, whether they occur
+in relations or persons who are strangers to each other. Nevertheless,
+the _perpetuation_ of consanguineous unions in the same family is not
+as a rule advisable.
+
+=Restriction of Personal Liberty in Sexual Life Among Harmful or
+Dangerous Individuals.=--The inability of men to distinguish, among
+the motives of the acts of their fellows, what is abnormal, unhealthy,
+impulsive or obsessional, from what is healthy and normal is one of
+the most deplorable phenomena in social life, and greatly hinders the
+action of reformatory civil legislation and rational administrative
+measures.
+
+The passionate, confused and unreasonable sentiments of the masses
+give expression, according to the impulse of the moment, to two
+contradictory absurdities and injustices. On the one hand, they cry
+out against arbitrary constraint of individual liberty, against
+illegal restriction or detention, when competent judges or experts try
+to limit the movements of dangerous individuals affected with mental
+disorders, but who appear sane to the incompetent public; or when, to
+insure social safety, they send these individuals to a lunatic asylum,
+or limit their dangerous liberty in some other way. On the other hand,
+when such an individual goes free, thanks to the intervention of
+incompetent meddlers, and commits assassination, violation,
+incendiarism, or all kinds of sadic atrocities, or even only
+terrorizes his own family, these same people, suddenly animated by
+contrary sentiments of vengeance, imperiously demand an exemplary
+expiation and all possible reprisals. This sometimes goes as far as
+torture of the culprit or burning at the stake, as with the lynchers
+in America.
+
+It is very difficult for the psychiatrist, who is the competent expert
+in these matters, to make truth and impartiality prevail. He is nearly
+always suspected of seeing madness everywhere, and of being afflicted
+with a mania for sending sane persons to asylums! In reality, he
+desires to take measures which are at the same time humane for the
+insane and protective for society, so as to treat as equitably and
+reasonably as possible the unfortunates who are more or less
+irresponsible for their acts; he wishes to see established laws and
+organizations which will efficiently protect the insane against
+themselves and against the exploitation and abuse of others, at the
+same time preventing them from doing injury to society.
+
+On the other hand, society and with it the old style of jurist, in
+their ignorant dread of psychopathological matters, endeavor to take
+all possible measures to protect the sane public against the
+alienists, thus completely neglecting the true interests of the insane
+as well as those of society, while fighting against a phantom! The
+anxiety and mistrust of the public in this matter are continually kept
+up by "brigand stories" related by certain insane or semi-insane
+persons, which are spread by the press, always eager for scandal, or
+by pamphlets which the cheapness of printing places within the reach
+of the poorest!
+
+These phenomena of public psychology greatly hinder the most urgent
+reforms. The public regard asylums with horror, and the path of the
+alienist is thorny, for he is exposed to continual accusations and
+threats whatever he may do, a situation which does not encourage him
+to suggest bold innovations.
+
+Ignorant of psychology and especially of psychopathology, the public
+and with it the formal jurist, the slave of codes (I am only speaking
+of honest lawyers, and not of the number who abuse the situation to
+obtain oratorical and other success and crown themselves with
+laurels), regard themselves as the champions of individual liberty,
+and are unable to perceive that the net result of their efforts is, on
+the one hand, to condemn a considerable number of insane and crazy
+persons to prison, and on the other hand to assure liberty and
+impunity to the most dangerous individuals, always ready to commit the
+most atrocious crimes, or at any rate to make martyrs of a number of
+patient and innocent beings, hard-working and healthy in mind,
+especially women and children.
+
+The alienists, who see clearly into all this misery, easily become
+pessimistic in their impotence against the want of sense, ignorance
+and unconscious passion of the masses, and even competent authorities.
+The natural cowardice of men often makes them shut their eyes to avoid
+nuisances, and causes them to take no action against the most
+dangerous monsters, and especially against those who are most
+mischievous by their pens. This is why the martyrdom of unfortunate
+women and children illtreated by chronic alcoholics, sadists and other
+neuropaths or psychopaths, never comes to an end, owing to the stupid
+outcry against so-called violation of individual liberty.
+
+On this soil, sexual atrocities and crimes, largely increased by
+drink, play an important part. Without troubling myself about
+prejudice and indignation I shall say in a few words what appears to
+me to be urgent:
+
+So long as jurists and legislators will not study either psychology or
+psychiatry, and will not submit all habitual criminals and all
+dangerous men to an expert examination, all serious reform in this
+domain will remain impossible. To improve the present state of affairs
+a common understanding between jurists and alienists is urgent; but
+this can only be attained by jurists making a study of psychology, and
+a kind of practical clinic among imprisoned criminals. How can one
+judge and condemn one's neighbor without having the least idea of the
+state of mind of these pariahs of society? All the jurists who have
+the welfare of humanity at heart, should support the _international
+union of penal law_, and the efforts of men like Professor Franz von
+Liszt, Gaukler of Caen, and many other courageous reformers.[8]
+
+It is needless to say that it is not sufficient to combat the excesses
+of criminal and dangerous individuals, such as sadists, for example,
+by placing them under supervision and preventing them doing harm. It
+is also necessary to attack the cause of the evil by preventing their
+germs from being reproduced, degenerated as they usually are by the
+blastophthoria of their alcoholic parents (vide Chapter I). The first
+question, which is purely legal and administrative, does not concern
+us here; but I may be allowed to say a few words on the second.
+
+Zealous and advanced reformers have proposed castration in such cases,
+which has provoked a general cry of indignation. This has been
+discussed in certain American states. The hyperęsthetic sentiment of
+our modern civilization cannot tolerate such ideas, while ancient
+races such as the Islamites provided, and still provide eunuchs as
+servants, who are free from danger for their wives, and think little
+of hanging or decapitating men who cause them any trouble. In the
+same way, we are dumb and impassive before the butcheries of war,
+because they are fashionable, especially when we do not come in
+contact with them. The Pope himself formerly procured eunuchs in order
+to have soprano voices in his church, and did not hesitate to castrate
+young boys for this purpose. The times change and we change with them!
+
+For some years, however, castration has been employed as a remedy for
+certain disorders both in men and women, especially for hysteria in
+women. I admit here that, in an asylum which I superintend, I have
+castrated a veritable monster afflicted with constitutional mental
+disorders, taking advantage of the fact that he himself requested this
+operation to relieve him of pain in his seminal vesicles, but with the
+chief object of preventing the production of unfortunate children
+tainted with his hereditary complaint.
+
+Many years ago I also castrated a young hysterical girl of fourteen,
+whose mother and grandmother were both prostitutes, and who had
+already begun to have intercourse with all the urchins in the street.
+Here again, I frankly admit that the hysterical troubles of the
+patient served me as an excuse to prevent this unfortunate girl from
+reproducing beings who would probably resemble her. I am of opinion
+that castration, or some more benign operation, such as dislocation of
+the Fallopian tubes in women (which renders them sterile without
+destroying the ovaries, or even attenuating the sexual appetite)
+should be performed in order to prevent the reproduction of the most
+deplorable and most dangerous beings.
+
+Among certain individuals, such as sadists, whose sexual appetite is
+dangerous in itself, castration would be necessary. In my opinion, the
+more benign operations are indicated in all individuals whose
+psychopathological condition in this domain is such that they are
+absolutely incapable of resisting their impulses, or of understanding
+the dictates of reason. By this means they could go free instead of
+being incarcerated in asylums.
+
+On the other hand, I must emphasize the fact that such measures, the
+personal consequences of which are so serious, should only be taken
+in the case of absolutely dangerous, incurable individuals, concerning
+whose pathological state there can be no doubt. I also believe that
+these individuals, especially those with sexual abnormalities, would
+very often consent to the operation, as was the case with my two
+patients.
+
+It would be a great advance if civil legislation would in such cases
+accord official recognition to castration or dislocation of the tubes,
+with the consent of the criminal or patient concerned. At present, our
+laws and regulations are such that a psychopathological monster cannot
+even be castrated when he wishes it, because medical men refuse to
+undertake such an operation without a positive medical indication of
+the usual kind, and because there is no legal protection; yet, when
+done in time, castration would often save sadists and other dangerous
+perverts from a criminal life, and society from their crimes and those
+of their offspring.
+
+When it is only a question of avoiding the procreation of tainted
+children, it would be sufficient to instruct reasonable people in the
+methods of avoiding conception (vide Chapter XIV).
+
+It is important to bear in mind that modern legislation on marriage
+often flavors the reproduction of criminals, lunatics and invalids,
+while it hinders the production of healthy children by men who are
+intelligent, honest and robust. When an abnormal or unhealthy man is
+married, his wife is obliged to submit to the conception of tainted
+children. On the other hand, when a strong, healthy and intelligent
+girl is in a situation, it often happens that everything is done to
+prevent her marrying, so as not to lose her services; the more
+conscientious she is and the more attached to her masters, the more
+often is this likely to occur.
+
+Girls who have illegitimate children often lose their situations and
+their honor. The consideration of cases of everyday occurrence is
+sufficient to grasp the difficulty of the question. What we require is
+more personal liberty for healthy, normal and adaptable individuals,
+and more restrictions for the abnormal, unhealthy and dangerous. The
+civil law of the future will have to take these facts into
+consideration, if it wishes to keep level with scientific progress,
+and prevent the instinct of the people having recourse to lynch law,
+or retaliation.
+
+Meanwhile, attempts have been made to get out of the difficulty by
+prohibiting the marriage of insane persons or by declaring their
+marriage null when it has already been consummated; or again, by
+admitting insanity as a cause for divorce. Such measures are good as
+makeshifts in a period of transition. They assume that conceptions
+only occur in marriage, and that marriage necessarily means
+procreation. But these two suppositions are false, for it is only the
+pressure of custom and legislation which realizes them in part,
+especially in Catholic countries.
+
+The civil code, in the present state of society, has at least the
+advantage of making possible the dissolution of monstrous unions, such
+as those of the absolutely insane or certain psychopaths of the worst
+kind. Unfortunately, divorce is as a rule only accorded in cases of
+well-marked mental disorders, while in reality the most atrocious
+unions are those which are contracted by crazy persons with only
+diminished responsibility, in whom the public and the law are unable
+to recognize or understand the existence of a definite mental anomaly.
+These people most often marry at a time when no one has yet recognized
+their true mental condition, or foreseen the consequences of their
+marriage. The unfortunate who finds herself (or himself) bound by such
+a union is then an object of endless martyrdom. The frequency of
+mental anomalies causes them to play an immense, and too often
+unrecognized role, in unhappy marriages.
+
+At the request of the mother the tribunal of Bāle recently prohibited
+the marriage of a young man affected with a slight degree of mental
+weakness. This judgment was upheld by the Swiss tribunal for the
+following reasons: "Although capable of work, of earning his living,
+and of performing his military service, an individual may be an
+unsuitable subject for marriage. In the interests of family life and
+the future generation, it is the duty of the State to prevent the
+marriage of the feeble-minded, in order to avoid the perpetuation of a
+race of degenerates." I quote this from a journal. We can only
+congratulate tribunals which have the courage to consider the vital
+interests of the nation in their judgments.
+
+=Right of Succession.=--Although right of succession has no direct
+bearing on the sexual question, it is indirectly connected with it
+through its influence on the procreation of children.
+
+At the present day the poor have more children than the well-to-do.
+This is because they have nothing to lose, because coitus is one of
+their few pleasures, because they are ignorant of the means of
+preventing conception, and because they hope to profit by their
+children's labor. People who have some property are, on the contrary,
+afraid of falling into poverty through the procreation of too many
+children, and those who possess more are afraid of poverty for their
+offspring. The latter only desire a few heirs, so that after their
+death they can leave each a fortune suitable to their social position.
+
+In France, especially, well-to-do people often limit their families to
+two. The parents have the unhappy idea that a certain fortune must be
+assured to their children to enable them to live in comfort. They do
+not understand that the necessity for a man to earn his living by work
+is the chief condition for a healthy existence.
+
+Again, among very rich people there is often the fear that a large
+fortune may lose its power when divided, and thus diminish the
+influence of the family.
+
+It is obvious that great poverty and great wealth constitute two
+extreme social evils. It is deplorable for a child to grow up with the
+idea that he will inherit a large fortune, enjoy life without working,
+and regard poor people more or less as subordinates. But it is still
+worse for a man to remain all his life an object for exploitation, in
+spite of the most repugnant and most arduous work, unless his superior
+faculties and good luck give him the chance of rising. It is also
+discouraging for a man to be unable by arduous work to obtain anything
+for himself or his wife and children, and only to work for society,
+and especially for the interests of capitalists.
+
+Human instinct is not sufficiently social to allow of assiduous and
+hearty work solely in the interests of the community. The egoistic
+sentiments and family instincts of man are still much too strong.
+
+If we take all these facts into consideration, the right of
+succession becomes very important. It has been attempted to deal with
+the question by progressive taxes on succession to large fortunes: but
+this is not enough. I have not the presumption to give a positive
+opinion on these matters which are not in my province, but I venture
+to suggest the possibility of greatly restricting the right of
+succession by postponing the right to the enjoyment of their heritage
+till the children are of an age when they could earn their own living;
+say, from twenty-five to twenty-six, so as not to interfere with their
+higher education. In this way a man would not be deprived of the
+pleasure of working for himself and his family; and every young man
+and young woman, being obliged to work at some special subject, would
+know that they could earn their living after twenty-five or
+twenty-six, without counting on their heritage.
+
+I do not pretend to build a new social system on this idea, for many
+propositions of the kind have already been made. I only wish to draw
+attention to one element of the problem, which consists in diminishing
+the possibility of the exploitation of man by man, without destroying
+the pleasure for work, at the same time favoring the procreation and
+education of healthy and capable offspring. This naturally presupposes
+a new moral and social state, in which family right would be changed
+and good education organized for all. Even then intelligent men would
+have the desire to rise above the average and bring up their children
+with the same object. This is an instinct in mental development which
+should be carefully cultivated, and not extinguished, by every social
+organization.
+
+In all social systems it must be recognized that certain branches of
+culture, such as scientific research and art, involve great expense
+and bring little or no material reward to the scientist or the artist.
+A richer State ought to provide for these important branches of
+civilization, which always tend to higher culture.
+
+I have already mentioned separation of property and an equable
+division of the fruits of labor between conjoints as the only just
+basis in marriage contracts. I repeat here, that true justice can only
+be established by the recognition of equal legal rights for men and
+women.
+
+
+PENAL LAW
+
+Penal law is the right of punishment. It is based on the ideas of
+_culpability_ and _expiation_, and these are based on the idea of
+free-will, which is itself founded on a pure illusion, as we have
+shown above.
+
+This simple reflection is sufficient to show the precarious position
+of our present penal law. The science of penal law has too long
+ignored the progress of humanity and of the other sciences. It is
+affected with incurable marasmus, because its foundations are laid in
+error. The idea of expiation was naturally developed on the basis of
+mysticism combined with the right of the stronger, and associated with
+the sentiment of vengeance natural to the low mentality of our animal
+ancestors. Among the latter the weaker was punished because he was the
+weaker: "_Vę victis!_" and order was obtained by force. But the
+visions of human imagination having urged man to create a god or gods
+in his own image, he attributed to the divinity the sentiments of
+anger experienced by man, and pretended that expiation was required
+for offenses against this or that majesty or human idea, transformed
+into an offense to the divine majesty.
+
+This offense to the divinity was therefore only the nebulous
+expression of a developing social conscience in man, an obscure
+mixture of sentiments of wounded sympathy, adulation of the strong and
+great, and desire for vengeance and expiation. Till then man was
+accustomed to judge other men according to the right of the stronger,
+more or less mitigated by sentiments of family and friendship. His
+terror of natural mysteries--the forest, night, thunder, hurricanes,
+stars, etc., led him to imagine the intervention of occult powers, and
+later on of higher powers capable of judging good and evil actions,
+the ideas of good and evil being formerly very different from what
+they are at present. The functions of advocates or executors of the
+divine will were always, however, reserved for privileged men, who
+gave judgment in His name, either as priests, kings, or later on as
+judges. We may also note by the way that judgment can be given without
+belief in free arbitration, as is shown by the Mahometan fatalists and
+the judgments of Haroun-al-Raschid, for example. In fact, fatalism
+logically excludes the idea of free-will, for if everything is
+absolutely predetermined, the thoughts, resolutions and acts of man
+are also predetermined, which excludes all liberty.
+
+=Responsibility.=--I have attempted to show in another work[9] that a
+rational penal law should in no way concern itself with the question
+of free arbitration. The fact that we feel free and responsible is not
+at all sufficient to justify the doctrine of Kant.
+
+The question of knowing whether an absolute predestination (fatalism,
+regulating the universe in advance in all its details) exists or not,
+is a question of pure metaphysics, the solution of which is quite
+beyond human comprehension, and need not occupy us here. We must
+simply depend on the scientific postulate of determinism, _i.e._, on
+the law of causality applied to the motives of our actions, a law
+which is very much like that of the conservation of energy, and which
+admits of divers possibilities for the future, for it does not assume
+a knowledge of the first cause of the universe nor the will of a
+divinity.
+
+We shall then understand that the complication of our cerebral
+activities, mnemic and actual, combined with the fact that a great
+part of them (and consequently of the motives for our actions) remain
+subconscious, must produce in us the illusion of free-will.
+
+On the other hand, we shall find the measure of what we are to
+understand by relative liberty, in the plastic faculties of the
+activity of the human brain, which allow it to adapt itself as
+adequately as possible to the numerous and diverse complications of
+existence, and especially to social relations between mankind.
+
+The most adaptable man is the most free, especially in the sense of
+active and conscious adaptation. There are also men who adapt
+themselves passively and are easily molded. This passive plasticity at
+any rate renders them capable of submitting to everything and only
+provoking conflict as a last resource. These individuals are no doubt
+less free, since they obey the impulses of others; nevertheless, their
+elasticity gives them a certain relative liberty, because they do not
+feel constraint and easily adapt themselves to laws and other social
+requirements. But the highest form of liberty, the moral faculty of
+higher adaptation, is not that of the human fox who exploits others
+for his own profit, but that of true higher intellects, capable of
+adapting their activity to the social requirements of humanity. On the
+contrary, the man who is least free is the one who, dominated by his
+passions and baser appetites, or by insufficiency of intelligence or
+will power, is thereby incapable of conducting himself reasonably,
+gives way to all temptations and impulses, falls into all kinds of
+snares, cannot keep to any resolution, and is in perpetual conflict
+with society.
+
+What is the use of the theoretical belief in free-will in this case?
+This man feels subjectively as free, or often more free, than one who
+is more reasonable and more master of himself, and yet he is a slave!
+When, dominated by his psychic bonds, he violates the law, he is
+punished, but he himself resents the punishment as an injustice. The
+judge who condemns him and imagines he holds the scales of justice in
+equilibrium, only carries out the principles of an unjust law, a kind
+of mild retaliation, exacting moderate expiation. Or again, by
+exercising a right derived from old traditions based on religious
+ideas, he plays the part of proxy for the Deity and judges in His
+place. We might even say that a mail is in reality all the more free
+the better he realizes that he is not so, _i.e._, that his actions
+depend on the activity of his brain! At any rate he will then be less
+often deceived and will react in a more plastic manner.
+
+=The True Task of Penal Law; Its Traditional Errors in the Sexual
+Question.=--Penal law has only one thing to do, that is to cut itself
+free from its roots and transplant itself on a social and scientific
+soil. There would then be no longer a penal law, but a _law protecting
+society against dangerous individuals, and a law of administration for
+persons incapable of conducting themselves_. Its task would be the
+complement of that of civil law. Henceforth the judge would cease to
+pass judgment on his neighbor and his neighbor's motives, acting as a
+proxy for God. He would no longer punish, but would content himself
+with protecting, restraining and ameliorating.
+
+The history of psychiatry and sorcery proves that we are not
+exaggerating. It is not very long since the insane were regarded, not
+as persons suffering from disease, but as criminals and sorcerers, and
+were treated by punishment and exorcism. The ancients, on the
+contrary, especially certain Greek and Roman physicians (notably
+_Caelius Aurelianus_) had already recognized that insanity was a
+disease of the brain, and had distinguished its different forms.
+
+Even at the present day, we find among the Catholics and among certain
+Protestant sects, as among savages, a belief in sorcery, and if this
+belief got the upper hand, prosecution for sorcery--exorcism and other
+forms of cruelty--would soon become the fashion.
+
+Before the sixteenth century prosecutions for sorcery were universal,
+and remained very common for a long time afterwards. It is only since
+the time of the French Revolution that insanity has been recognized as
+a mental disease. Even in the nineteenth century a German alienist,
+Heinroth, punished the insane like criminals. The atrocious prejudice
+of the people against the insane dates from the time of prosecution
+for sorcery.
+
+Even now we are the slaves of a prejudice which holds a legal
+conviction sufficient to dishonor the prisoner and stain his character
+for the rest of his days. Hans Leuss' book, _Aus dem Zuchthause_ (From
+the prison), 1904, is very instructive on this point. Condemned to
+prison himself, the author makes some wise and dispassionate
+observations which give food for reflection. I may also quote the
+words of Doctor Guillaume, who was for a long time superintendent of
+the penitentiary at Neuchatel, and who is now director of the Swiss
+federal bureau of statistics at Berne. The question we are dealing
+with had been treated in a discussion in which I took part, and to
+which Doctor Guillaume had listened silently. At the conclusion, he
+said to us: "Gentlemen, in the course of my life I have become
+acquainted with a large number of convicts, but I have never been able
+to discover among them more than two classes of individuals; the one
+class were diseased, and the others ... ah! the others; the more I
+study their cases and their personality, I ask myself if I should not
+have done as they did under the same circumstances!" It is unnecessary
+to say that Doctor Guillaume did not mean to establish two clearly
+marked classes, for most criminals represent a mixture of both; but
+his main idea gives a good idea of the question of penal law.
+
+How sexual questions lead to conflicts with penal law, how penal law
+judges them, and how it ought to judge them after what we have just
+said, I can only refer to what I have said concerning civil law. Our
+present penal law is aware of singular sexual crimes and often
+punishes them from curious motives.
+
+When a poor imbecile, ridiculed by women and overcome by his sexual
+appetite, copulates with a cow, the latter is not injured in any way;
+neither is the owner. Moreover, the question of property does not
+trouble the judge, for he punishes sodomy even when the culprit owns
+the animal. How does the law obtain the right to punish an act which
+does no harm to any one, nor to society, nor even to an animal? It is
+evidently a vestige of religious mysticism, something like punishment
+for sinning against the Holy Ghost. The sins of Sodom and Gomorrah,
+they say, caused the wrath of God, who destroyed these towns for this
+reason. According to the legend, sodomy was a vice of the inhabitants;
+is this why it is punished at the present day? But the masturbation of
+Onan, according to the Bible, also caused the wrath of God; why then
+do not our present laws institute punishment for those who practice
+it?
+
+In many of the Swiss cantons and in Germany, sexual connection between
+men is prosecuted by law. The German legislators have even recently
+discussed the question whether punishment should be enforced only when
+the penis of one man is introduced into the anus of the other
+(pederasty), or whether indecent contact and mutual onanism are
+sufficient to justify punishment.
+
+Our penal law is thus concerned with the question whether it should
+punish or not, according as this or that mucous membrane or part of
+the skin is used for the satisfaction of a morbid sexual appetite!
+These are truly singular points for a legislator to decide, compelled,
+in spite of his incompetence, to play the part of physiologist,
+anatomist and psychologist!
+
+If I am correctly informed, the German legislation is inconsistent in
+punishing sexual intercourse between two men, but not between two
+women. These examples suffice to show what blind-alleys a penal law
+leads to, the basis of which is vicious and which is guided by the
+traditions of mysticism.
+
+Quite recently, in the Swiss journal of penal law, a jurist seriously
+upheld the necessity for the conception of a crime against religion!
+Ideas of this kind would lead us to punish suicide, like the English.
+
+We will now proceed to analyze the facts from the point of view of
+their true social value.
+
+=Limits of Penal Law in the Sexual Domain.=--If we would avoid
+injustice and ridiculous contradictions, we should keep to the
+principle that penal justice has only the right to intervene in cases
+where individuals or society are injured, or run the risk of being
+injured. It is also necessary to examine, in each case, whether the
+person who has committed the offense was not irresponsible and
+affected with mental disease at the time; or whether his
+responsibility was not diminished, _i.e._, whether he was not
+seriously abnormal without being quite insane. The conception of
+responsibility, necessarily relative, should be understood in the
+sense of relative liberty, which we have defined above.
+
+According to the result of the inquiry (culpability being proved) the
+judge will have to decide how society can be best protected against
+the repetition of such acts, and how the culprit may be most easily
+improved, provided he is capable of improvement.
+
+If, for example, the culprit is an inebriate, his detention in a home
+for inebriates will protect society and benefit the individual much
+better than all the fines and imprisonments at present in force.
+
+If he is an incorrigible recidivist, incapable of resisting his
+criminal impulses, the law should keep him under observation in a safe
+place, or deprive him only of certain dangerous liberties. It is not
+so difficult to decide these questions as the public imagines. The
+antecedents of the criminal, his previous convictions, and a careful
+study of his psychology will nearly always lead to a clear diagnosis
+and prognosis. In this case a mutual understanding between
+psychiatrists and jurists will produce excellent results. It is
+needless to say that if it is only a case of transient cerebral
+obnubilation, such as sunstroke or somnambulism, etc., the culprit
+should be acquitted.
+
+=Rape, etc.=--Normal coitus may render a penal action legitimate when
+it is obtained by force or stratagem (rape, abuse of a feeble-minded
+or hypnotized person, etc.). It is evident that measures of protection
+against such acts are urgent, and that persons abused in this way
+should have the right to heavy indemnities. What we require is not so
+much extenuation of penalty for the culprit as greater protection for
+his victims.
+
+In cases of rape, when the woman becomes pregnant against her will, I
+am of opinion that artificial abortion should be allowed by law as an
+exceptional measure. We cannot expect a woman to have a child imposed
+upon her by a man's violence, especially when she is unmarried, and
+oblige her to bring it up, from the simple fact that she conceived it.
+It should be the same in cases of abduction of female minors.
+
+When, on the contrary, a male minor seduced by an adult woman, makes
+her pregnant, it is the woman only who is responsible for the
+maintenance of her child, and there are no reasons to accord her the
+right of abortion, for it is she who desired the sexual act. The close
+bonds which exist between the child and its mother justify such legal
+dispositions.
+
+With regard to civil laws, we have mentioned the case of venereal
+infection after coitus. In this case civil indemnity would be most
+equitable. A penal action could only be based on prosecution by the
+injured party, unless it was a question of directly criminal
+intent--infection for vengeance, for example.
+
+=Incest.=--Under the heading of _consanguineous marriages_, we have
+seen to what extent the conception of incest should be limited, in
+respect to civil law. The grave cases of incest are those between
+parents and children. Their normal causes are mental anomalies,
+alcoholism, proletarian promiscuity, or isolation of a family in some
+remote place. Incest is common, in Switzerland especially, among the
+inhabitants of isolated mountain chalets. I will give a few typical
+and genuine examples of incest giving rise to penal actions:
+
+(1). A drunken and brutal husband persecuted his wife with excessive
+coitus. The latter then gave him her own daughter to satisfy his
+violence.
+
+(2). An inebriate woman induced her own son, aged seventeen, to have
+intercourse with her. Infuriated at the idea that his mother had made
+him her lover, he murdered her one day when he was drunk. Condemned as
+a parricide, this young man conducted himself in prison in a model
+manner. Alcohol, combined with his incestuous seduction, had made him
+the murderer of his mother.
+
+(3). In a family composed exclusively of imbeciles and psychopaths,
+some of whom were put under my care for treatment, incest was
+practiced among nearly all of them; between father and daughters;
+between mother and sons; and between brothers and sisters.
+
+The last case, and many others, show that incest is not the cause but
+the effect of mental disorders. This does not mean that the offspring
+of such unions are not slightly tainted by the mere fact of such
+concentrated incest, but these cases are comparatively so rare that
+they do not contribute to any appreciable extent, as incest, in
+causing degeneration of the race; the factor which causes degeneration
+is here mental disease, which arises from other hereditary causes,
+chiefly of blastophthoric origin.
+
+From what we have said it results that a penal action for incest
+should only take place in the case of minors or insane persons, abuse
+of strength or power, or rape. The measures of civil law should
+suffice to reduce other cases of incest to a minimum.
+
+The disgust which the generality of men feel for sexual union between
+brothers and sisters, and especially between parents and children, is
+the best protection against incest. The elimination of alcoholism, the
+superintendence of the insane, and the improvement of our social
+organization are much more likely than penal laws to lead to the
+gradual disappearance of incest.
+
+=Assaults on Minors.=--All assaults on minors should naturally be
+prosecuted. But prosecution should take a different form according as
+the culprit is affected with a pathological perverse disposition, or
+whether it is simply a question of abuse of confidence committed by a
+normal man. A master who, having no sexual anomaly, commits assaults
+on young girls, his pupils, should be deprived of the right of
+teaching in girls' schools, for it is only there that he is dangerous.
+If, on the other hand, he is affected with perversion (pederasty,
+etc.), further measures for protection should be taken against him;
+according to the circumstances.
+
+=Sexual Perversions.=--When we pass, on to sexual perversions, the
+inconsequences and mysticism of our present penal law become still
+more apparent. This code often prosecutes and punishes sexual actions
+which do no harm to any one, or which two persons practice of their
+own accord. Such cases may be suitable for moral or medical treatment,
+but should never justify a penal prosecution. This applies to all the
+manipulations of onanism, pederasty, masochism, fetichism, etc., which
+take place between adults by mutual agreement.
+
+What is the use of prosecuting inverts? It is a fortunate thing for
+society that these psyhcopaths are contented with their mutual sexual
+intercourse, the result of which is sterile and therefore does no harm
+to posterity. The real crime is the marriage of an invert to an
+individual of the opposite sex, and yet this crime is sanctioned by
+the law! It is a crime against the normal conjoint and against the
+children who may result from such an unhappy union. By severely
+punishing homosexual intercourse, the penal laws of many countries
+provoke the lowest form of blackmail, as Krafft-Ebing, Moll,
+Hirschfeld and others have proved by numerous examples, and as I have
+myself confirmed among many of my patients.
+
+It is quite another thing with abnormal or perverse forms of the
+sexual appetite, which can only be satisfied against the will of their
+object, or by injuring it more or less severely. Here it is the duty
+of the law to organize energetic measures of protection; not with a
+view to punish the pervert, who is a diseased person, but to protect
+his victims in time.
+
+We will first deal with _sadism_; secondly with the violation of
+children. Here a very delicate question arises. In the case of such
+terrible sexual appetites we should not wait for victims before taking
+action. On the other hand, we cannot punish a man, nor even take
+administrative measures against him, simply from the fact that he
+possesses a dangerous appetite, especially if he is in other respects
+well-behaved and conscientious, and strives with all his might against
+his perversion. I have treated a patient who suffered from a terrible
+pathological appetite of this kind. He was a highly moral man who
+never harmed any one, but was in a state of despair over his
+affliction, which he resisted with all his power, seeking relief in
+masturbation when his passion became too violent.
+
+In such cases, the moral sentiments of an individual offer sufficient
+social protection, and it is neither the right nor the duty of the
+physician to denounce him. But he should advise the patient to retire
+to an asylum to avoid committing a crime, if he feels that he cannot
+restrain his passions. It is very rare for such cases to come to the
+knowledge of the public, for these patients prefer to suffer in
+silence or to commit suicide; but they are none the less instructive
+and characteristic.
+
+At other times dangerous perversions are discovered by chance, the
+pervert, instead of resisting his passion, seeking opportunities to
+satisfy it without discovery. In such cases strong measures should be
+enforced. Unfortunately, sadists are very well aware of the dangers
+they run, and know better than any other criminals how to commit their
+crimes without being discovered. As soon as the perpetrator of a sadic
+crime is discovered, or simply an attempt at sadism, he should be
+arrested and placed where he can do no harm. The question of
+castration arises here: but we do not know yet how far this protects
+the sadist and his victim against recurrence. If this operation proves
+efficacious it should never be neglected.
+
+The _exhibitionists_ present great difficulty. They are not dangerous,
+since they touch nobody. Their "victims," if they can be called so,
+are girls or women before whom they expose their genital organs and
+masturbate. No doubt modesty may be much offended by such acts,
+especially in young girls and children; disgust and fear may also harm
+them; but I think the law is too severe in these cases, for there is
+no question of an injury which is dangerous in itself. I have known
+little girls who have been frightened several times by exhibitionists,
+but I have never known them injured by the disgust which they
+experienced. The affair is too ridiculous and too ugly. It would be
+sufficient to send exhibitionists to an asylum for short periods,
+unless extreme weakness on their part necessitated prolonged
+detention.
+
+Simple _necrophilia_ should be treated in the same way by penal law.
+But this perversion is more dangerous on account of its relationship
+with sadism. There are some sadists who are only necrophiliacs for
+fear of becoming assassins. Such individuals are very dangerous and
+should be kept in confinement.
+
+The _fetichists_ are, on the contrary, generally very innocent. At the
+most they might be prosecuted for theft when they take away their
+fetiches. One of their worst misdemeanors is that of cutting off the
+hair of young girls.
+
+=Concubinage. Prostitution. Proxenetism. White Slavery.=--We have
+already seen that concubinage should never be punishable in itself,
+although it is so in some countries. We shall not again return to the
+question whether prostitution should be the object of judicial and
+penal actions. Proxenetism and white slavery, on the contrary, cause
+grave injury to the rights of many individuals and should be made
+criminal offenses; for they are crimes against society and the
+individual, and committed for lucre. It cannot be legal to do commerce
+with the body of one's neighbor: this is a crime which is closely
+related to slavery and similar abuses. (Vide Chapter X.)
+
+The law should punish all public solicitation, obscenity or sexual
+brutality, but the punishment should take a milder form. The sexual
+act and everything connected with it should be absolutely free, but a
+man has no right to provoke or annoy his neighbor by indecent sexual
+invitations if the latter does not wish to respond to them.
+
+It is, however, extremely difficult to fix the limits of what is
+licit, for prudery may also go too far and regard the most innocent
+allusions as provocations. It is absolutely necessary to leave a
+margin for normal sexual invitations. All that is required is that
+they should not overstep the limits of recognized propriety, so long
+as there is not mutual agreement between the two parties. (Vide
+_Flirtation_, Chapter IV.)
+
+=Lewdness. Pornography.=--The question naturally presents itself of
+knowing how far it is permitted to proceed publicly with a mutual
+agreement without causing offense or injury to other parties. On the
+whole, our customs are free enough in this respect, and a greater
+liberty in public flirtation would be inconvenient. For instance, lewd
+exhibitions, coitus, etc., could not be allowed in public places.
+Children especially should be protected against such excitations of
+the sexual appetite, and it is necessary to fix a legal distinction
+between what is offensive and what is not offensive to public
+propriety or modesty.
+
+Simple police regulations are sufficient for this purpose, but they
+are very necessary to protect women and children, and occasionally
+young men, against importunities or sexual obsessions, against sexual
+solicitation, or even against assault or other offenses, such as
+incitement to masturbation, obscene words and gestures, etc.
+
+It is, no doubt, very difficult to define the limits. Our modern
+customs have left a large margin for pornography, which they treat
+like a spoiled child. The most dangerous form, however, is not that
+which flaunts itself in shop windows, by advertisements and placards,
+in public kiosks and dancing rooms; but the refined and ęsthetic
+pornography which appears in the form of elegant engravings, erotic
+novels and dramas, under the cloak of art and even under that of
+morality.
+
+Unfortunately, the public is a very bad judge of these things. Certain
+books have openly and fearlessly described the sexual vices of our
+time--for example, Zola's novels and the dramas of Brieux--and these
+have been stigmatized as pornographic. As a matter of fact their
+authors in no way merit such a reproach. Such works in no way
+encourage immorality; on the contrary, they inspire disgust and a
+healthy and holy terror at the perversity of our sexual customs. No
+doubt such works may have an erotic action on ignorant and low-minded
+persons. The Tyrolean peasants, in their moral indignation, have been
+known to destroy the marble statues of women erected in public places.
+Such acts serve no purpose, for prudery will never rid the world of
+eroticism; it will only increase it by leading to hypocrisy. We have
+something better to do than persecute and insult true art and men of
+talent or genius who expose our social perversions.
+
+Pornography is quite another thing. It is not contented with
+representing the ęsthetic, licit, and normal side of natural
+eroticism. It does not depict sexual vice so as to emphasize its
+ugliness and its tragic consequences, but to glorify it. Whether it is
+represented as brazen nudity unadorned, or enveloped in a transparent
+veil which reveals everything it pretends to hide; whether it reels in
+bacchanalian orgies; whether it appears in brilliant fancy dress
+illuminated by electric lights, or in the discreet light of a
+fashionable boudoir; whether it is clearly revealed or equivocal,
+perverted in one way or depraved in another; in all its forms its aim
+is to tickle, to excite, to seduce, to allure, by arousing lewdness
+and inflaming its lowest passions.
+
+The pornographic dishes are often served up with a sentimental and
+moral sauce which naturally does not tend to hide the flavor of the
+meat--for then all its charm would be gone--on the contrary it
+increases its spicy quality by means of contrast, at the same time
+making the product more marketable; this hypocritical disguise giving
+it a certain varnish of propriety. The trick of clothing pornographic
+articles with the mantle of virtue may deceive the artless, and give
+the less artless excuse for buying them without putting themselves to
+any inconvenience. In such cases it is extremely difficult to act
+without injustice and without doing injury to art and science by
+vexatious measures. This requires much tact and rare perspicacity.
+
+=Other Sexual Misdemeanors.=--Many sexual assaults are committed on
+the insane and feeble-minded, in the hope that they will not defend
+themselves and denounce the criminal. We have mentioned the case of
+inverts who become attendants in lunatic asylums in order to satisfy
+their appetites. Such crimes should be classed with those committed
+against minors. In the first place it is necessary to take into
+account the special dangers they present, and in the second place, the
+personality of the criminal, his capacity for repentance, improvement,
+and self-control.
+
+=Artificial Abortion.=--It is a difficult question to decide whether a
+woman should have the right to dispose of the embryo she carries in
+her womb, and the duties of society with regard to this question. It
+is certainly the duty of society to protect the child as soon as it
+is born. In this case the laws cannot be too severe in protecting the
+child from unnatural parents, or from the "baby farmers," whose
+business is to get rid of the infants by starving them or exposing
+them to disease.
+
+It is the same with analogous abuses which we have mentioned with
+regard to civil law. These crimes or misdemeanors very often result as
+much from the economic organization of our society, as from want of
+protection for infancy and girl-mothers, as well as from the shame
+with which the latter are branded by our hypocritical customs.
+
+The question becomes more difficult with regard to the embryo _before
+birth_. Should the law punish artificial abortion? Opinions on this
+question vary. I have already said that in cases of rape, and forced
+pregnancy in general, the right to artificial abortion should be
+conceded to the woman. On the other hand, I think it should be
+prohibited on principle when the fecundating coitus has been voluntary
+on both sides, and when there is no medical reason for such a measure.
+In principle, the human embryo, when once conceived, should have the
+right to live. Birth is only an episode in its life. This generally
+takes place at the end of the ninth lunar month of pregnancy, but a
+child born at the seventh month is often viable. It is, therefore,
+arbitrary not to recognize the right of the embryo to live. On the
+contrary, the right that a woman has to dispose of her body would seem
+to outweigh this, when conception has been imposed on her by stratagem
+or violence. In fact, the right of the embryo to life should depend on
+the wish of the bearers of each of the two germs by which it is
+formed, at the moment of conception.
+
+On the other hand, numerous exceptions to the above rule should be
+allowed, and doctors should not be too severe, for it would be for
+them to decide in most cases whether artificial abortion was licit or
+not. Some pregnancies are a veritable misfortune for the parents and
+offspring, when the bodily and mental health of the mother or child,
+or both of them, is in danger. When a lunatic or an idiot, married or
+not, makes a woman pregnant, artificial abortion should be allowed;
+also in all cases when an insane or epileptic woman becomes pregnant.
+
+An analogous case is that where a drunkard renders his wife pregnant
+against her will, especially when he is intoxicated at the moment; for
+the offspring runs a great risk of blastophthoria.
+
+It is needless to say that abortion should be permitted whenever
+pregnancy seriously endangers the life or health of the mother, or
+when a grave disease in the mother condemns the child to become an
+invalid. On the other hand, such indications should not be acted on
+too lightly; a rational limit is here a matter of practice and common
+sense, combined with medical science.
+
+=The Right to Live of Monsters, Idiots, or the Deformed.=--The
+preceding remarks naturally lead us to the question whether children
+who are born invalids, deformed, or idiots, etc., should be
+necessarily condemned to live by the law, and whether special
+dispositions should not be made for such cases.
+
+The obligation to preserve, often by means of all the resources of
+medical science, miserable creatures, born as cretins or idiots;
+children with hydrocephalus or microcephalus, without eyes or ears, or
+with atrophied genital organs, etc., is an atrocity sanctioned by the
+law. Would it not be better to allow these miserable beings to be
+suppressed by means of a painless narcosis, with the consent of the
+parents and after an expert medical opinion, instead of condemning
+them by law to a life of misery? Science has proved that every
+congenital malformation of the brain is as incurable as that of any
+other organ.
+
+Here again our legislation is fettered by ignorance and religious
+dogma. On one hand, immense armies are organized to kill the most
+healthy men by thousands and tens of thousands, and many more
+thousands are abandoned to famine, prostitution, alcoholism and
+exploitation; on the other hand, medicine is expected to employ its
+whole art and efforts in prolonging life as long as possible and thus
+martyrizing miserable human wretches, degenerate in body and mind or
+both, often when they cry out for death!
+
+Large asylums are built for idiots, and there is much joy when after
+many years of persevering effort some devoted person succeeds in
+teaching these beings, whose mentality is far inferior to that of a
+monkey, to repeat a few words like a parrot, to scribble some words
+on paper, or to repeat a prayer mechanically with their eyes turned
+toward heaven!
+
+It is difficult to compare these two facts without feeling the bitter
+irony of what are euphemistically called our hereditary customs. In
+truth, the nurses and teachers who devote themselves to the education
+of cretins and idiots would do better to occupy themselves in some
+manual work; or even leave the idiots to die, and themselves procreate
+healthy and capable children in their place! But this question does
+not properly belong to our subject.
+
+=The Rights of the Embryo.=--A distinction is generally made between
+artificial abortion practiced in the first months of pregnancy and
+that induced in the later months. When the child is born viable, the
+term premature labor is used. When this is induced with the object of
+getting rid of the child the penalty is much more severe than for
+abortion, for it is regarded almost as infanticide.
+
+For this reason, and owing to the difficulty of the whole question, a
+mother should never be given the right to destroy the embryo or child
+in her womb, excepting in cases where pregnancy has been forced upon
+her. Each case should be submitted to a medical examination, and a
+doctor's certificate should be required. This is all the more
+indicated since our present knowledge makes it easy to prevent
+pregnancy by anticonceptional measures. Society is, therefore,
+entitled to demand that a mother who has voluntarily conceived a child
+has no right to interrupt its development, _i.e._, to kill it. If, as
+we hope, we shall eventually obtain more extended rights for women and
+greater sexual liberty in general, even in marriage, the reasons
+justifying artificial abortion, apart from medical or hygienic
+measures, will become more and more rare.
+
+The stigma of shame which is branded on illegitimate maternity
+unfortunately justifies many cases of abortion and even infanticide.
+Things ought to change in this respect, and in the future no pregnancy
+ought to be a source of shame for any healthy woman whatever, nor
+furnish the least motive for dissimulation.
+
+If the objection is raised that I am inconsistent; that every man,
+and consequently every woman, should have the power to dispose of
+their own body on every occasion, and that penal law should therefore
+take no cognizance of artificial abortion, I reply that this does not
+apply to the case in point; for it is here a question, not of one
+body, but of two or more (in the case of twins). From the moment of
+conception the embryo acquires a social right which merits all the
+more protection, the more its possessor is incapable of looking after
+it.
+
+=Adultery.=--Adultery, which even at the present day is often
+considered as a crime or misdemeanor, should be simply regarded as a
+reason for divorce. We have already treated the question with regard
+to civil law, and have shown the futility of trying to obtain fidelity
+by law. In my opinion, the misdemeanor of adultery should be entirely
+abolished from penal law. When it is complicated by fraud or other
+crimes, it is the latter only which are concerned.
+
+=Human Selection.=--The indirect danger to which children of bad
+heredity are exposed constitutes a grave social evil. At present,
+penal law is absolutely impotent in this matter. We have seen what
+civil law might perhaps effect, and what is already done in some
+countries. In another chapter we shall discuss much more appropriate
+measures for improvement in this domain.
+
+We have already mentioned castration and certain cases in which it
+might be practiced. These cases will always be very limited, and it is
+on the basis of social morality and hygiene of the race that the
+question of conception should be regulated in a rational and voluntary
+manner. We shall obtain much more in this way than by legal measures,
+which are always lame because they interfere with individual liberty.
+We must never forget that the law is only a necessary evil, and often
+a superfluous one.
+
+In conclusion, I may remark that penal law should be combined, like
+civil law, with administrative measures, to protect both the
+individual and society in sexual matters, at the same time watching
+over the interests of future generations. But it should only do this
+as far as the weakness and eroticism of men hinder a similar or better
+result from being obtained by moral education, combined with rational
+intellectual instruction.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[8] Vide DELBRÜCK, _Gerichtliche Psychopathologie_ (Job. Ambr. Barth,
+Leipzig, 1897).--DELBRÜCK, _Die Pathologische Lüge und der pyschisch
+abnorme Schwindler_ (Ferdinand Enke, Stuttgart, 1891).--FOREL, _Crime et
+anomalies mentales constitutionnelles_ (GENČVE, 1902, H.
+Kündig,).--KÖLLE, _Gerichtlich psychiatrische Gutachten_ (from the
+clinic of Professor Forel at Zurich), Stuttgart, 1894, Ferdinande
+Enke.--VON LISZT, Schutz der Gesellschaft gegen Gemeingefährliche
+(_Monatsschrift für Kriminalpsychologie und Strafrechtsreform_).--FOREL,
+Die verminderte Zurechnungsfähigkeit (_die Zukunft_, 1899, no 15), etc.
+
+[9] "Die Zwiechungsfähigkeit des normalen Menschen," Munich.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XIII
+
+A MEDICO-LEGAL CASE
+
+
+The following case occurred in 1904 in the Canton of St. Gall, in
+Switzerland, and confirms my opinion:
+
+Frieda Keller, born in 1879, was the daughter of honest parents. Her
+mother was mild-mannered and sensible, her father loyal, but harsh and
+sometimes violent. Frieda was the fifth of eleven brothers and
+sisters. She was a model scholar. At the age of four years she had
+meningitis which left her with frequent headaches. In 1896-97 she
+learnt dressmaking and helped at home in the household work. When she
+was free, she did embroidery to help her family. Afterwards she
+obtained a situation in a dressmaker's shop at St. Gall, where she got
+sixty francs a month.
+
+To increase her income she worked on Sundays as a waitress at the Café
+de la Poste. The proprietor, a married man, began to persecute her
+with his affections, which she had great difficulty in avoiding. She
+then entered another shop where she got eighty francs a month. One
+day, in 1898, when she was then nineteen, the proprietor of the café
+succeeded in seducing her, and on May 27, 1899, she gave birth to a
+boy at the Maternity of St. Gall. She had confessed her misfortune to
+her parents, and her mother had pity on her. Her mother had also been
+seduced and rendered pregnant at the age of fifteen; abandoned by her
+seducer she committed infanticide, and was sentenced to six years'
+imprisonment; as she had always been well-behaved, the tribunal had
+recognized that she acted "less by moral depravity than by false
+sentiment of honor." Frieda, who was fond of her mother, knew nothing
+of this history. The father was very hard toward his daughter and
+refused her all help and pity. Twelve days after her confinement she
+took her child to the Foundling Hospital at St. Gall.
+
+Her seducer then promised to maintain the child, but never paid more
+than eighty francs. After a time he left the town and was seen no
+more. The circumstances under which Frieda became pregnant were not
+fully inquired into and her seducer was ignored. It was not absolutely
+a case of rape, but of taking a poor, weak and timid girl by surprise.
+
+Frieda Keller felt nothing but disgust for her seducer. Later on the
+latter would no doubt deny the fact of his paternity; but he had
+tacitly admitted this by the payment of eighty francs.
+
+Frieda had to pay five francs a week to the Foundling Hospital and
+also thirty-four francs to her married sister. In 1901 her father
+died, and in 1903 her mother. Frieda inherited 2,471 francs from her
+father, but this sum was tied up in her brother's business and he
+never sent her the interest. It is characteristic of her mentality
+that she never attempted to exact it.
+
+Then began for this unfortunate young girl a life of struggle and
+despair. She was possessed of two ideas. On the one hand she could no
+longer maintain her child, and on the other hand would not admit
+anything from shame. They would not keep the child in the hospital
+after Easter, 1904, when it would reach the maximum age of five years.
+What was she to do?
+
+Frieda Keller was then evidently in a pathological state of mind,
+which was upheld by her defender, Doctor Janggen. She wished to keep
+her secret and provide for the maintenance of the child; but she took
+no steps in this direction. She did not seek for cheap lodgings, not
+for a rise of salary, nor even for the money illegally detained by her
+brother for his own profit. She never spoke to her married sister, nor
+to any one, of her desperate position. The father of her child had
+disappeared and she never gave information against him for fear of
+divulging her secret. Moreover, the law at St. Gall only admitted the
+charge of paternity against unmarried men! She found no practical way
+of disposing of her child. After Easter, 1904, when the child was
+discharged from the hospital, she was haunted by a single idea--to get
+rid of the child. She struggled for a long time against this
+obsession, but in vain, and it finally became a resolution.
+
+Although she was fond of her sister's children, she did not love her
+own. She rarely visited her child and appeared to take no notice of
+it. This woman who was well-disposed toward every other creature, who
+was of exemplary conduct and would not hurt a fly, never even spoke of
+her own child. On April 9th she wrote to the hospital that she would
+come and fetch the child.
+
+A few days before this she took a long walk in the woods; the next day
+she wept at home, while looking for some string. Alone with her
+despair, she had definitely made her terrible resolution. She said
+afterwards, at the assizes:
+
+"I could not free myself from the feeling that I must get rid of the
+child."
+
+She then went to the hospital, after having bought new clothes for the
+child, and told the authorities that an aunt of hers at Munich would
+take care of the child. She then took the child to the woods. Having
+found a lonely spot she sat down for a long time while the child
+played in the wood. For some time she had not the courage to do the
+deed, but at last an irresistible force, as she said, urged her to do
+it. With her hands and shoes she dug a grave, then strangled the child
+with string, with such force that it was difficult to untie the knot
+on the dead body afterwards. She knelt for some time by the child till
+it ceased to give any signs of life, then buried it, and returned home
+restraining her tears with difficulty.
+
+On the 1st of June she wrote to the hospital that the child had
+arrived at Munich. On the 7th of June the body was exposed by rain and
+was discovered by some Italians. On the 14th of June she was arrested.
+During the trial she declared that her action had been the result of
+her inability to maintain the child, and the necessity of keeping her
+secret. This secret was the shame and dishonor of involuntary
+maternity and illegitimate birth.
+
+All the witnesses spoke in favor of Frieda Keller and gave evidence
+that she was well-mannered, intelligent, hard-working, economical, of
+exemplary conduct and loving her sister's children. She did not deny
+the premeditation of her crime, and in no way sought to diminish her
+responsibility.
+
+According to the law of St. Gall, such cases are punishable with
+death; but Frieda Keller's sentence was commuted to penal servitude
+for life.
+
+Such are the facts of this case taken from the official report, and
+from an extract published by M. de Morsier in the _Signal de Genčve_.
+
+We are compelled to exclaim with M. de Morsier that a legislation
+which, in such a case, condemns to death one who can justly be called
+a victim, while leaving unpunished the real culprit, is calculated to
+destroy all belief in justice in a democracy which calls itself
+Christian. It is a justice of barbarians, a disgrace to the twentieth
+century. The tribunal and the juries have enforced to the letter an
+article in the Code, and this is called justice! We may well say:
+_Fiat justitia, pereat mundus._
+
+Frieda Keller was no doubt in an abnormal condition of mind; she
+probably suffered from the influence of auto-suggestion which became
+an obsession. Such cases are not uncommon. This is clearly shown by
+the absurdity of her manner of acting, which was both useless and
+pernicious, while she might easily have got out of her difficulty in
+other ways. If our judges and juries had a little more knowledge of
+human psychology and a little less of the Code in their heads, they
+would have had some doubts on the mental integrity of the accused, and
+would have ordered an expert examination by a mental specialist. But,
+apart from this point, I put the question--can we expect from a woman,
+maternal sentiments for a child resulting from sexual surprise
+bordering on rape?
+
+In the preceding chapter I have demanded the right of artificial
+abortion to women rendered pregnant by rape or against their will, and
+I think the case of Frieda Keller supports my contention. I do not
+intend to justify the assassination of a child already five years of
+age; but I wish to point out that the absence of maternal love is
+quite natural in such a case. It is precisely the instinctive aversion
+of Frieda Keller for her child, otherwise inexplicable, which shows
+most clearly that it was a case of imposed maternity, or sexual
+satisfaction on the part of the father alone.
+
+The tragic case of this unfortunate woman well illustrates the
+brutality and hypocrisy of our customs regarding the sexual question,
+and shows what terror, shame, torment and despair may be caused by the
+point of view of the so-called rules of morality. In the presence of
+these facts I do not think I can be accused of exaggeration: it is
+only parchment-hearted jurists and government officials who can remain
+indifferent in such cases.
+
+Penal servitude for life for the poor victim of such cruelty is a kind
+of "mercy" which rather resembles bitter irony. The law of St. Gall
+can do only one thing to repair the evil; that is to change its laws
+and liberate the victim as soon as possible.
+
+In ordinary infanticide the true assassin is not usually the mother
+who kills her child, but rather the father who abandons the woman he
+has made pregnant, and disowns the result of his temporary passion. In
+the case of Frieda Keller, maternal heredity, the results of
+meningitis, stupidity, irreflection, want, shame, fear, a pathological
+obsession, and finally the unworthy conduct of the father, all
+combined in making this unfortunate girl a victim rather than a
+criminal. Her child was not only a source of great anxiety but also an
+object of instinctive repulsion.
+
+How is it that such a brave and industrious woman can feel repulsion
+toward her own child? If the judges had asked themselves this question
+and had replied to it without prejudice, forgetting for the moment
+their Code and prejudices, they would not have had the courage to
+condemn the woman to death, nor even to condemn her at all; for their
+conscience would have clearly shown them the true culprits--masculine
+brutality, our hypocritical sexual customs, and the unjust laws
+inspiring terror in a feeble brain.
+
+When every pregnancy and every birth are looked upon by human society
+with honor and respect, when every mother is protected by law and
+assisted in the education of her children, then only will society have
+the right to judge severely of infanticide.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+MEDICINE AND SEXUAL LIFE
+
+
+=General Remarks.=--Theology teaches belief in God and a future life;
+law represents the application of codified laws and customs, old and
+new; medicine is said to be an art--the art of curing sick people.
+
+At the origin of each of these three branches of human activity we
+find an acquired idea. Man has been led to the religious idea and to
+the worship of one or more gods by his terror of certain unknown and
+occult powers superior to his own, and by the idea that his faculty of
+knowledge, his power, and the duration of his life were limited.
+
+The origin of law is in moral conscience, a phylogenetic derivative of
+the sentiments of sympathy, _i.e._, sentiments of duty and justice,
+combined with the idea of the necessity for men to live in societies.
+
+As regards medicine, this owes its existence to the fear of disease,
+pain and death, which is modified by the acquired experience that
+certain substances may sometimes ease suffering.
+
+Theology, if separated from morality whose domain it has usurped,
+lives on mysticism, and endeavors to give it a natural and human
+appearance by adorning it with sonorous phraseology. Law, losing sight
+of its origin and object of existence, only concerns itself with
+comments on the text of laws, and in discussing the application of the
+articles of the Code. Medicine has concerned itself too much with the
+life of the patient, instead of the improvement of human life in
+general.
+
+In order to cure a physical malady, to reėstablish abnormal or damaged
+functions as far as this is possible, the physician must be acquainted
+with the vital manifestations of the body in its normal state. For
+this reason the art of medicine depends on the accessory sciences,
+chiefly anatomy and physiology. These accessory sciences have
+considerably developed in the evolution of medicine, and the art of
+medicine has become the chief motive power which urges men to research
+and discovery in the biological sciences, such as histology,
+embryology, comparative anatomy and physiology, anatomy and physiology
+of the brain, bacteriology, etc. Pure science now occupies such a
+position in medical studies that the "healing art" often remains in
+the background; although it must later on take the chief part, and is
+regarded by the public as of the greatest importance.
+
+The value of the art of medicine is subject to great variations. It is
+only of real value when, free from all charlatanism, it rests on a
+sufficiently scientific basis; for the art of an ignoramus falls into
+error and employs inappropriate methods; on the other hand, the art of
+a charlatan has for its object the purse of the patient. It is common
+to meet with physicians who have a good practical experience of art
+without possessing scientific knowledge, others who have both
+practical experience and science but are charlatans, others again who
+are very scientific but incapable in practice. The ideal is a
+combination of art, science and disinterested honesty; but it is not
+very uncommon to meet with a combination of ignorance, incapacity and
+charlatanism. Lastly, too many doctors, otherwise capable and
+intelligent, are too much influenced by authority, text-books and
+prejudices, instead of observing and judging each case for themselves
+in the true scientific spirit. Many dogmas of medical education rest
+on hypotheses, theories or statements which have no solid foundation,
+and do not represent the fruits of a true personal experience of human
+life. Many doctors only see through other people's glasses, without
+reflecting for themselves; the worst of these are those with
+"systems," homoeopaths, the disciples of natural medicine, etc. It
+is especially in the sexual question that these human weaknesses of
+medical practitioners often lead to the most pitiable results.
+
+We must first of all take to heart the fundamental principle of
+hygiene, which is at the same time that of all honest and sound
+medicine--_prevention is better than cure._
+
+The modern opinions of medical men on the sexual question are still
+unfortunately greatly obscured by prejudice, authority, and the
+indirect influence of the doctrines of religious morality. The same
+applies to the question of alcohol. However, it is to medicine and its
+accessory sciences that we owe the knowledge which now renders it
+possible to judge of the sexual relations of man from the true and
+healthy point of view of social and moral science.
+
+We cannot describe here all the relations of medicine to sexual life.
+Chapters I, II, III, IV and VIII are entirely based on its results and
+on those of natural science. What we have still to consider relates
+especially to sexual hygiene, for we have already treated of pathology
+in Chapter VIII. I shall reserve the general and social part of
+hygiene for the last chapter of the book, and shall confine myself
+here to certain special points, and the criticism of current, but
+erroneous, medical opinions on the sexual question.
+
+=Prostitution. Sexual Hygiene. Sexual Connection Apart from
+Marriage.=--All regulation and medical supervision of prostitution
+should be rejected, not only from the moral point of view, but also
+from that of hygiene, as a deplorable error, incapable even of
+fulfilling its avowed object--protection against venereal disease.
+
+Faith in the dogmas and authority of an existing institution has led
+medical men to take a false view of the question. They demand from the
+adversaries of regulation proof of a diminution in venereal disease
+when regulation was not in force. This is both unjust and absurd. It
+is for the supporters of regulation to prove that State regulation of
+prostitution has led to any appreciable improvement of the social
+evil. Then only can it be asked if the maintenance of such vexatious
+measures is still justifiable. But medicine has not furnished the
+proof demanded from it; on the contrary, its attempts in this
+direction have entirely failed. After all, the system is kept up, not
+because it diminishes venereal infection, but because it gives
+satisfaction to the sexual appetite of men and their desire for
+change. Society, however, has no right to organize such a monstrosity
+as regulated prostitution and licensed proxenetism, for the special
+pleasure of debauchees.
+
+In virtue of the false dogma of regulation, many doctors, even at the
+present day, recommend young men to visit brothels, for alleged
+hygienic reasons. This deplorable custom perverts youth and gives it
+false ideas. It is a remedy much worse and much more dangerous than
+the evil it is supposed to cure, worse than masturbation, much worse
+than nocturnal emissions. Sexual anomalies and perversions are not
+cured in brothels; on the contrary they develop there.
+
+Moreover, it is absurd to exaggerate the effects of onanism and sexual
+excesses in themselves, and thus increase the anxiety of a number of
+unfortunates. In Chapter IV, we have already spoken of great
+variations which the sexual appetite presents without ceasing to be
+normal, and we have mentioned the rule given by Luther. In my opinion
+the advice given by the doctor should be as follows:
+
+As long as he does not wish to marry, a young man should remove as far
+as possible all sexual ideas from his thoughts. He should be contented
+with nocturnal emissions, which are produced spontaneously, and should
+avoid all the manipulations of onanism. A young girl should do the
+same all the more easily, because her sexual appetite is normally
+weaker, and is not accompanied by glandular secretions which more or
+less demand ejaculation.
+
+Persons unable to resist their sexual appetite should be extremely
+prudent in their extra-nuptial intercourse. Moreover, there is no need
+for this to assume the character of prostitution.
+
+=Medical Advice.=--It is the doctor's duty to give friendly advice to
+every one who consults him on sexual questions, without posing as a
+judge or a moralist. He should never frighten or reprimand the poor
+hypochondriac who blames himself for masturbation, nor sexual perverts
+of any kind, unless, of course, they are absolutely dangerous, such as
+sadists. He should, on the contrary, calm their fears and give them
+encouragement; and in this way he may do much good.
+
+Hypnotic suggestion gives him a means of directly combating many cases
+of sexual excitation, or at least of attenuating them, by directing
+the cerebral activity of the patient to other subjects. Each case
+should be judged by itself and attention should be paid to the
+different points we have studied in this book. Even between husband
+and wife, and especially as a consequence of monogamy, certain
+unfortunate or delicate circumstances may raise difficulties; for
+example, the periods during which conception should be avoided, a
+certain time after accouchement and during certain morbid conditions.
+
+In this case unskillful medical advice may have unfortunate results.
+When a doctor forbids a husband to have sexual intercourse with his
+wife he exposes him to two dangers. If the husband remains continent
+and sleeps in a separate room for too long a time, conjugal love may
+become so cooled that a permanent barrier is established between man
+and wife; if, on the other hand, he abandons himself to prostitution,
+he may contract venereal disease and infect his wife. Again, the
+husband may become enamored of another woman and wreck the happiness
+of his family. The doctor who prohibits conjugal coitus thus takes a
+great responsibility. For this and other reasons we have now an
+important question to consider.
+
+Opinions differ considerably as to the effects of sexual continence.
+All extreme assertions are erroneous. It is quite certain that the
+harmful effects of continence have been greatly exaggerated. Normal
+persons of both sexes may remain continent, although not without some
+trouble and discomfort. In a general way, we may accept the statement
+that many morbid conditions are known to result from sexual excess,
+but few from continence. This, however, goes a little too far, for
+certain psychopaths and sexual hyperęsthetics often lapse into a state
+of mental and nervous excitement from forced continence, so that their
+neurosis becomes accentuated and may even end in insanity. I have seen
+this occur both in men and women, but such cases are very rare.
+
+Continence is not an easy matter for erotic individuals, and requires
+a heroic internal struggle, especially in men. The Canadian reformer,
+Chiniqui, whom we have previously quoted, relates the history of a
+monk who tore off his testicles in despair at being unable to conquer
+his violent sexual appetite.
+
+The fine preachers of morality, endowed with a cold temperament, or
+simply senile, who hold forth on the "immorality" of the consequences
+of the sexual appetite, would do well to take such facts to heart.
+
+We must not forget that among our brutal, yet human ancestors the
+struggle for life demanded the cruel and wanton exposure or slaughter
+of all weak and decrepit individuals, and that epidemic diseases,
+plagues, and pests ravaged the peoples without mercy. Of course our
+present civilization has put up a barrier against all this. Yet, for
+that very reason the blind and thoughtless propagation of degenerate,
+tainted, and enfeebled individuals is another atrocious danger to
+society. But then the sexual appetite cannot be legislated out of
+existence or killed by repressive measures.
+
+Quite recently it has been scientifically demonstrated that absolute
+sterilization can be produced by the application of the Roentgen Ray,
+but at what period of treatment this result may be obtained still
+remains an unsettled question, thus leaving the possibility of
+incurring the risk of effecting only a doubtful degeneration of the
+germs.
+
+We can but consider all legislation and all police measures which are
+intended to regulate the sexual intercourse in the human family, as
+absolute failures, as inhuman, in fact as down-right detrimental to
+the race. Exacting laws have never improved the morals of any race or
+nation; hypocrisy and secret evasion are the only results obtained. It
+would be better by far if steps were taken to enlighten the masses on
+the questions of sexual heredity and degeneration. Wisdom of this kind
+does not corrupt. It is rather the unrestricted power of capital and
+wealth that brings the rot into the community. Healthy people should
+be made to know that a large number of sound, industrious children is
+a blessing, in fact, riches to the family, but on the one condition
+only, viz.: that they are not relegated to detestable slavery through
+the overbearing suppression of capital.
+
+When the dignity of labor shall once have been raised on the pedestal
+of worship now occupied by Mammon, there will no longer be need for
+complaint about small families and decreasing birth-rates, such as we
+hear so much at the present day in France and in the United States.
+
+A few examples might throw some light on this subject.
+
+(1) Dr. Pelman of Bonn, assisted by the local authorities, made an
+inquiry into the progeny of a certain Ada Jurke (born in 1740, died in
+the beginning of the nineteenth century), who was hereditarily
+tainted, a drunkard and a degenerate. Her descendants down to the
+present time number 834 persons. The lives of 709 of these individuals
+have been officially recorded as follows: 106 were illegitimate
+children; 142 were mendicants and tramps; 64 were unable to perform
+any kind of work towards their own support and became a charge to the
+community; 181 of the women were prostitutes; 7 persons were convicted
+of murder and 69 of other crimes. All this within a period of 75 years
+at a cost to the state, according to the public records, of five
+millions of marks (about $1,250,000) in the shape of monetary support,
+jail and law expenses, claims for damages, etc., etc.
+
+(2) Dr. Jörger, Director of the Insane Asylum at Waldhaus, by Chur, in
+Switzerland, followed up in a similar fashion the history of a family
+of vagrants. The full report may be found under the title of "The Zero
+Family," in the _Archiv für Gesellschaft's-u. Rassenbiologie_, 1905,
+Heft 4, page 494 et seq. It is sad to read of the untold misery,
+profligacy, and distress spread broadcast by this family, not to speak
+of the many crimes committed by its members.
+
+It is depressing to witness how sheer ignorance and callousness to the
+interests of the human race at large allow such people to multiply
+without let or hindrance. The unfortunate part about it all is that
+this species of humanity is on the steady increase. They really form
+the principal hearths whence emanate our criminal classes, that fill
+our jails, our Charity Homes, our Hospitals, our Sanatoria, our Insane
+Asylums. They breed and multiply not because it affords them a special
+pleasure to procreate crime, insanity, and degeneracy, but because no
+one takes the trouble to instruct them in the perniciousness of
+bringing into this world offspring that can only find and themselves
+again disseminate misery, want, and wretchedness; or to teach them how
+to prevent this calamity.
+
+(3) Still another category of dangerous elements is becoming more
+numerous every day. I refer to the _neurasthenics_. Heredity is an
+important factor here, too, as every neurologist is able to attest
+from his own daily observations. The worst feature about this peril is
+the fact that neurotics as a rule suffer from excess of sexual
+appetite, whilst they are sorely lacking the power of self-control,
+circumstances which often enough lead to crime, insanity, and suicide.
+Untold thousands of them, unaware of the fearful consequences of
+hereditary impairment, go on bringing into this world children
+destined to unhappiness and suffering. It is noteworthy too that these
+nervous wrecks generally intermarry. Does not this account to a large
+extent for the great number of unhappy marriages recorded nowadays?
+
+Of course, it is quite evident that under such pitiable conditions,
+the hereditary taints become increasingly aggravated. If the patients
+have money, which is very often the case, they prove profitable
+customers of the "nerve-specialist," and likewise of the endless chain
+of private sanatoria for nervous diseases. It is a sad spectacle
+indeed. My own experience has taught me that nine out of ten of these
+unfortunate beings have families, because they are ignorant of the
+dangers of heredity, and unfamiliar with the safe and proper means for
+preventing conception. Why not teach them? A few cases may suffice.
+
+(_a_) An hysterical woman, whose father was a lascivious, egotistical
+crank, married a man absolutely devoid of will power and energy. She
+was gifted; the marriage a failure. Of the two children, one was an
+indolent, thoroughly useless, good-for-nothing boy, whose only thought
+was of wasting money on pretty neckties and the like and of flirting
+with the girls, of which art he was a past-master. The other one, a
+girl, betrayed the same characteristics and disposition. The mother
+was in despair and inconsolable, cursing her offspring and the
+marriage alike. Too late, alas!
+
+(_b_) The son of a neurasthenic father and an hysterical mother,
+although of a good-natured disposition, had the vilest, uncontrolable
+temper, which would suddenly carry him away to acts of violence only
+to be bitterly regretted immediately afterwards. Whilst drunk he
+became excited and drawing a revolver wounded several innocent
+bystanders. As an officer in the army he was insulted by a tipsy
+student, whom he shot down on the spot, although he was sober himself
+at the time. On another occasion he shot himself in the breast, but
+recovered. Presently he fell in love most desperately with an
+hysterical woman and married her. The mother-in-law, who was an
+eccentric, mischievous person, started a bitter feud between the two
+families. He became greatly wrought up over the affair and demanded of
+his wife to stop the quarrel at once. As she demurred, he ended her
+life with a bullet from a pistol. Of course, he was arrested and
+languished in jail in utter agony and despair. What a future for those
+two unfortunate children that sprang from this union! I may point out
+here that at the time when he killed his wife, whom he loved
+passionately, he was not under the influence of strong drink, for he
+had given up the use of alcohol altogether for quite a number of
+years.
+
+(_c_) A very religious lady had married a man who became insane. He,
+too, was a devout churchman. There were 8 children. Under treatment
+the father improved and was dismissed from the asylum. I urged them
+both to prevent further conception, having in view the dangers of
+hereditary taint in the possible offspring. The wife indignantly told
+me that her church demanded of her to bear as many children as she
+could. They had several more, all of them candidates for the insane
+asylum or the institute for nervous patients. And that is called
+religion and morality!
+
+(_d_) A heavily tainted couple, desperately enamored of each other,
+came to me in great distress to ask: "May we get married?" I answered:
+"It does not strike me as being the wisest thing for you to do. But if
+you cannot exist without each other, by all means get married; but
+think what a calamity it would be, if two beings tainted as you both
+are, were to beget offspring." "But we are so fond of children."
+"Well, that is easily mended. There are plenty of healthy orphans
+whose parents were strong and sound both in body and in mind, but who
+are strangers to a father's and mother's love, and are craving for a
+good education. Make your own choice, but take only the very best.
+Then you will have a family and enjoy all the pleasures of parenthood.
+As for the rest, heed my advice. Avoid pregnancy."
+
+The law of heredity winds like a red thread through the family history
+of every criminal, of every epileptic, eccentric and insane person.
+And we should sit still and witness our civilization go into decay and
+fall to pieces without raising the cry of warning and applying the
+remedy?
+
+However, this is by no means all. Tuberculosis is the white plague of
+to-day. It is considered an established fact that every living human
+being inhales and swallows tubercle bacilli by the millions every day,
+and it is even claimed that every one of us harbors somewhere in the
+economy this dreadful poison to a larger or smaller degree. Whilst the
+pure, immune blood in a sound, robust constitution is able to resist
+the inroads of, and even to kill, sterilize, and eliminate these
+bacilli, the weaker and hereditarily tainted individual falls a prey
+to the attacks of this dire disease by the thousands. True, serum
+therapy and open-air treatment are accomplishing many cures, but the
+hereditary disposition remains in the system all the same, and may be
+transmitted to the coming generation, or at any rate may impair the
+power of resistance in the offspring.
+
+Moreover, the sexual appetite is very pronounced in phthisical
+patients. They marry and beget children in the most wanton fashion.
+The law cannot and does not prevent them, and the carnal instinct is
+not to be killed. What is to be done when law and religion forbid the
+application of preventive measures and even prosecute the person that
+recommends them?
+
+Local disease and pathological conditions in the woman (at times in
+man also), within wedlock, may render parturition an immediate danger
+to the life of the mother or of the child or of both together, for
+instance, cancer of the womb or other affections of the uterus, kidney
+disease, a deformed pelvis. Surely in such cases it is the bounden
+duty of the physician to intervene and council against, nay,
+absolutely forbid impregnation. Well, how is it to be done? Must
+husband and wife, who love and esteem each other, be separated? It
+would be unnatural, in fact it is quite impossible. Or should they
+abandon sexual intercourse all together and live like brother and
+sister? Well, a few exceptionally cold natures may have will power
+enough to carry into effect such a pact. But in 99 out of 100 cases
+the interdict of the sexual act sends the husband to satisfy his
+cravings elsewhere and contract disease, or he falls in love with
+another woman and wrecks home and family.
+
+Similar conditions may be brought about by other causes as well. Take,
+for instance, the poor workingman or mechanic who has already six or
+seven children and whose wife is unusually fertile, giving birth to
+children year after year. The wages of the father do not suffice to
+properly support them all. The food that can be purchased with the
+slender means is not at all adequate. Rent and other bills fall behind
+and the man gets in debt. They are both young yet. What is to be done?
+If they follow the natural law there will be an increase in the family
+every year. Moreover, these ever-recurring labors weaken the
+constitution of the woman and sap away her strength. Starvation?
+Sexual continence in wedlock? It is strange, indeed, to hear rich men,
+well-fed clergymen, pious zealots and reformers, leaning back in their
+comfortable chairs after a sumptuous meal and smoking an expensive
+Havana cigar, discuss this burning question and bewail the immorality
+of the common people.
+
+Statistics prove that these very people, who extol to the poor all the
+blessing of a big family, never live up to their teachings either in
+theory or in practice. The majority of these apostles of morality have
+no children at all, or at the utmost two or three. Why should that be
+so? What interesting reading it would make if the sexual history of
+these persons were followed up and printed.
+
+Money, hygiene, reason, and the most elementary laws of humanity
+demand that the wife, who is fertile above the average, should have a
+rest of at least 18 months between each succeeding pregnancy. But this
+cannot be achieved in the natural course of events, except in very
+rare cases, without wrecking the marriage.
+
+If we crystallize this sexual, social question, we arrive at the
+following conclusions:
+
+There are a great many cases, especially of a pathological character,
+but none the less also in normal and sound individuals, in which
+procreation, within wedlock or without, is dangerous either definitely
+or temporarily, either for the mother or the child, or for both, and
+for that reason should be interdicted. Very few men and a very small
+proportion of women--no matter how firmly they may be resolved--are
+capable of effectually suppressing their sexual needs. And even if
+they succeed, the consequences are generally of a disastrous nature,
+loss of marital love, secret illicit relations with others and
+subsequent infidelity, nervous disorders, impotence, etc.
+
+In all these cases we are confronted with the following dilemma:
+
+(1) In the unmarried person: onanism or prostitution, or both. Is that
+morality? Such people must either forever forego love, marriage, and
+normal, lawful sexual intercourse, or face sterility in wedded life.
+(I do not recognize prostitution--see chapter X--as normal
+intercourse.)
+
+(2) Within marriage: onanism, prostitution, and infidelity, or the
+adoption of rational preventive measures.
+
+I leave it to the reader and to the lawmakers to pick out the correct
+alternative and to arrive at the one possible, decent, and ethical
+solution of these conflicting questions.
+
+I do not admit that constitutionally frigid natures or those who find
+it easy to control their sexual appetite, have any right whatsoever to
+pose as normal samples of the human race and to simply ignore the
+existence of temperaments, characters, and constitutions so widely
+differing from their own. This world's history teaches us that nothing
+good has ever come from such vain assumptions, unless it be empty
+phrases and dead letters. These righteous, frigid, and strong natures
+ought, indeed, to be grateful to their ancestors for having handed
+down to them that happy disposition, and to prove their gratitude by
+making particular efforts to help those that are yet to come, in
+obtaining and sharing the same benign blessing.
+
+It seems almost incredible that in some countries medical men who are
+not ashamed to throw young men into the arms of prostitution, blush
+when mention is made of anticonceptional methods. This false modesty,
+created by custom and prejudice, waxes indignant at innocent things,
+whilst it encourages the greatest infamies.
+
+=Hygiene of Marriage.=--When marriage is consummated on the basis of
+free reciprocal consent, when both parties know exactly to what they
+have pledged themselves, when the corrupting influence of money is
+eliminated, when all unnatural regulation is suppressed, when the
+superfluous blending of religion and legislation have been abolished
+from the bonds of matrimony, when woman has finally obtained equal
+rights with man--then love and mutual respect, combined with the
+sexual appetite, will constitute the intimate and personal ties of
+marriage. At the same time, instinctive sentiments and legal duties
+toward the offspring will furnish it with a complementary and lasting
+cement. Among men whose nature is true, the instructive sentiment of
+altruism or conscience urges them to the performance of social duties
+without the necessity of any legal obligation.
+
+A few medical points now require our attention. The husband should be
+older than the wife, on the average from six to twelve years. This
+point is very important if a monogamous union is to be lasting. Woman
+matures earlier than man, both mentally and sexually; her personality
+becomes more rapidly adult than his; she ages more quickly and loses
+her faculty of procreation sooner than man. Certain savage races solve
+the problem by marrying as boys and girls, casting off their wives
+when they grow old, to marry younger ones. Among civilized races, man
+manages his affairs by making use of prostitution. From his youth he
+succumbs to physical and moral corruption, often complicated with
+venereal infection, and then often regards marriage as a kind of
+hospital for incurables, where the wife plays the parts of housekeeper
+and nurse combined!
+
+It is not easy to steer clear of these rocks, nor to formulate a rule
+for lasting monogamy. The old style of polygamy is brutal, and
+prostitution is still more disgusting. The sentiments of the egoist
+are summed up in the maxim, "After me the deluge!" To this the
+preacher of morals replies that "man should curb his passions." But
+this eternal dialogue does not help us in the least.
+
+I propose a middle course, as follows: The young man who possesses
+sufficient strength to overcome his sexual appetite, or whose sexual
+appetite is so moderate that he can remain continent till the age of
+about twenty-five years, so as to enable him to avoid prostitution,
+promiscuous sexual intercourse or masturbation--this young man, I
+maintain, has the best chance of gaining the first prize in life. If
+he is free from prejudice and is not afraid of using anticonceptional
+measures for a certain time, he may then marry a young girl, to whom
+he may become permanently attached, if their two characters suit each
+other.
+
+A young girl may very well marry at seventeen or eighteen, or at any
+rate between eighteen and nineteen. She is then sexually mature and
+her mentality is sufficiently developed, so that the difference in age
+we have required may be obtained. Young people thus united may
+continue their studies before procreating children, and their marriage
+will stimulate them to work.
+
+When the intoxication of the honeymoon is over, the continuance of
+conjugal happiness depends on an intimate adaptation of the two
+conjoints in sentiments, intelligence and sexual appetite; an
+adaptation which purifies love on both sides. Work in common, a common
+ideal, mutual respect full of affection but free from flattery, and a
+reciprocal education which does not degenerate into pedantry nor
+tyranny, are the principal conditions for conjugal happiness.
+
+It is absolutely necessary to avoid everything which causes reparation
+or exclusion, even in appearance. At the risk of appearing ridiculous
+in the eyes of certain superior persons, I repeat that separation of
+beds and bedrooms is a dangerous experiment to make in marriage, and
+that it may easily lead to estrangement, even when based on the
+highest motives.
+
+It is the same, in a still higher degree, with sexual continence in
+marriage, even when it does not last for years, excepting in cases of
+grave disease or senile impotence.
+
+It is often stated that a woman should avoid coitus for long periods,
+because among certain savage races the husband does not cohabit with
+her during pregnancy and the two years of nursing which follow it; the
+woman being considered by religion as "impure" during this period. But
+this proves nothing, for this custom only concerns polygamists, who
+make up for it with other women. If our monogamous marriage is to be
+natural, and not satisfied with words and illusions, it is necessary
+for sexual intercourse to be intimate and constant, and it should only
+be interrupted for short intervals, corresponding to the natural
+wants of the two conjoints, adapted to each other by mutual
+concessions.
+
+Apart from this, menstruation and accouchement constitute the only
+exceptions based on physiology. According to Grüber (_Hygiene des
+Geschlechtslebens_) accouchement requires an interruption of at least
+four weeks; I should say at least six weeks. Every husband, with the
+possible exception of the most horrible satyrs, can submit to this
+without much discomfort. Pregnancy, on the contrary, does not require
+continence, provided the husband takes account of his wife's condition
+and treats her with care.
+
+During the last months of pregnancy all violent movements and pressure
+on the abdomen should be avoided during coitus, so as not to injure
+the embryo. This may be effected by coitus in the lateral position.
+
+Professor Pinard of Paris advises the prohibition of coitus during the
+latter part of pregnancy, because it may lead to premature birth. As
+regards accouchement at the seventh, eighth or even at the beginning
+of the ninth month, this might, it is true, be proved by figures, but
+at this time the embryo is sufficiently protected, and with the
+precautions indicated above, I consider the danger as nil. As regards
+the end of the ninth month, the margin of errors as to the movement of
+conception and the signs of birth at term hardly allow of statistics
+which exclude subjectivism, and the danger becomes less and less. In
+any case a conscientious husband would run no risks under these
+circumstances if he was aware of the danger.
+
+What is more important for the wife is that she should have sufficient
+rest between her pregnancies. A year at least should elapse between
+parturition and the next conception; this gives approximately two
+years between the confinements. This is easily managed by the aid of
+the preventive animal membranes we have mentioned. In this way the
+wife keeps in good health and can bear healthy children at pleasure.
+It is certainly better to procreate seven healthy children, than to
+procreate fourteen of which seven die, to say nothing of the mother
+who rapidly becomes exhausted by uninterrupted confinements.
+
+No rule can be given for the frequency of sexual connection in
+marriage; this is a matter for reciprocal arrangement. Luther's rule
+of two or three times a week may be considered a normal average for
+virile persons of good constitution.
+
+Women who are sexually cold and fond of children, but who have a
+horror of coitus, cannot, in my opinion, be regarded as types of the
+normal wife, nor can they expect their husbands to abstain from all
+coitus except that intended for procreation. On the other hand, the
+wife should certainly be made acquainted with the nature of sexual
+intercourse and its consequences before marriage. Further, before
+engaging in a life-long union, a man and woman ought to explain to
+each other their sexual feelings so as to avoid deception and
+incompatibility later on.
+
+Without having ever experienced a sexual orgasm, either by coitus or
+by masturbation, a normal young girl, when she is sufficiently
+instructed in sexual matters, may easily decide whether the idea of
+coitus with a man for whom she feels affection is repugnant or
+attractive to her. In the case of young men it is still easier.
+
+A woman who had received a complete medical education and had remained
+a virgin, but who was well-informed on sexual life, gave me very
+precise information on this subject. For a long time the idea of
+coitus with men was repugnant to her, till she made the acquaintance
+of the one who gained her affections. Repugnance was then replaced by
+desire. This case also gives a good example of the monogamous sexual
+feeling of the normal woman.
+
+In Chapter XVII we shall discuss the manner in which youth should be
+initiated into the sexual question. Our present formality, combined
+with general ignorance of girls on sexual matters, renders a mutual
+understanding prior to definite betrothal generally impossible.
+Moreover, there is a sort of hysterical and pathological love, the
+product of the imagination, which is associated with sentimental words
+and sighs as well as coquetry, but transformed into disgust or hatred
+by the first coitus. Although more common in women this false love is
+met with in hysterical men. Sometimes the illusion disappears while
+there is yet time to break off the betrothal. Marriage by trial and
+has been attempted by some, but with varied success.
+
+For a number of reasons, both parties should be medically examined
+before marriage. This precaution may reveal the presence of a narrow
+pelvis or vaginismus in the woman, or aspermia, venereal disease,
+etc., in the man.
+
+When a woman will only support coitus with a view to procreation, she
+would do well if she informed her _fiancé_, who can then consider
+whether he can submit to such restriction. If the wife will not allow
+her husband a concubine it generally results in clandestine
+extra-nuptial relations and subsequent divorce proceedings.
+
+My opinion on this subject will no doubt appear very immoral to many
+people, but it is natural and rational. It is needless to say that I
+do not intend that a man has the right to compel his wife to have
+intercourse whenever he pleases. The question is a very delicate one;
+but, by the aid of goodwill a satisfactory solution of the problem can
+be obtained in most cases, in the manner indicated above. Love and
+mutual respect will always find a way out of the difficulty. It is
+necessary to avoid extreme asceticism and unnatural idealism on the
+one hand and excessive sexual indulgence on the other hand. In the
+sexual question above all others it is the wisest course to strike a
+happy medium.
+
+An extremely important question is that of the procreation of
+children. We have just explained how this can be regulated at will; we
+have now to consider how children of the best quality can be
+procreated.
+
+The first condition is the good quality of the parents. Their heredity
+or the intellectual and physical value of their ancestry is of
+paramount importance. We must take into consideration, not only the
+intelligence and physical health, but also good sentiments, a
+conscientious character and energy of will. What is the use of
+procreating healthy and robust children if they are vain, egoistic,
+impulsive, crafty, wanting in will power, or perhaps criminal? Such
+individuals constitute a social plague.
+
+At the time of conception the parents should not be in a condition of
+acute or chronic alcoholism, nor affected with any disease; otherwise
+the progeny may be tainted by _blastophthoria_ (Chapter I).
+
+The age of the procreators should also be taken into account. Children
+born of parents advanced in years are generally feeble.
+
+The fatal error which causes the procreation of children to depend on
+pecuniary reasons and interests is a social misfortune. Healthy men
+and women ought never to avoid reproduction, even when they are poor.
+Progeny of good quality grow up, so to speak, by themselves. Progeny
+with evil instincts, or decadent, have a pre-existing hereditary
+taint, or have been affected by blastophthoria in some other way.
+
+No doubt acquired diseases or accidents may make an invalid of a child
+or a man, but these are exceptions which prove the rule, for here
+again the descendant of healthy parents is more resistant than others,
+if he has not artificially altered his state of health and power of
+resistance by alcohol or venereal disease.
+
+Among savages, and at the present day among many peasants, children
+are rather an advantage than a burden, because these people have
+simple and healthy habits and few wants. It is our artificial and
+unhealthy desire for luxury, frivolity, comfort and enjoyment, our
+muscular weakness resulting from want of exercise, our exaggerated
+terror of diseases and microbes, in a word our effeminacy, which makes
+us so incapable of rearing large families simply and cheaply. No doubt
+it becomes more and more necessary to give children a good education,
+and this necessity complicates the question. But, in my opinion this
+education will in the future be conducted by the State.
+
+=Hygiene of Pregnancy.=--This subject is too special to be fully dealt
+with here. We may, however, mention that idleness and overwork are
+equally detrimental to the pregnant woman and her child. It is
+needless to say that every pregnant woman requires care and good food.
+Violent efforts, especially in the upright position, should be avoided
+(vide Bachimont: _La Puericulture intra-uterine_, 1898, Paris). But
+domestic work and moderate exercise of the body are beneficial.
+Precautions are especially necessary during the last months of
+pregnancy for the general health of the mother and child, but
+imprudence during the early months may cause abortion in many women.
+The progressive enervation of women in easy circumstances has no doubt
+rendered them less adapted to procreation. This failing should be
+corrected by progressive but prudent training.
+
+=Medical Advice as to Marriage.=--The permission or prohibition of
+marriage is a delicate question at the present day, but will be less
+so in the future, if our propositions are realized. If one of the two
+candidates for matrimony has been or is still insane, or seriously
+affected with tuberculosis, or with active syphilis or chronic
+gonorrhea, it is clearly our duty to prohibit marriage.
+
+If the situation is not so grave, and if it is only a question of
+hereditary taint, especially when there is a probability of the
+offspring being deformed in body or mind, we may content ourselves
+with prohibiting the procreation of children, while giving permission
+for marriage, provided anticonceptional measures are used. The
+importance of these measures is obvious in such cases. We should
+explain to the young people in question that the procreation of
+unhealthy or backward children is bad and even criminal, and warn them
+against such an unpardonable act of thoughtlessness. If they are very
+fond of children they can be recommended to adopt poor orphans.
+
+There is no need, however, to be too severe. Medical men are often
+pessimists, and have a tendency to see disease everywhere and to give
+a grave prognosis. The procreation of children should not be
+prohibited simply because there is insanity in some member of the
+family, but the probabilities of hereditary transmission should be
+calculated in the way we have explained in the first chapter of this
+book.
+
+Taking into consideration the bodily and mental health and the
+character of the two candidates for marriage, as well as that of their
+ancestry, the physician should consider what is likely to be the
+average quality of children from such a marriage. According as his
+calculation leads to a probability above or below the average of the
+population, from all the points of view of the social value of man, he
+will advise the parties concerned as to freedom or limitation in
+procreation.
+
+The average of humanity must not be placed too high, and the physician
+should always keep in mind the great mental mediocrity, weakness of
+will, the low moral level and physical defects of the bulk of the
+population.
+
+When persons who are intelligent and educated, but more or less
+psychopathic or hereditarily tainted, put questions of this kind to
+the doctor, because they are very conscientious and prudent, they
+should be recommended to lead a healthy life and avoid alcohol, but
+need not remain sterile, for their offspring may be morally and
+intellectually above the average, and if all blastophthoric influences
+are avoided there is a possibility or even probability of gradual
+regeneration. In short, the doctor must treat each case on its own
+merits, carefully weigh both sides of the question, and avoid being
+influenced by exclusive dogmas of any kind. Thus only can he give wise
+and useful advice.
+
+What is of especial importance for us, is the knowledge that it is not
+necessary, from the point of view of social hygiene, to prohibit
+marriage for the sole reason that the offspring may be of bad quality.
+We can allow psychopaths with hereditary taints, or even invalids of
+both sexes, to contract sterile marriages, by requiring them to avoid
+conception by some means or other, in the name of social hygiene and
+morality. In such cases dislocation of the tubes has a definite
+effect, and if we consider the negligence and weakness of mind of such
+individuals, we should do well to recommend this proceeding whenever
+there is a clear indication for inducing sterility. In this way we
+avoid cruel measures, which, by the way, are almost impracticable,
+which take away all hope of love and happiness from these
+unfortunates, throw them into the arms of prostitution or bitter
+pessimism, and make them disgusted with their own existence.
+
+=Medical Secrecy.=--Medical secrecy and its limitation is a very
+delicate question, especially in sexual matters. Opinions vary in
+different countries and among different individuals. In France medical
+secrecy is almost made an idol; the medical man may refuse to give
+evidence in a court of law and even conceal a crime. In Germanic
+countries, on the contrary, especially in German Switzerland, too
+little importance is attached to medical secrecy. In short, medical
+secrecy is an elastic idea which is open to different interpretations.
+
+Although certain particular cases may present great difficulties,
+there is a middle course of moral conduct which will serve the purpose
+of every conscientious doctor. As a general rule the doctor's duty is
+to keep secret everything confided to him by his patients, except when
+the patients themselves speak openly of it, or authorize their doctor
+to do so. There are, however, exceptions to this rule.
+
+First of all it assumes normal responsibility in the patient, and is
+only conditional among irresponsibles. When a lunatic, for example,
+relates to a doctor, under the seal of secrecy, certain things which
+depend on delirious ideas and which threaten the safety of others, or
+which render certain measures necessary in the patients' own interest,
+the doctor's duty is to make known the state of affairs, but only to
+responsible persons. It is the same as regards children. It is
+needless to say that the doctor should use all possible measures in
+the interest of the patient or child.
+
+But even with responsible persons medical secrecy has its limits. The
+doctor is here only bound to secrecy so far as it does not injure the
+rights of other individuals, or those of society.
+
+It is the duty of a medical man to report all cases of smallpox or
+cholera, etc., even against the consent of the patient, and to isolate
+the latter to avoid an epidemic, which is contradictory to medical
+secrecy. In short, he must not, under the pretext of medical secrecy,
+become an accomplice of harmful acts or crimes. I will mention a few
+examples bearing on the sexual question:
+
+A sadist or a sexual pervert addicted to assaults on children consults
+a doctor and confides to him his morbid appetite. It is obvious that
+the doctor has to do with a dangerous individual and is at the same
+time in a difficult position. In this case extreme measures are bad.
+The doctor who simply treats the patient without concerning himself
+about the possible victims, contravenes his duties. The one who
+replies to the patient, "you are a beast; go away or I shall denounce
+you," acts in a still worse manner. The one who simply denounces the
+patient also puts himself in the wrong. In my opinion, the doctor
+should first of all make a thorough examination of the mental and
+sexual condition of the patient, so as to establish the degree of
+perversion and satisfy himself whether he has to do with an honest
+individual worthy of pity, who strives to overcome his morbid
+appetite; or, with a crafty egoist with no conscience, who only
+consults the doctor to escape from temporary difficulties into which
+his perversion has led him, and who indulges his morbid appetite
+without scruple, constituting a perpetual danger to society.
+Unfortunately, the latter cases are very common, and the doctor is
+usually consulted from interested motives only. Under these
+circumstances medical secrecy renders the doctor the accomplice of the
+criminal.
+
+Between the honest patient and one who is absolutely perverse, there
+are many transitional stages. In these cases the doctor should always
+make a careful examination before forming an opinion. If he feels
+uncertain, he should call in a specialist in mental disease, and then
+act accordingly. If he is convinced that the patient has made the
+resolution to overcome his morbid appetite, and has so far resisted
+the temptation to injure any one, he should strengthen the patient's
+resistance by doing everything possible (except marriage) to rid him
+of his malady; he should make him aware how dangerous his condition is
+to himself and to others; he may even recommend either castration or
+masturbation in case of urgency, in order to avoid crime; he should
+make him promise to come immediately for internment in an asylum, as
+soon as he can no longer resist. Under these conditions he may respect
+medical secrecy and at the same time save the existence of the
+unfortunate patient, while protecting society.
+
+In more severe cases, when the doctor is convinced that the patient is
+incapable of controlling himself or does not wish to, or that he has
+already committed crimes, he should act as follows: He must explain to
+the patient that it is impossible for him to take the responsibility
+and that he must be immediately sent to an asylum, in default of which
+information will be given against him. We must make him understand
+that he is a danger to society and goes beyond the limits of what is
+licit, but that if he voluntarily submits to rational treatment,
+offering all requisite guarantees on both sides, he (the doctor) is
+disposed to avoid any legal action.
+
+The duty of medical secrecy ought never to go so far as to render the
+medical man an accomplice of dangerous individuals or criminals. The
+lunatic asylum in such cases is the natural refuge for the patient, as
+the lazaret is for cases of smallpox or cholera. These cases, however,
+require public asylums which are not too large, well organized, with
+divisions for different cases, and provided with a sufficient medical
+staff.
+
+I have chosen as the first example one of the worst kind of cases
+which endanger the public safety. But there are other cases such as
+that depicted by Brieux in "_Les Avariés_." A syphilitic subject
+wishes to marry before he is cured, and consults his doctor. Does the
+whole duty of the doctor consist in dissuading the patient from
+marriage? Has he actually the right to be silent when the patient will
+not listen to him, and thus allow an innocent young woman to be
+contaminated, through respect--or rather idolatry--for medical
+secrecy? Is it not rather his duty to say to the patient: "Beware! If
+you do not promise to obey me, I will immediately denounce you to your
+_fiancée_ and her parents, and will tell them the state of affairs."
+It seems to me that this is his duty. In this case the doctor does not
+denounce the patient without his knowledge; he threatens him face to
+face, and may speak to him as follows: "You have confided in me. I am,
+it is true, under the obligation of medical secrecy toward you, so
+long as you do no harm to any one. But if, in spite of all my
+explanations and warnings, you attempt to marry in your present state,
+rendering yourself guilty of infamous deceit toward a family and an
+unfortunate young woman whose health you will ruin, trusting in the
+obligation of secrecy which ties my tongue, I must inform you that I
+have a much higher duty than that of a doctor toward his patient--my
+duty toward society, which I shall fulfill, and so prevent an innocent
+person from becoming your victim."
+
+This is my view of the duty of a conscientious doctor who upholds the
+dignity of his profession. An analogous case came under my
+observation: A young tuberculous subject affected with several "white
+swellings" wished to marry. He refused to listen when I declared that
+he would be guilty of a crime toward his _fiancée_. Thereupon I told
+him that I should tell everything to the young girl. I did this at
+once and so prevented the marriage. This egoist succeeded later on in
+capturing the heart of another young girl, whom I also warned, but who
+married him out of pity. At any rate I consider that I did my duty.
+
+In my opinion, this is also our duty in cases of chronic gonorrhea,
+insanity, and hereditary or constitutional sexual perversions, etc.
+Formerly, when sexual inversion was regarded as an acquired vice, it
+was attempted to cure it by marriage. Such a social monstrosity is
+even seen at the present day, and certain ignorant doctors recommend
+it. We sometimes meet with inverts who desire to procreate homosexual
+beings like themselves. As sexual intercourse with the objects of
+their perverted passion cannot give them this pleasure, they marry in
+order to procreate children by some poor woman whom they have
+victimized, without in the least renouncing their homosexual orgies.
+Their wives play the part of housekeeper or servant, whose accessory
+function is to breed young inverts! Is it necessary to say that any
+self-respecting doctor who is aware of this state of affairs should
+never countenance such marriages? Here again, his duty is to threaten
+the invert with immediate denunciation to his _fiancée_, when he
+appears determined to accomplish his crime.
+
+Again, the doctor may be consulted with regard to certain hereditary
+taints, or possibly only a bad ancestral history, and whether marriage
+is advisable under the circumstances. In some cases there may be some
+doubt and it is necessary to know the opinion of the other party
+concerned, and whether this party is also affected in a similar way,
+etc. The first duty of the doctor is to demand absolute frankness and
+to say, "under this or that condition and in such and such
+circumstances, you may perhaps marry, but under no pretext have you
+the right to conceal the truth from your betrothed. It is to your own
+interest to be frank, for no marriage founded on deceit can be happy.
+Give me permission to discuss the matter with your _fiancée_ (or
+_fiancé_). We shall then see what is best to be done."
+
+In my experience, the person who consults a doctor usually accepts
+this proposal, and we can thus avoid many misfortunes and do much
+good.
+
+It is impossible to fix a general rule. According to the degree of
+hereditary taint or the nature of the infirmity, we allow marriage
+with or without children, or do not allow it. In such cases it is
+rarely necessary to have recourse to the threat of denunciation, but
+this may be required in the case of egoistic or vicious individuals.
+On several occasions a betrothed couple have come to me for advice as
+to their proposed marriage, and have freely disclosed their most
+intimate relations and antecedents. This is as it always should be, if
+men were more loyal in sexual matters and understood better their true
+interests. In this way the doctor's task is greatly facilitated. When
+the public is more enlightened on the whole question it will become
+more and more easy to arrive at a just conclusion, even without the
+doctor's help.
+
+=Artificial Abortion.=--We have already spoken of another question
+which is often put to doctors--that of artificial abortion. (Vide
+Chapter XIII.) In every case of this kind all the circumstances must
+be carefully weighed. I repeat here, that in the future more attention
+should be paid to social interests, instead of always requiring the
+preservation of an embryo for the sole reason that the state of the
+mother does not contra-indicate pregnancy or accouchement. The
+question is whether a miserable abortion or an idiot should be allowed
+to come into the world. If we allow children who are born monsters,
+idiots or invalids to live, we should at least do what we can to
+prevent them being born. It will no doubt be objected that it is much
+easier to recognize the quality of a child after birth than before,
+and this objection is quite legitimate. But so long as the laws
+protect the lives of the most miserable monsters we must get out of
+the difficulty as best we can.
+
+=Treatment of Sexual Disorders.=--We cannot enter here into all the
+details of a purely medical question, and shall only touch on certain
+special points. Patients with venereal disease are often treated in a
+very defective manner, because many of them are ashamed to submit to
+rational treatment. The treatment of venereal diseases should be
+carried out with more regard for the feelings of the patients; there
+should be special hospitals for each sex, with separate divisions, so
+that patients can be treated without betraying their identity. The
+fear of being recognized prevents many better-class women from
+applying for treatment. The idea of being placed in the venereal
+divisions of a hospital along with common prostitutes is unbearable to
+them. For this reason I maintain that anonymous treatment should be
+instituted at hospitals in all the chief localities. This humanitarian
+work would benefit not only the patients, but society in general, by
+diminishing the number of venereal infections. Treatment by private
+practitioners is too costly for poor people and does not easily remain
+anonymous. Therefore, the creation of hospitals for venereal disease
+is very necessary in the public interest, and would benefit public
+health much more than the regulation of prostitution.
+
+The treatment of sexual perversions is also very important. These
+disorders are either hereditary, or acquired by auto-suggestion or
+evil example. By provoking suggestion and good habits in the opposite
+direction, hypnotic suggestion is alone capable of acting directly
+against the evil. Other remedies, such as distraction of the mind by
+work or fatigue, by marriage, electricity, etc., have only an indirect
+suggestive action. When a perversion has been acquired by
+auto-suggestion or by habit, especially in the case of onanism,
+hypnotic suggestion should always be employed. In compensatory
+masturbation, where normal sexual appetite exists, and where it is
+only the opportunity of satisfying it that is wanting, marriage or
+normal sexual intercourse are sufficient to cure the bad habit.
+
+We must not, however, too easily admit the existence of acquired
+perversions. Apart from compensatory masturbation, which is not a
+perversion, but only an outlet to a pent-up natural want, true
+acquired perversions are rather rare, and as we have seen generally
+auto-suggestive. Pederasts, sodomists, and others, whose perverse
+habits are truly acquired, have usually taken to them for want of
+something better, and prefer normal coitus if they have the
+opportunity and the means of procuring it. It is true, however, that
+some debauchees contract these perverse habits from desire for change,
+or from fear of infection or conception, but these individuals seldom
+consult the doctor.
+
+Thus the individuals who consult a doctor are nearly always more or
+less pathological, and belong to the domain of hereditary or
+auto-suggestive perversions. For the first, at least, we avoid
+recommending marriage. Von Schrenck-Notzing has sometimes succeeded in
+transforming hereditary inversion into normal sexual appetite for
+women, by hypnotic suggestion. I have also succeeded myself, two or
+three times. After a cure of long duration, confirmed by frequent
+visits to prostitutes, Von Schrenck-Notzing has ventured to recommend
+marriage; but I have never done this, as I do not consider a cure
+sufficient to guarantee definite success, in the case of disorders so
+deeply rooted in the constitution. In such cases I have endeavored, as
+far as possible, to weaken the sexual appetite and induce the patient
+to be contented with nocturnal emissions. I have always debarred
+inverts from marriage, impressing them with the fact that to marry
+would be a crime, and that they had a hundred times better masturbate;
+or, if they wish to attempt intercourse with women, to be contented
+with a mistress, avoiding the procreation of children.
+
+Unfortunately, our present laws and customs prevent us from
+recommending or even allowing inverts to "marry" their fellows, as
+they so strongly desire to do. This would be very innocent from the
+social point of view, and the poor wretches would be content, and
+would cease to be a menace to normal individuals.
+
+I am, therefore, of the same opinion as those who demand the
+suppression of all laws which punish or prosecute sexual inversion and
+pederasty committed between adults and in common agreement. So long as
+pederasts do not harm normal individuals, and so long as they do not
+seduce minors, they should be left alone, the same as all other
+sexually perverted individuals who are not dangerous. But when a
+patient of this kind wishes to be treated, through shame or nervous
+excitement, the doctor should hypnotize him and suggest distraction of
+mind by useful occupations. Psychic treatment is always the most
+efficacious. It is only in cases where it is certain that the
+perversion is purely acquired and easily curable that marriage can be
+allowed, or the procreation of children. I am not referring here to
+sterile marriages between perverts or psychopaths, which we have
+mentioned above, and which can always be allowed when the two parties
+are fully enlightened on the subject.
+
+Frequent emissions, masturbation, sexual hyperęsthesia and impotence
+may often be improved or even cured by suggestion. In such cases, if
+the sexual appetite is otherwise normal, marriage need not always be
+prohibited. Each case must be judged on its merits.
+
+In sexual anęsthesia marriage is an error based on a grave
+misconception. Even in partial anęsthesia it may have deplorable
+effects. We are now only speaking of anęsthesia in man. Most young
+virgins are anęsthetic in the sense that they are not acquainted with
+the venereal orgasm and cannot tell how far their hitherto dormant
+sexual appetite will develop. The sexual instruction which we have
+recommended for young girls would have the advantage of making those
+who are absolutely sexually frigid disgusted with marriage and coitus,
+as soon as they know all about it.
+
+The consequences of sexual anęsthesia are much more innocent in woman
+than in man, because this anęsthesia neither prevents coitus nor
+fecundation. A woman who is sexually anęsthetic may marry a man who is
+affected with the same condition, when both parties are aware of the
+fact and desire to contract a union which is hardly sexual, but rather
+a union of minds with a common ideal. This is the true platonic love
+which is admitted in theory. It is not very common and must not be
+confounded with homosexual inclinations. It has its object of
+existence, for those affected with anęsthesia may feel the want of
+affection and of home, as well as sentimental communion. If they
+desire children they can adopt them.
+
+Unfortunately for themselves, the subjects of sexual anęsthesia have
+as little idea of sexual sensations as a blind man has of colours;
+this causes them to commit great blunders, because they do not
+comprehend the nature of the sexual appetite in others, and often
+marry an erotic individual without knowing what they are doing.
+
+The special treatment of diseases of the male and female sexual
+organs is beyond the scope of this book. I may, however, remark that
+specialists are often wrong in treating the genital organs locally for
+pathological symptoms which depend on cerebral disorder, which can
+only yield to psychic treatment and suggestion. This is the case with
+many disorders of menstruation in women, psychic impotence and
+frequent seminal emissions in men, masturbation, etc., (except cases
+due to phimosis, or local irritation caused by worms, etc.) I hasten
+to add that this remark in no way excuses errors in the opposite
+direction, viz, neglect of local treatment, when this is indicated
+after careful examination.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+SEXUAL MORALITY
+
+
+=Law and Morality.=--The limits of morality and law are difficult to
+fix. With the old conception of law and the expiation of crime it was
+otherwise. Yet it is precisely the old law, based on dogma and
+religious metaphysics, which has most usurped the domain of morality,
+by considering as crimes all kinds of acts which, without hurting men
+in the least degree, were opposed to the ruling ideas and prejudices
+concerning religion and morality.
+
+=Human and Religious Morality.=--What then constitutes ethics or true
+human morality? A dogmatic system, of ethics has been built on a
+collection of commandments supposed to be inspired by God. Religions
+have established different duties toward God, and these duties or
+commandments are in part very inhuman. This has often resulted in
+direct contradictions between ethics attributed to divine revelation,
+and pure human ethics. Moreover, the divine commandments vary in
+different religions.
+
+The god of certain Malays commands them to eat the heart of their
+enemies; Jehovah was vindictive and jealous, ordering Abraham to
+sacrifice his own son to prove his faith, causing whole tribes to be
+annihilated, even drowning the whole of humanity by the flood, while
+the God of the Christians is milder and more conciliating; Allah rules
+as a fatalist and orders the massacre of the Christians and abstinence
+from alcohol, while Jesus Christ tells men to love their enemies and
+allows wine; the god of the Hindus orders the widow to follow her
+husband to the grave; a number of other gods exact human sacrifice;
+Buddha taught oblivion in the future, others a more or less eternal
+paradise, hell and purgatory, according to the conduct of men.
+
+It will be agreed that it is difficult to obtain anything logical or
+coherent from the total of different religious moralities. As regards
+the sexual question, so-called divine commandments, such as those of
+monogamy and polygamy, directly contradict each other.
+
+For this reason, we will leave the so-called revealed morality to the
+priests of diverse religions who pretend to have received them
+directly from God, and will confine ourselves to the study of purely
+human morality. This should never be based on any dogmatic formula,
+like the above on their religious dogmas; it must be evolved from the
+natural conditions of human life.
+
+=Morality and Hygiene.=--Morality is intimately connected with
+hygiene, and wherever there appears to be a contradiction between
+hygiene and ethics this is due to the fact that individual hygiene has
+only been considered, and not public or social hygiene--that is the
+hygiene of the race. It is the duty of the medical profession to place
+social above individual hygiene, to subordinate the hygienic welfare
+of the individual to that of society. A contradiction may exist
+between individual morality and hygiene, never between social morality
+and hygiene.
+
+=Definition of Morality.=--How can we define morality or ethics?
+Liberated as far as possible from all hypothesis, ethics is
+theoretically the study of what is good or bad in human actions, and
+practically, as regards morality, the duty of doing good and avoiding
+evil. But this is hardly explicit, for what do we understand by good
+and evil? Not only do some consider good what others consider evil,
+but the words which Goethe puts into the mouth of the devil (in
+"_Faust_")--that while wishing evil he often did good--will always be
+true. This gives a faithful representation of the deplorable want of
+adaptation which exists between the good and evil effects of our
+actions on the one hand, and the goodness or wickedness of our motives
+on the other hand. The inverse is also true, for good intentions often
+have evil results. We must, therefore, carefully distinguish between
+the ethical motives of the good and bad effects of an action.
+
+If we continue our analysis we shall discover that the same action may
+be good for one and bad for another. When a wolf devours a lamb, it is
+good for the wolf but bad for the lamb. We cannot live without
+destroying other lives, animal or vegetable. The money we earn comes
+out of the pockets of others without their always obtaining a
+corresponding profit, and so on. Morality is thus _relative_, and we
+have not the faculty of discovering anything which is absolutely good
+or absolutely bad in itself.
+
+All that men can expect by mutual exchange of their wisdom and good
+will is to do as little evil and as much good as possible, that is to
+say, to diminish the amount of their physical and psychic ills by
+improving their mutual conditions of existence, and thus increasing
+the amount of good. Even this is only possible by limiting the ideas
+of good and evil almost exclusively to humanity, trampling on the
+conditions of existence and the development of other beings, or at
+least concerning ourselves with them only as far as they are useful to
+us.
+
+Further, we have seen that it is very difficult to extend the
+conception of social welfare to all the living races of humanity, for
+some of them are at the same time so fecund and so inferior in
+quality, that if they were allowed to multiply around us without any
+precaution they would soon starve and supplant us. Then the barbarity
+of their lower instincts (vide weight of brain in different races at
+end of Chapter VI) would soon take the upper hand and become general,
+as the negroes of Hayti have shown us by a lesson which is worthy of
+our attention.
+
+Therefore, an exaggeration of moral sentiments, resting on a false
+basis, would have the positive result of striking a fatal blow at our
+social morality, slowly built up during hundreds or thousands of
+years.
+
+Lastly, the same action may first of all do evil and afterwards good,
+for example, a painful lesson; or _vice versa_, as in the satisfaction
+of a gluttonous appetite.
+
+=Morality can only be Relative.=--It follows from these considerations
+that our moral duties can only be relative, and cannot bind us in the
+same way nor in the same degree to all living beings, not even to all
+men, if we would avoid sacrificing what is lofty to what is vile. In
+theory, the definition of human morality will consist in a just and
+scientific definition of social welfare and the exigencies which it
+imposes on individuals, in order that the latter do not do evil in
+attempting to do good. In practice, it will be the general effort made
+to develop successfully this social welfare by the aid of individual
+will. This presupposes in the first place education of the will, the
+dispositions to useful work, and the altruistic sentiments of each
+individual. It is neither theoretical dogma nor preaching, but action
+and example which make for the education of man.
+
+The noblest task of moral action is to strive for the welfare of
+future generations.
+
+=Altruism and Egoism.=--Properly understood, altruism and egoism do
+not form an antinomy, or only quite a relative antinomy. It is
+absolutely wrong to found social order by letting loose all our
+egoistic appetites without restriction. But it is quite as wrong to
+oppose them with an exaggerated and unnatural asceticism, which
+reflects in our eyes an erroneous ideal of altruism.
+
+When a bee or an ant disgorges the honey from its stomach for the
+benefit of its companions, it enjoys it. By sacrificing its life for
+the hive or the nest, it satisfies an altruistic or social instinct.
+Cannot man also be more happy in giving than receiving? How can we
+explain the great sacrifices, the martyrs who suffer and die for their
+country, for their family, for science, for an idea, if enthusiasm--an
+expanded sentiment of pleasure--did not lead man to disinterested
+sacrifice, or if an inner obsession did not find its satisfaction in
+the welfare of humanity?
+
+Let us seek all measures which by social adaptation can ennoble our
+human egoism, reduce it to its indispensable and just measure, and
+maintain it in proper equilibrium, by the aid of an active altruism;
+that is to say, by social habits of self-sacrifice for the benefit of
+the community. We shall then obtain a paradise on earth, no doubt very
+relative, but far preferable to our present anarchy based on the
+strife of personal interests.
+
+The chief thing wanting is a good hereditary quality among human
+individuals, a quality which is still entirely left to chance, by the
+most deplorable selection; the second requisite is the education of
+character and will in our children. Our religion and our schools have
+shown themselves incapable of raising the bulk of the people above
+barbarism, that is to say from apathy, vulgarity of sentiment,
+routine, ignorance and prejudice. No doubt intellectual culture and
+religious ethics have accomplished a certain amount of moral progress,
+but the methods employed in our churches and schools have not advanced
+with science. They are in no sense adapted to our present moral wants
+and still less to the exigencies of the future.
+
+It is on the basis of a natural human morality, such as we have just
+described, that we must found sexual morality or ethics, and it is not
+difficult to form clear ideas on this subject, if we take the trouble
+to examine the facts explained in the first fourteen chapters of this
+book.
+
+From the social and moral point of view we may consider an action as
+_positive_ or useful, _neutral_ or indifferent, and _negative_ or
+harmful. But the same action may be at the same time positive,
+negative or indifferent, relatively to one or more groups of
+individuals. But in ethics it is not only a question of the action in
+itself, but especially the inner motives which lead to it; for, to
+leave the good and ill of society to chance and ignorance, is to deny
+the possibility of progress. It is difficult for a man to accomplish
+positive social actions, when the moral sentiments of conscience and
+duty are wanting. On the other hand, a narrow-minded individual, with
+false judgment, will accomplish negative social actions through moral
+motives, while in certain cases an individual may accomplish positive
+social acts fortuitously through perverse motives. Through vengeance,
+a generous legacy may be left which injures an individual, while
+profiting the public. Without being perverse, motives may be simply
+egoistic and lead to good by calculated egoism.
+
+By altruist, we understand a man animated by powerful moral sentiments
+which preside over social humanitarian volitions. By the term pure
+egoist, we designate one in whom self forms the exclusive object of
+sentiments of sympathy. In himself, the egoist is indifferent from the
+moral point of view, so long as he injures no one, and the altruist
+himself cannot live without a certain amount of egoism. The ideal of
+social sentiment therefore consists in the combined action of
+egoistic and altruistic sentiments, adapted to the wants of society
+and its members. As among certain ants, there should exist a complete
+compensatory regulation between the egoistic sentiments and appetites
+on the other hand. The antagonist of altruism is not the egoist, but
+the perverse individual whose acts are by instinct almost constantly
+negative from the moral point of view. Egoism urges a man in such an
+irresistible way to abuse and harm others in order to satisfy himself,
+that a pure egoist can rarely remain indifferent from the moral point
+of view. These considerations suffice to show the impossibility of
+basing social order on pure egoism, as so many people desire.
+
+=Sexual Morality.=--Sexual morality depends upon what we have just
+said. By itself, the sexual appetite is indifferent from the moral
+point of view. A great confusion of ideas, based on religious
+misunderstanding, has led to the term morality being more and more
+identified with that of moral conduct in the sexual domain. In short,
+ethics has been more or less confounded with sexuality. From this
+point of view, a sexually anęsthetic individual is regarded as
+extremely "moral," while he is perhaps in other respects a knave. In
+reality his sexual indifference has not the least moral value. For the
+same reason an invert is not virtuous because he does not seduce
+girls.
+
+From the Protestant point of view it is immoral to burden one's wife
+with continual pregnancies, while from the Catholic point of view it
+is immoral to interfere with these pregnancies by preventive measures.
+
+Nevertheless, the sexual appetite gives rise to much conflict with
+human morality, for the simple reason that it looks upon human beings
+as objects of pleasure. Fetichism, in which the sexual appetite is
+directed toward inanimate objects, and sodomy, directed to animals,
+are by themselves almost incapable of entering into conflict with
+morality as we understand it.
+
+The opinion of many people who consider the employment of
+anticonceptional measures as immoral, while defending prostitution,
+shows how much ideas vary on the subject of sexual ethics. Preachers
+of morality, and even priests, sometimes blame a young man who wishes
+to marry his mistress, and urge him to get rid of her and the child
+by paying a sum of money. The inconsistency of men in the way they
+introduce their so-called moral ideas into sexual questions is simply
+incredible. Their heads are full of a jumble of hypocrisy, mysticism,
+prejudice, pecuniary interests, veneration for old traditional customs
+called good manners, a jumble which absolutely confuses all ideas of a
+healthy sexual morality. Look at the indignation of parents when their
+children become betrothed to persons whom they consider to be beneath
+them in social position, or who possess too little money! And all
+these people are unconscious of their immorality, which sails under
+the flag of morality!
+
+What standpoint are we to take in the sexual domain, which is free
+from prejudice, with regard to true human morality? This is the
+question which an honest and truly moral man has to put to himself.
+
+The first principle is the old medical adage: _Above all things do no
+harm_; the second is: _Be as useful as possible, both individually and
+socially._
+
+The commandment of sexual morality will thus be: _Thou shalt do no
+harm willingly to any person, nor to humanity, by thy sexual appetite
+or acts, and thou shalt do thy utmost to promote the happiness of thy
+neighbor and the welfare of society._
+
+Endowed with sexual appetite and the faculty of love, the social man
+will utilize both for the benefit of the community as well as his own.
+If he acts honorably his task will not be easy, but he will experience
+all the more satisfaction, for his good deeds will bring their own
+reward. He should bear in mind the following examples:
+
+(1). A man of bad disposition, excited by momentary sexual passion,
+seduces a girl, makes her pregnant, and then disappears. He injures
+his victim and himself without deriving any advantage. His action is
+therefore negative, and is to be condemned both from the ethical and
+the egoistic point of view.
+
+(2). Through motives of religious morality, a virtuous girl marries a
+depraved drunkard in order to save him. This rarely succeeds, and if
+it does it is generally incomplete. From the egoistic point of view
+this experiment is exclusively negative. From the altruistic point of
+view the motives are, it is true, very positive, but the social
+effects are still more negative. If all goes well, our virtuous and
+exalted girl will succeed in improving the drunkard, but if she
+procreates children, she will have unconsciously sinned against them,
+and her good action will result in the sins of the father being
+visited on the children.
+
+(3). A man with marked hereditary taints, impulsive, psychopathic and
+possessed of a strong sexual appetite, marries an honest girl of good
+family, and has several children by her. Such an action is positive
+from the egoistic point of view, for the individual in question
+benefits himself. From the ethical point of view, it is negative, for
+it makes an honest woman unhappy, and probably leads to the
+procreation of children of bad quality.
+
+(4). A man, healthy in body and mind, capable, hardworking and full of
+ideals, finds a suitable companion. Instead of leading an easy life,
+they both undertake as much work as possible, especially social
+duties, and procreate at sufficient intervals as many children as they
+can without injury to the health of the wife. This is an ideal
+combination of positive altruism with positive egoism.
+
+It is not every one who has the good fortune to fulfill the conditions
+necessary for this combination. A positive sexual morality is,
+however, by no means excluded in less favorable conditions. Certain
+psychopathic or feeble individuals may contract sterile marriages in
+the manner previously indicated, and may recompense themselves for the
+absence of children by devoting themselves all the more to social
+duties, or to the education of abandoned orphans.
+
+When a union is concluded between a person who is capable in all
+respects, and another who is not, the latter should give the other
+permission to procreate children by a third party, more adapted to
+give rise to healthy offspring. Although this is immoral according to
+current conventional opinion, it seems to me that such a proceeding
+could become reconciled with positive morality in the future.
+
+In short, whoever understands the true nature of sexual ethics will
+always find a means of accomplishing good actions and avoiding bad
+ones, at the same time satisfying his normal appetites, provided these
+injure no one.
+
+The truly moral man will never become the accomplice of such a social
+iniquity as proxenetism with prostitution and all its satellites, but
+will oppose them with all his power. He will always avoid doing wrong
+to any one by his sexual appetite; and if his passion drives him to a
+thoughtless act, he will do his utmost to redress the bad effects
+which may result from it.
+
+The psychological action produced by conjugal infidelity merits
+special attention. It depends on the more or less egoistic or
+altruistic qualities of the one who becomes enamored of a third
+person. I have observed the two chief varieties of cases. If the
+guilty husband has naturally moral and social sentiments, his
+extra-nuptial love renders him still more affectionate toward his
+legitimate wife. He eases his conscience by becoming more indulgent to
+his wife. When his amorous intoxication is over, he will try to avoid
+everything which may damage the reputation of the other woman, and
+will provide for her future. If there are children by this adultery,
+he will provide for them.
+
+It is the same with a married woman who is in love with another man.
+In this case the whole personality is more powerfully involved than in
+man. But on the other hand, the natural energy of the woman will lead
+her to try and arrange a marriage between her lover and some other
+good woman, and to resist coitus with him.
+
+If the matter goes as far as complete infidelity, and even without it,
+various reactions may be observed. When her sentiments are monogamous,
+as is the case with most women, the love of a woman for her husband
+disappears and is replaced by pity. She easily becomes peevish in her
+resignation. She often seeks divorce, even when adultery has not taken
+place. When she is polyandrous, as is the case with many hysterical
+women, she is quite capable of lavishing her caresses on her husband
+as well as her lover, a thing which is impossible for normal women.
+
+What induces want of respect for his wife in the unfaithful egoist, is
+not so much the monogamous sentiment, which is somewhat exceptional in
+man, but intoxication of his senses by another woman. He then becomes
+miserly and disagreeable toward his wife, finding fault with her in
+every way, but the innocent and deceived victim finally discovers the
+true cause of this change of manner. Some women who are ill-treated in
+this way, preserve their love for their husbands, while others never
+pardon the slightest infidelity, not even an innocent platonic
+affection, in their husbands.
+
+The brutality of a husband toward his wife, when he is in love with
+another, often knows no limits. From bad temper, chicanery, contempt
+and hatred, he often goes on to blows and even murder, as the annals
+of criminology prove too well. Egoistic women who have a lover, also
+treat their husbands badly. Owing to their legal subordination and
+comparative physical weakness, they reveal their sentiments in a less
+brutal form, but malice and bad temper are not wanting. In such cases,
+the woman's principal weapon is cunning, which may go as far as
+poisoning the husband. More commonly she simply abandons him, to force
+him to divorce.
+
+There are many transitions and varieties, but the reactions we have
+mentioned are the most common. It is quite natural, when one of the
+conjoints falls in love with a third person, for the sexual appetite
+to become cold toward the conjoint, and for this frigidity to make her
+appear less desirable and show up her defects.
+
+Sexual morality is twice mentioned in the ten commandments of Moses:
+
+Seventh commandment: _Thou shall not commit adultery._
+
+Tenth commandment: _Thy shall not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his
+man servant, nor his maid servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor
+anything that is thy neighbor's._
+
+In the eleventh commandment of Jesus Christ the words: _Thou shall
+love thy neighbor as thyself_, represent approximately the point of
+view of modern ethics. Nevertheless contemporary social progress
+requires more and better. It is not so exalted as to say "Love those
+who persecute you," but it demands a more rational and better
+formulated ethics, somewhat as follows: _Thou shall love humanity more
+than thyself, and thou shalt seek thy happiness in the welfare of its
+future._ Such a formula expresses the commandment of sexual ethics as
+we have defined it.
+
+In the commandments of Moses the wife is regarded as property, and the
+desire for the wife of one's neighbor is threatened with divine
+punishment inasmuch as it covets the property of one's neighbor. When
+woman is treated as a free subject and as the equal and companion of
+man, it is evident that a fundamental revision of such ideas is
+requisite. Certain forms of adultery with voluntary consent on both
+sides may even become positive from the moral point of view.
+
+_In spite of this, one of the principal tasks of man's sexual morality
+will always be to restrain his erotic polygamous desires, for the
+simple reason that they are especially apt to injure the rights and
+the welfare of others._ We must make exception for certain special
+cases in which no one is injured. (Vide Couvreur's "_La Graine_," and
+de Maupassant's "_Mouche_.")
+
+The novelist loves to treat of tragic situations, often giving them a
+fatal ending to excite the feelings of his readers. We must avoid
+basing sexual ethics on such ideas. The average man, or even one whose
+nature is a little above the average, is rarely as passionate as the
+heroes in novels. He does not commit suicide for rejected love, but
+finds compensation in time. He can even overcome jealousy.
+
+It is thus an exaggeration, depending partly on the suggestion and
+auto-suggestion of amorous intoxication, to require in the ethics of
+love the absolute fusion of the personality of two human beings, a
+mutual fusion of sentiments and ideas destined to last till death.
+This kind of morality reverts to dual egoism, and in no way represents
+the ideal of human happiness. However beautiful conjugal fidelity, its
+exaggeration is deplorable, when it only results in the idolatrous
+worship of a single being, living or dead, and regards the rest of the
+world with indifference, if not with hostility.
+
+We have already shown that the altruistic sentiments of man are the
+direct or indirect[10] derivatives of the sexual appetite, and
+especially of sexual love. The true secret of sexual ethics consists,
+therefore, in a cult of altruism in the sexual domain. This cult
+should not waste itself in moral phrases, but show its strength by
+social deeds.
+
+A sad proof of human weakness is given daily by certain forms of
+modern ethics which waste themselves in public conferences or in
+declamations in the press. This kind of morality is in accordance with
+pure egoism. Without social work, it is not true morality, whether
+this work be public or modestly hidden.
+
+The struggle for existence was formerly carried on by man against
+nature, against animals, and especially against other men. Nature and
+animals (excepting the cosmic forces and microbes) are nowadays
+conquered by the human brain, and wars are seldom waged except between
+great empires, a fact which will sooner or later reduce them to
+absurdity. For this reason the morality of the god of war and of
+patriotic chauvinism has had his day and loses more and more his
+reason for existence. Modern ethics has already become a social and
+international human ethics, and will become more so in the future.
+
+As in olden times a true hero knew how to combine love of his wife
+with love for his country, to obtain in his conjugal union the
+strength to fight for his ideal, so our modern love will serve to
+stimulate us in the pursuit of an ideal, in our fight for social
+welfare. Man and woman must fight side by side, as this struggle
+requires from both an intense and lifelong effort. But it is precisely
+in this effort, in this work, that they will obtain their highest
+enjoyment. This effort supports and strengthens not only the muscles,
+but especially the mind, the cerebral energy.
+
+The struggle for social welfare prepares for us the highest and most
+ideal joy. It teaches man to master himself, to overcome his natural
+idleness, his desire for pleasure, his dependence on all kinds of
+futile habits and base appetites. It educates his will, curbs his weak
+and egoistic sentiments, while exercising his faculty for creating
+good and useful works. Thanks to this incessant strife, a brain of
+even mediocre quality may become a useful social instrument.
+
+I ask in all sincerity if, living in the way we have just described, a
+man will find the time and inclination to indulge in the love stories
+which the novels of our libraries offer to readers of both sexes for
+their daily consumption? I reply: if the man is normal, no. It is only
+pathological natures, with their exaggerated sentiment and morbid
+passions, which remain incapable of mastering their passionate
+emotionalism and reducing it to silence. Other individuals, normal or
+semi-normal, are artificially urged to exaggerated exaltation in the
+sexual domain by idleness, by reading pernicious novels which excite
+their sexual appetite and their sentimentality, also by the artificial
+life and feverish activity of life in cities.
+
+Work in itself is not sufficient, and every one ought to add social
+work to his ordinary occupation. In fact, the monotony of any special
+occupation, and even the exclusive work of a scientific speciality,
+ends by giving the cerebral energy itself an exclusive character. The
+moral sentiments become atrophied. Exclusiveness in a speciality,
+practiced without any complement, easily leads to exclusiveness in
+love (not in the sexual appetite!). We often see two egoists, or
+several in a family, working together to exploit the rest of society.
+As long as they keep in good health and their business prospers, as
+long as the egoistic plans of a third party do not upset their
+calculations, they may remain faithful to each other and live in
+comparative happiness. But what else?
+
+Whoever, on the contrary, has known how to combine with his conjugal
+love, a lively interest in humanity, will always find in the latter a
+consoling compensation for the greatest misfortunes and the most cruel
+losses. He will not fall into a state of despair, but will survive his
+trouble, and will become reconciled to men and society without
+expecting anything from them, for he will have been accustomed all his
+life to work in an impersonal manner.
+
+If I am accused of being enthusiastic over an ideal which is
+impossible to attain, I protest strongly. Good habits may always be
+acquired, and true altruists are found among the most modest of men,
+among simple workingmen or peasants who comprehend and realize the
+ideal I have just depicted.
+
+In Chapter XVII we shall see in what way the dispositions of the child
+can be and ought to be developed in the direction indicated. It is
+needless to say that pure egoists and perverse individuals, who are
+negative from the moral point of view, in other words natures which
+are evil and harmful by heredity, can never be educated so as to
+become altruists. But these perverse natures do not form the majority.
+The great majority of men, although idle and indifferent, may still
+become habituated to social work by suitable education, as soon as the
+external forces which urge them to evil, such as drink and the greed
+for money, have been removed and replaced by beneficial forces.
+
+Lastly, the whole attention of humanity should be directed toward its
+proper selection, so as to increase the number of useful individuals,
+and diminish or gradually eliminate the bad and incapable. But this is
+the work of many centuries of enlightenment and education, a work
+which we can only begin at present. We find ourselves here in face of
+one of the weakest points in human nature, a weakness which consists
+in only becoming enthusiastic over progress which will enable self to
+attain its object, and not help others. When self does not quickly
+obtain a palpable result, it is paralyzed and discouraged, and turns
+its back on reform under the most futile pretexts. I will give an
+example:
+
+A young bachelor became enthusiastic over the social reform of
+abstinence from alcohol. For some years he worked with zeal, took part
+in numerous public demonstrations, and became an apostle of total
+abstinence. One day, after some failure, he turned his back on
+abstinence, declaring that the movement had no future. Nevertheless,
+the social movement of abstinence progressed without him. After some
+years, he was asked the reason why he had abandoned the movement.
+After having first of all repeated his pretext, he confessed that he
+did not wish to appear eccentric. He admitted that he had never felt
+so well as when he was an abstainer, appeared somewhat astonished to
+learn that the movement had made so much progress without him, was
+finally convinced of his error, and promised to return to the camp of
+the faithful.
+
+In common daily events of this kind lies the secret of the slow
+progress of every social reform. Men who are momentarily enthusiastic
+nearly always expect everything to progress according to their
+imagination, and when they see that it will be some time before any
+obvious result is attained, they become discouraged, because they have
+neither the personal courage nor the perseverance to remain in a
+minority and wait. The same want of perseverance, courage and judgment
+is found in the education of children, and it will take a long time to
+enlighten people on this subject.
+
+It would seem that we have lost sight of our subject in occupying
+ourselves with the irradiation of love, which forms the object of
+social sentiments or ethics (vide Chapter V). But it is by exactly
+understanding and realizing this irradiation of love that we shall
+gradually suppress the unhealthy social aberrations of the sexual
+appetite, and prevent them doing harm, by guiding them in the path of
+a healthy morality. It is not the severe external constraint of
+so-called moral laws, it is not by the threats or punishments of hell,
+nor the promise of paradise, nor the moral preachings of the priests,
+parents or pedagogues, nor an exalted asceticism, which can ever
+construct a healthy, just and lasting sexual ethics. It is not by
+words that we recognize the value of moral precepts, but by their
+results. It is quite certain that the sexual life of man can never
+rise above its present state without being freed from the bonds of
+mysticism and religious dogma, and based on a loyal and unequivocal
+human morality which will recognize the normal wants of humanity,
+always having as its principal object the welfare of posterity.
+
+Marriage should be considered as a means of satisfying the sexual
+appetite, and at the same time a moral and social school of life; not
+as a refuge for egoism. Division of duties, absolute equality of
+rights and social work in common, will solidify more and more the
+sexual bonds of two conjoints. By the aid of a better understanding of
+the wants of human society, the conjoints will learn how to overcome
+their egoistic sentiments, their polygamous inclinations, and their
+jealousy, etc.
+
+In striving for happiness, and especially for the sexual happiness of
+others, such conjoints will learn better how to excuse and pardon the
+sexual failings of other men. They will cease to despise the poor
+man's household, the girl-mother, the divorced wife, the concubine,
+even the poor invert, and other failings in their fellow beings. On
+the contrary, they will do their utmost to make their lot a happier
+one, by helping all those for whom help may be efficacious. They will
+find their greatest pleasure in this work, and if one of them becomes
+himself the victim of some sexual failing, he will be pardoned all the
+more easily, and will master it all the more quickly.
+
+There will then be no time to make life bitter by bad temper, slander,
+acrimony, sulking and other conjugal disputes. The husband will no
+longer behave with the despotism of a lord and master, and the wife
+will no longer think it her duty to humble herself. Religious dogmas
+will no longer separate man from woman. Priests will no longer be
+required in marriage. Lastly, there will be no more fear of death;
+this will be regarded as a welcome rest after the long labor and duty
+fulfilled of a well-spent life.
+
+I cannot help taxing with narrow-mindedness, and even unintelligence,
+persons who consider such an ideal of life as a fantasy impossible to
+realize, or as the product of exalted dreamers who do not know the
+world. No doubt this ideal cannot be attained by ill-constructed,
+unnatural beings, tainted by a morbid heredity, or depraved by
+idleness, vice and passion for pleasure, who have lost their
+elasticity and plasticity of brain or have never possessed them. It
+has, however, been often realized already by men and women of better
+quality. It is, therefore, necessary to act on the children, both by
+education and selection, in order to obtain a youth of superior
+quality.
+
+Let us not abandon the future of our race to the fatalism of Allah;
+let us create it ourselves!
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[10] It is true that the friendly union of individuals of the same sex
+is often fundamentally derived from the phylogenetic development of
+animal or human societies. But the sentiments of sympathy, on the sole
+basis of which such friendly unions may be developed, are only
+themselves the derivatives of the more primitive sentiments of
+sympathy of one individual for another, and these latter have
+originated in sexual attraction.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE SEXUAL QUESTION IN POLITICS AND IN POLITICAL ECONOMY
+
+
+Power and money have always been the principal aims of politics.
+Political economy is a science which deals with the great family of
+nations and their conditions of existence. Based on history,
+statistics and observation, it seeks for the laws which govern the
+production, consumption and division of goods, labor and its products,
+the social organization of nations, their health, the increase or
+decrease of the population, the death-rate, birth-rate, etc.
+
+I cannot here enter into the details of the domestic economy of the
+nation, as this is beyond my province. I may, however, point out that
+this science has too much neglected the natural sciences, owing to its
+traditional connection with politics.
+
+In 1881 Cognetti de Martiis[11] had already attempted to apply the
+ideas of evolution to political economy. Recently, Prof. Eugene
+Schwiedland of Vienna treated the same subject in an interesting study
+of the ideas of want and desire in human psychology.[12] So far, it is
+only the quantity and not the quality of men which has been taken into
+account, originating from the false idea that man made in God's image
+can only come into the world in a perfect state. If he was often
+malformed in body and mind, this was the fault of his sins. Even
+hereditary degeneration to the third and fourth generation was
+considered as divine punishment for the sins of the fathers on the
+children.
+
+=War.=--The despots of olden times, like those of to-day, have always
+regarded men as instruments of their ambition or even as food for
+cannon. When Napoleon I established a bounty for large families, he
+was no doubt thinking of the number of soldiers he could make for the
+use of his son. He had good reason to provide for the replenishment of
+the ranks of his army. The mental quality of the individuals mattered
+little to him. Wars are a harmful factor in human selection, for they
+destroy or mutilate the fittest in the prime of life, while leaving
+the unfit and the aged.
+
+Moreover, we have already seen to what an extent the quality and even
+the quantity of soldiers suffer from venereal disease and alcohol.
+After certain long wars the male population has been decimated to such
+a point that polygamy had to be resorted to to reconstitute the
+nation. It is, therefore, obvious that wars have a bad influence on
+the sexual relations of men, and hence on the quantity, or what is
+still worse, the quality of a nation.
+
+=Statistics.=--Political economy is still more important. I do not
+doubt the correctness of the figures which tell us that under this or
+that economic system the population increases, while under another
+system it diminishes, etc. But these are only summary data whose true
+causes remain in the dark. It is necessary to carefully study the
+factors which produce these figures. Emigration and immigration with
+their causes, the intimate habits of individuals and families, their
+willingness and aptitude for work, etc. One fact which follows another
+is not always the direct consequence of it and if we examine things
+more closely, we arrive at curious results.
+
+=Alcohol.=--Things being otherwise equal, it is found that nations who
+abstain from alcohol and those who are moderate consumers are more
+prolific than nations who are addicted to drink. In Russia, for
+instance, the abstainers, although of the same race and living under
+the same conditions, are more prolific than their neighbors who drink.
+
+As we have already pointed out, alcohol greatly deteriorates the
+quality of man by blastophthoria, and we must agree with men such as
+Darwin, Gladstone, Cobden, Comte, etc., that alcohol (even in
+so-called moderation) does more harm to a nation than war, plague and
+famine together.
+
+We find here an economic factor of the first order, to which the
+majority of economists (with the exception of Cobden) are blind. It
+is a very short-sighted policy to regard the alcohol industry as a
+source of wealth and welfare for nations. What an amount of labor,
+human power and valuable land is employed to produce this mischievous
+substance which, although useful in pharmacy and other industries,
+neither nourishes nor strengthens, but deteriorates the organism and
+leads to degeneration of the race! If it were not so sad, it would be
+ridiculous to observe the serious way in which high officials, or even
+scientists, calculate the product of taxes on distilled and fermented
+liquors, the laws for their import and export, the monopoly of their
+manufacture, etc. It is remarkable how the budget is balanced by the
+aid of the alcoholic intoxication of the people, and how people are
+made to believe that a masterpiece of political economy is thereby
+achieved. In reality, the health and strength of the nation are
+sacrificed. This kind of political economy can only be qualified as
+false and deceitful. We cannot too often nor too strongly stigmatize
+its destructive influence on sexual matters and on the hereditary
+energies of humanity.
+
+=Density of Population.=--As regards the most desirable figures for
+population, opinions are diametrically opposed. Some authors look for
+the happiness of humanity in prolific reproduction, and imagine that
+by utilizing all parts of the globe an unlimited number of people
+could be supported by its produce.
+
+We cannot regard with favor this singular Chinese-like ideal, which
+would tend to transform the whole world into a huge cornfield for the
+raising of men like rabbits. Moreover, it is greatly to be feared that
+the real Chinese, when they have become sufficiently armed and
+re-civilized, will transform the surface of the earth into a human
+stable, if we do not take sufficient precautions.
+
+=Neo-malthusianism.=--On the other hand, a certain group of idealists,
+the neo-malthusianists, have declared a war of extermination against
+all increase of the population. I have myself been accused by one of
+them of committing a crime by procreating more than four children!
+Neo-malthusianists of this kind only deal with quantity and do not
+concern themselves with quality.
+
+They recommend, as we do, the employment of anticonceptional
+measures, but they do so without any discrimination. They address
+themselves to the altruistic and intelligent portion of the public,
+and induce the most useful members of society to procreate as little
+as possible, without recognizing that with their system, not only the
+Chinese and negroes, but, among European races, the most incapable and
+amoral classes of the population are those who trouble the least about
+their maximum number of children. Hence, the result they obtain is
+exactly the opposite of what they intend.
+
+Among the North Americans and New Zealanders, with whom
+neo-malthusianism is very prevalent, the number of births among the
+intelligent classes is diminishing to an alarming extent, while the
+Chinese and negroes multiply exceedingly. In France, the practice of
+neo-malthusianism is chiefly due to reasons of economy.
+
+=Rational Selection.=--These two extremes, which are equally absurd,
+should be replaced by rational selection. Neo-malthusianism should be
+confined to the unfit of all kinds, and to the lower races. On the
+contrary, the fit should be urged to multiply as much as possible. By
+this means we obtain an indirect factor of the first order for a
+rational political economy; I even maintain that it is the most
+important of all. No doubt its action is extremely slow, and it would
+take centuries to obtain a definite result. But if the principle of
+proper human selection ever prevails, we may confidently hope for a
+good future for our descendants.
+
+A time will come when the human population of the earth will become
+more or less stationary. If, in the meantime, human nature has
+succeeded in appreciably improving its quality, and in gradually
+suppressing the physical and mental proletariat with its poverty,
+hunger and brutality, which now infests the world--then only will the
+dogmas of our modern neo-malthusianists acquire a certain object for
+the whole world.
+
+If humanity does not soon begin to degenerate by brutish accumulation,
+but finds in time the means to gradually elevate its quality, our
+future descendants will take care not to abandon rational selection. A
+capable and active man gives to society much more than he receives,
+and thus forms an economic asset. A person who is unfit in body or
+mind, receives more than he gives, and thus constitutes an economic
+deficit.
+
+=Contrary Selection.=--We have seen in Chapter VI how certain customs
+of essentially human origin ended by becoming part of religion.
+Unfortunately for humanity, religion and politics have at all times
+generally combined to do wrong. The celibacy of priests (to say
+nothing of the Inquisition, religious wars, and the fatalism of Islam)
+which is based on a kind of religious politics, has largely resulted
+in sterilizing the more intelligent among Catholic races.
+
+The prohibition of inquiry into paternity is another abominable custom
+of the same kind introduced by Napoleon. Laws of this nature lead to
+artificial abortion and encourage promiscuous intercourse. The safety
+of families and sexual intercourse lies in the duties of parents
+toward their children.
+
+The principal task of a political economy which has the true happiness
+of men at heart, should be to encourage the procreation of happy,
+useful, healthy and hard-working individuals. To build an
+ever-increasing number of hospitals, asylums for lunatics, idiots and
+incurables, reformatories, etc.; to provide them with every comfort,
+and manage them scientifically, is no doubt a very fine thing, and
+speaks well of the progress and development of human sympathy. But,
+what is forgotten, is that by concerning ourselves almost exclusively
+with human ruins, the results of our social abuses, we gradually
+weaken the forces of the healthy portion of the population.
+
+By attacking the roots of the evil and limiting the procreation of the
+unfit, we shall be performing a work which is much more humanitarian,
+if less striking in its effect.
+
+Formerly, our economists and politicians hardly ever considered this
+question, and even now very few are interested in it, because it
+brings neither honors nor money, as we do not ourselves see the fruits
+of such efforts. Any one who aims at serious reforms and puts his hand
+to the work is looked upon as eccentric, or even mad. This is why we
+are contented with the kind of humanitarianism which makes a show and
+panders to the sentimentality of the masses, by holding out a
+charitable hand to the visible and audible evils which make women
+weep. In short, we amuse ourselves with repairing the ruins, but are
+afraid of attacking what makes these ruins!
+
+=The Laws of Lycurgus.=--There was once in Sparta a great legislator
+named Lycurgus, who attempted to introduce a kind of human selection
+into the laws. He wished to make the Spartans a strong nation, because
+at that time bodily strength was almost the only ideal of the people.
+He understood the value of hardness but not that of work. The
+importance of selective elimination of the diseased and weak was
+apparent to his pre-Darwinian intuition, but in his time natural laws
+were not understood. However, in spite of their failings, the laws of
+Lycurgus succeeded up to a certain point in making the Spartans a
+strong nation.
+
+According to the laws of Lycurgus, the Spartan inherited no property,
+and was forbidden all luxury. He had to eat his simple black broth
+with his fellows, and to exercise himself continually in trials of
+strength and skill. Every Spartan had to marry, and the bonds of
+matrimony were strictly observed. Every weak child was eliminated. But
+there were two fundamental errors in the Spartan organization.
+
+First of all, the Spartan was a warrior, but not a worker, and
+although hardened, was an aristocrat. He left all labor to his slaves,
+and in this way strengthened his slaves and enfeebled himself in many
+respects. The value of work in strengthening and developing the brain
+and the whole body was not then understood.
+
+In the second place, all the efforts of the Spartans were directed
+toward muscular strength, bodily skill, courage, and simple wants, but
+not at all toward a life of higher intelligence or ideal sentiments.
+The exclusiveness with which they only promoted man's bodily
+development, while neglecting his intellect, their negligence of the
+laws of organic evolution due to ignorance of natural science, would
+sooner or later have led to the decay of the Spartans.
+
+However, it was not the laws of Lycurgus in themselves, but their
+abandonment, which was the direct cause of the decadence of Sparta.
+The Spartans only sought for power, and this led to envy and jealousy,
+a deplorable although indirect result of the exclusiveness of their
+laws. These laws, however, will always constitute a unique historical
+document, a remarkable attempt at human selection.
+
+We are at the present day incomparably better armed intellectually
+than Lycurgus to deal with the question of selection. What is chiefly
+wanting is initiative on the part of the men who are charged with the
+government of their fellows. They are so deeply absorbed in economic
+interests and rival influences, that all desire of aspiring to a
+higher social ideal is paralyzed and etiolated in them. We require a
+powerful social shaking if we are to make steady progress.
+
+=Politics and the Sexual Question.=--"_Cherchez la femme_" is the
+common expression when anything unusual occurs in society. It would be
+more correct to say "Look for the sexual motive!" The actions of men
+are determined much more by their passions and sentiments than by
+purely intellectual reflection, _i.e._, by reason and logic.
+
+But no sentiment is stronger than the direct sexual sentiment, or its
+derivatives--love, jealousy and hatred. From this results a fact which
+social systems have too much neglected, namely: that in all the
+domains of human social activity, the sexual passions and their
+psychic irradiations often interact directly or indirectly in a
+mischievous way. Mistresses and courtesans have always played a
+considerable part in political intrigue.
+
+It is not necessary to have such a tragic scandal as that which caused
+the assassination of the king and queen of Servia. Everyday
+influences, even the smallest and most dissimulated, are often the
+most efficacious. Sexual intrigues have at all times influenced and
+directed the fate of nations. History relates a number of cases of
+this kind, but there are many more which have never been revealed to
+the public. It is sufficient to mention this fact. Every one who
+reflects will find an illustration of it, in the history of the past
+as well as in the politics of the present, in the courts of monarchs
+and in small democracies, in the local history of provinces, in his
+own parish, and lastly among his own relatives, friends and
+acquaintances.
+
+=Sexual Life in Social Action.=--The socialist who said that the
+social question was exclusively a question of stomach mistook its
+scope as well as human psychology. However admirably the economic
+relations of men and their work may be regulated, the introduction of
+sexual passions into social life will never be eliminated. All that
+can be done is to give both sexes an education which will elevate
+their social conscience and attenuate the evil influences exercised by
+personal sexual sentiments on social actions.
+
+The sexual question, therefore, intervenes in politics and in the
+whole of social life. Moreover, if the deplorable social influence of
+money and the attraction it exerts could be eliminated, antisocial
+acts, which only depend indirectly on the sexual passions, would lose
+much of their danger and infamy.
+
+=The Rōle of Women.=--Here again, much may be expected from the free
+emancipation of woman, and from her work in social questions in
+conjunction with man. This work in common will make them more clearly
+understand the high importance of their social task. Then sexual life
+will encourage social development instead of hindering it; it will
+cease to be considered as an egoistic pleasure but as a means of
+procreation, and will become the acme of an existence founded on the
+joy of work.
+
+We can already see, in countries where women have a vote, that they
+know very well how to benefit by social progress. If it is objected
+that woman is more conservative and more routine than man, I reply
+that this inconvenience is compensated by the fact that she is on the
+whole more inclined to enthusiasm, and to be led by noble masculine
+natures, who have the sense of the ideal, than by others (vide Chapter
+V). Her great perseverance and courage are also inestimable qualities
+for social work which aims at true progress.
+
+=Necessity and Desire.=--In the work which I have already quoted,
+Schwiedland points out the need for distinguishing between necessity
+and desire, in political economy. In practice it is no doubt difficult
+to always make an exact distinction between necessity and luxury. What
+our ancestors considered as luxuries we now regard as necessities. Man
+knows no limits in his desires; he is insatiable in his passion for
+pleasure and change. Certain socialists, especially anarchists, make a
+great mistake in proclaiming the right of man to satisfy all his
+desires. This is a proclamation of corruption and degeneration. As it
+is just to exact the right to satisfaction of the natural wants of
+each, so is it unjust to sanction every desire and every appetite.
+
+It is a question of distinguishing between good and useful wants and
+evil desires. All wants which promote a healthy life, all instincts
+which lead to social work, are good. All desires, which damage the
+health and life of the individual or injure the rights and welfare of
+society, are bad, and are the procreators of luxury, excessive
+concupiscence, and often corruption. Between these two extremes there
+are desires which are more or less indifferent, for example, that of
+possessing objects of beauty.
+
+Certain objects of human desire are harmful in themselves, such as the
+use of alcoholic liquor and narcotics. Others are only harmful when
+pushed to excess, such as good living, sexual pleasures, personal
+adornment, etc. Among the things desired by man, sexual pleasure plays
+a great part. Thus, when a pasha or a sultan provides himself with a
+large number of women, this excess is harmful from the social point of
+view, as it injures the rights of others. I have sufficiently dwelt on
+this fact elsewhere. I wish only to indicate here, with Schwiedland,
+how necessary it is to fix the limits between necessities and desires
+from the point of view of political economy, however relative and
+subjective these limits may be.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[11] "Le forme primitive nella evoluzione economia."
+
+[12] "Die psychologischen Grundlagen der Wirtschaft." _Zeitschrift für
+Sozialwissenschaft_, 1905.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE SEXUAL QUESTION IN PEDAGOGY
+
+
+=Heredity and Education.=--If we review the facts contained in
+Chapters IV, VI, VII and VIII, we must conclude that the sexual
+appetite, sensations and sentiments of every human being consist of
+two groups of elements: (1) _phylogenetic_ or hereditary (hereditary
+mneme); and (2) elements _acquired_ during life by the combined action
+of external agents and habit or custom.
+
+The first lie dormant in the organism for a time, in the form of
+latent energies or dispositions, and form part of what is called
+_character_. Most of them do not disclose themselves till the age of
+puberty, and their development afterwards takes place under the
+influence of external stimuli, which are modified by the will of the
+individual, _i.e._, by his brain.
+
+The second are the result of the influence excited by erotic
+excitations and habit on the first.
+
+Pedagogy can in no way change the first, for they are predetermined,
+and constitute the soil to be cultivated by education. The task of the
+latter can, therefore, only be to guide the hereditary sexual
+dispositions into paths as healthy and useful as possible. In the case
+of perverse dispositions, such as homosexual appetites, sadism, etc.,
+moral education can only act in a general way on the character, and
+combat that which excites the appetites. It cannot change the
+character of the latter; there must be no illusion on this point.
+Wherever hereditary dispositions present a normal average, education
+can do much to avoid pathological errors and habits, by guiding the
+sexual appetite in a healthy direction and by avoiding excess.
+
+=Sexual Education of Children.=--Habit always diminishes the erotic
+effect of certain perceptions of the senses; and inversely, eroticism
+or sexual desire is especially excited by unaccustomed perceptions
+and images relating to the other sex. The adult, unfortunately, nearly
+always makes the same error in pedagogy; he unconsciously attributes
+his own adult sentiments to the child. What excites the sexual desire
+of an adult is quite indifferent to a child. It is, therefore,
+possible to speak plainly to children to a certain extent on sexual
+questions, without exciting them in the least; on the contrary, if the
+child becomes accustomed to consider sexual intercourse as something
+quite natural, this will excite his curiosity to a much less degree
+later on, because it has lost the spice of novelty.
+
+If the child is accustomed to the sight of nudity in adults of his own
+sex, he will see nothing peculiar in his own sexual organs and pubic
+hairs when these develop. On the other hand, children brought up with
+strict prudery and in complete ignorance of sexual matters, often
+become greatly excited when their pubic hairs develop; they feel
+ashamed and at the same time erotic. When they are not prepared, girls
+become still more excited at the first appearance of menstruation, and
+boys at their first seminal emission. The mystery which is made of
+everything relating to sexual matters is not only a source of anxiety
+to children, but also excites their curiosity and the first signs of
+eroticism, so that they generally end by being instructed on the
+subject by other depraved children, by observing copulation among
+animals, or by obscene books, in a manner which is certainly not
+favorable to healthy development. What is still worse is that the
+child is generally instructed at the same time in masturbation,
+prostitution, and sometimes even sexual perversion.
+
+The so-called innocence, or naļve ignorance, of an adolescent
+possesses quite a peculiar charm of attraction for libertines of both
+sexes, who find a refined erotic pleasure, a unique relish, in the
+seduction of the innocent, in the role of "initiator in the sexual
+art." Parents, unfortunately, seldom realize the evil consequences of
+their passiveness, I will even say cowardice, in making use of
+subterfuge, pretext and falsehood, to elude the naļve questions of
+their children concerning sexual matters. I will here quote the
+opinion of an enlightened mother of a family, Madame Schmid-Jager, an
+opinion with which I entirely agree:
+
+    "All mothers, or nearly all, bring up their daughters with a
+    view to matrimony. Can we pretend that they are properly
+    prepared for it? Alas! no; the most elementary knowledge which
+    should be possessed by the future wife and mother is neglected,
+    and for centuries our young girls have been married in more or
+    less complete ignorance of their natural functions and duties.
+    The slaves of routine will reply that it has always been so,
+    that the world has been none the worse for it, and that women
+    when once married have always learnt by personal experience all
+    that was necessary. No doubt they are sometimes taught to cook
+    and sew and to do household work, but they are told nothing
+    concerning their sexual functions, nor of the consequences of
+    these. At Zurich a school has been instituted for nurses and
+    midwives which will soon give good results. This school is also
+    open to young girls who, without becoming professional nurses,
+    desire to learn how to take care of the sick in their own
+    families, and especially the newly born. This is an experiment
+    worthy of encouragement which should be extended universally.
+
+    "The awkwardness, incapacity and ignorance of a young wife, when
+    she starts housekeeping and has a baby, are astonishing. She
+    often pays dearly for it, in spite of the instinct which is so
+    much talked about. It is not the same as with animals, whose
+    instincts are sufficient for the care of the young.
+
+    "A lady doctor of Zurich, Madame Hilfiker, has lately developed
+    a scheme of much greater importance, which will require a great
+    effort on the part of women and the intervention of legislation,
+    if it is to be realized. Men, she says, maintain their muscular
+    strength by military service. Every young woman, who is not
+    prevented by her occupation, should perform the equivalent of
+    military service, from the age of eighteen, in obligatory
+    service for a year, in hospitals, asylums, maternities,
+    _crčches_ (public nurseries) or public kitchens. Such training
+    would be extremely useful for future wives, and would at the
+    same time provide the institutions in question with useful
+    workers. Why should men be the only ones to perform obligatory
+    social service? I expect," says Madame Schmid, "many adverse
+    criticisms on this proposal, one of which I will refute at
+    once. The ladies of the middle classes will strongly object
+    because their daughters will see and hear so many things which
+    ought to be hidden till they marry! But why should they be
+    hidden? In order to prepare our daughters for marriage, is it
+    not logical to begin by telling them what it is, what it
+    involves and what it exacts?" ("_L'Education sociale de nos
+    filles_," 1904.)
+
+In neglecting this duty our parents and teachers commit a veritable
+crime. Does a normal man ever marry without knowing what he is doing?
+Yet our young girls are kept by their mothers in insensate and often
+dangerous ignorance of their whole future. Whoever invented this
+absurd and mischievous idea that a young girl should remain ignorant
+of her natural functions till the moment when she has bound herself
+for life to fulfill them? The law punishes persons who cause others to
+enter into contracts, while intentionally concealing the true
+conditions. This might almost equally well apply to parents who allow
+their daughters to marry in ignorance. Some women reply to this that
+marriage would be too sad and would have little attraction if it were
+not preceded by any illusion. Certain illusions which are natural to
+youth may be healthy, but the fantastic dreams which are in evident
+contradiction with reality, and nearly always followed by disillusion,
+are bad. A young woman who has always lived in a state of
+transcendental idealism till her marriage, infallibly courts
+disappointment, deception and heart-break. A wiser education would
+often succeed in sparing young women from this sudden and cruel
+disillusion. The moral level of men would also be raised if their
+future wives were better instructed in sexual matters, and exacted
+that the past life of their future husbands should give a better
+guarantee for the future.
+
+It must, moreover, be understood that blind and obstinate resistance
+to new ideas serves no purpose. Our manners and customs change in
+spite of us; our girls will no longer allow themselves to be led
+blindly, but will seek more and more freedom. Would it not be wiser to
+take things in time and warn them of the dangers ahead? With
+incredible carelessness parents send their daughters into service
+abroad, without considering that they may be at the mercy of the
+first Don Juan who comes across them, or even fall into the meshes of
+"white slavery," if they are left to go in ignorance of sexual
+affairs, as is often the case (vide Chapter X). Moreover, by no longer
+taking a false and artificial view of life, girls will be more capable
+of understanding and sympathizing with the misery which surrounds
+them--the troubles of unfortunate marriages, seduced and abandoned
+girls, etc. What they lose in illusion they will gain in more useful
+knowledge.
+
+How are we to begin? We should certainly not wait till the eve of
+marriage, but begin in childhood. In theory, it is wrong to lie to
+children, if they are to maintain unshaken confidence in their
+parents, and remain truthful themselves. No doubt we cannot explain
+everything to a child at the age when it begins to ask its mother
+certain embarrassing questions, but we should endeavor as far as
+possible to tell it the truth in a manner suitable to its age. When
+this is impossible, every child who knows that no reasonable
+explanation is ever refused it will be satisfied with the answer: "You
+are too young now to understand that; I will tell you when you are
+older." Every child who speaks openly to its mother asks sooner or
+later how children come into the world. It is easier to reply to this
+when the child has had the opportunity of observing the same thing in
+animals. Why should the mother conceal the fact that it is nearly the
+same in man as in animals? The child never thinks of blushing or
+laughing at natural phenomena.
+
+The initiation of children into the mechanism of reproduction is best
+obtained by the study of botany and zoölogy. If no mystery is made of
+these things in the case of plants and animals, why should not
+instruction be given in human reproduction? On this point Madame
+Schmid remarks as follows:
+
+"The father or the master should instruct the boys in this subject,
+and the mother or mistress the girls. Parents will then be able more
+easily to abandon their old and absurd prejudices, which they
+preserve, not so much because they attach any great importance to
+them, but because they shrink from the difficulty of explaining
+themselves to their children. We often see mothers, who would never
+have touched on the question with a child still ignorant of sexual
+matters, abandon the reserve hitherto observed in their language in
+the presence of the child, as soon as they perceive that it has become
+more or less acquainted with sexual phenomena. This is quite
+characteristic, and what is more so is that these mothers, and often
+also the fathers, frequently make equivocal jokes on the subject with
+their children instead of seriously discussing it.
+
+"It is regrettable that so few pedagogues take up these questions, and
+that the instruction of children on the sexual question is left to the
+most impure sources--domestic servants, depraved companions,
+pornographic books, etc. This results in a deplorable estrangement
+between the children and their parents or masters, which destroys
+mutual confidence.
+
+"If we wish to contend with sexual perversions acquired at an early
+age, or the precocious development of an unhealthy sexual appetite,
+this is not to be effected by prudery or vague moral preaching, but by
+affection and frankness. In this case, evasive replies, combined with
+so-called strict morals, only lead to estrangement, dissimulation and
+hypocrisy, and the result is often irreparable."
+
+Madame Schmid also insists on the necessity of making young girls work
+and learn some business, so as to render them capable of surviving in
+the struggle for existence without being obliged to throw themselves
+at the head of the first man who presents himself, or becoming the
+prey of prostitution. She also emphasizes the necessity of
+remunerating the wife for her work as mother and housekeeper, as the
+husband is remunerated for his work.
+
+It is needless to add that it is quite as necessary to instruct boys
+as girls in sexual questions. They do not run the risk, like girls, of
+falling through ignorance into the abject dependence of a forced
+marriage, and have no pregnancies to fear; but they are more exposed
+to temptation. When their sexual appetite has been once excited by
+masturbation or in some other way, it becomes very difficult to put
+them on the right path; to say nothing of the danger of venereal
+disease.
+
+I therefore appeal to all fathers and masters in the same way that
+Madame Schmid appeals to mothers and mistresses Take measures in time
+and do not wait till the boys are instructed by evil persons of either
+sex, or till they have already been seduced, thanks to their erotic
+curiosity. It is generally evil companions who seduce them, but
+sometimes erotic women.
+
+=Exclusiveness in Education. Punishment. Automatism of Parents. Wants
+of Children.=--In the human brain, intelligence and sentiment are
+intimately connected with one another, and from their combination
+arise volitions, which in their turn, react more or less strongly on
+cerebral activity, according to their solidity and duration. It is
+thus a great mistake to think that we can treat separately, by the aid
+of theoretical dogmas, the three great domains of the human
+mind--intelligence, sentiment and will. It is a fundamental error to
+imagine that the intelligence can be educated only at school, leaving
+sentiment and will to the parents. But it is still more absurd to
+attempt to act on sentiment, especially on ethical sentiment, and on
+the conscience, which is derived directly from sympathy, by moral
+preaching and punishment. What false conceptions of the human mind lie
+in these moral sermons, in this theoretical moral teaching, in these
+punishments and anger! Is it credible that, by the aid of abstract and
+arid dogmas supported by punishment, conscience and altruistic
+sentiments can be impressed on the brain of a child, which is only
+accessible to concrete ideas, to sympathy, affection and amusement? We
+may see daily, in nearly every family, parents finding fault with
+their children, in a vexatious, irritated or sorrowful tone of voice,
+to which the children reply by inattention, or tears, or more often by
+a repetition of the same tone of irritation. These scoldings pass
+through the child's mind without leaving any trace of an effect. Such
+stereotyped scenes produce in the intelligent observer the painful
+impression of two barrel-organs whose tunes are automatic. If this is
+the kind of moral teaching which is supposed to act on the child's
+mind, it is not astonishing that it has futile and even harmful
+effects. The parents do not appreciate the fact that when scolding
+their children they are only giving vent to their own bad temper. But
+the children are well aware of this fact, consciously or not, and
+react accordingly. The most deplorable thing is that they copy all
+these bad habits, like monkeys.
+
+True moral teaching, the true way of influencing children for good,
+lies in the manner of speaking to them, treating them and living with
+them. Affection, truth, persuasion and perseverance should be manifest
+in the acts and manners of parents, for these qualities only can
+awaken sympathy and confidence in the breasts of children. It is not
+cold moral speech, but warm altruistic feeling, which alone can act as
+a moral educator of children.
+
+A savant who delivers excellent and erudite lectures to his pupils in
+a dry and wearisome manner teaches them nothing, or at any rate very
+little. The students yawn, and are quite right in saying they could
+learn these things just as well out of a book. A teacher, however, who
+speaks with animation and knows how to hold the attention of his
+audience impresses his remarks on their brain. In the former case
+there is intelligence without feeling, while in the latter case the
+audience is held by the suggestive and contagious power of enthusiasm.
+Dry science, at the most, fills the memory, but it leaves "the heart"
+empty. What does not come from the heart has difficulty in entering
+the head.
+
+It is precisely in this way that the will must be exercised by
+perseverance. The child must be made eager for social work; he must be
+urged to all noble and disinterested actions, without stimulating his
+emulation by promises of reward, or by punishment.
+
+=New Schools.=--The object we desire may be attained by a system of
+education such as that of the new schools (_Landerziehungsheime_),
+which were first founded by Reddie in England, afterwards by Lietz in
+Germany, by Frey and Zuberuübler in Switzerland, and by Contou in
+France. These institutes have finally realized the ideas of Rousseau,
+Pestalozzi, Owen and Froebel.
+
+For the teacher who understands the psychology of children, it is a
+true pleasure to witness the teaching at these Landerziehungsheime.
+The children take a delight in their school and become the comrades of
+their master. Physical exercise, the development of the powers of
+reason and judgment, the education of the sentiments and will, are all
+harmoniously combined. The children are not given the dry text-books
+of our schools, but made familiar with the works of the great authors
+and men of genius. Instead of their existence becoming etiolated under
+the weight of domestic duties, and under the sword of Damocles of
+examinations, they thrive by living as far as possible among the
+things they ought to learn. They thus assimilate the object of
+instruction, which becomes a living and useful part of their
+personality, instead of becoming encysted in the brain in the form of
+dead erudition like a foreign body, and filling it with formulę learnt
+by heart. Such formulę are ill-understood by children, and later on it
+is difficult for them to clear their brains of this indigestible
+rubbish to make room for the realities of observation and induction.
+The only punishments at the Landerziehungsheime are those which
+naturally result from the fault committed.
+
+The pupils and their masters bathe together in a state of nature. The
+sexual question is treated openly in these schools in a proper,
+natural and logical way. The open confidence which obtains between
+masters and pupils, combined with free intellectual and physical work
+and the absolute exclusion of alcoholic drinks, constitute the best
+preventive and curative remedy for masturbation, sexual precocity and
+all perversions which are not hereditary.
+
+It is needless to say that such schools cannot cure a pathological
+sexual hereditary mneme, whether it consists in perversion, precocity
+or some other vice. Every boarding school has its drawbacks, on
+account of the possible influence of mischievous individuals.
+Nevertheless, no boarding school offers such excellent conditions as
+the Landerziehungsheime, for as soon as a boy gives evidence of any
+sexual perversion, this perversion soon becomes well known, thanks to
+the good sense which prevails in the whole school.[13]
+
+=Standard of Human Value in the Child.=--Our pedagogy has hitherto not
+understood the true standard of human value. The social value of a
+man is composed of two groups of factors; mental and bodily hereditary
+dispositions, and faculties acquired by education and instruction.
+Without sufficient hereditary dispositions, all efforts expended in
+learning a certain subject will generally fail more or less. Without
+instruction and without exercise, the best hereditary dispositions
+will become atrophied, or will give indifferent results. But
+hereditary dispositions not only influence the different domains of
+knowledge, as the traditional pedagogues of our public schools seem to
+admit, they also act on all the domains of human life, especially on
+the mind. Good dispositions in the domains of will, sentiment,
+judgment, imagination, perseverance, duty, accuracy, self-control, the
+faculty of thinking logically and distinguishing the true from the
+false, the faculty of combining ęsthetic thoughts and sensations, all
+constitute human values which are much superior to the faculty of
+rapid assimilation or receptivity, and a good memory for words and
+phrases.
+
+Nevertheless these last faculties are almost the only ones which are
+taken into consideration in our examinations, which decide nearly
+everything in our schools and universities. Is it to be wondered at
+that, by the aid of such a false standard, mediocrities whose brains
+are only the echoes of their masters and those who bow to authority,
+climb to the highest official positions, and even to most of those
+positions which are not official?
+
+With a good memory and the gift of rapid comprehension, one can obtain
+everything, even without the protection of the clergy, freemasonry or
+any other powerful association or personality (male or female)! If
+they do not possess these natural secondary gifts, the most capable
+men, even men of genius, are passed over or only obtain a situation by
+circuitous routes and great efforts, after much loss of time.
+
+In the Landerziehungsheime, Dr. Hermann-Lietz uses a scale intended to
+estimate the psychological and social value of the pupils. First of
+all the results obtained from two standards are measured:
+
+(_a_) _Individual_: Does the actual value of work performed by the
+pupil always correspond to his faculties?
+
+(_b_) _Objective_: Is the work very good, good, mediocre or bad,
+compared with the normal human average?
+
+After this the different domains of psychology and human activity are
+passed in review, a thing which is quite possible in a school of this
+kind whose object is to carry out the integral education of man.
+
+1. _Bodily results_: Health, disease, weight of body, activity,
+walking, running, swimming, cycling, games, ski, gymnastics.
+
+2. _Conduct_: Order, cleanliness, punctuality. Conduct outside, etc.
+
+3. _Moral and religious results_: Conduct toward parents, masters,
+companions, self and others. Veracity, zeal and sentiment of duty;
+honesty in the administration of his personal property and that
+entrusted to him; sentiment of solidarity and disinterestedness. Is
+the pupil worthy of trust? Is he conscientious? Strength of moral
+sentiments, moral comprehension and moral will.
+
+4. _Intellectual results_: Practical work; gardening, agriculture,
+carpentry, turning, locksmith's work, work in forge. Drawing, writing,
+elocution, music. Knowledge of literature and human nature, physics,
+mathematics and natural science.
+
+5. _General results_: Strength of character, physique and
+intelligence; faculty of observation, imagination and judgment. Real
+value of practical work, artistic and scientific.
+
+Measured by such a standard, the human value of a pupil takes quite
+another character to that judged by the results of examinations. By
+means of this standard, it is possible to predict with much more
+certainty what kind of man the child will become. There is no need to
+add that there are no examinations in these schools, for the whole
+life is a perpetual examination.
+
+Samuel Smiles, in "_Self Help_" relates that Swift failed in his
+examinations, that James Watt (the discoverer of the motive power of
+steam), Stephenson and Newton were bad pupils, that an Edinburgh
+professor regarded Walter Scott as a dunce. [The same with Darwin, who
+says in his autobiography, "When I left the school I was, for my age,
+neither high nor low in it, and I believe that I was considered by all
+my masters and by my father as a very ordinary boy, rather below the
+common standard in intellect."] These examples of the way in which the
+school of tradition judges human mental value might be multiplied a
+hundredfold, but they will suffice, especially if we compare them with
+the future of the distinguished pupils of colleges in practical life.
+These facts are not due so much to later development, as to the
+disgust inspired by our system of education in reflective minds which
+refuse to be overloaded with a heap of dry things learnt by heart,
+undigested, often hardly comprehensible, or open to contradiction.
+
+It is only on the basis of a just evaluation of man, from all points
+of view, that we can found a proper human selection.
+
+=Coeducation.=--It is now beginning to be understood that the
+coeducation of the two sexes in schools, not only does no harm, but is
+very advantageous, both from the sexual and the moral points of view.
+In the universities it is already established. In children's schools
+and many primary schools it has always existed. It is especially the
+authorities of secondary schools who have raised opposition.
+
+In the secondary schools in Holland and Italy, as well as in some
+Swiss gymnasiums, coeducation has been introduced without the least
+inconvenience; on the contrary, it has led to the best results.
+
+A native of Finland, Miss Maikki Friberg, has lately made an appeal in
+favor of coeducation based on the excellent results obtained in her
+country. Some feared that sexual excitement would result; but this is
+an error, for the custom of daily co-existence of the sexes diminishes
+the sexual appetite. The forbidden fruit loses its charm as soon as it
+appears no longer to be forbidden!
+
+It is unnecessary to say that it is not intended that girls and boys
+should sleep in the same dormitories, nor bathe together in the
+costume of Adam and Eve! Our remarks do not apply to boarding-schools,
+but to coeducation in public schools.
+
+When we speak of coeducation, we generally meet with the argument that
+the nature and vocation of women differ from those of men, and that
+consequently their education ought to differ. To this I reply as
+follows: The external objects of the world, the branches of human
+knowledge, in fact the subjects for study and instruction, are the
+same for both sexes. It is, therefore, both a useless waste of forces
+and an injustice to organize an inferior education for women.
+
+=Instruction in Coeducation.=--A course of instruction as interesting
+as possible should be organized for each subject, without distinction
+of sex. This rule should also apply to things which are generally
+considered as the special province of women; such as sewing,
+dressmaking, cooking, household work, etc. It will then be the
+business of each sex to choose the subject most suited to its
+abilities.
+
+Part of the course of instruction should be obligatory for all, while
+another part intended for ulterior individual development should be
+optional, according to individual taste and talent. In the obligatory
+part of instruction certain subjects might be made obligatory for one
+sex and optional for the other; sewing and algebra, for instance. In
+this way each sex could choose the most suitable subjects, as is the
+case now in universities only.
+
+=Danger of Sexual Perversions.=--A very important point, unfortunately
+little understood in sexual pedagogy, is that of congenital sexual
+perversions. Tradition regards every sexual anomaly as an acquired
+vice, which should be treated by indignation and punishment. The
+effects of this manner of looking at the question are disastrous. It
+gives entirely wrong ideas to youth, and shuts the eyes of parents and
+teachers to the truth.
+
+It is not without a serious motive that I have described at length the
+repugnant phenomena of sexual pathology (Chapter VIII). Teachers and
+parents should be thoroughly acquainted with this subject. But this is
+not enough, for these phenomena commence in infancy. It is a long time
+before the child whose sexual appetite is perverted has the least idea
+that his inclinations and desires are considered by others as
+abnormal. The psychic irradiations of his abnormal appetite usually
+constitute the sanctuary of his ideal aspirations and sentiments, the
+object of obscure hopes and struggles which are opposed to nature and
+the inclinations of his comrades. This is why he neither understands
+the world nor himself in this respect. His amorous exaltations are
+ridiculed, or else they inspire disgust. Anxiety and shame alternate
+more and more with the perverse aspirations of his mind, which slowly
+increase. It is only when he arrives at the age of puberty that the
+pervert understands his exceptional position; he then feels that he is
+exiled from society, abandoned and without a future. He sees his ideal
+aspirations mocked by men and regarded as a ridiculous caricature or
+even as a culpable monstrosity. He is obliged to hide his passions
+like a criminal. As his character is often weak and impulsive, and is
+combined with a strong and precocious sexual appetite, he is very
+easily led astray, especially if he discovers suitable objects for his
+appetite, or perverted companions like himself.
+
+In this way, in secondary schools, we often find groups of young
+inverts who succeed by cunning in seducing their friends. The mention
+of these phenomena, which from time to time give rise to school
+scandals, should be enough to make any one who is unprejudiced
+understand the urgency for instructing children betimes in sexual
+questions. This is a duty which is necessary in the name of hygiene
+and morality.
+
+It is evident that if parents and masters exchange ideas on this
+subject with children, freely but decently, they will soon bring to
+light the sexual nature of the latter. They will discover which girls
+are cold and indifferent, and which are precociously erotic.
+
+It is needless to say that one should speak and act differently in the
+two cases. There is no risk in instructing the first on the whole
+sexual question, but prudence is required with the latter, who should
+be guarded against anything which stimulates their appetite, by
+warning them of the dangers of venereal disease, illegitimate children
+and seduction.
+
+We sometimes meet with young girls of hysterical nature with inverted
+inclinations, who become enamored of other girls and have a sexual
+repugnance for men. Occasionally a sadist is discovered.
+
+Among boys we observe analogous differences in the intensity and
+precocity of the sexual appetite. An attentive observer will
+frequently discover homosexual appetites in boys, for these are
+comparatively common. Other perversions, such as sadism, masochism,
+fetichism and exhibitionism, etc., are more rarely met with.
+Masturbation is common in both sexes.
+
+The great advantage of such discoveries is that children affected with
+sexual perversions can be put under special supervision, and above all
+things kept away from boarding schools, where they are subject to
+great temptations. An invert in a boarding-school is in reality almost
+in the same position as a young man who sleeps in the same room as
+young girls, and no one thinks of the danger.
+
+When perversion is recognized, the subject should not be treated as a
+criminal, nor even as a vicious individual, but as a patient afflicted
+with a nervous affection who is thereby dangerous to himself and
+others. He should be treated and prevented from becoming a center of
+infection for his surroundings. Inverts should be specially supervised
+and taken care of till adult age. When they come of age, in my
+opinion, it would be an innocent idea to allow them to marry persons
+of their own sex, as they so much desire to do. Normal adults can very
+well protect themselves against their attentions, when they are warned
+by sufficient instruction in sexual questions.
+
+The child, on the other hand, has the right to be protected against
+all contamination by perversion, as against all sexual assault of
+whatever nature, and it is the duty of society to organize its
+protection. But this cannot be done unless society is itself
+instructed on the question, and in a position to give a rational
+education to youth such as we have sketched above.
+
+If dangerous congenital perversions are discovered, such as sadism and
+pederosis, energetic measures of protection should be taken; in grave
+cases, the operations we have spoken of, or permanent internment.
+
+Apart from suggestion, there is no better remedy against masturbation
+than a system of education such as that in force in the
+Landerziehungsheime, especially continuous physical labor combined
+with useful and attractive intellectual occupation. When such a system
+of education is put in force at an early age, the sexual appetite
+develops more slowly and more moderately, and has the most favorable
+influence on the whole sexual life of man.
+
+In speaking of masturbation in Chapter VIII we have seen that it may
+be the expression of very different conditions, and we should act
+accordingly.
+
+=Eroticism in Childhood.=--By giving children betimes the requisite
+instruction on the sexual question, they are tranquilized. Many boys
+and girls give themselves up to despair because of the erroneous and
+terrifying ideas they have of sexual affairs. On the one hand, they
+hear pornographic remarks which disgust them, while their parents
+envelop the subject in mystery; on the other hand, their sexual
+appetites evoke desire and call for satisfaction. When a young man in
+this state of mind has an emission, either spontaneously or as the
+result of artificial excitation, he is seized with anxiety and shame,
+often also with phantoms of disease and moral depravity. He then
+requires almost heroic resolution to unburden his mind to a doctor or
+to his father. With nervous subjects, inclined to be melancholic or
+hypochondriacal, such a state of mind sometimes leads to suicide.
+
+Another advantage in the instruction of children in sexual matters is
+that the questions of heredity, alcohol and venereal disease can be
+explained to them at the same time. In giving these explanations it is
+important not to awaken eroticism in the child by dwelling more than
+necessary on sexual topics. Instruction in this subject should not be
+given too frequently; on the contrary, the attention of youth should,
+as far as possible, be drawn away from sexual questions to other
+subjects, till the age of maturity.
+
+With the same object, erotic and pornographic literature should be
+condemned. Unfortunately, many novels and dramas which meet with the
+approbation of society, thanks to their fashionable or even decent
+form of presentation, are often full of half-veiled eroticism, which
+is much more exciting to the sexual appetite than the brutal and
+realistic descriptions of Zola or Brieux, or even the erotic art of de
+Maupassant.
+
+A doctor once told me that in his country the country children, who
+observed copulation among animals, often made similar attempts
+themselves, while bathing or otherwise. Yet these country-people are
+no more corrupt or degenerate than the townspeople. Here again,
+proper instruction and warnings would be the best remedy, especially
+in the case of girls.
+
+What is to be said, on the contrary, of certain Austrian judges who
+punish by imprisonment urchins of fourteen, who have copulated with
+girls of the same age or made them pregnant? Have they punished the
+real culprit? Do they imagine that they have done anything that will
+improve these children?
+
+The confession of Catholics plays a deplorable pedagogic part in the
+sexual domain. We may admit that some high-minded priests may be
+capable of modifying their interpretation of the prescriptions of
+Liguori and others which we have cited, and do little or no harm to
+young people of either sex. It must, however, be recognized--and the
+most devout Catholic cannot deny it--that priests are only human, and
+have not all the noble spirit nor the tact to fulfill the ideal
+required of them in their behavior toward women. This is enough to
+make the confessional, in many cases, a depraved institution from the
+sexual point of view. On this subject, I refer the reader to what has
+already been said in Chapter XII on the experiences of the Canadian
+reformer, father Chiniqui.
+
+The following instance is very characteristic. A very prudish man,
+observing children of both sexes bathing together, exclaimed to them
+indignantly, that this was improper. Thereupon a little boy replied
+naively: "We do not know which is a boy nor which is a girl, because
+we have no clothes." This charming reply shows how certain moral
+intentions are more likely to attract the attention of young people to
+erotic subjects.
+
+=Corporal Punishment and Sadism.=--An important fact has recently
+attracted the attention of the whole world, concerning certain
+terrible crimes. There is no longer any doubt that in some cases
+perverted masters and teachers find satisfaction for their sadist
+sexual appetite in the corporal punishment of children. This was the
+case with the German teacher, Dippold, who, to satisfy his perverted
+appetite flogged two children confided to him by their parents, till
+one of them died.
+
+The _Arbeiter Zeitung_, of Vienna, a very conscientious journal,
+published the case of a prince of a small German state, who, whenever
+a schoolmaster ordered corporal punishment to a pupil, offered to
+execute it himself. The journal in question attributes with good
+reason this fantasy to sadism.
+
+Again, many children were at one time belabored with blows for several
+years by a person who pretended to be a police agent, and who
+threatened them with prosecution if they complained. One boy more
+courageous than the others finally gave information, and the affair
+then ended.
+
+We thus see that sadism does not always manifest itself by
+assassination. Its less dangerous forms in which pleasure is obtained
+by blows or some other form of bodily or mental ill-treatment, are no
+doubt much more common. They constitute a kind of complement to sexual
+desire in pathological individuals whose appetite is only partly
+perverted. This fact, which has hitherto not received sufficient
+attention, gives one more reason for the abolition of corporal
+punishment in schools, for the art of dissimulation and refinement of
+torture are unlimited in the sexually perverted. A thousand
+hypocritical pretexts serve to conceal their morbid appetite, and it
+has been proved by experience that they can succeed for a long time in
+deceiving even experts in this subject. This was the case with Dippold
+and many others.
+
+Corporal punishment of schoolboys is only useless and harmful
+brutality. It is a disgrace to civilization that it is still
+maintained at a time when the bastinado has been suppressed among
+convicts.
+
+=Protection of Childhood. Child Martyrs.=--Children, especially when
+illegitimate or of another marriage, are often exposed to atrocious
+treatment in which alcohol and sexual passion, inconvenienced by the
+presence of the child, play a great part.
+
+I here refer the reader to the last work of Lydia von Wolfring.[14]
+This author, who has made a special study of the judicial protection
+of children, makes the following propositions directed against parents
+and tutors who commit misdemeanors against children or pupils confided
+to them, or who incite the latter to commit misdemeanors, or who show
+themselves incapable of protecting them against others who abuse them
+in the manner indicated (this last condition applies especially to
+concubines, widows, etc.).
+
+(1). Withdrawal of paternal, maternal or tutelary authority and
+nomination of another tutor.
+
+(2). Complete withdrawal of children in grave cases.
+
+(3). Nomination of a "co-tutor" in all cases where a husband who
+survives his wife and has children who are minors, contracts a second
+marriage or lives in concubinage.
+
+(4). Withdrawal of paternal and sometimes maternal authority from all
+parents who leave the education of their children to public or private
+charity, unless compelled to do so by poverty.
+
+Without having a direct bearing on our subject the above propositions
+contain the elements of an efficacious, though indirect, protection
+against the abuses committed toward children; for example, when
+parents urge their children to prostitution. As regards proposition 4,
+I refer to what I have said in Chapter XIII. While authority over
+their children is withdrawn, unnatural parents of this kind should be
+obliged to work for their children's maintenance.
+
+=Future Possibilities.=--Unfortunately we must admit that the programme
+of a sexual pedagogy for the future, such as we have sketched here, is
+very far from being realized. The Landerziehungsheime, which should
+serve as examples for future state schools are still sparsely
+distributed, and it seems impossible to carry out universally a
+rational sexual education, till the state and the public are better
+informed on the subject and have got rid of their prejudices. This hope
+appears to be only the reflection of a distant future. In the meantime
+every one must do his best. Parents, and some masters, can do much by
+free initiative. It is above all things necessary that young people who
+are interested in social reforms should not be satisfied with empty
+phrases, nor "play to the gallery." They should set the example in
+their own sexual relations, in condemning old customs which are opposed
+to true natural human ethics; they should show their adherence to
+sexual reforms by action and example, by raising objections to marriage
+for money, to the tyranny and formality of marriage, to prostitution,
+etc.; and they should attempt to put in force a healthy selection and a
+rational education such as we have indicated above.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[13] Vide.--Ernest Contou: _Ecoles nouvelles et Landerziehungsheime_,
+Paris, 1905; Wilhelm Frey: _Landerziehungsheime_, Leipzig, 1902;
+Forel: _Hygične des nerfs et de l'esprit_, Stuttgart, 1905.
+
+[14] "Das Recht des Kindes: Vorschläge für eine gesetzliche Regelung."
+_Allgemeine österreichische Gerichtszeitung_, 1904.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+SEXUAL LIFE IN ART
+
+
+=The Genesis of Art.=--Art represents in a harmonious form the
+movements of our sentimental life. The phylogeny of art is still very
+obscure; Darwin attributes it to sexual attraction, through the
+efforts made by one sex to attract the other; but his arguments have
+never convinced me.[15]
+
+Aristotle recognized in art the principles of representation of the
+beautiful and of imitation. Karl Groos, of Giessen, refutes Darwin's
+hypothesis, and upholds the principle of the representation of self by
+sensations which relate to the subject, thus giving a tangible object
+to corresponding internal emotions (among animals, for example, the
+pleasure of hearing their own voice).[16]
+
+The motor instinct and the movements executed in play seem to be among
+the most primitive autonomous creators of art. Similar play is
+observed in ants. In man, Groos attributes a considerable role to
+religious ecstasy and ecstasy in general, in the genesis of art.
+"Since its object is to excite the sentiments, it is obvious that art
+utilizes from the first the domain which is richest in emotional
+sensations, that is the sexual domain." He shows at the same time that
+erotic subjects have a much more general and definite importance in
+highly developed art than in what we know of primitive art.
+
+Groos is certainly right, for primitive eroticism was too coarse and
+sensual, too exclusively tactile to affect the mind as deeply and with
+such gradations of symphony as is the case with civilized man. This
+reason alone seems to me sufficient to support Groos' view, which is
+also confirmed by the fact that primitive works of art contain very
+few erotic subjects.
+
+The more delicate art becomes the better it acts. The intensity of its
+action depends, however, more especially on the power with which it
+moves our feelings. Art requires discord, not only in music, but
+elsewhere, in order to act more strongly on the human emotions by the
+effect of contrast. In describing the ugly it awakens desire for the
+beautiful. Art should be spontaneous and exuberant with the truth of
+conviction; it should be free from mannerism and all dogmatism,
+intellectual or moral. The positive ęsthetic sentiment, or sentiment
+of beauty is very relative, and depends essentially on the
+phylogenetic adaptation of the human sentiments, as well as on
+individual habits and popular customs. The odor of manure is no doubt
+pleasant to a farm laborer, but it is unpleasant to us. The male
+invert finds man more beautiful than woman. A savage or a peasant
+regards as beautiful what a cultured man considers ugly. The music of
+Wagner or Chopin is tiresome to a person with no musical education or
+ear, while a melomaniac goes into raptures over it.
+
+=Erotic Art.=--It is quite natural that the chord whose vibrations
+influence the most powerful human emotion--sexual love--has an
+infinite variety of vibrations in all forms of art. Music gives
+expression to the sexual sensations and their psychic irradiations by
+tones representing desire, passion, joy, sadness, deception, despair,
+sacrifice, ecstasy, etc.
+
+In sculpture and painting it is love in all its shades which furnishes
+the inexhaustible theme; but it is in the domain of literature that
+love celebrates its triumphs, and often also its orgies. The novels
+and dramas in which it plays no part could be easily counted. I am not
+referring only to common novelettes, nor to those pot-house dramas
+which, in spite of repeating continually the same sentimental motives,
+always succeed in arousing the uncultivated sentiments of the masses.
+The greatest art aims at representing tragic, refined and complex
+conflicts of the human sexual sentiments and their irradiations, so as
+to awaken emotion by causing vibrations in the deepest chords of the
+human mind. Among poets and authors I may mention Shakespere,
+Schiller, Goethe, de Musset, Heine, Gotthelf, and de Maupassant; among
+musicians, Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, Schumann, Loewe; among
+painters, Titian, Murillo, Boecklin; and sculptors such as those of
+the ancient Greeks or the modern French school.
+
+Art and pure intellect do not form an antinomy; they are associated
+together in the human mind as thought and sentiment, each preserving
+its own, though relative, independence. Every artistic representation
+requires an intellectual foundation, in the same way as every
+sentiment is connected with ideas. The artist takes his subjects from
+the external world, from life, and from the events of all ages. He
+also utilizes the progress of science for the mechanism of his art.
+But, to transform the material into a complete picture, with a unity
+of action, where the different sentiments harmonize; to transform the
+work of art into a symbol of something human; to make the whole work
+speak to every mind capable of comprehending it, all this can only be
+the work of a great artist with creative genius.
+
+=Art and Morality.=--True art is in itself neither moral nor immoral.
+Here we can well say--to the pure everything is pure. In the mirror of
+an impure mind, every work of art may appear as a pornographic
+caricature, while to the high-minded it is the incarnation of the
+noblest ideal. The fault is not with art and its products, but with
+nature and the peculiarities of many human brains, which deform
+everything they perceive, so that the most beautiful works of art only
+awaken in their pornographic minds cynical sexual images.
+
+=Art and Pornography.=--After having enunciated the preceding
+fundamental principles, we must examine the following facts, which
+have a special importance for the question with which we are dealing.
+Under the banner of art are grouped a number of human enterprises
+which are far from deserving this honor. There are few great artists,
+but thousands of charlatans and plagiarists. Many of those who have
+never had the least idea of the dignity of art, pander to the lower
+instincts of the masses and not to their best sentiments. In this
+connection, erotic subjects play a sad and powerful part. Nothing is
+too filthy to be used to stimulate the base sensuality of the public.
+Frivolous songs, licentious novels and plays, obscene dances,
+pornographic pictures, all without any trace of artistic merit,
+speculate on the erotic instinct of the masses in order to obtain
+their money.
+
+In these brothels of art, the most obscene vice is glorified, even
+pathological. Unfortunately, this obscenity spoils the taste of the
+public and destroys all sense of true and noble art. At the bottom of
+all this degeneration of the sentiment of art and its products in the
+sexual domain, we always find on close examination, corruption by
+money and brutalism by alcohol. I say advisedly, the sentiment of art
+and the products of art, for it is not sufficient for true artists to
+create their masterpieces, it is also necessary for them to find an
+echo in the public, and be understood by them. The two phenomena go
+hand in hand, as supply and demand. When the sentiment of art is low
+among the public, the quality of the artistic production is also low,
+and inversely. Professor Behrens, director of the Industrial School of
+Art at Dusseldorf, is in complete accord with me in the debasing
+effect of alcohol on the artistic sentiment. (_Alkohol und Kunst._)
+
+After establishing these facts, we return to the fundamental but
+delicate question: How is true erotic art to be distinguished from the
+pornographic? While certain ascetic and fanatical preachers of
+morality would burn and destroy all the erotic creations of art under
+the pretext that they are pornographic, other disciples of decadence
+defend the most ignoble pornography under the shield of art.
+
+I will cite two examples which have already been mentioned previously
+(Chapter XIII). In a very primitive and bigoted region of the Tyrol,
+certain undraped, but very innocent, statues of women were erected in
+the streets. Feeling their modesty deeply wounded, and regarding the
+representation of the natural human body as a great inducement to
+misconduct, the peasants of the district broke up these statues. The
+same with the captain of police at Zurich, who made himself notorious
+by ordering the removal of the picture by Boecklin, entitled "The
+Sport of the Waves," regarding the two mermaids in the picture as a
+danger to the morality and virtue of the citizens of Zurich!
+
+I designate by the term charlatanism, everything which consists in
+decorating or covering by the term art, all possible perversions of
+pornography, often pathological. Persons of artistic nature, dominated
+by emotional sentiments, will no doubt be excused for being often
+overexcited to a more or less pathological degree, for executing all
+kinds of fantastic vagaries in their sexual life, and for being
+capricious and excessive in love. These things are almost inseparable
+from the artistic temperament. But the systematic education of
+pornography, and the sexual orgies which are cynically made public, go
+decidedly beyond what is licit, and cannot be included in the scope of
+art without degrading it. The individual and pathological failings of
+artists and the eccentricities to which they often become victims,
+must not be confounded with art and its products.
+
+On the other hand, we often find eroticism hidden where we should
+least expect it, for instance in certain books for the edification of
+the pious. Here also it does not fail to produce its effect, although
+old maids and pious families place these books in their libraries and
+recommend them as proper reading. It has been said with reason, that
+"what is improper in the nudity of a statue is the fig-leaf and not
+what is underneath." It is, in fact, these fig-leaves--sculptured,
+painted, written or spoken--which awaken lewdness rather than deaden
+it. By drawing attention to what they conceal, they excite sensuality
+much more than simple nudity. In short, the eroticism which plays at
+hide and seek is that which acts with greatest intensity. The
+directors of ballets and other similar spectacles know this only too
+well, and arrange accordingly.
+
+I have seen at the Paris Exposition an Arab woman perform the erotic
+dance called the "danse du ventre," in which the various movements of
+coitus are imitated by movements of the hips and loins. I do not
+think, however, that this pantomime, as cynical as it is coarse,
+produces on the spectators such an erotic effect as the _décolleté_
+costumes of society ladies, or even certain amorous scenes of
+religious ecstasy in words or pictures (vide Chapter XII). As the
+"danse du ventre" was produced under the head of _ethnology_, it was
+witnessed by society ladies without their being in the least degree
+wounded in their sentiments of modesty! It is extremely difficult, if
+not impossible, to define the limit between art and pornography. I
+will attempt to give an example.
+
+In his novels and romances, Guy de Maupassant has given perhaps the
+finest and most true descriptions which exist of the psychology of
+love and the sexual appetite. Although he has depicted the most
+ticklish sexual situations, often most _recherché_, we can say that
+with few exceptions he has not written in a pornographic spirit. His
+descriptions are profound and true, and he does not attempt to make
+attractive what is ugly and immoral, although he cannot be blamed for
+moralizing.
+
+We have seen that the old hypocritical eroticism consisted essentially
+in the art of describing sexual forbidden fruit and making it as
+desirable as possible, at the same time covering it with pious phrases
+which were only a transparent mask. Vice was condemned, but described
+in such a way as to make the reader's mouth water. There is nothing of
+this in Guy de Maupassant, nor in Zola. By their tragic descriptions,
+they provoke disgust and sadness in the reader, rather than
+sensuality. It is otherwise with the illustrations which de
+Maupassant's publisher has added to his works and which are frankly
+pornographic. These are not fair to the author.
+
+Another comparison shows, perhaps, still better the uncertainty of the
+line of demarcation between pornography and art. If we compare Heine
+with de Maupassant, I think we must admit that, in spite of the
+refinement of his art, the pornographic trait is incomparably stronger
+in the former, because Heine continually loses the thread of moral
+sense which impregnates most of the works of de Maupassant. The latter
+author emphasizes evil and injustice in the sexual question.
+
+The refined art of the Greeks contains much eroticism and much nudity,
+but there is nothing whatever immoral in either. Innocence and beauty
+are so apparent that no one can think of evil. When we look at the
+antique statues of the Greek sculptors; when we read Homer, especially
+the story of Ares and Aphrodite; when we read the bucolic idyll of
+Daphnis and Chloe, we can no longer have any doubt on the point. It is
+not nudity, it is not the natural description of sexual life, but the
+obscene intention of the artist, his improper and often venal object,
+which has a demoralizing effect.
+
+Finally, I repeat that the purest artistic creation may serve as a
+pornographic theme for every individual who is accustomed to introduce
+into his parodies his own depravity, immorality and obscene
+sentiments. I do not deny that in antiquity, especially at the time of
+the decadence of Rome, pornography and cynical coarseness often ruled
+in the sexual domain. History and the ruins of Pompeii give abundant
+evidence of it. But such phenomena occurred at the periods of
+decadence. Who then can decide where art ends and pornography begins,
+or how far eroticism may without danger be expressed in art? This
+question is so difficult and delicate that I am unable to answer it
+with sufficient competence. I think that when the reign of capitalism
+and alcohol has come to an end, the danger of pornography will be
+reduced enormously. I believe we ought to avoid extremes in both
+directions. Wherever pornography manifests itself in a purely cynical
+way, denuded of all art, society can and should suppress it. When it
+appears under an artistic mantle, it should be possible in each
+particular case to weigh the artistic merit of the work against its
+immoral tendencies, taking all other accessory circumstances into
+account, in order to decide the real weight of each of these elements.
+The corrupting action should also be carefully considered, which
+experience proves to have been exerted on the public by certain
+so-called works of art, or artistic exhibitions, as for example
+certain _cafés chantants_, etc.
+
+=Pathological Art.=--The progressively pathological nature of certain
+productions of modern art constitute without any doubt a vicious
+feature; a fact of special importance in the sexual question. Witness
+what I have said concerning the poet Baudelaire. Erotic art ought not
+to become a hospital for perverts and sexual patients, and should not
+lead these individuals to regard themselves as interesting specimens
+of the human race. It should not make heroes of them, for in acting
+thus, it only confirms their morbid state, and often contaminates
+healthy-minded people.
+
+A great number of novels, and even modern pictures, deserve the
+reproach of being pornographic works. In these are described, or
+painted, beings that we meet in hospitals for nervous diseases, or
+even in lunatic asylums, but more often phantoms which only exist in
+the pathological mind of the author. No doubt, art should not allow
+itself to be instructed in morality by pedagogues and ascetics; but,
+on the other hand, artists ought not to forget the high social mission
+of their art, a mission which consists in elevating man to the ideal,
+not in letting him sink into a bog.
+
+=The Moral Effect of Healthy Art.=--Art has great power, for man is
+directed by sentiment much more than by reason. Art should be healthy;
+it should rise toward the heavens and show the public the road to
+Olympus--not the Olympus of superstition, but that of a better
+humanity. It is not necessary for this that it should diminish the
+energy of its eternal theme--love. No truly moral man would wish to
+eliminate the seasoning of eroticism whenever artistic necessity
+requires it, but art should never prostitute itself in the service of
+venal obscenity and degeneration.
+
+As to the manner in which it attains its object, while holding to its
+fundamental principles, that is its own affair, the business of the
+true artist. I cannot, however, in my capacity as a naturalist,
+refrain from giving a little modest advice to certain modern artists;
+that when they wish to take for the subject of their works the themes
+of social morality, medicine or science, they should avoid previous
+study of their subject in scientific books; that they should follow
+the example of de Maupassant and begin by living themselves the
+situations which they wish to depict, before beginning to model their
+work. Without this they will completely fail in artistic effect, and
+will become bad theorists, bad scientists, bad moralists and bad
+social politicians, at the same time ceasing to be good artists. If
+Maeterlinck's "Life of Bees" is a fine work of art, it is not only
+because the author is a distinguished writer, but because he was
+himself acquainted with bees, being an apicultor, and did not make his
+book a mere compilation of other scientific works.
+
+Along with the struggle against the debasing influence of money and
+alcohol, the elevation of the artistic sentiment among the public
+will contribute strongly to condemn pornographic "ęsthetics." The
+false and unnatural sentimentalism, spiced with erotic lewdness, which
+is displayed in the trash offered to the public under the title of
+"art," fills every man who possesses the least artistic sense with
+disgust. Disgust evidently constitutes a beneficial mental medicine in
+the domain of art, and we cannot agree with the severe and ascetic
+minds who think that true morality has nothing to do with art, or even
+that everything moral should be destitute of art. These people are
+completely deceived and unwittingly promote pornography, by repelling
+humanity with their austerity and driving it to the opposite extreme.
+The ęsthetic and moral sentiments should be harmoniously combined with
+intelligence and will, each of these departments of the mind
+participating by its special energies in the elevation of man.
+
+=Anticonceptional Measures from the Ęsthetic Point of View.=--In
+conclusion, I will refer to a subject which is perhaps not quite in
+its place in this chapter. The anticonceptional measures recommended
+for reasons of social hygiene, which tend to regulate conceptions and
+improve their quality, have been often condemned, sometimes as
+immoral, sometimes as contrary to ęsthetics. To interfere in this way
+with the action of nature is said to injure the poetry of love and the
+moral feeling, and at the same time to disturb natural selection.
+
+There are several replies to these objections: In the first place, it
+is wrong to maintain that man cannot encroach on the life of nature.
+If this were the case, the earth would now be a virgin forest and a
+great many animals and plants would not have been adapted to the use
+of man. Our fields, our gardens and our domestic animals would die,
+instead of bearing fruit and multiplying as they do at present. The
+naturalist has much more fear of seeing rare and interesting wild
+plants and animals exterminated from the face of the earth by the
+egoistic and pitiless hand of man. He seeks in vain the means of
+checking this work of destruction.
+
+We have proved without the least deference, often with a brutal hand,
+to the misfortune of art and poetry, that we are capable of
+successfully intermeddling with the machinery of nature, even in what
+concerns our own persons. I shall not return here to the subject of
+ethics. In Chapter XV, I have sufficiently shown how false is our
+present sexual morality, and I have proved in Chapter XIV the absolute
+necessity of measures to regulate conception in order to realize an
+efficacious social sexual morality.
+
+The ęsthetic argument appears at first sight more valid; it is
+unnecessary, however, to discuss matters of taste. Spectacles are
+certainly not particularly ęsthetic; nevertheless the poetry of love
+does not suffer much from their use, and when one is shortsighted or
+longsighted one cannot do without them. Great artists wear spectacles.
+It is the same with false teeth, with clothes, with bicycles and a
+hundred other artificial things which man makes use of to make his
+life more easy. So long as they are novel and unusual they wound the
+ęsthetic sentiment; but when we become accustomed to them we no longer
+take notice of them. Man has even come to regard as ęsthetic, women's
+corsets which deform their chests, and pointed shoes which deform the
+feet. I am certain that the first man who mounted a horse was accused
+by his contemporaries of committing an act contrary to ęsthetics!
+
+From all points of view, the details of coitus leave much to be
+desired from the ęsthetic point of view, and such a slight addition as
+a membranous protective does not appear to make any serious
+difference. It is impossible for me to recognize the validity of such
+an objection, which I attribute to the prejudice against anything
+which disturbs our habits.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[15] See also Lameere "_L'Évolution des ornements sexuels_," 1904.
+
+[16] "Die Anfänge der Kunst und die Theorie Darwins." _Hessiche
+Blätter für Volkskunde_, Vol. III, Part 2.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+CONCLUSIONS
+
+
+=Utopia and the Realizable Ideal.=--The term Utopia may be applied to
+every ideal project elaborated by human imagination for the future
+welfare of society, which has no healthy and real foundation, is
+contrary to human nature and the results of experience, and has
+consequently no chance of success. Persons of conservative minds who
+live in prejudice and in the faith of authority apply the term Utopia
+to every ideal which has not been legalized and sanctioned by time,
+custom, or authority. This is a grave error, which, if it always
+prevailed, would bar the way to all social progress.
+
+As regards the ideal, the future may realize much progress that the
+past has not known, and on this point Ben Akiba was wrong in saying
+that "there is nothing new under the sun." International
+communication, universal postage, the suppression of slavery in
+civilized countries, the artificial feeding of new-born infants, the
+telephone, wireless telegraphy, etc., are realized advances which had
+formerly never appeared on the horizon of humanity, and which would
+have been regarded as impossible fantasies, or Utopias.
+
+Why should the common use of an international language and the
+suppression of war between civilized countries be Utopias? The most
+diverse races already speak English, and all might learn Esperanto. In
+the interior of countries such as France and Germany, etc., the old
+feudal wars ceased long ago. Why should a more and more international
+union between men be impossible?
+
+Why should the suppression of the use of narcotic substances such as
+alcohol, opium, hashish, etc., which poison entire nations, be
+Utopian? Why should it be the same with the economic reform desired by
+socialists, that is the equitable division of wages; for example, by
+the aid of a coöperative system or by the reduction of capital to a
+minimum?
+
+These things are all possible, and even necessary for the natural and
+progressive development of humanity. It is only the prejudice of old
+customs, based on the conservative tendency of sentiments, which
+opposes these projects and tries to ridicule them by calling them
+Utopian. In its shortsightedness, it does not see the change which
+occurs all over the world in the social relations of men, or does not
+estimate them at their true value, and it cannot abandon its old
+idols.
+
+Lastly, why should rational reforms in the sexual domain be more
+difficult to realize than the artificial feeding of infants, than the
+actual triumphs of surgical operations, than sero-therapy, than
+vaccination, etc.? In the same way that shortsighted and longsighted
+persons wear spectacles, or those who have no teeth use artificial
+ones, so may men who are tainted by hereditary disease employ
+preventatives in coitus to avoid the procreation of a tainted progeny;
+and the same means may be employed to give women time to recover their
+strength after each confinement.
+
+=Résumé.=--Let us briefly recapitulate the matter contained in the
+chapters of this book:
+
+(1). In the first five chapters I have given an account of the natural
+history, anatomy and functions of the reproductive organs, and the
+psychology of sexual life.
+
+(2). In Chapter VI, I have given (chiefly according to Westermarck) a
+_résumé_ of ethnography and the history of sexual relations in the
+different human races.
+
+(3). In Chapter VII, I have attempted to trace the zoölogical
+evolution of sexual life along the line of our animal ancestors, and
+to briefly describe the evolution of sexual life in the individual,
+from birth till death. I have thus endeavored to acquaint the reader
+with the two sources of our sexual sensations and sentiments--the
+hereditary or phylogenetic source, and the source acquired and adapted
+by the individual.
+
+(4). In Chapter VIII, I have described the pathology of sexual life,
+because this concerns social life much more than is generally
+supposed.
+
+(5). In Chapters IX to XVIII, I have explained the relations of sexual
+life to the most important spheres of human sentiments and interests,
+to suggestion, money and property, to the external conditions of life,
+to religion, law, medicine, morality, politics, political economy,
+pedagogy and art. Incidentally, I have glanced at the social
+organizations and customs which depend on these relations.
+
+If we sum up the results obtained, we can draw from them a series of
+conclusions which we will divide into two groups:
+
+
+NEGATIVE TASKS
+
+_Suppression of the Direct or Indirect Causes of Sexual Evils and
+Abuses, and the Social Vices which Correspond to Them_
+
+The corruption into which a semi-civilization has plunged humanity, by
+facilitating the means of obtaining satisfaction for its unbridled
+passion for pleasure, is maintained by the latter itself. But in the
+long run, the unlimited abandonment of the individual to pleasure
+cannot be in accord with the welfare and progress of society. This is
+the knotty point. It is necessary for a better social organization to
+artificially restrain the passion for pleasure, at the same time
+raising the social quality of men; that is to say, their altruism or
+instinct (social ethics). We can only expect immediately the first of
+these two objects; but we have seen that it is possible to prepare the
+second for the future, by neglecting none of the factors of social
+salvation.
+
+We have become acquainted with the most important roots of sexual
+degeneration, due to semi-civilization. I use the word
+"semi-civilization" because our present culture is still very
+incomplete and has hardly done more than skim over the surface of the
+masses.
+
+Men of higher culture have overcome the maladies of infancy of
+civilization much better than the uneducated masses, and it is
+precisely this fact which should give us courage and confidence in a
+future in which a true higher culture will be the appanage of all. The
+roots of degeneration are either directly or indirectly associated
+with sexual life. It is our duty to declare war of extermination
+against all of them, and not to cease this contest before reducing
+them to their natural primitive minimum. The following are the chief
+evils to be contended against.
+
+=1. The Cult of Money.=--We have recognized the primary sources of
+degeneration in the historical development of humanity and its sexual
+life (Chapters VI and X). They consist in the exploitation of man by
+man, in the desire of possessing riches and power, which become the
+source of marriage by purchase and by abduction, of prostitution and
+all the modern requirements by the aid of which is cultivated the
+passion for sexual pleasures, thanks to the power of money.
+
+The priests and disciples of Mammon lie when they say that their
+god--the golden calf--is the most powerful stimulus to work and the
+principal promoter of culture. If we look closer we see the contrary.
+Men of genius, thinkers, inventors and artists are urged to work by
+their hereditary instinct, by true love of the ideal and thirst for
+knowledge. The disciples of Mammon, on the watch for the discoveries
+and creations of these men, rob them not only of the fruit of their
+work, but often of the honors which belong to them. Intellectual
+robbery is added to pecuniary robbery.
+
+These are the methods of "Mammonism," which must be seen to be
+appreciated; and we are told that this kind of industry should be the
+only stimulus to human work and culture! No doubt, the unbridled lust
+for gain urges men to feverish activity; but this kind of zeal, which
+is nearly always associated with the passion for pleasure, and only
+works to obtain the means of satisfying it, is unhealthy. It is
+necessary for other factors to act in stimulating human work.
+Fortunately these forces exist, and can be found, for without work
+there can be no culture, social progress nor happiness.
+
+The worship of the golden calf, the utilization of accumulated wealth
+as a means of exploiting the work of others for individual interest,
+is therefore the primary and principal root of social degeneration,
+marriage for money, prostitution and all their corrupt associations.
+If this root is not torn out, humanity will never succeed in the
+sanitation of sexual matters. The struggle against the exaggerated
+modern legal rights of capital, and the abuses which result from it,
+is therefore one of the most important tasks to be accomplished in
+order to lead indirectly to the sanitation of sexual intercourse.
+
+=2. The Use of Narcotics.=--The habit of using narcotic poisons,
+especially alcohol, leads to the physical and moral degeneration of
+men, a degeneration which not only affects the individuals concerned,
+but also their germinal cells and consequently their offspring. I have
+designated this degeneration by the term _blastophthoria_.
+Blastophthoria is intimately connected with sexual phenomena, and
+thanks to it, the individual influence of these poisons may extend to
+many generations.
+
+A single radical remedy would be easy to apply, if men were not so
+much the slaves of their habits and prejudices, of capital and the
+passion for pleasure. All narcotic substances, especially distilled
+and fermented drinks, should be abolished as a means of pleasure and
+relegated to pharmacy, in which they may still be used as remedies,
+with special precautions. Alcohol may also be used for industrial
+purposes.
+
+Science has proved that even the most moderate indulgence in alcohol
+disturbs the association of ideas, and renders them more superficial,
+without the subject being aware of it. This slight degree of alcoholic
+narcosis causes in man a temporary feeling of pleasure and gayety to
+which he soon becomes accustomed. In this way there is created in him
+a desire for more, too often with increasing doses.
+
+Most narcotics, especially alcohol (either fermented or distilled),
+have the peculiarity of exciting the sexual appetite in a bestial
+manner, thereby leading to the most absurd and disgusting excesses,
+although at the same time they weaken the sexual power. The transient
+pleasure produced by these substances is, therefore, of no real and
+lasting advantage, while it results in the most terrible individual
+and social miseries.
+
+Societies for total abstinence from all alcoholic drinks have
+undertaken a war of extermination against the use of all poisons used
+for purposes of pleasure, when experience has proved their social
+danger. Let us hope that they will succeed; then a second fundamental
+root of degeneration of sexual life will be destroyed.
+
+=3. The Emancipation of Woman.=--A third source of sexual anomalies is
+due to the inequality of the rights of the two sexes. This can only be
+attacked by the complete emancipation of women. In no kind of animal
+is the female an object possessed by the male. Nowhere in nature do we
+find the slave-law which subordinates one sex to the other. Even among
+ants, where the male, on account of his great physical inferiority, is
+very dependent on the workers, the latter do not impose on him any
+constraint. We have already refuted the argument which is based on the
+intellectual inferiority of woman.
+
+The emancipation of women is not intended to transform them into men,
+but simply to give them their human rights, I might even say their
+natural animal rights. It in no way wishes to impose work on women nor
+to make them unaccustomed to it. It is as absurd to bring them up as
+spoilt children as it is cruel to brutalize them as beasts of burden.
+It is our duty to give them the independent position in society which
+corresponds to their normal attributes.
+
+Their sexual role is so important that it gives them the right to the
+highest social considerations in this domain. I will not repeat what I
+have said in Chapter XIII, but simply state categorically that, when
+women have acquired in society rights and duties equal to those of men
+(in accordance with sexual differences), when they can react freely
+according to their feminine genius, in a manner as decisive as men, on
+the destinies of the community, a third fundamental root of present
+sexual abuses will be suppressed. The complete emancipation of woman
+thus constitutes our third principal postulate, and in this I am in
+accord with Westermarck, Secretan and many other eminent persons.
+
+The difference which exists between the two sexes does not give any
+reasonable excuse to man for monopolizing all social and political
+rights. The external world and our fellow beings, by whom and for whom
+we live in body and mind, are the same for woman as for man, so that
+even when the mentality of one sex is on the average a little higher
+than that of the other, the first cannot claim the right of refusing
+the second the liberty of living and acting from the social point of
+view according to her own genius. The two sexes differ in many
+respects it is true; on the other hand, all legal and consequently
+artificial constraint of one by the other has the effect of hindering
+the free development of both. Each sex has the right to look upon the
+world and assimilate it according to its nature. It can thus develop
+its personality so that it does not become etiolated and atrophied
+like a domestic animal. It is only the right of the stronger,
+cultivated by narrow-minded prejudice, that can deny or misunderstand
+these facts. The legal restrictions which we impose on woman, on her
+mentality and her whole life, especially her conjugal life, have
+nothing in common with the just restrictions which the law should
+provide against the encroachments of individual egoism, which injure
+the rights of others or those of society.
+
+=4. Prejudice and Tradition.=--There is still another enemy opposed to
+reform, which is so deeply rooted in human nature that we can only
+hope for a slow improvement in the quality of men, by its progressive
+weakening. I refer to the host of prejudices, traditional customs,
+mystic superstitions, religious dogmas, fashions, etc. I should
+require many pages of moral preaching to deal with all the vices which
+are perpetually created and supported by the wretched tendency of the
+human mind to sanctify every ancient tradition and consider it as
+unalterable.
+
+Prejudice, faith in authority, mysticism, etc., with conscious or
+unconscious hypocrisy, and by the aid of more or less transparent
+sophisms, place themselves at the service of the basest human
+passions--envy, hatred, vanity, avarice, lewdness, scandal, desire of
+domination and idleness--and clothe them all with the sacred mantle of
+ancient customs, the better to sanction their ignominy by relying on
+the authority of tradition. There is no infamy which has not been
+justified, glorified or even deified in this way.
+
+I am convinced that it is only by the introduction of the scientific
+spirit, of an inductive and philosophical manner of thinking, into
+schools and among the masses, that we shall be able to contend
+efficaciously with the routine and parrot-like repetitions which are
+rooted in the worship of authoritative doctrines and prejudices based
+on the sanctity of what is old.
+
+We have already sufficiently dealt with the superannuated prejudices
+and customs to be contended with in the sexual domain, and need not
+return to them. The whole of this category of causes of evil, a
+category which also plays a great part in all other domains of human
+life, can only, therefore, be contended with by true science combined
+with an integral and free education of the character of youth.
+
+I must once again insist on the necessity of a fight to a finish on
+this ground. It is necessary for this that scientists should from time
+to time emerge from their sanctums, and let their lights shine in the
+whirlpool of human society. They must take part in social conflicts
+and avoid losing touch with what is and always will be human.
+
+The following postulates relate to aberrations and dangers which are
+more partial or more local.
+
+=5. Pornography.=--In Chapters V, X and XVIII, I have spoken of
+pornography, and in Chapter XVII, of its great danger to the
+development of a normal sexual life in youth. Although pornography
+owes much of its origin and development to the greed for gain, it must
+not be forgotten that, on the other hand, masculine eroticism tends to
+promote its mercantile interests. It is the duty of society to oppose
+the pornographic products of morbid eroticism, without imposing the
+least constraint on true art. The sexual appetite of man is on the
+average rather strong; we may even say that it is much too strong,
+compared with the social necessities of procreation. It is, therefore,
+quite superfluous to artificially stimulate it. The struggle against
+pornography must, therefore, be raised to the rank of a postulate.
+
+We must not forget, however, that we shall contend with it much more
+successfully by fulfilling our first four postulates, and in raising
+the artistic ideal and feeling in man, than by direct measures of
+suppression. The latter should be limited to the most coarse and
+corrupt productions of pornography.
+
+=6. Politics and Sexual Life.=--I need only remind the reader of the
+encroachments of politics on sexual life, and especially of the abuse
+of sexual influence in the domain of politics. It is needless to point
+out the necessity of opposing all useless intermeddling of the State
+in the sexual life of individuals by the aid of unjustifiable
+regulations, as well as all intervention in the natural sexual
+requirements of man (in marriage, etc.), when no individual or social
+interest is injured. What is much more difficult, is to prevent the
+pressure of sexual sympathies and antipathies, and especially of
+amorous passions in politics.
+
+=7. Venereal Disease.=--There is need for a great combat with venereal
+disease and pathological corruptions of the sexual appetite. (Vide
+Chapters VIII, XIII and XIV.) Sexual criminals should be treated
+conjointly with the pathology of the sexual appetite, and in the same
+manner; for it is nearly always a question of anomalies of the human
+brain, which are impossible to improve or eliminate by punishment or
+other penal measures.
+
+For the present, medical and administrative measures of restriction,
+undertaken by society against dangerous and degenerate individuals in
+the sexual domain, are the only possible remedy. We should also
+endeavor in the future to prevent such individuals from breeding and
+suppress the causes of blastophthoria, by the aid of our second
+postulate.
+
+=8. The Conflict of Human Races.=--There remains a last postulate,
+extremely arduous and serious, which we have already mentioned. How is
+our Aryan race and its civilization to guard against the danger of
+being passively invaded and exterminated by the alarming fecundity of
+other human races? One must be blind not to recognize this danger. To
+estimate it at its proper value, it is not enough to put all "savages"
+and "barbarians" into one basket and all "civilized" into the other.
+The question is far more complicated than this. Many savage and
+semi-savage races become rapidly extinct on account of their
+comparative sterility. Europeans have introduced among them so much
+alcohol, venereal disease and other plagues, that they promptly perish
+from want of the power of resistance. This is the case with the
+Weddas, the Todas, the Redskins of North America, the Australian
+aboriginees, Malays and many others.
+
+The question presents itself in another aspect with regard to negroes,
+who are very resistant and extremely prolific, and everywhere adapt
+themselves to civilized customs. But those who believe that negroes
+are capable of _acquiring_ a higher civilization without undergoing a
+phylogenetic cerebral transformation for a hundred thousand years, are
+Utopians. I cannot here enter into the details of this question. It
+seems obvious to me, however, that in the already considerable time
+during which the American negroes have been under the influence of
+European culture, they ought to have often demonstrated their power of
+assimilating it and of developing it independently, according to their
+own genius, if their brains were capable of so doing. Instead of this,
+we find that negroes in the interior of the island of Haiti, formerly
+civilized by France, then abandoned to themselves, have, with the
+exception of a few mulattoes, reverted to the most complete barbarism,
+and have even barbarized the French language and Christianity, with
+which they had been endowed.
+
+Compare with this the rapidity with which a civilized or civilizable
+race, depending on its innate energy, assimilates our culture with or
+without Christianity! We need only look at what has happened in Japan
+during the last thirty years, and what the Christian races of the
+Balkan countries have been doing after delivery from the yoke of the
+Turks--for example, the Roumanians, Bulgarians and Greeks.
+
+It is by its fruits that we judge the value of the tree. The Japanese
+are a civilizable and civilized race, and must be treated as such. The
+negroes, on the contrary, are not so; that is to say, they are only by
+themselves capable of quite an inferior civilization, and only become
+adapted to our customs by a superficial veneer of civilization.
+
+Up to what point can the Mongolian, and even the Jewish race, become
+mixed with our Aryan or Indo-Germanic races, without gradually
+supplanting them and causing them to disappear? This is a question I
+am incapable of answering. If it were only a question of the Japanese
+there would be no serious difficulty and the assimilation would be
+beneficial. But the Chinese and some other Mongolian races constitute
+an imminent danger for the very existence of the white races. These
+people eat much less than ourselves, are contented with much smaller
+dwellings, and in spite of this produce twice as many children and do
+twice as much work. The connection of this with the sexual question is
+not difficult to understand.
+
+Possibly we might make a compact with the Mongols, and the Chinese in
+particular, which would allow both races to live on the earth without
+annihilating each other. I am quite convinced that we have more to
+fear from their blood and their work than from their arms. Some time
+ago experts in Far-Eastern questions predicted that the world would
+end by becoming Chinese.
+
+
+POSITIVE TASKS
+
+The elimination of the abuses and dangers, pointed out under the
+heading of negative tasks, would prepare the soil for a healthier and
+more ideal development of the sexual relations of humanity in the
+future. These require the prevention of blastophthoric deterioration
+of germ cells, as well as all pathological degeneration of sexual
+intercourse. They also require true and natural affection, free from
+the influences of prejudice and money, and capable of surviving
+amorous intoxication. Lastly, they require a natural human
+organization, adapted to the social welfare, the duties of parents
+toward their children, and the rights they have over them.
+
+=Human Selection.=--This is impossible to attain without recourse to
+artificial means, which have hitherto been generally condemned, or
+employed with an unhealthy and corrupt object. I refer to the
+distinction between satisfaction of the sexual appetite and the
+procreation of children.
+
+Although it is true that the two things are inseparably connected in
+plants and animals, it is equally true that the culture and social
+development of humanity all over the world have given rise to
+conditions and necessities other than those which formerly existed,
+conditions which at the present day are so clearly evident that they
+cannot be disregarded.
+
+The struggle for existence, as it obtains between the different animal
+species, hardly exists any longer in man. The latter has now to fight
+with microbes, and other infinitely small things of the same nature.
+The combat between man and man, in the form of international warfare,
+is approaching its end. The wars of the present day, as foolish as
+they are formidable, are rapidly becoming absurd. We may even hope
+that the supreme struggle which is impending between the Aryan and
+Mongolian races will end in peaceful agreement.
+
+Is it, therefore, rational to abandon the quantitative and qualitative
+regulation of the procreation of children to natural selection--that
+is to say to brutal chance, disease, famine or infanticide--at a time
+of human evolution when science contends with the greatest success
+against accident, disease, infant mortality and famine?
+
+Our strong sexual appetite is no longer in proportion to the
+exigencies of procreation, nor to the means of providing food for our
+descendants, nor to the right of the latter to better or even
+tolerable existence, for the simple reason that the weak, the diseased
+and the children are no longer eliminated as in former times among
+primitive races by infanticide, epidemics, wild-beasts, neglect or war
+(it is now the strong and courageous who are eliminated by the
+latter). But it is not in our power to modify our instinctive and
+hereditary sexual appetite, while we have always at hand the necessary
+means to regulate and improve procreation.
+
+No prejudice, no dogma, no repetition of old maxims, based on
+so-called immutable natural laws, can stand against such simple and
+elementary truths. We like to call "natural laws" what to our limited
+knowledge appears regular in nature. We formulate a law, and too often
+make an idol, instead of always making further examinations, in the
+light of new truths, to see if these so-called laws hold good. But the
+new truths are there, crying for recognition. The sheet-anchor is in
+our hands, in the form of measures to prevent or regulate conception.
+
+We must, therefore, have recourse to these measures, with prudence,
+employing them only at first where they are most necessary, and
+especially insisting on the procreation of numerous children wherever
+mental and moral strength is combined with bodily health. In this
+connection I am strongly opposed to the neo-Malthusians, who simply
+propose to diminish the number of births indiscriminately, as well as
+to the religious dogmas, especially Catholic, which, under the
+fallacious pretext of so-called divine inspiration, would hinder the
+progress of the social sciences.
+
+Human selection is the principle which should lead us to the object to
+be attained in the remote future. It is not by legal constraint, but
+by universal instruction, that we shall obtain general recognition and
+acceptance of this principle. We have proved in Chapter VI, with
+regard to sexual selection, that women are much more exclusive in
+their choice than men, and that among savages they prefer courage and
+bodily strength. At the present day, owing to change of customs,
+cultured and intelligent women are, on the contrary, much less
+attracted by man's physical strength than by his intellectual
+superiority or genius. This gives us a very important indication of
+the selection we desire, and confirms the necessity of instructing
+women in sexual matters. I foresee that the enlightened and
+intelligent women are those who will support human selection with the
+greatest energy and success.
+
+I repeat here that it is not our object to create a new human race of
+superior beings, but simply to cause gradual elimination of the unfit,
+by suppressing the causes of blastophthoria, and sterilizing those who
+have hereditary taints by means of a voluntary act; at the same time
+urging healthier, happier and more social men to multiply more and
+more.
+
+A profound study of blastophthoria and all the phenomena of the mneme
+and normal heredity leaves no doubt on the possibility of attaining
+this object. Is not the quality of dogs improved by breeding from the
+good and eliminating the bad? Are not certain families distinguished
+in their character, work and intelligence, because for many
+generations their ancestors have preserved these qualities and
+maintained the family type by means of careful marriages? On the other
+hand, are not cowardice, falseness and meanness, etc., reproduced with
+quite as much certainty in other families? I refer the reader to the
+description given by Jörger of the disastrous effects of alcoholic
+blastophthoria and bad heredity produced during nearly two centuries
+in the numerous members of a family of vagabonds (vide Chapter XI).
+
+One must be blinded by religious prejudice to deny such striking
+truths. No doubt, our pathological degenerations and our
+cross-breeding are so infinitely complex that at any time atavism may
+produce ecphoria of better children derived from bad parents, and that
+of inferior children derived from better parents. We have seen in the
+first chapter the complex relations which exist between these
+phenomena. We must not allow ourselves to be deceived by the
+appearances of certain particular cases.
+
+What then are the types of men which we should endeavor to produce?
+
+=Types to Eliminate.=--First of all we must understand that negative
+action is much easier than positive. It is more easy to mention the
+types which should not be allowed to multiply than those which should.
+These are, in the first place, all criminals, lunatics, and imbeciles,
+and all individuals who are irresponsible, mischievous, quarrelsome or
+amoral. These are the persons who do the most harm in society, and
+introduce into it the most harmful taints. It is the same with
+alcoholics, opium-eaters, etc., who, although often capable in other
+respects, are dangerous by their blastophthoric influence. Here the
+only remedy consists in the suppression of the use of narcotics, for
+it is no use eliminating a few narcotized individuals as long as a
+greater number is always being produced.
+
+Persons predisposed to tuberculosis by heredity, chronic invalids, the
+subjects of rickets, hemophilia, and other persons incapable of
+procreating a healthy race owing to inherited diseases or bad
+constitution, form a second category of individuals who ought to avoid
+propagation, or do so as little as possible.
+
+=Types to Perpetuate.=--On the other hand, men who are useful from the
+social point of view--those who take a pleasure in work and those who
+are good tempered, peaceful and amiable should be induced to multiply.
+If they are endowed with clear intelligence and an active mind, or
+with an intellectual or artistic creative imagination, they constitute
+excellent subjects for reproduction. In such cases certain taints
+which are not too pronounced may be passed over.
+
+True will-power, _i.e._, perseverance in the accomplishment of
+rational resolutions, and not the tyrannical and obstinate spirit of
+domination, is also one of the most desirable qualities which ought to
+be reproduced. Will-power must not be confounded with impulsiveness,
+which is rather the antinomy of it, but often deceives superficial
+observers, and makes them believe in the existence of a strong will,
+because of the violent manner in which it tries to realize momentary
+impulsive resolutions.
+
+=Human Social Value.=--We have seen that, owing to traditional
+routine, the intellectual merit of a young man is unfortunately judged
+by the results of examinations. To succeed in these, a good memory and
+strong mental receptivity are all that is necessary. It follows from
+this that nonentities often attain the highest social positions, while
+originality, creative power, perseverance, honesty, responsibility and
+duty take a back place. I refer the reader to what I have said on the
+estimation of human value, especially in the Landerziehungsheime
+(Chapter XVI). They should be estimated according to their utility in
+practical social life, where the qualities of will and creative
+imagination play a more considerable part than memory and rapidity in
+assimilating the ideas of others.
+
+But we have seen that the standard of ordinary examinations is false,
+even as regards pure intelligence. Critical judgment and imaginative
+power of combination have a much greater intellectual value than
+memory or the power of assimilation. It is, therefore, not to be
+wondered at that the boy who is at the top of his class so often turns
+out a failure, while the dunce who failed in his examinations
+sometimes becomes a genius or at any rate a very useful and capable
+man. From such facts, which are extremely common, it is falsely
+concluded, by a kind of fatalism, that "one never knows what will
+become of a man, for personalities change so much." This false
+conclusion is simply due to the erroneous criterion which is used in
+the evaluation of childhood, combined with the disgust inspired in
+strong and original minds by our schools.
+
+Diseases and other accidents may sometimes hinder the development of
+good dispositions, or even cause them to abort completely.
+Nevertheless, we shall rarely make false prophecies if we begin by
+avoiding the gross errors that we have pointed out in the mental
+evaluation of youth. It is also necessary to institute extensive
+psychological observations on the development of individuals, and in
+the value of their work at adult age compared with their peculiarities
+observed in childhood. I am certain that in this way the social value
+of a young man, or even a child, and in general all members of human
+society, could be calculated in advance in a more exact way.
+
+=Domestic Animals and Plants.=--The weak constitution of the domestic
+varieties of plants and animals has been used as an argument against
+human selection. If the animal and vegetable varieties which we raise
+by artificial selection have not enough strength when left to
+themselves, this is due to the fact that in creating them we have not
+consulted their interests in the struggle for existence, but only our
+own. For example, we raise for our own use fat pigs which can scarcely
+walk, pear trees with succulent fruit which has very few seeds, etc.
+It is obvious that these monstrosities cannot be expected to maintain
+themselves in the struggle for existence. Human selection, on the
+contrary, is only concerned with what is advantageous for man,
+individually as well as socially. It is, therefore, not a question of
+a Utopian hypothesis, but of facts, the daily consequences of which we
+can observe in society, if we only look at them without prejudice.
+
+=Calculation of Averages.=--Francis Galton has studied this question
+by the aid of the law of variations and by the calculation of
+probabilities. This law only deals with so-called fortuitous elements,
+due to thousands of minute causes which act to a great extent against
+each other and become mutually compensated in their general effect, so
+that the two extremes are always represented by small numbers and the
+average by large numbers. But, when certain special and greater forces
+come into play, the general resultant is deviated in one direction or
+the other.
+
+Galton shows that this law applies to social relations and mental
+values as well as to the stature of the body. In a given society there
+are always some individuals who are very good, some very bad, and many
+mediocrities. When a powerful general factor, such as alcohol or
+corruption by money, lowers all the individual values, the total value
+of the whole scale of capacities is lowered. Galton shows that the
+average values can be appreciably raised by inducing the class of
+higher values to reproduce themselves, and by preventing the lower
+values from doing so.
+
+Prof. Jules Amann has shown how the immigration of the Huguenots into
+Switzerland and Germany after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes by
+Louis XIV (1685) contributed to raise the mental level in these
+countries and continues to do so at the present day.
+
+=Visions of the Past and Future.=--It is always sad to see capable,
+hard-working men and women, very useful from the social point of view,
+remaining sterile, simply on account of our social or religious
+prejudices; whereas, for the benefit of the community, they ought to
+marry as young as possible and procreate numerous children.
+
+I have already said (the idea is found in André Couvreur's _La
+Graine_) that, if the sterility of one of the conjoints in marriage
+unfortunately leads to sterility in the other conjoint, the law, to
+make good the loss, should allow bigamy or concubinage in favor of the
+second, when the latter is very capable. I cannot dwell too strongly
+on the necessity of compensating for the sterilization which is so
+necessary with ill-formed or incapable beings, as well as for the
+period of rest which is due to women between their confinements, by an
+energetic multiplication of all useful and capable individuals.
+
+In the same way, it is a real pity to see so many healthy, active and
+intelligent girls become old maids, simply because they have no money
+and do not wish to throw themselves at the first scamp who comes. It
+would be far better to allow a little free polygamy, with complete
+equality of the two sexes and certain legal precautions, than to lose
+so much good seed and grow so many weeds. I refer the reader to what I
+have said on the duties of parents toward their children, and on the
+duties of society toward the procreators of healthy children. (Chapter
+XIII.)
+
+It would certainly take a century to obtain any appreciable
+improvement in the quality of a race by this procedure, even if it
+were carried out in a methodical and general way. At the end of a few
+centuries our descendants might recognize the happiness that they owe
+to our efforts. They would also no doubt be astonished at being
+descended from such a race of barbarians, and at having so many
+drunkards, criminals and imbeciles among their ancestors. The mingling
+of mysticism in sexual life, which now exists under the name of
+religion, would appear to them almost the same as idolatry and the
+practice of "magicians" among savage races appears to us.
+
+As to the effects of alcoholic drinks and prostitution, these would
+give them almost the same impression as the instruments of torture of
+the Middle Ages which we see exhibited in museums, or the horrors of
+the Inquisition, or burning at the stake for witchcraft.
+
+Many of my readers will no doubt regard my comparisons as exaggerated
+or fanatical, because, imbued as we are with contemporary thought, we
+cannot, without a great effort of imagination and having at our
+disposal much experience and many objects of comparison, identify
+ourselves with the thought of the past or that of the future. I
+recommend persons who cannot appreciate this fact to read the "Key to
+Uncle Tom's Cabin," by Harriet Beecher-Stowe (not the novel itself).
+This book contains numerous documents relating to the time of negro
+slavery before the American war of secession. When they read what
+happened at that time, for example, advertisements in the public
+journals of dogs trained to track escaped slaves, they will perhaps
+agree with me. Pious pastors then gave their support to slavery, as
+they often do now to alcohol. What now appears to us as monstrous
+seemed then quite natural.
+
+=Reform in Education.=--After human selection, I consider pedagogic
+reform in the sexual and other domains as the most important of
+positive reforms. (Vide Chapters XVII and XIII.) Although good quality
+in the germ is one of the fundamental conditions for man's happiness,
+it is not sufficient. Just as we can obtain by education comparatively
+useful individuals from comparatively defective germs, so can we more
+easily damage phylogenetically good germs, by evil influences during
+their ontogeny.
+
+Society should devote all its care to the good general education of
+the body and mind of children. It should do everything possible to
+develop harmoniously the intelligence, sentiments, will, character,
+altruism and ęsthetics, after the manner of the Landerziehungsheime,
+which we have described in Chapter XVII. Every good hereditary type
+should be given the opportunity for free expansion, by means of
+rational education and work.
+
+With regard to individuals who are defective by heredity, their better
+dispositions might be developed up to a certain point and made to
+antagonize the bad dispositions, so that the latter should not
+predominate in the brain. (Vide Chapter XVII.)
+
+In spite of the great importance of rational pedagogy, we must not
+forget that it is incapable of replacing selection. It serves for the
+immediate object, which is to utilize in the best possible way human
+material as it exists at present; but by itself it cannot in any way
+improve the quality of the future germ. It can, however, by
+instructing youth on the social value of selection, prepare it to put
+the latter in action.
+
+
+UTOPIAN IDEAS ON THE IDEAL MARRIAGE OF THE FUTURE
+
+The outward life of man is largely influenced by events of the moment;
+but his inner life is determined by memories of the past combined with
+heredity, and thus gives rise to efforts toward the future. The past
+should never be allowed to dominate the present or the future, but
+should combine past experience with new impressions, and constitute a
+prolific source of ideas and resolutions.
+
+The marriage of the future pre-supposes people to be completely
+instructed from their childhood in natural sexual intercourse and its
+eventual dangers. It pre-supposes man brought up without alcohol or
+other narcotics, possessing the right to utilize the produce of his
+work for life and the maintenance of his own person, but not that of
+capitalizing for himself or his children, nor of making legacies to
+others, _i.e._, of founding by the aid of money a power for the
+exploitation of others. Everyone will know from his childhood that
+work is a necessary condition for the existence of all.
+
+Brought up in common with absolutely equal rights, girls and boys will
+be aware of the differences in their life tasks, such as differences
+of sex and individuality indicate them. Till the age of sixteen, or
+perhaps longer, they will have been instructed in the schools by
+simultaneous development of intelligence, bodily and technical
+exercises, ęsthetics, moral and social sentiments and will. Without
+frightening them with the specter of eternal punishment, and without
+alluring them by the promise of paradise after death, they will have
+been taught that the object of our transient individual existence is
+continual effort to attain a pure human ideal. They will have learnt
+to find the truest satisfaction in the accomplishment of their
+different duties, and in work in common for the benefit of society.
+They will also have learnt to despise frivolity and luxury, to attach
+no importance to personal property and to put all their ambition into
+the quantity and quality of their work.
+
+The sexual appetite will manifest itself in different individuals at
+different ages. Trained from childhood not to yield to every desire,
+but to subordinate their appetites to the welfare of the community,
+they will not yield immediately. Moreover, they will know the
+signification of this appetite. They will also know that their
+patience will not be tried too long, and that they may speak openly on
+sexual subjects to their masters and parents and even to their
+companions of the opposite sex.
+
+What will be the consequences of such a state of things? Attachments
+will be formed early. But, instead of making all kinds of calculations
+concerning money, social position, etc.; instead of concealing their
+thoughts in the form of conventional politeness; instead of avoiding
+an honest explanation of the knotty point, or, at the most passing
+over this explanation like a cat on hot cinders; instead of trying to
+dazzle by their charms the one they wish to capture, the lovers of the
+future will be much more frank because they will have less reason to
+dissimulate. They will exchange plans for the future, and will
+mutually test each other's constancy and loyalty without fear of
+scandal and slander.
+
+The two sexes will be able to enter into free relations with each
+other, first of all because they will both be instructed in sexual
+life, and secondly, because manners and customs will be more free.
+Without actual sexual intercourse, two lovers will thus be able to see
+whether their temperaments are well adapted to each other.
+
+Then, thanks to its liberty, the period of betrothal will allow a free
+interchange of ideas on life between the parties concerned, so that
+they will soon find out whether they are likely or not to live
+harmoniously in conjugal union. Questions of heredity, procreation and
+education will be dealt with calmly and freely. This will be certainly
+more moral than the present conversations between betrothed couples,
+"well-brought up," who, apart from certain conventional degrees of
+flirtation, hardly dare mention anything but commonplaces.
+
+A young man of talent, who wishes to continue his studies, will not be
+prevented from marrying. He may, for example, marry at twenty-four a
+young girl of eighteen and continue his studies till he is twenty-six.
+The inconvenience will be slight, for the habits of life will be
+simpler, and he can easily, by anticonceptional measures, avoid having
+children for a year or two.
+
+What will marriage be like? First of all, all useless luxury and
+conventional formality will be reduced to a minimum. The husband and
+wife will both work, either together, or each on their own account,
+according to circumstances. Part of the work will naturally be devoted
+to the children. As at present, the husband will be able to
+participate in the personal education of the children, if he is more
+disposed than the wife.
+
+Equality in the rights of the two sexes and matriarchy (vide Chapter
+XIII) will not render conjugal relations less intimate, but will, on
+the contrary, deepen their roots by raising their moral value. There
+will be less time to shine in society; dinner-parties and society
+functions of all kinds will be unknown; these things are for the idle
+rich, who have time to kill and money to spend. If a friend comes, and
+there is time to receive him and something for him to eat, he will be
+invited to take "potluck" with his family.
+
+Clothes will be simple, comfortable and hygienic. Dwellings will be
+artistic, ęsthetic and scrupulously clean. Pomp and luxury are not
+art, and are sometimes so overdone that they wound the most elementary
+sense of ęsthetics.
+
+If the occupation of the married couple or the number of their
+children render domestic servants necessary, the latter will not have
+the same position in the family as our present servants. Their
+education and social position being the same as those of the members
+of the family, they will take the position of companions rather than
+servants. No domestic work will be considered as degrading.
+
+If the marriage is sterile, the conjoints will adopt orphans or
+children from other large families. In certain cases, of which we have
+spoken, concubinage may be preferred which, with such a change in
+social organization, will amount to bigamy; but here everything will
+be done openly and by mutual agreement. In such cases any one who
+cannot overcome jealousy will be divorced.
+
+If, in spite of everything, a marriage is not happy, owing to
+incompatibility of character, the marriage (or sexual contract) will
+be dissolved, after legal provision for the children and their
+education. After this each of the conjoints will be free to marry
+again. This last contingency will probably not be more frequent than
+it is as present, possibly less, especially when there are children,
+for divorce is always painful when there are children to be brought
+up.
+
+Work, and the effort of striving toward the ideal of social life, are
+the best and most healthy distractions for the sexual appetite. It is
+the idleness, luxury and corruption of large cities which cause it to
+degenerate. Moreover, work revives love and leaves little time for
+family disputes.
+
+With a little independence of character, and abandonment of old
+prejudices, we can even now realize our scheme to a great extent.
+
+=The Art of Loving Long.=--The ideal true love often only shows itself
+after the first amorous intoxication has subsided. In order to remain
+harmonious, love requires above all things the higher psychic
+irradiation of intimate sympathetic sentiments associated with the
+sexual appetite, with which they should always remain intimately
+connected, or at any rate as long as the duration of the active sexual
+life of man. Later on, in the evening of life, the first are
+sufficient.
+
+The great error into which most men fall who marry is to rely on the
+civil and religious bonds of matrimony. As soon as the union is
+sealed, they return to their usual habits and mode of life. Each
+expects much from the other and gives as little as possible. When
+amorous sexual intoxication is over, the husband no longer finds any
+charm in his wife, he becomes enamored of other women to whom he
+devotes his attention, reserving his bad temper for his wife, while
+the latter takes no more trouble to please him.
+
+I agree that a man cannot for long conceal his true nature; we are
+what we are by heredity. Nevertheless, the art of being amiable may be
+acquired by habit and education, an art which the poorest may employ.
+Education should never cease during life. Along with the higher
+sentiments of love and mutual respect, lasting sexual attraction is a
+link of inestimable value in maintaining a long and happy union
+between man and woman in marriage.
+
+The married couple should, therefore, avoid everything which may
+rupture this link. The wife should devote herself to making the home
+attractive to her husband. The latter, on his part, should neither
+regard his wife as a mere housekeeper, nor only as an object for the
+satisfaction of his sexual appetite. Such a conception of woman and
+marriage is unfortunately very common and is incompatible with true
+conjugal happiness.
+
+On the other hand, it is not enough for the husband to esteem and
+respect his wife as a faithful companion, to whom he is united in a
+purely intellectual way. For the couple to find lasting and complete
+happiness in marriage, love, however ideal it may be, should be
+accompanied by sexual enjoyment. In short, intellectual and
+sentimental harmony should be combined with sensual harmony in a
+single and sublime symphony. The husband should not only regard his
+wife as the incarnation of all the domestic virtues, but should also
+continue to imagine her as the Venus of his early love.
+
+This condition may be realized even when youth has passed away,
+provided the deep sympathetic sentiments of an ideal love have truly
+existed and are maintained. The wife will then continue to be for her
+husband the goddess she has always been. But if this condition is not
+realized it is not always easy for the husband, with his polygamous
+disposition, to remain insensible to the charms of other women.
+However, habit and imagination may do much to correct this tendency.
+
+I think the following advice may be useful to the husband (and
+occasionally also to the wife). When his sexual passion is excited by
+another woman and he is in danger of succumbing, he should endeavor,
+by the aid of his imagination, to clothe his own wife with the charms
+of his would-be seducer. With a little determination this measure will
+often succeed; he will thus strengthen his sexual desire toward his
+own wife, and perhaps increase hers also. In this way, a flame which
+threatened to destroy conjugal happiness may sometimes serve to
+strengthen it, by reviving afresh the mutual feelings of love and
+desire. In the first part of his "Wahlverwandtschaften" (elective
+affinities), Goethe designates this phenomenon by the term _mental
+adultery_; but I am of the opinion that it is rather the expression of
+a _mental conjugal fidelity_ which is strengthened by sensual
+substitution.
+
+When there is true love and good-will on both sides, such experiences
+may often help toward the gradual consolidation of conjugal relations.
+Not only may a deviated passion be brought back to the conjugal bed,
+but certain discords may be restored to harmony, and the couple may
+find new desire and mutual affection which have been put to the test.
+
+=Matriarchism.=--With regard to family relations there is an important
+point to consider, which we have already touched upon in Chapter XIII.
+The power of man and of patriarchism has had the result of giving the
+father's name to the family. This system is not only unnatural, but
+also has deplorable effects. If it is true that the germ of the
+individual (_Chromosomes_, Chapter I) inherits on the average as much
+from the father as from the mother, the latter is more closely
+connected with it from all other points of view. Races in which the
+maternal influence predominates in the family, not only in name but
+also in other respects, have better understood the voice of nature.
+
+The fact that the mother carries the child for nine months in her
+womb, and for many years after birth is more intimately associated
+with it than the father, gives her a natural right which the father
+cannot claim. Children ought, therefore, to be named after the mother.
+Moreover, in case of divorce, it should be the rule for children to be
+restored to the mother, unless there are special reasons for another
+decision.
+
+It is evident that in the conditions of modern civilization we cannot
+return to matriarchism in its primitive sense. An old patriarch cannot
+become the sole sovereign of all his descendants without the
+occurrence of grave abuses, no more can this power devolve on a
+grandmother. Apart from denomination in the maternal line, I mean by
+matriarchism, the legal privilege of the management of the family
+conferred on the wife, who is in reality the center of the family.
+
+I will sum up what appears to me to be required, in the following
+propositions:
+
+1. Denomination in the maternal line.
+
+2. With the exception of cases in which the wife loses her maternal
+rights owing to incapacity, bad conduct or insanity, etc., or when the
+law is obliged to deprive her of them, she alone will possess the
+guardianship and the management of her children during their minority.
+
+3. The wife will be proprietor and housekeeper of the house and
+household. Her work of housekeeping and her maternal duties will be
+estimated at their just value, and will have the right to
+compensation, equivalent to the husband's work in his business.
+
+4. As long as conjugal union exists, the husband has the right to live
+in his wife's house, for the protection he gives to the family, for
+the work he gives toward the house and the education of the children,
+as well as for his pecuniary contributions toward the expenses of
+both.
+
+5. With the exception of contributions to the house and education, and
+to the feeding and clothing of the children, the product of the
+husband's work and private fortune belong to him, just as the product
+and fortune of his wife are her own property. In the case of divorce
+there will then be no difficulty in separating the two properties.
+Excepting in cases mentioned in the second proposition, which will be
+decided by law, the children will belong to the mother only. But as
+long as he lives and is able to work, the divorced father must
+continue to contribute to the maintenance and education of the
+children he has procreated, till they come of age.
+
+These propositions have only a legal value, and will only be required
+when the conjoints cannot come to a mutual understanding. They in no
+way concern those who are able to live together in mutual concord. A
+weak and passive woman will continue as before to subordinate herself
+to the advice and opinions of a husband stronger and wiser than
+herself.
+
+It is needless to say that, after divorce or separation, things will
+not always go smoothly, although more so than at present. The husband
+will always have the right to have certain claims decided by law. When
+the law is not exclusively in the hands of men, it will be more
+capable of protecting the rights of women. Cases in which a mother is
+incapable of bringing up her own children, or where the father is
+capable of great devotion and sacrifice are not now so rare, but they
+are nevertheless exceptional.
+
+=The Present Day.=--It is not to be expected that the above
+propositions will find much support at the present day among the
+majority of people, still less that they will soon be realized by the
+governing bodies, considering their conservative and idle tendencies
+and their inertia. It may be asked, on the other hand, whether the
+present laws do not already provide us with the ways and means of
+attaining the ideal that we propose. I already see two:
+
+First of all, as pointed out in Chapter XIII, we may enter into
+contracts which make the properties entirely separate, and according
+to the local legislation in force, fulfill other of the above
+propositions. For instance, in some countries, the wife can preserve
+by contract the property and management of the house, etc.
+
+In the second place, illegitimate children now bear the family name
+of their mother; this is exactly what we desire. When concubinage is
+not prosecuted and punished by law, a free marriage could be arranged
+by private contract which would fulfill the above conditions. Some
+persons, I admit, would require much courage to do this, for it is not
+every one who can brave public opinion when he has a good reputation
+to lose. Moreover, such unions would not enjoy the protection of the
+State. By a little perseverance, however, the public might be induced
+to call the woman "Mrs." instead of "Miss."
+
+It is not impossible for unions of this kind between honorable persons
+to become more frequent, and gradually compel society to recognize
+free unions as the equivalent of traditional, or so-called legal,
+marriage, to accord them the same rights and recognize the children
+born of them. The conjoints could be named by combining both family
+names; for example, if Miss Martin enters into a free union with Mr.
+Durand, she might be called Mrs. Martin-Durand, and her husband Mr.
+Durand-Martin.
+
+=Conclusion.=--It may perhaps be thought that I am imagining the
+existence of the purest ideal and the happiness of paradise in a world
+in which the hereditary quality of men will be no better than it is
+to-day. I hope that no reader who has followed me carefully will
+regard me as so ingenuous. Then as now there will be intrigues and
+disputes, hatred, envy, jealousy, idleness, impropriety, falsehood,
+negligence, temper, etc., but their power will be less. There will be
+less excuse for these bad qualities and those who possess them will be
+regarded as pathological individuals who should be eliminated as much
+as possible by means of proper selection, combined with good hygiene
+and thorough education.
+
+On the other hand, men of originality and high ideals will be able to
+develop much more freely and naturally than at present. They will no
+longer be the slaves of power, money, prejudice and routine. They will
+not be obliged to conform to religious hypocrisy, but will be able to
+speak and act according to their convictions. Marriage, and sexual
+relations in general, will no longer be a perpetual conventional
+falsehood. The sentiments no longer fettered, will not be led astray
+into mischievous ways by artificial excitement, so long as they do
+not depend on unhealthy dispositions, for the pretexts and especially
+the pecuniary inducement to commit evil actions and contract bad
+habits will have been removed as far as possible.
+
+For the same reason prostitution will become almost impossible, for it
+will cease to have any reason for existence. Immoderate sexual
+intercourse, like other excesses, will not cease to exist, but will be
+kept in certain limits by the work which no one will be able to
+escape.
+
+At the end of his history of materialism (1874) F.A. Lange wrote as
+follows:
+
+"We lay down our pen and terminate our criticism at a time when Europe
+is agitated by the social question. In the vast social domain, all the
+revolutionary elements of science, religion and politics meet together
+and seem prepared for a decisive battle. Whether this battle remains a
+simple contest of minds or whether it takes the form of a cataclysm
+which will bury thousands of unfortunates in the ruins of a
+disappearing period, one thing is certain:--the new epoch will only
+succeed by abolishing egoism, and placing the work of improvement of
+the human race in the hands of a human coöperative society, in place
+of our feverish work which has only personal interest at heart.
+
+"The contests which are impending will be mitigated if the minds which
+are to direct the people are imbued with the knowledge of human
+evolution and historical phenomena.
+
+"We must not abandon the hope that in the remote future great changes
+may take place without defiling humanity with fire and bloodshed. It
+would certainly be the finest reward for strenuous work of the human
+mind, if it could from this time prepare an easy way to that which a
+certain future reserves for us, avoiding atrocious sacrifices and
+saving the treasures of our civilization to be transmitted to the new
+epoch.
+
+"Unfortunately, this prospect has little chance of realization, and we
+cannot disguise the fact that blind party passion goes on increasing,
+and that the brutal struggle of interests becomes more and more
+removed from the influence of theoretical research. However, our
+efforts will not all be in vain, and truth will prevail in the end.
+In any case the observer who thinks has no right to be silent, simply
+because at the present moment he has only a small number of
+listeners."
+
+Thirty years ago Lange's pessimism would be comprehensible; but ideas
+have progressed since then, and the prospects of to-day give us more
+courage for social work.
+
+The Utopian ideas which I have expressed have in no way the pretension
+to be new. Analyzing the facts in the most diverse domains, I have
+simply attempted to find those which seem to me suited to solve the
+sexual problem of the human race most advantageously under the present
+social conditions. Every one to-day admits that our sexual life leaves
+much to be desired, but is afraid of touching the crumbling edifice.
+
+I leave it to my readers to decide whether my ideas are nothing more
+than Utopian, or whether they do not rather represent a realizable
+ideal, begging them to reflect as calmly and independently as possible
+before giving their judgment.
+
+After all, we have to choose between pessimistic acceptance of the
+fatal decay of our race for the benefit of the Mongols, and an
+immediate and energetic effort toward selective and educational
+improvement, an effort which will alone be capable of reviving our
+hereditary vital energy. Whoever decides in favor of the latter
+alternative should occupy himself with the sexual question, and boldly
+declare war against the domination of private capital, the abuse of
+alcohol, and all the prejudices by which we are hampered. He should
+abandon the luxury and effeminate comfort of our time and return to
+the principles of Lycurgus and the Japanese--to the education of
+character and self-control by methodical training in continuous social
+work combined with voluntary fatigue and privation.
+
+
+
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REMARKS
+
+
+I shall no doubt be reproached for not having taken sufficient notice
+of other works on the subject of this book. I have, however, desired
+to express my own opinion without allowing myself to be unduly
+influenced by others. I will nevertheless make a few remarks on the
+bibliography of this subject.
+
+I may mention the celebrated work of the Italian physician,
+Mantigazza, on the _Physiology of Love_. It is a curious fact that
+this author, after his poetic descriptions of love, is in favor of
+prostitution. The German socialist, Bebel, has written a very
+remarkable book on woman in the past, the present and the future. In
+spite of scientific errors, which are easily excused in a self-made
+man who became one of the leaders of the German Reichstag, this book
+remains a veritable social monument on the sexual question. With the
+exception of his strong political bias, and the errors I have just
+mentioned I am, on the whole, in accord with the ideas of Bebel.
+
+Another German author, Bölsche, (_Das Liebesleben in der Natur_) has
+recently described love among all organized beings, including man,
+with a tone of forced pleasantry which spoils the profound knowledge
+of the author on the zoölogical and other subjects which he treats.
+
+With regard to German literature, I recommend the _Archiv für Rassen
+und Gesellschafts' Biologie_, edited by Doctor Plotz of Berlin. This
+publication has for its object the study of the causes of degeneration
+in our race and the remedies for it. Among other articles which have
+appeared in this publication I may specially mention those of
+Shallmayer on _Heredity and Selection in the Life of Races_, and
+Thurnwald, _Town and Country in the Life of the Race_. I may also
+mention Plotz: _Die Tüchtigkeit unserer Rasse und der Schutz der
+Schwachen_, 1895, and _Mutterschutz_, a journal for the reform of
+sexual ethics, 1905.
+
+France has always shone in the domain of the poetry of love and the
+art connected with it. Apart from the ancient classics I may refer to
+George Sand, Alfred de Musset, Lamartine, and Madame de Stael. In the
+practical conception of free love, George Sand was in advance of her
+time. Among modern authors there are Paul Bourget; André Couvreur, who
+in _La Graine_ deals with the problem of human selection; Brieux, who
+in _Les Avariés_, attacks the social tragedies of venereal disease.
+The book of Vacher de Lapouge on social selection is full of
+interesting ideas, although too much influenced by the unstable
+hypothesis of Gobineau. To make distinct zoölogical species of
+dolichocephalics and brachycephalics, as Vacher de Lapouge attempts,
+is a grave error in zoölogy. Charles Albert: _L'Amour Libre_, and
+Queyrat: _La Démoralization de l'idée sexuelle_, give the note of
+contemporary change in ideas on the sexual question.
+
+In _Le Mariage et les Théories Malthusiennes_ (Paris, 1906) Dr.
+Georges Guibert recommends early marriage, but does not take account
+of human selection. Remy de Gourmont, _Physique de l'amour; Essai sur
+l'instinct sexuel_, Paris, 1903, describes, very pessimistically, love
+in the animal kingdom. Jeanne Deflou (_Le Sexualisme_, Paris, 1905)
+has written a virulent feminine complaint against the injustice of the
+stronger sex.
+
+But the French author who has given the most profound, the truest
+descriptions of the psychology of love and the sexual appetite is
+undoubtedly Guy de Maupassant. No doubt his last illness caused him to
+produce certain more or less regrettable works in which certain
+pornographic traits appeared. He may, perhaps, be accused of having
+too often described the pathology of love, which, by the way, he
+admirably understood. Perhaps also, he has too often dealt with
+exceptional situations and irresponsible passions. But these are only
+details, and we must admit that by drawing attention to the unhealthy
+features of our modern sexual life, he compels the reader to reflect,
+and inspires him not only with disgust for evil but with profound
+sadness and a feeling of revulsion. He often reveals his predilection
+for the refined, hypersensitive love of the boudoir which we have
+regarded here as a symptom of social degeneration. But this does not
+prevent his clear insight into the love of the proletariat, the
+peasant or the healthy man. He knows man as well as woman, and if he
+has presented them most often under their least moral aspect it is
+because he has observed them closely. But occasionally he rises to the
+greatest heights of the truest, purest and most profound love.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+Abolitionism, 316
+
+Abortion, artificial, 408, 440
+
+Abstinence, sexual, 114
+
+Accouchement, 60
+
+Adornment, 156
+
+Adultery, 373, 412
+
+Alcohol, effect on embryo, 37, 268, 462
+  effect on sexual appetite, 88, 100, 266, 332, 503
+
+Altruism and Egoism, 448
+
+Amorous Intoxication, 277, 288
+
+Americanism, 331
+
+Anęsthesia, sexual, 222
+
+Anthropoid apes, 145, 195
+
+Anticonceptional measures, 423, 497
+
+Antipathy, 108
+
+_Antony and Cleopatra_, 289
+
+Ants, 194, 359
+
+Art, moral effect of, 496
+  in sexual life, 489
+  of loving long, 520
+  and pornography, 491
+
+Aspermia, 209
+
+Assaults on minors, 403
+
+Atavism, 29
+
+Attraction, methods of, 156
+
+Audacity, masculine, 115
+
+
+Bachelors, old, 127
+
+Bartholin's glands, 57
+
+Beauty, 162
+
+_Becket_, 352
+
+Bees, 194
+
+_Bernheim_, 277
+
+Bestiality, 255
+
+_Bezzola_, 268
+
+Birth, 23
+
+Blastophthoria, 36, 268
+
+Braggardism, sexual, 120
+
+Brain, weight of, 66, 190
+
+_Brieux_, 407, 438
+
+Brothels, 303
+  clandestine, 307
+  high class, 310
+
+Budding, 9
+
+Bullies, 303
+
+Butterflies, 74
+
+
+_Caelius Aurelianus_, 399
+
+_Caligula_, 353
+
+Castration, 25
+
+_Catherine de Medici_, 353
+
+Catholicism, Roman, 341
+
+Cell division, 6
+
+Celibacy, 153
+
+Children and marriage, 377
+  civil rights of, 378
+  education of, 471
+  protection of, 487
+
+_Chiniqui_, 342
+
+_Chauvin, de_, 36
+
+Civil law, 368
+
+Civil marriage, 370
+
+Climate and sexual life, 327
+
+Clitoris, 55
+
+Coeducation, 481
+
+Coitus, 56
+
+Commandments, 454
+
+Conception, regulation of, 423
+
+Concubinage, 322, 406
+
+Confession, Roman Catholic, 342
+
+Conjugation, 11
+
+Consanguinity, 47
+
+Constellations, 110
+
+Continence, 81, 220, 422
+
+Coquetry, 139
+
+Corpus cavernosum, 53
+  luteum, 19
+
+_Correggio_, 355
+
+Correlative sexual characters, 25, 64
+
+Council of Trent, 172
+
+Cunnilingus, 230, 275
+
+
+_Darwin_, 32, 34, 39, 480
+
+_Debreyne_, 345
+
+Decidua, 19
+
+_Demosthenes_, 187
+
+Divorce, 373
+
+Domestic animals and plants, 514
+
+_Dubois_, 46
+
+Duty, 106
+
+
+Ecphoria, 15
+
+Ecstasy, 143
+  ecstasy and religion, 356
+
+Education, 470, 516
+
+Egoism, 361
+  dual, 113
+
+Egoistic love, 125
+
+Embryo, formation of, 9
+  rights of, 411
+
+Embryology, 19
+
+Endogamy, 164
+
+Engram, 15
+
+Environment and sexual life, 326
+
+Epididymis, 52
+
+Epispadias, 210
+
+Erection, 53
+
+Eroticism, 121, 485
+  and religion, 354
+
+Erotomania, 258
+
+Ethnology of sexual life, 144
+
+Eunuchs, 25, 347
+
+Evolution, 39
+  sexual, 192
+
+Exhibitionism, 241, 405
+
+Exogamy, 164
+
+Expiation, 364
+
+
+Factory life, 326
+
+Fakirs, 239
+
+Fertilization of eggs, 12
+
+Fetichism, 142, 240
+
+_Fischer_, 36
+
+Flirtation, 99
+
+Free love, 384
+
+Free will, 365
+
+
+Genital organs, female, 55
+  organs, male, 52
+
+Germinal cells, 10
+
+_Goethe_, 73, 131
+
+Gonorrhea, 212
+
+Grisettes, 98, 322
+
+Guardianship, 384
+
+_Guillaume_, 399
+
+
+_Haeckel_, 10, 34, 40
+
+"Hand-fasting," 150
+
+Heredity, 14, 28
+  of acquired characters, 34
+
+_Hering_, 14, 35
+
+Hermaphrodites, 10
+
+_Hertwig_, 11
+
+Hetaira, 187, 323
+
+_Hirschfeld_, 242
+
+History, mental anomalies in, 350
+
+Homophony, 16
+
+Homosexual love, 241, 251
+
+Hottentots, 347
+
+Human selection, 412, 509
+
+Hybridity, 47, 163
+
+Hymen, 55
+
+Hyperęsthesia, sexual, 225
+
+Hypnotism, 277
+
+Hypochondriasis, 232, 261
+
+Hypocrisy, sexual, 123
+
+Hypospadias, 210
+
+
+Ideal Marriage, 517
+
+Idealism, 132
+
+Idiots, 410
+  moral, 261
+
+Imaginary love, 263
+
+Impotence, 85, 219
+
+Incest, 402
+
+Insane, sexual anomalies in, 256
+
+Internats, 338
+
+Inversion, sexual, 241, 251
+
+Inverts, marriage of, 378
+
+Irradiations of love, 115, 128
+
+
+"Jack the Ripper," 234
+
+Jealousy, 104, 117, 139, 260
+
+_Joan of Arc_, 351
+
+_Jörger_, 331
+
+Jus primę noctis, 151
+
+
+_Keller_, 356
+
+Kinship, 107
+
+_Krafft-Ebing_, 142, 208, 234, 404
+
+
+_Lamarck_, 39
+
+Landerziehungsheime, 477
+
+Lesbian love, 275
+
+_Liguori_, 341
+
+Lorettes, 322
+
+Love, 111
+
+Love and sexual appetite, 104
+  maternal, 135
+  and religion, 143
+
+_Lubbock_, 181
+
+Lycurgus, laws of, 466
+
+
+_Marchal_, 18
+
+Mariage de convenance, 91
+
+Marriage by purchase, 170
+  by rape, 170
+  consanguineous, 164, 387
+  duration of, 182
+  for money, 295
+  forms of, 173
+  hygiene of, 427
+  ideal, 517
+
+Masochism, 237
+
+Masturbation, 80, 220, 228
+
+Maternal love, 135
+
+Maternity, 62
+
+Matriarchism, 378, 522
+
+_Maupassant, Guy de_, 133, 140, 301, 308
+
+Medical advice, 421, 434
+  secrecy, 435
+
+Medicine and sexual life, 418
+
+Medico-legal case, 413
+
+_Mendel_, 30
+
+Menstruation, 56
+
+Mental Capacity, 67
+
+_Mercier_, 67
+
+_Merrifield_, 36
+
+_Messalina_, 353
+
+_Meynert_, 67
+
+_Mill, Stuart_, 69
+
+Mistresses, 323
+
+Mitosis, 7
+
+Mneme, 14
+
+Modesty, 126, 141
+
+_Moebius_, 65
+
+Money, cult of, 502
+
+"Monkey's love," 136
+
+Monogamy, 173
+
+Morality, 445
+
+Mormons, 174
+
+_Moses_, 454
+
+_Murillo_, 355
+
+Mysogynists' ball, 249
+
+
+_Napoleon_, 352
+
+Narcotics and sexual life, 503
+
+Natural selection, 42
+
+Neo-malthusianism, 463
+
+_Nero_, 353
+
+Nocturnal emissions, 79
+
+Nudity, 157
+
+Nymphomania, 97, 268
+
+
+Old maids, 129
+
+Onanism, 228
+
+Ontogeny, 40
+  of sexual life, 200
+
+Orgasm, veneral, 57
+
+Ovulation, 19
+
+
+Palęontology, 39
+
+Pangenesis, 34
+
+Paradoxy, sexual, 221
+
+Parthenogenesis, 9
+
+Passiveness in woman, 130
+
+Paternity, inquiry into, 383
+
+Pathology of sexual organs, 209
+
+Patriarchism, 159
+
+Patriotism, 108
+
+_Paul, St_, 352
+
+Pedagogy and the sexual question, 470
+
+Pederasty, 244
+
+Pederosis, 254
+
+Penal law in sexual matters, 396
+
+Penis, 53
+
+Phallus, 150
+
+Phylogeny, 40
+  of love, 108
+  sexual life, 193
+
+Pimps, 88
+
+Pithecanthropus, 46
+
+Placenta, 21
+
+Police and prostitution, 308
+
+Polities and sexual question, 461, 467, 506
+
+Polyandry, 173
+
+Polygamy, 173
+
+Pornography, 85, 121, 140, 406, 506
+
+Pregnancy, 23, 58, 433
+
+Prejudice and tradition, 505
+
+Preventive membranes, 425
+
+Procreative instinct, 92, 116
+
+Promiscuity, 148, 173
+
+Prostate, 53
+
+Prostitutes, fate of, 314
+  number of, 308
+  psychology of, 97, 308
+  training of, 306
+  varieties of, 312
+
+Prostitution, 88, 97, 185, 298, 308, 377
+  regulation of, 316
+  and sexual perversion, 314
+
+Protectors, 303
+
+Protoplasm, 6
+
+Proxenetism, 88, 298, 406
+
+Prudery, 126, 141
+
+Psychic impotence, 85, 219
+
+Psychic irradiations of love, 115, 128
+
+Psychopathology, sexual, 216
+
+Puberty, 77
+
+
+Race and sexual life, 189
+
+Rape, 402
+
+Rational selection, 464
+
+Religion and love, 143
+
+Religion and sexual life, 340
+
+Religious eroticism, 347
+  prudery, 346
+
+Reproduction in vertebrates, 51
+
+Restriction in sexual life, 387
+
+Retaliation, 364
+
+Rights in sexual life, 358
+
+Right to satisfaction of the sexual appetite, 373
+
+_Rousseau_, 237, 352
+
+
+_Sade, Marquis de_, 235
+
+Sadism, 234, 404, 486
+
+Satyriasis, 258
+
+_Schiller_, 59
+
+_Schopenhauer_, 65
+
+_Schwann_, 6
+
+_Seguin_, 327
+
+Selection, contrary, 465
+  human, 412, 509
+  natural, 42
+  rational, 464
+
+Semen, 53
+
+_Semon_, 14, 32
+
+Seminal vesicles, 52
+
+Senile paradoxy, 265
+
+Sexual appetite in man, 72
+  appetite in woman, 92, 130
+  disorders, 440
+  excitation, 86
+  hygiene, 420
+  morality, 445, 450
+  pathology, 208
+  perversion, 234, 273, 404, 482
+  power, 81, 203
+  selection, 161
+
+Sexes, production of, 176
+
+_Shakespere_, 267
+
+Shame, sense of, 157
+
+Social position, 334
+
+Sodomy, 255
+
+Soft chancre, 215
+
+_Solomon_, 353
+
+Spermatorrhea, 210
+
+Spermatozoa, 11
+
+_Spinoza_, 366
+
+Standard of human value, 478, 513
+
+Struggle for existence, 42
+
+Succession, right of, 394
+
+Suckling, 62
+
+Suggestion in art, 291
+  in love, 284
+  in sexual life, 277
+  in sexual anomalies, 272, 291
+
+Sympathy, 284
+
+Syphilis, 213
+
+
+Testicles, 52
+
+_Themis_, 353
+
+_Tiberius_, 365
+
+_Tolstoi_, 352
+
+Types to eliminate and perpetuate, 512
+
+
+Urnings, 242
+
+Uterus, 21
+
+Utopia, 499
+
+
+Vagabondage, 331
+
+Vagina, 55
+
+_Van Beneden_, 11
+
+Venereal diseases, 211, 376, 507
+
+Virgins, cult of, 154
+
+Vitellus, 11
+
+_Vries, de_, 17, 32, 43
+
+
+War, 461
+
+_Weismann_, 10, 17, 32, 34
+
+_Westermark_, 145, 181, 196
+
+Wealth and poverty, 333
+
+White slavery, 305
+
+Woman, emancipation of, 504
+
+Womb, 21
+
+
+Yolk, 11
+
+
+_Zeller_, 355
+
+_Zola_, 323, 407
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+    | Typographical errors corrected in text:                   |
+    |                                                           |
+    | Page  22: Kulliker replaced with Kölliker                 |
+    | Page  52: Vericles replaced with Vesicles                 |
+    | Page 256: exidence replaced with evidence                 |
+    | Page 273: 'sexual perversion proflably exist'             |
+    |           replaced with                                   |
+    |           'sexual perversion probably exist'              |
+    | Page 353: Medici replaced with Médici                     |
+    | Page 404: psycopaths replaced with psyhcopaths            |
+    | Page 426: heriditary replaced with hereditary             |
+    | Page 442: Schrenk-Notzing replaced with Schrenck-Notzing  |
+    | Page 459: perseverence replaced with perseverance         |
+    | Page 490: Shakspere replaced with Shakespere              |
+    | Page 514: necesssary replaced with necessary              |
+    | Page 528: recommned replaced with recommend               |
+    | Page 529: Les Avaries replaced with Les Avariés           |
+    | Page 535: veneral replaced with venereal                  |
+    |                                                           |
+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Sexual Question, by August Forel
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Sexual Question, by August Forel
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Sexual Question
+       A Scientific, psychological, hygienic and sociological study
+
+Author: August Forel
+
+Translator: C. F. Marshall
+
+Release Date: September 4, 2009 [EBook #29903]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEXUAL QUESTION ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Jeannie Howse and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+
+<div class="tr">
+<p class="cen" style="font-weight: bold;">Transcriber's Note:</p>
+<br />
+<p class="noin">Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has been preserved.</p>
+<p class="noin" style="text-align: left;">Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
+For a complete list, please see the <span style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="#TN">end of this document</a>.</span></p>
+<p class="noin">Click on the images to see a larger version.</p>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+
+<h1>THE<br />
+SEXUAL QUESTION</h1>
+
+<h3>A SCIENTIFIC, PSYCHOLOGICAL, HYGIENIC<br />
+AND SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY</h3>
+
+<h4 style="margin-bottom: -1px;">BY</h4>
+<h3 style="margin-top: -1px; margin-bottom: -1px">AUGUST FOREL, M.D., PH.D., LL.D.</h3>
+<h5 style="margin-top: -1px;">Formerly Professor of Psychiatry at and Director of the<br />
+Insane Asylum in Zurich (Switzerland)</h5>
+
+
+<h4><i>ENGLISH ADAPTATION FROM THE SECOND GERMAN<br />
+EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED</i></h4>
+
+<h4 style="margin-bottom: -1px;">BY</h4>
+<h3 style="margin-top: -1px; margin-bottom: -1px">C.F. MARSHALL, M.D., F.R.C.S.</h3>
+<h5 style="margin-top: -1px;">Late Assistant Surgeon to the Hospital for<br />
+Diseases of the Skin, London</h5>
+
+<h4>ILLUSTRATED<br />
+<i>REVISED EDITION</i></h4>
+
+<div class="img">
+<img border="0" src="images/deco.png" width="5%" alt="Publisher's Mark" />
+</div>
+
+<h5>BROOKLYN, NEW YORK<br />
+PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS BOOK COMPANY<br />
+HENRY AND PACIFIC STREETS<br />
+1931</h5>
+
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h5>Copyright, 1906<br />
+Copyright, 1922<br />
+<br />
+<span class="sc">owned by<br />
+Physicians and Surgeons Book Co.</span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+PRINTED IN U.S.A.</h5>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+
+<h3>PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION</h3>
+<br />
+
+<p>This book is the fruit of long experience and reflection. It has two
+fundamental ideas&mdash;the study of nature, and the study of the
+psychology of man in health and in disease.</p>
+
+<p>To harmonize the aspirations of human nature and the data of the
+sociology of the different human races and the different epochs of
+history, with the results of natural science and the laws of mental
+and sexual evolution which these have revealed to us, is a task which
+has become more and more necessary at the present day. It is our duty
+to our descendants to contribute as far as is in our power to its
+accomplishment. In recognition of the immense progress of education
+which we owe to the sweat, the blood, and often to the martyrdom of
+our predecessors, it behoves us to prepare for our children a life
+more happy than ours.</p>
+
+<p>I am well aware of the disproportion which exists between the
+magnitude of my task and the imperfections of my work. I have not been
+able to study as much as should be done the innumerable works which
+treat of the same subject. Others, better versed than myself in the
+literature of the subject, will be able later on to fill this
+regrettable lacuna. I have endeavored, above all things, to study the
+question from all points of view, in order to avoid the errors which
+result from any study which is made from one point of view only. This
+is a thing which has generally been neglected.</p>
+
+<p>I must express my thanks to my friend, <i>Professor Mahaim</i>, and
+especially to my publisher and cousin, <i>S. Steinheil</i>, for the help
+and excellent advice which they have given me in the revision of my
+work; also to <i>Professor Boveri</i>, who has been kind enough to revise
+the figures, 1 to 17.</p>
+
+<p class="right sc">Dr. A. Forel.</p>
+
+<p>Chigny pr&egrave;s Morges (Suisse).</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[ix]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION</h3>
+<br />
+
+<p>The text of the first edition has been revised and corrected, but,
+apart from some points of detail, the subject matter has not been
+changed. The examples at the end of Chapter V (First Edition) no
+longer form a special appendix; they have been included in the parts
+of the book which specially concern them; some of them have been
+omitted as being superfluous.</p>
+
+<p>In the domain with which we are concerned the French public are too
+much afraid, I think, of crudities and of calling things by their
+proper name. By veiled words and by indirect locution one may say
+anything, but I have decided not to employ such subterfuges in
+treating of such a vital social question with the seriousness that it
+requires. It seems that there is a fear of young people hearing the
+sexual question spoken of freely and openly; but it is not taken into
+account that in hiding these things under half-understood words one
+only excites their curiosity, and, owing to their being blindfolded,
+they are delivered into the snares and surprises of debauchery.</p>
+
+<p>I cannot better illustrate the error that I have just pointed out than
+by quoting, among several others of the same kind, a letter which I
+have received from a young girl, aged 21 years, intelligent, virtuous,
+educated, and well brought up, but without restraint.</p>
+
+<p>Having read my book she put several questions to me to which I
+replied. On my part I requested her to tell me frankly:</p>
+
+<p>(1). If, in her opinion, I had been mistaken in my judgment of the
+sexual psychology of the normal young girl; (2). If my book had done
+her the least harm, moral or otherwise.</p>
+
+<p>I begged her to criticise me without pity, for I wished above all
+things to be clear on the effect produced by my book. This is her
+letter:</p>
+
+<div class="block"><p>"I must thank you for the deep and unalterable impression which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[x]</a></span>
+your book has produced on me. I am a young girl of 21 years, and
+you know how difficult it is for us to see clearly into those
+natural things which so closely concern us. I cannot, therefore,
+thank you too much for the calm enlightenment which has been
+produced in me, and for the just and humane words which you
+devote to the education of our sex. I hope one day to have the
+good fortune to apply to my children the ideas on education with
+which you have inspired me.</p>
+
+<p>"You ask me for the impression which your book has made on me.
+It is true that I am still very young, but I have read much. My
+mother has brought me up very freely, so that I can count myself
+among the young girls who are free from prejudice. In spite of
+this, a sort of internal anxiety or false shame has hindered me
+from speaking of all the things of which you treat. All that I
+knew I had read in books or derived by instinct. Although I knew
+very well that my mother would always answer my questions I
+never asked any.</p>
+
+<p>"I declare that latterly my mind had been in a state of
+veritable chaos. I was obsessed and tormented by a fear of
+everything of which I was ignorant and some day ought to learn.
+This is why I was anxious to read your book which a friend
+showed me. I will now express myself more clearly.</p>
+
+<p>"The first chapters were difficult for me, not because I could
+not understand them, but owing to the strange and novel
+experience which the truth made in me when plainly and
+scientifically expounded. Wishing to read everything I applied
+myself to the book laboriously. My first impression was that of
+disgust for all human beings and mistrust of everything. But I
+was soon glad to find that I was a very normal young girl, so
+that this impression soon passed away. I was no longer excited
+over conversations which I heard, but took a real interest in
+them, and I was happy to have become acquainted with some one
+who understood us young girls.</p>
+
+<p>"I am, therefore, a young girl whose sensations are neither cold
+nor perverse, and I am always rejoiced, in reading your book, to
+see with what truth you describe our sexual impressions. Those
+who maintain that we feel in this way the same as men make me
+smile. In your book ("Hygiene of Marriage," p. 479) you say that
+the idea of marriage awakens in a normal young girl a kind of
+anguish and disgust, and that this feeling disappears as soon as
+she has found some one whom she loves. This <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[xi]</a></span>is extremely true
+and well observed. I am in complete agreement with a friend with
+whom I have often discussed your book; we young girls are very
+little attracted by the purely sexual side of marriage, and we
+should prefer to see children come into the world by some other
+way than that ordained by Nature. This will, perhaps, make you
+laugh. However, I think you will understand my feelings.</p>
+
+<p>"When I had finished reading your book I became absolutely
+tranquil, and my ideas were enlightened. It goes without saying
+that it is no longer possible for me to be ingenuous, but I
+should like to know what one gains by such naivety. It is very
+easy to be innocent when one knows nothing, and this is of no
+account. I never thought for a moment to find your book immoral,
+and that is why I do not think you have done me any harm. Excuse
+me for having written at such length, but I could not abbreviate
+when dealing with such a serious question."</p></div>
+
+<p>The author of this letter has, at my request, authorized me to publish
+it anonymously. I think that the candor, the loyalty and the maturity
+of judgment of the sentiments expressed by this young girl are of much
+more value and are much more healthy than all the prudishness and
+false shame of our conventional morality.</p>
+
+<p class="right sc">Dr. A. Forel.</p>
+
+<p>Chigny pr&egrave;s Morges (Suisse).</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[xii]</a></span><br />
+<a name="toc" id="toc"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[xiii]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CONTENTS</h3>
+<br />
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="Table of Contents">
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td width="90%">&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tdr" width="10%" style="font-size: 80%;">PAGE</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlh"><p class="hang">The reproduction of living beings&mdash;History of the
+    germ&mdash;Cell-division&mdash;Parthenogenesis&mdash;Conjugation&mdash;Mneme&mdash;Embryonic
+    development&mdash;Difference of sexes&mdash;Castration&mdash;Hermaphrodism&mdash;
+    Heredity&mdash;Blastophthoria</p></td>
+  <td class="tdr">6</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlh"><p class="hang">The evolution or descent of living beings</p></td>
+  <td class="tdr">39</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlh"><p class="hang">Natural conditions of mechanism of human coitus&mdash;Pregnancy&mdash;
+    Correlative sexual characters</p></td>
+  <td class="tdr">49</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlh"><p class="hang">The sexual appetite in man and woman&mdash;Flirtation</p></td>
+  <td class="tdr">72</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlh"><p class="hang">Love and other irradiations of the sexual appetite in the
+    human mind&mdash;Psychic irradiations of love in man: Procreative
+    instinct, jealousy, sexual braggardism, pornographic spirit,
+    sexual hypocrisy, prudery and modesty, old bachelors&mdash;Psychic
+    irradiations of love in woman: Old maids, passiveness and
+    desire, abandon and exaltation, desire for domination,
+    petticoat government, desire of maternity and maternal love,
+    routine and infatuation, jealousy, dissimulation, coquetry,
+    prudery and modesty&mdash;Fetichism and anti-fetichism&mdash;
+    Psychological relations of love to religion</p></td>
+  <td class="tdr">104</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[xiv]</a></span><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlh"><p class="hang">Ethnology and history of the sexual life of man and of
+    marriage&mdash;Origin of marriage&mdash;Antiquity of matrimonial
+    institutions&mdash;Criticism of the doctrine of promiscuity&mdash;
+    Marriage and celibacy&mdash;Sexual advances and demands of
+    marriage&mdash;Methods of attraction&mdash;Liberty of choice&mdash;Sexual
+    selection&mdash;Law of resemblance&mdash;Hybrids&mdash;Prohibition of
+    consanguineous marriages&mdash;Role of sentiment and calculation
+    in sexual selection&mdash;Marriage by purchase&mdash;Decadence of
+    marriage by purchase&mdash;Dowry&mdash;Nuptial ceremonies&mdash;Forms of
+    marriage&mdash;Duration of marriage&mdash;History of extra-nuptial sexual intercourse</p></td>
+  <td class="tdr">144</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlh"><p class="hang">Sexual evolution&mdash;Phylogeny and ontogeny of sexual life</p></td>
+  <td class="tdr">192</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlh"><p class="hang">Sexual pathology&mdash;Pathology of the sexual organs&mdash;Venereal
+    disease&mdash;Sexual psychology&mdash;Reflex anomalies&mdash;Psychic
+    impotence&mdash;Sexual paradoxy&mdash;Sexual an&aelig;sthesia&mdash;Sexual
+    hyper&aelig;sthesia&mdash;Masturbation and onanism&mdash;Perversions
+    of the sexual appetite: Sadism, masochism, fetichism,
+    exhibitionism, homosexual love, sexual inversion, pederosis,
+    sodomy&mdash;Sexual anomalies in the insane and psychopathic&mdash;
+    Effects of alcohol on the sexual appetite&mdash;Sexual anomalies
+    by suggestion and auto-suggestion&mdash;Sexual perversions due to habit</p></td>
+  <td class="tdr">208</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlh"><p class="hang">The role of suggestion in sexual life&mdash;Amorous intoxication</p></td>
+  <td class="tdr">277</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlh"><p class="hang">The relations of the sexual question to money and property&mdash;
+    Prostitution, proxenetism and venal concubinage</p></td>
+  <td class="tdr">293</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[xv]</a></span><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlh"><p class="hang">The influence of environment on sexual life&mdash;Influence of
+    climate&mdash;Town and country life&mdash;Vagabondage&mdash;Americanism&mdash;
+    Saloons and alcohol&mdash;Riches and poverty&mdash;Rank and social
+    position&mdash;Individual life&mdash;Boarding schools.</p></td>
+  <td class="tdr">326</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlh"><p class="hang">Religion and sexual life</p></td>
+  <td class="tdr">340</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlh"><p class="hang">Rights in sexual life&mdash;Civil law&mdash;Penal law&mdash;A medico-legal
+    case</p></td>
+  <td class="tdr">358</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlh"><p class="hang">Medicine and sexual life&mdash;Prostitution&mdash;Sexual hygiene&mdash;
+    Extra-nuptial intercourse&mdash;Medical advice&mdash;Means of
+    regulating or preventing conception&mdash;Hygiene of marriage&mdash;
+    Hygiene of pregnancy&mdash;Medical advice as to marriage&mdash;Medical
+    secrecy&mdash;Artificial abortion&mdash;Treatment of sexual disorders</p></td>
+  <td class="tdr">418</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlh"><p class="hang">Sexual morality</p></td>
+  <td class="tdr">445</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlh"><p class="hang">The sexual question in politics and in political economy</p></td>
+  <td class="tdr">461</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlh"><p class="hang">The sexual question in pedagogy</p></td>
+  <td class="tdr">470</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlh"><p class="hang">The sexual question in art</p></td>
+  <td class="tdr">489</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdlh"><p class="hang">Conclusions&mdash;Utopian ideas on the ideal marriage of the
+    future&mdash;Bibliographical remarks</p></td>
+  <td class="tdr">499</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#INDEX">INDEX</a></td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h2>THE SEXUAL QUESTION</h2>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h2>THE SEXUAL QUESTION</h2>
+
+<br />
+
+<h3>INTRODUCTION</h3>
+<br />
+
+<p>My object is to study the sexual question under all its aspects:
+scientific, ethnological, pathological and social, and to seek the
+best solution of the numerous problems connected with it.
+Unfortunately, in publications dealing with this subject, eroticism
+usually plays a considerable part, and it is difficult for an author
+to abstract himself from this, for it is reflected unconsciously in
+his thoughts. As all sentiment, more or less, warps judgment, it is
+the duty of scientific criticism to eliminate eroticism in order to be
+exact and impartial. We shall, therefore, do all that is possible to
+free ourselves from it in the course of the present study.</p>
+
+<p>The sexual question is of fundamental importance for humanity, whose
+happiness and well-being depend largely on the best solution of this
+important problem. In dealing with such a delicate subject I shall
+endeavor to avoid narrow-mindedness and prejudice; I shall avoid
+tiresome quotations, and shall only employ technical terms when
+necessary, as they rather interfere with the comprehension of the
+subject. I shall take care to explain all those which appear to me
+indispensable.</p>
+
+<p>My opinions on the sexual question are based, on the one hand, on my
+scientific study of the human brain, and on the other hand on the long
+personal experience of an alienist who has devoted himself almost as
+much to normal mentality and questions of social hygiene as to
+pathological mentality. I have, however, been obliged to rely on the
+fundamental work of <i>Westermark</i> with regard to ethnology, this
+subject being strange to me. Concerning sexual psycho-pathology I have
+followed the classification of <i>Krafft-Ebing</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The sexual question is extraordinarily complex, and we cannot expect
+to find a simple solution for it as we can for the questions of
+alcoholism, slavery, torture, etc. The latter are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>solved in one
+word&mdash;suppression. Suppression of slavery and torture; suppression of
+the usage of alcoholic drinks. We are concerned here with ulcers
+artificially produced and preserved in human society; ulcers which
+must be simply extirpated. Their suppression is nothing but
+beneficial, since, far from being connected with the normal conditions
+of human existence, they place it in peril. Sexual instinct and
+sentiment, on the contrary, have their roots in life itself; they are
+intimately bound up with humanity, and therefore require quite a
+different treatment. But human society has guided them into false and
+pernicious ways. It is important to turn them from these in order to
+tranquilize and regulate their course by damming them up and
+canalizing them.</p>
+
+<p>The fundamental axiom of the sexual question is as follows:</p>
+
+<p><i>With man, as with all living beings, the constant object of all
+sexual function, and consequently of sexual love, is the reproduction
+of the species.</i> It is therefore necessary to treat the question from
+the point of view of the natural sciences, physiology, psychology and
+sociology. This has already been done more than once, but usually in
+erudite treatises which only look upon one side of the question; or,
+on the other hand, in a superficial and often frivolous manner.</p>
+
+<p>To ensure happiness, humanity should desire to reproduce itself in a
+manner which elevates progressively all the physical and mental
+faculties of man, with regard to health and bodily strength, as much
+as to sentiment, intelligence, will, creative imagination, love of
+work, joy of living, and the sentiment of social solidarity. Every
+attempt made to solve the sexual question should, therefore, be
+directed toward the future and toward the happiness of our
+descendants.</p>
+
+<p>It requires much disinterestedness to attempt seriously any sexual
+reform. But, as the human subject is by nature extremely weak, as his
+views are limited, especially in the matter which concerns us, it is
+absolutely necessary, if we would avoid Utopia, to adapt the
+fundamental aim of sexual union to happiness and joy, even to the
+natural weakness of man.</p>
+
+<p>The fundamental difficulty of the problem lies in the necessity for
+such an adaptation, and this difficulty requires us to make <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>a clean
+sweep of prejudices, traditions and prudery. It is this which we wish
+to attempt.</p>
+
+<p>Considered from an exalted point of view, sexual life is beautiful as
+well as good. What there is in it which is shameful and infamous is
+the obscenity and ignominy caused by the coarse passions of egoism and
+folly, allied with ignorance, erotic curiosity and mystic
+superstition, often combined with social narcotic intoxication and
+cerebral anomalies.</p>
+
+<p>We shall divide our subject into nineteen chapters. Chapters I to VII
+deal with the natural history and psychology of sexual life; Chapter
+VIII with its pathology, and Chapters IX to XVIII with its social
+role, that is to say, its connection with the different domains of
+human social life.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER I<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>THE REPRODUCTION OF LIVING BEINGS</h4>
+
+<div class="block2"><p class="hang" style="text-align: left;"><i>History of the
+Germ:&mdash;Cell-division&mdash;Parthenogenesis&mdash;Conjugation&mdash;Mneme&mdash;Embryological
+Development&mdash; Difference of the Sexes&mdash;Castration&mdash;Hermaphrodism&mdash;
+Heredity&mdash;Blastophthoria.</i></p></div>
+<br />
+
+<p>A general law of organic life decrees that every living individual is
+gradually transformed in the course of a cycle which is called
+individual life, and which terminates with death, that is by the
+destruction of the greater part of the organism. It then becomes inert
+matter, and the germinative cells alone of all its parts continue its
+life under certain conditions.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Cells: Protoplasm. The Nucleus.</b>&mdash;Since the time of
+<i>Schwann</i> (1830) it is agreed that the cell is the most simple
+morphological element which is capable of living. Among the lower
+organisms this element constitutes the entire individual. There is no
+doubt that the cell is already a thing of high organization. It is
+formed of infinitely small elements of very different value and
+chemical constitution, which form what is called <i>protoplasm</i> or the
+cell-substance. But these infinitely small elements are so far
+absolutely unknown. It is in them that must be sought the change from
+inanimate matter, that is the chemical molecule, to living matter, a
+change which was formerly believed to lie in the protoplasm itself,
+before its complicated structure was known. We need not concern
+ourselves here with this question which remains an open one.</p>
+
+<p>Life being established, the cell remains its only known constant
+element. The cell is composed of protoplasm which contains a rounded
+nucleus formed of <i>nucleo-plasma</i>. The nucleus is the most important
+part of the cell, and governs its life.</p>
+
+<p><b>Cell-division.</b>&mdash;The lowest unicellular organisms, as each cell of a
+multicellular organism, reproduce themselves by division <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>or
+<i>fission</i>. Each cell originates from another cell in the following
+manner: the cell divides in the center as well as its nucleus, and in
+this way forms two cells which grow by absorbing by <i>endosmosis</i>
+(filtration) the nutritive juices which surround them. Death or
+destruction of the cell is therefore death of the entire organism when
+this is unicellular. But it has been previously reproduced.</p>
+
+<p>We find here already the special and fundamental act of conjugation,
+that is the fusion of two cells into one, which serves to strengthen
+reproduction. This act, common to all living things including man,
+shows us that continuation of life is only possible when from time to
+time different elements, that is elements which have been exposed to
+different influences, combine together. If this conjugation is
+prevented and life is allowed to continue indefinitely by means of
+fission or by budding (<i>vide infra</i>), there results a progressive
+weakening and degeneration which leads to the disappearance of the
+whole group thus reproduced.</p>
+
+<p>It is necessary to explain here the results of recent scientific work
+on the intimate phenomena of cell-division, for they are closely
+allied to those of fecundation.</p>
+
+<p>The nucleus of an ordinary cell presents itself in the form of a
+nearly spherical vesicle. Delicate methods of staining have shown that
+the nucleus encloses several round nucleolar corpuscles, and also a
+reticulum which is attached to its membrane and spreads through its
+whole substance. The liquid part of the nucleus fills the meshes of
+this reticular tissue, which stains easily and for this reason is
+named <i>chromatin</i>. The phenomena of cell division in well-developed
+cells with nuclei is termed <i>mitosis</i>. Certain lower forms of cells
+exist in which the nucleus is not well differentiated. Mitosis begins
+in the nucleus (Plate I). Figure 1 represents the cell before division
+has commenced. In the protoplasm, by the side of the nucleus, is
+formed a small corpuscle (<i>c</i>) which is called the <i>centrosome</i>. The
+nucleus itself is marked <i>b</i>. When the cell commences to divide, the
+meshes of the network of chromatin contract and the centrosome divides
+into two parts (Fig. 2). Shortly afterward the particles of chromatin
+concentrate in the form of convoluted rods called <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span><i>chromosomes</i>
+(Figs. 3 and 4). The number of these varies according to the species
+of organism, but remains constant for each animal or vegetable
+species. At the same time the two centrosomes separate from each other
+on each side of the nucleus. The chromosomes then become shorter and
+thicker while the nucleus is completely dissolved in the protoplasm of
+the cell, and its membrane disappears (Fig. 4).</p>
+
+<p>Directly afterwards the chromosomes arrange themselves regularly in
+line, like soldiers at drill, following one of the larger diameters of
+the cell, and forming a barrier between the two centrosomes (Fig. 5).
+Each of the chromosomes then divides into two parallel halves of equal
+thickness (Fig. 6).</p>
+
+<p>Figures 3 and 4 show that, while these changes are being produced,
+each of the two centrosomes is surrounded by stellate rays. Some of
+these rays extending in the direction of the chromosomes, become
+attached to one of their extremities and draw it toward the
+corresponding centrosome (Fig. 7). Thus around each centrosome are
+grouped as many chromosomes as the mother cell possessed itself (Fig.
+8). Simultaneously, the cell enlarges and its protoplasm commences to
+become indented at each end of the diameter previously formed by the
+chromosomes. From this moment the nuclear liquid concentrates itself
+around each of the groups of chromosomes, the rays disappear and the
+cell divides into two halves, each containing a group of chromosomes
+(Fig. 9); the indentation increases so as to form a partition across
+the protoplasm. The chromosomes then form a new meshwork of nuclear
+chromatin, and we have then two cells each with a nucleus and a
+centrosome like the mother cell (Fig. 10).</p>
+
+<p>This is what takes place in the reproduction of all cells of the
+animal and vegetable kingdoms. In the simplest unicellular organisms
+which are known fission constitutes the only means of reproduction. In
+the complicated organisms of the higher plants and animals each cell
+divides in the manner indicated above, both in the embryonic period
+and later on during the development of each of the organs which forms
+the organism. This fact shows more than any other the intimate
+relationship which connects all living organisms. The most remarkable
+thing, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>perhaps, is the almost mathematical division of the
+chromosomes into two halves, a division which results in the equal
+distribution of their substance through the whole organism. We shall
+return to this point later on.</p>
+
+<p><b>Reproduction by Budding. Parthenogenesis.</b> In the animal and
+vegetable kingdoms the higher organisms become more and more
+complicated. They are no longer composed of a single cell, but of an
+increasing number of these cells combined in a whole, of which each
+part, adapted for a special purpose, is itself formed of cells,
+differentiated as much by their organic form as by their chemical and
+physical constitution. In this way, in plants, are formed the leaves,
+flowers, buds, branches, trunk, bark, etc.; and in animals the skin,
+intestine, glands, blood, muscles, nerves, brain, sense organs, etc.
+In spite of the great complication of the divers living multicellular
+organisms, one often finds among them the power of reproduction by
+fission or by budding. In certain animals and plants, groups of cells
+vegetate in buds which separate from the body later on and form a new
+individual; this occurs among the polypi and plants with bulbs, etc.
+One can even form a tree by means of a cutting. Ants and bees, which
+have not been fecundated, are capable of laying eggs which develop by
+<i>parthenogenesis</i> (virgin parturition) and become complete
+individuals. But these degenerate and disappear if reproduction by
+parthenogenesis or budding is continued during several generations.</p>
+
+<p>Among the higher animals, the vertebrates and man, there is no
+reproduction without conjugation; no parthenogenesis or budding. So
+far as we have studied the question we see in the animal and vegetable
+kingdoms sexual reproduction, or conjugation, as a <i>sine qua non</i> for
+the indefinite continuation of life.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Sexual Glands. The Embryo.</b> However complicated the organism, it
+always possesses a special organ, the cells of which, all of the same
+form, are reserved for the reproduction of the species and especially
+for conjugation. The cells of these organs, called <i>sexual glands</i>,
+have the power of reproducing themselves so that they reconstruct the
+whole individual (the type of the species) from which they arose, in
+an almost identical form, by conjugation (sometimes also, for a
+certain time, by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>parthenogenesis) under certain fixed conditions as
+soon as they leave its body. We can thus say with <i>Weismann</i>, speaking
+philosophically, that these germinal cells continue the life of their
+parents, so that in reality death only destroys part of the
+individual, namely, that which has been specially adapted for certain
+exclusively individual ends. Each individual, therefore, continues to
+live in his descendants.</p>
+
+<p>The germinal cell divides into a number of cells called embryonic,
+which become differentiated into layers or groups which later on form
+the different organs of the body. The embryonic period is the name
+given to the period between the exit of the germinal cell from the
+maternal body and the final complete development which it acquires in
+becoming the adult individual. During this period the organism
+undergoes the most singular metamorphoses. In certain cases it forms a
+free embryo which appears to be complete, having a special form and
+mode of life, but which finally becomes transformed into an entirely
+different sexual individual. Thus from the egg of a butterfly there
+first emerges a caterpillar, which lives and grows for some time, then
+changes to a chrysalis and finally to a butterfly. The caterpillar and
+the chrysalis belong to the embryonic period. During this period every
+animal reproduces in an abbreviated manner certain forms which
+resemble more or less those through which its ancestors have passed.
+The caterpillar, for example, resembles the worm which is the ancestor
+of the insects. <i>Haeckel</i> calls this the <i>fundamental biogenetic law</i>.
+We are not concerned here with embryology, and will content ourselves
+with some of the main points.</p>
+
+<p><b>Germinal Cells. Hermaphrodites.</b> We now come to <i>conjugation</i>. In
+order to avoid complications we will leave aside plants and speak only
+of animals. Among multicellular animals, sometimes in the same
+individual, sometimes in different individuals, occur two kinds of
+sexual glands, each containing one kind of cells&mdash;the male cells and
+the female cells. When both kinds of sexual glands occur in the same
+individual, the animal is said to be <i>hermaphrodite</i>. When they
+develop in two different individuals the animals are of distinct
+sexes. Snails, for example, are hermaphrodite. There also exist lower
+multicellular <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>animals which reproduce by budding, but among which
+conjugation takes place from time to time. We shall not consider these
+animals any further, as they are too remote to interest us here.</p>
+
+<p><b>Spermatozoa and Ova.</b>&mdash;In all the higher animals, including the
+hermaphrodites, the male germinal cells, or <i>spermatozoa</i> are
+characterized by their mobility. Their protoplasm is contractile and
+their form varies according to the species. In man and vertebrate
+animals they resemble infinitely small tadpoles, and their tails are
+equally mobile. The female germinative cell, on the contrary, is
+immobile and much larger than the male cell. Conjugation consists in
+the movement of the male cell, by means of variable mechanism, toward
+the female cell, or egg, into the protoplasm of which it enters. At
+this moment it produces on the surface of the egg a coagulation, which
+prevents the entrance of a second spermatozoid.</p>
+
+<p>The egg and the spermatozoid both consist of protoplasm containing a
+nucleus. But, while the spermatozoid has only a small nucleus and very
+little protoplasm, the egg has a large nucleus and a large quantity of
+protoplasm. In certain species the protoplasm of the egg grows in the
+maternal organism in a regular manner to form the <i>vitellus</i> (yolk of
+egg) which serves as nourishment for the embryo for a long period of
+its existence. This occurs in birds and reptiles.</p>
+
+<p><b>Conjugation.</b>&mdash;The phenomena of conjugation were made clear by <i>van
+Beneden</i> and <i>Hertwig</i>. These phenomena, as we have seen, commence
+among unicellular organisms. In these they do not constitute
+reproduction, but the vital re&euml;nforcement of certain individuals.
+Conjugation takes place in a different manner in different cases.</p>
+
+<p>For example, a unicellular animal applies itself against one of its
+fellows. The nucleus of each cell divides into two. Then the
+protoplasm of the two cells fuses over the whole surface of contact,
+and half the nucleus of the first cell penetrates the second cell,
+while half the nucleus of the latter enters the first cell. After this
+exchange the cells separate from each other and each exchanged half of
+the nucleus fuses with the primitive half of the nucleus remaining in
+the cell.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>From this moment each cell continues to reproduce itself by fission,
+as we have seen above. In another form, two cells meet and fuse
+completely. Their nuclei become applied against each other and each
+exchanges half its substance with the other as in the preceding case,
+so that the final result is the same. In both cases the two conjugated
+cells are identical, and one cannot call them male and female.</p>
+
+<p><b>Penetration of the Spermatozoid into the Egg.</b>&mdash;In all the higher
+animals in which the germinal cells are of two kinds, male and female,
+conjugation takes place in rather a different manner. Here, the female
+cell or egg only reproduces itself exceptionally by parthenogenesis.
+It usually contains no chromosomes and often too little chromatin, so
+that it perishes when conjugation does not occur.</p>
+
+<p>The spermatozoid swims by means of its tail to meet the egg. As soon
+as it touches it it penetrates it and the coagulation which we have
+mentioned is produced. This coagulation forms the <i>vitelline
+membrane</i>, which prevents the entry of other spermatozoids. If, from
+pathological causes the entry of several spermatozoids takes place,
+there results, according to <i>Fol</i>, a double or triple monster.</p>
+
+<p>In Fig. 11 on Plate II, we see the egg with its vitelline membrane and
+nucleus, the chromatin network of which is marked in blue: <i>b</i> shows
+the protoplasm of the egg or <i>vitellus</i>; <i>a</i> the vitelline membrane;
+<i>d</i> the spermatozoid which has just entered, and the nucleus of which,
+composed chiefly of chromatin, is colored red, while its tail has
+performed its task and is about to disappear. The letters <i>e</i>, <i>f</i>,
+and <i>g</i>, show a spermatozoid which has arrived too late.</p>
+
+<p>Before the head of the spermatozoid which has entered, appears a
+centrosome (Fig. 12) which it brings to the egg with its small amount
+of protoplasm, and around this centrosome rays form, as in the case of
+cellular fission. At the same time a nuclear liquid arising from the
+protoplasm of the egg becomes concentrated around the chromatin of the
+spermatozoid, while the nucleus of the egg remains in place and does
+not change. The nucleus of the spermatozoid, on the contrary, begins
+to grow rapidly. It forms half the number of chromosomes
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>corresponding to the cell of the species to which it belongs, and
+grows at the expense of the vitellus of the egg. During this time the
+centrosome divides into two halves, which progress slowly on each side
+toward the periphery of the egg, as in the case of fission (see Plate
+I), while the chromatin of the chromosomes of the spermatozoid is
+dissolved in the network. The nucleus thus formed by the spermatozoid
+enlarges more and more (Figs. 13 and 14) till it attains the size and
+shape of that of the egg (Fig. 15). The male and female chromatin are
+colored red and blue respectively.</p>
+
+<p>Then only commences activity of the nucleus of the egg, at the same
+time as fresh activity on the part of the nucleus of the spermatozoid.
+Before this, however, the nucleus of the egg has thrown off a part of
+its chromatin called a <i>polar</i> body, and it now possesses only half as
+much chromatin as the other cells of the body of the individual. The
+nucleus of the egg and that of the spermatozoid then begin at the same
+time to concentrate their chromatin in the form of chromosomes (Fig.
+16) which arrange themselves regularly in the middle line exactly as
+shown in Plate I, and divide longitudinally into two halves which are
+then attracted in opposite directions by the rays of each of the
+centrosomes (Fig. 17). Figure 17, of Plate II, thus corresponds
+exactly to Fig. 6, of Plate I.</p>
+
+<p>In fact, the growth of the nucleus of the spermatozoid has given to
+its substance the same power of development as to that of the nucleus
+of the egg. Both enter into conjugation in equal parts, which
+symbolizes the social equality and the rights of the two sexes!</p>
+
+<p>The signification of these facts is as follows: as soon as, in the
+course of development, the conjugated nuclei divide again into two
+cells, as in Figs. 7 to 10, of Plate I, each of these two cells
+contains almost the same quantity of paternal as maternal chromatin.
+We do not say exactly as much, for the paternal and maternal
+influences are not divided equally in the descendants. This phenomenon
+may be explained by what <i>Semon</i> calls alternating ecphoria in mnemic
+dichotomy. (<i>Vide infra.</i>) As cell division continues in the same way
+during embryonic life, it follows that each cell, or at least each
+nucleus of the future <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>organism, will contain on the average half its
+substance and energy from the paternal and half from the maternal
+side.</p>
+
+<p><b>Heredity. The Mneme.</b>&mdash;The secret of heredity lies in the phenomena
+which have been just described. Hereditary influence preserves all its
+primary power and original qualities in the chromosomes, which enlarge
+and divide, while the vitelline substance, absorbed by the chromosomes
+and transformed by the vital chemical processes into the specific
+substance of the chromosomes, loses its specific and plastic vital
+energy, as completely as the food which we swallow loses its energy in
+forming the structure of our living organs. We do not acquire any of
+the characters of the ox by eating beefsteaks; and the spermatozoid,
+after eating much vitelline protoplasm, preserves its own hereditary
+energies, increased and fortified, but without change in their
+qualities.</p>
+
+<p>In this way the nuclear chromatin of our germinal cells becomes the
+carrier of all the hereditary qualities of the species (hereditary
+mneme), and more especially those of our direct ancestors. The
+uniformity of the intracellular phenomena in cell division and
+conjugation proves, however, that, without being capable of
+reproducing the individual, the other non-germinal cells of the body
+may also possess these hereditary energies, and that there exists,
+hidden behind all these facts, an unknown law of life, the explanation
+of which is reserved for the future.</p>
+
+<p>However, a recent work based on an idea of the physiologist, <i>E.
+Hering</i>, which looks upon instinct as a kind of memory of the species,
+opens up a new horizon. I refer to the book of <i>Richard Semon</i>: "The
+<i>mneme</i> considered as the conservative principle in the transmutations
+of organic life." (<i>Die Mneme als erhaltendes Prinzip im Wechsel des
+organischen Geschehens</i>, Leipzig, 1904.)</p>
+
+<p><i>Conception of Irritation.</i><a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>&mdash;By the aid of the fundamental facts of
+morphological science, biological and psychological, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span><i>Semon</i> proves
+that <i>Hering's</i> idea is more than an analogy, and that there is a
+fundamental identity in the mechanism of organic life. In order to
+avoid the terminology of psychology which tends to be equivocal,
+<i>Semon</i> employs some new terms to designate his new ideas, based on
+the fundamental conception of <i>irritation</i> in its physiological sense.</p>
+
+<p><i>Semon</i> defines <i>irritation</i> as an energetic action on the organism
+which determines a series of complicated changes in the irritable
+substance of the living organism. The condition of the organism thus
+modified, which lasts as long as the irritation, is called by <i>Semon</i>
+the <i>state of irritation</i>. Before the action of irritation, the
+organism is in a condition which <i>Semon</i> calls the <i>primary state of
+indifference</i>, and after its action, in the <i>secondary state of
+indifference</i>.</p>
+
+<p><i>Engram. Ecphoria.</i>&mdash;If, when an irritation has entirely ceased, the
+irritable substance of the living organism becomes modified
+permanently during its secondary state of indifference, <i>Semon</i> calls
+the action <i>engraphic</i>. To the modification itself he gives the word
+<i>engram</i>. The sum of the hereditary and individual engrams thus
+produced in a living organism is designated by the term <i>mneme</i>.
+<i>Semon</i> gives the name <i>ecphoria</i> to the revival of the engram by the
+repetition of part only of the original irritation, or by the entire
+but weakened reproduction of the whole state of irritation of the
+organism, which was originally produced in a synchronous manner with
+the primary irritation.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, an engram may be ecphoriated (that is to say, reproduced or
+revived) by the return of one part of the complex of primary
+irritations which produced it. A young dog, for example, is attacked
+by urchins who throw stones at it. It experiences two kinds of
+irritation: (1) the urchins stooping down and throwing stones (optic
+irritation); (2) the pain caused by the stones (tactile irritation).</p>
+
+<p>In its brain are produced two associated series of corresponding
+engrams. Previously, this dog did not react when it saw people stoop
+down. From this moment it will run away and howl at the sight, without
+any stone being thrown at it. Thus the tactile engram will be
+ecphoriated by the repetition of the original associated irritation.
+In the same way, the image of a tree in a known landscape will
+ecphoriate the entire landscape.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, an engram may be revived by the enfeebled return of the
+primary irritating agent which produced it, or by an analogous
+enfeebled irritation. Thus, the sight of a photograph will <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>revive the
+image of a known person. A certain kind of maize imported for a long
+time into Norway and influenced in that country during many
+generations by the sun of the long summer days, finally accelerated
+its time of maturation. When imported again to the south of Europe it
+first preserved its faculty of accelerated maturation in spite of the
+shortness of the days (<i>Sch&uuml;beler</i>). <i>Semon</i> gives a series of
+analogous examples which show how engrams repeated during several
+generations accumulate and end by becoming ecphoriated when they have
+acquired enough power.</p>
+
+<p>Engrams may be associated simultaneously in space, such as those of
+sight. But they may also be associated in succession, such as those of
+hearing and of ontogeny. Simultaneous engrams are associated in every
+direction with the same intensity. Successive engrams, on the
+contrary, are associated more strongly forwards than backwards, and
+have only two poles. In the succession <i>a b</i>, <i>a</i> acts more strongly
+on <i>b</i> than <i>b</i> on <i>a</i>. In the successions of engrams it often happens
+that two or more analogous engrams are associated in a manner more or
+less equivalent to a preceding engram. <i>Semon</i> calls this phenomenon
+dichotomy, trichotomy, etc. But in the successions, two engrams cannot
+be ecphoriated simultaneously. Hence the phenomenon which <i>Semon</i>
+names <i>alternating ecphoria</i>; that is sometimes one, sometimes the
+other of the constituent engrams, for example, of a dichotomy, which
+arrives at ecphoria. Similarly, the engram of the ecphoriated
+dichotomy is most often that which has been previously most often
+repeated.</p>
+
+<p>In the laws of ontogeny and heredity alternating ecphoria plays an
+important part. The branch less often repeated remains latent and the
+other only is ecphoriated. But certain combinations which re&euml;nforce
+the latent branch or paralyze the other may induce ecphoria of the
+first to the second generation.</p>
+
+<p><i>Semon</i> also shows that the phenomena of regeneration in the embryo,
+as well as those of the adult, obey the law of the mneme.</p>
+
+<p><i>Homophony.</i>&mdash;The terms engram and ecphoria correspond to the
+well-known introspective phenomena in psychology of memory and the
+association of ideas. Engrams are thus ecphoriated. At the time of
+such phenomena every mnemic irritation of the engrams vibrates
+simultaneously with the state of synchronous irritation produced by a
+new irritation. This simultaneous irritation is named by <i>Semon</i>
+<i>homophony</i>. When a partial discord is produced between the new
+irritation and the mnemic irritation, the organism always tends to
+re&euml;stablish homophony (harmony). <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>This is seen in psychological
+introspection by activity of attention; in embryology by the
+phenomenon of regeneration; and in phylogeny by that of adaptation.</p>
+
+<p>Relying on these convincing facts, <i>Semon</i> shows that irritative
+actions are only localized at first in their zone of entry (primary
+zone); but that afterward they irradiate or vibrate, gradually
+becoming weaker in the whole organism (not only in the nervous system,
+for they also act on plants). By this means, engraphia, although
+infinitely enfeebled, may finally reach the germinal cells. <i>Semon</i>
+then shows how the most feeble engraphias may gradually arrive at
+ecphoria, as the result of numerous repetitions (in phylogeny after
+innumerable generations). This is how the mnemic principle allows us
+to conceive the possibility of an infinitely slow heredity of
+characters acquired by individuals, a heredity resulting from
+prolonged repetition.</p>
+
+<p>The facts invoked by <i>Weismann</i> against the heredity of acquired
+characters lose nothing of their weight by this, for the influence of
+crossing (conjugation) and selection transforms the material organic
+forms in an infinitely more rapid and intense manner than individual
+mnemic engraphias. The latter, on the other hand, furnish the
+explanation of the mutations of <i>de Vries</i>, which appear to be only
+sudden ecphoria of accumulated long engraphic actions.</p>
+
+<p>The way in which <i>Semon</i> studies and discusses the laws of the mneme
+in morphology, physiology and psychology, is truly magisterial, and
+the perspective which opens out from these new ideas is extensive. The
+mneme, with the aid of the energetic action of the external world,
+acts on organisms by preserving them and combining them by engraphia,
+while selection eliminates all that is ill-adapted, and homophony
+re&euml;stablishes the equilibrium. The irritations of the external world,
+therefore, furnish the material for the construction of organisms. I
+confess to having been converted by <i>Semon</i> to this way of conceiving
+the heredity of acquired characters. Instead of several nebulous
+hypotheses, we have only one&mdash;the nature of mnemic engraphia. It is
+for the future to discover its origin in physical and chemical laws.</p>
+
+<p>I must refer my readers to <i>Semon's</i> book, for this volume of 343
+pages, filled with facts and proofs, cannot be condensed into a few
+paragraphs.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<p><b>Each Cell bears in itself Ancestral Energy.</b> As we have already seen,
+the germinal, cells are not the only ones which possess the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>energies
+of all the characters of the species. On the contrary it becomes more
+and more certain, from further investigation, that each cell of the
+body bears in itself, so to speak, all the energies of the species, as
+is distinctly seen in plants. But in all the cells which are not
+capable of germinating, these energies remain incapable of
+development. It results that such energies, remaining virtual, have no
+practical importance.</p>
+
+<p>In an analogous sense we may say that all the cells of the body are
+hermaphrodite, as all germinal cells, for each possesses in itself the
+undifferentiated energies of each sex. Each spermatozoid contains all
+the energies of the paternal and maternal ancestry of man, and each
+egg those of the paternal and maternal ancestry of woman. The male and
+the female are only the bearers of each kind of germinal cells
+necessary for conjugation, and each of these bearers only differs from
+the others by its sexual cells and by what is called correlative
+sexual differences. But we must not forget that the germinal cells
+themselves are only differentiated at a certain period in the
+development of the embryo; they are thus hermaphrodite originally and
+only become male and female later.</p>
+
+<p>New experiments made on the eggs of sea urchins and other organisms
+have shown that conjugation may be replaced by an external irritating
+agent; for example, the action of certain chemical substances is
+sufficient to make eggs develop by parthenogenesis which would have
+died without this action. An entire being has been successfully
+produced from an egg divided into two by means of a hair. And even
+from the protoplasm of the egg without its nucleus, with the aid of a
+spermatozoid. We must not, however, base premature hypotheses on these
+facts.</p>
+
+<p>When a female cell, or egg, develops without fecundation
+(parthenogenesis) its nucleus enlarges and divides in the same manner
+as conjugated nuclei (mitosis).</p>
+
+<p>A point of general interest is what is called the <i>specific
+polyembryony</i> of certain parasitic insects (hymenoptera of the genus
+<i>Encyrtus</i>). According to <i>Marchal</i>, their eggs grow and divide into a
+considerable number of secondary eggs, each of which gives rise to an
+embryo and later on a perfect insect. By shaking the eggs of certain
+marine animals they have been caused <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>to divide into several eggs
+and thus to produce several embryos. All the individuals arising from
+the division of the same egg of <i>Encyrtus</i> are of the same sex.</p>
+
+<div class="img">
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;"> PLATE I<br />CELL DIVISION</p>
+<a href="images/plate1.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/plate1.jpg" width="45%" alt="Plate 1: Cell Division" /></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<div class="img">
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;"> PLATE II<br />FERTILIZATION OF THE OVUM BY THE SPERMATOZOID<br />
+DIAGRAM OF OVUM AND SPERMATOZOID</p>
+<a href="images/plate2.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/plate2.jpg" width="45%" alt="Plate 2: Fertilization of the Ovum by the Spermatozoid" /></a><br />
+</div>
+
+<p><b>Embryology.</b>&mdash;It is not necessary to describe here in detail the
+different changes which the two conjugated cells pass through to
+become an adult man. This is the object of the science of embryology.
+We shall return to this in Chapter III. A few words are necessary,
+however, to explain the general principles.</p>
+
+<p><b>Ovulation. The corpus luteum.</b>&mdash;The ovaries of woman (Fig. 18)
+contain a considerable number of cells or ovules, although infinitely
+less than the number of spermatozoids contained in the testicles. From
+time to time some of these ovules enlarge and are surrounded by a
+vesicle with liquid contents, which is called the Graafian follicle.
+At the time of the monthly periods an egg (sometimes two) is
+discharged from its Graafian follicle, from one or other ovary. This
+phenomenon is called <i>ovulation</i>. The empty follicle becomes
+cicatrized in the ovary and is called the <i>corpus luteum</i> (yellow
+body).</p>
+
+<p>The egg after its discharge arrives at the abdominal orifice of the
+Fallopian tube, which communicates directly with the abdominal cavity.
+Some authors state that the end of the tube becomes applied against
+the ovary by the aid of muscular movement and, so to speak, sucks in
+the discharged ovule, while others hold that the movements of the
+vibratile cilia, with which the epithelium of the tubes is furnished,
+suffice to draw the ovule into its cavity. Figure 18 explains this
+phenomenon.</p>
+
+<p>Having arrived in the tube, the ovule moves very slowly in the almost
+capillary tube by means of the vibratile cilia and arrives in the
+cavity of the womb. Fecundation probably takes place most often at the
+entrance to the tube or in its canal; sometimes possibly in the womb.
+On some occasions a squad of spermatozoids advances to meet the
+descending egg, and numerous spermatozoids are often found in the
+tubes, even as far as the abdominal cavity.</p>
+
+<p><b>Fixation of the egg. Formation of the Decidua.</b>&mdash;After fecundation,
+the egg becomes attached to the mucous membrane of the cavity of the
+womb. This mucous membrane proliferates and becomes gradually detached
+from the womb to form the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> <i>membrana decidua</i> which envelops the egg
+or ovule. An egg fecundated and fixed in this way may keep its
+position and grow during the first weeks of pregnancy, by the aid of
+villosities covering its envelope which penetrate the wall of the
+womb.</p>
+
+<div class="img">
+<a href="images/imagep020.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep020.jpg" width="50%" alt="Figure 18" /></a><br />
+<p class="hang" style="margin-top: .2em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;"><span class="sc">Fig. 18.</span> Diagrammatic section in median plane
+of the female genital organs. It shows the position of an ovule which
+has just been discharged lying in the opening of the right tube, and
+that of another ovary fecundated and surrounded by the decidual
+membrane. In reality this could hardly coexist with the other ovule
+freely discharged. In the right ovary are seen ovules in various
+degrees of maturity in their Graafian follicles: also a corpus
+luteum&mdash;an empty Graafian follicle after expulsion of the ovule. The
+figure also shows the end of the penis in the vagina at the moment of
+ejaculation of semen, and the position of a preventive to avoid
+fecundation.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="img"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>
+<a href="images/imagep021.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep021.jpg" width="55%" alt="Figure 19" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;"><span class="sc">Fig. 19.</span> The mouth of the tube applied to the
+ovary at the moment of expulsion of the ovule.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p><b>The womb. The placenta.</b> The womb or uterus is the size of a small
+egg flattened in one direction. It terminates below in the neck or
+<i>cervix</i>, which is prolonged into the vagina as a projection, called
+the vaginal portion of the uterus. The cavity of the womb is continued
+into the neck and opens below in the vagina by an aperture which is
+round in virgins and is called the external <i>os uteri</i>. The walls of
+the womb consist of a thick layer of unstriped muscle. When childbirth
+takes place it causes tearing which makes the external os uteri
+irregular and fissured. During copulation the aperture of the penis or
+male organ is placed nearly opposite the os uteri, which facilitates
+the entrance of spermatozoa into the uterus. (For the illustration of
+these points see Fig. 18.)</p>
+
+<p>The vitellus and the membrane of the egg enlarge with the embryo and
+absorb by endosmosis the nutritive matter necessary for the latter,
+contained in the maternal blood. The womb itself enlarges at the same
+time as the embryo.</p>
+
+<div class="imgl" style="width: 45%;"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>
+<a href="images/imagep022a.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep022a.jpg" width="100%" alt="Figure 20" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;"><span class="sc">Fig. 20.</span> Human egg of the second week:
+magnified eight times. (After <i>K&ouml;lliker</i>.)</p>
+<p class="noin" style="margin-left: 2%;"><i>Chor.</i> Chorion or envelope of the egg.<br />
+  <i>Vill.</i> Villi of the chorion.<br />
+  <i>Emb.</i>  Embryo (near the head are seen the branchial arches).<br />
+  <i>Umb.</i>  Umbilical vesicle.<br />
+  <i>Am.</i>   Amnion.</p>
+</div>
+
+
+<div class="imgr" style="width: 35%;">
+<a href="images/imagep022b.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep022b.jpg" width="90%" alt="Figure 21" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;"><span class="sc">Fig. 21.</span> Embryo of four weeks (After
+<i>K&ouml;lliker</i>).</p>
+<p class="noin" style="margin-left: 2%;">1. Auditory vesicle.<br />
+  2. Ocular vesicle.<br />
+  3. Olfactory fossa.<br />
+  4. Bud forming upper maxilla.<br />
+  5. Bud of lower maxilla.<br />
+  6. Right ear.<br />
+  7. Liver.<br />
+  8. Upper limb.<br />
+  9. Lower limb.<br />
+  10. Caudal extremity.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p style="clear: both;">The fasciculus attached to the embryo is the allantois which becomes
+the umbilical cord. The vertebr&aelig; are already easy to recognize in this
+embryo. The embryo is formed from a portion of blastoderm, that is to
+say, from the cellular layer applied to the membranes of the egg and
+arising from the successive divisions of the two primary conjugated
+cells and their daughter cells. The embryo has the form of a spatula
+with the head at one end and the tail at the other. From its walls is
+detached a surrounding vesicle (Fig. 20) called the <i>amnion</i>, while
+another vesicle, the <i>umbilical vesicle</i>, grows from its ventral
+surface and serves, in birds, for the vitelline circulation of the egg
+which is detached from the mother's body.</p>
+
+<p>In man, the umbilical vesicle is unimportant. In its place the
+circulation of the blood takes place by the aid of another vesicle,
+called the <i>allantois</i>, which arises from the intestine of the embryo,
+and which becomes attached to the walls of the womb in the form of a
+thick disk called the placenta.</p>
+
+<p>The placenta is formed of dilated blood vessels which meet the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>maternal blood vessels, also dilated, in the uterine wall, allantois
+later on becomes the umbilical cord.</p>
+
+<p>In the placenta the embryonic and maternal vessels without actually
+communicating, are placed in intimate contact, which allows nutritive
+matter and oxygen to pass by endosmosis from the maternal vessels to
+those of the embryo. Figure 21 shows a human embryo at the beginning
+of the fifth week of pregnancy.</p>
+
+<div class="img">
+<a href="images/imagep023.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep023.jpg" width="70%" alt="Figure 22" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em;"><span class="sc">Fig. 22.</span> Sagittal section of a primipara in
+the last month of pregnancy.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p><b>Duration of pregnancy. Birth.</b> Pregnancy lasts from conjugation,
+which is synonymous with conception, till birth, that is about nine
+months (ten lunar months of four weeks). The embryo is then ready to
+separate from the maternal body (Fig. 22). By the act of birth it is
+expelled violently, bringing with it the umbilical cord and the
+placenta (Fig. 23). Immediately afterward the empty womb contracts
+strongly and gradually recovers its former size. The sudden
+interruption of its communications with the maternal circulation
+deprives the embryo, which has suddenly become a child, of its
+nutritive matter and oxygen.</p>
+
+<div class="img"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>
+<a href="images/imagep024.jpg">
+<img border="0" src="images/imagep024.jpg" width="65%" alt="Figure 23" /></a><br />
+<p class="cen" style="margin-top: .2em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;"><span class="sc">Fig. 23.</span> Sagittal section of frozen body of a
+woman in labor: the head of the child is engaged in the neck of the womb; the orifice of the
+neck of the womb (<i>os uteri</i>) is already fully dilated and the bag of waters commences
+to project from the vulva: it is formed by the former membranes of the egg and the decidua.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>In order to avoid suffocation it is obliged to breathe atmospheric air
+immediately, for its blood becomes dark by saturation with carbonic
+acid, which irritates the respiratory nerve centers. The first
+independent act of the new-born child is, therefore, a nervous reflex
+determined by asphyxia, and is performed with the first cry. Soon
+afterward the infant begins to suck, so as not to die of hunger, while
+the umbilical cord, having become useless, shrivels up, and the
+placenta is destroyed (some animals <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>eat it). The new-born infant is
+only distinguished from the embryo soon after birth by its breathing
+and crying.</p>
+
+<p>We may, therefore, say that infancy, especially early infancy, is only
+a continuation of embryonic life. The transformations which the infant
+undergoes from birth to adult age are known to all. They take place
+more and more slowly, except at the relatively short period of
+puberty.</p>
+
+<p><b>Formation of the sexual glands.</b>&mdash;We must remember that at a very
+early embryonic period certain groups of cells are reserved to form
+later on the sexual glands. These cells are at first neither male nor
+female, but are undifferentiated; later on they become differentiated
+to form in certain individuals, called males, the testicles with their
+spermatozoa, and in others, called females, the ovaries with their
+eggs. On this differentiation depends the sex of the individual, and,
+according as it takes place in one way or the other, all the rest of
+the body develops with the correlative sexual characters of the
+corresponding sex (at first the external genital organs peculiar to
+each sex, then the beard in man, the breasts in woman, etc).</p>
+
+<p><b>Castration. Correlative sexual characters.</b>&mdash;Castration is the term
+applied to the extirpation of the sexual glands. When it takes place
+in infancy it causes a considerable change in the whole subsequent
+development of the body, especially in man, but also in woman. Man
+becomes more slender, preserves a high and infantile voice, and his
+sexual correlative characters develop incompletely or not at all.
+<i>Eunuchs</i> are men castrated, usually in infancy. To ensure more safety
+in their harems the Orientals not only remove the testicles but also
+the penis. Bullocks and horses are bulls and stallions castrated at an
+early age, and can be distinguished at first sight from normal males.
+Females who have undergone castration become fat and sometimes take on
+certain masculine characters. Male human eunuchs have a high-pitched
+voice, a narrow chest; they remain beardless or nearly so, and have an
+effeminate character, often intriguing. In both sexes there is a
+tendency to neurosis and degeneration. It is a mistake to qualify the
+peculiarities of the male eunuch in the terms of female peculiarities;
+there is only a relative tendency. The eunuch is no more a woman than
+a bullock is a cow.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>The characters of castrated individuals are due only to ablation of
+the sexual glands themselves&mdash;the testicles in man and the ovary in
+woman; mutilation of other sexual organs, internal or external, such
+as the penis, womb, etc., produces no result of this kind. It would
+even appear to result from recent experiments that reimplantation of a
+sexual gland in any part of the body is sufficient to arrest the
+production of the special peculiarities of the eunuch.</p>
+
+<p>All these facts, almost inexplicable hitherto, become comprehensible
+by the aid of the engraphia of the mnemic energies. (Vide above;
+<i>Semon</i>). The sexual glands, being of undifferentiated origin, contain
+the energies of both sexes. The ecphoria of one of them provokes that
+of its correlative characters and excludes that of the characters of
+the other. If ecphoria of the sexual glands is arrested by castration
+before it is finished, this paralyzes the predominance of that of its
+corresponding correlative characters and re&euml;stablishes a kind of
+intermediate or undifferentiated equilibrium between the ecphorias of
+the correlative hereditary sexual characters of the two sexes.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, if the sexual glands of an adult are removed, his
+body is not sensibly modified. The sexual functions do not cease
+completely, although they cannot lead to fecundation. Men castrated in
+adult age may cohabit with their wives; but the liquid ejaculated is
+not semen but only secretion from the accessory prostatic gland. Adult
+women after castration preserve their sexual appetite, and sometimes
+even their menstruation, for a certain time. They generally become fat
+and often suffer from nervous troubles and change in character. The
+ecphoria of the correlative sexual characters being complete in the
+adult, suppression of the sexual glands can only act on their direct
+functions.</p>
+
+<p>In different species of animals, the correlative sexual characters of
+which we have spoken vary enormously; sometimes the differences are
+insignificant, at other times they are considerable; while we can
+hardly distinguish a male swallow from a female, the cock and hen, the
+peacock and peahen, the stag and hind are very different from each
+other. In man, the correlative sexual characters are very distinct,
+even externally. These <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>characters may extend to all parts of the
+body, even to the brain and mental faculties.</p>
+
+<p>In some of the lower animals, for example the ants, the sexes differ
+remarkably from each other and appear to belong to different
+zo&ouml;logical families. The eyes, the form of the head, the color, and
+the whole body differ so much that, when a case of pathological
+lateral hermaphrodism is produced (that is, when the sexual glands are
+male on the one side and female on the other), we can exactly
+determine the male or female character on each portion of the body. We
+thus see hermaphrodite ants with one half of the body male and the
+other half female&mdash;black on one side and red on the other, a large eye
+on one side and a small eye on the other, thirteen joints in one
+antenna and twelve in the other, and so on. In this case the mental
+faculties are sometimes female, sometimes male, according as the
+ecphoria of the brain is influenced by the hereditary mneme of the
+male or female part of the hermaphrodite sexual organs, which results
+in a male or female brain. I have seen hermaphrodite ants in which two
+parts of the thorax formed a crossed hermaphrodism; in front, male on
+the right and female on the left, behind female on the right and male
+on the left. Further; among ants which live in societies, the
+progressive transformation of the species, or phylogeny, has produced
+a third sex derived from the female sex&mdash;the worker; sometimes there
+is even a fourth&mdash;the warrior. In these two forms the wings are
+absent, but the head and brain are much larger; the sexual organs
+remain female, but are very small. While the large brain (pedunculated
+bodies of the supra-esophageal ganglion) is almost rudimentary in the
+male, it is well developed in the female and very large in the worker
+and the warrior. Among these singular animals exist pathological
+hermaphrodites, not only between males and females, but between males
+and workers, and not only lateral but mixed and crossed in all
+possible ways. I have seen a hermaphrodite, whose abdomen and sexual
+organs were almost entirely male, accomplish all the complex
+instinctive actions of a worker of his species (expeditions, attacks
+on a hostile ant heap, abduction of chrysalids), thanks to its head
+and brain which were of the worker type. The female <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>itself is
+incapable of such complex actions. I cite these facts here as material
+for study, for we are only too prone in this domain to generalize
+prematurely and to draw too hasty conclusions. In reality, there is
+still a wide field for study of the greatest interest.</p>
+
+<p>There are animals which are normally and physiologically
+hermaphrodite, for they possess in the normal state male and female
+sexual glands and fecundate themselves, such as the solitary worms, or
+in pairs such as the snails. In the latter case there is copulation,
+during which each animal plays the parts of both male and female.</p>
+
+<p>In man and other vertebrates, hermaphrodism is always abnormal. In man
+it is extremely rare and nearly always very incomplete, being usually
+limited to the external or correlative characters.</p>
+
+<p><b>Heredity.</b>&mdash;It results from what we have said that every living being
+reproduces, more or less identically, in its specific characters, the
+whole life of its parents and less remote ancestors, and constitutes
+the continuation of life from a minute part of their bodies.</p>
+
+<p>Each individual life thus repeats an entire cycle of development
+called <i>ontogeny</i>, which is peculiar to all individuals of the
+species. Here we must mention three fundamental points:</p>
+
+<p>(1). In its principal characters, each individual is the copy of its
+parents or direct ancestors, with correlative sexual peculiarities
+which we have mentioned, and with individual variations due to the
+combinations of varieties by conjugation, and the alternating or
+unequal ecphorias of hereditary characters; that is to say paternal or
+maternal hereditary engrams.</p>
+
+<p>(2). No individual is absolutely identical with another.</p>
+
+<p>(3). On the average, each individual resembles more especially its
+direct ancestry and its parents, and differs more markedly from its
+parentage the more this is remote.</p>
+
+<p>We shall see later on that the ancestral relationship of the different
+groups, species and varieties of animals has been fairly well fixed,
+and we may say that the third of the laws stated above is equally true
+in a wider sense. In fact the species and varieties of animals which
+are near related resemble each other, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>while the <i>genera</i>, families
+and classes are more dissimilar as their relationship is more remote.
+We employ here the terms resemblance, homology and difference in their
+profound and general sense. Certain purely external resemblances, due
+to phenomena of convergence, must not be considered as homologies in
+the sense of hereditary relationship. Thus, in the language of natural
+history we do not say that a bat resembles a bird, nor that a whale
+resembles a fish, for here the resemblances are due simply to a&euml;rial
+or aquatic life which produces the effects of convergence, while the
+internal structure shows them to be quite dissimilar organisms.
+Although it swims in the sea the whale is a mammal; its fins at first
+sight resemble those of a fish, but they are really the homologues of
+the four limbs of other mammals and contain the corresponding bones.</p>
+
+<p>In man, we see that brothers and sisters resemble each other in a
+general way, but that each one is dissimilar in some respects from the
+others. If we compare different families with many children we find
+that brothers and sisters resemble each other the more their parents
+are alike and come from a uniform ancestry which has undergone little
+crossing, while the crossing of different races and human varieties
+results in the production of individuals which differ from each other
+considerably, even when they come from the same couple.</p>
+
+<p>If we examine things more closely, we find that the characters of each
+of the offspring of the same couple present neither simple repetition
+nor an equal mixture of the peculiarities of the parents, but very
+diverse combinations of the characters of several ancestors. For
+instance, children may bear a striking resemblance to a paternal
+grandfather, a maternal grand-aunt, or a maternal great-grandmother,
+etc. This is called <i>atavism</i>. Some children resemble their father,
+others their mother, and others a kind of mixture of father and
+mother.</p>
+
+<p>A closer examination reveals further very curious facts. An infant
+which, in its early years, strongly resembles its father, may later on
+resemble its mother, or inversely. Certain peculiarities of a certain
+ancestor appear suddenly, often at an advanced age. It is needless to
+say that peculiarities concerning the beard cannot appear till this
+has grown, and this simple <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>fact is so characteristic that it has been
+called <i>hereditary disposition</i>. Everything may be transmitted by
+heredity, even to the finest shades of sentiment, intelligence and
+will, even to the most insignificant details of the nails, the form of
+the bones, etc. But the combinations of ancestral qualities vary so
+infinitely that it is extremely difficult to recognize them.
+Hereditary dispositions arise from the energy of two conjugated germs
+during the whole of life and till death. Old people sometimes develop
+peculiarities hitherto unknown in them, owing to the fact that one or
+more of their ancestors also presented the same phenomena at an
+advanced age.</p>
+
+<p><i>Semon</i> has clearly proved that, although forming an infinite number
+of combinations the engrams or hereditary energies never blend in the
+proper sense of the term, and in the light of his exposition the above
+facts are more clearly explained than they had been hitherto. The
+experiments of <i>Mendel</i> have shown in plants a certain alteration in
+the hereditary ecphorias of the products of dissimilar parents.</p>
+
+<p>Certain parental characters, according as they are added or
+subtracted, may disappear during one or two generations, to reappear
+all the more strongly in the following generations. In short, there
+are a number of phenomena, the laws of which may be more clearly
+explained to us in the future.</p>
+
+<p>To sum up, each individual inherits on the average as much from his
+paternal as from his maternal side, although the minute nucleus of the
+spermatozoid is the only agent concerned on the paternal side, while
+the mother provides not only the egg which is much larger, but also
+nutrition during the nine months of embryonic life. We can only
+conclude that in the egg also it is only from the part of the nucleus
+which conjugates with the male nucleus that arise all the inherited
+maternal peculiarities; that all the rest is only utilized as food;
+and that the nutritive blood of the mother in no way influences the
+inherited energies of the offspring.</p>
+
+<p>This shows the capital importance of conjugation and of the substance
+of the conjugated nuclei, especially of their chromatin. The fact
+that, in certain of the lower animals, the protoplasm of the egg
+without nuclei may occasionally produce some <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>phenomena of cell
+division, thanks to its inherited mnemic engrams, in no way alters the
+fundamental principle which alone occurs in man, for this vicarious
+action, which is moreover rudimentary, only happens when the
+protoplasm of the egg is not consumed by the conjugated nuclei.</p>
+
+<p>Parthenogenesis is also a very interesting phenomenon in the history
+of our animal ancestors, but for the same reasons it has no direct
+interest for humanity.</p>
+
+<p>If we take into consideration all the observations of which we have
+just spoken, which are as simple as they are irrefutably demonstrated,
+it is hardly possible to interpret them in any other way than by the
+following hypothesis:</p>
+
+<p>In each sexual gland, male or female, the germinal cells which are
+produced by division of the cells of the embryo, reserved primarily
+for reproduction, differ considerably from each other in quality and
+contain in their infinitely small atoms very diverse and irregularly
+distributed energies, inherited from their different ancestors. Some
+contain more paternal and others more maternal energy, and among the
+former there are some contain, for example, more paternal grandfather
+and others more maternal grandmother, and so on to infinity, till it
+is impossible to discover the ancestral origin of the fully grown
+individual we are examining. The same holds good for the energies of
+the maternal cells.</p>
+
+<p>At the time of conjugation, the qualities of the child which will
+result from it depend therefore on conditions of the ancestral
+qualities of the conjugated egg and spermatozo&ouml;n. Moreover, although
+of the same size, the nuclei which become conjugated are evidently of
+unequal strength; the energies of one or the other predominate later
+on in the embryo, and still later in man. According to circumstances
+the latter will resemble more or less his paternal or maternal
+progenitors.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, the different organs of the body may receive their energies
+from different parts of the conjugated nuclei in different degrees. A
+person may have his father's nose and his mother's eyes, the paternal
+grandmother's humor and the maternal grandfather's intelligence, and
+all this with infinite degrees and variations, for it is only a matter
+of more or less accentuated <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>averages. In my own face the two halves
+are distinctly different, one resembling my maternal ancestry and the
+other, in a lesser degree, my paternal ancestry, these points being
+seen distinctly in photographs taken in profile.</p>
+
+<p>Each germinal cell contains the hereditary mneme of its ancestors,
+paternal and maternal, and the two cells united by conjugation (Fig.
+17) that of the ancestors of each of them. We have spoken above of
+ecphorias produced according to <i>Mendel's</i> law and reproducing
+characters which have been latent during one or two generations.
+Darwin was the first to study this interesting fact, which shows how
+atavism often results from the crossing of varieties. There are
+several varieties of fowls which do not brood; if two of these
+varieties, <i>b</i> and <i>c</i>, are crossed excellent brooders are obtained.
+<i>Semon</i> assumes that in each of the non-brooding varieties the
+ancestral energy, <i>a</i>, of the primary species, is weaker than that of
+varieties <i>b</i> and <i>c</i>; we have then <i>a</i> &gt; <i>b</i>, and <i>a</i> &lt; <i>c</i>. But if
+<i>b</i> is coupled with <i>a</i> the product represents the value <i>b</i> + <i>c</i> +
+<i>a</i> + <i>a</i>. Then <i>b</i> and <i>c</i> are in equilibrium; and <i>a</i> being doubled
+becomes stronger than each of them and arrives at ecphoria in their
+place, which restores the faculty of brooding to the product of
+crossing.</p>
+
+<p><i>De Vries</i> has shown, in the crossing of varieties with their primary
+species, more or less analogous phenomena which he calls
+"Vicino-variations." Conjugation leads to infinite combinations and
+variations which the law of heredity traverses like a guiding line.</p>
+
+<p>The celebrated zo&ouml;logist, <i>Weismann</i>, considers that the chromatin of
+each germinal cell contains a considerable quantity of particles each
+of which is capable of forming an entire organism similar to the
+parents; these he calls "ides." According to <i>Weismann</i>, each ide is
+subdivided into "determinants" from which each part of the body is
+derived, being potentially predetermined in them. According to the
+action of a yet unknown irritation male or female determinants develop
+in each individual of the animal species with separate sexes. But if
+the determinants are disordered, either by abnormal variations or by
+pathological causes, hermaphrodites or monstrosities may be produced.
+In animals which are normally hermaphrodite (snails, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>etc.), there is
+only one kind of sexual determinant, while in polymorphous animals
+(ants, etc.), there are as many as the polymorphous forms. The
+conception of "ides" and "determinants" is only a hypothesis to which
+we must not attach much value. The mnemic laws established by <i>Semon</i>
+give a much better explanation of the facts.</p>
+
+<p>It has often been maintained that the qualities of higher forms of man
+are exhausted in a few generations, while the mass of mediocrities
+continually produce new genius. The fact that the descendants of
+distinguished men are often mediocre and that remarkable men suddenly
+arise from the common people, appears at first sight to support this
+superficial assertion. It is forgotten, however, that in a people
+whose average mass consists of thousands or millions of individuals,
+while men of higher powers are only counted by units or dozens, all
+this arithmetic is reduced to absurdity by the inequality of numbers,
+as soon as the law of heredity is understood. To make a more exact
+calculation, it would be necessary to compare the number of superior
+men who have arisen from some hundreds of the most distinguished
+families of a country with that of distinguished men who have arisen
+from some millions of the rest of the people, and then calculate the
+percentage. It is also necessary to take into account the means
+employed in the education of the individuals. If education is
+obligatory and gratuitous in a country, this factor will have less
+importance.</p>
+
+<p>Another error which is committed in such cases is to neglect the
+influence of the maternal lineage. A common woman will lower the level
+of the offspring of a distinguished husband, and inversely. In his
+"History of Science and Scientists" <i>Alphonse de Candolle</i> has given
+irrefutable proof that the posterity of high-class men furnishes a
+great number proportionally of men high class in their turn, compared
+with that of the average population. This shows the value of the usual
+twaddle concerning this question. It is inconceivable that the laws of
+heredity should make an exception of the mental qualities of man.
+Moreover, the most deceptive point is the contrast of a man of genius
+with his children, who do not rise to his standard because they
+represent a combination of his ancestral energies with those of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>their
+mother. This contrast makes the children appear unfavorably, while the
+public has a general tendency to exaggerate the value of a great man.</p>
+
+<p>The theory of the mneme throws light on this subject, by introducing a
+new factor in the question, that of ecphoria of the cerebral engrams
+of the ancestors, accumulated in the hereditary mneme.</p>
+
+<p><b>Heredity of Acquired Characters.</b>&mdash;While <i>Darwin</i> and <i>Haeckel</i>
+affirmed the possibility of the heredity of characters acquired during
+life by different tissues, for instance the brain, <i>Weismann</i> limits
+the possibility to everything that can modify the nucleoplasm of the
+germinal cells. We must first eliminate the question of the phenomena
+of blastophthoria, which we shall consider next, and which <i>Weismann</i>
+was, I think, the first to comprehend, without giving them the name.</p>
+
+<p>On one hand we see the singular effects of castration, which we have
+already considered; on the other hand, an extraordinary constancy in
+the hereditary characters of the species. For more than three thousand
+six hundred years, which corresponds to about eight hundred
+generations, the Jews have been circumcised. Nevertheless, if a Jew
+ceases to circumcise his offspring the prepuce of his children grows
+as it did three thousand six hundred years ago, although, during the
+eight hundred generations in question, its absence from birth has
+prevented it reacting on the germinal cells of the individuals. If the
+engraphia of the external world could sensibly modify in a few
+generations the hereditary mneme of the species, it appears evident
+that the Jewish infants of the present day would be born without
+prepuce, or at least with an atrophied one.</p>
+
+<p>It is on such facts, which are innumerable in natural history, that
+<i>Weismann</i> relies to repudiate absolutely the heredity of characters
+acquired by non-germinal organs and to attribute the development of
+organisms to blends and combinations due to conjugation, or crossing,
+as well as to natural selection, which he regards as all-powerful.
+<i>Darwin</i> well recognized the difficulty in question, and being unable
+to explain the facts, had recourse to the hypothesis of <i>pangenesis</i>,
+that is of small particles detached from all parts of the body and
+transported by the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>blood to the germinal cells, to transmit to them,
+for example, the qualities acquired by the brain during life. This
+hypothesis was so improbable that <i>Darwin</i> himself was forced to
+recognize it. Let us examine the facts.</p>
+
+<p>On the one hand a newly born Chinese transported and brought up in
+France will learn French, and will show no inclination to learn or
+understand Chinese. This well-established fact seems in favor of
+<i>Weismann</i> and against the heredity of acquired characters. But, on
+the other hand, we cannot understand how the evolution of the brain
+and its functions takes place, without admitting that in one way or
+another the characters acquired by habits repeated during many
+generations gradually accumulate in the form of hereditary
+dispositions in the germinal protoplasm. It is certain that our brain
+has progressed since the time when our ancestors were similar to the
+gorilla, or even the cave man at the beginning of the quaternary age.
+How can this cerebral progression be explained only by selection which
+can only eliminate, and by crossings which by themselves can hardly
+raise the average? It is here that the intervention of an unknown
+power is necessary, something unexplained, the action of which has
+been lately recorded in the phenomena of mutations of <i>de Vries</i>.</p>
+
+<p><i>De Vries</i> proves that certain variations appear suddenly and without
+any known cause, and have a much greater tendency to be preserved than
+the variations obtained by crossing and selection. In my opinion the
+phenomena of the mneme revealed by <i>Hering</i> and <i>Semon</i> explain the
+apparent contradictions which have hitherto impaired the theories of
+heredity. Mnemic engraphy explains, by its infinitesimal and repeated
+action through numerous generations, how the external world may little
+by little transmit to the germinal cells the characters which it
+impresses on organisms. The eight hundred generations during which the
+prepuce of the Jews has been cut off have not yet sufficed for the
+ecphoria of the corresponding negative mnemic engraphia; while
+conjugation and selection modify rapidly and strongly in a few
+generations; a fact which is more striking and allows of direct
+experiment. Moreover, a positive engraphia must necessarily act more
+powerfully, and it seems to me that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>mutations must be the ecphoria of
+accumulated former latent engraphias.</p>
+
+<p><i>Merrifield</i> and <i>Standfuss</i>, by exposing caterpillars and chrysalids
+for varying periods to considerable degrees of cold and heat, have
+determined permanent changes in the specific characters of the
+butterflies which have emerged from them.</p>
+
+<p><i>Standfuss</i> and <i>Fischer</i> have also shown that, after several
+generations, by continuing the action of cold on the caterpillars, the
+variations thus produced can be preserved even after the cold has
+ceased to act. No doubt the cold acts on the germinal cells as on the
+rest of the body, but the heredity of an acquired character is thus
+demonstrated.</p>
+
+<p>The experiments of <i>Miss de Chauvin</i> on salamanders (<i>Axolotl</i>) are
+still more conclusive, for we are dealing here with characters
+acquired through aquatic or a&euml;rial media, which can hardly act on the
+sexual glands. We cannot continue this subject any further and we
+return to the work of <i>Semon</i>. It is needless to say that the nature
+of mnemic engraphia remains itself an unknown quantity. As long as we
+are unable to transform inert matter into a living organism we shall
+remain in ignorance. But, when it is accepted with the laws of the
+phenomena which it produces, this unknown quantity, as <i>Semon</i> has
+shown, alone suffices to explain all the rest, and is already a great
+step toward the comprehension of the laws which govern life.</p>
+
+<p><b>Blastophthoria.</b>&mdash;By blastophthoria, or deterioration of the germ, I
+mean what might also be called false heredity, that is to say, the
+results of all direct pathogenic or disturbing action, especially that
+of certain intoxications, on the germinal cells, whose hereditary
+determinants are thus changed. Blastophthoria thus acts on germs not
+yet conjugated, through the medium of their bearers, and creates at
+their origin <i>hereditary stigmata</i> of all kinds, while true heredity
+only combines and reproduces the ancestral energies.</p>
+
+<p>Blastophthoria deranges the mneme or hereditary engrams, and
+consequently a more or less considerable part of their ecphorias
+during the life of the individuals which arise from them. It is not a
+question here of the reproduction of the hereditary ancestral energies
+in the descendants (in different combinations) <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>as is the case in the
+heredity which we have just studied, but, on the contrary, a question
+of their perturbation. However, the store of cells reserved as
+germinal cells in the embryo, the germ of which has been damaged by
+blastophthoric action, being usually also affected by the disturbing
+cause, it follows that the pathological change introduced by
+blastophthoria in the hereditary mneme is transmitted to the
+descendants by ordinary heredity. In this way blastophthoria deposits
+the first germ of most pathological degenerations by causing immediate
+deviation of all the determinants of the germ in the same direction.</p>
+
+<p>The most typical and the commonest example of blastophthoria is that
+of alcoholic intoxication. The spermatozoa of alcoholics suffer like
+the other tissues from the toxic action of alcohol on the protoplasm.
+The result of this intoxication of the germs may be that the children
+resulting from their conjugation become idiots, epileptics, dwarfs or
+feeble minded. Thus it is not alcoholism or the craving for drink
+which is inherited. No doubt the peculiarity of badly supporting
+alcohol is inherited by ordinary heredity as a hereditary disposition,
+but it is not this which produces the alcoholic degenerations of the
+race. These are the result of the single blastophthoria. When, on the
+other hand, a man is found to be imbecile or epileptic as the result
+of the insobriety of his father, he preserves the tendency to transmit
+his mental weakness or his epilepsy to his descendants, even when he
+abstains completely from alcoholic drinks. In fact, the chromosomes of
+the spermatozoid, from which about a half of his organism has issued,
+have preserved the pathological derangement produced by the parental
+alcoholism in their hereditary mneme, and have transmitted it to the
+store of germinal cells of the feeble minded or the epileptic, who in
+his turn transmits it to his descendants. From <i>Weismann's</i> point of
+view his hereditary determinants remain pathologically deviated. All
+intoxications which alter the protoplasm of the germinal cells may
+produce blastophthoric degenerations, which continue to menace several
+successive generations in the form of hereditary taints.</p>
+
+<p>Other deviations in the development of the germs may act in an
+analogous manner to blastophthoria. We have mentioned <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>above the
+experiments of <i>Merrifield</i> and <i>Standfuss</i> on the caterpillars of
+certain butterflies. Without being really of a pathological nature,
+these actions of a physical agent on the hereditary energies resemble
+blastophthoria.</p>
+
+<p>Mechanical action on the embryo may also give rise to pathological
+products or even mutilation. Thus, <i>Weismann</i> demonstrated the
+production of degenerate individuals in ants when certain coleoptera
+were introduced in their nest, the ants being fond of the secretion of
+the large glandular hairs of the coleoptera. The exact cause of the
+degeneration has not yet been found, but the fact is certain. In man,
+certain constitutional affections and congenital anomalies are the
+result of certain diseases in the procreators, which have affected the
+germinal cells or the embryo (for instance syphilis). As soon as the
+blastophthoric actions cease in the procreators, those of their
+descendants who live under a normal regimen have evidently a tendency
+to eliminate the blastophthoric organs at the end of several
+generations and to regenerate themselves little by little. Thanks to
+the power of the ancestral mneme which tends to re&euml;stablish homophony.
+However, the data on this subject are insufficient. In this case
+homophony is represented by the normal equilibrium of the different
+typical or normal characters of the species.</p>
+
+<br />
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+<br />
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> I insert here some passages intended for more advanced
+readers, but this does not imply that they are of less importance. On
+the contrary I strongly advise all my readers to try and understand
+the theories of <i>Hering</i> and <i>Semon</i>, which appear to me to throw a
+new light on the question of transformation and heredity.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER II<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>EVOLUTION OR DESCENT OF LIVING ORGANISMS</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>The theory of evolution is intimately associated with the name of
+<i>Darwin</i>, for it was he who established it in the scientific world. In
+reality, the idea of the transformation of organisms was put forward
+by <i>Lamarck</i> more than a century ago, but he did not sufficiently
+support it. The theory of evolution states that the different animal
+and vegetable species are not each of them specially created as such
+from the first, but that they are connected with each other by a real
+and profound relationship, and derived progressively one from another;
+generally from more simple forms, by engraphia and selection. Man
+himself is no exception to this rule, for he is closely related to the
+higher apes.</p>
+
+<p>It is no longer possible to-day to deny the fundamental fact which we
+have just stated. Since <i>Darwin</i>, and as the result of the powerful
+impulse which this man of genius gave to natural science, innumerable
+observations and experiments have confirmed the truth of the
+progressive evolution of living beings. Comparative anatomy,
+comparative geography of plants and animals, comparative embryology,
+and the study of the morphology and biology of a number of recently
+discovered plants and animals, have built up more and more the
+genealogical tree, or <i>phylogeny</i>, of living beings, that is to say
+their ancestral lineage. The number of varieties and races or
+sub-species increases indefinitely, the more closely they are
+examined.</p>
+
+<p>Researches on the fossil remains of species of animals and plants
+which have been extinct for thousands and millions of years
+(<i>pal&aelig;ontology</i>) have also contributed to determine the trunk of the
+great tree of former life. The numerous gaps which still exist between
+these fragmentary documents of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>former ages are nevertheless too
+considerable for continuous connections to be established in the past
+by the aid of fossils.</p>
+
+<p>We not only know that the different forms of living beings are
+connected to each other by a real relationship, but we can fathom more
+and more deeply the degrees of this relationship, and can often prove
+from which group of animals a given group is descended. In many cases
+we can determine at which period the fauna and flora of two continents
+have been separated from each other, and in what manner they have been
+transformed, each in its own way, while still preserving the general
+characters which were common before their separation. The specialist
+can soon discover what species belong to the old geographically
+differentiated fauna and flora of the country, and what have been
+ulteriorily imported.</p>
+
+<p>I record these facts for the benefit of those persons who have not yet
+understood that it is absolutely useless at the present day to dispute
+the evolution of living beings. Deceived by the divergent opinions of
+scientists concerning hypotheses which endeavor to explain the details
+of evolution, these persons confound the details with the fundamental
+facts of evolution.</p>
+
+<p><b>Ontogeny. Phylogeny.</b>&mdash;In the light of the facts of evolution,
+heredity takes quite a new aspect when removed from the old biblical
+idea of the independent creation of species. <i>Haeckel</i> launched into
+the scientific world, under the name of "fundamental biogenetic law,"
+a theory which, without having the right to the title of an immutable
+dogma, explains the facts in a general way, and gives us a guiding
+line along the phylogenetic history of living beings. "<i>Ontogeny</i>,"
+that is the history of the embryological development of each
+individual, always consists in a summary and fragmentary repetition of
+<i>phylogeny</i>, or the history of the ancestors of the species to which
+the individual belongs. This signifies that, as embryos, we repeat in
+an abridged form the series of types or morphological stages through
+which has passed the series of our animal ancestors, from the
+primitive cell to man. In reality this is only true in a relative way,
+for a considerable part of the ancestral engraphias of the embryo has
+disappeared without leaving any trace; also many embryos, especially
+those which have special conditions of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>existence outside the body of
+their mother, have acquired special complex organs and corresponding
+functions. Thus, the caterpillars of butterflies with their specific
+and generic peculiarities, hairs, horns, etc., furnish many examples
+of secondary acquired characters which have nothing in common with the
+worm, which is the ancestral type of the butterfly represented by the
+embryonic period when it is a caterpillar. However, many undoubted
+vestiges of the ancestral history are found in the embryos at
+different periods of their development. It is certain that insects
+descended from worms, and there is no doubt that the larv&aelig; of insects,
+which are almost worms, represent the ontogenetic repetition of the
+phylogeny of insects.</p>
+
+<p>It is also certain that whales, although they have whalebone instead
+of teeth, have descended from cetacea provided with teeth, which in
+their turn descended from terrestrial mammals. But we find in the
+embryo whale a complete denture which is of no use to it, and which
+disappears in the course of the embryonic period. This denture is
+nothing else than a phylogenetic incident in the ontogeny of the
+whale.</p>
+
+<p>In the fins of cetacea, as in the four limbs of other mammals, we find
+the same bones, which are derived from the bones of the wings and legs
+of their bird ancestors. In birds, the same bones are the phylogenetic
+derivatives of the limbs of reptiles.</p>
+
+<p>All these facts demonstrate with certainty the descent of animal
+forms, a descent which we can follow in all its details. In certain
+ants whose bodies show their close relationship with a slave-keeping
+group, but which have become the parasitic hosts of other ants, we
+find not only the arched mandibles, shaped for rape, but the undoubted
+rudiments of the slave instinct, although this instinct has, perhaps,
+not been exercised by them for thousands of years.</p>
+
+<p>These examples suffice to show that the form and functions of a living
+organism, as well as its mental faculties, are derived not only from
+the most recent direct ancestors of this organism, but that they
+partly mount much higher in the genealogical tree.</p>
+
+<p>Our coccyx is a vestige of the tail of animals. It is from them also
+that we have inherited anger and jealousy, sexual appetites, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>fear,
+cunning, etc. As long as they remain in use, the oldest inherited
+characters normally remain the most tenacious and are preserved the
+longest. When they cease to be utilized, or become useless, they still
+remain for a long time as rudiments before finally disappearing; for
+instance the vermiform appendix of the intestine and the pineal gland
+of the brain. These rudiments often persist for still a longer time in
+the embryo, as we have seen in the case of the ancestral teeth of the
+embryo whales. We also meet with the stumps of wings in the chrysalis
+of certain ants (<i>Anergates</i>), the males of which have lost their
+wings.</p>
+
+<p><b>Natural Selection.</b>&mdash;The artificial selection practiced by gardeners
+and cattle breeders led <i>Darwin</i> to his hypothesis of natural
+selection by the struggle for existence. Confirmed in his idea by the
+observation of tropical nature, <i>Darwin</i> thought he could explain the
+origin of living beings by natural selection. It is this hypothesis
+which is properly called <i>Darwinism</i>. But the name Darwinism has also
+been given to evolution as a whole, which has been the cause of
+endless confusion. All the mystic and narrow-minded, full of biblical
+prejudice, naturally profit by this confusion to attack the facts of
+evolution and science itself.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Struggle for Existence.</b>&mdash;The struggle for existence and natural
+selection are absolutely positive facts, which can be constantly
+verified by the observation of living nature as it is presented to us.
+All living beings eat one another or at any rate struggle against each
+other, plants as well as animals; and, apart from air and water,
+animals are almost entirely nourished by plants and other animals. It
+is obvious that in this perpetual struggle the less adapted and the
+less armed&mdash;and by arms we include the powers of reproduction,
+resistance to diseases and to cold, etc.&mdash;disappear, while the better
+adapted and the better armed persist. I confess I cannot understand
+the detractors of <i>Darwin</i> who are blind in face of these facts and
+hypnotized by certain conventional suggestions.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, what always has been and still remains hypothetical
+is the explanation of the descent of all plants and animals by natural
+selection alone. We have already spoken <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>of the <i>mutations</i> of <i>de
+Vries</i>, and the theory of the <i>mneme</i> elaborated by <i>Semon</i>, and need
+not repeat them here. Thanks to the idea of <i>Hering</i>, worked out by
+<i>Semon</i>, the facts are now explained in a satisfactory manner.
+Engraphia, produced in the organisms by the irritating agents of the
+external world, prepares and builds up little by little their
+increasing complications, while selection, by continually eliminating
+the unfit, directs the elaborating work of the mneme and adapts it to
+the surrounding local circumstances.</p>
+
+<p><i>De Vries</i> has objected that the variations produced by artificial and
+natural selections are mutable, while sudden mutations have a much
+more stable character. But we have just seen that these mutations
+themselves are evidently only the delayed ecphoria of a long ancestral
+engraphia accumulated.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, the variations obtained by selection are themselves
+only due to more rapid ecphorias, derived from repeated conjugations
+in a certain direction. <i>Plate</i> and others have shown that they may
+become more and more fixed, if they are well adapted, and thus become
+more tenacious. There is, therefore, no contradiction between the
+fundamental facts, and all is simply and naturally explained by the
+combination of hereditary mnemic engraphia with selection.</p>
+
+<p>Recent study on the transformations of living beings have shown that
+they do not take place in a regularly progressive manner, as <i>Darwin</i>
+at first believed, but that periods of relatively rapid transformation
+alternate with periods of relative arrest, both in a general way and
+for each particular species. We see certain species remaining almost
+stationary for an immense time and tending rather to disappear, while
+others vary enormously, showing actual transformation. The
+transplantation of one species to a new environment, for instance to a
+new continent, provokes, as has been proved, a relatively rapid
+transformation. It is evident that mnemic engraphia transforms
+organisms the more rapidly as it changes in nature itself, which is
+the case in the migrations we have just mentioned, and which also
+changes the factors of selection.</p>
+
+<p>Other facts show clearly that the fauna and flora of the present world
+find themselves in a period of recoil with regard to their
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>modification. In the tertiary period the fauna and flora of the world
+were richer than to-day; many more older species have disappeared than
+new ones have arisen. This fundamental fact seems due to the extremely
+slow cooling of the earth, and appears to be indicated by the powerful
+growth in tropical climates, the fauna and flora of which resemble
+those of the tertiary period, and, on the other hand by the relative
+poverty and slowness of growth in cold countries.</p>
+
+<p><b>Conclusions.</b>&mdash;What are the principal conclusions to which we are led
+by this short study of the ancestral history or phylogeny of man?</p>
+
+<p>(1). The transformation or evolution of living beings is a
+demonstrated fact.</p>
+
+<p>(2). The factors in evolution appear at first sight to be very
+diverse: selection, mutation, climatological, physical and chemical
+factors, etc.</p>
+
+<p>We have seen that they may all be connected with the fundamental
+principle of mnemic engraphia, aided by natural selection. No doubt
+the nature of the mnemic engraphia of external agents in the living
+substance is still unknown. When we are able to connect the laws of
+life with the laws of inert nature, we shall only have before us a
+single great metaphysical mystery, that of the tendency of mundane
+energy to the differentiation of details and the production of
+complicated forms. What is important here is to know that engraphia
+and selection are capable of considerably modifying species in a
+positive or negative manner, for good or evil, improving them by good
+influence and good conjugations, or deteriorating them by bad
+selection or by blastophthoria, which causes them to degenerate. The
+combination of a bad selection with blastophthoric influences
+constitutes the great danger for humanity, and it is here that a
+rational sexual life should intervene.</p>
+
+<p>(3). The mental faculties of animal species, as well as their physical
+characters, depend on their ancestral hereditary mneme. They simply
+represent the internal or introspective side of central activity, and
+the brain obeys the natural laws of the mneme in the same way as the
+other organs.</p>
+
+<p>(4). It follows from all this that phylogeny and selection, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>same
+as heredity properly understood, have the right to a fundamental place
+in the sexual question, for the germs which, after each conception,
+reproduce an individual are, on the one hand, bearers of the inherited
+energy of our ancestors, and on the other hand, that of future
+generations. According to the care or neglect of civilized humanity
+they may be transformed for good or evil, progress or recede.
+Unfortunately, owing to religious and other prejudices, the question
+of evolution is not discussed in schools. Hence, the majority of men
+only hear of these things by hearsay in a rough and inexact manner; so
+that a series of phenomena familiar to naturalists and medical men,
+are still dead letters for the rest of the public. This obliges me to
+speak further on some points of detail.</p>
+
+<p>The so-called historical times, that is the times of the Chinese,
+Egyptians and Assyrians, which appear to us extremely remote, are from
+the point of view of evolution very near to us. These ancient peoples,
+at any rate those who were our direct ancestors, or who were closely
+related to them, are thus, in the language of evolution, which takes
+no count of time or of the number of generations, our very near
+relations. The generations which separate them from us and the few
+hundred generations between them and those of their direct ancestors,
+who were at the same time ours, represent a limited period from the
+point of view of the ethnological history of mankind.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, if we examine the savage peoples of America, Asia,
+Africa and Australia, which have been specially studied since the
+discovery of America and some of which are actually living, and
+compare them with ourselves and with our ancestors of four thousand
+years ago, we find that they differ infinitely more from us than we
+differ from our ancestors, as their ethnographical and historical
+remains are sufficient to prove.</p>
+
+<p>Among the savage peoples we find races such as the pigmies of
+<i>Stanley</i> (Akkaas), the Weddas of Ceylon, even Australians and
+negroes, whose whole bodily structure differs profoundly from our
+European race and its varieties. The profoundness and constancy of
+these differences clearly show that the relationship of such races to
+ours must be very remote. We are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>concerned here with veritable races
+or sub-species, or at least with very constant and accentuated
+varieties. It is true that it is difficult to unravel the almost
+inextricable confusion of human races; but we may be certain that the
+savage races and varieties remote from ours, and even certain
+less-remote races such as the Mongols and Malays, are, phylogenetically
+speaking, infinitely less related to us than the ancient Assyrians.
+This indicates that the ancestors which were common to us and these
+races must probably be looked for several thousands of generations
+back, even when their descendants are still living on other continents
+at the present day.</p>
+
+<p>It is easy to explain that human races so different could develop
+separately in continents and under climates with a very different mode
+of life and conditions of development, if we reflect that at these
+remote periods men only had very limited modes of transport and lived
+in a fashion very little different from that of the anthropoid apes,
+so that the ethnological forms were preserved separated from each
+other by small distances. This fact can still be observed among the
+small hostile Indian or Malay tribes, who live in tropical regions and
+often occupy only a few square leagues. The higher civilizations of
+former times could not develop beyond a comparatively limited circle,
+as their means of transport did not allow them to venture too far. The
+conquest of the whole earth by modern civilization by means of the
+mariner's compass, firearms, steam and electricity is thus an
+absolutely contemporaneous event, unique in the history of the world,
+the origin of which hardly goes back more than four hundred years.
+This event has completely upset the natural internal evolution of
+human races, by the fact that all the lower races attacked by
+civilized races armed with guns and alcohol, are destined to rapid and
+complete destruction.</p>
+
+<p>Geology has discovered in the caves of the quaternary period, human
+remains which are much lower in the scale of evolution and much nearer
+the anthropoid apes than the lowest races still living. Their brain,
+as shown by the cranial cavity, was still smaller. Lastly, <i>Dubois</i>
+has discovered in Java the cranium of <i>Pithecanthropus erectus</i> which
+is intermediate between that of the orang-utan and man. If more such
+remains are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>discovered the chain of transition between the apes and
+man will be almost complete.</p>
+
+<p><b>Hybridity. Consanguinity.</b>&mdash;Before concluding this chapter we must
+study the question of <i>hybrids</i>. It is important to know to what point
+fecundity and descent are influenced by the degree of relationship
+between the two procreators. Conjugation probably arises from the
+general necessity of organisms to re&euml;nforce their race by variety.
+Consanguinity perpetuated is harmful to the species, in the same way
+as parthenogenesis, or indefinite reproduction by fission or budding.
+It produces enfeeblement and degeneration of the race, and leads to
+extinction by causing sterility.</p>
+
+<p>By <i>consanguinity</i> is meant continued sexual union between near
+relatives. It is easy to understand that the conjugation of two germs
+derived from brothers and sisters or from a father and his daughter
+approaches parthenogenesis from the point of view of the mixing of
+hereditary energies. We shall see later on that nearly all peoples
+have a certain repugnance to consanguineous marriages. Among animals,
+natural selection eliminates too consanguineous products.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, sexual union between different species, however
+little removed, gives no products. Near species may produce hybrids
+between themselves, but these hybrids are as a rule sterile or nearly
+so, and are incapable of perpetuating their type, which reverts
+rapidly to one of the primitive species.</p>
+
+<p>It has been recently demonstrated that the incapacity of two species
+of animals to produce hybrids is intimately connected with the
+reciprocal toxicity of their blood. When the blood of one species is
+injected into the veins of another the production of hybrids is
+possible between them, at least as far as has been observed. It is
+curious to note that the blood of the anthropoid apes is not toxic for
+man, although these animals are very different from us, and hybrids
+have not yet been produced. This fact helps us to understand how it is
+that the differences which exist between the different human races do
+not prevent the production of hybrids between any two of them. In
+spite of this we may state, without risk of error, that the most
+dissimilar human races give a bad quality of hybrids, which have
+little <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>chance of forming a viable mongrel race. We have not
+sufficient information on this point concerning the lowest human
+races, such as the pigmies and Weddas. On the other hand, mulattoes
+(hybrids between negroes and whites) constitute a race of very bad
+quality and hardly viable, while the hybrids between Indians and
+whites are much more resistant and of relatively better quality.</p>
+
+<p>In this question, the middle course appears without any doubt the true
+one. Unions between near races and varieties, or at least between
+individuals of the same race or variety whose relationship is old, are
+certainly the best. We readily grant that the homogeneity of a race
+has the advantage of fixing its peculiarities in a more durable and
+characteristic fashion; but many inconveniences counterbalance this
+advantage. If we one day, by wise selection and by eliminating all
+sources of blastophthoria obtain a superior quality of human germs, it
+is possible that in the remote future, consanguinity, provided it is
+not exaggerated may lose its dangers.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER III<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>NATURAL CONDITIONS AND MECHANISM OF HUMAN COITUS&mdash;PREGNANCY&mdash;CORRELATIVE SEXUAL CHARACTERS</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>It is impossible to comprehend the deep meaning and lofty aim of an
+act like that of sexual union without knowing the details of
+conjugation and the origin of man as we have explained them in the
+preceding chapters.</p>
+
+<p>Conjugation requires the bringing together of two cells, and
+consequently the movement of at least one of them. This cellular
+movement suffices for the lower forms of union and is usually limited
+to the male cell. Owing to its movement it plays the active role,
+while the passive role is reserved for the female cell. Hence we see
+in the higher plants the male cells, or pollen, transported to the
+pistil by the wind or by insects, and thence reach the egg by
+mechanical endosmotic attraction which brings about conjugation.</p>
+
+<p>This takes place in an analogous manner in lower animals, but the male
+cell is generally endowed with special movement. As soon as we deal
+with complicated animals, mobile in themselves and composed of cells
+differentiated to form complex organs, we see a second phenomena of
+reproductive movements appear in the animal phylogeny, namely the
+movement of the whole individual bearing male cells toward the
+individual bearing female cells. This simple fact gives rise to the
+formation of correlative sexual differences between the individuals
+bearing each kind of germinal cells. As the result of the evolution of
+these two phylogenetic systems of motor phenomena tending to establish
+conjugation, we obtain for each sex two categories of sexual
+formations:</p>
+
+<p>(1). The <i>germinal cells themselves</i>, the female form of which becomes
+larger, more rich in protoplasm, and remains <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>immobile, while the male
+form, or spermatozoid becomes extremely small and is provided with
+motor apparatus (Fig. 11).</p>
+
+<p>(2). The <i>individuals</i> with their correlative sexual differences
+proper to the male and female, disposed in a way to give the male the
+active role and the female the passive role.</p>
+
+<p>Normal hermaphrodism, complete or reciprocal (snails, etc.)
+constitutes an intermediate stage. Here each individual bears two
+kinds of germinal cells and possesses also male and female copulative
+organs, so that there only exists one form of individuals which
+copulate reciprocally; the male organ of one penetrating the female
+organ of the other and vice versa. It is obvious that this excludes
+the formation of correlative individual sexual characters.</p>
+
+<p>In the second category, the male always differs from the female, at
+least in the sexual organs, and usually in other physical and mental
+characters. The difference in the sexual functions leads to the
+formation of differences in other parts of the body, and in instincts
+and sentiments, which find their material expression in the different
+development of the brain.</p>
+
+<p>Certain specific functions in society may, in social animals like the
+ants, lead to the formation or differentiation of a third or fourth
+kind of individuals. This is what is called <i>polymorphism</i>. Here it is
+not the sexual function causes the correlative differences of the
+individuals, but division of social labor. The ecphoria of the
+hereditary mneme which produces the polymorphous, and more or less
+asexual individual forms (workers, warriors,) still proceeds through
+the energies of the reproducing germs. Here the action of selection is
+necessary to explain the phenomena.</p>
+
+<p>In man, sexual differentiation has led to the formation of two kinds
+of individuals, differing little in their correlative attributes, but
+each bearing one kind of germinal cells. In sexual union man plays the
+active part, woman, the passive. When sexual activity, in the animal
+kingdom, is no longer limited to the movement of one of the cells but
+requires the displacement of the whole individual, we can quite
+understand that the organization of these individuals must become much
+more complex, and that it requires a central nervous system as a
+directing apparatus. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>Sexual individuality thus involves collaboration
+of the other organs of the body, and especially that of the central
+organs for reflex movements, the instincts and the higher mental
+faculties of man, in the accomplishment of the fecundating act those
+which are the consequences of it.</p>
+
+<p>From this simple animal origin is evolved the complex sexual love of
+man. The duty of the active or male individual is to bring the
+spermatozoa to a point where they can easily reach the female cells or
+ovules. When this is done the duty of the male is accomplished. In the
+passive or female individual of the higher animals, pairing and
+conjugation are only the commencement of reproductive activity.
+However, this is not the case in the whole animal kingdom. For
+instance, fish have distinct sexes, but in them the female deposits
+her non-fecundated eggs in the water and is not concerned with them
+any further. The male then arrives and discharges his sperm on the
+eggs. In this case fecundation takes place without copulation. With
+such a system sexual love and maternal love lose their <i>raison
+d'&ecirc;tre</i>, for the young fish are capable of providing for themselves as
+soon as they are born. There are, however, a few exceptions, one of
+the most curious being that of certain fish of the Dead Sea, in which
+the male incubates the eggs by taking them into his buccal cavity.</p>
+
+<p><b>Reproduction in Vertebrates.</b>&mdash;We should never finish if we were to
+describe even the chief varieties of sexual union among the
+vertebrates. As a rule, the male possesses a copulating organ which
+projects externally, while the female presents an invaginated cavity,
+more or less cylindrical, into which the male organ can penetrate. A
+certain amount of sperm is deposited by the male in the neighborhood
+of the mature ovules (Fig. 18) discharged from the female germinal
+gland or ovary, which renders conjugation possible. By means of their
+mobile tails, the spermatozoa (Fig. 11) are able to reach the ovules
+and fecundate them. The manner in which the egg when fecundated,
+either in the mother's body or after being laid, continues its
+development, varies enormously in different species. The eggs are
+often deposited by the female and the embryo develops outside the
+mother's body. This occurs in insects, mollusks, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>fish, amphibia,
+reptiles, birds and the lowest mammals or monotremes (ornithorhynchus
+and echidna).</p>
+
+<p>In the lower mammals is developed an organ called the womb which
+allows the embryo to remain longer in the maternal body. This organ is
+very incomplete in them, and a pocket or fold in the skin of the belly
+allows the mother to carry her young, which are extremely embryonic at
+birth, till they have developed sufficiently to live alone. This
+occurs in marsupials (kangaroos and opossums), in which the vagina and
+uterus are double.</p>
+
+<p>In the higher mammals the womb becomes more and more developed,
+opening into a single vagina in the middle line of the abdomen,
+between the two ovaries, and constituting a highly specialized organ
+which allows the mother to preserve the young for a long time in her
+belly. In most mammals the uterus has two elongated diverticula, each
+of which may contain a successive series of embryos. In man it forms a
+single cavity and normally contains a single embryo, occasionally two
+or more. These facts show that the role of the female mammal in
+reproduction is more important than that of the male. But this is not
+all. Whether it still lays eggs, or whether it gives birth to young
+which are more or less developed its sexual role is far from ended.
+The higher oviparous vertebrates, especially the birds, take care of
+their progeniture for some time after laying. The young are still fed
+by the mother, either by milk from the teats, as in mammals, or by
+nourishment obtained from outside, as in birds, or by both methods
+combined or succeeding each other, as in cats.</p>
+
+<p>In many animals the male contributes to the raising of the young; a
+point to which we shall return. Here, we indicate these complicated
+details simply to show that sexual union only contributes one link in
+the long chain of reproduction. Let us study its mechanism in man.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Copulatory Organ of Man. The Testicles. The Seminal
+Vesicles.</b>&mdash;Nature is often very sparing even in the highest
+organizations. It has thus combined in the male the urethra with the
+copulatory organ, and the sexual germinal glands, or <i>testicles</i>, with
+an accessory gland, the <i>epididymis</i>. Hundreds of thousands of
+spermatozoa are contained in the glandular tubes <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>of these organs,
+which, when they are mature can always produce new ones by cell
+division. The spermatozoa accumulate at the extremity of the duct of
+the gland in a reservoir called the <i>seminal vesicle</i>, where they
+float in the mucus, thus constituting the seminal fluid or <i>sperm</i>.
+This liquid has a special odor. The two seminal vesicles are situated
+in the abdominal cavity underneath the urinary bladder, each having a
+duct which meets that of the other side and opens by the side of it in
+the deep part of the urethra. Here the secretion of several other
+glands, especially of the <i>prostate</i>, is added to the sperm and mixes
+with it. The point where the two seminal ducts open into the urethra
+forms a small elevation, the <i>verumontanum</i>. From this point the male
+urethra emerges from the abdominal cavity and is continued along the
+special prolongation which forms the penis, or virile member of
+copulation. In the ordinary way the penis only serves for the emission
+of urine. It hangs flaccid and terminates in a rounded swelling called
+the glans, at the end of which opens the urethra (Fig. 18). This
+opening serves also for the emission of the sperm.</p>
+
+<p><b>Erection. The Corpus Cavernosum.</b>&mdash;The most curious part of this
+apparatus is the mechanism of <i>erection</i>, or the power possessed by
+the penis of swelling under the influence of certain nervous
+irritations, increasing in length and diameter as well as becoming
+rigid. This phenomenon is produced by three organs called the
+<i>cavernous bodies</i> which form the principal bulk of the penis. One of
+them, situated in the middle and underneath and formed by two bodies
+united into one, surrounds the urethra and terminates in front in a
+dilatation which constitutes the glans already mentioned. The two
+others are situated symmetrically on the dorsal part of the penis. All
+three consist of caverns or diverticula formed by blood-vessels, which
+are empty when the penis is flaccid. By a complex nervous mechanism
+based on vascular paralysis due to nervous phenomena called inhibition
+and dynamogeny, the nervous irritations cause an accumulation of blood
+in the spaces of the cavernous bodies which become so gorged with
+blood as to form stiff and hard rods. The size of the penis is thereby
+increased considerably and its stiffness allows it to penetrate the
+vagina of the female. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>At the same time and by the same mechanism the
+verumontanum swells so as to close the ureter from the bladder, while
+the seminal ducts open toward the urethral orifice. In this way the
+copulatory organ is ready for its function.</p>
+
+<p>Repeated irritations are however necessary to provoke the ejaculation
+of semen. This is finally produced by excitation of a special muscle
+which compresses the seminal vesicles in a spasmodic manner and
+ejaculates the semen by the urethra. After ejaculation, the
+accumulation of blood in the cavernous bodies gradually diminishes and
+the penis again becomes flaccid.</p>
+
+<p>This apparatus is thus very complicated and is put in action by
+several nervous irritations which may be disturbed in many ways in
+affections of the nervous system. We may observe here that the nervous
+centers of erection and ejaculation may be put in action directly by
+the brain, or indirectly by peripheral irritation of the glans.</p>
+
+<p>Those peripheral nerves which provoke sexual excitation are especially
+the nerves of the glans. This possesses a skin or mucous membrane
+which is extremely delicate and is protected against external
+irritation by a fold of skin called the <i>prepuce</i>, or foreskin. The
+prepuce is often too narrow so that it cannot be withdrawn behind the
+glans. It then forms a pocket in which sebaceous matter, semen, urine,
+etc., accumulate and decompose. This anomaly, called <i>phimosis</i>, does
+not exist among the Jews owing to circumcision, or the removal of the
+prepuce in the newly born, which forms part of their religious rites.
+Hygienic considerations sometimes oblige us to perform this operation
+in others. The bad habit of masturbation, so common in boys, is often
+provoked by phimosis, and shows that simple mechanical irritation of
+the glans, due here to secretions contained in the prepuce, may lead
+to ejaculation of semen as well as to erection.</p>
+
+<p>We have seen above that the male and female germinal glands arise from
+the same primitive organ in the embryo. If the embryo becomes male,
+this organ is transformed into the two testicles which descend
+gradually in the canal of the groin and become placed in the scrotum.
+If it becomes female, the two <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>sexual glands remain in the abdominal
+cavity and are transformed into ovaries.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Genital Organs of Woman.</b>&mdash;The organs described in Chapter II
+(Figs. 18 and 19), constitute the internal and more important part of
+the female sexual apparatus. In women, the urethra opens externally on
+its own account. It is much shorter and wider than in men. At its
+external extremity is a small cavernous body called the <i>clitoris</i>,
+which corresponds embryologically to the penis in man, and chiefly to
+the glans. Like the latter it is specialized for sexual irritation and
+possesses very sensitive nerves. The opening of the female urethra is
+situated in front of the vulva directly under the pubic bone, at the
+same place as the root of the male penis. From this point, on each
+side of the middle line, extend two longitudinal folds, one external
+covered with skin and called the larger lip of the vulva (Fig. 18,
+<i>labia majora</i>), the other internal, hidden under the first, called
+the lesser lip of the vulva (<i>labia minora</i>), and covered with thin
+mucous membrane. Between the two lesser lips is the sexual aperture,
+which, with the labia majora and minora is called the <i>vulva</i>. This
+opening is distinct from that of the urethra, and leads to the
+internal cavity or <i>vagina</i> (Fig. 18). The vagina is about ten to
+twelve centimeters long (2 to 2-&frac12; inches) and terminates in a
+<i>cul-de-sac</i> which surrounds the vaginal portion of the womb, of which
+we have spoken above.</p>
+
+<p>In virgins the entrance to the vagina is more or less closed by a
+delicate transverse membrane called the <i>hymen</i>, which is only
+perforated by a narrow opening. At the first coitus the hymen is torn,
+causing a certain amount of pain and bleeding. The walls of the vagina
+are thrown into transverse folds, which render them somewhat rough.
+The remains of the hymen torn by the first coitus afterward form
+behind the vulva small excrescences named <i>caruncul&aelig; myrtiformes</i>.</p>
+
+<p>In the first chapter we have spoken of the changes undergone by the
+fecundated ovule till it becomes the embryo and then the infant. It
+remains to speak of the mechanism of expulsion of the ovule and of its
+fecundation, as well as the changes in the womb which result from
+these phenomena.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span><b>Menstruation.</b>&mdash;About every four weeks, one or two ovules (rarely
+more) mature and are discharged into the Fallopian tubes, down which
+they pass by the movement of the vibratile cilia of the mucous
+membrane, to the uterus, to the walls of which they become attached if
+they have been fecundated on the way (Fig. 18). Fecundation or
+conjugation takes place most often in the Fallopian tube, sometimes in
+the uterus. The maturation and expulsion of the ovule are generally
+accompanied in women by a nervous phenomenon closely related to
+erection in man. The mucous membrane of the cavity of the uterus is
+very rich in blood vessels which become dilated and gorged with blood
+under the inhibitory influence of certain nerve centers. As the mucous
+membrane is very thin, the result is otherwise than in man; the blood
+transudes through the mucous membrane and flows away. This is called
+<i>menstruation</i> ("courses" or monthly periods). The object of this is,
+no doubt, to prepare the mucous membrane of the womb for the fixation
+of the fecundated egg which will become grafted on its surface. The
+courses in women generally last three or four days, but are often very
+irregular. It is necessary to point out that they do not depend on
+ovulation (expulsion of the egg). The two phenomena may take place
+independently of each other, for menstruation in itself depends only
+on nervous irritation, which may be provoked or averted by hypnotic
+suggestion, for example.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, there are women who never menstruate and who, in spite of
+this, not only regularly discharge ovules but may be fecundated and
+become pregnant. Usually, however, the two phenomena are associated by
+nervous reflexes, so that menstruation takes place first and then the
+ovule commences its migration.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Mechanism of Coitus.</b>&mdash;Copulation, or coitus, takes place as
+follows: After a certain degree of excitation, both mental and
+sensory, the male introduces the erect and stiffened penis into the
+vagina. In the case of advanced pregnancy he should place himself
+behind, so as to avoid injuring the unborn child. Rhythmic movements
+of the two individuals, especially of the man, gradually increase the
+excitation of the mucous membrane or skin of the genital organs of
+each party, till voluptuous <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>sensations, arising chiefly in the glans
+penis and clitoris, spread to the whole nervous system and the entire
+body, constituting what is called the <i>venereal orgasm</i>, and
+terminating in the man by the ejaculation of semen.</p>
+
+<p>The localizations of irritability in woman are multiple, and to the
+clitoris must be added the nipples, the vulva, and even, it is said,
+the neck of the womb. In man the parts round the anus may also,
+besides the glans penis, form an excitable region. At the acme of
+erection the glans is turgid, and is applied directly against the neck
+of the womb (Fig. 18). In this way the sperm is ejaculated directly
+against the neck of the womb.</p>
+
+<p>In the woman an analogous phenomenon takes place; the clitoris becomes
+turgid and the mild and repeated friction of the mucous membranes,
+together with contact on other sensitive parts, produces a voluptuous
+sensation as in the man. Through nervous association, the repeated
+excitation determines secretion from certain glands of the vagina
+which lubricate the vulva (glands of <i>Bartholin</i>). At the maximum
+point of voluptuous feeling the woman experiences something analogous
+to the venereal orgasm of the man. There is thus manifested in the two
+sexes an intense and reciprocal desire of penetration one by the
+other, a desire which powerfully favors fecundation. In the woman as
+in the man the end of the orgasm is followed by an agreeable
+relaxation which invites sleep.</p>
+
+<p>The hereditary or instinctive nervous actions produce after coitus a
+profound effect of contrast. When the sexual appetite commences, the
+odors, especially those of the sexual organs, the contacts, the
+movements, and the sight of the individual of the opposite sex, all
+increase desire, producing a voluptuous excitation stronger than all
+contrary feeling. Hardly is the sexual act consummated than all
+vanishes like a dream. What was a moment before the object of the most
+violent desire becomes indifferent, and sometimes even excites a
+slight feeling of disgust, at least as regards certain odors,
+sometimes even regarding touch and sight. The name sexual appetite
+(libido sexualis) is given to the passionate and purely sexual desire
+of the two sexes for each other. It varies greatly in different
+individuals.</p>
+
+<p>According to <i>Ferdy</i> and other authors, the neck of the womb, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>during
+the venereal orgasm of the woman, executes movements of suction in the
+glans penis. I do not know if this is a fact, but it is certain that
+the female orgasm is useless for conception. Absolutely cold women,
+incapable of the least voluptuous sensation are as fruitful as those
+who have pronounced venereal orgasms. It proves that the spermatozoa
+arrive at their goal even when the womb is entirely passive. The great
+variation of sexual desire in different individuals renders mutual
+adaptation often very difficult. The venereal orgasm is sometimes more
+rapid in man, sometimes in woman (more rarely in the latter). This
+inequality is rather to the detriment of the woman, for the man can
+still satisfy himself when the orgasm of the woman has terminated,
+while the contrary is not possible without artificial manipulation.
+Moreover, the frequence and intensity of the sexual appetite are often
+much greater in one than in the other, which is detrimental to both.
+Here again it is the woman who suffers the most, for the man can
+always satisfy himself without the woman having voluptuous sensations.
+What is commonly called good manners generally prevents the conjoints
+from speaking of their sexual desires before marriage. This very often
+results in grave deceptions, dissensions, and often even divorce. I
+shall return to this subject in Chapter XIV.</p>
+
+<p>Voluptuous sensations only represent the means employed by nature to
+bring together the sexes with the object of reproducing the species. A
+woman can be fecundated and give birth to a child by the aid of semen
+injected into the uterus by a syringe. Moreover, it is rather
+exceptional for the venereal orgasm to occur in the two sexes at the
+same moment. It is essential for fecundation that the semen should
+enter the womb. When the spermatozoa have reached the neighborhood of
+the neck of the womb they swim by their own movements, not only along
+the whole uterine cavity, but also along the Fallopian tubes and even
+in the abdominal cavity, so that the force of ejaculation is of little
+importance.</p>
+
+<p><b>Pregnancy.</b>&mdash;The womb enlarges considerably during pregnancy. It
+exceeds the size of an adult head, and the muscles of its walls are
+greatly increased, so as to be capable of expelling the child later
+on.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>The phenomena of pregnancy, birth and suckling are known to all, so
+that I shall be brief. The almost sudden activity of the breasts after
+childbirth is a very interesting correlative phenomenon. It suffices
+to glance at one who has just become a mother and to observe the
+complications which profoundly influence all her organism with regard
+to the life of the infant, to comprehend to what extent the role of
+sexual life is more important, more profound, even more vital, in
+woman than in man. The latter no doubt requires a more violent
+appetite to urge him to copulation because he plays the active part,
+short though it be. But fecundating coitus having been effected, his
+contribution to the reproduction of the species is ended.</p>
+
+<p>While the activity of man is terminated at conception, that of woman
+only begins at this moment. In the first chapter we have indicated in
+a few words the transformations of the human embryo up to its birth.
+During nine months it grows from the size of a pin's head (the ovule)
+to that of the new-born child. Although a woman seldom bears more than
+one embryo at the same time, twins being rare on the whole, she has
+nevertheless more pain and fatigue to bear than any female animal.
+This is due not only to the fact that our artificial and alcoholized
+civilization, with its specialized labor which disturbs vital
+equilibrium, has made women indolent and degenerate, but also to the
+enormous development of the human brain. The head of the human embryo
+is disproportionately large because the brain, as I showed with
+<i>Schiller</i> in 1889, already contains at birth all the nerve elements
+which it will possess during the rest of its life (<i>Comptes rendus de
+l'Acad&eacute;mie des Sciences</i>). No doubt these elements are small and
+embryonic but the nerve fibers are ready to be covered with myelin and
+to enter upon their functions, and all this requires a cranium of
+considerable size. But it is not everything for the mother to nourish
+with her blood the brain and the cranium of the child; it is also
+necessary for this relatively large head to pass through the pelvis at
+the time of childbirth, and we know that this moment is the most
+dangerous for the life of the pregnant woman. As boys have on the
+average a larger brain and cranium than those of girls, their birth is
+usually more difficult.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span><b>Accouchement.</b>&mdash;The sexual organs of woman undergo great changes in
+order to render childbirth possible. These organs become larger and
+more vascular, especially the womb, the growth of which is
+astonishing. Originally the size of a small egg (a guinea fowl's) it
+exceeds the size of a human head, and there is an enormous increase of
+muscular tissue in its walls. Large blood vessels develop in the
+uterine wall, especially in the placenta (Figs. 22 and 23), where they
+enter into endosmotic relations with the circulation of the embryo.</p>
+
+<p>From the abdomen of the embryo arises an organ, the <i>allantois</i>, which
+is destined to carry the blood-vessels of the embryo to the placenta,
+and at the same time to give rise to the formation of the latter. In
+the placenta the blood-vessels of the embryo are separated from those
+of the mother by walls so thin that the nutritive juices of the
+maternal blood transude into the venous blood of the embryo, as well
+as combined oxygen in the blood necessary for its respiration. Up to
+this point the vitellus of the egg, nourished by endosmosis through
+its membranes, had sufficed for the nutrition of the still very small
+embryo. While these phenomena are taking place, and while the
+substance of the two conjugated germs divides into an ever increasing
+number of cells, which become differentiated in layers to form the
+future organs (Fig. 21), while certain groups of cells are prepared
+some to form the intestinal canal, others the muscles and blood
+vessels, others the skin and organs of sense, others arising from the
+last to form the brain, the spinal cord and the nerves, the mother can
+still live her ordinary life. She suffers, however, from different
+disorders connected with what is passing on in her body.</p>
+
+<p>It is a curious fact that these disorders are more accentuated at the
+commencement of pregnancy, when the womb is hardly enlarged, than at
+the end. They consist chiefly of nervous troubles&mdash;slight derangement
+of the cerebral functions and sensations, etc. Obstinate vomiting,
+peculiar desires, and changes of temper are some of the most frequent
+troubles of pregnant women, and probably arise more from local nervous
+irritation than from general transformations of the nutrition of the
+body. The mother's body is becoming adapted to the development of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>the
+infant in the womb. However embarrassed a woman may be in the last
+months of pregnancy by the great swelling of the belly (Fig. 22) the
+disorders are less accentuated than at the beginning of pregnancy.</p>
+
+<p>During pregnancy menstruation ceases. The sexual appetite is very
+variable; in many pregnant women it is diminished, in others there is
+no change, and it is seldom increased. There are other troubles which
+are more or less frequent, such as varicose veins in the legs caused
+by pressure of the uterus on the veins.</p>
+
+<p>But all the sufferings of pregnancy and childbirth are compensated for
+by the ardent desire of the normal woman to have a child, and by the
+happiness of hearing its first cry. Proud and happy to give life to a
+new human being, which she hopes soon to suckle and carry in her arms,
+she cheerfully bears all the inconveniences and pains of pregnancy and
+childbirth. The latter is actually painful, for in spite of all that
+nature does to relax the pelvis and render it elastic, to dilate the
+neck of the womb, the vagina and the vulva, the passage of the
+enormous head of a human infant through all these relatively narrow
+apertures is extremely difficult (Figs. 22 and 23). The passage is
+forced by the powerful contractions of the muscles of the womb.
+However, they do not always succeed by themselves, and in this case
+the accoucheur is obliged to apply the forceps to extract the head of
+the child. Very often the neck of the womb, the vagina or the perineum
+(the part situated between the anus and the vulva) become torn during
+labor, and this may lead later on to disorders such as prolapse of the
+womb, etc.; disorders which may last through life.</p>
+
+<p>When the child is born, the umbilical cord (that is the transformed
+allantois, Fig. 23) cut, and the placenta extracted, the connecting
+nutrition and respiration between the child and its mother are
+suddenly interrupted. Nourished hitherto by its mother's blood through
+the placenta and the vessels of the umbilical cord which supplied the
+necessary oxygen, the infant is suddenly obliged to breathe and feed
+for itself. Its lungs, hitherto inactive, expand instantaneously under
+the nervous influence produced by the blood saturated with carbonic
+acid, and the first cry is produced. Thus commences individual
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>respiration. Several hours later the cessation of maternal nutrition
+causes hunger, and this the reflex movements of suction, and the child
+takes the breast. During this time the empty womb contracts strongly
+and retracts enormously in a few days. The increase of blood produced
+by the maternal organism, by its adaptation to the nutrition of the
+embryo, is then employed in the production of milk in the breasts or
+lactiferous glands, which were already well developed during
+pregnancy.</p>
+
+<p><b>Suckling. Maternity.</b>&mdash;The mother is instinctively disposed to suckle
+her child as the infant is to suck. At the end of four to six weeks,
+the womb has almost completely regained its former size.</p>
+
+<p>In savage races suckling at the breast lasts for two years or more. It
+is useless to mention here to what point the capacity for suckling and
+the production of milk have diminished among the modern women of
+civilized countries. This sad sign of degeneration is due to a large
+extent, as <i>Bunge</i> has shown by careful statistics, to the habit of
+taking alcoholic drinks, and is combined with other blastophthoric
+degenerations due to hereditary alcoholism. The future will show
+whether the artificial feeding of infants with cows' milk will benefit
+humanity. In any case it allows infants to survive who would die
+without it. On the other hand the development of a degeneration can
+hardly be an advantage for the species and we should hope for a return
+to the natural rule by abstinence from all alcoholic drinks.</p>
+
+<p>The false modesty of women concerning their pregnancy and everything
+that concerns childbirth, the pleasantries often made with regard to
+pregnant women are a sad sign of the degeneration and even corruption
+of our refined civilization. Pregnant women ought not to hide
+themselves, or to be ashamed to carry a child in their womb; on the
+contrary they should be proud. Such pride would certainly be much more
+justified than that of the fine officers parading in their uniforms.
+The external signs of the formation of humanity are more honorable to
+their bearers than the symbols of destruction, and woman should become
+imbued more and more with this truth! They will then cease to hide
+their pregnancy and to be ashamed of it. Conscious of the grandeur of
+their sexual and social duty they will raise aloft <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>the standard of
+our descent, which is that of the true future life of man, at the same
+time striving for the emancipation of their sex. Viewed in this way,
+the sexual role of woman becomes elevated and solemn. Man should less
+and less maintain his indifference towards the social miseries to
+which the slavery of woman has led, which has lasted thousands of
+years and which has dishonored the highest functions of her sex, by
+abuses without number.</p>
+
+<p>The hygiene of pregnancy, labor and its sequels, is of the highest
+importance. It certainly should not consist in exaggerated care and
+precaution, for in spoiling and softening women by inaction more harm
+than good is done. On the other hand, the social cruelty which
+neglects poor women of the people in confinement, often even without
+giving them sufficient nourishment, is revolting, and it is here
+especially that the reform of social hygiene becomes an elementary
+necessity for humanity.</p>
+
+<p>All that we have just spoken of binds the woman for months or years to
+each of her children, and we can understand that her whole soul is
+adapted in consequence to maternity. Even when birth has detached the
+child from the maternal body, it remains attached to its mother by a
+hundred bonds, not only during the period of suckling, but long
+afterward when the conventions do not violate natural laws. Little
+children are deeply attached to their mother, and while the father is
+impatient with their cries and the embarrassment which they cause, the
+mother takes a natural delight in them. When pregnancies succeed each
+other at reasonable intervals of one or two years, the normal woman
+lives with her children for many years in intimacy which never
+entirely ceases in a family animated by human and social sentiments.</p>
+
+<p>In normal circumstances the special bonds which unite the mother to
+her children last for life, while the father, if all goes well,
+becomes simply the best friend of his growing children. It is time
+that fathers began to recognize these natural laws, instead of
+clinging so tenaciously to the historic and artificial prestige of a
+worm-eaten and unnatural patriarchal authority. No doubt there are
+many pathological and degenerate mothers, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>but such an anomaly only
+proves the rule that we have just laid down.</p>
+
+<p><b>Correlative Sexual Characters.</b>&mdash;The correlative sexual characters,
+which we have previously spoken of in animals, are well known in man.
+Man is in the average larger, broader in the shoulders and more
+robust; his skeleton is more solid but his pelvis narrower. At the age
+of puberty, from 16 to 20 years, the beard grows on the face, while in
+the pubic region hair develops in both sexes. At the same time the
+testicles and external genital organs enlarge. The sexual glands as
+well as the external genital organs have remained so far in an
+embryonic state although the mechanism of erection is already
+established in young boys. But this mechanism, in the normal boy, is
+not associated with any voluptuous sensation or any glandular
+secretion.</p>
+
+<p>Man possesses the rudiments of the correlative sexual characters of
+woman, such as nipples without lactiferous glands, etc. In a general
+way each part of the external genital organs of one sex has its
+corresponding embryonic homologue in the other, which is explained by
+the different transformations which were originally the same in the
+embryo. The clitoris of woman corresponds to the penis of man, the
+labia majora to the scrotum, etc. In certain individuals these
+rudiments are more strongly developed, and may by exaggeration and
+transition lead to pathological hermaphrodism (Chapter I); such are
+bearded women, and those possessing a large clitoris, or beardless men
+with effeminate bodies and small sexual organs. Such cases are not
+examples of hermaphrodism, but of incomplete embryological
+differentiation. They consist in certain correlative sexual characters
+which show a tendency toward the other sex, a tendency which we find,
+from the mental point of view, in homosexuals.</p>
+
+<p>There is also to be noticed the "breaking" of the voice which occurs
+in man at the age of puberty, and is connected with the nervous
+system.</p>
+
+<p>In women the body is smaller and more delicate, the bones weaker, the
+pelvis wider and the chest narrower. The normal woman has no beard
+while the pubic hairs are the same as in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>man. The pubis, covered with
+a layer of fat, is slightly prominent in women and is called the <i>mons
+Veneris</i>. There is more fat under the skin in a woman's body, and the
+voice does not break. After puberty breasts develop with their
+lactiferous glands and nipples for suction. Puberty takes place a
+little earlier in women than in men, and corresponds to the growth of
+the internal and external sexual organs, at the same time that the
+ovules commence to mature and menstruation is established.</p>
+
+<p>The mental correlative sexual characters are much more important than
+those of the body. The psychology of man is different from that of
+woman. Many books have been written on this subject, usually with more
+sentimentality than exactitude. Mysogynists, like the philosopher
+<i>Schopenhauer</i>, disparage woman from all points of view, while the
+friends of the female sex often exalt her in an exaggerated manner. In
+contemporary literature we see women authors judging man in quite
+different ways according as they are affected with "misandery" or
+"philandery"&mdash;that is enemies or friends of men. Quite recently
+<i>Moebius</i> has published a mysogynistic work on the "Physiological
+Imbecility of Woman." (<i>Der physiologische Schwachsinn des Weibes</i>).
+One must be a misogynist of very high degree to introduce the
+pathological notion of imbecility into the evolution of the normal
+mentality of woman. In reality, the individual differences are much
+greater in man and woman from the psychological than from the physical
+point of view, so that they render a definition of the average
+extremely difficult.</p>
+
+<p>We are acquainted with bearded women, athletic women, as well as
+beardless men and puny men. From the mental point of view, there are
+also viragos and men with feminine instincts. Imbeciles are not
+wanting in both sexes, but no reasonable person will deny that an
+intelligent woman is superior to a narrow-minded man even from the
+purely intellectual point of view. In spite of these difficulties, I
+shall attempt to bring forward the principal points which distinguish,
+in a general way, the masculine mind from the feminine, relying on my
+own observations and especially on the mental phenomena of both
+sexes.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span><b>The Weight of the Brain.</b>&mdash;According to statistics, the weight of the
+brain in men of our race is on the average 1350 grammes, while that of
+women averages 1200 grammes. The absolute weight is, however, not of
+much importance, because part of the cerebral substance in the larger
+animals is only for the supply of a greater number of cellular
+elements of the rest of the body, which necessitates a greater number
+of nervous elements.</p>
+
+<p>To make the matter clear, it is necessary to separate the weight of
+the cerebral hemispheres from the other nervous centers, such as the
+cerebellum, corpora striata, the optic thalami, the mid-brain, the
+pons Varolii, the medulla oblongata and the spinal cord, for these
+centers constitute parts which are phylogenetically older, that is to
+say, inherited from lower animal ancestors. Compared with the cerebral
+hemispheres, these nerve centers are relatively more important in
+other vertebrates than in man, and are in more constant proportion to
+the size of the body, the muscular, glandular and sensory elements of
+which they supply. When the intelligence is about the same, they are,
+therefore, compared with the cerebral hemispheres, much more developed
+in the larger than in the smaller animals. For example, they are very
+large in the ox, but small in mice. I have weighed a considerable
+number of human brains separated in this way with the following
+results:</p>
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="50%" summary="Human Brains">
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" width="50%">CEREBRAL HEMISPHERES</td>
+  <td class="tdl" width="50%" style="padding-left: 5%;">OTHER CEREBRAL CENTERS</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl br">Man 1060 grammes,  78.5%</td>
+  <td class="tdl bl" style="padding-left: 5%;">290 grammes, 21.5%</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl br">Woman 955 grammes, 77.9%</td>
+  <td class="tdl bl" style="padding-left: 5%;">270 grammes, 22.1%</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+<p>Thus the cerebellum and basal ganglia are a little smaller in men than
+in women, compared with the cerebral hemispheres.</p>
+
+<p>These figures appear to show that the cerebral hemispheres in woman
+are on the average a little smaller than in man, even proportionately
+to the stature; for, according to a general law in the animal kingdom,
+woman being smaller, her cerebral hemispheres should be, with equal
+mentality, proportionately a little larger. There are, however, female
+brains larger than many male brains, and the absolute and relative
+size of the cerebral hemispheres does not give a complete measure of
+the productive faculties. Remarkable men have been known to possess
+rather small brains and imbeciles heavy ones. We must <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>not forget the
+great importance of the hereditary or engraphic predispositions of the
+nerve element or <i>neurone</i>, to certain activities and especially to
+work in general, that is to say, their aptitude to produce energy, or
+if one prefers it, their disposition to "will."</p>
+
+<p>It is also interesting to consider the relationship of the frontal
+lobe to the rest of the cerebral hemispheres, the frontal lobe being
+without doubt the principal seat of intellectual activity. According
+to <i>Meynert</i>, the weight of the frontal lobe in man exceeds that of
+woman, not only absolutely, but relatively to the rest of the brain.
+In his <i>r&eacute;sum&eacute;</i> of the statistical data collected on this subject and
+from the results of my own material (autopsies at the asylum of
+Burgholzli in Zurich), <i>Mercier</i> has confirmed the opinion of
+<i>Meynert</i>. The average weight of the hemispheres separated from the
+rest of the brain is 1019 grammes in man (frontal lobe 428, the rest
+591), and 930 in woman (frontal lobe 384, rest 546). Here, atrophied
+brains (except general paralytics) have been weighed with others,
+which lowers the average total weight without altering the proportion.
+Thus, the rest of the cerebral hemispheres exceeds the frontal lobe by
+163 grammes in man and 162 grammes in woman, which means that in man
+the frontal lobe constitutes 42 per cent. of the cerebral hemispheres
+and in woman 41.3 per cent. The difference is not great, but it is
+definite, for it is based on a large number of observations.</p>
+
+<p><b>Mental Capacity of the Two Sexes.</b>&mdash;The fundamental difference
+between the psychology of woman and that of man is constituted by the
+irradiations of the sexual sphere in the cerebral hemispheres, which
+constitute what may be called <i>sexual mentality</i>. We shall discuss
+this in the following chapters, for it constitutes the foundation of
+our subject. We are only concerned here with the correlative
+differences.</p>
+
+<p>Adhering in a general way to the main definitions of psychology, we
+assert that from the purely intellectual point of view, man
+considerably excels woman in his creative imagination, his faculty for
+combination and discovery, and by his critical mind. For a long time
+this was said to be explained by the statement that women had not the
+opportunity of measuring <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>their intelligence against that of men; but,
+thanks to the modern movement of the emancipation of women, this
+assertion becomes more and more untenable. It is so with regard to
+artistic creations, for women have at all times taken part in works of
+art. When certain people maintain that a few generations of activity
+suffice to elevate the intellectual development of women, they
+confound the results of education with those of heredity and phylogeny
+(vide Chapter II). Education is a purely individual matter and only
+requires one generation to produce its results. But neither mnemic
+engraphia, nor even selection can modify hereditary energies in two or
+three generations. Tied down hitherto partly by servitude, the mental
+faculties of woman will doubtless rise and flourish in all their
+natural power as soon as they are absolutely free to develop in
+society equally with those of men, by the aid of equal rights. But
+what does not exist in the hereditary mneme, that is to say in the
+energies of germs, inherited through thousands or millions of years,
+cannot be created in a few generations. The specific characters and
+consequently the sexual characters have quite another constancy than
+is believed by the superficial prattlers, who deafen us with their
+jargon on a question of which they only grasp the surface. There is no
+excuse, at the present day, for confounding hereditary correlative
+sexual characters with the individual results of education. The latter
+are acquired by habit and can only be inherited as such by an
+infinitesimal engraphia, possibly after hundreds of generations.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand woman possesses, from the intellectual point of
+view, a faculty of reception and comprehension as well as a facility
+of reproduction which are almost equal to those of man. In higher
+education at the universities the women I have had the opportunity of
+observing at Zurich for many years, show a more equal level than that
+of the men. The most intelligent men reproduce best and the most
+stupid men reproduce worse than the corresponding female extremes. I
+do not think one can say much more concerning the purely intellectual
+domain.</p>
+
+<p>Artistic production confirms this opinion. Woman is here on the
+average much inferior as regards creation or production, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>properly so
+called, and even her best results are wanting in originality and do
+not open up new paths. On the contrary, as virtuosos, women compare
+well with men in simply reproductive art. There are, however,
+exceptional women whose productions are original, creative and
+independent. The philosopher <i>Stuart Mill</i> points out the intuitive
+gift of woman who, led by her individual observations, rapidly and
+clearly discovers a general truth, and applies it in particular cases,
+without troubling with abstract theories. This may be called the
+intuitive or subconscious judgment of woman.</p>
+
+<p>In the domain of sentiment the two sexes differ very much from each
+other, but we cannot say that one surpasses the other. Both are
+passionate, but in different ways. The passions of man are coarser and
+less durable, and are only more elevated when associated with more
+original and more complex intellectual aims. In woman sentiment is
+more delicate and more finely shaded esthetically and morally; it is
+also more durable, at least on the average, although its objects are
+often of a mean and banal nature.</p>
+
+<p>When man compares himself with woman he usually identifies himself,
+more or less unconsciously, with the highest male intellects, with the
+men of genius in art and science, and complaisantly ignores the crowd
+of idiots of his own sex! In the life of sentiment the two sexes may
+complement each other admirably; while man raises the height of the
+ideal and of objects to be attained, woman has the necessary tact to
+soften and refine the tones, and to adapt their shades to each special
+situation, by the aid of her natural intuition, where man risks
+spoiling everything by the violence of his passions and his efforts.
+This reciprocal influence should conduce to the best and highest
+harmony of sentiments in a happy sexual combination.</p>
+
+<p>As regards will power, woman is, in my opinion, on the average
+superior to man. It is in this psychological domain more than in any
+other, that she will always triumph. This is generally misunderstood,
+because men have so far apparently held the scepter of an unlimited
+omnipotence; because by the abuse of brute force, aided by superiority
+of inventive genius, humanity has been hitherto led by strong
+masculine wills, and because the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>strongest feminine wills have been
+dominated by the law of the right of the stronger. But the
+unprejudiced observer is soon obliged to recognize that the directive
+will of the family is only, in general, represented externally by the
+master. Man parades his authority much more often than he puts it into
+practice; he lacks the perseverance, tenacity and elasticity which
+constitute the true power of will, and which are peculiar to woman. It
+is needless to say that I am only speaking of the average and that
+there are many women whose will power is feeble. But these easily
+become the prey of prostitution, which causes their disappearance.
+This is perhaps one of the causes which have strengthened by selection
+the will power in women. Man is impulsive and violent as regards his
+will power, but often inconstant and irresolute, yielding as soon as
+he has to strive persistently for a certain object. From these facts
+it naturally results that, on the average, it is the man in the family
+who provides the ideas and impulses, but the woman who, with the
+finesse of her tact and perseverance, instinctively makes the
+distinction between the useful and the harmful, utilizing the former
+and constantly combating the latter; not because she is fundamentally
+superior, but because she is more capable of dominating herself, which
+proves the superiority of her will power.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing is more unjust than to disparage one sex relatively to the
+other. The parthenogenesis of the lower animals having ceased in the
+vertebrates, each sex is indispensable, not only to the preservation
+of species, but also to each conception or reproduction of the
+individual. Both are thus equivalent and belong to each other as the
+two halves of a whole, one being incapable of resisting without the
+other. Everything which benefits one of the halves benefits the other.
+If by the magic wand of a fairy, the male half or the female half of
+our humanity, such as it is to-day, was rendered capable and obliged
+to reproduce alone, men would soon degenerate owing to the weakness of
+their will combined with their sensual passions, and women from their
+incapacity to raise their intellectual level by means of creative
+ideas.</p>
+
+<p>We need not dwell here on the numerous psychological peculiarities of
+woman, inherent in her capacity as mother, nor on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>those of man
+adapted to his muscular strength and to his capacity as protector of
+the family. These are derived from sexual differences which are
+mentioned in Chapter V. Nor need we describe correlative differences
+of less importance which are well known and which arise from those of
+which we have spoken or from direct sexual differences. They can be
+observed, on the one hand, in purely male reunions in saloons, smoking
+rooms and other similar places; on the other hand, in feminine circles
+of all classes, among the common people, among the fashionable, or
+even in philanthropic associations. On the average, woman is more
+artful and more modest; man coarser and more cynical, etc. After much
+personal experience, gained in societies in which the two sexes
+possess the same rights and are admitted to the same titles, I am
+obliged to declare that I have never found any confirmation (at least
+in the German-Swiss country) of the popular saying that gossip and
+intrigue are the special appanage of woman. I have found these two
+vices quite as often in man.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER IV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>THE SEXUAL APPETITE</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>If we sum up the three preceding chapters we arrive at the
+philosophical conclusion that reproduction depends on the general
+natural tendency of all living beings to multiply indefinitely.
+Fission and sexual reproduction arise from the simple fact that the
+growth of each individual is necessarily limited in space as well as
+time. Reproduction is thus destined to assure the continuation of
+life; the individual dies but is perpetuated in his progeny. We do not
+know why the crossing of individuals is rendered necessary by the
+phenomenon of conjugation. On this subject we can only build
+hypotheses, but the study of nature shows us that where conjugation
+ceases reproduction is etiolated and finally disappears, even when it
+is still possible for a certain time.</p>
+
+<p>From the commencement of life there is thus a powerful law of
+attraction with the object of reproduction. At first there are
+unicellular organisms, in which one cell penetrates the other in the
+act of conjugation. Their substances combine intimately, while the
+molecules of each nucleus become so arranged as to give the new
+individual a more fresh and powerful energy of growth.</p>
+
+<p>In the lower multicellular plants and animals which bud, fresh buds
+live at the expense of the old trunk to give life to new branches, and
+the male cells or pollen fecundate the female cells so as to disperse
+the germs capable of growth and of thus reproducing the species. It is
+also the same in the madrepores and other agglomerated animals (such
+as the solitary worms), composed of parameres or metameres, so long as
+a single central nervous system does not coordinate the metameres, or
+primary agglutinated animals, into a single organism.</p>
+
+<p>In the higher animals, the complex polycellular individuals <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>formed by
+the agglomeration of several primitive animals, are transformed into a
+higher and mobile unity by the aid of the great vital apparatus called
+the nervous system, which becomes the mental director of the living
+organism and invests it with its individual character. However, this
+higher unity of life, which always becomes more psychic, that is to
+say, at the same time intellectual, sentimental and voluntary, by its
+complication and its numerous relations with other individuals, this
+unity called the <i>central nervous system</i> cannot do without the
+necessity for reproduction. In animal phylogeny, as soon as
+hermaphrodism has ceased and each individual has become the sole
+bearer of one of the two kinds of sexual cells, the species will
+eventually disappear if the male cells cannot reach the female cells
+by the active movement of the whole individual. Thus is produced the
+marvelous phenomenon of the desire of increase and reproduction,
+originally peculiar to the male cell, penetrating the nervous system,
+that is to say life and soul in its entirety, the life of the higher
+unity of the individual. An ardent desire, a powerful impulse thus
+arises in the nervous system at the time of puberty and attracts the
+individual toward the opposite sex. The care and the pleasure of self
+preservation, which had hitherto fully occupied his attention, become
+effaced by this new impulse. The desire to procreate dominates
+everything. A single pleasure, a single desire, a single passion lays
+hold of the organism and urges it toward the individual of the
+opposite sex, and to become united with it in intimate contact and
+penetration. It is as if the nervous system or the whole organism felt
+as if it had for the moment become a germinal cell, so powerful is the
+desire to unite with the other sex.</p>
+
+<p>In some beautiful verses the German poet-philosopher <i>Goethe</i>
+(West-Oestlicher Divan, book VIII, "Suleika") describes the desire to
+procreate (p. 63):</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Und mit eiligem Bestreben<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Sucht sich, was sich angeh&ouml;rt,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Und zu ungemessnem Leben<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Ist Gef&uuml;hl und Blick gekehrt.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Sei's ergreifen, sei es raffen,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Wenn es nur sich fasst und h&auml;lt!<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Allah braucht nicht mehr zu schaffen,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Wir erschaffen seine Welt!<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>If we look at nature we see everywhere the same desire and the same
+attraction of the sexes for each other; the bird which warbles, the
+mammal which ruts, the insect which hums while pursuing the female
+with implacable tenacity, at the risk of their own life, employing
+sometimes cunning, sometimes dexterity, and sometimes force to attain
+their object. The ardor of the female is not always much less, but she
+uses coquetry, pretending to resist, and simulates repulsion. The more
+eager the male, the more coquettish is the female. If we observe the
+amorous sport of butterflies and birds, we see what efforts it costs
+the male to attain his object. On the other hand when the male is
+clumsy and slow the female often comes toward him or at any rate does
+not resist him, for instance in certain ants the males of which are
+wingless while the females have wings. The final act always consists
+in intimate union at the moment of copulation.</p>
+
+<p>In some animals Nature is prodigal in the means she employs to pursue
+her great object, reproduction, by aid of the sexual appetite. The
+apiary raises hundreds of male bees. As soon as the single queen-bee
+takes wing for its nuptial flight all the males follow, but a single
+male only, the strongest and most nimble, succeeds in reaching her. In
+the intoxication of copulation he abandons all his genital organs to
+the body of the queen and dies. The other males, now useless, are all
+massacred in autumn by the working bees.</p>
+
+<p>Sexual connection among butterflies of the Bombyx family is no less
+marvelous. They live for months as caterpillars and sometimes for two
+years as chrysalids, hibernating in a cocoon in some corner of the
+earth or in the bark of trees. Finally the butterfly, brilliantly
+colored, emerges from the cocoon and spreads its wings. It only
+possesses, however, a rudimentary intestinal canal for the short life
+which remains, for it does not require much nourishment and is only
+devoted to sexual connection. The female remains quiet and waits. The
+male, furnished with large antenn&aelig; which perceive the odor of the
+female at a distance of several kilometers, commences an infatuated
+flight through the woods and fields, as soon as his wings are
+sufficiently strong. His sole object is to reach the female. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>Here
+again there are numerous competitors. The one who arrives first
+possesses the female, but expires shortly afterward. His competitors
+die also, exhausted by their long flight and by starvation, but
+without having attained their object. After copulation, the female
+searches for the green plants which will ensure a long caterpillar
+life for her offspring. There she deposits her fecundated eggs in
+considerable numbers and then expires in her turn, like a faded flower
+which has fulfilled the object of its existence and falls after
+leaving the fruit in its place.</p>
+
+<p>The French naturalist <i>Fabre</i> has described these phenomena, relying
+on conclusive experiments, and my own observations and those of other
+naturalists confirm them fully. Among the ants, all the males die
+also, soon after an a&euml;rial nuptial flight, in which copulation is
+generally polyandrous, one male hardly waiting for the preceding one
+to discharge his semen before taking his place. Here the female
+possesses a receptacle for semen which often contains the sperm of
+many males, and which allows it to fecundate the eggs one after
+another for several years as she lays them, and thus to act as the
+mother of an ant's nest during a period which may extend to eleven or
+twelve years, or even more.</p>
+
+<p>In the lower organisms, love consists only in sexual instinct or
+appetite. As soon as the function is accomplished love disappears. It
+is only in the higher animals that we see a more or less durable
+sympathy develop between the two sexes. However, here also and even in
+man the sexual passion intoxicates for the moment all the senses. In
+his sexual rut even man is dominated as by a magic influence, and for
+the time he sees the world only under the aspect inspired by this
+influence. The object loved appears to him under celestial colors,
+which veil all the defects and miseries of reality. Each moment of his
+amorous feeling inspires sentiments which it seems to him should last
+eternally. He swears impossible things and believes in immortal
+happiness. A reciprocal illusion transforms life momentarily into
+mirages of paradise. The most common things, and even certain things
+which usually disgust him, are then the object of the most violent
+desire. But, as soon as the orgasm is ended and the appetite satisfied
+the feeling of satiety appears. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>A curtain falls on the scene, and, at
+least for the moment, repose and reality reappear.</p>
+
+<p>Such are, in a few words, the general phenomena of the normal sexual
+appetite among sexual organisms in the whole of living nature. I am
+not speaking here of degenerations, such as onanism and prostitution.
+Let us now analyze this appetite further.</p>
+
+<p>The natural appetites are inherited instincts the roots of which lie
+far back in the phylogenetic history of our ancestors. Hunger forms
+the basis for the preservation of the individual, the sexual appetite
+that for the preservation of the species, as soon as reproduction
+takes place by separate sexes. All appetite belongs to the motor side
+of nervous activity; there is something internal which urges us to an
+act, but, on the other hand, one or more sensations may exist at the
+base of this something to put it in action. I have proved, for
+example, that the egg-laying instinct in the corpse fly (<i>Lucilia
+c&aelig;sar</i>) is only produced by the odor of putrefaction. As soon as the
+antenn&aelig;, which contain the organ of smell, are removed from these
+flies they cease to lay, while other more severe operations, or
+removal of one antenna only does not produce this result.</p>
+
+<p>The mechanism of appetites is thus a lower mechanism and has its seat
+in the primitive nervous centers. As <i>Yersin</i> has proved, a cricket
+deprived of its brain may copulate so long as the sensory irritations
+can reach the sexual nervous centers.</p>
+
+<p>We can thus say that the mechanism of appetites belongs to automatic
+actions deeply inherited by phylogeny. Although complicated and
+composed of co&ouml;rdinated reflex movements which follow one another in
+regular succession, it has no actual power of modifying the so-called
+voluntary acts, which depend entirely on the cerebral hemispheres, and
+of which we men only have a conscious feeling. The appetites are not
+capable of adapting themselves to new circumstances and cease to be
+produced when the chain is interrupted. We are obliged to admit that
+the instincts or appetites are accompanied by a sub-conscious
+introspection which, as such, can hardly enter into direct relation
+with our higher consciousness, that is, with our ordinary
+consciousness in the waking state.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>In spite of this, when their intensity increases, the appetites
+overcoming the central nervous resistances, reach the cerebral
+hemispheres, and consequently our introspection or higher
+consciousness, under a <i>synthetic or unified appearance</i>, and
+influence in a high degree the cerebral activities, which are
+reflected in association with all the elements of what we call our
+mind in the proper sense of the term, that is to say, our intellect,
+sentiments and will. It is from this point of view that sexual
+appetite must be considered in order to make it comprehensible. Love,
+with all that appertains to it, belongs as such to our mind, that is,
+to the activity of our cerebral hemispheres, but it is produced there
+by a secondary irradiation from the sexual appetite, which alone
+concerns us at present. We may also remark that sexual ideas when once
+awakened in the cerebral hemispheres by sexual appetite, are worked up
+there by the attention, that is to say by concentrated cerebral
+activity, then associated with other ideas, which on their side react
+strongly on the sexual appetite, developing or paralyzing it,
+attracting or repelling it, or finally transforming its attributes and
+objects.</p>
+
+<p>By sexual desire (libido sexualis) we mean the manner in which the
+sexual appetite manifests itself in man. Each term may be employed for
+the other.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Sexual Appetite in Man.</b>&mdash;Man represents the active element in
+sexual union, and in him the sexual appetite, or desire for coitus, is
+at first the stronger. This desire develops spontaneously, and the
+role of fecundator represents the principal male activity. This
+appetite powerfully affects the male mind, although sexual life plays
+a less important part in him than in the female.</p>
+
+<p>In boys, the sexual appetite is often prematurely awakened, excited in
+unnatural ways by bad example. Moreover, it varies enormously in
+different individuals, a point to which we shall return when dealing
+with pathology. Leaving aside unnatural appetites and abnormal forms
+of sexual instinct we shall describe here its most spontaneous and
+normal form.</p>
+
+<p><b>Puberty. Awakening of the Sexual Instinct in Boys.</b>&mdash;Sooner or later
+in different individuals, the boy pays attention to his erections,
+which are at first produced in a reflex and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>involuntary manner.
+Mental development and reflection, so precocious in man, are causes
+which draw attention to the differences of the sexes before the sexual
+appetite is developed. It is, however, the first signs of this
+appetite which concentrate the attention on these differences, for in
+their absence, the boy is more indifferent to them than to the
+straight or crooked form of a nose. Man has the habit of passing by
+without notice anything which does not interest him, and this is why
+we find, in individuals whose sexual appetite is developed late or
+feebly, an indifference and ignorance in these matters which appear
+almost incredible to those whose sexual appetite is precocious and
+violent; while, on the contrary, the lively interest which the latter
+show in everything concerning the sexes appears foolish and absurd to
+the sexually indifferent.</p>
+
+<p>The pairing of animals, even of insects, awakens a curious interest in
+those whose sexual dispositions are strong and precocious; they
+comprehend very quickly the reason and are led to draw analogies with
+their own sensations in the same domain. The aspect of the female sex
+has, however, a much stronger action still on the normal man. But here
+is produced a peculiar phenomenon. What especially excites the boy in
+the aspect of the female sex is anything unusual; the sight of certain
+parts of the skin which are normally covered, the clothes or
+ornaments, particular odors, women whom the boy is not accustomed to
+see, etc. It is for this reason that brothers and sisters do not
+excite, or excite very little, their reciprocal sexual appetite, at
+least if there are no anomalies or exceptional exhibitions. The sexual
+appetites of boys among savage peoples who live naked is hardly at all
+excited by naked girls; on the other hand, it is strongly excited by
+those who are clothed or ornamented in a peculiar manner. The sexual
+appetite of a Mahometan is strongly excited by the nudity of the
+feminine face, that of the European by that of a woman's legs, because
+women are accustomed to veil their faces in the first case and their
+legs in the second. These are naturally only relative differences.
+When the sexual appetite of man is violent and unsatisfied woman
+excites it in a general way, if she is not too old or repulsive.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>A second important character of the normal sexual appetite is the
+special attraction that appearances of health and strength in woman
+produce in man. Healthy forms, normal odors, a normal voice, a skin
+healthy in appearance and to the touch, constitute attractions which
+charm and excite man, while all that is unhealthy or faded, every
+pathological odor, produce a repulsive effect and hinders or
+diminishes sexual desire.</p>
+
+<p>Everything connected with the sexual organs, their appearance, touch
+and odor, tend to excite the sexual appetite, all the more when they
+are usually covered; it is the same with the breasts.</p>
+
+<p>The first sexual sensations are of a quite indeterminate nature;
+something unconscious and obscure inclines the boy toward the female
+sex and makes it appear desirable. A boy may thus become enamored of
+the portrait of a woman with a swelling bosom and alluring eyes and be
+seized with desire, either at their sight or only on remembrance. This
+desire is not concentrated especially on the sexual act, as with an
+adult who is already experienced in these matters; it is more
+generalized and vague, although sensual.</p>
+
+<p>For a long time, these repeated aspirations, impulses and desires,
+remain unsatisfied. In different individuals the imagination
+associates the most diverse images with such manifestations of the
+sexual appetite. The objects of the latter appear in dreams and
+provoke nocturnal erections. The boy soon remarks a sensory
+localization of his appetites in his sexual organs, especially in the
+glans penis, but also in the surrounding parts, and the known or only
+vaguely defined image of the female sexual organs, which is hardly
+present at the first appearance of his desires, begin to excite him
+more and more.</p>
+
+<p>In natural or savage man, as well as in animals, the boy then makes
+attempts at coitus and soon attains his object, for, in the state of
+nature, man marries as soon as puberty is attained.</p>
+
+<p><b>Nocturnal Emissions.</b>&mdash;In civilized man such difficulties are opposed
+to marriage, that he replaces it by prostitution, or by more or less
+unnatural means, as soon as his sexual appetite becomes strong. In
+those who abstain, the images produced by sexual excitation, combined
+with erections, act more strongly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>during sleep than waking and
+produce ejaculations of semen called nocturnal emissions or
+pollutions. These generally occur during erotic dreams, and as the
+dreams produce the illusion of real perception, in quality as well as
+in intensity, it is not surprising that they are followed by an orgasm
+and ejaculation of semen.</p>
+
+<p><b>Masturbation.</b>&mdash;In the waking state the unsatisfied sexual appetite
+may produce such excitation that the boy applies friction to the glans
+penis, which cause voluptuous sensations. As soon as he has made this
+discovery he repeats the act and provokes ejaculation of semen
+artificially. Thus arises the bad habit of masturbation or onanism, a
+habit which is both depressing and exhausting, which takes an
+increasing hold on those who practice it. Although from the purely
+mechanical point of view masturbation causes a more normal ejaculation
+than nocturnal emissions, which are often interrupted by awakening and
+the vanishing of the dream which produced them, it has a much more
+harmful effect, by its frequency and especially by its depressing
+action on sentiment and will. We shall return to this subject in
+Chapter VIII.</p>
+
+<p>The accumulation of semen in the seminal vesicles strongly excites the
+sexual appetite of man, and he is momentarily satisfied by their
+evacuation. But we shall soon see that this purely organic or
+mechanical excitation, which seems at first to be only adapted for
+natural wants, does not in man play the principal role. We can easily
+understand that it cannot be the principal moving power of the sexual
+act. In fact, for any of the animals in which copulation occurs, the
+possibility of accomplishing this is not connected solely with the
+accumulation of semen, for it depends on obtaining a female. It is
+necessary, therefore, for the accumulated semen to wait, and for the
+perception of the female by the aid of the senses to excite the male
+to coitus.</p>
+
+<p><b>External Signs of the Sexual Appetite.</b>&mdash;Like every other desire the
+sexual appetite betrays itself by the physionomy. This consists in the
+play of cerebral activity, that is the thoughts, sentiments and
+resolutions, on the muscles by means of motor nerves and nerve
+centers. It is not limited to the face but extends to the whole body.
+The abdomen, the hands and even <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>the feet have their physionomy; that
+of the muscles of the face and eyes is, however, the most active and
+most expressive. Sexual desire betrays itself in looks, by the
+expression of the face and by certain movements in the presence of the
+female sex. Men differ greatly in the way in which they betray or hide
+their sentiments and thoughts by the play of their muscles, so that
+the inner self is not always reflected without. Moreover, the
+expression of sexual desire by the play of the physionomy may be
+confounded with that of other sentiments, so that one who appears
+libidinous is not always so in reality, and inversely.</p>
+
+<p><b>Continence in Man.</b>&mdash;Abstinence or sexual continence is by no means
+impracticable for a normal young man of average constitution,
+assiduous in intellectual and physical work, abstaining from all
+artificial excitations, especially from all narcotics and alcohol in
+particular, for these substances paralyze the judgment and will. When
+sexual maturity is complete, that is after about twenty years,
+continence is usually facilitated by nocturnal emissions accompanied
+by corresponding dreams. The health does not suffer from these in any
+way. However, in the long run this state cannot be considered as
+normal, especially when there is no hope of it coming to an end in a
+reasonable time. What is much more abnormal are the numerous
+artificial sexual excitations that civilization brings with it.</p>
+
+<p><b>Sexual Power.</b>&mdash;The individual variations in the sexual instinct are
+enormous, and may be said to vary from zero to an intense and
+perpetual excitation called <i>Satyriasis</i>. By sexual power is
+understood the faculty of accomplishing coitus. This power in the
+first place requires strong and complete erections, as well as the
+faculty of following them by frequent seminal ejaculations, without
+being precipitate. Impotence or incapacity for coitus belongs to
+pathology and consists usually in the absence or defectiveness of
+erections. Sexual power and appetite generally go together, but not
+always, for it is possible to be powerful with feeble sexual appetite,
+and intense appetite sometimes goes with impotence; the latter
+condition, it is true, is pathological. Sexual power also varies so
+much in individuals that it is hardly possible to fix a limit between
+the normal and the pathological.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>The sexual power and appetite in man are strongest on the average
+between 20 and 40 years, especially between 25 and 35. But, while
+young men of 18 to 20 years or more may be still tranquil, without
+having had seminal ejaculations, one often finds, among races who
+mature earlier, boys of 12 or 16 who are fully developed both in
+sexual power and appetite. In our Aryan races, however, when this
+occurs before the age of 14, it is a case of pathological precocity.
+The late appearance of sexual power and appetite is rather a sign of
+strength and health.</p>
+
+<p>After the age of 40, the sexual power slowly diminishes, and after the
+seventieth year, or even before this, becomes extinct. Exceptionally
+one finds old men of 80 who are still capable. Normally the sexual
+appetite diminishes with age; often, however, especially when it is
+artificially excited, it lasts longer than sexual power.</p>
+
+<p>As regards sexual power we must distinguish between that of copulation
+and that of fecundation. The power may exist without the latter, when
+the testicles have ceased to functionate, while the other glands, in
+particular the prostate, second the venereal orgasm by their
+secretion, when the power of erection is still preserved. Inversely,
+the testicles may contain healthy spermatozoa in the impotent. In this
+case artificial fecundation by the syringe is practicable.</p>
+
+<p><b>Individual Variations in Sexual Power.</b>&mdash;The fact that there are men
+who for several years can copulate several times a day proves to what
+extent sexual power varies in man. Sexual excitation and desire may
+sometimes attain such a degree that they are repeated a few minutes
+after ejaculation. It is not rare for a man to perform coitus ten or
+fifteen times in a single night, in brothels and elsewhere, although
+such excess borders on the domain of pathology. I know a case in which
+coitus was performed thirty times. I was once consulted by an old
+woman of 65 who complained of the insatiable sexual appetite of her
+husband, aged 73! He awakened her every morning at three o'clock to
+have connection, before going to work. Not content with this, he
+repeated the performance every evening and often also after the
+mid-day meal. Inversely, I have seen <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>healthy looking husbands, at the
+age of greatest sexual power, accuse themselves of excess for having
+cohabited with their wives once a month or less. The reformer,
+<i>Luther</i>, who was a practical man, laid down the average rule of two
+or three connections a week in marriage, at the time of highest sexual
+power. I may say that my numerous observations as a physician have
+generally confirmed this rule, which seems to me to conform very well
+to the normal state to which man has become gradually adapted during
+thousands of years.</p>
+
+<p>Husbands who would consider this average as an imprescriptible right
+would, however, make wrong pretensions, for it is quite possible for a
+normal man to contain himself much longer, and it is his duty to do
+so, not only when his wife is ill, but also during menstruation and
+pregnancy.</p>
+
+<p>The question of sexual relations during pregnancy is more difficult,
+on account of its long duration. In this case caution is necessary,
+but total abstinence from sexual connection is, in my opinion,
+superfluous.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Desire of Change in Man.</b>&mdash;A peculiarity of the sexual appetite
+in man, which is fatal for society, is his desire for change. This
+desire is not only one of the principal causes of polygamy, but also
+of prostitution and other analogous organizations. It arises from the
+want of sexual attraction in what one is accustomed to and from the
+stronger excitation produced by all that is new; a phenomenon of which
+we have spoken above. On the average, woman has a hereditary
+disposition which is much more monogamous than man. The sexual
+appetite thus loses its intensity from the prolonged habit of
+connection with the same woman, but, becomes much more intense with
+other women, if not in all men at any rate in most. Such desires may
+generally be overcome by the aid of a true and noble love, and by
+sentiments of duty and fidelity toward the family and toward a
+respected wife. We cannot, however, deny that they exist, nor that
+they are the cause of the worst excesses, and the most violent scenes,
+often with a tragic result. We shall return to this subject later.</p>
+
+<p><b>Excitation and Cooling of the Sexual Appetite.</b>&mdash;Without touching the
+domain of pathology, I must again dwell on the great <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>individual
+diversity of the objects of the male sexual appetite. It is usually
+young but mature female forms of healthy appearance, and especially
+the sight of the nudity of certain parts of the body which are usually
+covered, particularly the breasts and sexual organs, which most
+strongly excite the sexual appetite in man. It is the same with the
+corresponding odors. The voice, the physionomy, the clothing and many
+other details may also provoke his desires. There are, however, men
+who are more excited by thin and pale women.</p>
+
+<p>Certain attributes excite one and not another; for instance, the hair,
+certain odors, certain forms of face, a certain fashion of clothing,
+the form of the breasts, etc. The peculiarities, which are absent in
+women with whom a man has been on familiar terms in his youth are
+generally those which attract the most. In sexual matters contrasts
+tend to mutual attraction. Thin people often become enamored of fat,
+short ones of long ones, and inversely. One cannot, however, fix any
+rules. One often sees young men excited at the sight of women of older
+age, and old men enamored of very young women, even of children. All
+these discrepancies constitute the more important points of origin of
+sexual pathology. In spite of all, there still exist a great number of
+tranquil men with monogamous instincts and not fond of change. Lastly,
+we must not forget that super-abundant feeding and idleness exalt the
+sexual appetite and tend to polygamy, while hard work, especially
+physical, and frugal diet diminish it.</p>
+
+<p>It is needless to say that the mental qualities react powerfully on
+the sexual appetite. A quarrelsome temper, coldness and repulsion on
+the part of a woman cool the desires of the man, while an ardent
+sexual desire on the part of the woman, her love and tenderness, tend
+to increase and maintain them. We are dealing here with purely animal
+sexual instinct, and we may state that the sexual appetite of woman
+generally excites strongly that of man, and considerably increases his
+pleasure during coitus. There are, however, exceptions in the inverse
+sense, in which coldness and disgust on the part of the woman excite
+the passion of certain men, who have, however, no taste for libidinous
+women. All degrees are found in this domain.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>Active in the sexual act the man desires corresponding sentiments in
+the woman. But, on the other hand, all want of natural reserve, and
+delicate sentiment, and all cynical sexual provocation on the part of
+a woman, produce in the normal man a repulsive effect. The normal
+woman possesses an admirable instinct in these matters and knows how
+to betray her feelings in a sufficiently fine and delicate manner, so
+as not to hurt those of the man.</p>
+
+<p>A phenomenon, which we shall meet with in Chapter VIII, under the name
+of <i>psychic impotence</i>, shows the powerful and disturbing interference
+of thoughts on the automatic action of instinctive sexual activity. A
+momentary psychic impotence is not necessarily pathological. While
+voluptuous sensations alternate during coitus with desire and
+corresponding erotic representations, a sudden idea of the
+ridiculousness of the situation, signs of pain or of bad temper in the
+woman, the idea of impotence or of the real object of coitus; finally,
+anything which acts as a contrast to the sensations and impulses of
+coitus, may interrupt it, so that the voluptuous sensations and sexual
+appetite disappear and erection subsides. Voluntary efforts are often
+incapable of putting things right again. The charm is broken, and only
+new images and new sentiments associated instinctively with the sexual
+appetite can be re&euml;stablished, by making the subconscious state
+preponderate over the reasoning consciousness.</p>
+
+<p><b>Influence of Modern Civilization. Pornography.</b>&mdash;Human sexuality has
+been unfortunately perverted and in part grossly altered by
+civilization, which has even developed it artificially in a
+pathological sense. The point has been reached of considering as
+normal, relations which are in reality absolutely abnormal. For
+example, it is maintained that prostitution produces normal coitus in
+man. How can this term be seriously employed in speaking of connection
+with a prostitute who is absolutely indifferent to it, and who seeks
+only to excite her clients artificially and to get their money,
+without mentioning venereal diseases which she so often presents them
+with! Forgetful of the natural aim of the sexual appetite,
+civilization has transformed it into artificial enjoyment, and has
+invented all possible means to increase and diversify it.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>As far back as the history of civilization goes we see this state of
+affairs, and in this sense we are neither better nor worse than our
+ancestors. But we possess more diverse and more refined measures than
+barbarian peoples, and than our direct ancestors, to satisfy our
+unwholesome desires. Modern art in particular often serves to excite
+eroticism, and we must frankly admit that it often descends to the
+level of pornography. Hypocritical indignation against those who dare
+to say this often serves only to cover in the name of art the most
+indecent excitants of eroticism.</p>
+
+<p>Photography and all the perfected methods of reproduction of pictures,
+the increasing means of travel which facilitate clandestine sexual
+relations, the industrial art which ornaments our apartments, the
+increasing luxury and comfort of dwellings, beds, etc., are, at the
+present day, so many factors in the science of erotic voluptuousness.
+Prostitution itself has become adapted to all the pathological
+excrescences of vice. In a word, the artificial culture of the human
+sexual appetite has given rise to a veritable high school of
+debauchery. The artistic and realistic representations of erotic
+sexual scenes, so widespread at the present day, are much more capable
+of exciting the sexual appetite than the crude and unnatural pictures
+of former days, when, however, erotic objects of art generally
+belonged to a few rich persons or to museums.</p>
+
+<p><b>Influence of Repeated Sexual Excitations.</b>&mdash;The artificial and varied
+repetition of sexual excitation, by means of objects which provoke it,
+increases the sexual appetite. This cannot be doubted, for the law of
+exercise is a general truth in the physiology of the nervous system.
+This law, which is also called the law of training, shows that every
+kind of nervous activity is increased by exercise. A man becomes a
+glutton by accustoming himself to eat too much, a good walker by
+exercising his legs. The habit of wearing fine clothes or of washing
+in cold water causes these things to become a necessity. By
+continually occupying ourselves with a certain thing, we take a liking
+for it and often become virtuosos. By always thinking of a disease we
+are led to imagine that we suffer from it. A melody too often repeated
+often becomes automatic and we whistle or hum it unconsciously.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>Inversely, inactivity weakens the effect of irritations which
+correspond to it. By neglecting certain activities or the provocation
+of certain sensations, these diminish in intensity, and we cease more
+and more to be affected by them. We become idle when we are inactive,
+for the cerebral resistance accumulates, and idleness renders the
+renewal of the corresponding activity more difficult. It is not
+surprising, therefore, to find this law in the phenomena of the sexual
+appetite, which diminishes with abstinence and increases with repeated
+excitation and satisfaction. However, another force, that of the
+accumulation of semen in the seminal vesicles, associated with an old
+natural inherited instinct, often counteracts the law of exercise of
+the nervous system, as the empty stomach excites the instinct of
+nutrition. But, however imperious the hunger, and however
+indispensable its satisfaction for the maintenance of life, this does
+not impair the truth of the old saying, "Appetite comes by eating."</p>
+
+<p>The exaggerated desire for sleep experienced by idle people is an
+analogous phenomenon. Although sufficient sleep is a necessity for
+healthy and productive cerebral activity, an exaggerated desire for
+sleep may be artificially developed.</p>
+
+<p>These phenomena are of fundamental importance in the question of the
+sexual appetite. Here, the well-known axiom of moderation which says,
+"Abuse does not exclude use" finds its application. An English
+commentator on <i>Cicero</i> erroneously attributes to him the following:
+"True moderation consists in the absolute domination of the passions
+and appetites, as well as all wrong desires, by reason. It exacts
+total abstinence from all things which are not good and which are not
+of an absolutely innocent character." This definition is excellent,
+although it is not <i>Cicero's</i>. It excludes, for example, the use of a
+toxic substance such as alcohol, which is not a natural food, but not
+the moderate satisfaction of the sexual appetite which is normally
+intended for the preservation of the species, for this satisfaction
+may be good or bad, normal or vicious, innocent or criminal, according
+to circumstances. In this connection, the application of the right
+measure, and choice of the appropriate object raise delicate and
+complicated questions. So-called moral sermons lead to nothing in this
+domain.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>After numerous personal observations made on very diverse individuals
+who have consulted me with regard to sexual questions, I think I can
+affirm that when a man wishes to be loyal to himself he is generally
+able to distinguish between natural desire and artificial excitation
+of the sexual appetite. To be pursued and tormented by sexual images
+and desires, even when striving against them, and when the legitimate
+and normal occasion to satisfy them is absent, is not the same thing
+as to pass the time in inventing means of artificial excitement to
+pleasure and orgy while leading an idle and egoistic life. I speak
+here of the normal man and not of certain pathological states in which
+the sexual appetite takes the character of a perpetual obsession, even
+against the will of the patient. By serious and persevering work and
+by avoiding all means of excitation, the sexual appetite can usually
+be kept within the bounds of moderation.</p>
+
+<p>We have mentioned above pornographic art as one of the means which
+artificially excite the sexual appetite. Along with the interested
+exploitation of the habit of taking alcoholic drinks, exploitation of
+the sexual appetite constitutes one of the largest fields of what may
+be called <i>social brigandage</i>. Besides pornographic pictures, the
+principal means employed to artificially excite the sexual weaknesses
+of man are the following:</p>
+
+<p><i>Pornographic novels</i> in which sexual desire is excited by all the
+artifice of the novelist, and in which the illustrations often rival
+those we have just spoken of to seduce the purchaser.</p>
+
+<p><i>Alcohol</i> which, by paralyzing the judgment and will as well as moral
+inhibitory sentiments, excites the sexual appetite and renders it
+grossly impulsive. Its first fumes make man enterprising, and he falls
+an easy prey to proxenetism and prostitution, although it soon weakens
+the sexual power.</p>
+
+<p>But it is the modern arsenal of <i>prostitution</i> which plays the
+principal role. The proxenets (pimps) exploit both the sexual
+appetites of men and the weakness and venality of women. Their chief
+source of gain consisting in the artificial excitation of the male
+sexual appetite by all possible means, their art consists in dressing
+their merchandise, the prostitutes, with attractive refinement,
+especially when dealing with rich clients who pay well. It is on this
+soil that are cultivated the most disgusting <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>artifices, intended to
+excite even the most pathological appetites.</p>
+
+<p>Other causes are added to lucre, or are the consequences of it. A boy
+led to masturbation by pornographic pictures, or by the seduction of a
+corrupted individual, becomes in his turn the seducer of his comrades.
+Certain libidinous and unscrupulous women have often persuaded
+adolescents and schoolboys to sleep with them, thus awakening
+precocious and unhealthy sexual appetites.</p>
+
+<p>Such habits which excite the sexual appetite and cause it to
+degenerate artificially, develop in their turn a mode of sexual
+boasting in men, the effects of which are deplorable. To appear manly,
+the boy thinks he ought to have a cigar in his mouth, even if it makes
+him sick. In the same way the spirit of imitation leads youth to
+prostitution. The fear of not doing as the others and especially the
+terror of ridicule constitute a powerful lever which is abused and
+exploited. Fearing mockery, a youth is the more easily seduced by bad
+example the less he is put on guard by parents or true friends.
+Instead of explaining to him in time, seriously and affectionately,
+the nature of sexual connection, its effects and dangers, he is
+abandoned to the chance of the worst seductions.</p>
+
+<p>In this way the sexual appetite is not only artificially increased and
+often directed into unnatural channels, but also leads to the
+poisoning and ruin of youth by venereal diseases, to say nothing of
+alcoholism.</p>
+
+<p>We have referred especially to educated youth, but the youth of the
+lower classes are perhaps in a still worse condition, owing to the
+promiscuity of their life in miserable dwellings. They often witness
+coitus between their parents, or are themselves trained in evil ways
+for purposes of exploitation.</p>
+
+<p>It is astonishing that the results of such abominable deviation of the
+sexual appetite are not worse. No doubt excesses disturb the ties of
+marriage and of the family, and often provoke impotence and other
+disorders of the sexual functions. It must, however, be admitted that
+their satellites, the venereal diseases, and their most common
+companion, alcoholism, are in reality the greatest destroyers of
+health, and make much more <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>considerable ravages in society than the
+artificial increase and abnormal deviations of the sexual appetite
+itself. However, the latter by themselves very often poison the mind
+and social morality, as we shall have occasion to see.</p>
+
+<p>Immoderate sexual desire, provoked in men by the artificial
+excitations of prostitution, etc., is a bad acquisition. It renders
+difficult the accustomance to marriage, fidelity and ideal and
+life-long love for the same woman. It is true, that many old <i>rou&eacute;s</i>
+and <i>habitu&eacute;s</i> of brothels later on become faithful husbands and
+fathers, especially when they have had the luck to escape venereal
+disease.</p>
+
+<p>But whoever looks behind the scenes may soon convince himself that the
+happiness of most unions of this kind is very relative. The
+degradation of the sexual sentiment of a man who has long been
+accustomed to live with prostitutes is never entirely effaced, and
+generally leaves indelible traces in the human brain.</p>
+
+<p>I readily admit that a man with good hereditary dispositions, who has
+only yielded for a short time to seductive influences, may be reformed
+by a true and profound love. But even in him, excesses leave traces
+which later on may easily lead him astray when he becomes tired of the
+monotony of conjugal relations with the same woman. On the other hand,
+we must also recognize that sexual relations in themselves, even in
+marriage, create a habit which often urges a married man to
+extra-nuptial coitus, even when he had remained continent before
+marriage.</p>
+
+<p>The tricks which are played on a man by his sexual appetite,
+especially by his polygamous instincts, must not, however, be
+confounded with the systematic, artificial and abnormal training of
+the same appetite. The physical and psychic attractions of a woman are
+capable of completely diverting the sexual desires of a man from their
+primary object, and of directing them on the siren who captivates his
+senses. The elements of the sexual appetite here form an inextricable
+mixture with those of love, and constitute the inexhaustible theme of
+novels and most true and sensational love stories.</p>
+
+<p>Hereditary pathological dispositions play a considerable role <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>in many
+cases of this kind. Also, marriages of sudden and passionate love (we
+are not dealing here with love marriages concluded after sufficient
+reflection and deep mutual acquaintanceship) are not more stable than
+the so-called "<i>mariages de convenance</i>," for passionate natures,
+usually more or less pathological, are apt to fall from one extreme to
+the other. The power exercised by sexual passion in such cases is
+terrible. It produces conditions that may lead to suicide or
+assassination. In men whose power of reason is neither strong nor
+independent, opinions and conceptions are frequently changed; love may
+change to hatred and hatred to love, the sentiment of justice may lead
+to injustice, the loyal man may become a liar, etc. In fact the sexual
+appetite is let loose like a hurricane in the brain and becomes the
+despot of the whole mind. The sexual passion has often been compared
+to drunkenness or to mental disease. Even in its mildest forms it
+often renders the husband incapable of sexual connection with his
+wife.</p>
+
+<p>For example, a man may cherish, respect and even adore his wife, and
+yet her presence and touch may not appeal to his senses, nor excite
+his appetite or erection; while some low-minded woman will produce in
+him an irresistible sensual attraction, even when he experiences
+neither esteem nor love for her. In such cases sexual appetite is in
+more or less radical opposition to love. Such extreme phenomena are
+not rare, but hardly common. Although excited to coitus with the woman
+in question, the husband would not in any case have her for wife, nor
+even have children by her, for after the slightest reflection he
+despises and fears her. Here, the sexual appetite represents the old
+atavistic animal instinct, attracted by libidinous looks, exuberant
+charms, in a word by the sensual aspect of woman.</p>
+
+<p>On the contrary, in a higher domain of the human mind, the sentiments
+of sympathy of true love, deeply associated with fidelity, and with
+intellectual and moral intimacy, unite against the elementary power of
+the animal instinct. Here we see dwelling in the same breast (or, to
+speak more correctly, in the same central nervous system) two souls,
+which struggle with each other.</p>
+
+<p>We are not dealing here with cases in which a new passion <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>arrives to
+turn the man from his old affection. No doubt the extreme cases of
+which we have spoken are not usual, but we see in most men more or
+less considerable mixtures of analogous sentiments in all possible
+degrees, especially when the woman loved loses her physical
+attractions from age or other causes.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Procreative Instinct.</b>&mdash;The sexual appetite of man does not
+consist exclusively in the desire for coitus. In many cases it is
+combined, more or less strongly and more or less consciously, with the
+desire to procreate children. Unfortunately, this desire is far from
+being always associated with higher sentiments and with love of
+children or the paternal instinct. In fact, conscious reasoning plays
+a smaller part than the animal instinct of self-expansion. We shall
+see later on that the procreative instinct often plays an important
+role in our present civilization.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Sexual Appetite in Woman.</b>&mdash;In the sexual act the role of the
+woman differs from that of the man not only by being passive, but also
+by the absence of seminal ejaculations. In spite of this the analogies
+are considerable. The erection of the clitoris and its voluptuous
+sensations, the secretion from the glands of <i>Bartholin</i> which
+resembles ejaculation in the male, the venereal orgasm itself which
+often exceeds in intensity that of man, are phenomena which establish
+harmony in sexual connection.</p>
+
+<p>Although the organic phenomenon of the accumulation of semen in the
+seminal vesicles is absent in woman, there is produced in the nerve
+centers, after prolonged abstinence, an accumulation of sexual desire
+corresponding to that of man. A married woman confessed to me, when I
+reproached her for being unfaithful to her husband, that she desired
+coitus at least once a fortnight, and that when her husband was not
+there, she took the first comer. No doubt the sentiments of this woman
+were hardly feminine, but her sexual appetite was relatively normal.</p>
+
+<p><b>Frequency of the Sexual Appetite in Woman.</b>&mdash;As regards pure sexual
+appetite, extremes are much more common and more considerable in woman
+than in man. In her this appetite is developed much less often
+spontaneously than in him, and where it is so, it is generally later.
+Voluptuous sensations are usually only awakened by coitus.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>In a considerable number of women the sexual appetite is completely
+absent. For these, coitus is a disagreeable, often disgusting, or at
+any rate an indifferent act. What is more singular, at least for
+masculine comprehension, and what gives rise to the most frequent
+"quid pro quos," is the fact that such women, absolutely cold as
+regards sexual sensations, are often great coquettes, over-exciting
+the sexual appetites of man, and have often a great desire for love
+and caresses. This is more easy to understand if we reflect that the
+unsatiated desires of the normal woman are less inclined toward coitus
+than toward the assemblage of consequences of this act, which are so
+important for her whole life. When the sight of a certain man awakes
+in a young girl sympathetic desires and transports, she aspires to
+procreate children with this man only, to give herself to him as a
+slave, to receive his caresses, to be loved by him only, that he may
+become both the support and master of her whole life. It is a question
+of general sentiments of indefinite nature, of a powerful desire to
+become a mother and enjoy domestic comfort, to realize a poetic and
+chivalrous ideal in man, to gratify a general sensual need distributed
+over the whole body and in no way concentrated in the sexual organs or
+in the desire for coitus.</p>
+
+<p><b>Nature of the Sexual Appetite in Woman.</b>&mdash;The zone of sexual
+excitation is less specially limited to the sexual organs in woman
+than in man. The nipples constitute in her an entire zone and their
+friction excites voluptuousness. If we consider the importance in the
+life of woman, of pregnancy, suckling, and all the maternal functions,
+we can understand why the mixture of her sentiments and sensations is
+so different from that of man. Her smaller stature and strength,
+together with her passive role in coitus, explain why she aspires to a
+strong male support. This is simply a question of natural phylogenetic
+adaptation. This is why a young girl sighs for a courageous, strong
+and enterprising man, who is superior to her, whom she is obliged to
+respect, and in whose arms she feels secure. Strength and skill in man
+are the ideal of the young savage and uncultured girl, his
+intellectual and moral superiority that of the young cultivated girl.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>As a rule women are much more the slaves of their instincts and habits
+than men. In primitive peoples, hardiness and boldness in men were
+qualities which made for success. This explains why, even at the
+present day, the boldest and most audacious Don Juans excite most
+strongly the sexual desires of women, and succeed in turning the heads
+of most young girls, in spite of their worst faults in other respects.
+Nothing is more repugnant to the feminine instinct than timidity and
+awkwardness in man. In our time women become more and more
+enthusiastic over the intellectual superiority of man, which excites
+their desire. Without being indifferent to it, simple bodily beauty in
+man excites the appetite of women to a less extent. It is astonishing
+to see to what point women often become enamored of old, ugly or
+deformed men. We shall see later on that the normal woman is much more
+particular than man in giving her love. While the normal man is
+generally attracted to coitus by nearly every more-or-less young and
+healthy woman, this is by no means the case in the normal woman with
+regard to man. She is also much more constant than man from the sexual
+point of view. It is rarely possible for her to experience sexual
+desire for several men at once; her senses are nearly always attracted
+to one lover only.</p>
+
+<p>The instinct of procreation is much stronger in woman than in man, and
+is combined with the desire to give herself passively, to play the
+part of one who devotes herself, who is conquered, mastered and
+subjugated. These negative aspirations form part of the normal sexual
+appetite of woman.</p>
+
+<p>A peculiarity of the sexual sentiments of woman is an ill-defined
+pathological phenomenon with normal sensations, a phenomenon which in
+man, on the contrary, forms a very marked contrast with the latter; I
+refer to the <i>homosexual</i> appetite, in which the object is an
+individual of the same sex. Normally, the adult man produces on
+another man an absolutely repulsive effect from the sexual point of
+view; it is only pathological subjects, or those excited by sexual
+privation who are affected with sensual desires for other men. But in
+woman a certain sensual desire for caresses, connected more or less
+with unconscious and ill-defined sexual sensations, is not limited to
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>the male sex but extends to other women, to children, and even to
+animals, apart from pathologically inverted sexual appetites. Young
+normal girls often like to sleep together in the same bed, to caress
+and kiss each other, which is not the case with normal young men. In
+the male sex such sensual caresses are nearly always accompanied and
+provoked by sexual appetite, which is not the case in women. As we
+have already seen, man may separate true love from the sexual appetite
+to such an extent that two minds, each feeling in a different way, may
+inhabit the same brain. A man may be a loving and devoted husband and
+at the same time satisfy his animal appetites with prostitutes. In
+woman, such sexual dualism is much more rare and always unnatural, the
+normal woman being much less capable than man of separating love from
+sexual appetite.</p>
+
+<p>These facts explain the singular caprices of the sexual appetite and
+orgasm in the normal woman, in whom these phenomena are not easily
+produced without love.</p>
+
+<p>The same woman who loves one man and not another is susceptible to
+sexual appetite and voluptuous sensations when she cohabits with the
+first, while she is often absolutely cold and insensible to the most
+passionate embraces of the second. This fact explains the possibility
+of prostitution as it exists among women. The worst prostitutes, who
+have connection with innumerable paying clients without feeling the
+least pleasure, generally have a "protector" with whom they are
+enamored and to whom they devote all their love and sincere orgasms,
+all the time allowing themselves to be plundered and exploited by him.</p>
+
+<p>What the normal woman requires from man is love, tenderness, a firm
+support for life, a certain chivalrous nature, and children. She can
+renounce the voluptuous sensations of coitus infinitely more easily
+than the exigencies I have just indicated, which are for her the
+principal things. Nothing makes a woman more indignant than the
+indifference of her husband, when, for instance, he treats her simply
+as a housekeeper. Some have maintained that the average woman is more
+sensual than man, others that she is less so. Both these statements
+are false: she is sensual <i>in another manner</i>.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>All the peculiarities of the sexual appetite in woman are thus the
+combined product of: (1) the profound influence of the sexual
+functions on her whole existence; (2) her passive sexual role; (3) her
+special mental faculties. By these, and more especially by her passive
+sexual role, are explained her instinctive coquettishness, her love of
+fiery and personal adornment, in a word her desire to please men by
+her external appearance, by her looks, movements and grace. These
+phenomena betray the instinctive sexual desires of the young girl,
+which as we have just seen, do not normally correspond to a direct
+desire for coitus.</p>
+
+<p>While a virgin experiences in her youth the sensations we have just
+described, things change after marriage, and as a general rule after
+repeated sexual connections. If these do not provoke voluptuous
+sensations in some women, they do in the majority, and this is no
+doubt the normal state of affairs. Habit, then, produces an increasing
+desire for coitus and its sensations, and it is not rare, in the
+course of a long life in common, for the roles to be reversed and the
+woman become more libidinous than the man. This partly explains why so
+many widows are anxious to remarry. They easily attain their object,
+as men quickly succumb to the sexual desire of woman when it is
+expressed in an unequivocal manner.</p>
+
+<p>In widows, two strong sentiments struggle against each other, with
+variable results in different individuals; on the one hand, feminine
+constancy in love, and the memory of the deceased; on the other hand,
+the acquired habit of sexual connection and its voluptuous sensations,
+which leaves a void and appeals for compensation. The sexual appetite
+being equal, the first sentiment prevails generally in religious women
+or those of a deeply moral or sentimental character, while the second
+prevails in women of more material or less-refined nature, or in those
+simply guided by their reason. In these internal struggles, the more
+delicate sentiments and the stronger will of the woman result from the
+fact that when she wishes she can overcome her appetites much better
+than man. But, in spite of this, the power of the sexual appetite
+plays an important part in the inward struggle we have just mentioned.
+When this appetite is absent <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>there is no struggle, and the widow's
+conduct is dictated either by her own convenience, or by the instinct
+which naturally leads a woman to yield to the amorous advances of a
+man.</p>
+
+<p>At the critical age, that is the time when menstruation ceases,
+neither the sexual appetite nor voluptuous sensations disappear,
+although desire diminishes normally as age advances. In this respect
+it is curious to note that old women possess no sexual attraction for
+men, while they often feel libidinous desires almost as strongly as
+young women. This is a kind of natural anomaly.</p>
+
+<p>As we have already stated, individual differences in the sexual
+appetite are much greater in woman than in man. Some women are
+extremely excitable, and from their first youth experience violent
+sexual desire, causing them to masturbate or to throw themselves onto
+men. Such women are usually polyandrous by nature, although the sexual
+appetite in woman is normally much more monogamous than that of man.
+Such excesses in woman take on a more pathological character than in
+man, and go under the name of <i>nymphomania</i>. The insatiability of
+these females, who may be met with in all classes of society, may
+become fabulous. Night and day, with short interruptions for sleeping
+and eating, they are, in extreme cases, anxious for coitus. They
+become less exhausted than men, because their orgasm is not
+accompanied by loss of semen.</p>
+
+<p>Although in the normal state woman is naturally full of delicacy and
+sentiments of modesty, nothing is easier than to make these disappear
+completely by training her systematically to sexual immodesty or to
+prostitution. Here we observe the effects of the routine and
+suggestible character of feminine psychology, of the tendency of woman
+to become the slave of habit and custom, as well as of her
+perseverance when her determined will pursues a definite end.
+Prostitution gives us sad proofs of this fact.</p>
+
+<p>The psychology of prostitutes is very peculiar. Attempts to restore
+them to a moral life nearly always fail hopelessly; it is rare to see
+them permanently successful. Most of these women have a heredity of
+bad quality and are of weak character, idle and libidinous. They find
+it much easier to gain their living by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>prostitution, and forget their
+work, if they have ever learned any. The poverty, drunkenness and
+shame which follow seduction and illegitimate birth have no doubt
+driven more than one prostitute to her sad trade, but the naturally
+evil dispositions of these women constitute without any doubt the
+principal cause. Alcohol, venereal diseases and bad habits, combined
+with continually repeated sexual degradation, afterwards determine
+progressive decadence.</p>
+
+<p>Some of these women, however, of better quality, only surrender
+themselves to prostitution by compulsion; they suffer from this
+existence and strive to escape from it. The grisettes and lorettes<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>
+form a group intermediate between prostitution and natural love; they
+are women who hire themselves for a time to one man in particular, and
+are maintained and paid by him in return for satisfying his sexual
+appetites. Here again, sexual desire only exceptionally plays the
+chief role. The conduct of these women results from their loose
+character and pecuniary interest.</p>
+
+<p>If, therefore, we admit on the one hand that the sexual excesses of
+the female sex are especially grafted on hereditary disposition of
+character, or are primarily due to strong appetites, we are obliged on
+the other hand to recognize that the great role played by sexuality in
+the brain of woman renders it more difficult for her than for man to
+return to better ways when she has once prostituted herself, or when
+she has surrendered in any way to sexual licentiousness, even when her
+original quality was not bad.</p>
+
+<p>In man the sexual appetite is much more easily separated than in woman
+from other instincts, sentiments and intellectual life in general, and
+possesses in him, however powerful it may be, a much more transient
+character, which prevents it dominating the whole mental life.</p>
+
+<p>I have dwelt so much on this point because it is essential to know the
+differences which exist between man and woman in this respect, and to
+take them into account if we wish to give a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>just and healthy judgment
+on the sexual question from the social point of view. The more it is
+our duty to give the same rights to both sexes, the more absurd it is
+to disregard the profoundness of their differences and to imagine that
+these can ever be effaced.</p>
+
+<p><b>Flirtation.</b>&mdash;If we look in an English dictionary for the meaning of
+the word <i>flirt</i>, we find it equivalent to coquetry. But this English
+term has become fixed and modernized in another sense which has become
+international, to express the old idea of a series of well-known
+phenomena which must be clearly distinguished from coquetry.</p>
+
+<p>Coquetry, an especially feminine attribute, is not in itself dependent
+on the sexual appetite; it is an indirect irradiation, purely
+psychical, and we shall speak of it later on. Flirtation, as we now
+understand the term, is directly connected with the sexual appetite,
+and constitutes its external impression in all the wealth of its
+forms, as much in man as in woman. In a word, flirtation is a
+polymorphous language which clearly expresses the sexual desires of an
+individual to the one who awakens these desires, actual coitus alone
+excepted.</p>
+
+<p>Flirtation may be practiced in a more or less unconscious manner. It
+is by itself neither a psychic attribute nor sexual appetite, for a
+human being may so hide and overcome his appetites that no one remarks
+them; and on the contrary, he may simulate sexual appetite without
+feeling it, or at any rate behave in such a way as to excite it in his
+partner. Flirtation thus consists in an activity calculated to
+disclose the eroticism of the subject as well as to excite that of
+others. It is needless to say that the nature of coquetry disposes to
+flirtation.</p>
+
+<p>Flirtation comprises all the sport of love, kisses, caresses and all
+kinds of sexual excitation even to orgasm, without reaching the
+consummation of coitus. All degrees may be noted; and, according to
+temperament, flirtation may be limited to slight excitation of the
+sexual appetite or may extend to violent and rapidly increasing
+emissions. The considerable individual differences which exist in
+sexual sensibility result in the same perception or the same act
+having little effect on one individual, while it excites another to a
+high degree. In the latter case, especially <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>in man, flirtation may
+even lead to venereal orgasm without coitus, and even without any
+manipulations which resemble it. A woman of exuberant form, assuming
+sensual and voluptuous attitudes, may thus provoke an ejaculation by
+the slight and repeated friction of her dress against the penis of an
+excitable dancer.</p>
+
+<p>The same thing often occurs when a passionate couple caress and
+embrace each other without the genital organs being touched or even
+exposed. In this respect the woman is better protected than the man,
+but when she is very excitable an orgasm may be produced in her during
+the caresses of a passionate flirtation by the pressure or friction of
+her legs against each other (a variety of masturbation in woman).</p>
+
+<p>As a rule, however, things do not go so far as this in flirtation. The
+sight and touch are used alternately. The eyes play an important part,
+for they may express much and consequently act powerfully. A pressure
+of the hands, an apparently chance movement, touching the dress and
+the skin, etc., are the usual means of flirtation. In situations where
+people are close together or pressed against each other, as in railway
+carriages, or at table, the legs play a well-known part, by pressure
+of the knees and feet.</p>
+
+<p>This dumb conversation of the sexual appetite begins at first in a
+prudent and apparently innocent manner, so that the acting party does
+not risk being taxed with impropriety; but as soon as he who began the
+flirtation perceives that his slight invitations are welcome he grows
+bolder, a tacit mutual agreement is established, and the game
+continues without a single word betraying the reciprocal sensations.
+Many who practice flirtation, both men and women, avoid betraying
+themselves by words, and they take pleasure in this mutual excitation
+of their genital sensibility, however incomplete it may be.</p>
+
+<p>Flirtation may assume very different forms according to education and
+temperament. The action of alcohol on the brain develops the coarsest
+forms of flirtation. Every one knows the clumsy embraces of
+semi-intoxicated persons which can often be seen at night or on
+Sundays and holidays, in the street or in railway carriages, etc. I
+designate these by the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>term "alcoholic flirtation." Even in the best
+and most refined society flirtation loses its delicacy even under the
+effect of the slightest degree of alcoholic intoxication.</p>
+
+<p>Flirtation assumes a more delicate and more complicated character,
+rendering it gracious and full of charm, in persons of higher
+education, especially when they are highly intellectual or artistic.</p>
+
+<p>We must also mention the intellectual variety of flirtation which is
+not expressed by sight or touch, but only by language. Delicate
+allusions to sexual matters and somewhat lascivious conversation
+excite eroticism as much as looks and touch. According to the
+education of the persons concerned, this talk may be coarse and
+vulgar, or on the contrary refined and full of wit, managed with more
+or less skill, or clumsily. Here the natural finesse of woman plays a
+considerable part. Men wanting in tact are clumsy and offensive in
+their attempts at flirtation, and thus extinguish instead of exciting
+the woman's eroticism. The manner in which alcoholic flirtation
+manifests itself in cynical, dull, obtrusive and stupid conversation,
+corresponds to its other forms of expression. Woman desires
+flirtation; but does not wish it to assume an unbecoming form.</p>
+
+<p>One can say anything to a woman; all depends on the way in which it is
+said. I have seen lady doctors with whom one could discuss the most
+ticklish subjects, profoundly shocked by the misplaced pleasantries of
+a tactless professor. In themselves these pleasantries were quite
+innocent for medical ears, as my lady colleagues were finally obliged
+to admit, when I pointed out to them the specially feminine character
+of their psychic reaction, proving to them that they listened without
+a frown to things ten times worse, when the lecturer gave them a moral
+tone.</p>
+
+<p>Men also generally feel disgusted with the dull, cynical or clumsy
+form of female eroticism, although they are not usually over-refined
+themselves in this respect.</p>
+
+<p>This last phenomenon leads us to distinguish between flirtation in man
+and in woman. For woman it constitutes the only permissible way of
+expressing erotic sentiments, and even then much restraint is imposed
+on her. Circumstances develop in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>her the art of flirtation and give
+it remarkable finesse. Unless she exposes herself to great danger,
+woman can only leave her sensuality to be guessed. Every audacious and
+tactless provocation fails in its object; it drives away the men and
+destroys a young girl's reputation. Even when possessed by the most
+violent erotic desire woman cannot ostensibly depart from her passive
+role without compromising herself. Nevertheless, she succeeds on the
+whole very easily in exciting the passions of man, by the aid of a few
+artifices. No doubt she does not entirely dominate him by this means.
+She must be very delicate and adroit, at any rate at first, in the
+provocative art of flirtation. These frivolities are greatly
+facilitated by her whole nature and by the character of her habitual
+eroticism. Man, on the other hand, may be more audacious in the
+expression of his passion. This brings us back to what has been said
+concerning the sexual differences.</p>
+
+<p>A whole volume could be written on the forms of flirtation, which is
+the indispensable expression of all sexual desire. Among engaged
+couples it assumes a legal character and even a conventional form. The
+way in which barmaids flirt with their customers is also somewhat
+conventional, although in quite a different way. In society,
+flirtation is generally seasoned with more Attic salt, whether it is
+not allowed to exceed certain limits, or whether it leads to free
+liaisons after the manner of the Greek hetaira. In the country, among
+peasant girls and boys it takes a grosser form, if not more sensual,
+than among the cultivated classes; in the latter, language takes the
+principal part. Among rich idlers in watering places, large hotels,
+and even in some sanatoriums, flirtation takes a dominant place and
+constitutes, in all its degrees, the chief occupation of a great
+number of the visitors. It grows like a weed wherever man has a
+monotonous occupation or suffers from the ennui of idleness.</p>
+
+<p>In certain individuals, flirtation takes the place of coitus from the
+sensual, and love from the sentimental point of view. There are modern
+crazy natures who spend their existence in all kinds of artificial
+excitation of the senses, creatures of both sexes incapable of a
+useful action.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>As a momentary and transient expression of all the necessities of
+love, flirtation has a right to existence; but, when cultivated on its
+own account and always remaining as flirtation, it becomes a symptom
+of degeneration or sexual depravity, among idle, crazy and vicious
+persons of all kinds.</p>
+
+<br />
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+<br />
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> The terms <i>grisette</i> and <i>lorette</i> are now obsolete, and
+the names given to this class of women constantly varies. I shall,
+nevertheless, employ them in the course of this work because they
+clearly define certain special varieties of remunerated concubinage.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER V<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>LOVE AND OTHER IRRADIATIONS OF THE SEXUAL APPETITE IN THE HUMAN MIND</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p><b>Generalities. Jealousy.</b>&mdash;We have seen that the mechanism of the
+appetites consists in instincts inherited from our animal ancestors by
+mnemic engraphia and selection, and that it is situated in the
+primordial or lower cerebral centers (basal ganglia, spinal cord,
+etc.). In some of the lower animals we already find other instinctive
+nervous reactions which constitute the indirect effects or derivatives
+of the sexual appetite. The most evident of these is <i>jealousy</i>, or
+the feeling of grief and anger produced in an individual when the
+object of his sexual appetite is disputed by another individual of the
+same sex. Jealousy may also arise from other instincts, such as those
+of nutrition, ambition, etc.; but it forms one of the most typical
+complements of the sexual appetite, and leads, as we know, to furious
+combats, especially between males, sometimes also between females.</p>
+
+<p>Owing to its profoundly hereditary origin, this passion has a very
+instinctive character, and might quite as well have been mentioned in
+the preceding chapter. I deal with it here because it is naturally
+associated with other irradiations of the sexual appetite, and because
+it has a peculiarly mental character.</p>
+
+<p><b>Relation Between Love and Sexual Appetite. Sympathy.</b>&mdash;Having entered
+the higher brain, or organ of mind, and become modified, complicated,
+and combined with the different branches of psychic activity, the
+sexual appetite takes the name of <i>love</i>, properly so-called. In order
+to better understand the relations of love to the sexual appetite we
+must refer to Chapter II. Let us begin with a short exposition of the
+phylogeny of the sentiments of sympathy, or the altruistic and social
+sentiments.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>In the lower animals with no separate sexes egoism reigns absolutely.
+Each individual eats as much as it wants, then divides, buds or
+conjugates, thus fulfilling the sole object of its existence. The same
+principle holds in the lower stages of reproduction by separate sexes.
+Spiders give us a good example. In these, copulation is a dangerous
+act for the male, for if he is not extremely careful he is devoured by
+the female, sometimes even before having attained his object, often
+soon afterward, in order that nothing may be lost. However, the female
+shows a certain consideration for her eggs, and sometimes even for the
+young after they are hatched.</p>
+
+<p>In higher stages of the animal kingdom sentiments of sympathy may be
+observed, derived from the sexual union of individuals. These are
+sentiments of attachment of the male for the female, and especially of
+the female (sometimes the male also) for their progeny.</p>
+
+<p>Such sentiments become developed and may be transformed into intense
+love between the sexes, of long duration. Birds, for instance, often
+remain faithful for many years, and even for life. From these simple
+facts is evolved the intimate relationship which exists between sexual
+love and other sentiments of sympathy, that is to say affection, or
+love in the more vague and more extended sense of the term.</p>
+
+<p>To every sentiment of sympathy between two individuals (sympathy forms
+part of the sentiments of pleasure) there is a corresponding contrary
+correlative sentiment of grief, when the object of sympathy dies,
+becomes sick, takes flight or is carried off. This sentiment often
+takes the form of simple sadness, but it may attain a degree of
+incurable melancholy. Among certain monkeys and parrots, we often see
+the death of one of the conjoints lead to the refusal of all food and
+finally to death of the survivor, after increasing sadness and
+depression. Removal of the young produces a profound sadness in the
+female ape. But when an animal discovers the cause of the grief, when,
+for instance, a stranger attempts to take away his mate or his young,
+a mixed reaction of sentiment is produced, that is to say anger or
+even fury against the perpetrator of the deed.</p>
+
+<p>Jealousy is only a special form of this anger. The sentiment <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>of anger
+and its violent and hostile expression constitute the natural reaction
+against one who disturbs a sentiment of pleasure, a reaction which
+tends to re&euml;stablish the latter. The power of the sentiment of anger
+increases with the offensive and defensive faculties, while, in weak
+and peaceful beings, terror and sadness to a great extent take their
+place. On the other hand, the sight of defenseless prey suffices to
+provoke, in the rapacious who are strong and well armed, by simple
+reflex association, a cruel sentiment of voluptuous anger, which is
+also observed in man.</p>
+
+<p><b>Sentiment of Duty.</b>&mdash;Another derivative of the sentiment of sympathy
+is that of <i>duty</i>, that is the moral sense. All sentiment of love or
+sympathy urges the one who loves to certain acts destined to increase
+the welfare of the object loved. This is why the mother nourishes her
+young and plucks feathers and hairs to make them a soft bed; and why
+the father brings food to his wife and young, and defends them against
+their enemies. All these acts, which are not to the advantage of the
+individual but to the object or objects of his sympathy, exact more or
+less laborious efforts, courage in the face of danger, etc. They thus
+provoke an internal struggle between the sentiment of sympathy and
+egoism, or the unpleasantness of undertaking things which are
+troublesome and disagreeable for the individual himself. From this
+struggle between two opposed series of sentiments is derived a third
+group of complex or mixed sentiments, that of duty, or <i>moral
+conscience</i>. When the sentiment of sympathy prevails, when the animal
+does his duty toward his young and his conjoint, he feels a sentiment
+of pleasure, of duty accomplished. If, on the contrary, he has been
+negligent, the egoistic instincts having for the moment prevailed, the
+remorse of conscience results, that is the painful uneasiness which
+follows all disobedience to the instinctive sentiments of sympathy.
+This uneasiness accumulates in the brain in the form of
+self-discontent, and may lead to an accentuated sentiment of
+<i>repentance</i>.</p>
+
+<p>These phenomena exist both in the male and in the female, and if it
+was not so, the accomplishment of duty would be impossible; the cat
+would run away instead of defending her young; would eat her prey
+instead of giving it to them, etc. We thus <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>see the elements of human
+social sentiment already very marked in many animals. Remorse and
+repentance can only be formed on the basis of pre&euml;xisting sentiments
+of sympathy.</p>
+
+<p><b>Sentiment of Kinship.</b>&mdash;A higher degree of the sentiments of sympathy
+is developed when these do not remain limited to a temporary union,
+but when the union of the sexes is transformed into durable or even
+life-long marriage, as we see in monkeys and in most birds. In another
+manner the sentiments of sympathy are developed by extension of the
+family community to a greater number of individuals, who are grouped
+together for the common defense, as we see in swallows, crows, and to
+a higher degree, in the large organized communities of social animals,
+as the beavers, bees, ants, etc. In the latter, the sentiment of
+sympathy and duty nearly always affects all the individuals of the
+community, while anger and jealousy are extended toward every being
+which does not form part of it.</p>
+
+<p>We must be blinded by prejudice not to comprehend that these same
+general facts, revealed by the study of biology and animal psychology,
+are repeated in the human mind. Some animals are even superior to the
+majority of men in the intensity of their sentiments of sympathy and
+duty, as well as in love and conjugal fidelity&mdash;monkeys and parrots,
+for example. In the social insects, such as the ants and bees, with
+their communities so solidly organized and so finely co&ouml;rdinated on
+the basis of instinct, the sentiment of social duty has almost
+entirely replaced the individual sentiments of sympathy. An ant or a
+bee only loves, so to speak, the whole assemblage of his companions.
+It does not sacrifice itself for any one of them in particular, but
+only for the community. In these animals the individual is only
+regarded as a number in the community whose motto is&mdash;one for all, but
+never all for one.</p>
+
+<p>In bees especially, the degree of sympathy extended to a member or a
+class of the hive is exactly proportional to the utility of this
+member to the community. The working bees will kill themselves or die
+of hunger in order to nourish their queen, while in the autumn they
+ruthlessly massacre all the males or drones which have become
+useless.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span><b>Sentiments of Patriotism and Humanity.</b>&mdash;The human brain, so powerful
+and so complicated, contains a little of all these things, with
+enormous individual variations. In man, the sentiments of sympathy and
+duty relate especially to the family, that is to say, they are to a
+great extent limited to individuals interested in a sexual community,
+viz., the conjoints and children, as occurs generally in mammals. It
+follows that sentiments of sympathy connected with larger communities
+such as remote relatives, the clan, the community, the country, those
+who speak the same language, etc., are relatively much weaker, and
+result from education and custom rather than from instinct. The
+weakest sentiment is certainly that of <i>humanity</i>, which regards each
+man as a brother and companion, and from which is evolved the general
+sentiment of solidarity or social duty. How can it be otherwise in a
+species which has lived for thousands or perhaps millions of years as
+small hostile tribes, separated from each other? Primitive men were so
+destitute of all humanitarian sentiment that they not only killed one
+another and practiced mutual slavery, but also martyred, tortured and
+even devoured one another.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of all this, and as the result of custom and life in common,
+the individual sentiments of sympathy in man are easily extended to
+members of other races, especially as regards different sexes, so much
+so that enemies conquered and taken prisoners often became later on,
+owing to life in common, the friends or mates of their conquerors.</p>
+
+<p><b>Antipathy.</b>&mdash;Inversely, individual antipathies and enmity often occur
+not only between members of the same tribe but even between those of
+the same family. The latter may lead to parricide, fratricide,
+infanticide, or assassination of a conjoint.</p>
+
+<p><b>Phylogeny of Love.</b>&mdash;The social life of ants offers us some
+instructive analogies. In spite of the intense hostility of different
+colonies of ants among themselves, there may be obtained by habitude,
+often after many desperate combats, alliances between colonies which
+were hitherto enemies, even between colonies of different species.
+These alliances henceforth become permanent. This is very curious to
+observe at the time when the alliance begins to be formed. We then see
+certain individual <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>hatreds persist, to a varying extent, for several
+days. Certain individuals of the weaker party are maltreated by other
+individuals of the conquering party. They cut off their limbs and
+antenn&aelig; and often martyrize them to death with a rabidness that sadly
+resembles human sentiments! Hatred and dispute between individuals of
+the same colony of ants are, on the other hand, extremely rare. I can
+guarantee the correctness of all these observations, having often
+repeated them myself and having recorded them in my works on the
+habits of ants. Moreover, they have since been confirmed by other
+writers.</p>
+
+<p>After what we have just said, and especially if we take into
+consideration the numerous observations which have been made in
+biology, we can hardly doubt that the sentiment of sexual attraction,
+or the sexual appetite, has been the primary source of nearly all, if
+not all, the sentiments of sympathy and duty which have been developed
+in animals and especially in man. Many of these sentiments are no
+doubt little by little completely differentiated and rendered entirely
+independent of sexual sentiment, forming a series of corresponding
+conceptions adapted to divers social objects in the form of sentiments
+of amity. The latter in their turn have often become the generators of
+social formations and of a more generalized altruism. Many others,
+however, have remained more or less consciously associated with the
+sexual appetite, as is certainly the case in man.</p>
+
+<p>This short sketch which we have given of the phylogenetic history of
+love and its derivatives is sufficient to show the immense influence
+which sexual life has exercised on the whole development of the human
+mind.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, we must avoid exaggerating the actual importance of
+this influence. Young children, who possess neither sexual appetite
+nor corresponding sensations, already give evidence not only of
+intense sentiments of sympathy and antipathy, anger and jealousy, but
+also of commiseration, when they see those whom they love suffer; they
+may even show that they already possess the sentiment of duty or
+disinterested devotion. All these phylogenetic derivatives of the
+sentiments of sexual attraction are thus developed in the individual
+long before the sexual instinct itself, from which they have become
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>absolutely independent. This does not prevent them being powerfully
+influenced by the sexual instinct when this awakes, or from being
+associated with its direct derivatives when the sexual appetite,
+properly so-called, is absent. Thus we see absolutely cold women
+become loving and devoted wives and mothers, and possessing a highly
+developed sense of kinship. Maternal love is a sentiment of sympathy
+derived from the sexual sentiment, adapted directly to children, who
+are the products of sexual life.</p>
+
+<p><b>Constellations.</b>&mdash;From all this results the immense complication of
+the peculiarities of the human mind which are connected with love.
+Individual variations of the disposition to sexual appetite are
+combined with individual dispositions to the higher qualities of
+mind&mdash;general sentiments, intelligence and will&mdash;to form the most
+diverse individual combinations, which we may call <i>constellations</i>.
+Moreover, inherited individual dispositions are combined in man with a
+great number of experiences and remembrances, acquired in all domains
+in the course of his life, accumulating them in his brain by what is
+called education or adaptation to environment. From the immense
+complexity of energies resulting from hereditary dispositions combined
+with acquired factors, the resolutions and acts of man are derived,
+without his being able to account for the infinite multiplicity of
+causes which determine them.</p>
+
+<p>It is thus that a man may be a model of conduct or morality, simply
+from the fact that his sexual appetite is almost nil. Another, on the
+contrary, suffers from an exaggerated sexual appetite, but is devoted,
+conscientious, and even scrupulous; this results in violent internal
+struggles, from which he does not always emerge victorious. A third is
+moderate in his appetites; if his sentiment of duty is strong and he
+possesses a strong will, he will resist his desires, while if his will
+is weak or his moral sense defective, he will succumb to the first
+temptation.</p>
+
+<p>Love and sexual appetite may be intimately connected or completely
+separated in the same individual. In the same way that a cold woman
+may be a good mother, a very sensual woman may be a bad one, but the
+inverse may also be met with.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span><b>Love.</b>&mdash;I speak here of the true love of a higher nature of one sex
+for the other, or <i>sexual love</i>, which is not simple friendship, but
+is combined with sexual appetite. To write on love is almost to pour
+water into the ocean, for literature is three parts composed of
+dissertations on love. There can be no doubt that the normal man feels
+a great desire for love. The irradiations of love in the mind
+constitute one of the fundamental conditions of human happiness and
+one of the principal objects of life. Unfortunately, the question is
+too often treated with exaggerated sentiment, or on the other hand,
+with sensual cynicism; it is examined from one side only, or else it
+is misunderstood.</p>
+
+<p>First of all, love appears to be usually kindled by the sexual
+appetite. This is the celebrated story of Cupid's arrow. One falls in
+love with a face, a look, a smile, a white breast, a sweet and
+melodious voice, etc. However, the relations between love and sexual
+appetite are extremely delicate and complex. In man, the second may
+exist without the first and love may often persist without appetite,
+while in woman the two things are difficult to separate, and in any
+case, in her, the original appetite without love is much more rare.
+The two things are thus not identical; even the most materialistic and
+libidinous egoist will agree to this, if he is not too narrow-minded.</p>
+
+<p>It may also happen that love precedes appetite, and this often leads
+to the most happy unions. Two characters may have extreme mutual
+sympathy, and this purely intellectual and sentimental sympathy may at
+first develop without a shadow of sensuality. This is nearly always
+the case when it exists from infancy. In modern society an enormous
+number of sexual unions, or marriages, are consummated without a trace
+of love, and are based on pure speculation, conventionality or
+fortune. Here it is tacitly assumed that the normal sexual appetite
+combined with custom will cement the marriage and render it durable.
+As the normal man has not, as a rule, extreme sentiments, such
+prevision is usually realized on the whole, the conjoints becoming
+gradually adapted to one another, more or less successfully according
+to the discoveries which are made after marriage.</p>
+
+<p>Even when they are relatively true, love stories generally <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>deal with
+exceptional cases, often even pathological; for the average marriage
+does not appear to the novelist sufficiently piquant or interesting to
+captivate his readers. We are not concerned here with extremes, or
+with the tragic situations met with in novels, but with normal and
+ordinary love, as it most often occurs in reality.</p>
+
+<p>After what we have just said, it is clear that love is derived from
+two factors: (1) <i>momentary sexual passion</i>; (2) <i>the hereditary and
+instinctive sentiments of sympathy which are derived from the
+primordial sexual appetite of our animal ancestors, but which have
+become completely independent of this appetite</i>. Between these two
+terms are placed the sentiments of sympathy experienced by the
+individual in his former life, which have most often been provoked by
+sexual desire for an individual of the opposite sex, and which may be
+evoked by the aid of remembrance, kindled afresh, and contribute
+strongly to maintain constancy of love. These different sentiments
+pass into each other in all possible shades, and continually react on
+each other. Sexual appetite, for example, awakens sympathy, and is
+awakened by the latter in its turn; on the contrary, it is cooled or
+extinguished under the influence of bad conduct on the part of the
+person loved.</p>
+
+<p>Let us here recall a law of the sentiments of sympathy, a law which is
+well known, but generally forgotten in human calculations. Man loves
+best those to whom he devotes himself, and not those from whom he
+receives benefits.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> It is easy to be convinced of the reality of
+this fact in the relations of parents to their children, as well as in
+marriage. When one of the conjoints in marriage adulates the other,
+the latter may easily find this adulation quite natural, and may love
+the other conjoint much less than a spoilt child, to which is devoted
+all the transports of an unreasonable affection. The spoilt child, the
+object of such blind affection, more often responds to it by
+indifference, or even by ingratitude, disdain and impertinence. We
+find everywhere this play of sentiments, which considerably impedes
+mutuality in love. It may even concern inanimate <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>objects. We like a
+garden, a house or a book over which we have taken much pains, and we
+remain indifferent to the most beautiful and precious gifts which come
+by themselves without our making any effort to obtain them. In the
+same way, the child becomes attached to some toy which he has made
+himself, and disdains the costly presents given by his parents. As a
+poet has said: "Man only enjoys for long and without remorse the goods
+dearly paid for by his efforts." (Sully-Prudhomme: "<i>Le Bonheur</i>.")</p>
+
+<p>There is, therefore, a profound psychology in the old and wise saying
+that true love expresses itself as often by refusal as by compliance,
+and should always associate itself with reason. No doubt this is not
+primitive love; it is a love elevated and purified by its combination
+with the elements of intelligence.</p>
+
+<p>In marriage, more than one husband thinks he ought to be separated
+from his wife and children so as not to spoil them. There is no need
+of a long explanation to show the fallacy of this idea. To be
+complete, love should be reciprocal, and to remain mutual it requires
+mutual education in marriage. Every husband should above all be
+separated from himself, and not from his wife. If each one did all in
+his power to promote the happiness of the other, this altruistic
+effort would strengthen his own sentiments of sympathy. This requires
+a constant and loyal effort on each side, but it avoids the illusion
+of a false love, provoked by the senses, vanishing like smoke or
+becoming changed to hatred. Without being blind to the weaknesses of
+his partner he must learn to like them as forming part of the person
+to whom he has devoted his heart, and employ all his skill in
+correcting them by affection, instead of increasing his own weakness
+by leaning on them. It is necessary, therefore, neither to admire nor
+to dislike the defects of the loved one, but to try and attenuate them
+by aid of integral love.</p>
+
+<p>Love has been defined as "dual egoism." The reciprocal adulation of
+two human beings easily degenerates into egoistic enmity toward the
+rest of the human race, and this often reacts harmfully on the quality
+of love. Human solidarity is too great, especially at the present day,
+for such exclusivism in love not to suffer.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>I would define ideal love as follows: <i>After mature consideration, a
+man and a woman are led by sexual attraction, combined with harmony of
+character, to form a union in which they stimulate each other to
+social work, commencing this work with their mutual education and that
+of their children.</i></p>
+
+<p>Such a conception of love refines this sentiment and purifies it to
+such an extent that it loses all its pettiness, and it is pettiness
+which so often causes it to degenerate, even in its most loyal forms.
+The social work in common of a man and woman united by true affection,
+full of tenderness and devotion for one another, mutually encouraging
+each other to perseverance and to action, will easily triumph over
+petty jealousies and all other instinctive reactions of the
+phylogenetic exclusiveness of natural love. The sentiments of love
+will thus become ever more ideal, and will no longer provide egoism
+with the soil of idleness and comfort on which it grows like a weed.</p>
+
+<p><b>Inconvenience of Abstinence from Sexual Connection Between Married
+Couples by Medical Orders.</b>&mdash;It is a matter of common observation that
+in marriage, at least during mature life, sexual connection
+strengthens and maintains love, even when it only constitutes part of
+that which cements tenderness and affection. In many cases I have
+observed that medical orders, given no doubt with good intentions, and
+forbidding sexual connection, on account of certain morbid conditions,
+have had the effect of cooling the sentiments of love and sympathy and
+producing indifference which soon becomes incurable. Physicians should
+always bear this in mind in their prescriptions, of which they too
+often see the immediate object only. The medical prohibition of sexual
+connection in marriage should be reserved for cases of absolute
+necessity. For example: A virtuous and capable man marries for love an
+intelligent but somewhat ill-developed girl. The marriage is happy and
+they have several children. But after a time certain local disorders
+in the woman induce the medical man to forbid sexual connection with
+her husband. They begin to sleep in separate rooms, and little by
+little intimate love becomes so far cooled that the renewal of sexual
+relations later on becomes impossible. The husband's sentiments are so
+much affected as to render him unfaithful to his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>moral principles,
+and to lead him occasionally to visit prostitutes. Although they have
+become essentially strangers to each other, the husband and wife
+continue to live together an apparently happy life; but this is far
+from always the case.</p>
+
+<p><b>Durable Love.</b>&mdash;It may be stated as a principle that true and
+elevated love is durable, and that the sudden passion which lets loose
+the sexual appetite toward an individual of the opposite sex, hitherto
+a stranger, in no way represents the measure of true love. Passion
+warps the judgment, conceals the most evident faults, colors
+everything in celestial purple, renders the lovers blind, and veils
+the true character of each from the other. We are only speaking here
+of cases where each is loyal and where the sexual appetite is not
+associated with the cold calculations of egoism. Reason only returns
+when the first tempest of a passion which seemed insatiable has
+subsided, when the honeymoon of marriage, or of a free union, has
+passed. Then only is it possible to see if what remains is true love,
+indifference, hatred or a mixture of these three sentiments, capable
+or not of becoming more or less adaptable and tolerable. This is why
+sudden amours are always dangerous, and why only long and profound
+mutual acquaintance before marriage can lead to a happy and lasting
+union.</p>
+
+<p>Even in this case the unforseen is not absent, for it is very rarely
+that one knows a man and his ancestry; moreover, acquired diseases or
+mental anomalies may cause his character to degenerate later on.</p>
+
+<p>Let us now examine some psychic phenomena more or less connected with
+love. For reasons which we have mentioned the irradiations of sexual
+love are on the whole less developed in man than in woman.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>PSYCHIC IRRADIATIONS OF LOVE IN MAN</h4>
+
+<p><b>Masculine Audacity.</b>&mdash;In the normal male the sentiment of sexual
+power favors self-exaltation, while the contrary sentiment of
+impotence, or even that of mediocre sexual power, depresses this
+sentiment of exaltation. Yet, in reality, the sexual power of man has
+not the capital importance for a normal and virgin woman that men
+imagine, influenced as they are by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>self-exaltation; what imposes on
+women is especially masculine audacity, and in sexual matters this
+increases with experience and practice. The company of prostitutes
+often renders men incapable of understanding feminine psychology, for
+prostitutes are hardly more than automata trained for the use of male
+sensuality. When men look among these for the sexual psychology of
+woman they only find their own mirror.</p>
+
+<p>Man's flirtation, and his art of paying court to women are naturally
+combined with his audacity, as we have already observed in birds and
+mammals, and some of the lower animals. The male seeks to please the
+female to gain her favors. The brilliant colors of butterflies and
+birds, song, skill and proof of strength, often come to the aid of the
+male sexual instinct. Even in certain animals supplicant and plaintive
+sounds assist the male after his repeated refusal, apparently or in
+reality, by the female. We shall see in Chapter VI that savage men
+have a much greater tendency to tattoo and adorn themselves than have
+the women.</p>
+
+<p>The art which man employs to seduce and conquer woman has been
+described to satiety in romances and novels, as well as in
+ethnographic works; so that we shall not dwell on it here. On the
+contrary, we shall show that in higher civilizations man is in general
+more sought after than woman, so that the latter has surpassed him in
+the art of flirtation or sexual conquest.</p>
+
+<p>It is also important to remark to what extent the increase of man's
+mental complexity transforms his sexual tactics. The simple, natural,
+and at the same time bashful, modest manner, in which a na&iuml;ve young
+man seeks to conquer a heart, usually produces no effect on the
+fashionable young lady, experienced in all refined pleasures and
+saturated with unhealthy novels. These young women are much more
+easily seduced by the art of Don Juan and the old <i>rou&eacute;s</i>, who are
+more adequate to deal with them because they have studied practically
+the psychology of the modern woman.</p>
+
+<p><b>Instinct of Procreation.</b>&mdash;Another irradiation of the male sexual
+instinct, connected with the preceding, is the instinct of
+procreation. If there were no other difficulties or consequences, man
+would without the least doubt be instinctively inclined to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>copulate
+with as many women as he could, and procreate as many children as
+possible. The more he is capable of satisfying his procreative
+instinct, the more he becomes self-exalted, as he thus sees himself
+multiplied and feels his power extended by the possession of a great
+number of wives and children. This is one of the principal causes
+which urge rich men and polygamous peoples to possess many women.</p>
+
+<p>Coitus without object, like that of prostitution, can only assuage the
+sexual appetite and does not satisfy any of its higher irradiations.
+It is well known that a happy betrothal, reposing on true love, and
+not on pecuniary interests, often transforms a young man from
+pessimism to optimism, from misogyny to philogyny. Skeptics smile at
+this transformation and regard it as only the transient intoxication
+of love. This may be true in some cases, but, as we have seen above,
+when love is ennobled by deep understanding and mutual education, when
+each knows and respects the other, the transformation remains
+definite, and is strengthened so much that the honeymoon of the silver
+wedding is often happier and more exalted than that which followed
+marriage. We can then say that the optimism created by sexual union
+cemented by true love rests on the normal accomplishment of the object
+of life. I cannot too often repeat that work in common, especially
+social work, on the part of the conjoints, is necessary for their
+happiness to be complete, and to survive in the one who remains after
+the decease of the other.</p>
+
+<p><b>Jealousy.</b>&mdash;The worst irradiation, or rather the worst reaction of
+contrast of love, which we have inherited from our animal ancestors,
+and that which is the most deeply rooted, is <i>jealousy</i>. Jealousy is a
+heritage of animals and barbarism; that is what I would say to all
+those who, in the name of offended honor, would grant it rights and
+even place it on a pedestal. It is ten times better for a woman to
+marry an unfaithful than a jealous husband. From the phylogenetic
+point of view, jealousy originates in the struggle for the possession
+of woman, at a period when right depended only on brute force. Cunning
+and violence contended with each other, and when the conqueror was in
+possession of a female, he had to guard her jealously to prevent her
+being abducted. Furious combats ensued. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>As soon as an unaccustomed
+approach, a look or anything else awakened the least suspicion of the
+presence of a rival, the male was tormented with a continual and
+instinctive feeling of defiance and distrust, often increased by the
+remembrance of the sadness of former defeats and the impotent rage
+which followed.</p>
+
+<p>The results of male jealousy in the history of marriage are truly
+incredible. I may mention the iron girdles with locks&mdash;the so-called
+girdles of chastity&mdash;which we still see in certain museums, which the
+knights of the Middle Ages put on their wives when they set off to the
+wars, in order to appease their jealousy. Many savage peoples do not
+content themselves with severely punishing adultery in woman, even by
+death, but even simple conversations with a strange man. Jealousy
+transforms marriage into a hell. It is often exalted in man to the
+point of a mania for persecution, to which it is analogous. It is also
+a very common symptom of alcoholism. Then the life of the unfortunate
+woman who is the object of it becomes a continual martyrdom. Perpetual
+suspicion accompanied by insults, threats and violent words, and even
+homicide may be the result of this atrocious passion.</p>
+
+<p>Even in its more moderate and normal form, jealousy is a torment, for
+distrust and suspicion poison love. We often hear of justified
+jealousy; I maintain, on the contrary, that jealousy is never
+justified, and that it is only the brutal stupidity of an atavistic
+heritage, or a pathological symptom. A reasonable man who has doubts
+as to the fidelity of his wife has certainly the right to assure
+himself of their correctness. But of what use is it to be jealous? If
+he finds his suspicions false he has, by his manner, made his wife
+unnecessarily unhappy and destroyed conjugal confidence and happiness.
+If, on the contrary, his suspicions are well founded he has only to
+choose between one of two ways. If it is a case of amorous
+intoxication suggested by another man to his wife, who is often very
+unhappy about it, she may then be restored to her husband and
+pardoned, for in this case affection only can cure her, never
+jealousy. If, however, love for her husband is entirely extinguished
+in her, or if she is only a false intriguer without <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>character,
+jealousy is even more absurd, for the game is not worth the candle,
+and immediate divorce is necessary.</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately, man only possesses very little control over his
+feelings when these are violent. The jealous person by nature, that is
+by heredity, is generally incurable and poisons his own existence at
+the same time as that of his wife. Such individuals should never
+marry.</p>
+
+<p>In lunatic asylums, in law, and in novels jealousy plays an important
+part, for it is one of the most fruitful sources of tragedies and
+human unhappiness. The combined and persevering efforts of education
+and selection are necessary to gradually eliminate it from the human
+brain. We often hear it said of man and woman that they are not
+jealous enough, because they are too indulgent toward the
+extra-nuptial inclinations of their conjoint. When such indulgence
+rests on cynical indifference or on pecuniary interests, it is not the
+want of jealousy but the want of moral sense which is to blame. If it
+arises from real and reasoned love, it should on the contrary be
+highly respected and praised. I would wish all heroes of offended
+honor and all defenders of jealousy to reflect on the following case:</p>
+
+<p>A man of high position, and the father of five children, lived in the
+most happy union. One day he made the acquaintance of a friend of his
+wife, a very intelligent and well-educated lady. Frequent visits and
+long conversations led to intimacy which developed into violent
+reciprocal love. However, the lady refused to abandon herself
+entirely. The husband confessed everything to his wife, even to the
+smallest details, and the lady did the same. Instead of becoming
+jealous, the wife had the good sense and the courage to treat the two
+lovers not only with indulgence, but a true and profound affection.
+The loyalty of each of the parties interested greatly facilitated the
+gradual <i>d&eacute;nouement</i> of a difficult situation, without the family
+affections suffering. But the <i>d&eacute;nouement</i> would have been quite as
+peaceful if the lady had yielded to sexual connection with the
+husband. In fact, the wife herself considered this question very
+seriously and calmly, in case the fire could not be otherwise
+extinguished.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>I ask in all sincerity, if such mild and humane treatment of an
+unfortunate love affair, in which the three interested parties each
+strove to avoid all scandal and everything which could damage their
+mutual reputation, I ask if this good and loyal treatment is not, from
+the moral standpoint, far superior to scenes of jealousy, duels,
+divorces and all their consequences, things which are all sanctioned
+and even sanctified by custom?</p>
+
+<p>I also know many cases where the husbands of women who have fallen in
+love with other men have conducted themselves in an equally noble and
+reasonable manner, even when their wives had been completely
+unfaithful, and the results have always been good. It is needless to
+say that I do not wish to maintain that a husband should tolerate
+indefinitely the bad conduct of his wife, nor a woman that of her
+husband; but this is another thing.</p>
+
+<p><b>Sexual Braggardism.</b>&mdash;Let us pass on to another irradiation of the
+male sexual appetite&mdash;sexual braggardism. This arises from
+self-exaltation evolved from the sexual power of man. Like jealousy,
+this sentiment is no doubt inherited from our animal ancestors, and it
+finds its analogy, or rather its caricature, in the cock, the peacock,
+the turkey, and in general among the richly adorned males of
+polygamous species. Although on the whole more innocent, the results
+of this atavistic instinct are no more elevated than those of
+jealousy. The sentiment of sexual power induces men, especially those
+of lower mental caliber, to boast of their sexual conquests and
+exaggerate them. It is needless to say that success does not go to the
+unskillful boaster, but to the one who relates his audacious exploits
+in a casual way. The Don Juan experienced in the art of seduction
+approaches women with audacity and <i>aplomb</i>, and usually imposes on
+them considerably, whatever his ignorance of other things. He has
+instinctively learnt one thing: viz., the weakness of woman in the
+face of the male form, theatrical effect, uniforms, an audacious act,
+a fierce mustache, etc. He has learnt that these fireworks hypnotize
+her and silence her reason, and that she is then capable of enthusiasm
+for the most doubtful cavalier and delivers herself to him bound hand
+and foot, provided his self-assurance does not desert him.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>I may say here that it is most often men of low intellect, weak in
+judgment and principles, who think themselves most superior to the
+feminine sex, and who behave as tyrants to their wives.</p>
+
+<p>Sexual braggardism has, moreover, grave consequences for the man
+himself, for it urges him to excesses which far exceed his appetites
+and especially his natural wants. In spite of other advantages, he
+wishes to shine by these excesses among his fellows and even among the
+grisettes whose minds are full of sexual matters.</p>
+
+<p>Male sexual braggardism contributes with sexual appetite to entice
+reserved and high-minded young men toward prostitutes, against their
+better instincts, their reason and their moral sense. Alcohol
+especially facilitates the degeneration of sexual life.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Pornographic Spirit.</b>&mdash;The term <i>eroticism</i> is given to the state
+of excitation of the sexual appetite. When a person cultivates it
+artificially and abandons himself to purely animal sensuality, without
+combining it with higher intellectual or moral aspirations, there
+develop in the mind irradiations which may be designated by the term
+<i>pornographic spirit</i>. The entire circle of ideas of such individuals
+is so impregnated with eroticism that all their thoughts and
+sentiments are colored by it. They see everywhere, even in the most
+innocent objects, the most lewd allusions. Woman is only regarded by
+them as an object of sexual enjoyment, and her mind only appears to
+such satyrs as an ignoble erotic caricature, which is disgusting to
+every man capable of lofty sentiments.</p>
+
+<p>Owing to its usually sensual and gross nature, male eroticism has
+succeeded in modeling a whole class of women in whom ideal character
+in their desires is wanting. Instead of recognizing his own work and
+the vile image of his own person in these unnatural women, the
+libertine, as we have already seen, imagines them as the normal type
+of woman. From the height of his presumption, he then despises woman
+and does not perceive that it is himself whom he despises; for on the
+whole, from the sexual point of view, the dependent woman of to-day
+conforms herself to man and becomes what he makes her. The number of
+coitus, their details, the size and form of the sexual organs, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>the
+pleasure of having cut out other men, and especially the pathological
+perversions of the sexual appetite, form the chief object of the
+thoughts and conversations of pornographic minds. Each tries to outdo
+the others in sexual enormities, and the virtuosity of these gentlemen
+in this domain is only surpassed by their ignorance and incapacity in
+all others.</p>
+
+<p>Prostitution and all the modern sexual degeneration which marches
+under the hypocritical flag of Christianity, civilization and
+monogamy, have so far developed the pornographic spirit that men
+living in centers of debauchery, centers which are unfortunately
+extending more and more from town to country, lose all conception of
+the noble qualities natural to the feminine sentiment and to true
+love, or only preserve a few shreds of it which they treat with
+ridicule. Many men have admitted this to me, after being much
+astonished when I was obliged to give them quite another conception of
+love and woman, without introducing the least trace of religion. No
+doubt certain better individuals, fallen by chance into debauchery,
+speak respectfully of a mother or a sister, for whom they profess an
+almost religious worship. They regard these as beings apart, as
+species of a lost race of demigods, and they do not perceive that they
+discredit them and drag them in the mud by their contempt and
+pornographic conception of woman in general, a conception which is
+moreover often altered to profound pessimism.</p>
+
+<p>In the relatively moral circles of society, our description would no
+doubt be taxed with exaggeration, because natures a little more
+refined have the habit of acting like the ostrich who hides his head
+in the sand, that is to say of turning their eyes away from the
+pornographic swamp with disgust so as not to see it, and thus avoid it
+instinctively. But this maneuver serves no purpose: the facts remain
+as they are.</p>
+
+<p>Eroticism is no more a vice than sexual an&aelig;sthesia is a virtue. Even
+when they are chaste, men of libidinous nature require a strong will
+to resist all the artificial seductions which excite their sensuality.
+This is why the bog of debauchery engulfs so many men of a naturally
+good nature. In this sense, cold natures are better off; they can
+cover themselves with the glory of a "virtue" the resplendent rays of
+which become lost in a penumbra of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>defects and weaknesses from which
+these natures suffer in other domains.</p>
+
+<p><b>Sexual Hypocrisy.</b>&mdash;Hypocrisy is a peculiarity deeply rooted in the
+human mind. We can affirm that whoever pretends never to have been a
+hypocrite lies, quite as much as one who swears he has never lied. But
+nowhere, save perhaps in the domain of religion, does hypocrisy play a
+greater part than in the sexual domain. Nowhere is there so much
+falsehood, and men who are most honest on other points make no scruple
+of deceiving their wives in this respect. I do not speak here of the
+simulation of sentiments of love, for it is too banal, and there is no
+need to be too exacting over this point, for there are strong
+attenuating circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>First of all, erotic feelings are capable of blinding man for the
+moment, as far as persuading him of the eternal duration of love and
+fidelity which he promises the object of his appetites, as well as of
+the reality of the celestial qualities under which this object appears
+to him, or with which it pleases him to adorn it. Two persons mutually
+excited by sexual passion are fascinated by the illusions of a mirage,
+which often vanishes soon afterward, so that it is not rare to see
+them on the following day hurling the most violent abuse at each
+other.</p>
+
+<p>Those who have not been witnesses of such events may hardly believe
+them. It is sufficient, however, to be a magistrate or to read the
+reports of lawsuits between debased persons as the result of love
+quarrels, broken engagements or marriages, seductions, etc., to study
+the letters that the two parties have written before and after their
+quarrel, in order to be convinced of the correctness of what we have
+said above. In the first letters the lovers adulate each other and
+adorn each other with the most hyperbolic epithets, swearing eternal
+love and fidelity, and deluding each other in the most absurd manner.
+In letters written sometimes only a few days later we are astonished
+to see the same individuals grossly insulting each other and mutually
+covering themselves with ignoble calumnies. This is how passion
+without reason passes through the furnaces of love and hatred,
+dragging after it all the artificial scaffolding of what man imagines
+to be his right based on logic, but which is in reality only a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>tissue
+of ridiculous contradictions, the automatic and inept product of his
+emotional state. Such contrasts are so frequent that we can easily
+recognize the expression of a psychological law, due to the mirages of
+the amorous passions on the one hand and the inverse reaction on the
+other.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless hypocrisy has its good side. It has been said not without
+reason that "hypocrisy is a concession which vice makes to virtue." In
+their nakedness human thoughts are often so sadly vulgar and so
+offensive that a little varnish improves them. In this sense, and when
+it comes from a feeling of shame or good-will, hypocrisy deserves a
+good deal of the eulogy which Mark Twain has heaped on it in his
+charming satire, "The Decadence of the Art of Lying."</p>
+
+<p>In the sexual question hypocrisy is directly provoked by the tyranny
+and barbarism of what are called good manners, often even by the law.
+In this sense it constitutes a response of human nature to the forms
+and customs derived from the right of the stronger or from religious
+superstitions, as well as from the dogmas resulting from them.</p>
+
+<p>By the term <i>sexual hypocrisy</i> I do not mean the repugnant forms of
+hypocrisy pure and simple, in which man only exploits love indirectly
+for an interested end, for instance when he simulates love to obtain a
+rich wife. I only speak of the forms of hypocrisy which are directly
+evolved from the sexual appetite or from love.</p>
+
+<p>It is from this point of view that we must judge sexual hypocrisy, and
+if I have laid special stress on its good points, it is in view of
+marriage, where it assists the education of noble and elevated
+sentiments even in the hypocrite. By praising the virtues of his
+helpmate with a little exaggeration, these are made to appear more
+noble. If the time is spent in saying disagreeable truths, love is
+soon stifled and killed. On the contrary, if each conjoint attributes
+to the other as fine qualities as possible, each is finally persuaded
+that the other really possesses them, and then realizes them himself,
+at any rate in part.</p>
+
+<p>The worst of hypocrisies is that which is the product of base
+pecuniary interests, or of a gross sexual appetite without love, or
+lastly by the pressure of conventional or religious customs. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>Good
+hypocrisy consists in the repression of all that is base in the
+sentiments, inclinations and passions; in the fact that one strives to
+hide it from others, even from one's self, and to suggest in its place
+as many amiable qualities as possible, so as to strengthen in a
+disinterested manner the object of one's love in noble sentiments.
+This kind of hypocrisy is in reality an indirect product of altruistic
+sentiments. One perceives with pain on reflecting, either the absence
+of spontaneous sentiments of sympathy, or the presence of disgust and
+bad temper, and one strives to hide the thing by sympathetic
+expressions for which one seeks an object, and to which one would wish
+to give a durable character. Loyal efforts made in this direction
+often succeed in correcting the egoistic humor with which one is
+affected, and in giving rise to the sentiments one desires to
+experience. One must not, however, by only looking at one side of the
+question, allow such efforts to degenerate into maladroit blindness,
+which will only have the effect of spoiling the person one loves.</p>
+
+<p><b>Egoistic Love.</b>&mdash;It is obvious that the psychic irradiations of the
+sexual sense are strongly influenced by the individuality of the one
+who loves. The egoist loves in a manner naively egoistic. He is not
+wanting in fine words, but in his opinion all sentiment and respect is
+due to his person, while he reduces to a minimum his duties toward the
+object of his love. He exacts much from the other and gives little.
+The good man with altruistic sentiments feels things in an inverse
+way; he exacts little from others, and much from himself.</p>
+
+<p>Love differs in different natures, according as they are calm or
+lively, imbecile or intelligent, well educated or otherwise: the will
+plays a great part here. Weakness and impulsiveness are found in love,
+as well as energy and perseverance. In the last point woman is
+superior, owing to the greater constancy of her love. There is thus no
+domain of the mind which is not influenced by love, and which does not
+react on love in its turn.</p>
+
+<p>Intellectual occupations are facilitated by a happy love, while they
+are usually hindered by the sorrows of love. Even men of science, so
+proud of their calmness, are often more influenced <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>than one would
+think in their scientific opinions by their emotional sentiments.
+Without a man being aware of it, his sentiments insinuate themselves
+into the opinions which he believes to be of a purely intellectual
+nature, and direct them unconsciously with much more power than he
+generally imagines. Such influences act chiefly on individuals
+disposed to sentimentality. In love, these individuals resemble
+two-edged swords; the intensity of their emotional reactions and
+sentiments drives them from one extreme to another, from foolish
+happiness to despair or fury. The situation becomes still more grave
+when such storms burst among impulsive persons of weak will and
+limited intelligence. Under such circumstances ill-assorted alliances
+are formed which lead to violent quarrels, and sometimes even to
+crime. When jealousy comes on the scene the man often kills the woman
+and commits suicide.</p>
+
+<p>It would seem that such crime can only arise from egoism; this is
+often the case, but not always. Despair may often lead to such acts,
+without any motive of vengeance, or even of jealousy. The storm of
+passion drives weak-minded persons to impulsive actions, the motives
+of which are very difficult to analyze. After these tragedies of
+murder preceding suicide, when the murderer survives, he often
+expresses himself as follows: "I was in such a state of despair and
+excitement that I saw no other issue than death for both of us."</p>
+
+<p><b>Prudery. Modesty.</b>&mdash;The sentiment of modesty originates in the fear
+of everything which is novel and unusual, and is complicated by
+natural timidity. This sentiment is especially strong in children. The
+sentiment of sexual modesty in man thus rests on timidity and on the
+fear of not doing as others do. It betrays itself toward women by
+awkwardness and bashfulness behind which eroticism is often ill
+concealed. The timid and bashful man carefully endeavors to hide his
+sexual feelings from others. The object of modesty is in itself
+immaterial to the psychology of this sentiment, and shame is sometimes
+inspired not only by very different things but even by opposite
+things. One youth is ashamed of appearing erotic, another of appearing
+too little erotic, according to the opinion of his neighbors.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>Modesty depends on the custom of covering or exposing certain parts of
+the body, and people who live in a state of nature are as much ashamed
+of clothes as we are ashamed of nudity. Moreover, man soon becomes
+accustomed to fashion, and the same English girl who blushes at the
+sight of a few inches of bare skin in her own country, finds it quite
+natural to see naked negroes in the tropics.</p>
+
+<p>The artificial and systematic cultivation of an exaggerated sentiment
+of modesty produces <i>prudery</i>, the bad results of which are, however,
+less than those of pornography. There are young people so modest that
+the simple thought of sexual matters overexcites them terribly. By
+associating their own erotic feelings, of which they feel ashamed,
+with sexual ideas, they invest these with terrifying attributes, and
+become quite unhappy; in this way they are often led to masturbation.
+They are, however, excessively frightened at this also and imagine its
+effects so terrible that they think themselves lost. Their exaggerated
+feelings of modesty often prevent them confiding in some charitable
+person. However, they rarely find reasonable consolers; some ridicule
+them, while others regard them as iniquitous, which only increases
+their terror and drives them to extremes.</p>
+
+<p>The sexual sentiment of modesty very often becomes unhealthy, and is
+then easily combined with pathological sexual conditions.</p>
+
+<p>Prudery is, so to speak, sexual modesty codified and dogmatized. It is
+indeterminate, because the object of modesty is purely conventional,
+and man has no valid reason to regard any part of his body as
+shameful. Normal man ought only to be ashamed of bad thoughts and
+actions, contrary to his moral conscience. The latter should be based
+on natural human altruism only, and not artificially misled by dogma.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Old Bachelor.</b>&mdash;The importance of the psychic irradiations of
+love is shown perhaps more clearly from the results of their presence
+in old bachelors than from any other consideration. In our time, no
+doubt, the state of the old bachelor rarely means the renunciation of
+the satisfaction of sexual appetite, although it generally entails the
+renunciation of love. There are, no doubt, two kinds of old bachelors,
+those who are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>chaste and those who are not. The old bachelor no doubt
+leads a less empty existence than the old maid, but the void exists
+none the less. Man also needs compensation for the absence of love and
+family, but his brain is more capable than that of woman of finding
+this compensation in hard intellectual work or in some other
+employment.</p>
+
+<p>The old bachelor is generally pessimistic and morose. He easily
+becomes the slave of his fads and hobbies, and the peculiarities of
+his character are proverbial. His egoism knows no bounds, and his
+altruistic impulses usually find too few objects or echoes.</p>
+
+<p>The chastity of some old bachelors conceals sexual anomalies. But even
+apart from this, the old celibate easily becomes shy, affected,
+misanthropic or misogynistic, at least if some energetic friend does
+not induce him to utilize his power of work in some useful sphere. At
+other times he lavishes exaggerated admiration on women and worships
+them in a pompous manner.</p>
+
+<p>In a separate category come those old bachelors who are chaste and
+celibate for high moral reasons, and whose life is spent in social
+work, although they are only men and cannot for this reason free
+themselves from all the peculiarities we have mentioned. In a word,
+the object of life is partly wanting in the best of old bachelors, and
+this void not only affects his sentiments but his whole mental being.
+His general tendency to pessimism and egoism would be sufficient alone
+to provoke an energetic protest against the abandonment of social
+power to celibates.</p>
+
+<p>The old bachelor who is not chaste generally descends to pornography,
+only becoming acquainted with the worst side of woman. He becomes a
+misogynist because he wrongly attributes to all women the character of
+those only with whom he has intimate relations. We have already
+pointed out this phenomenon in speaking of male eroticism. The
+philosopher, Schopenhauer, was an example of this kind.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>PSYCHIC IRRADIATIONS OF LOVE IN WOMEN</h4>
+
+<p>In speaking of love in man we have already touched on many points
+which differentiate it from that of woman. In the latter, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>the most
+prominent peculiarity is the dominant role which it plays in the
+brain. Without love woman abjures her nature and ceases to be normal.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Old Maid.</b>&mdash;What we have said of old bachelors applies in a still
+more marked degree, to old maids. Still more than men they have need
+of compensation for sexual love, to avoid losing their natural
+qualities and becoming dried-up beings or useless egoists. But, if the
+void left by love is greater in her, woman possesses such natural
+energy and perseverance, combined with such great power of devotion,
+that on the whole she is more capable than man of accomplishing the
+work which the void in her existence requires. Unfortunately, many
+women do not understand this. On the other hand, those who devote
+themselves to social philanthropic works, to art or literature, to
+nursing the sick or to other useful occupations, instead of amusing
+themselves with futile things, may greatly distinguish themselves in
+such social pursuits, and thus obtain real compensation for the loss
+of love.</p>
+
+<p>In this respect woman was formerly misunderstood. The modern movement
+of her emancipation shows more and more what she is capable of and
+promises much more in the future.</p>
+
+<p>As to the old maid who lives alone with her egoism, her whims and
+fancies generally exceed those of the old bachelor. She has not the
+faculty of creating anything original by her own intellect, so that,
+having lost love, all her mental power shrinks up. Her cat, her little
+dog, and the daily care of her person and small household occupy her
+whole mind. It is not surprising that such persons generally create a
+pitiable and ridiculous impression.</p>
+
+<p>Between these two extremes there exists a category of unmarried women
+whose sexual love finds compensation in the love they bear for a
+parent or a friend (male or female), which although not sexual is none
+the less ardent. Such occupation for their sentiments improves their
+state of mind and partially fills the void; however, it is not
+sufficient as a rule and only constitutes a last resource. This kind
+of devotion, by its exclusiveness, often produces bad results, for its
+horizon is too limited. If the object of love, which is generally too
+pampered, dies or <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>abandons her, she loses her head; grief, bitterness
+and pessimism never leave her, unless she finds consolation in
+religious exaltation, which is often observed in other women deprived
+of love. This last peculiarity is met with, moreover, in all classes
+of women, even among the married.</p>
+
+<p><b>Passiveness of Woman. Sexual Appetite.</b>&mdash;Ideal love should never be
+dual egoism. What happens when two persons live exclusively for each
+other, if one of them dies? The survivor sinks into inconsolable
+despair, all that his heart was attached to is dead, because his love
+did not extend to other human beings, nor to social works. Widows then
+become as pitiable as old maids, although in another way, when they
+have lost the object of their exclusive love. This is why we recommend
+social work, not only for celibates, but also for loving couples.</p>
+
+<p>I again emphasize the fact that in normal women, especially young
+girls, the sexual appetite is subordinate to love. In the young girl
+love is a mixture of exalted admiration for masculine courage and
+grandeur, and an ardent desire for affection and maternity. She wishes
+to be outwardly dominated by a man, but to dominate him by her heart.
+This sentimentalism of the young girl, joined to the passive role of
+her sex, produces in her a state of exaltation which often borders on
+ecstasy and then overcomes all the resistance of will and reason. The
+woman surrenders herself to the man of whom she is enamored, or who
+has conquered or hypnotized her. She is vanquished by his embraces and
+follows him submissively, and in such a state of mind she is capable
+of any folly.</p>
+
+<p>Although more violent and impetuous in his love, man loses his
+<i>sang-froid</i> on the whole much less than woman. We can therefore say
+that the relative power of sentiment is on the average greater in
+woman, in spite of her passive role.</p>
+
+<p>I cannot protest too strongly against the way in which men of the day
+disparage women and misunderstand them. In the way in which a young
+girl abandons herself to their sexual appetites, in caresses, and in
+the ecstasy of her love, they think they see the proof of a purely
+sensual eroticism, identical to their libidinous desire for coitus,
+while in reality she usually does not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>think of it, at any rate at
+first. The first coitus is usually painful to woman, often repugnant.
+Many are the cases where young girls, even when they knew the terrible
+social and individual dangers of their weakness, even when they have
+perhaps once already experienced the consequences, let the man abuse
+them without a word of complaint, without a trace of sexual pleasure
+or venereal orgasm, simply to please the one who desires them, because
+he is so good and amiable, and because refusal would give him so much
+pain. In his violent passion and in his egoism, man is generally
+incapable of understanding the power of this stoicism of a mind which
+surrenders itself in spite of all dangers and all its interests. He
+confounds his own appetites with the sentiments of the woman, and
+finds in this false interpretation of feminine psychology the excuses
+for the cowardice of which he gives proof when he yields to his
+passions. The psychology of the young girl who surrenders herself has
+been admirably depicted by Goethe in <i>Gretchen</i> ("Faust"), as well as
+by de Maupassant on several occasions.</p>
+
+<p>It is necessary to know all these facts in order to estimate at its
+true value the ignominy of our social institutions and their bearing
+on woman's life. If men did not so misunderstand women, and especially
+if they were aware of the deep injustice of our customs and laws with
+regard to them, the better ones, at least, would think twice before
+seducing young girls, to abandon them afterward with their children. I
+am only speaking now of true love and not of the extortion so often
+practiced by women of low character, or those already educated in
+vice.</p>
+
+<p>I shall say no more concerning eroticism, which really exists in many
+women, especially in those who are already experienced in sexual
+matters. On the other hand there are women who deceive their husbands
+and allow themselves to be seduced by any Don Juan, even when they
+have never had the least sexual appetite, or felt a single venereal
+orgasm. They allow themselves to be dragged in the mud and lose their
+reputation, their fortune and their family; they even let their
+seducer trample them under foot; they become defamed and treated as
+women without character, without honor and without any notion of duty.
+They are simply poor feeble creatures incapable of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>resisting
+masculine proposals. With good psychological training they would often
+become better women, active, devoted and full of life. It seems hardly
+credible, but it is true, that one sometimes finds in this category
+women who are highly gifted. It is then said that they are wanting in
+moral sense, but this is not always correct. In other respects they
+may be faithful to their duty, devoted, sometimes even energetic and
+heroic; but they submit to masculine influence to such a degree that
+they cannot conceive how to resist it. They find it quite natural to
+give way to it and their mind does not understand that the complete
+abandonment of their body to the man they love should not necessarily
+follow immediately after the abandonment of their heart, or even after
+the first kiss. It is impossible for them to make distinctions or to
+trace limits.</p>
+
+<p><b>Idealism in Woman.</b>&mdash;The cases I have just described are extreme,
+although very common; they give the note of a general phenomenon of
+feminine love in its exaltation. It is needless to say that reasonable
+women of high character behave themselves in quite another manner,
+however profound their love. Nevertheless the trait which we have just
+described is nearly always found at the bottom of all true love in
+woman, however much it may be veiled, dissimulated or conquered.</p>
+
+<p>It is not always audacity or heroic deeds like those of the bold
+cavaliers of former days which excite love in woman. The external
+qualities of man, such as beauty and elegance, etc., also play a part,
+although their effect may be less decisive than that of the bodily
+charms of woman in exciting love in man. Intellectual superiority,
+high moral actions, and mental qualities in general, easily affect the
+heart of woman, which becomes exalted under their influence. But every
+man who becomes famous either for good or evil, the fashionable actor,
+the celebrated tenor, etc., has the power of exciting love in women.
+Women without education or those of inferior mental quality are
+naturally more easily affected by the bodily strength of man, and by
+his external appearance in general. Many women are especially liable
+to succumb under the influence of all that is mystic. These become
+infatuated by preachers, and religious enthusiasts, to say nothing of
+hypocrites.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>Nothing is sadder than the contrast between the exalted love of a
+virtuous and chaste young girl, and the debauched life, with its
+traits of cynical pornography, of the majority of young men. Guy de
+Maupassant has described this contrast in a most striking manner in
+his romance entitled "<i>Une Vie</i>." I know a number of cases in which
+the complete ignorance of young married women with regard to sexual
+relations, combined with the cynical lewdness of their husbands, has
+transformed the exalted love of a young girl into profound disgust,
+and has sometimes even caused mental disorders. Although not very
+common, the psychoses resulting from the deception and shock of the
+nuptial night are not very rare. But what is much worse than this
+douche of cold water which suddenly substitutes the reality of coitus
+for the ideal exaltation of sentiment, are the subsequent discoveries
+made by the young wife, when the cynical mind of her husband on the
+subject of sexual connection and love is unveiled to her in all its
+grossness, resulting from his previous life of debauchery. Torn and
+sullied in its deepest fibers, the feminine mind then becomes the seat
+of a desperate struggle between reality full of deceptions and the
+illusions of a dream of happiness.</p>
+
+<p>If it is only a question of bad habits, or want of tact in the
+husband, behind which there exists perhaps true love, the wounds in
+the woman's sentiment may heal and intimacy may develop; but when the
+cynicism is too marked, when the habits of sexual debauchery are too
+inveterate, the love of a virtuous woman is soon stifled, and is
+changed to resignation and disgust, often to martyrdom or hatred.</p>
+
+<p>In other cases the woman is weak and ill-developed and allows herself
+to sink to the level of her husband's sentiments. Sometimes, the
+crisis is accentuated and leads to divorce. In de Maupassant's "<i>Une
+Vie</i>," he describes with profound insight the continuous deceptions of
+a young innocent and sentimental girl who marries an egoistic rou&eacute;,
+and whose life is transformed into martyrdom and completely ruined. De
+Maupassant's romances contain such true psychology of sexual life and
+love in all their forms, often even in their exceptional aberrations,
+that they furnish an admirable illustration to the present chapter.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span><b>Petticoat Government.</b>&mdash;A series of most important irradiations of
+love in woman results from the need she feels of being, if not
+dominated, at least protected by her husband. To be happy, a woman
+must be able to respect her husband and even regard him with more or
+less veneration; she must see in him the realization of an ideal,
+either of bodily strength, courage, unselfishness or superior
+intellect. If this is not the case, the husband easily falls under the
+petticoat government, or indifference and antipathy may develop in the
+wife, at least if misfortune or illness in the husband does not excite
+her pity and transform her into a resigned nurse.</p>
+
+<p>Petticoat government can hardly make a household truly happy, for here
+the positions are reversed and the wife rules because the husband is
+weak. But the normal instinct of woman is to rule over the heart of
+man, not over his intelligence or on his will. Ruling in these last
+domains may flatter a woman's vanity and render it dominating, but it
+never satisfies her heart, and this is why the woman who rules is so
+often unfaithful to her husband, if not in deed, at least in thought.</p>
+
+<p>In such a union she has not found the true love which she sought, and
+for this reason, if her moral principles are weak, she looks for
+compensation in some Don Juan. If the woman in question has a strong
+character, or if she is sexually cold, she may easily become sour and
+bitter. These women, who are not rare, are to be dreaded; their
+plighted love is transformed into hatred, bad temper or jealousy, and
+only finds satisfaction in the torment of others.</p>
+
+<p>The psychology of this kind of woman is interesting. They are not
+usually conscious of their malice. The chronic bitterness resulting
+from an unfortunate hereditary disposition in their character, as much
+as from their outraged feelings, makes them take a dislike to the
+world and renders them incapable of seeing anything but the worst side
+of people. They become accustomed to disparage everything
+automatically, to take offense at everything and to speak ill of
+everything on every occasion. They are unhappy, but they find a
+diabolical joy in all misfortune where they see the confirmation of
+their somber prophecies, the only satisfaction which is capable of
+exalting them.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>We have just said that a certain constitutional disposition is
+necessary for such a deplorable change in feminine sentiments to be
+produced; but this disposition is often only developed under the
+influence of circumstances which we have indicated or analogous ones.</p>
+
+<p>It is impossible for the life in common of two conjoints not to reveal
+their reciprocal failings. But true love generally suffices to
+definitely cement a union, provided that the wife finds a support in
+the steadfast nature of her husband, which then serves as her ideal.
+It is also necessary that the husband, finding sentiments of devoted
+love in his wife, should reciprocate them. These conditions are
+sufficient, if both devote their efforts to the maintenance of their
+family and the social welfare.</p>
+
+<p><b>Maternal Love.</b>&mdash;The most profound and most natural irradiation of
+the sexual appetite in woman is <i>maternal love</i>. A mother who does not
+love her children is an unnatural being, and a man who does not
+understand the desires of maternity in his wife, and does not respect
+them, is not worthy of her love. Sometimes egoism renders a man
+jealous of the love which his wife bears to his children. At other
+times, the father may show more love for the children than their
+mother; such exceptions only prove the rule.</p>
+
+<p>The most beautiful and most natural of the irradiations of love is the
+joy of parents at the birth of their children, a joy which is one of
+the strongest bonds of conjugal affection, and which helps the couple
+in triumphing over the conflicting elements in their characters, and
+in raising the moral level of their reciprocal sentiments, for it
+realizes the natural object of sexual union.</p>
+
+<p>A true woman rejoices at the progress of her pregnancy. The last pains
+of childbirth have hardly ceased before she laughs with joy, and
+pride, at hearing the first cries of the newly born. The instinctive
+outburst of maternal love toward the new-born child corresponds to a
+natural imprescriptible right of the child, for it needs the continual
+care of its mother. Nothing is so beautiful in the world as the
+radiant joy of a young mother nursing her child, and no sign of
+degeneration is more painful than that of mothers who abandon their
+children without absolute necessity, to strange hands.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>On the other hand reason must intervene. The instructive transports of
+maternal love soon require a counterpoise. It is important to prevent
+them from degenerating into unreasonable spoiling, by scientific and
+medical education of the infants. Modern medical art has made great
+progress in this direction, but unfortunately, egoism, negligence,
+routine, the desire of enjoyment, or often the poverty of many mothers
+prevent them from benefiting from this progress and applying it as
+they should. Instead of looking after their children they leave them
+to nurses. The latter may be necessary to help and instruct young
+wives during their first childbirth; but a natural mother will profit
+by these instructions and will herself become an excellent nurse,
+because she will feel her natural ties and will consecrate herself to
+them with the devotion of a maternal love heightened and refined by
+reason and knowledge. Among the lower classes the poverty and
+ignorance of mothers, often also their thoughtlessness and indolence,
+are an obstacle to the rational education of infants.</p>
+
+<p>"<b>Monkey's Love.</b>"&mdash;Maternal love thus constitutes the most important
+irradiation of the sexual instincts in woman. It very easily
+degenerates into weakness, that is to say into unreasonable passion
+and blind compliance with all the faults of the child, which the
+mother excuses and transforms into virtues. The foibles of maternal
+love do much harm to the child and are often the origin of bitter
+deceptions. Hereditary weakness of character here plays a great, or
+even the principal part. Nevertheless, maternal foibles have other
+causes&mdash;riches, absence of culture, idleness, too few children, etc.</p>
+
+<p>The best antidote for this unreasonable maternal love, which the
+Germans call "monkey's love" consists in active occupations for the
+mother, combined with a healthy education of her character. Work alone
+is not sufficient, if the mother has limited ideas, and if she is not
+freed from routine, ignorance, superstition and weakness of will.</p>
+
+<p><b>Sentiments and Perseverance.</b>&mdash;The power of love in woman does not
+rest alone on the varied harmony of her sentiments of sympathy for her
+husband and children, and on the extraordinary finesse and natural
+tact which she adds to it; such qualities <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>make her, no doubt, the ray
+of sunshine in the family life, but more powerful still are the
+tenacity and perseverance of her love.</p>
+
+<p>In general, it is by will-power that woman is superior to man, and it
+is in the domain of love that this superiority shines in all its
+glory. As a general rule it is the wife who sustains the family. Among
+the common people, it is she who economizes, she who watches carefully
+over all and corrects the failings, the passionate and impulsive acts,
+the discouragements, so frequent with the husband. How often do we see
+the father abandon the children, waste his earnings and leave his
+situation under some futile pretext, while his courageous wife,
+although suffering from hunger and destitution, holds firm and manages
+to save the debris which has escaped the excesses and egoism of the
+husband.</p>
+
+<p>The husband of a feeble or alcoholic wife sometimes becomes the sole
+support of the family, but such exceptions only prove the rule, that
+where the normal love and courage of woman are wanting, the family
+becomes broken up, for man very rarely possesses the necessary
+faculties for its preservation.</p>
+
+<p>It follows from these facts that the modern tendency of women to
+become pleasure-seekers, and to take a dislike to maternity, leads to
+complete degeneration of society. This is a grave social evil, which
+rapidly changes the qualities and power of expansion of a race, and
+which must be cured in time, or the race affected by it will be
+supplanted by others.</p>
+
+<p>If the feminine mind is generally wanting in intellectual imagination
+and power of combination, it is all the more powerful in the practical
+intuition of its judgment and in sentimental imagination. The finesse
+of its moral and &aelig;sthetic sentiments, its natural tact, its
+instructive desire to put some element of poetry into all the details
+of life, contribute to form true family happiness, a happiness which
+the husband and children too often enjoy without fully realizing the
+devoted labor, the love and the pains which the mother has given to
+create it.</p>
+
+<p><b>Routine.</b>&mdash;The reverse of the irradiations of love in woman is
+constituted by her failings, which we have already partly indicated.
+We may add that her intelligence is usually superficial, that she
+attributes an exaggerated importance to trifles, that she often does
+not understand the object of ideal conceptions, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>remains attached
+by routine to all her hobbies. This routine represents in feminine
+psychology the excess of a tenacious will applied only to the
+repetition of what has been taught. In the family, woman constitutes
+the conservative element because sentiment in her much more than in
+man, combined with persevering tenacity, predominates over
+intelligence; but sentiments represent everywhere and always the
+conservative element in the human mind.</p>
+
+<p>This is why woman is the strongest supporter of dogmas, customs,
+fashions, prejudices and mysticism. It is not that she herself is more
+disposed than man to mystic beliefs, but these when once dogmatized
+dazzle the eyes of the suffering with visions of compensation in a
+better world. In this way a number of unhappy or disappointed women
+are affected with religious exaltation and thus cling to the hope of
+happiness after death which they believe will compensate them for the
+vicissitudes of their existence.</p>
+
+<p>The other reverses of the feminine character, such as want of logic,
+obstinacy, love of trinkets, etc., result from the fundamental
+weakness of the feminine mind which we have just analyzed. Moreover,
+the social dependence in which man has placed woman, both from the
+legal and educational points of view, tend to increase her failings.
+Many people fear that women's suffrage would hinder progress, for the
+reasons we have just indicated, but they forget that the actual
+suffrage of men is to a great extent exercised by their wives,
+indirectly and unconsciously. This fact alone shows that the
+education, and legal emancipation of women can only be beneficial to
+progress, especially as they would contribute to the education of men,
+too prone to degenerate on account of their presumptuous and
+tyrannical autocracy.</p>
+
+<p>Woman has an instinctive admiration for men of high intellect and
+lofty sentiments, and strives to imitate those who provoke her
+admiration, and carry out their ideas. Let us therefore give women
+their proper rights, equal to ours, at the same time giving them a
+higher education and the same free instruction as ourselves; we shall
+then see them abandon the obscure paths of mysticism, to devote
+themselves to social progress.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span><b>Jealousy in Woman.</b>&mdash;Other irradiations of love in woman are similar
+to those of man. Jealousy is perhaps not much less developed in woman
+than in man. It is less brutal and violent but more instinctive and
+persevering; it manifests itself by quarrels, needle pricks,
+chicanery, petty tyrannies and all kinds of tricks which poison
+existence as much as man's jealousy, and are quite as inefficient
+against infidelity. In the highest degree of passion the jealous man
+uses violence or resorts to firearms, while the woman scratches,
+poisons or stabs. Among savages, jealous women bite off their rivals'
+noses; in civilized countries they throw sulphuric acid in the face.
+The object is the same in both cases&mdash;to disfigure.</p>
+
+<p>Amorous illusions produced in woman by the sexual appetite are
+analogous to those of man, but are modified by feminine attributes. It
+is the same with hypocrisy. The passive role of woman in sexual life
+obliges her only to betray her feelings to the object of her desires
+in a reserved and prudent manner. She cannot make advances toward man
+without contravening the conventions and risking her reputation. She
+therefore has to be more skillful in the art of dissimulation. This
+gives us no right to accuse her of falseness, for this art is natural,
+instinctive and imposed by custom. Her desire for love and maternity
+unconsciously urges her to make herself as desirable as possible to
+man by her grace and allurements. Her stolen glances and sighs, and
+the play of her expression serve to betray her ardor as through a
+veil. Behind this furtive play, especially calculated to excite the
+passions of man, are hidden, in the natural and good woman, a world of
+delicate feelings, ideal aspirations, energy and perseverance, which
+are much more loyal and honest than the motives revealed by the more
+brusque and daring manner in which man expresses his desires. The fine
+phrases by which man's love is expressed generally cover sentiments
+which are much less pure and calculations much more egoistic than the
+relatively innocent play of the young girl. No doubt there are false
+women whose amorous wiles are only a spider's web, but we are speaking
+here of the average, and not of exceptions.</p>
+
+<p><b>Coquetry.</b>&mdash;The sexual braggardism of man is only found in some
+prostitutes; it is replaced in woman by coquetry and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>desire to
+please. Vain women profit by the natural grace and beauty of their sex
+and person, not only to attract and please men, but also to shine
+among their fellows, to make other women pale before their brilliance
+and their elegance. Coquettes take infinite pains in this art. All
+their efforts and all their thoughts are directed only to increase
+their charm by the brilliancy of their toilette, the refinement of
+their attire, the arrangement of their hair, their perfumes, paint and
+powder, etc. It is here that the narrowness of the mind of woman is
+revealed in all its meanness.</p>
+
+<p>To describe feminine coquetry would oblige me to descend to banality.
+If we go to a ball or a fashionable <i>soir&eacute;e</i>, if we observe women at
+the theater, their toilettes, their looks and expressions, or if we
+read a novel by Guy de Maupassant, "Fort Comme la Mort," or "N&ocirc;tre
+C&oelig;ur," for example, we can study all the degrees and all the
+degeneration of this part of the sexual psychology of women. Many of
+them have such bad taste that they transform themselves into
+caricatures; dye their hair, paint their eyebrows and lips to give
+themselves the appearance of what they are not, or to make themselves
+appear young and beautiful.</p>
+
+<p>These artifices of civilized countries resemble the tattooing,
+nose-rings, etc., with which savage women adorn themselves. The latter
+are represented by earrings, bracelets and necklaces. All these
+customs constitute irradiations of the sexual appetite or the desire
+to please men. Male sexual inverts (vide Chap. VIII) also practice
+them, and often also certain dandies with otherwise normal sexual
+instincts.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Pornographic Spirit in Woman.</b>&mdash;This is absolutely contrary to
+the normal feminine nature, which cannot be said of eroticism. Among
+prostitutes, as we have seen, the pornographic spirit is only the echo
+of their male companions, and in spite of this, we still find a
+vestige of modesty even in them. No doubt, in very erotic women,
+sexual excitations may lead to indecent acts and expressions, but
+these are rare exceptions and of a pathological nature.</p>
+
+<p>Natural feminine eroticism, not artificially perverted, only shows
+itself openly in complete intimacy, and even here modesty <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>and the
+&aelig;sthetic sense of woman correct and attenuate it. Normally, all
+obscenity and cynicism disgusts women and only inspires them with
+contempt for the male sex. On the other hand, they are easily
+stimulated to eroticism by pictures or novels, if they are
+sufficiently &aelig;sthetic, or even moral. This is a great danger for both
+sexes, especially for woman&mdash;eroticism dissimulated under hypocritical
+forms, and intended to idealize dishonest intentions (vide de
+Maupassant: "<i>Ce Cochon de Morin</i>").</p>
+
+<p><b>Modesty and Prudery in Woman.</b>&mdash;In woman the sentiments of modesty
+and prudery have a peculiar character, which results from her natural
+disgust for pornography on the one hand, and also from her attachment
+to fashion and prejudice. Many women have a perfect terror of exposing
+certain parts of their body, even to a medical man. This fact depends
+on convention, and sometimes on the absence or perversion of sexual
+feelings. Brought up to prudery, sometimes to an absurd extent as in
+England, these women lose their natural feeling and often suffer from
+the excitation, indignation, and perpetual fright, which result from
+it. The exaggerations of prudery, moreover, easily lead to opposite
+excesses, or else degenerate into hypocrisy. The prude is ashamed of
+the most natural things, and undergoes continual torment.</p>
+
+<p>Prudery can be created or cured by education in childhood. It may be
+created by isolation, by covering all parts of the body, and
+especially by making children regard nudity as shameful. On the other
+hand, it may be cured by mixed bathing, by accustoming the child to
+consider the human body, in all its parts and functions, as something
+natural of which one need not be ashamed, lastly by giving instruction
+on the relations of the sexes, in due time and in a serious manner,
+instead of replying to ingenuous questions by pious falsehoods, by
+equivocation, or by an air of mystery.</p>
+
+<p>The chapter on love is infinite, and its relations to the sexual
+appetite make it still more complex. We shall confine ourselves to
+indicating two more of its irradiations, peculiar to each sex, but
+having for each a physionomy corresponding to its own mentality.</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span><br />
+
+<h4>FETICHISM AND ANTI-FETICHISM</h4>
+
+<p>"We understand by fetiches, objects, portions of objects, or even
+simply the qualities of objects which, from their association with a
+certain person or with the idea of this person, produce a kind of
+charm or at least a profound impression, which in no way corresponds
+to the nature of the object itself."&mdash;(Krafft-Ebing.) The fetich thus
+symbolizes a person in whom we have such a profound interest that
+everything connected with her disturbs our feelings. It is we
+ourselves who place in the fetich the charm arising from the person
+whom it symbolizes for us.</p>
+
+<p>In many religions fetichism plays an important part, so much so that
+fetiches such as amulets or relics produce ecstasy in the faithful.</p>
+
+<p>Binet, Krafft-Ebing and others give the name <i>erotic fetichism</i> to the
+charm which certain objects or certain parts of the body exercise in a
+similar way on the sexual desires or even on love, in the sense that
+their simple representation is powerfully associated with the erotic
+image of a person of the other sex, or with a particular variety of
+sexual excitation. In both man and woman certain portions of the
+clothes or the body, the hair, the foot and hand, or certain odors of
+the person desired, may take the character of fetiches. It is the same
+with certain intellectual peculiarities and certain expressions of the
+features. In man, the woman's hair, her hands or feet, her
+handkerchief, perfumes, etc., often play the part of erotic fetiches.</p>
+
+<p>We may call <i>anti-fetiches</i> certain objects or certain qualities
+which, on the contrary, destroy eroticism. Certain odors, the tone of
+a voice, an ugly nose, a garment in bad taste, an awkward manner,
+often suffice to destroy eroticism by causing disgust for a person,
+and their simple representation is enough to make her unbearable.
+Symbolizing disgust, the anti-fetich paralyzes the sexual appetite and
+love.</p>
+
+<p>In normal love, it is especially by association of ideas in calling to
+mind the image of the person loved that the fetich plays the part of
+an exciting agent. It often, however, becomes itself the more special
+object of the sexual appetite, while the anti-fetich <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>produces the
+opposite effect. But, in degenerates (vide Chap. VIII) it is sometimes
+exclusively to the fetich itself that an irresistible sexual appetite
+is addressed, the irradiation of which becomes a ridiculous caricature
+of love.</p>
+
+<p>We thus see that normal love is based on an extremely complex
+synthesis, on a symphony of harmonious sensations, sentiments and
+conceptions, combined in all kinds of tones and shades. The
+pathological aberrations of which we shall speak, demonstrate this by
+forcing one tone or another to the more or less marked exclusion of
+the rest.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>PSYCHOLOGICAL RELATIONS OF LOVE TO RELIGION</h4>
+
+<p>Love and eroticism play a great part in religion, and many derivatives
+of religious sentiment are intimately associated with the sexual
+appetite. As Krafft-Ebing says, <i>religious ecstasy</i> is closely related
+to <i>amorous ecstasy</i>, and very often appears in the guise of
+consolation and compensation for an unhappy or disappointed love, or
+even in the absence of sexual love. In the insane, religion and
+eroticism are combined in a very characteristic manner. Among a number
+of peoples certain cruel religious customs are the result of
+transformed erotic conceptions.</p>
+
+<p>As in religion, there is something mystical in love; the ineffable
+dream of eternal ecstasy. This is why the two kinds of mystic and
+erotic exaltation become blended in religions.</p>
+
+<p>Krafft-Ebing attributes the cruelty found in many religions to
+<i>sadism</i> (sexual lust excited by the sufferings of others). (Vide
+Chap. VIII.)</p>
+
+<p>"The relationship so often established between religion, lust and
+cruelty can be reduced almost to the following formula: at the acme of
+their development, the religious and sexual passions show a
+concordance in quality and in quantity of excitation, and may
+consequently replace each other, under certain circumstances. Under
+special pathological influences, both may be transformed into
+cruelty."&mdash;(Krafft-Ebing.)</p>
+
+<p>We shall return to this subject in Chapters VIII and XII.</p>
+
+<br />
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+<br />
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> This tendency of man has been analyzed with a very
+refined psychology by <i>Labiche</i>, in one of his most celebrated
+comedies: "<i>Le voyage de M. Perichon.</i>"</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>ETHNOLOGY AND HISTORY OF SEXUAL LIFE IN MAN AND IN MARRIAGE</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>In the study of the sexual question it is absolutely necessary to
+guard against subjectiveness and all preconceived theory, and to avoid
+sentimentalism as well as eroticism. These two dangers play a
+considerable part in the study of human sexual life. Presented in a
+conscientious and scientific way the history of marriage furnishes us
+the most trustworthy material for the study of the sexual relations of
+man in social life. It is from this material that we can learn the
+relative importance of the different psychological and
+psycho-pathological factors in social evolution. But, to furnish valid
+material, history must not only be based on trustworthy and veracious
+sources; it must also give a comparative study of the sexual relations
+which exist in most, if not all, of the peoples actually existing. The
+present savage tribes no doubt resemble more closely the primitive
+peoples than our hybrid agglomeration of the civilized world.
+Moreover, the modern study of ethnology gives us more certain
+information than the uncertain, incomplete and often fabulous
+statements of ancient documents. I am speaking here of primitive
+history, and not of the Greek and Roman civilizations. Unfortunately
+the correctness of ethnological observations, and especially their
+interpretation, still leave much to be desired.</p>
+
+<p>Edward Westermark, professor at Helsingfors, in his "History of Human
+Marriage," has given us a monumental work, which is remarkable, not
+only for the richness and exactness of its material, but also for the
+clearness and good sense of its criticism. I shall give a <i>r&eacute;sum&eacute;</i> of
+Westermark's results, as the subject is beyond the domain of my
+special studies. The author has collected a great number of
+observations in order to avoid erroneous conclusions. He warns the
+reader against a hasty generalization, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>which attributes without proof
+certain customs of living savage tribes to our primitive ancestors.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>ORIGIN OF MARRIAGE</h4>
+
+<p>In the previous chapter we have considered the phylogeny of love in
+general. We have seen that some of the lower animals, such as the ants
+and bees, give evidence of an instinctive social altruism much greater
+than that of man, while other animals, such as birds, are superior to
+us as regards monogamous conjugal fidelity. But it is a question here
+of analogies due to phenomena of convergence, and these animals are of
+interest to us only as remote objects of comparison.</p>
+
+<p>As regards marriage in primitive man, we can only compare ourselves
+with the living animals most closely allied to us, viz. the
+<i>anthropoid apes</i>.</p>
+
+<p>In most mammals, marriage (if we may give this name to their sexual
+union) is only of very short duration, depending on the time necessary
+for the procreation of a single brood of young. After copulation the
+male generally pays little attention to the female, beyond protecting
+her for a certain time. In the anthropoid apes (orang-utan,
+chimpanzee, gorilla and gibbon) however, we find monogamous marriage
+and the institution of family life. The male protects the female and
+the young, and the latter are often of different ages, showing the
+existence of conjugal fidelity extending beyond one birth. While the
+female and the young remain in their nest, perched on a tree, the male
+takes his place at the foot of the tree and watches over the safety of
+the family.</p>
+
+<p>According to Westermark this was probably the same in primitive man.
+Formed by the father, the mother and the children, the family was in
+primitive man a general institution, based on monogamy, polygamy or
+polyandry. The wife looked after the children, and the husband
+protected the family. No doubt, the husband was not particularly
+anxious for the welfare of his wife and children, but concerned
+himself chiefly in the satisfaction of his sexual appetite and his
+pride. He was useful, however, in building the nest, or hut, in
+procuring the necessary food, and in defending his family.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>Most legends relate that primitive man lived in promiscuity with
+women, without marriage, and that marriage was instituted by some god
+or by some law. But this opinion, which is still held by most modern
+authors, is quite erroneous, as Westermark has demonstrated in a
+masterly manner, by the aid of documents which are absolutely
+conclusive.</p>
+
+<p>The duty of the husband to provide food for the family is a general
+law among savage peoples. A confirmation of this law is found in the
+fact that most often in polygamous races the man has only the right to
+as many wives as he can support. Every man must give proof that he is
+capable of feeding his family. Even after divorce the husband's duties
+continue, and may even be transmitted to his heirs. For example, among
+certain peoples, his brother is obliged to marry his widow. The
+husband's duties appear to be inherited from the higher apes, among
+whom conjugal fidelity lasts longer than the sexual appetite. This
+fidelity has therefore deep phylogenetic roots in our nature, and we
+shall see later on that we cannot neglect it without compromising our
+social state (Chap. XIII).</p>
+
+<p>The following is the definition of marriage as given by Westermark:
+<i>Marriage is a sexual union of variable duration between men and
+women, a union which is continued after copulation, at least till the
+birth of the child.</i></p>
+
+<p>According to this definition, there may be monogamous, polygamous and
+polyandrous marriages, as well as marriage in groups and limited
+marriage. It is evident that permanent monogamous unions, such as
+occur in birds and the higher apes, are, according to this definition,
+true marriages, of better quality even than those of many men.</p>
+
+<p>Among animals which have a definite rutting period, marriage cannot
+depend solely on the sexual appetite, or egoistic eroticism, without
+ceasing with the rut. It follows from this that natural selection and
+the mneme (engraphia) have derived from the sexual appetite certain
+social or altruistic instincts, with the object of preserving the
+species by protection of the young. Although not the only means of
+preserving the species, such instincts are certainly important.</p>
+
+<p>The family is thus the root of marriage. This explains the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>custom,
+among certain races, of marriage only becoming valid after the birth
+of a child. In many forms of marriage by purchase, the wife is even
+bound to return to her husband the sum paid for her if she remains
+sterile, and among many savages the marriage is only celebrated after
+the birth of the first child. In Borneo, relations between the sexes
+are free till pregnancy occurs, and it is this which determines the
+duties of marriage. In this respect, these savages are more just and
+wiser than us.</p>
+
+<p>In man, a special reason in favor of marriage is the fact that he has
+no rutting period. In animals the rutting period is generally
+regulated so that the young are born exactly at the time of year when
+they will find food most abundant. For example, the muscardin
+copulates in July and brings forth young in August, at the time when
+nuts are ripe, while elephants, whales and certain monkeys, who find
+food at all seasons, do not copulate at any definite period.</p>
+
+<p>The anthropoid apes, however, have a rutting period, and something
+analogous is found among certain human races (Californians, Hindus and
+certain Australians) in the spring, when sexual orgies are indulged
+in. In man there is no particular correlation between eroticism and
+the possibility of easily obtaining food for the children at the time
+of birth. Nevertheless, a recrudescence of the sexual appetite is
+generally observed in the spring and beginning of summer, with a
+corresponding increase in the number of conceptions. This is probably
+explained by the fact that infants born in the autumn or winter are
+more robust. Moreover, natural selection has almost entirely ceased in
+civilized peoples, owing to the artificial means used to rear
+children, and to the diminution which results from their mortality.</p>
+
+<p>We thus see that the institution of marriage in man does not depend on
+the excitation of the sexual appetite, for this is, on the whole,
+continuous.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>ANTIQUITY OF MATRIMONIAL INSTITUTIONS</h4>
+
+<p>The fact that the anthropoid apes produce feeble and dependent young,
+whose infancy is long, has probably been the origin of marriage.
+Kautsky says that in primitive man the child <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>belongs to the clan; but
+this is an error. Originally, human societies were composed of
+families, or rather associations of families. In primitive man, these
+families play the fundamental role and constitute the nucleus of
+society. In the anthropoid ape we already find the family, but not the
+clan. This must also have been the case with the pithecanthropoids and
+other extinct transitory forms. In fact, the lowest savages still live
+as isolated families like the carnivorous mammals, rather than in
+clans or tribes. This is the case, for example, with the Weddas of
+Ceylon, the indigenes of Terra del Fuego, the aboriginal Australians,
+the Esquimaux and certain Indians of Brazil. In this way they have
+better conditions for subsistence.</p>
+
+<p>In primitive times therefore, man lived in families, on the produce of
+the chase. Later on, the spirit of discovery, the more abundant food
+obtained by traps and by the cultivation of plants allowed men to live
+in tribes. Thus, intellectual development was the first cause of
+social life in man, and Lubbock is certainly wrong in considering that
+the establishment of clans dates further back than the first beginning
+of civilization. Westermark's conclusions are as follows:</p>
+
+<p>(1). <i>At no period of human existence has family life been replaced by
+clan life.</i></p>
+
+<p>(2). <i>Conjugal life is a heritage from ancestors who lived in a
+similar way to the anthropoid apes of the present day.</i></p>
+
+<p>(3). <i>Although less intimately and less constantly bound to the
+children than to the mother, the father has always been in man the
+protector of the family.</i></p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>CRITICISM OF THE DOCTRINE OF PROMISCUITY</h4>
+
+<p>Most sociologists believe with Lubbock, Bachofen, MacLennan, Bastian,
+Giraud-Teulon, Wilkens, and others that primitive man lived in sexual
+promiscuity. If we agree with Westermark that the term marriage
+includes polygamy, polyandry and limited marriage, the opinion of
+these authors is wrong. What they have considered as promiscuity can
+always be included in one of these forms of marriage, even among the
+indigenes of Hayti, whose life is the most debauched. The author who
+has most confused the question is Fison, with his dogmatic theories
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>concerning the Australians. Obliged to admit that promiscuity does not
+exist among these people, he still maintains that it existed formerly.
+Curr, who was better acquainted than Fison with the Australians, has
+proved that they are normally monogamous.</p>
+
+<p>Similar statements of Bastian, Wilkens and others concerning the
+Kustchins, the natives of Terra del Fuego, are also incorrect. In none
+of the African tribes is there communion of women, the men, on the
+other hand, are extremely jealous. Promiscuity is not observed among
+savage and primitive races, but among people already civilized, such
+as the Buddhist Butias, in whom man knows neither honor nor jealousy.
+The savage Weddas are monogamous, and one of their proverbs says:
+"Death alone can separate woman from man."</p>
+
+<p>There is in reality only one true form of promiscuity&mdash;the
+prostitution of modern civilized races, who have introduced it among
+savages, subjecting them to gratify their own lust. Among many savage
+races there exists, on the contrary, a very severe monogamy, and they
+punish with death every seducer and illegitimate child, as well as the
+mother. Among others, however, considerable sexual freedom is allowed
+before or after marriage. It is impossible to lay down definite rules,
+but one thing may be regarded as universal, viz., that the sexual
+depravity of savage races most often arises from the influence of
+civilized people who immigrate among them and systematically introduce
+immorality and debauchery. It is the white colonists who appropriate
+the women of savage races and train them in the worst forms of
+prostitution. It is the white colonists who introduce alcoholic drink
+which disorganizes the most virtuous and loyal habits, and ends with
+ruin.</p>
+
+<p>Certain Arab clans exploit European habits of prostitution by sending
+their young girls to brothels for purposes of gain. When they have
+accumulated a sufficient fortune they return home and marry one of
+their fellow countrymen. Similar customs are observed among other
+races.</p>
+
+<p>In this connection Westermark points out that the more advanced is
+civilization, the greater is the number of illegitimate births, and
+the more widespread is prostitution. In <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>Europe, the proportion of
+natural children and of prostitutes is nearly double in the towns what
+it is in the country. This shows the absurdity of regarding
+promiscuity as a primitive state; on the contrary, it is a rotten
+fruit of civilization, and especially of semi-civilization. Primitive
+customs are generally chaste, and it is civilization which corrupts
+them. In Europe, prostitution is increasing, while marriage is
+becoming less frequent; it is the latter which constitutes the
+primitive and normal state.</p>
+
+<p>Westermark admits, as we have mentioned above, that sexual liberty
+before or after marriage exists among certain tribes; but in spite of
+this the custom of careful choice always exists among these people,
+and this renders their unions comparatively lasting. He cites as an
+example the Tounghtas of India, who practice sexual connection before
+marriage, but among whom these connections nearly always lead to
+marriage; this race considers prostitution as dishonorable.</p>
+
+<p>We must, however, make one objection to Westermark. Promiscuity in
+itself is not necessarily prostitution, for the latter signifies
+especially the sale of the body, which is not the case in promiscuity.
+The fundamental fact which prevents us admitting the existence of
+primitive promiscuity among savage races is the following: As soon as
+the two sexes are free, the monogamous instinct of the woman and
+jealousy of both sexes combine to re&euml;stablish marriage. True
+promiscuity can only exist by means of a sort of legal obligation,
+such as exists in the colony of Oneidas in New York. In this colony
+the members formally agree to mutual and free sexual intercourse. We
+must not forget that prostitution is only kept up in women by the
+thirst for lucre, and ceases immediately this element disappears.</p>
+
+<p>Before the Reformation there existed in Scotland a singular custom
+called "hand-fasting," by which young men had the right to choose a
+companion for a year, at the end of which time they could either
+separate or become married according to their inclination.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, Lubbock mentions certain customs in Greece and
+India, the worship of <i>phallus</i>, for example, which obliged young
+girls to give themselves to all men. But these <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>customs were not among
+primitive races but resulted from the eroticism of highly civilized
+nations. Thus, Lubbock's argument concerning the existence of
+primitive promiscuity falls to the ground.</p>
+
+<p>Certain savage nations offer their daughters or their servants, rarely
+their wives, to their guests. A <i>jus prim&aelig; nocti</i> (right to the first
+night) has also existed and will sometimes exist in some tribes, but
+this right is reserved for the chiefs, kings or priests, and allows
+them to have sexual intercourse before the husband with every newly
+married woman during the first night of the nuptials. This is a
+barbarous custom based on the right of the stronger, and analogous to
+the privileges claimed by the European nobles from their serfs or
+peasants. But such abuses do not constitute promiscuity, as Lubbock
+maintains.</p>
+
+<p>In many countries the courtesans and concubines were held in high
+esteem, and are so even at the present day, more than is supposed; but
+this again is not a question of promiscuity.</p>
+
+<p>Morgan has deduced his theories of promiscuity from terms employed in
+certain savage dialects to designate relationship. These conclusions
+are false and Morgan, like others, has been led into error by the
+obscurity of the language of these people. The simple fact that
+paternal parentage is recognised among them proves the absurdity of
+Morgan's reasoning, for promiscuity cannot recognize paternal
+parentage.</p>
+
+<p>In 1860 Bachofen drew attention to the ancient custom of naming the
+children after the maternal side, and it is now certain that this
+custom has existed among many primitive races, while in others
+children were named after the paternal side. The term <i>matriarchy</i> is
+given to denomination after the maternal side. MacLennan maintains the
+existence of matriarchy in promiscuity, but this is inadmissible.
+Maternity is self-evident, while paternity can only be proved
+indirectly by the aid of reasoning. No doubt all nations appear to
+have recognized the real part which the father takes in every
+conception, and from this results the singular custom among certain
+tribes, in which the husband retires to his couch and fasts during the
+accouchement of his wife.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>Westermark explains matriarchy in a simpler and more natural way, by
+the intimate relations of the child to the mother. Children,
+especially when they are still young, follow the mother when she
+separates from the father. Matriarchy is quite natural in marriages of
+short duration, with change of wives, and in polygamy; while, in
+monogamous nations, it is <i>patriarchy</i>, or denomination after the
+paternal line, which dominates.</p>
+
+<p>Among nations where the denomination of uncles exists, and where the
+married woman lives with her family till she has a child, matriarchy
+results quite naturally from this fact. In Japanese families who have
+only daughters, the husband of the eldest takes his wife's family
+name. Among savages in general, the name has a great importance. When
+rank and property are only inherited in the female line, the children
+are always named after this line. We are thus concerned here with very
+complex questions which have nothing to do with promiscuity.</p>
+
+<p>Maine has proved that prostitution and promiscuity lead to sterility
+and decadence. Among the few tribes in which polyandry is the rule,
+especially in Thibet, several brothers generally have the same wife.
+But they usually alternate, and never dwell together. In the fifteenth
+century, in the Canary Islands, every woman had three husbands, each
+of whom lived with her for a month, and the one who was to possess her
+during the following month had to work both for her and for the other
+two husbands. Polyandry has always originated in scarcity of women.</p>
+
+<p>The jealousy of men, which has never ceased to exist, gives the
+clearest proof of the impossibility of promiscuity. Polyandry is only
+possible among a few feeble and degenerate races who ignore jealousy.
+These tribes are diminishing and tend to disappear. The jealousy of
+savages is generally so terrible that among them a woman who commits
+adultery is usually put to death along with her seducer. Sometimes
+they are content with cutting off her nose or inflicting other
+chastisement. It is from jealousy that results the obligation of
+chastity in the woman.</p>
+
+<p>Religious ideas on the future of man after death are often combined
+with these ideas; this is why chastity, death, or even <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>all kinds of
+torture are, in certain countries, imposed on the woman after death of
+the husband.</p>
+
+<p>It must not be forgotten that among most savages the wife is regarded
+as the property of her husband. If the latter lends his wife to a
+guest, he offers her as part of a feast. This is not, however,
+promiscuity, and we must understand that these people have quite
+different sentiments to ours. In clans or tribes the most powerful men
+have always had the youngest and most beautiful wives.</p>
+
+<p>To sum up, there is not the shadow of proof in support of the doctrine
+of primitive promiscuity, a doctrine which is based on purely
+hypothetical grounds.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>MARRIAGE AND CELIBACY</h4>
+
+<p>Among animals the voluntary celibate exists only among the females of
+certain birds which have become widowed, and even then the case is
+rare. In savage man, nearly every individual marries, and the women
+look upon celibacy or widowhood almost in the same way as death. The
+savage despises celibates as thieves or sorcerers. In his opinion a
+man without a wife is not a man. He therefore marries at a much
+earlier age than civilized man, sometimes even (in Greenland) before
+fecundation is possible. Among certain Indians men sometimes marry at
+the age of nine or ten years, generally between fourteen and eighteen;
+the girls between nine and twelve. In some comparatively civilized
+nations the celibate is so much despised that they go as far as
+marrying the spirits of departed children! Among the Greeks, celibates
+were punished, and among the Romans they were taxed heavily. Celibacy
+becomes more rare the further we go back in the history of the human
+race; celibacy increases with the corruption of morals. It is
+civilization which does most harm to marriage, especially in the large
+towns, and the age at which people marry becomes more and more
+advanced, although in Europe there are more women than men. Want of
+money and insufficient salaries diminish more and more the number of
+marriages in the large centers, while among savages, and also among
+our peasants, the women and children are one of the principal sources
+of wealth, because they work and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>have few needs. Among the middle
+classes, on the contrary, the wife is a source of expense, as well as
+the education of the children. For men, the length of intellectual and
+professional education (and military service in many countries) cause
+marriage to be postponed and celibacy is obligatory at the time when
+the sexual appetite is most powerful. Thus, the more civilization
+advances, the longer is marriage postponed. The refinement and the
+multiplicity of pleasures also diminish the attractions of marriage.</p>
+
+<p>Lastly, intellectual culture exalts the desire for the ideal, so that
+men and women well suited to each other meet less frequently, as their
+mutual adaptation becomes more complicated.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, I must repeat here what I have already said concerning
+the way in which novelists present us with the extreme passions of
+ill-balanced people and describe them as types, the normal man being
+too prosaic to attract their readers. Rotten as it is with neurotic
+degenerates, our modern society is certainly not wanting in
+pathological models for the novelists, but it is nevertheless false to
+always put these into prominence. The cultured man of well-balanced
+mind, adapts himself to marriage on the whole very well, and is not
+always so difficult to please. However, it must be recognized that
+marriage becomes less easy if a too high ideal is expected from it.
+With characteristic prudence, Westermark does not answer the question
+whether marriage will progressively diminish in the future.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Cult of Virgins. Sanctity of the Celibate.</b>&mdash;Among many savages
+the singular idea obtains that there is something impure in sexual
+intercourse. The celibacy ordained by several religions originates
+from ideas of this kind.</p>
+
+<p>Many nations have worshiped virgins, for instance the vestal virgins
+of the Romans. The mother of Buddha was declared to be holy and pure,
+Buddha having been conceived supernaturally, according to the legend.
+A Buddhist monk is forbidden to have sexual intercourse, even with
+animals! Celibacy among certain priests exists also in China.</p>
+
+<p>Among the Hebrews, the idea of the impurity of marriage had got a
+footing, and this no doubt powerfully influenced Christianity. St.
+Paul thus places celibacy higher than <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>marriage, and this is how the
+idea became established among the fathers of the Church that the
+repression of all sensuality was a cardinal virtue, and that God had
+contemplated in paradise an asexual reproduction of the human species,
+which was annulled by the fall of Adam. Men who remained pure were to
+be immortal. "The earth is filled with marriage and the heavens with
+virginity," says Jeremiah. Such are the ideas which have given rise to
+the obligation of celibacy for priests.</p>
+
+<p>Westermark thinks that the idea of impurity attached to sexual
+intercourse is possibly derived from the instinctive repugnance
+experienced by members of the same family to have sexual intercourse
+between themselves. Banished from the family circle this intercourse
+was tainted with a stigma which offended modesty, and by the
+association of ideas so common in man, this stigma was extended to
+legal marriage outside the family. Moreover, religious celibacy is
+complicated by ascetic conceptions, and the idea of the impurity of
+sexual intercourse is by no means general.</p>
+
+<p>For my part, I think rather that the jealousy natural to both sexes
+has gradually compelled them to limit their sexual intercourse to
+intimacy and to conceal it. But man is ashamed of everything which he
+conceals, and we shall soon see that the sentiment of modesty concerns
+all parts of the body which are concealed. This simple fact is
+sufficient to give rise to the idea that coitus is impure, and I do
+not think it necessary to seek any further explanation.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>ADVANCES MADE BY ONE SEX TO THE OTHER&mdash;DEMANDS IN MARRIAGE</h4>
+
+<p>A natural law compels the male germinal cell to move toward the egg;
+exceptions to this law are rare, the female germinal cells being
+larger and produced in less number. It follows that in copulation, or
+the union of individual sexual entities, man included, it is the male
+which is the active party and makes the advances. Among certain tribes
+(Paraguayans, Garos, Moquis), however, it is the female who makes the
+advances. Everyone knows the combats for the female which takes place
+between the male of animals, cocks and stags for example. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>Among
+certain Indians similar struggles are also observed, after which the
+vanquished has to surrender his wife to the conqueror. The same custom
+obtained among the ancient Greeks, as we see in the suitors for
+Penelope. In Ireland similar customs prevailed up to the last few
+centuries.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, we often see among savages and among birds the
+favors of the female obtained by assiduous courtship rather than by
+combat. In some savage tribes struggles take place between the females
+for possession of the male. However, it is usually coquetry in all its
+degrees which furnishes woman with the basis for her advances. In many
+nations, if not in most, women have the right to refuse a demand for
+marriage.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>METHODS OF ATTRACTION</h4>
+
+<p><b>Adornment in the Two Sexes.</b>&mdash;Vanity is older than man, for it is
+found in many animals. The lowest and most savage peoples adorn
+themselves. Tattooing, staining the skin, rings on the arms and feet,
+in the lips, nose and ears serve to attract one sex toward the other.
+A Santal woman may carry as much as fifteen kilogrammes of ornaments
+on her body. Vanity leads to incredible eccentricities, certain
+tribes, for example, pull out their teeth to increase their
+attractions. Absurdities of this kind are often associated with
+religious ideas, although the latter generally play a secondary part.
+The true origin of these customs lies in vanity, combined with the
+sexual desire to captivate. In hot climates, at any rate, the savages
+only commenced to cover their bodies with clothes with the object of
+pleasing by personal adornment. The religious observances attached to
+the custom of adornment are not primitive. The latter is derived from
+the sexual appetite and from vanity, and has only been incorporated in
+the dogmas of religious mysticism after being first established in the
+habits of the people.</p>
+
+<p>Among savages the men are more inclined to personal adornment and to
+coquetry than the women. This is not due to the inferior social
+position of the women, for those who enjoy the greatest liberty are
+often less extensively tattooed than those who are reduced to slavery.
+The true reason is that the man risks much more than the woman by
+remaining celibate, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>this obliges him to take more pains than the
+women to make himself fascinating. As a rule the wives of savages
+attach less importance to their personal appearance than to that of
+their husbands, and the vanity of the latter is guided chiefly by the
+taste of their wives. The objects with which savages adorn themselves
+are generally trophies.</p>
+
+<p>Among civilized people, on the contrary, the men have a much wider
+choice and many women remain celibate. This is one of the reasons
+which compel women to study their personal appearance and the art of
+flirtation. In Europe, earrings represent the last vestige of the
+savage methods of adornment.</p>
+
+<p><b>Sentiment of Shame of the Genital Organs. Nudity.</b>&mdash;What is the
+origin of the fact that man is ashamed of his genital organs? Nothing
+of the kind occurs in animals. The psychologist, Wundt, maintains that
+man has always had a sexual sentiment of modesty. This is not correct,
+for many races present no trace of it, and sometimes cover all parts
+of their body except the genital organs. In some, the men, and in
+others the women go absolutely naked. Originally, clothes were only
+worn for adornment or for protection against the cold. The Massais
+would be ashamed to hide their penis, and it is their custom to
+exhibit it. Other savages cover the glans penis only with a small cap;
+they retire to pass water, but regard themselves as fully dressed so
+long as the glans penis is covered. The girdles and other garments of
+savage women are intended for ornament, and as a means of attraction;
+they have nothing to do with modesty. In a society where every one
+goes naked, nudity seems quite natural, and provokes neither shame nor
+eroticism. The custom of adorning the sexual organs then serves as a
+means of attraction, both in men and women. The short transparent
+skirts of a ballet dancer are in reality much more immodest than the
+nudity of the female savages. A great naturalist has said that veiled
+forms provoke the sexual appetite more than nudity. Snow remarks that
+association with naked savages excites much less sensuality than the
+society of fashionably dressed women in our salons. Read also remarks
+"Nothing is more moral or less calculated to excite the passions than
+nudity." It is needless to say that this statement is only correct
+when nudity is a matter <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>of custom, for in sexual matters it is always
+novelty which attracts. Pious persons have tried to make savages
+modest by clothing them, but have only produced the contrary effect.
+Savage women regard it as shameful to cover their sexual organs. The
+naturalist, Wallace, found in one tribe a young girl who possessed a
+dress, but who was quite as much ashamed of clothing herself with it
+as one of our ladies would be of undressing before strangers.</p>
+
+<p>It is only owing to the custom of wearing clothes that nudity provokes
+the sexual appetite. This custom develops artificially a sentiment of
+modesty with regard to nudity, which increases progressively in
+intensity and is especially marked in aged women. It is not so much
+habit, as to the feeling of progressive deterioration of their charms,
+which leads the latter to cover themselves as they grow older, and is
+part of the instinctive &aelig;sthetic sentiment of woman.</p>
+
+<p>At the orgies and f&ecirc;tes held among savages the women cover their
+sexual organs with certain objects, as a means to excite the men.
+Complete nudity is found more often in savage women than in the men.</p>
+
+<p>Later on when it became the custom to wear clothes, nudity became
+attractive and was considered shameful. This is why the Chinese feel
+shame at exposing their feet, the Mahometans their faces, and some
+savages even the ends of their fingers.</p>
+
+<p>Certain customs, like circumcision among the Jews, Polynesians and
+Australians; the artificial elongation of the lips of the vulva in
+Hottentots, Malays, and North American Indians, originated, according
+to Westermark, in the intention of exciting the sexual appetite, or of
+introducing variety into its satisfaction. Later on routine, which
+sanctions everything, transferred these customs into religious cult.
+It is possible, however, that among the Jews, who are a practical
+race, the hygienic advantage of circumcision took a part in its
+transformation into a rite.</p>
+
+<p>To resume, everything derogatory to established custom excites the
+sentiment of shame or modesty, not only in sexual matters but in
+others. Most children are ashamed of not behaving exactly as their
+comrades or their brothers and sisters, and are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>very uncomfortable if
+they are obliged to behave otherwise. All sentiments of morality and
+modesty rest on conventionalities. The savage women burst into
+laughter when the naked companions of Livingstone turned their backs
+from modesty. The sentiment of modesty or shame thus depends only on
+exceptional violation of an old custom. This is why unconventional
+ways in one of the sexes (especially in woman) tend to offend the
+sentiments of modesty, and usually excite the sexual appetite of the
+other sex.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>LIBERTY OF CHOICE IN MARRIAGE&mdash;PATRIARCHISM</h4>
+
+<p>Among savages, the women sometimes have the right of giving their hand
+in marriage, sometimes not. The latter case is not surprising in
+countries where women are considered as merchandise. Among the
+Esquimaux every girl is betrothed from birth. Among the Boschimans,
+Ashantis, etc., the unborn girl is even betrothed while she is in her
+mother's womb! These betrothals are generally arranged by the maternal
+parents together with the mother.</p>
+
+<p>Very often, however, the consent of the woman is required; or, the
+marriage may be only valid after the birth of the first child on
+condition of the woman's consent.</p>
+
+<p>Among the American Indians, if the woman is not a consenting party she
+elopes with her lover and thus escapes the would-be-husband. In this
+way elopement has gradually become a recognized institution among
+certain races. I was told by a Bulgarian that the peasants in his
+country buy their wives from the father, generally for two or three
+hundred francs, but if the father demands too much, the women are
+raped. After this marriage becomes indispensable and the father
+receives nothing, for, in Bulgaria, which is not yet spoiled by
+civilization, unions apart from marriage are considered as a terrible
+disgrace.</p>
+
+<p>In certain races, the woman has a free choice among several men and
+her wish becomes law, so that the parents have no voice in the matter;
+this occurs among the natives of the Celebes. The bridegroom is
+nevertheless obliged to pay the dowry demanded. Similar customs
+prevail among other races.</p>
+
+<p>Westermark comes to the conclusion that in the primitive <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>state of
+humanity the women had a much freer choice than afterward. Marriage by
+purchase developed later and constituted an intermediate stage. When
+the first civilizations became more complicated and recognized the
+value of woman's labor, the fathers began to sell their daughters, as
+we now see savage tribes abandon their women to prostitution with the
+white man. But in primitive times, when there was neither
+civilization, money, nor labor, properly so-called, each individual
+fought for his life and the father had no more possibility of selling
+his daughter as a slave than a gorilla or an orang-utan would have
+to-day.</p>
+
+<p>Marriage by rape, which occurred after wars when the women were
+abducted and married against their will, must not be confounded with
+marriage by elopement which takes place with the woman's consent, and
+of which the latest fashion is elopement by automobile.</p>
+
+<p>Among savages, the boys are also most often the property of the
+father, who has the right to sell them and even to put them to death.
+But they become free at the age of puberty and then have the right to
+marry according to their inclination without being forced by their
+parents.</p>
+
+<p>There existed and still exist many patriarchal races (certain Indians
+and Asiatics, for example) among whom the father possesses unlimited
+power. The older he is the more he is honored, and the more his power
+is uncontested. All the children and grandchildren, with their wives
+and children, eat at his table; none of his descendants can marry
+without his consent, etc. The effects of patriarchism are deplorable
+and very immoral. The patriarch abuses his power&mdash;gives his old wives
+to his children and takes the young ones, for example. The purest and
+most virtuous Japanese girl is obliged to go to a brothel if her
+father orders it. The patriarch has the power of life and death over
+both sexes, and from this is derived the cult of ancestors. At the
+present day we see immorality of this kind in the Russian patriarchism
+among the peasants; the fathers have the custom of misusing their
+sons' wives. Patriarchism thus degenerates into atrocious tyranny on
+the part of the chief of the family, who becomes looked upon as a
+god.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>A law which is common in the Latin races, which forbids marriage
+before the age of thirty, without the consent of the father, is a
+vestige of patriarchism.</p>
+
+<p>We see, therefore, that quite primitive savage races approached our
+most modern ideas in liberty of choice in marriage. Between these two
+periods humanity was under the yoke of a barbarous error&mdash;the
+intermediate stage of marriage by purchase and patriarchal autocracy.
+There has existed and still exists more than one aberration of this
+kind in the intermediate stages of civilization; for instance,
+torture, slavery and the use of narcotic substances, such as alcohol.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>SEXUAL SELECTION</h4>
+
+<p>By sexual selection we mean union by choice among males and females.
+In the vertebrates, the female chooses much more commonly than the
+male, the latter being more disposed to pair with all the females than
+the females with all the males. We may certainly admit that this was
+also the case in primitive man, especially when there existed a
+rutting period, for then the sexual appetite was more violent.
+Moreover, even at the present day, women are on the average more
+difficult to please and more strict in their choice than men.</p>
+
+<p>In the case of hybrids it is generally the male which violates the law
+of instinct. Female slaves often flee from their free husbands, but we
+never see male slaves abandon their free wives. Among savage races the
+woman is always more difficult to please than the man. Among
+half-breeds, it is nearly always the father who belongs to a higher
+race. The inverse rarely occurs; it is exceptional for a white woman
+to marry a negro. The same thing is reproduced among ourselves; we
+often see a cultured man marry an uneducated woman, but a cultured
+woman seldom marries a laborer.</p>
+
+<p>It is especially among savages that the woman prefers the man who is
+strongest, most skillful, most ardent, and most audacious. Heroes
+always haunt the minds of women, who love to throw themselves at the
+head of conquerors. The ideal of certain women in Borneo is a husband
+who has killed many enemies and possesses their heads (head-hunters of
+Borneo). This <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>psychological trait responds to natural selection, for
+the women obtain by this custom better protectors and stronger
+children.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, man looks instinctively for a young, healthy and
+well-developed woman. It is on this basis that Greek art formed Eros
+and Aphrodite, designating the latter as goddess of both love and
+beauty.</p>
+
+<p><b>Conception of Beauty.</b>&mdash;The conception of beauty is very relative.
+The Australians laugh at our long noses and the natives of
+Cochin-China at our white teeth and red cheeks. Certain savage women
+bind their legs below the knees to make them swell, this effect being
+part of their idea of beauty. The Chinese admire the deformed feet of
+their women and their prominent cheek bones. In each nation the
+conception of beauty generally corresponds to the ideal type of the
+race, for both sexes. As a general rule muscle is admired in man and
+fullness of figure in woman. The Hottentots like women's breasts to be
+so pendulous that they can throw them over shoulder, and suckle the
+infants carried on their backs; they also admire the elongated lips of
+the vulva.</p>
+
+<p>There are, therefore, few general typical characters of sexual
+preference; these are especially the ideal type of the race and the
+health of both sexes, voluptuous forms and grace in women, muscular
+strength and dexterity in men. Everything else is relative and
+variable, and depends on the local point of view, customs, race,
+individual taste, etc.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, according to the conception of &aelig;sthetics, tattooing, the
+arrangement of the hair and beard, deformations of the nose, cranium,
+or feet, are admired by different peoples. Each race extols its own
+peculiarities; the European compares a woman's breasts to snow, the
+Malay to gold, etc. The natives of Coromandel paint their gods black
+and their devils white, while in Europe it is the reverse.</p>
+
+<p>The association of love with beauty is not based on &aelig;sthetic
+sentiments, for the latter are disinterested, while the original
+instinct of love is interested. The association of the two things
+depends on the instinctive necessity of health, combined with the
+sexual appetite, although custom has produced numerous aberrations.
+Everything which differs markedly from the type <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>of the race is more
+or less pathological. This is why instinct, determined by natural
+selection, repels it.</p>
+
+<p>Fashion also rules among savages, but is less changeable among them
+than with us, and their taste for adornment only varies in the narrow
+circle of their customs.</p>
+
+<p>Climate has a powerful action on the types of races, the latter being
+generally adapted to the climate in which they live. Thus, the
+European becomes darker in the tropics while negroes and Indians
+become paler in the north.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>LAWS OF RESEMBLANCE&mdash;HYBRIDS</h4>
+
+<p>Every animal species has an instinctive repugnance to pair with
+another. Even where they are possible, natural hybrids are rare, and
+only become a little more frequent in domestic animals and plants. The
+fecundity of hybrids diminishes when they have connection among
+themselves, and this explains why the instinct for such connections
+tends to gradually disappear.</p>
+
+<p>In his book on "The Mneme," Semon explains the infecundity of hybrids
+in a very plausible manner, by the disorder that a too large quantity
+of dissimilar hereditary engrams causes in the hereditary mneme of two
+conjugated cells. When the parents differ from each other only in a
+moderate degree homophony may still be re&euml;stablished, and then the
+divergencies have a very favorable effect on the product, by the new
+combinations which they furnish in the course of its development.</p>
+
+<p>Moral ideas follow the course of instincts, and this explains why
+sexual connection with animals is regarded as a horrible crime. This
+is especially produced by pathological aberration, or when one sex is
+completely isolated from the other. There is also a certain degree of
+aversion to copulation between different races, in animals as well as
+man; for example, between sheep and horses of different races, and
+between white men, negroes and Indians. There are, however, many
+hybrids or half-breeds in South America, and in Mexico they even
+constitute two-thirds of the population.</p>
+
+<p>Broca maintained that human hybrids produced by the crossing of remote
+races, for example, between English and negroes or Australians, were
+usually sterile. Westermark disputes <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>this, but agrees that these
+hybrids become enfeebled in a few generations. It has also been
+established that mixed marriage between Jews and Aryans are generally
+less fecund; but this fact is not yet sufficiently explained.
+Mulattoes, or hybrids between negroes and whites, constitute a
+degenerate race and hardly viable, at any rate if their descendants do
+not return entirely to one of the original races. Half-breeds between
+whites and American Indians, also called Ladinos, seem on the contrary
+to form a viable race, but one of little valor.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>PROHIBITION OF CONSANGUINEOUS MARRIAGES</h4>
+
+<p>Sexual union between near relations nearly always causes a feeling of
+repugnance in man, and has been stigmatized by the term <i>incest</i>.
+Coitus between mother and son especially excites disgust. Sexual
+connection between parents and children, as well as between brothers
+and sisters is, however, common among certain tribes. Many other races
+allow marriage between brothers and sisters, but this is elsewhere
+generally condemned.</p>
+
+<p>Among the Weddas, marriage between an elder brother and his younger
+sister is considered normal, while that between a younger brother and
+his elder sister, or between a nephew and his aunt, is regarded as
+unnatural. The latter simply shows that unions between young men and
+old women are not natural. Unions between brothers and sisters, and
+especially between half-brothers and half-sisters were licit among the
+Persians, Egyptians, Syrians, Athenians and ancient Jews. Those
+between uncles and nieces (more rarely between aunts and nephews) are
+sometimes permitted, sometimes prohibited. With the exception of Spain
+and Russia marriages between first cousins are allowed in Europe.</p>
+
+<p><b>Exogamy and Endogamy.</b>&mdash;Among many savages the prohibition of
+consanguineous marriage may be extended to relationship of the third
+degree. Marriage may even be prohibited among all members of the same
+tribe or clan, even when they are not related. This is called
+<i>exogamous</i> marriage, and reaches its extreme development among the
+Australians, who are only allowed to marry into remote clans.</p>
+
+<p>We thus see that the great majority of savages extend their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span>idea of
+incest much further than we do. The reason of this has been much
+discussed. It was formerly said that consanguineous marriage was
+contrary to the commandments of God; that it offended the natural
+sentiment of modesty; that it obscures relationship, etc. Nowadays, it
+is said to be injurious to posterity. Ethnography teaches us, however,
+that these statements are of little value.</p>
+
+<p>Along with the exogamy of many tribes there is among other savages a
+system of <i>endogamy</i>, described by MacLennan; this is the prohibition
+of marriage between different clans. Spencer and MacLennan have
+different explanations of this custom which seem hardly natural.
+Westermark appears to be nearer the truth in remarking as follows: The
+sexual appetite, especially in man, is excited by new impressions and
+cooled by habit. It is not the fact of a man and woman being related,
+but intimate companionship since youth, which produces in them a
+repugnance to sexual union. We find the same repugnance between
+adopted brothers and sisters and between friends who have been
+intimate since childhood. When, on the contrary, brothers and sisters
+or near relatives have been separated from each other since an early
+age, they often fall in love with each other when they meet later on.
+There is, therefore, no innate or instinctive repugnance to incest in
+itself, but only against sexual union between individuals who have
+lived together since childhood. As it is parents and their children
+who are usually in this situation, everything is explained simply and
+clearly.</p>
+
+<p>The causes of exogamy are explained in the same way, by the fact that
+members of the same clan often live together in close intimacy. It is
+the small clans, formed of thirty or fifty individuals of a few
+families living together, which have the most severe laws against
+incest or endogamy. Where the families live in separate homes, such
+prohibitions do not exist. The Maoris, who are endogamous, inhabit
+villages which are widely separated, and marriage between relations is
+allowed. Endogamy generally exists where the clan life is little
+developed, and where relatives know and see little of each other. The
+aversion to marriage between persons living together has thus created
+prohibition of marriage between relations as well as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>that of marriage
+between members of the same clan. It is the same reason which has led
+to the prohibition of marriage between brothers-and sisters-in-law,
+between brothers and adopted sisters, etc. In people living in small
+communities, endogamy does not appear to have ever existed.</p>
+
+<p>Incest between relatives living together appears to have everywhere
+the same natural cause&mdash;the scarcity of women in isolated families
+living in remote districts. There is also a psycho-pathological form
+of incest associated with morbid appetites in the families of
+degenerates. In animals living alone and whose families break up very
+rapidly (cats for example) incestuous unions, between parents and
+young, for instance, are quite common.</p>
+
+<p>Let us now consider the scientific side of the question. We see
+everywhere that sexual union between quite distinct animal species
+gives no result. At the most, certain closely allied species, such as
+the ass and the horse, the rabbit and the hare, give progeny which are
+themselves sterile (mules, etc.). The feebleness and sterility of
+hybrids derived from widely separated races or nearly allied different
+species proves the deficiency in vital force of the offspring of
+fundamentally dissimilar procreators. But, on the other hand, the
+dangers of continuous consanguineous reproduction are no less evident.
+Perpetual unions between brothers and sisters for several generations,
+lead to degeneration of the race. For example, the still-births will
+be 25 per cent. instead of 8 per cent., which is the figure in
+ordinary crossings. The prejudice against consanguineous unions may,
+however, depend on the accumulation of certain pathological defects.</p>
+
+<p>Westermark admits that it is difficult to show clearly that
+consanguineous marriages are prejudicial in man. The consanguinity
+which causes evil effects in animals concerns long-continued unions
+between parents and children or brothers and sisters. But this never
+occurs in man. Animals and plants may be perpetuated for many years in
+the closest consanguinity without degeneration resulting. Among the
+Persians and Egyptians, intimate unions have existed for a long time
+without producing degeneration.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>On the other hand, breeders of animals tell us that a single drop of
+new blood (or rather sperm) is enough to counteract all the evil
+effects of consanguinity. In man the most frequent incests are always
+interrupted by some other union. The Ptolemies, who nearly always
+married their sisters, nieces or cousins, lived long and were far from
+being sterile. In Ceylon, the Weddas perpetuate their consanguineous
+unions; insanity is rare among them, but they are small, unfruitful
+and tend to become extinct.</p>
+
+<p>In Europe, the question of marriages between first cousins has been
+much discussed, and it has been constantly attempted to prove that
+they are injurious. Nevertheless, when we examine the question
+impartially, we always find that the prejudices against them do not
+arrive from consanguinity, but from certain pathological defects, such
+as insanity, hemophilia, etc., which are naturally perpetuated by
+consanguineous unions when they are accumulated in one family, as well
+as when two insane persons of different families marry. Therefore it
+is not consanguineous unions in themselves (which are always
+accidental in man and interrupted by others) but the hereditary
+reproduction of pathological defects, often of blastophthoric origin,
+which are the real cause of the evil. Statistics have clearly proved
+that marriage between first cousins plays no part in the causes of
+insanity.</p>
+
+<p>Influenced, no doubt, by general opinion, Westermark tries to believe
+in some instinctive repulsion of man for consanguineous unions. If in
+modern society such unions, perpetuated between parents and children,
+brothers and sisters, were still produced as in animals I should agree
+that they might be injurious to the species; but, considering how
+cosmopolitan and mixed is our modern society, I cannot make the
+concession. On the contrary, I maintain that the isolated unions which
+still take place between relatives in civilized countries are so
+exceptional that they do not present the least danger, excepting among
+the families of degenerates. It is therefore only a question of
+superstition. What we have to guard against are unions between
+pathological individuals and blastophthoric influences. We must not
+forget that many degenerates and idiots have a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>great pathological
+tendency to incest, and this is no doubt why the effect has been
+confounded with the cause.</p>
+
+<p>Westermark himself gives us a striking example. Since the most remote
+times the inhabitants of the Commune of Bats, composed of 3,300
+persons, have intermarried; yet this population is very healthy and
+vigorous and shows no sign of degeneration. On the other hand, we have
+seen that contrasts produce a mutual attraction in the domain of love,
+while strong resemblances rather repel. Bernardin de St. Pierre has
+said that love is created by contrasts; the greater the contrast the
+greater the love. Schopenhauer remarks as follows: "Every individual
+seeks in the opposite sex peculiarities which contrast with his own;
+the most masculine man seeks the most feminine woman, while small and
+feeble men love large and strong women; people with short noses prefer
+long ones, tall and thin men prefer short and stout women. All this
+increases fecundity." Thus instinct is sufficient to protect humanity
+against consanguinity, each sex instinctively seeking the contrasts
+which consanguinity diminishes.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>SENTIMENT AND CALCULATION IN SEXUAL SELECTION</h4>
+
+<p>Youth, beauty, health, finery and flirtation excite the sexual
+appetite. Many other sentiments are accessory, such as admiration, the
+pleasure of possession, respect, pity, etc. Inclination is an
+important element, but in no way necessary to sexual union.</p>
+
+<p>In the lower stages of human development, tenderness toward children
+is much stronger than sexual love. Among many savage races the love of
+a man for his wife is completely wanting, as well as that of the wife
+for her husband. In this case marriage depends on reciprocal
+convenience, on the desire to have children, and profits by personal
+comfort and the satisfaction of a purely animal sexual appetite.
+However, among these people the parents have a tender regard for their
+children. The husband has the right to beat his wife, but the wife is
+considered as unnatural or even criminal if she beats her children.
+Among the North American Indians, for example, conjugal love is, so to
+speak, unknown. On the other hand, in other savage races, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span>such as the
+Touaregs, the Niam-Niams, the New Caledonians, the Tonganese and
+Australians, the conjoints have a deep affection for each other, and
+the husband often commits suicide on the death of his wife. On the
+whole, the sentiments of affection of the conjoints are the result of
+a long sexual life in common, and they are especially strengthened by
+the love of the parents for their children.</p>
+
+<p>As a rule, the mutual attachment of conjoints for each other among
+cultivated races is developed along with altruism. The tenderness and
+refinement of love as they exist at the present day among highly
+civilized races were unknown to most savages and to the older
+civilizations. In China it is considered good manners to beat the
+wife, and when a poor Chinaman treats his wife with consideration, it
+is to avoid having to buy another. What the Arab understands by love
+is only sexual appetite, and among the ancient Greeks it was nearly
+the same.</p>
+
+<p>In civilized Europe mental culture progresses in the direction of
+equality of rights between the two sexes, so that a man regards his
+wife more as a companion who is his equal and no longer a slave.
+Community of interests, opinions, sentiments and culture constitute a
+primary condition for sentiments of mutual sympathy and favors
+affection. No doubt, excitation of the sexual appetite by contrasts
+acts here as an antagonistic force. Contrast should not be so great as
+to exclude sympathy.</p>
+
+<p>Too great difference in age is dangerous for attachment, for it causes
+too great a divergence in the aims and interests of life. Education
+and social equality also favors love, and this tends to preserve class
+distinction. It is rare for a well-educated man to fall in love with a
+peasant, or a laboring man with an educated woman, except in a sensual
+way. Men generally avoid marriage with individuals of another race, or
+of another religion.</p>
+
+<p>Endogamy and exogamy do not form such an absolute contrast as at first
+sight might appear. Even among exogamous races, there is a limit which
+must not be passed. These races often prohibit marriage with
+individuals of another race. Among the Arabs, for example, the
+instinct of ethnical separation is so strong, that the same Bedouin
+wife who will prostitute herself for money with Turks or Europeans,
+would think it dishonorable <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>to marry one of them. In this way custom
+produces endogamy of caste and class among the same people. The same
+with the nobility; in ancient Rome it was forbidden for a patrician to
+marry a plebeian. Sometimes an endogamy of religious origin is met
+with, among the Jews for example.</p>
+
+<p>Children are treasures for the man of low culture, while they become a
+burden to the cultivated man. In spite of this the natural man
+ardently desires children. In Switzerland, two-fifths of the divorces
+occur in sterile unions, although the latter only form one-fifth of
+all marriages.</p>
+
+<p>Calculation often smothers sentiment when it becomes the basis of
+marriage. We live to-day under the sway of Mammon, with the result
+that the influence of love, strength, beauty, capacity for work,
+intelligence, skill, character and even health, count for little
+compared with money in the question of marriage. This sad sign is
+really a new form of marriage by purchase, hypocritically disguised.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>MARRIAGE BY RAPE AND MARRIAGE BY PURCHASE</h4>
+
+<p>The rape of women is an established custom in some regions. Certain
+marriage ceremonies prove that rape was formerly much more common than
+at the present day. Among certain Indian tribes the simulation of rape
+and abduction of the woman form part of the marriage ceremonies;
+custom requiring that the woman must feign to resist.</p>
+
+<p>According to Spencer, marriage by rape originated in the prudery of
+woman, while MacLennan attributes it to the predominance of exogamy;
+but, in reality, marriage by rape exists in races which are absolutely
+endogamous. Westermark believes it arose from the repugnance to unions
+contracted in a narrow circle. The savage has difficulty in procuring
+a wife without giving the father compensation; besides, his own
+repugnance to the companions of his childhood and the prejudices
+against unions between relations, as well as the enmity of other
+clans, all increase the difficulties to be overcome. This is why he
+often decides on rape. Marriage by rape has not, however, been the
+rule at any period, and on the whole, unions concluded by mutual
+agreement have always predominated.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span>Marriage by purchase has followed marriage by rape, and forms a
+slightly higher stage of civilization, developed by exchange of money
+or other symbols. It first appears, in Australia, for example, as
+marriage by exchange (exchange of a woman for a sister or a daughter).
+Afterward young men gain their wives by working as servants for the
+father. In marriage by purchase the price is based on the beauty,
+health and social position of the woman. A young girl is generally
+worth more than a widow or a rejected woman. Skill in female manual
+labor also increases the price. Among the Indians of British Columbia
+a wife will cost from twenty to forty pounds sterling, while in Oregon
+they are exchanged for bisons' skins or blankets. Among the Kaffirs
+from three to ten cows is a low price, twenty to thirty a high price
+for a wife. When a wife was given gratis, her parents had a right to
+the children. Marriage by purchase and by exchange still exists among
+the lower races as it formerly ruled among civilized peoples. We still
+possess the rudiments.</p>
+
+<p>Marriage by rape or by purchase has, however, never been in general
+usage. Certain races in India and Africa considered it a disgrace to
+pay a price for a wife.</p>
+
+<p>From the historical point of view it is interesting to note that, in
+the ceremonies of marriage by purchase, a simulated and symbolical
+rape of the betrothed still recalls the old form of marriage by rape;
+also, in races where a higher form has replaced marriage by purchase,
+traces of the latter are still preserved in certain nuptial symbols.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>DECADENCE OF MARRIAGE BY PURCHASE&mdash;THE DOT</h4>
+
+<p>The position of woman has undergone steady improvement in higher
+civilization by the progress of altruism. This is why culture, in
+India, China, Greece, Rome and Germany, etc., has gradually
+discredited marriage by purchase. This was at first replaced by the
+custom of giving wedding presents to the bride; afterward the opposite
+custom was introduced of the bride bringing her <i>dot</i> to the
+bridegroom.</p>
+
+<p>A singular transition between these two systems is constituted by
+simulated purchase, in which the bridegroom offers presents to the
+bride's parents, which are afterward returned to him. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>Among certain
+savages the bride's parents return the purchase money of their
+daughter to the bridegroom in another form. Such restitution was often
+the origin of the <i>dot</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Among the Romans the <i>dot</i> became the property of the husband, and
+from this is derived the modern custom which usually gives the husband
+the right to administer his wife's <i>dot</i>, which remains the property
+of the wife and her family.</p>
+
+<p>Among the Mexicans, where divorce for conjugal discord is frequent,
+and among certain Mahometans, division of property exists in marriage,
+and the wife's property is returned to her when she is separated or
+divorced.</p>
+
+<p>In Europe at the present time, especially under the influence of
+French customs, there is established a kind of marriage by inverse
+purchase (which already existed among the Greeks), in the sense that
+the parents of young girls obtain husbands for them by means of a
+large <i>dot</i>. Westermark concludes this subject with the following
+words: "If she does not possess special personal attractions, a young
+girl without a <i>dot</i>, at the present day, runs a great chance of not
+getting married. This state of things is quite naturally developed in
+a society where monogamy is legally enforced; where women are more
+numerous than men; where many men never marry, and where married women
+too often lead a life of idleness." If we add to this: "in a society
+where Mammon rules as absolute master," the picture will not be
+wanting in accuracy.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>NUPTIAL CUSTOMS AND CEREMONIES</h4>
+
+<p>In primitive races where the wife is simply bought like merchandise,
+often after mutual agreement, nuptial ceremonies do not exist. They
+generally originate later from the symbols of a form of marriage since
+abandoned. The ceremony being concluded and the marriage recognized as
+legal, it is followed by feasting. Certain religious ceremonies are
+generally combined with marriage. The customs of our modern marriages
+arise from the same source. At the time of early Christianity there
+were no religious ceremonies and even up till the year 1563, the date
+of the end of the Council of Trent, religious benediction of marriage
+was not obligatory. Luther held that marriage should <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>be purely civil,
+but legal civil marriage was only introduced among us by the French
+Revolution, while it had existed in remote times among the Peruvians,
+Nicaraguans and others. Among certain races, marriages concluded
+without <i>dot</i>, without ceremony, or without purchase, and even those
+between different castes, are often regarded as concubinage.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>FORMS OF MARRIAGE</h4>
+
+<p>Leaving aside hermaphrodites, such as the snails, in which each
+individual has both kinds of sexual organs and plays the part of both
+male and female, there are among animals with separate sexes five
+forms of conjugal union:</p>
+
+<p>(1). <i>Temporary or perpetual monogamy</i>, or marriage between one
+individual of one sex and one of the other sex. This is the case with
+most birds and mammals and many races of man.</p>
+
+<p>(2). <i>Polygymy or polygamy</i>, or the marriage of one male with several
+females. This occurs in ruminants, stags, fowls, and other animals, as
+well as in some human beings; for example, the Islamites, negroes,
+American Indians, Mormons, etc.</p>
+
+<p>(3). <i>Polyandry</i>, or the marriage of one female with several males.
+This is met with chiefly in the ants, in which each female is
+generally fecundated successively by several males. In most of the
+higher animals, the jealousy of the males renders polyandry
+impossible. In man it is rare but exists among certain races.</p>
+
+<p>(4). <i>Marriage in groups</i>, or marriage between several males and
+several females. This singular custom is rare but exists in the Togas,
+a tribe of savages. I am not aware of its existence among animals.</p>
+
+<p>(5). <i>Promiscuity</i>, or free sexual intercourse between males and
+females. This occurs in many animals, especially in the lower animals
+in which the sexual instinct of the male is not associated with any
+regard for the female or the progeny. Promiscuity is still more
+natural when the female does not look after her young after she has
+laid her eggs. Nevertheless, in most animals the female limits herself
+to sexual intercourse before each brood, so that real promiscuity is
+not so frequent as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>would at first appear. In man, on the contrary, it
+attains its apogee in prostitution, which is the only absolutely
+complete form of promiscuity. But the result of prostitution as
+regards the preservation of the species, which is the proper object of
+all sexual union, is absolutely destructive.</p>
+
+<p>Polygamy or polygymy were licit among most ancient races, and is so
+still among most savages and among many civilized nations; but it has
+several varieties.</p>
+
+<p>In Mexico, Peru, Japan and China a man only possesses one legitimate
+wife, but has several concubines whose children are considered as
+legitimate as those of his wife. Polygamy existed legally among the
+Jews up to the Middle Ages. King Solomon possessed seven hundred wives
+and three hundred concubines. In Islamite countries the Jews are still
+polygamous. The Koran allows them four wives and as many concubines as
+they please. The latter do not enjoy the protection of their father,
+but apart from this they have the same rights as the legitimate wives.
+The Hindus and Persians are polygamous. The Romans were strictly
+monogamous, but they also had concubines.</p>
+
+<p>In Christian Europe, polygamy has occasionally been allowed or
+tolerated: St. Augustus did not condemn it. Luther allowed Philip of
+Hesse to marry two wives; and after the treaty of Westphalia bigamy
+was allowed because of the depopulation of Germany. The mistresses of
+the present princes are a relic of polygamy. Jesus having said nothing
+concerning polygamy, Luther did not prohibit it.</p>
+
+<p>The Mormons have introduced it into their religion. The negro king of
+Loango shows us what degree polygamy may reach among princes and
+chiefs, for he possesses seven thousand wives, while the chiefs of the
+Fiji Islands are content with twenty to one hundred.</p>
+
+<p>Among savage races we find monogamy in the natives of the Andaman
+islands, among the Touaregs, the Weddas, the Iroquois, the Wyandottes,
+and even in some Australian tribes. With others, polygamy is only
+permitted to the chiefs. But most of the population are monogamous
+even among polygamous races, and there are very few peoples in which
+all the men possess several wives. In India, 95 per cent. of the
+Islamites <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>are monogamous, and in Persia even 98 per cent. Polygamy is
+nearly everywhere a privilege of princes, chiefs, and rich men.</p>
+
+<p>The two following facts also show a tendency to monogamy among
+polygamous races:</p>
+
+<p>(1). One of the wives, generally the first, has prerogatives over the
+others.</p>
+
+<p>(2). In reality, the polygamous man nearly always gives sexual
+preference to one only, or to a few of his wives. There are, however,
+some polygamous races in which the husband has sexual intercourse with
+each of his wives according to a regular programme, taking each of
+them in turn for several days, weeks or months. With others, on the
+contrary, a number of married women remain in reality virgins, because
+the husband does not desire them, and they are nothing more than
+domestics. Among these people the husband as a rule only takes a
+second wife when the first has grown old, so that bigamy becomes the
+ordinary form of marriage.</p>
+
+<p>The Cingalese were polyandrous before the English conquest, and so
+many as seven men had one wife in common. Polyandry is especially the
+custom in Thibet. Among polyandrous peoples the husbands are not all
+on the same footing of equality, some hold an inferior position,
+corresponding nearly to that of concubines, another sign of the
+tendency to monogamy.</p>
+
+<p>Among the Togas marriage in groups is constituted as follows: All the
+brothers are husbands of the wife of the elder brother, and all the
+sisters of this wife are at the same time wives of their
+brothers-in-law. If we except prostitution, this is the only case in
+man which approaches promiscuity. Marriage in groups, however, is
+extremely restricted promiscuity.</p>
+
+<p>To resume, monogamy is by far the most widespread form of marriage.
+This is explained by the relative number of men to women. It has often
+been stated that the number of individuals of the two sexes is nearly
+the same, and this has been used as an argument in favor of monogamy.
+But this statement is incorrect; sometimes it is the men, but more
+often the women, who predominate. Among the natives of Oregon there
+are seven hundred men to eleven hundred and eighty-five women. Among
+the Punkas and other races the number of women is two or three <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>times
+greater than that of the men. In Kotcha-Hamba there is only one man to
+five women. Among other races there are, on the contrary, more men
+than women, especially in Australia, Tasmania, and Hayti. In the
+latter island there is only one woman to five men. In Cashmere there
+are three men to one woman. Among the negroes, on the contrary, the
+women predominate, sometimes in the proportion of three to one, but
+more generally as three to two.</p>
+
+<p>In Europe, more boys than girls are born on the average, but from the
+age of fifteen to twenty the numbers become equal, and after twenty
+the women predominate. This is due to the greater mortality among men,
+owing to war, the greater danger of masculine occupations, and also to
+alcoholism. In the fifteen largest towns in Switzerland alcoholism is
+the direct or indirect cause of death in 10.5 per cent. of men above
+the age of twenty.</p>
+
+<p>Among savages the women often take part in war, for instance the
+Amazons of Dahomey. Drinking habits are also the same or absent in
+both sexes, which equalizes matters. When the men predominate in these
+people, this is often due to infanticide committed on young girls, and
+also to overwork of the women. With the Cingalese the natality of boys
+is greater than that of girls, while in Asia Minor two girls, in
+Arabia even four girls, are born to one boy. The Arab says, "Allah has
+given us more women than men; it is, therefore, clear that polygamy is
+a divine commandment."</p>
+
+<p><b>Production of Sexes at Will.</b>&mdash;I will say a few words on the question
+of the causes of production of the sexes. There is no want of
+hypotheses, assertions, nor even of experiments on this subject; but,
+we are obliged to admit that up to the present we know nothing
+certain. No one has yet succeeded in producing experimentally in
+animals males or females at will. According to one theory, which has
+created much impression, overfeeding produces females and underfeeding
+males. Although this appears to be true in certain cases among some
+animals, it is in no way proved in a positive manner.</p>
+
+<p>It has also been suggested that selection produces the sex which is
+deficient in numbers; but here again proofs are wanting. It has been
+maintained that crossing tends to breed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span>females, while consanguineous
+marriages produce males; in other words, that mongrel races show an
+excess of female births, while races in which marriages are very
+consanguineous, and polyandrous tribes show an excess of males. It is
+much better to leave this question alone till science has furnished us
+with conclusive proofs. Certain results obtained with the lower
+animals give hope that the future may shed some light on this point.</p>
+
+<p>Again, marriage customs are not always in relation to the excess of
+one of the sexes. Races in which men predominate are not always
+polyandrous, and those in which women are in excess are not always
+polygamous; sometimes even the contrary exists. Polygamy is thus not
+always due to a surplus of female births, or to the death of many men,
+but often to religious prescripts, as among the Islamites and Mormons.
+In polyandry, poverty often plays a greater part than consanguineous
+marriages or surplus of male births. Religious prescription of the
+husband's continence during his wife's menstrual periods, pregnancy,
+and even the period of nursing, a period which often lasts from two to
+four years in savages, is an important cause of polyandry. At Sierra
+Leone, coitus of the husband with his wife before the last-born child
+can walk is regarded as a crime.</p>
+
+<p>Although very advantageous to the wife's health this custom is
+entirely based on religious ideas and superstitions. Many savages
+consider that every woman is impure and bewitched during her monthly
+periods, during pregnancy and suckling. If we add to this the fact
+that, being usually treated as beasts, the women soon grow old, we can
+easily understand that the men are inclined to polygamy. It is
+remarkable with what rapidity the savage woman grows old. She is only
+fresh from thirteen to twenty years; after twenty-five she is old and
+sterile, and a little later she has the aspect of an old sorceress.
+This premature senility is not so much due to early sexual intercourse
+as to the terribly hard work they undergo, and also to the prolonged
+period of suckling.</p>
+
+<p>Another cause of polygamy is man's natural desire for change. The
+negroes of Angola exchange wives. The instinct of procreation, love of
+glory and riches co&ouml;perate with the sterility <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>of many women in
+propagating polygamy. Certain races only tolerate it when the woman is
+sterile, or has only daughters, which clearly proves that it is based
+on the fear of remaining without male descendants.</p>
+
+<p>On the whole, savage women are less fecund than civilized, owing to
+their long continence during the two or four years nursing of each
+child. If we add to this the high infant mortality, we can understand
+how polygamy becomes among these people a means of reproduction in the
+struggle for existence, and even in African races a natural law. A
+native of Central Africa may have a hundred wives, who also act as
+servants and retainers. In this case polygamy is the expression of
+pomp and wealth. It is especially developed in agricultural peoples
+owing to the value of the woman's labor. On the other hand it is
+impossible among nomadic tribes. In Dahomey the king had thousands of
+wives, the nobility hundreds, the simple citizen a dozen and the
+soldier none at all.</p>
+
+<p>Jealousy and rivalry among the wives is not always the rule in
+polygamous families. In equatorial Africa the wives themselves incline
+to polygamy and regard a rich man who restricts the number of his
+wives as miserly. Livingstone relates that the women of Makololo
+declared they would not live in monogamous England, for any
+respectable man should prove his wealth by the number of his wives. We
+must not forget that among most savages the moral conception of good
+and evil are confounded with that of riches and poverty. In reality,
+the supernumerary wives bought by a polygamist are simply slaves. His
+power and authority do not easily allow jealousy among them;
+nevertheless suicide sometimes occurs among the old wives who have
+been passed over in favor of younger ones. Sometimes they kill their
+children at the same time. Among the Indians of Terra del Fuego a hut
+containing three or four women often resembles a battlefield. We have
+already pointed out the way in which jealous Fiji women cut off the
+noses of their rivals. Among the Islamites and Hindus intrigue and
+jealousy are common with the women; the same in Abyssinia, among the
+Hovas of Madagascar and the Zulus. The Hova term for polygamy is
+<i>rafy</i>, which signifies adversary. To <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>prevent the jealousy of his
+wives the polygamous man often places them in separate houses; this is
+common among the South American Indians.</p>
+
+<p>In Colombia I made the acquaintance of a French explorer, Le Comte de
+Brettes, who has studied closely the Goajires Indians by becoming
+himself a member of the tribe. The country of the Goajires is a
+peninsula of Colombia bordering on Venezuela. Polygamy among these
+people is very interesting. When a young Goajire wishes to marry he
+has to pay the bride's parents a number of cattle, but the consent of
+the bride is necessary. Besides this the husband has to clear a
+certain area of forest, plant vegetables and build a hut. He must then
+make a present of all this to his wife and add to it the necessary
+cattle. The wife thus becomes the legal proprietor of the house and
+land, and it is she who rules over the domain. The husband only has
+authority over the male children; but the wife is strictly enforced to
+be faithful. If he wishes to marry a second wife, he is obliged to buy
+her also and present her with similar property as the first, in
+another district. The two wives can never dwell together in the same
+house nor in the same district; each of them is thus a proprietor on
+her own account. In this manner the different wives of a Goajire are
+not only independent, but separated from each other and have no
+communication; this excludes all jealousy, especially as these women
+have a deep respect for the laws of their country. Under such
+conditions polygamy can hardly extend to more than two women without
+exhausting the forces a man requires to cultivate each of the domains.
+We thus see that certain forms of polygamy, combined with
+matriarchism, are compatible with high social position of the wife,
+for among the Goajires and other Indian tribes the man passes from one
+wife to the other, while it is the wife who is mistress of the house,
+the children and the domain.</p>
+
+<p>However, we may say that on the whole monogamy reigns where there is
+more altruism, respect for women and sentiment for family life; for
+instance, in Nicaragua, among the Dyaks, the Andamanese, etc., in whom
+the wife is highly esteemed and possesses political influence. The
+wife is also proprietor of the house among the Santalese and
+Mounda-Kols.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span>In the question we are considering the nature of the amorous passions
+also plays a great part. When they are purely sensual they do not last
+long as a rule; but when love arises from mental affinities it may be
+prolonged till old age. Bain remarks that other passions, such as
+maternal love, hatred, the desire of domination may be extended to
+many objects, while love has a tendency to concentrate itself on a
+single one which then takes pre&euml;minence over the others and tends to
+monogamy. We have seen that birds and monkeys generally love only one
+female. With some conjugal love is so strong that one of the conjoints
+cannot survive the other; this fact has been observed with certainty,
+even when the survivor was provided with another mate. Thus, the male
+of a certain species of monkey (<i>Hapale jacchus</i>) after the death of
+his mate, covers his eyes with his hands, ceases to eat and remains in
+the same position till he dies. Suicide for love is not rare among
+certain savage races; a point to which we shall return later.</p>
+
+<p>Westermark is certainly right in considering this tendency of love to
+concentrate itself on a single object as one of the most powerful
+factors in monogamy. Jealousy is no doubt the reverse of such
+sentiment, but is the profound despair at seeing the sole object of
+love desert or become unfaithful. On the other hand, this
+concentration of love, which may be excellent for isolated families
+living alone after the manner of wild beasts, is in no way adapted to
+a society of which all the members are responsible. This is a point we
+must insist upon. There is certainly a real antinomy which is
+difficult to reconcile between this dual egoism of exclusive and
+concentrated love and social solidarity or human altruism. The problem
+is not insoluble, but we must admit that the solution is not easy.</p>
+
+<p>To resume, we first of all observe an evolution from monogamy toward
+polygamy. The higher apes and the most primitive men are monogamous;
+among these there are no differences of rank, nor class distinctions,
+and they live in very small groups. Wealth, civilization, larger
+communities, agriculture and the domination of castes have gradually
+given rise to polygamy. Thus, the ancient Hindus were at first
+monogamous and later on became polygamous. The prerogative <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>of the
+first wife over the others is only a vestige of monogamy in polygamy.</p>
+
+<p>A higher degree of culture then diminishes warfare, shortens the
+period of nursing, does away with the prejudices against coitus during
+pregnancy, and improves the social position of women. Ageing less
+quickly, and adding to her bodily charms those of her mental
+development woman restores man to monogamy. As the same time wives and
+children gradually cease to constitute riches, and this diminishes the
+instinct of procreation. Finally, machinery replaces the female labor
+of former times. In this way, with a higher degree of human culture,
+all the factors tend to restore monogamy.</p>
+
+<p>The instinctive desires of woman are monogamous. The progress of
+civilization is continually extending her rights, and the more refined
+sentiments of sympathy among civilized people are less and less
+compatible with polygamy. As regards polyandry, Westermark shows that
+it has always been an exception and that it has only been established
+among phlegmatic races, having a certain degree of civilization and
+being unacquainted with jealousy.</p>
+
+<p>Spencer believes that monogamy will prevail in the future, while
+Lubbock inclines to polygamy. Westermark thinks that if the progress
+of civilization continues as hitherto to become more altruistic, and
+that if love tends to become more refined, the conjoints having more
+and more regard for each other, monogamy will always become more
+strict.</p>
+
+<p>For my part, I think it idle to prophesy. If mental culture ever
+succeeds in overcoming brutality and barbarism, and if it continues to
+make real progress, I do not think that any of the old systems of
+marriage will persist in their primary form. Primitive monogamy
+adapted to an unsocial savage condition, is incompatible with the
+social requirements which become more and more imposed upon humanity.
+Marriage by purchase and Islamite polygamy, which regard woman as
+merchandise and place her entirely under the dependence of man, are
+barbarous customs of semi-civilized people, which have already fallen
+into disuse. Polyandry is contrary to human nature and to the
+requirements of reproduction, and its <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span>implantation is everywhere a
+sign of decadence. Our present religious monogamy, completed by the
+shameful promiscuity of prostitution, is both hypocritical and
+unhealthy. Till the contrary is proved, I consider the most
+advantageous form of marriage for the future a kind of free monogamy
+(eventually polygamy), accompanied by obligations relative to the
+procreation of children and to the children procreated. Polyandry
+should only have an accessory right to existence in certain
+pathological or exceptional cases. We shall return to this point
+later.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>DURATION OF MARRIAGE</h4>
+
+<p>Among birds, marriage is generally concluded for life; among mammals
+rarely for more than a year, with the exception of the anthropoid apes
+and man.</p>
+
+<p>The duration of marriage varies enormously in man. Among the
+Andamanese, the Weddas, certain Papous, marriage can only cease with
+death. Among the North American Indians, on the contrary, it is only
+concluded for a limited period. Among the Wyandottes the custom exists
+of trial marriages for several days. In Greenland, divorce often takes
+place at the end of six months. Among the Creeks marriage does not
+last more than a year. In this way is constituted a kind of polygamy
+by succession or limited monogamy, which results in the father not
+knowing his children.</p>
+
+<p>Among the Botocudos, marriage is performed without ceremonies and only
+lasts a short time; it can be broken off on the slightest pretext, for
+the pleasure of changing; divorce then becomes as frequent as
+marriage. This is also the case in Queensland, Tasmania and the Samoan
+islands. Among the Dyaks and Cingalese, quite young men and women have
+already had several wives or husbands; a man often marries and deserts
+the same woman several times, to take others during the intervals.
+Among the Mantras there are men who have been married forty or fifty
+times.</p>
+
+<p>In Persia a woman may marry for periods varying from one hour to
+ninety-nine years. In Egypt similar customs are met with; a monthly
+change is allowed, so that a man may marry twenty or thirty times in
+two years. Among the Maues of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>Sahara the women consider it
+fashionable to marry as often as possible, and a long married life is
+considered by them as vulgar. The Abyssinians, negroes, etc., marry on
+trial or for limited periods. Among the Greeks, Romans and ancient
+Germans, divorce was very frequent.</p>
+
+<p>In nearly all savage tribes, and in a number of civilized people the
+man possesses an unlimited right of rejection. The Hovas compare
+marriage to a loosely tied knot. Among the ancient Jews, Romans,
+Greeks and Germans, discontent of the husband was a sufficient reason
+for rejection. On the contrary, among a number of savage races
+(Westermark mentions about twenty-five) rejection and divorce are
+extremely rare and marriage lasts for life.</p>
+
+<p>It is especially where there are children that divorce is rare. With
+most races, sterility of the wife and adultery constitute the
+principal causes of legal divorce.</p>
+
+<p>Among civilized races marriage for life is much more common than with
+savages. This was the case with the Aztecs, etc. Among the Chinese
+there exist seven reasons for divorce: sterility, unchastity,
+negligence toward parents-in-law, talkativeness, desertion, ill-temper
+and chronic disease. In Japan the laws are similar, but in spite of
+this divorce is rare in China and Japan.</p>
+
+<p>In Christian countries divorce was formerly permitted and was only
+prohibited by the Council of Trent. The modern Catholic says: "Man
+must not separate what God has united." Among many savages, on the
+contrary, divorce is left to the free will of the married couple.
+Elsewhere it is sometimes the man, sometimes both husband and wife who
+have the right to exact divorce for divers reasons, such as
+drunkenness, adultery, prodigality, etc. In Europe, as elsewhere, it
+is the desire for change which is the most common cause of divorce.</p>
+
+<p>Children constitute the surest cement against conjugal separations.
+With most savages the rejected wife regains not only her <i>dot</i>, but
+also part of the common property, or even the whole of it. On the
+contrary, the purchase value of the wife is only as a rule returned to
+the husband when sterility, adultery or other grave reasons are the
+causes of divorce. It results from <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>this that divorce is always very
+rare among peoples where the women are very dear.</p>
+
+<p>The right of the children after divorce varies a good deal in
+different races; sometimes they are adjudged to the husband, sometimes
+to the wife. Divorced women often become prostitutes, for example,
+among the Chinese and Arabs. As a rule, marriages for love are more
+lasting than others, especially when the couple were acquainted before
+marriage.</p>
+
+<p>It is extremely probable that in primitive man marriage only lasted
+till the birth of a child, or at the most a few years. With
+civilization the duration of marriage has been prolonged, higher
+motives having become added to bodily charms, sexual appetite and the
+instinct of procreation, and tending toward more lasting unions.</p>
+
+<p>Moral reasons have given rise to laws of protection in marriage, but
+the mania which man possesses of dogmatizing on everything has often
+caused these laws to degenerate into abuse or religious absurdities.
+In this way the modern form of our Christian monogamy has been imposed
+by a tyrannical dogma of the Roman Church; a dogma which no doubt
+started from an ideal point of view, but fell into disuse in practice,
+owing to the fact that it did not take sufficient account of the
+natural conditions and sexual requirements of the race. This explains
+the present tendency to greater legal liberty, even when the moral
+causes which tend to render monogamous unions durable multiply with
+the progress of civilization.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>HISTORY OF EXTRA-CONJUGAL SEXUAL INTERCOURSE</h4>
+
+<p>As monogamous marriage exists among the anthropoid apes, we have every
+reason to believe that it existed with primitive man. In neither case
+has it been the result of artificial laws, but the result of brute
+force and congenital instincts inherited by natural evolution. It
+often happened that one male vanquished another and took possession of
+the female, or wife, of the vanquished. Others abducted the female by
+surprise. Later on, marriage by exchange or by purchase, derived from
+marriage by rape, probably constituted the first stage toward a legal
+monogamous or polygamous union, as an element in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>most primitive
+human conventional organizations. In this way we can imagine the main
+points of the prehistoric evolution of marriage.</p>
+
+<p>When the conception of marriage took on a legal character, either that
+of possession by the male, or that of a more or less equitable
+contract between the two sexes, we can easily imagine that sexual
+intercourse apart from marriage resulted as an inevitable complement.
+Every artificial barrier which the human mind opposes to natural
+instincts immediately gives rise to a movement of opposition on the
+part of the latter. The matrimonial laws of primitive or
+semi-civilized races punished adultery in the most barbarous manner by
+torture and death, but were unable to prevent the sexual passions
+pursuing their course in one way or another.</p>
+
+<p>Certain abuses or exceptions had, therefore, to be tolerated, or
+certain complementary institutions had to be organized. However, these
+laws generally branded all forms of sexual intercourse apart from
+marriage, with the stigma of inferiority, or contempt, if not of
+crime. The woman, being the weaker, was naturally the one to suffer
+most from this stigma and its consequences.</p>
+
+<p>The great diversity in the customs of different human tribes, makes it
+necessary, in order to avoid errors, to guard against generalizing
+without strong reasons. We cannot, however, here enter into details
+which would lead us too far. We can, however, affirm that among the
+lower or primitive races brute force played the principal role and was
+the fundamental support of marriage, while in higher civilizations
+legal regulation took the upper hand, however absurd or even immoral
+it might be.</p>
+
+<p>Illegal or extra-conjugal forms of sexual intercourse have always
+formed two principal groups: <i>prostitution</i> and <i>concubinage</i>. No
+doubt, these two varieties are insensibly connected by numerous shades
+of transition, but as their development depends on different
+principles we must distinguish these two forms.</p>
+
+<p>Prostitution is a trade in which a human being sells her body for
+money, while concubinage consists in more or less free sexual
+intercourse apart from marriage, the motive of which is simply <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>the
+sexual appetite, convenience or love, although sometimes violence
+plays a part in it. We therefore find in extra-marital sexual
+intercourse the same motives as in legal unions; legal or religious
+sanction only is wanting.</p>
+
+<p>It is needless to say that the motives which lead to concubinage may
+be more or less tainted by interested calculation. In all
+civilizations concubinage and prostitution constitute the complement
+of legal marriage. Their regulation has ever produced the singular
+results of surrounding them with a moral nimbus.</p>
+
+<p>In Babylon, every woman once in her life, had to prostitute herself
+for money to any stranger at the temple of Venus. Solon founded houses
+of prostitution for the people and furnished them with slaves, "in
+order to protect the sanctity of marriage against the passions of
+youth."</p>
+
+<p>The Romans had also their houses of prostitution or lupanari, public
+or private, as well as free prostitutes. In the Middle Ages,
+prostitution developed especially after the Crusades. It is related
+that the Council of Constance attracted fifteen hundred prostitutes to
+this town. Prostitutes followed the armies everywhere.</p>
+
+<p>In India, young girls give themselves to the priests, who are the
+representatives of God and enjoy great honors. Under the name of
+Temple girls, the girls of the flower boats of China are really
+prostitutes. It is the same with the puzes of Java, the girls in the
+Japanese tea-houses, etc. In some civilized states, certain refined
+and intelligent prostitutes have always obtained great honors and high
+favors, only charging high prices, and ending by substituting for
+prostitution the pecuniary exploitation of rich men whom they have
+seduced.</p>
+
+<p>Concubinage may be more or less free. The concubines were formerly
+often slaves, possessed by men in high positions, in addition to their
+wives. At the present day the omnipotence of money produces almost
+analogous results. Free concubinage, in which sexual intercourse
+between the two contracting parties is absolutely free and more or
+less independent of pecuniary questions, is very different and of a
+higher moral character. It has also existed in antiquity in various
+forms. The Greek <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>hetairas were concubines of high position, no doubt
+prostitutes of a kind and giving themselves for money; but they became
+the friends or companions of great men. Living in luxury, especially
+at the time of Pericles and later, several of them became celebrated;
+statues were raised to them and they became the concubines of kings.
+Phryne served as the model for the statue of Venus, and offered to
+restore the halls of the Thebeans at her own expense. Thais was the
+mistress of Alexander and gave heirs to the throne. The neglected
+education of the Greek wives caused the intellectual accomplishments
+of the hetairas to shine by contrast.</p>
+
+<p>The whole question regarding the Greek customs is summed up in a few
+words by Demosthenes: "We marry wives in order to have legitimate
+children and a faithful guardian for our household; we have concubines
+for our daily service, and hetairas for the enjoyment of love."</p>
+
+<p>In some countries, such as Japan, the children of concubines are
+considered by the husbands as legitimate, and have the same rights as
+those of his wife; this gives concubinage the character of marriage of
+the second rank.</p>
+
+<p>In modern times hetairas are not wanting. Under the title of
+courtesans and mistresses, we find them everywhere as the favorites of
+kings and nobles, as mistresses of men in high positions, and often
+playing the part of vampires in all classes of society.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, women of high position or wealth have also their
+favorites, whom we may call male hetairas. Certain female members of
+royal families have at all times furnished examples of this kind.</p>
+
+<p>At all periods in the history of civilized races, pathology has also
+led to extra-conjugal sexual intercourse. Here, homosexual love in
+general, and love of boys or pediastry, has always played the
+principal part. We shall speak of this in Chapter VIII. Among the
+Hebrews, Persians, Etruscans, and especially the Greeks, it was held
+in high esteem. The Greek philosophers regarded it as based on an
+ideal homosexual love, and not as a vile form of prostitution. Solon,
+Aristides, Sophocles, Phidias, and Socrates were strongly suspected of
+homosexual practices, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span>and they regarded this form of love as superior
+to the normal love of woman. Lesbian love, and other sexual
+aberrations, such as sadism, have also played a historical role, as we
+shall see.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>CONCLUSIONS</h4>
+
+<p>Primitive human marriage was probably of short duration; when man
+later on became carnivorous, and had to obtain food for his children
+by hunting, sexual unions assumed a more constant character. It is not
+the class or the tribe, but the family which constituted the primitive
+social condition of man, a condition in which marriage was a heritage
+from "pithecomorphous" ancestors, <i>i.e.</i>, related to monkeys.</p>
+
+<p>Free sexual intercourse before marriage and frequent changes in the
+latter were then no doubt very common, but true promiscuity has never
+been the rule in primitive man.</p>
+
+<p>Patriarchism with its disastrous consequences has been the result of
+the preponderance of male power. In a higher degree of civilization
+this preponderance has produced marriage by purchase and polygamy. The
+barbarous form of the latter is now decreasing.</p>
+
+<p>A true higher culture leads gradually to durable love based on
+altruism and ethics, <i>i.e.</i>, a relative and free monogamy.</p>
+
+<p>The development of marriage in civilization has gradually increased
+the rights of woman, and marriage contracts tend more and more in
+their modern forms to stipulate for complete equality of rights for
+both sexes. As Westermark says: "The history of human marriage is the
+history of a union in which women have gradually triumphed over the
+passions, prejudices and egoism of men." The term re&euml;mancipation of
+women is historically more correct than the simple term emancipation,
+for before the institution of marriage, woman was free. Invented by
+the stronger male when he began to reason, marriage was at first only
+the servitude of woman. To give her complete liberty, it must be
+transformed afresh from top to bottom.</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span><br />
+
+<h4>APPENDIX</h4>
+
+<p><b>Influence of the Race on Sexual Life.</b>&mdash;If I were an ethnographer I
+should attempt to establish whether, and in what way, racial
+differences affect the sexual life of man; but the question is so
+delicate that it would require a skilled specialist to settle it. With
+the exception of the pages dealing with the history of extra-conjugal
+intercourse, the statements in this chapter are based on the work of
+Westermark. The chief difficulty consists in separating, in the
+customs of each race, that which arises from habit and historical
+tradition from that which depends on more or less specific hereditary
+peculiarities. It is here very easy to fall into error in formulating
+false conclusions.</p>
+
+<p>A good deal has been said concerning the hot blood of warm climates,
+and on the whole it appears true that people who inhabit these
+climates have a more violent and more precocious sexual temperament
+than those who live in cold regions. But this is not a racial
+character. The Jews, who have preserved their race unaltered in all
+climates and under all possible conditions of existence, furnish an
+object lesson which is particularly appropriate to decide the
+question. The traits of their character are reflected in their sexual
+life. Their sexual appetites are generally strong and their love is
+distinguished by great family attachment. Their sexual life is also
+influenced by their mercantile spirit, and we find them everywhere
+connected with the traffic of women and prostitution. They are not
+very jealous and are much addicted to concubinage, at the same time
+remaining affectionate to their wife and family.</p>
+
+<p>The Mongols also lead a very intense sexual life. Among the
+polyandrous people of Thibet jealousy appears to be completely absent:
+this may be the result of custom or may be due to phylogenetic
+instinct. The Mormons, who are descended from monogamous races,
+confirm the idea that polygamy is not a specific racial character. It
+would be interesting to study the mixed races of North America from
+this point of view. At first sight, it seems that the Americanization
+of customs in the mixture of races of the United States is also
+extended to sexual life, and that we cannot discover the fundamental
+differences <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span>between the Irish, Scandinavians, French, Germans and
+Italians who constitute this mixture. But it is possible that this is
+only a superficial impression, and that a deeper study of the details
+would lead to another result. One thing appears to be unquestionable
+in the negro race; that is the violence of its sexual passion combined
+with its mental inferiority.</p>
+
+<p>A striking trait is furnished by the French race which has remained
+pure in the eastern provinces of Canada, whose sexual customs are very
+different from those of the present population of France. The French
+Canadian is extremely pure and chaste, leads a regular life and has a
+numerous family. Families of fifteen or twenty are not rare among
+French Canadians. We can here, therefore, observe the effect of
+climate and custom on a single race. For reasons mentioned above, I
+shall content myself with a few remarks, but I am certain that a
+profound study of the question would discover, in the character of the
+individuals, specific peculiarities of their race which are only
+marked externally by customs. It is obvious that such characters will
+be all the more distinct, the more the race differs from its
+congeners, and the purer its ethnical separation. As among animals, it
+is necessary to distinguish between slight variations, and races or
+sub-species which are more constant and more divergent. Hereditary or
+phylogenetic individual differences must also be distinguished from
+those of races or varieties.</p>
+
+<p><b>Weight of the Brain in Different Races and Sexes.</b>&mdash;Bebel has stated
+that among savages the difference between the brain of the men and
+women is less than among civilized people. This statement is quite
+wrong. Prof. Rudolph Martin, of Zurich, has given me statistics of the
+cranial capacity of the two sexes in different races, drawn from
+reliable sources. According to Martin the weight of the brain
+represents about 87 per cent. of the cranial capacity. His table of
+statistics is given on the opposite page.</p>
+
+<p>These figures show that the difference between the two sexes is always
+about the same, while the average absolute weight of the brain in the
+two sexes is lower in the lower races. Reckoning it 87 per cent. of
+the cranial capacity, it is in the Weddas 1111 grammes for males and
+991 grammes for females, which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span>corresponds to the weight of the
+brains of idiots or general paralytics with us. Martin assures me that
+in the Malay peninsula he has found as much difference between the men
+and women as in Europeans.</p>
+
+<p>According to Martin, men living at the present day may be divided into
+three classes according to their cranial capacity:</p>
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="70%" summary="cranial capacity">
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" width="60%">&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tdl" width="20%" style="padding-left: 1em;">MEN.</td>
+  <td class="tdl" width="20%" style="padding-left: 1em;">WOMEN.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">Aristencephalous (large brains)</td>
+  <td class="tdl">over 1450 gr.</td>
+  <td class="tdl">over 1300 gr.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">Euencephalous (medium brains)</td>
+  <td class="tdl">1300 to 1450.</td>
+  <td class="tdl">1150 to 1300.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">Oligencephalous (small brains)</td>
+  <td class="tdl">under 1300.</td>
+  <td class="tdl">under 1150.</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h4>AVERAGE CRANIAL CAPACITY IN DIFFERENT RACES</h4>
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="90%" summary="cranial capacity in different races">
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" width="14%">&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tdc" width="5%">&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tdl" width="15%">&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tdc" width="5%">&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tdl" width="14%">&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tdc" width="5%">&nbsp;</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc" width="13%">Men</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc" width="13%">Women</td>
+  <td class="tdlsc" width="16%">Difference</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="4" style="vertical-align: middle">Civilized</td>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="4">
+
+    <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="bracket">
+    <tr>
+      <td class="bt bl bb">&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;</td>
+    </tr>
+    </table>
+
+  </td>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="2" style="vertical-align: middle">Badois</td>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="2">
+
+    <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="bracket">
+    <tr>
+      <td class="bt bl bb">&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;</td>
+    </tr>
+    </table>
+
+  </td>
+  <td class="tdl">48 Craniums m.</td>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="2">
+
+    <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="bracket">
+    <tr>
+      <td class="bt br bb">&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;</td>
+    </tr>
+    </table>
+
+  </td>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="2" style="vertical-align: middle;">1513</td>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="2" style="vertical-align: middle;">1330</td>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="2" style="vertical-align: middle;">183</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">26 Craniums f.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="2">Bavarian</td>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="2">
+
+    <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="bracket">
+    <tr>
+      <td class="bt bl bb">&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;</td>
+    </tr>
+    </table>
+
+  </td>
+  <td class="tdl">100 Craniums m.</td>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="2">
+
+    <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="bracket">
+    <tr>
+      <td class="bt br bb">&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;</td>
+    </tr>
+    </table>
+
+  </td>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="2" style="vertical-align: middle;">1503</td>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="2" style="vertical-align: middle;">1335</td>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="2" style="vertical-align: middle;">168 (11.2 %)</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">100 Craniums f.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="4" style="vertical-align: middle">Semi-Civilized</td>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="4">
+
+    <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="bracket">
+    <tr>
+      <td class="bt bl bb">&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;</td>
+    </tr>
+    </table>
+
+  </td>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="2" style="vertical-align: middle">Malay</td>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="2">
+
+    <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="bracket">
+    <tr>
+      <td class="bt bl bb">&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;</td>
+    </tr>
+    </table>
+
+  </td>
+  <td class="tdl">26 Craniums m.</td>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="2">
+
+    <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="bracket">
+    <tr>
+      <td class="bt br bb">&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;</td>
+    </tr>
+    </table>
+
+  </td>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="2" style="vertical-align: middle;">1414</td>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="2" style="vertical-align: middle;">1223</td>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="2" style="vertical-align: middle;">191</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">2 Craniums f.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="2">Aino</td>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="2">
+
+    <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="bracket">
+    <tr>
+      <td class="bt bl bb">&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;</td>
+    </tr>
+    </table>
+
+  </td>
+  <td class="tdl">87 Craniums m.</td>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="2">
+
+    <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="bracket">
+    <tr>
+      <td class="bt br bb">&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;</td>
+    </tr>
+    </table>
+
+  </td>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="2" style="vertical-align: middle;">1462</td>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="2" style="vertical-align: middle;">1308</td>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="2" style="vertical-align: middle;">154</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">64 Craniums f.</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdc" rowspan="2" colspan="3" style="padding-left: 5%;">Lowest Race<br />Weddas</td>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="2">
+
+    <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="bracket">
+    <tr>
+      <td class="bt bl bb">&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;</td>
+    </tr>
+    </table>
+
+  </td>
+  <td class="tdl">22 Craniums m.</td>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="2">
+
+    <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="bracket">
+    <tr>
+      <td class="bt br bb">&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;</td>
+    </tr>
+    </table>
+
+  </td>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="2" style="vertical-align: middle;">1277</td>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="2" style="vertical-align: middle;">1139</td>
+  <td class="tdl" rowspan="2" style="vertical-align: middle;">138 (10.8%)</td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+  <td class="tdl">10 Craniums m.</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>SEXUAL EVOLUTION</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>The evolution of every living being is twofold. We must distinguish:
+(1) its <i>ontogeny</i>, or the entire cycle of development of the
+individual from its conception till natural death at an advanced age;
+(2) its <i>phylogeny</i>, or the series of organic forms through which its
+ancestors passed, by successive transformations, from the primitive
+cells of the oldest and most obscure geological periods, up to its
+present organization.</p>
+
+<p>In its chief outlines ontogeny is determined by phylogeny by means of
+the laws of heredity, even when it is only an abridged recapitulation.</p>
+
+<p>Regarded from this point of view the sexual life of man is also based
+on phylogenetic conditions, determined by his ancestral lineage.
+Moreover, it presents an individual or ontogenetic evolution during
+the life of each person, which in its principal traits is
+predetermined in the germ, by the phylogenetic or hereditary energies
+of the species. The phenomena of the hereditary mneme show clearly how
+ontogeny is the result of engraphia combined with selection, in the
+series of ancestors. We have already mentioned these points on several
+occasions, but must now review the whole question.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>PHYLOGENY OF SEXUAL LIFE</h4>
+
+<p>In Chapter II we have briefly described phylogeny in general or
+metamorphosis, and in the first part of Chapter IV we have specially
+considered the phylogeny of the sexual appetite in the phenomenon of
+cell division and conjugation of nuclei in unicellular organisms,
+which we have described in Chapter I. In order for animals to
+reproduce themselves without degenerating, crossing, or the
+combination of different germs, is necessary, and such combinations
+are only possible by the mutual <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span>attraction of two kinds of germinal
+cells. But, when the individual becomes multicellular and bears only
+one kind of germinal cells, the attractive energy which was originally
+limited to these cells is transmitted to the whole organism, and this
+necessitates the existence of sensory and motor nerve centers.</p>
+
+<p>The attraction of one kind of germinal cell and its bearer for the
+other must also be more or less mutual. As a rule the bearer of one of
+the germinal cells becomes active and penetrating; that of the other
+passive and receptive. However, the latter, who after copulation (when
+this occurs) becomes the sole bearer of the future individual, is
+obliged to desire union with the active bearer of the other germinal
+cell, so that reproduction may become harmonious. This is the basis on
+which is founded sexual reproduction, and with it the sexual appetite,
+in plants (as regards cellular conjugation only) as well as in
+animals, but especially in the latter, in whom the germinal cells are
+carried by mobile and independent individuals. On the same basis is
+developed the difference between the sexual appetite in man and woman,
+as well as that between love and the other irradiations of this
+appetite in the mental life of both sexes. (Vide Chapters IV and V.)</p>
+
+<p>The immense complication of human sexual life makes us regard animals
+with a certain degree of contempt, and flatter our vanity in
+qualifying the baser part of our sexual appetite by the term <i>animal
+instinct</i>. But we are really very unjust toward animals. This
+injustice is partly due to the fact that vocal and written language
+gives us a means of penetrating into the psychology of our fellow
+creatures. By the aid of the common symbolism of our thoughts it is
+easy for us to compare them. Language thus enables us to construct a
+general human psychology. The absence of language, even in the higher
+animals, renders it difficult for us to penetrate their mind. Our
+inductive reasoning in this matter is very uncertain, for we can only
+judge the mental power of animals by their acts. The brain, and
+consequently the mind, of the higher mammals being less highly
+organized than that of man, their sexual psychology is also more
+primitive, and differs from ours in proportion to the cerebral
+development of the species. Comparative anatomy confirms <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span>this fact in
+the whole series of organisms which possess a central nervous system.
+The psychology of the higher apes is thus nearer our own than that of
+the dog; the psychology of the dog resembles ours more than that of
+the rabbit, etc.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, the highly developed cerebral organization of man,
+although it has complicated the mental irradiations of his sexual
+appetite, has not always ennobled them; on the contrary, it has often
+directed them into pernicious paths. We have seen in Chapter VI
+numerous and striking proofs of the degeneration, brutality and
+cruelty of the manifestations of the human sexual appetite, and we
+shall study them further in Chapter VIII. Comparative biology shows us
+that the sexual appetite is transformed into love in very different
+ways. In order to avoid the immensity of detail of comparative biology
+I shall only give a few examples.</p>
+
+<p>While the female spider often kills and eats the male, monkeys, and
+parrots give proof of such a great mutual attachment that when one of
+the conjoints dies the other sinks into complete despair, ceases to
+eat, and perishes in its turn.</p>
+
+<p>In this domain we find singular adaptations to special conditions of
+existence. Among the bees and ants, a third class of individuals, or
+neuters, formed by differentiation of females, do not copulate, and
+lay at the most a few eggs which are not fecundated and which
+occasionally develop by parthenogenesis.</p>
+
+<p>Among the termites, another species of social ants, a similar state of
+things exists, but the neuters, or workers, are derived from the male
+sex as well as the female and their sexual organs are quite
+rudimentary. The third sex, or worker, not only has a cerebral
+development superior to the sexual individuals, but also inherits the
+social sympathetic irradiations of the sexual appetite, which results
+in his devotion to a brood which is not his own. Among the social
+insects the males are little more than flying sexual organs, which
+after copulation are incapable of leading an independent existence and
+die of hunger and exhaustion in the case of ants or termites, or are
+massacred by the workers in the case of bees.</p>
+
+<p>The fecundated females, on their part, become breeding machines whose
+activity is incessant. Among the ants, however, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span>the females are at
+first capable of nourishing a few larv&aelig; by the aid of a portion of
+their eggs and their secretions, till the workers are hatched, who
+henceforth undertake all the work including the maternal care of the
+brood.</p>
+
+<p>Whoever has observed the fidelity of a pair of swallows and the way in
+which the male and female nourish and rear their young, must be struck
+by the analogy to the conjugal and family love of the faithful type of
+human beings. This is especially remarkable when the same couple
+return every year to the old nest. This family life of the swallows
+does not prevent a certain social life, which manifests itself in
+organized attacks on birds of prey, and in combined emigration in the
+autumn and spring.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, we are instinctively indignant at the want of
+fidelity in other animals, between conjoints, parents and offspring
+(dogs and rabbits, for instance), because we involuntarily expect to
+find in them our own moral sense, which is not at all just.</p>
+
+<p>From the phylogenetic point of view we can only compare ourselves to
+the higher apes, by their analogies with primitive man. (Vide Chapter
+VI.) The question which concerns us here is as follows: If we consider
+the peculiarities of our sexual customs with those of our direct
+ancestors, what are those which are derived from ancient and profound
+phylogenetic instincts, those which are derived from less profound
+ancestral energies (<i>i.e.</i>, relatively more recent) and lastly those
+which depend simply on old customs fixed by tradition, prejudice and
+habit? If we are careful we shall immediately recognize that it is not
+only the sexual appetite itself, but also a large part of its
+correlatives and irradiations, in which the phylogenetic roots are
+deep. Jealousy, coquetry, instinctive maternal love, fidelity and
+conjugal love, which are more or less developed in primitive man, are
+also present in monkeys and birds. We have even seen that the conjugal
+fidelity of these often exceeds our own. It is, therefore, not true
+that our animal ancestors are only allied to us by sexual appetite; on
+the contrary, we must admit that they have much more noble sentiments
+and instincts, derived it is true from this appetite, but belonging to
+the domain of a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span>higher social morality. All that we can say in a
+general way concerning the complex entanglement of our sentiments and
+instincts is that, the most deeply rooted characters in human nature
+are at the same time, phylogenetically speaking, the most ancient.</p>
+
+<p>Among the most profound instincts of sexual life, we find moral and
+intellectual incongruities. Along with excitement of the sexual
+appetite in the male by the odor of the female genital organs, or by
+the sight of erotic pictures, we find the most touching conjugal love,
+and life-long devotion of one conjoint for the other and for the
+children. Prostitution, marriage by purchase, religious marriage,
+disgrace attached to illegitimate births, conjugal and family rights
+of one or the other sex, etc., are, on the contrary, things which do
+not depend on recent phylogeny, but only on the customs and traditions
+of certain races. They are partly outgrowths from egoism, the spirit
+of domination, mysticism and hypocrisy, and partly the shifts of an
+overheated social life which is becoming more and more complicated.</p>
+
+<p>Westermark's studies are very instructive in this respect. All the
+absurdities and contradictions, brought to light by the historical and
+ethnographical study of the customs and matrimonial abuses in man,
+allow us to clearly distinguish that which is due to fashion or
+custom, from that which is deeply rooted in our heredity. To avoid
+repetition I refer my readers to Chapter VI, to examine the
+differences between heredity and custom.</p>
+
+<p>Between these two extremes there is, however, one important domain,
+viz., that of <i>recent phylogeny</i>, or in other words <i>variation</i>. The
+fixed appetites and instincts of the species which are proper to every
+normal man, and are as we have seen fundamentally connected with many
+animal forms, belong to ancient and profound phylogeny. But there is
+another group of very variable peculiarities, strongly developed in
+some men and little in others, sometimes completely absent, which do
+not depend on custom but on what is called individual hereditary
+disposition, or individual character. While some men have monogamous
+instincts others are polygamous. Some men are by instinct and heredity
+very egoistic, others more altruistic. This <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>peculiarity is reflected
+in their sexual life and changes the character of their love (but not
+that of their sexual instinct). The egoist may love his wife, but this
+love is interested and very different from that of the altruist.
+Between the two extremes there is an infinite number of gradations
+according to the nature of the instincts and dispositions. The same
+man may be a good and generous father, and a social exploiter with
+neither shame nor pity. Another will pose as a social benefactor,
+while at home he is an egoist and a tyrant. The individual
+dispositions of recent phylogeny are combined in every way with
+education, customs, habit and social position to produce results which
+are often paradoxical, and the factors of which are ambition, vanity,
+temper, etc. Recent phylogeny is reflected also in many of the
+irradiations of the sexual appetite of which we have spoken in Chapter
+V. Audacity, jealousy, sexual braggardism, hypocrisy, prudery,
+pornography, coquetry, exaltation, etc., depend in each particular
+case, according to their degree of development, on a combination of
+individual sexual hereditary dispositions with individual dispositions
+in the other domains of sentiment, intelligence and will. In this way,
+the sexual individuality of one man is constituted in a very complex
+and very different way to that of other men, owing to the high
+development of the human brain, as well as to the infinite variability
+and adaptability of his aptitudes. It is impossible to give even an
+incomplete explanation of all the symphonic gradations (often
+cacophonic) which represent an individuality, or to fix clearly what
+distinguishes it from others. However, when the principle is
+understood, it is not difficult to estimate the sexual individuality
+of each person more or less correctly.</p>
+
+<p>Strong hereditary dispositions of character may be recognized in early
+infancy. When the ancestry of a man is well known the roots of his
+recent phylogeny may be traced to his ancestors. Here we observe the
+effect of crossing between varieties or different races, or on the
+contrary that of consanguinity. This effect is observed in character
+and in sexual disposition, as much as in the shape of the nose, or the
+color of the skin and hair, etc. It is important that men should learn
+to know themselves, and also study each other from this point of view
+before marrying. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span>On the whole, we may say that the average civilized
+man of our race possesses as his "phylogenetic baggage" a strong
+sexual appetite, very variable sentiments of love, generally somewhat
+mediocre, (we have seen that conjugal love is more strongly developed
+in most monkeys than in man), lastly altruistic or social sentiments
+which are still deplorably weak. The latter, no doubt, form no part of
+the sexual life, but they must be taken into consideration for they
+are its most important derivatives, and it is indispensable for our
+modern social life to develop them in harmony with family and conjugal
+love.</p>
+
+<p>Hereditary instincts can easily be observed in children. When one of
+them is good, it gives evidence at an early age of the sentiments of
+sympathy or altruism, such as pity and affection, as well as an
+instinctive sentiment of duty, the object of which is not yet social.
+All these sentiments are at first only applied to human individuals
+known to the child, domestic animals, or even inanimate objects. On
+the other hand, the ant, from the beginning of its existence, shows an
+inherited instinct or sentiment of complete social duty. In man,
+social sentiments properly so-called, have to be acquired by
+education, but they require for their expansion a considerable degree
+of inherited sentiments of sympathy and duty. A person without morals
+can easily acquire social phraseology but not social sentiment. A few
+more points require to be considered.</p>
+
+<p>Monogamy is no doubt an old and well-established phylogenetic
+heritage, while polygamy is on the whole rather an aberration produced
+by individual power and wealth. But phylogenetic monogamy is by no
+means identical with the religious or other formality of our present
+legal monogamy. It assumes first of all an early marriage immediately
+after puberty, while our civilization has placed between this and
+marriage, which it only allows later as a rule, the unhealthy swamp of
+prostitution, which so often sows in the individual the destructive
+seed for his future legal union, before this has taken place. Again,
+phylogenetic monogamy imposes no legal constraint; on the contrary, it
+assumes a free, natural and instinctive inclination in each of the
+conjoints, when it is not the result of the brute force of the male.
+Lastly, it by no means excludes a change <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span>after a certain time. We are
+speaking only of man, and not of birds and monkeys, who are more
+monogamous than ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>Monogamy without children has little reason for its existence and must
+be considered simply as a means to satisfy the sexual appetite or as a
+union for convenience. It is the same with certain marriages between
+individuals of very different ages, especially the marriage of a young
+man with a woman already old and sterile.</p>
+
+<p>As far as we can ascertain, the majority of sexual perversions, of
+which we shall speak in Chapter VIII, are a sad pathological
+acquisition of the human race. We observe, however, especially in the
+higher mammals, acts of pederasty between males when the female is
+wanting.</p>
+
+<p>The sexual repulsion which normally exists between animals of
+different species rests on a selective basis, the hereditary mneme of
+their reciprocal germs being unable to place itself in homophony, and
+their blood also having a mutual toxic action. In speaking of sodomy
+we shall see that this instinctive repulsion may disappear in
+pathological cases, both in man and in animals, owing to bad habits or
+unsatisfied sexual appetite. We cannot absolutely demonstrate the
+phylogenetic existence of an instinctive disgust for consanguineous
+sexual intercourse.</p>
+
+<p>The sexual advances made by women in civilized countries, show how
+easily we may be deceived in attributing to a phylogenetic or
+hereditary origin, certain details which are only due to external
+circumstances. In man, the bearer of the active germ, the instinct of
+sexual advance has deep phylogenetic roots. It is quite natural to him
+and is evident among savage races, where the man risks more by
+remaining single than the woman. Violent combats between rivals to
+obtain the woman, who remains passive like most animals, are evidence
+of this.</p>
+
+<p>Civilization has changed all this, and has developed two castes of
+women, the old maids and the prostitutes. The latter satisfy the
+appetites of men in an artificial and unhealthy manner, while marriage
+and family cares only bring them labor and burdens instead of riches.
+Owing to the promiscuous polyandry of prostitution, man can always
+obtain enough women, while woman can with difficulty obtain a suitable
+husband. These <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>circumstances have more and more developed the art of
+flirtation, coquetry and advances on the part of girls, and we can now
+see, especially in the United States, that advances come more and more
+from the female side, if not in principle, at any rate in fact. This
+is not a question of a phylogenetic or hereditary transformation of
+the sexes among civilized peoples, but an unhealthy effect resulting
+from abnormal circumstances, that is the non-satisfaction of the
+sexual desires of woman, together with the satiety of those of men.
+Woman makes advances from the fear of remaining celibate; she will
+cease to do so when the unnatural causes which have produced this
+state of things have been done away with.</p>
+
+<p>As a rule, a normal and adaptable man will conduct himself in sexual
+matters as in others according to the prevailing fashion. He will most
+often succeed in accommodating his sentiments to those of his
+conjoint. On the other hand, this average representative of normal
+mediocrity easily becomes the slave of routine and incapable of new
+ideas. However normal he may be, he has less faculty of adaptation or
+mental plasticity and less liberty, than a man of higher nature
+independent of prejudices.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>ONTOGENY OF SEXUAL LIFE</h4>
+
+<p>The first striking fact in the ontogeny of sexual life is the
+following: All the sexual organs, both external and internal, remain
+in an embryonic and non-functional state, not only in the embryo but
+for a long time in the child. The organs and their elements exist, but
+they are still small, imperfectly developed, and in a state of rest.
+At the time of puberty, which varies in different individuals, the
+sexual glands and the other copulatory apparatus enlarge and begin to
+functionate. In the European races puberty occurs between the age of
+twelve and seventeen years in girls, and between fourteen and nineteen
+in boys; it is generally earlier in the South and later in the North.
+It is curious to note that the correlative irradiations of the sexual
+appetite in the human mind develop much earlier than the organs, or
+even the sexual appetite. Again, the sexual appetite often appears
+before the normal development of the genital organs. In other rare
+cases the sexual appetite is absent in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span>adult, even when the
+corresponding organs are well-developed. (Vide Chapter VIII.) Such
+irregularities of the sexual appetite belong to the domain of
+pathology.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, it is quite normal for young girls and boys to show
+early signs of mental differences corresponding to those we have
+described in Chapter V. In young girls we observe coquetry and
+jealousy and the desire for finery. Their love of dolls and the care
+they take of them, is very characteristic of the precocious instinct
+of their sex. This is an early sign of instinctive maternal love,
+before the development of any sexual sensation or function. Among boys
+we observe a tendency to brag and to boast of their strength before
+girls, to show their contempt for dolls and the coquetry of little
+girls, and also to pose as protectors, etc.</p>
+
+<p>Sexual jealousy already exists in young children. We see little boys,
+seeking for the favors of little girls, show violent jealousy when
+another is preferred to them. All these phenomena depend either on
+subconscious instincts, or on vague sexual presentiments which play a
+large part in the infantile exaltation of sentiment. Portraits of
+pretty women, the sight of certain parts of the body or feminine
+clothing often provoke exalted sentiments in boys; girls rather admire
+boldness, an imposing presence and often beauty, in the other sex.</p>
+
+<p>Puberty is produced by certain phenomena which occur in the sexual
+organs. In the boy erections occur at an early age when the penis is
+still very small. It is curious to note that certain pathological
+conditions and friction of the glans penis, especially in the case of
+phimosis and as a result of bad example, are often sufficient to
+produce sexual sensations and appetites in very young boys. The same
+thing is produced in little girls by excitation of the clitoris. All
+these phenomena lead to onanism or masturbation, of which we shall
+speak later on. As the testicles of young boys do not secrete semen,
+masturbation only provokes secretion from the accessory glands, but
+this is accompanied by orgasm.</p>
+
+<p>More singular still are cases of coitus between little boys and girls
+whose sexual glands are still undeveloped and produce no germinal
+cells. Although they are pathological, these <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span>phenomena are
+characteristic, because they clearly show that the brain has acquired
+by phylogeny a sexual appetite relatively independent of the
+development of the sexual glands. No doubt the sexual appetite does
+not develop, or disappears, in eunuchs when they are castrated quite
+young; but it is preserved together with the secretions and functions
+of the external genitals when castration is performed after puberty is
+established.</p>
+
+<p>The important conclusion which results from these facts is that the
+existence of a sexual excitation or appetite of this nature is not
+sufficient to prove that they are normal. In Chapter VIII we shall
+prove that not only the anomalies of the hereditary sexual
+disposition, but artificial excitations and bad habits may also
+produce all kinds of misconduct and excesses which should be
+energetically combated.</p>
+
+<p>We have described in Chapter IV the great individual variations of the
+sexual appetite in the two sexes, as well as that of the sexual power
+in man. The sexual power and appetite in man are strongest between the
+years of twenty and forty. We may even consider this period as the
+most advantageous for the procreation of strong and healthy offspring
+and that the procreator is at his best before the age of thirty.</p>
+
+<p>The ontogenetic development of the sexual appetite and love generally
+produces in man a peculiar phenomenon. While habitual gratification
+and education of the sexual appetite tends to make it more and more
+calculating and cynical, love, on the contrary, becomes more elevated
+and refined with age and less egoistical than in youth. Owing to
+general mental development, the education of sentiments progresses and
+becomes refined, while the sexual appetite diminishes in intensity and
+becomes more imperious and more coarse. We are only speaking here of
+normal cases.</p>
+
+<p>In youth, the intoxication of love combined with intense sexual
+appetite triumphs; when the appetite is once satisfied the unbridled
+and egoistic passions of this age come to the surface and are often
+antagonistic to love. At a more advanced age, on the contrary, love
+becomes more constant and more tranquil. The mistake that is so often
+made is the confusion <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>of love with sexual appetite. The novelists who
+speculate on the eroticism of the public are no doubt more interested
+in describing sexual passion and amorous intoxication, with all the
+catastrophes and conflicts which arise from them, than the tranquil
+and regular love of a couple more advanced in age, the greatest
+happiness of which consists in harmony of sentiment and thought, as
+well as the mutual regard and devotion of the couple for each other.</p>
+
+<p>Sexual appetite and sexual power in man become extinguished between
+the ages of sixty and eighty; old men of eighty are sometimes still
+capable, but they are no longer fecund. As a rule sexual power
+diminishes before sexual appetite, and this sometimes leads old men to
+use artificial means to revive their power, or to satisfy their sexual
+desires. This explains why the egoists who have never known true love
+often become so base in their sexual manifestations when they grow
+old. Their experience of sexual life makes them experts in the art of
+seduction. If this fact appears to be antagonistic to the law that
+true love is refined with advancing age, we must bear in mind that the
+ontogenetic development of the sexual appetite is not the same as that
+of love; that in some respects it develops in a contrary direction;
+and that the result may consequently become inverted according as one
+or other predominates. It is needless to say that there are a number
+of intermediate gradations, and that inverse phenomena may be produced
+concurrently in the same individual.</p>
+
+<p>According to Westermark elderly men generally fall more easily in love
+with middle-aged women than with young girls. No doubt this is often
+the case when reason and love predominate, but it is necessary to
+avoid generalization, and it is curious to observe how often very old
+men become enamored of quite young girls, as the latter may fall in
+love with old men. It is common knowledge that young girls do not
+marry old graybeards solely for their money or their name. No doubt
+this is not uncommon, but I have often seen girls of eighteen or
+twenty fall in love with old <i>rou&eacute;s</i>, when money, name and position
+were theirs and not the man's. However, in such cases it is most often
+the old man who is amorous. Westermark <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span>maintains that this condition
+is not normal, and we shall see that very often it is a case of
+commencing <i>senile dementia</i>, a pathological cerebral condition in
+which the sexual appetite becomes suddenly revived.</p>
+
+<p>The love of a young girl for an old man may be explained by the
+intellectual superiority of the old man or by the absence of another
+object for love. It is often also due to hysteria and consequently
+pathological.</p>
+
+<p>In old age, when the sexual life of two conjoints is extinguished,
+there remains a purified love which colors the evening of their life
+with autumn tints. The modern detractors of marriage too often forget
+this phenomenon. No doubt the evening of conjugal life is often
+troubled with discord and sorrow, but then it is usually a question of
+"<i>mariage de convenance</i>," marriage for money or position, mutual
+misunderstanding, or irreflective amorous intoxication. Quarrels may
+also arise when pathological conditions become introduced into
+marriage.</p>
+
+<p>In woman, sexual ontogeny is not the same as in man. She matures
+earlier and more rapidly. In our race, a woman at eighteen is sexually
+mature; between eighteen and twenty-five she is in the best condition
+for sexual life; toward fifty the menopause occurs, and with it
+cessation of fecundity. Hence the period during which a woman is
+fecund is much shorter than in man and terminates much earlier.</p>
+
+<p>Owing to this, the development of the intellectual and sentimental
+irradiations of the sexual appetite in woman is more rapid than in
+man. A young girl is much more mature and full grown as regards her
+reproductive power than a young man. These phenomena extend to the
+whole mental life of woman, who is less capable of an ulterior
+development in old age than man, because she generally becomes settled
+and automatic much more rapidly than the latter. No doubt these
+phenomena are partly due to the defective mental education of women,
+but this explanation is insufficient. Here again we must distinguish
+the phylogenetic disposition of woman from the effects of education
+during her ontogenetic development.</p>
+
+<p>The sexual appetite of woman manifests itself at first in vague
+desires, in a want of love, and does not as a rule develop locally
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span>till after coitus. It often follows that in ontogenetic evolution the
+sexual appetite of women increases at a more advanced age (between
+thirty and forty). At this age women often become enamored with young
+boys, whom they seduce easily. Widows are especially disposed to form
+unions with men younger than themselves; these unions are rarely
+happy, for the woman who is older than her husband easily becomes
+jealous, and the husband soon becomes tired of a woman whose charms
+have faded. We can therefore affirm that, as a rule, in order to be
+both normal and lasting, a monogamous union requires that the husband
+should be from six to twelve years older than his wife, and that the
+latter should marry as young as possible.</p>
+
+<p>In the sexual ontogeny of normal woman, pregnancies, childbirth, the
+nursing and education of children play an infinitely greater role than
+the sexual appetite. These important events in woman's life, together
+with affection for her husband occupy a great part of the cerebral
+activity of every woman, and are at the same time the conditions for
+her true happiness.</p>
+
+<p>We should expect the sexual appetite in woman to diminish or cease at
+the menopause; but this is not usually the case, and elderly women are
+sometimes tormented by the sexual appetite, which is all the more
+painful because men are not attracted by them. Such hyper&aelig;sthesia
+cannot, however, be considered as normal; most often the sexual
+appetite diminishes with age and is replaced, as in man, by the
+tranquil love of old age, of which we have spoken.</p>
+
+<p>Old women are often spoken of with contempt. No doubt, unsatisfied
+passions and wounded feelings of all kinds, want of intellectual
+culture and high ideals, and especially a pathological condition of
+the brain, make many old women anything but amiable. I am, however,
+convinced that the elevation of woman's social position, and greater
+care in her education, will considerably facilitate the development of
+her faculties. Education should not develop mundane qualities in
+women, but depth of sentiment. There are many aged women who can be
+cited as examples of activity and perseverance, for their sound and
+clear judgment, as well as for their affability and simplicity of
+manners. Although their intellectual productiveness ceases <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span>earlier
+than that of man, this in no way excludes an excellent and persevering
+activity of mind, combined with much judgment and sentimental
+qualities. A woman who is growing old and has lost the members of her
+family, especially her husband, requires some object to replace them
+in her affection. To devote herself to social activity will be the
+best antidote against the peevish, querulous or sorrowful moods which
+so easily take possession of the aged woman. It appears that love,
+which is a phylogenetic derivative of the sexual appetite, and which
+in middle life is intimately associated with this appetite, becomes
+afterwards more and more independent of it and then requires more
+compensation. There is here a great adaptation of love to life, an
+adaptation which it is necessary to bear in mind.</p>
+
+<p>In infancy the individual is naturally egoistic; his appetites all
+tend to self-preservation. There are even then, however, great
+individual differences, and we meet with children who are endowed with
+a remarkable sentiment of duty and a great sensibility to the troubles
+of others. After puberty man's sexual desire leads him to love, toward
+dual egoism, and this desire becomes the principal factor in the
+reproduction of the species. In old age the individual has no
+reproductive aims to fulfill; his life is only a burden on society, if
+it is not directed with a view to benefit others and society in
+general. By expansion and purification love, at first sexual, is
+gradually transformed into purely humanitarian love, <i>i.e.</i>,
+altruistic or social. At least this is what it should be, and then the
+fundamental biogenetic law of Haeckel (ontogeny is an abridged
+repetition of phylogeny) will receive an ultimate confirmation. Our
+primitive unicellular animal ancestor lived for itself alone; later on
+sexual reproduction without love was established; then conjugal and
+family love appeared (birds, monkeys, mammals, etc.), finally social
+love or altruism was produced, <i>i.e.</i>, the sense of social solidarity
+based on the sentiment of duty.</p>
+
+<p>The last is still very weak in man, while some animal species, such as
+the bees and ants, have developed it in a more complete manner, on the
+basis of instinct. According to this natural law, all social
+organization naturally develops altruism or the sentiment of duty. The
+history of humanity proves that our <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span>social union is only developed
+slowly and laboriously through innumerable contests, and that it is
+derived, directly or indirectly, from the family union of individuals.
+Extension of communication on the surface of the earth causes the
+artificial development of social organization to advance much more
+rapidly than the natural phylogenetic development by evolution of the
+sentiments or social instincts. The latter are, however, forced to
+follow the movement, resting first on the deep roots of family and
+friendly altruism, as well as on that of caste or clan (patriotism);
+<i>i.e.</i>, on sentiments of sympathy and duty toward certain individuals
+who are more closely connected with us, sentiments which are
+hereditary in man. A vague general humanitarian sentiment, a hothouse
+flower which is still feeble, has already commenced to grow on this
+natural basis. Let us hope that it will live.</p>
+
+<p>It would be a fundamental error to try and found social solidarity
+solely on our phylogenetic sentiments of sympathy, or on our ideal
+faculty of devotion and self-sacrifice; but to try and take egoism as
+a basis for this solidarity is a still greater error. We must not make
+an antinomy of egoism and altruism, but regard them as two elements
+inseparable from all human society, as well as the individuals who
+compose it. We cannot deny that the altruist, endowed with strong
+sentiments of sympathy and duty, is an excellent social worker, while
+the pure egoist constitutes an element of decomposition for society.
+It is, therefore, a social duty to proceed by the sexual route to a
+selection which will cause the first to multiply and eliminate the
+second as far as possible by sterilizing his germs.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VIII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>SEXUAL PATHOLOGY</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>On this subject we refer the reader to the well-known work of
+Krafft-Ebing, "Psychopathia Sexualis,"<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> in which will be found a
+number of observations, the details of which we cannot enter into
+here. We may first of all say that with the exception of venereal
+diseases the genital organs by themselves only play a very small part
+in sexual pathology. The brain is the true domain of nearly all sexual
+anomalies.</p>
+
+<p>In the second place, we may remark that the disorders of sexual life
+only rarely belong to acute affections which the physician can treat
+with pharmaceutical or other common remedies. They almost exclusively
+originate in the mental constitution, <i>i.e.</i>, in the hereditary
+dispositions of the brain of the individual. But the pathology of
+mental or cerebral conditions offers an extremely vast field, capable
+of so much extension that no definite limit can be fixed between the
+normal state and morbid states, which are themselves connected by
+numerous transitions. A great number of acts due to mental conditions
+which the public and even learned theologians, jurists and physicians
+not initiated in psychiatry, consider as criminal, sinful, or
+infamous, are only the product of pathological aberrations due to
+hereditary dispositions. I was recently consulted by a patient of this
+kind, otherwise possessed of noble sentiments, who told me that a
+physician in Germany to whom he related his troubles, turned on him
+furiously and said, "These things are filthy; you are a pig; hold your
+tongue and get away from here!" As a matter of fact this unfortunate
+patient was sustaining a heroic struggle against his perverted
+pathological sexual appetites. Knowing little or nothing of these
+matters human society, with few <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span>exceptions, is of the same opinion as
+the ignorant doctor mentioned above. For this reason I think it
+necessary at least to give an outline of phenomena which, although
+very repulsive in themselves, throw much light on the sexual question.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>PATHOLOGY OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS</h4>
+
+<p>Every deformity, disease or operation which destroys the sexual glands
+in the child, or prevents them from developing, gives rise to the
+phenomena which we have described when speaking of castration. This is
+the case, for instance, with cryptorchidism in which the testicles
+remain in the inguinal canal and become atrophied, instead of
+descending into the scrotum. The following case is an example, and is
+interesting in other respects:</p>
+
+<div class="block"><p>A young man was affected with imbecility and congenital
+cryptorchidism with atrophy of the testicles. A eunuch from
+birth, he developed no sexual appetite and no correlative
+masculine character. To make a man of him, his too eager aunts
+married him to a strong girl, who was anything but innocent. She
+attempted by all kinds of manipulations to cure the sexual
+blindness of her husband; but this was a waste of labor, as the
+unhappy wretch only regarded the performance as disgusting and
+filthy. He was violently excited and became somnambulistic.</p>
+
+<p>Soon afterwards the wife consoled herself with a lover of normal
+sexual power, and they both overwhelmed the poor eunuch with
+raillery. The latter, becoming furious, offered his wife a cake
+poisoned with arsenic on her birthday, but she saw through the
+stratagem. The poor wretch was sent for trial and condemned to a
+long term of imprisonment for attempted poisoning. I consider
+this judgment as a legal crime. In spite of my protests,
+imbecility was not admitted, and the somnambulism was looked
+upon as simulated.</p></div>
+
+<p>On the other hand, the same lesions when they occur in the adult
+neither destroy the correlative sexual characters, nor the power of
+coitus, nor the voluptuous sensation of the orgasm.</p>
+
+<p>In man, <i>aspermia</i> sometimes occurs; the testicles appear to be well
+formed, but the semen contains no spermatozoa. In spite of this the
+aspermatic individual generally has erections, a certain amount of
+sexual power and orgasm, and is capable of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span>amorous feelings, although
+his sexual functions are generally feeble. But he is incapable of
+fecundating a woman.</p>
+
+<p>Some women who have never menstruated possess normal ovaries and may
+become pregnant.</p>
+
+<p>Tuberculosis, tumors and inflammations of the testicles and ovaries
+may cause sterility.</p>
+
+<p>The erection of the penis is often rendered impossible by certain
+deformities, such as <i>hypospadias</i> and <i>epispadias</i>, in which the
+urethral canal opens respectively below or above the penis.</p>
+
+<p>Involuntary emissions of semen without erection, with or without
+voluptuous sensation, is called <i>spermatorrhea</i>. This is often a
+result of onanism, nervousness or constipation. Too much importance
+has been attached to it. In hypochondriacs spermatorrhea becomes a
+bugbear, which often makes them the dupes of charlatans. The less
+attention is paid to it the quicker it disappears; especially when it
+is of purely nervous origin, as is usually the case.</p>
+
+<p>Phimosis, or narrowness of the opening of the prepuce is nearly always
+of embryonic origin. It prevents the glans penis from becoming
+exposed, at least during erection. It is a very common condition and
+very disagreeable. If the prepuce is forcibly drawn back behind the
+glans penis before erection, as is often the case in masturbation, the
+penis is gripped by the prepuce so that it cannot sometimes be drawn
+forward and inflammation with oedema results; this condition is called
+<i>paraphimosis</i>, and may become dangerous. Secretions, urine and semen
+accumulate and decompose in a phimosed prepuce, cause irritation and
+lead to masturbation. All cases of phimosis should be operated upon in
+infancy, by complete or partial circumcision.</p>
+
+<p>In women, the number of diseases which prevent conception is much
+greater than in man. The ovary may undergo cystic degeneration or
+become the seat of a tumor; but affections of the uterus and vagina
+cause more sterility than ovarian affections. This results chiefly
+from catarrh and inflammation which destroy the spermatozoa before
+they can reach the egg during its descent. Disorders of menstruation
+have much less influence on fecundity. The womb sometimes remains in
+an <i>infantile state</i>, which may also cause sterility. Other diseases
+of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span>the female sexual organs have a more general pathological
+character and hardly influence sexual intercourse.</p>
+
+<p>A method of rendering women sterile without castration (removal of the
+ovaries) consists in interrupting the communication between the
+ovaries and the womb by dislocation of the Fallopian tubes: this
+avoids all the evil effects of castration.</p>
+
+<p>Certain inflammations and displacements of the uterus and ovaries are
+often the origin of pains, indispositions and nervous disorders in
+women. Irregularity and pain in menstruation are a frequent cause of
+neuroticism.</p>
+
+<p>The hymen is seldom so strongly developed as to offer a serious
+obstacle to coitus; but when this occurs it may be removed by a slight
+operation. Young women often suffer from vaginismus, or painful spasms
+occurring when an object, such as the finger or penis, is introduced
+into the vagina.</p>
+
+<p>Hermaphrodism in man is always pathological, extremely rare, and when
+it exists nearly always incomplete. These cases are generally
+incomplete mixtures concerning principally the correlative characters.
+A double function only exists in legends. I have myself seen a
+celebrated hermaphrodite named Catherine Hohmann who had a well-formed
+testicle on the left side enclosed in a fold of skin which resembled
+the larger lip of the vulva, while the penis was very short and
+resembled a clitoris. This individual, who was baptized as a woman,
+was certainly male on one side; on the other hand, the feminine nature
+was more than problematical. Menstruation was alleged to have occurred
+but was not established with certainty, any more than an ovary or
+uterus.</p>
+
+<p>Much more frequent are inverted correlative sexual characters, such as
+bearded women, men with breasts; also mental sexual inversions, of
+which we shall speak later.</p>
+
+<br />
+<h4>VENEREAL DISEASES<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></h4>
+
+<p>We cannot give here a complete description of the venereal diseases,
+which constitute a terrible evil for humanity, by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span>bringing a great
+deal of misfortunes and decadence into family and social life. Let us
+first point out the common error which attributes to sexual excess the
+evil effects which are really due to venereal disease. Although it may
+be uncommon, one may be infected by these diseases after an innocent
+kiss, a cut finger, by sitting on a privy contaminated by a person
+suffering from venereal disease, by the use of contaminated linen,
+etc., etc. A pachydermatous Don Juan, on the contrary, may abandon
+himself to the wildest sexual excess without being infected, if he is
+prudent and has good luck. On the other hand, young men may be
+infected after having been with a prostitute only once in their lives,
+and thus ruin their whole existence.</p>
+
+<p>There are three kinds of venereal disease, which we will describe in a
+few words. To these may be added certain parasites, such as crab-lice
+and the itch, which are easily communicated by sexual intercourse with
+infected persons, but also in other ways.</p>
+
+<p><b>Gonorrhea or Clap.</b>&mdash;This disease consists in a purulent inflammation
+of the urethra caused by a microbe called the <i>gonococcus</i>. When
+treated properly it may be cured in a few weeks, but very often the
+inflammation becomes chronic and attacks the neighboring organs.
+Chronic clap, or "morning-drop," may lead in the male to permanent
+stricture of the urethra, which in turn may produce retention of
+urine, catarrh of the bladder and disease of the kidneys, which may be
+fatal. One attack of gonorrhea in no way protects against a second
+infection, but rather predisposes to it, and when this disease becomes
+chronic exacerbations or relapses of the acute stage often occur
+without fresh infection.</p>
+
+<p>In women the results of gonorrhea are, if possible, still worse than
+in men, because it is more difficult to cure. A prostitute affected
+with gonorrhea may infect an enormous number of men, and in this case
+medical inspection of brothels is no guarantee. The gonococci are
+concealed in all the corners and folds of the internal genital organs
+of woman, where they set up inflammation of the womb, the Fallopian
+tubes and even the ovaries, which may lead to adhesions between the
+abdominal organs. Women affected with chronic gonorrhea generally
+become sterile. When the womb and the ovaries are affected <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span>there is
+much suffering and the woman may be confined to bed for some years.
+Stricture of the urethra and inflammation of the bladder are more rare
+in women than in men, as the result of gonorrhea.</p>
+
+<p>But gonorrhea is not confined to the adults of both sexes. The
+innocent child, who at birth has to pass through its mother's vulva,
+when this is affected with gonorrhea, undergoes a baptism of gonococci
+which attack the conjunctiva of the eyes and set up a severe purulent
+inflammation, called ophthalmia of the newly born (<i>ophthalmia
+neonatorum</i>). This is one of the chief causes of total blindness, and
+if the child is not entirely blind, there are often large white
+patches left on the cornea which considerably interfere with sight.
+Gonorrheal ophthalmia may also occur in adults by conveying pus from
+the urethra to the eyes by the fingers.</p>
+
+<p><b>Syphilis.</b>&mdash;This disease is still more formidable than gonorrhea. It
+is caused by a microbe which has been recently discovered (<i>Spiroch&aelig;ta
+pallida</i>). Syphilis is much more chronic than gonorrhea and commences
+with a small sore indurated at its base and called the hard chancre.
+This is situated on the genital organs or elsewhere; in the mouth, for
+instance, when this has been in contact with the buccal or genital
+organs of a person infected with syphilis. The syphilitic poison
+spreads through the body by means of the blood and lymph. At the end
+of a few weeks eruptions appear on the body and face, and then
+commences a series of disasters the cause of which may be suspended
+over the victim for his whole life, like the sword of Damocles, even
+when he believes himself cured; for the cure of syphilis is often
+uncertain. This disease may remain latent for months and years, to
+reappear later on in different organs and cause fresh lesions.</p>
+
+<p>Syphilis causes ulcers of the skin and mucous membranes; it sometimes
+causes decay of the bones; it may cause disease of the internal
+organs, such as the liver and lungs; it affects the walls of the blood
+vessels, causing them to become hard and brittle (atheroma); it causes
+disease of the eyes, especially of the iris and retina, tumors (or
+gummata) in the brain, paralysis etc. In fact, it spares none of the
+organs of the body.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span>Among the most terrible results of syphilis we must mention <i>locomotor
+ataxy</i> (sclerosis of the posterior columns of the spinal cord), with
+its lightning pains and paralysis of the legs and arms; also <i>general
+paralysis of the insane</i>, which by causing gradual atrophy of the
+brain, destroys one after the other, sensations, movements and all the
+mental faculties. These two diseases, which are so common at the
+present day, only occur in old syphilitics, five to twenty years, or
+more often ten to fifteen years after infection, and as a rule in
+persons who think they have been completely cured. Both these diseases
+are fatal. Before causing death, locomotor ataxy causes intolerable
+pain for several years. General paralysis first gives rise to
+grandiose ideas, and after disintegrating the human personality bit by
+bit, ends by transforming the individual into a being much inferior to
+animals, and of an aspect as miserable as it is repulsive. A general
+paralytic in his last stage is little more than a vegetating ruin, in
+whom the nervous activities are decomposed little by little, after the
+gradual disappearance of all the mental faculties. This is the result
+of slow atrophy of the brain and gradual destruction of its
+microscopic elements, or <i>neurones</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The early stages of syphilis may easily pass unnoticed owing to their
+partly latent and completely painless character. Small eruptions may
+be mistaken for other affections, and mercurial treatment generally
+disperses the symptoms of <i>primary</i> and <i>secondary</i> syphilis. But
+syphilitics who are apparently cured are never safe from being
+attacked, after perhaps many years, with locomotor ataxy, general
+paralysis or the <i>tertiary</i> or <i>quaternary</i> manifestations of
+syphilis, such as disease of the bones, internal organs, eyes, brain,
+etc. The sores of the first two or three years of syphilis are
+contagious but painless, and hence do not prevent coitus when they
+occur in the genitals. After three years syphilis becomes less
+contagious, but there is no definite time limit and cases have been
+recorded in which contagious lesions occurred ten or fifteen years
+after the onset of the disease.</p>
+
+<p>A syphilitic man may transmit the disease to his children without
+infecting his wife, and these children may die before birth or may be
+born with congenital syphilis. This is due to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span>the spermatozoa being
+infected with syphilis. However, this is fortunately not always the
+case, for many cured syphilitics have healthy children. A child
+affected with congenital syphilis (from the father) may infect the
+mother during pregnancy; this is called "syphilis by conception."
+Congenital syphilis may also cause locomotor ataxy and general
+paralysis.</p>
+
+<p>It is difficult to enumerate all the infirmities which syphilis in the
+parents may transmit to the children. Syphilis often renders marriage
+sterile. It is more frequent in men than in women, because the number
+of prostitutes is small compared with the number of men who go with
+them; a single prostitute may contaminate a whole regiment. On their
+part, the clients of prostitutes convey gonorrhea and syphilis to
+their wives, thus spreading in society this abominable plague and all
+the evils resulting from it.</p>
+
+<p><b>Soft Chancre.</b>&mdash;The third kind of venereal disease is the soft
+chancre, thus called in distinction to hard chancre, which is the
+primary sore of syphilis. Soft chancre is the least dangerous and the
+least common of the three diseases. It consists of an ulcer which
+remains localized to the genital organs (unless it is complicated with
+syphilis, which is frequent). The ulcerated parts are destroyed, but
+the sore heals generally without trouble.</p>
+
+<p>Venereal diseases constitute one of the worst satellites of the sexual
+appetite. If men were not so ignorant and careless, it would be on the
+whole easy to avoid them and cause their gradual disappearance. One of
+the most absurd and infamous organizations which can be imagined is
+that of the State regulation of prostitution which, under the pretext
+of hygiene, compels prostitutes to be registered by the police or to
+live in brothels. They then undergo regular medical examination, the
+object of which is to prevent those who are diseased from practicing
+their trade, and compel them to be treated in hospital. We shall see
+later on that this system absolutely fails in its object, for the
+simple reason that the treatment of venereal diseases is by no means
+the panacea which many people imagine.</p>
+
+<p>The first attack of gonorrhea in man is very often spontaneously
+cured, while unskillful treatment often aggravates it. The relapses of
+this disease, on the other hand, especially in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span>their chronic form,
+often resist all kinds of treatment and sometimes become incurable.
+The gonococci become hidden in the folds of the deep parts of the
+mucous membrane, both in men and women, and cannot all be destroyed.
+With regard to syphilis, mercurial treatment, although remarkable in
+its immediate effect, requires prolonged administration. And it is by
+such means that it is proposed to make prostitutes clean! There is
+only one radical cure for venereal diseases; that is not to contract
+them! However, this does not prevent us from recommending all those
+who are affected with them to seek immediate treatment by a skilled
+specialist.</p>
+
+<p>It is sad to see ladies of high position defending such barbarous
+institutions as proxenetism (the business of keeping brothels) and the
+regulation of prostitution, imagining that they thereby protect their
+daughters against seduction. Such aberration can only be explained by
+suggestive influence on the part of men. Among men, and especially
+among many physicians, the belief in the efficacy of regulation
+depends on a mixture of blind routine, faith in authority and want of
+judgment, combined perhaps with more or less unconscious eroticism. We
+shall consider this point in detail later on.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most tragic effects of venereal disease is the
+contamination of an innocent wife, whose whole life, hitherto chaste
+and pure, becomes brutally deprived of its fruits, and whose dreams of
+the ideal and hopes of happiness become swamped in the mire with which
+prostitution has contaminated her. Is it surprising that love in such
+cases becomes replaced by bitterness and despair? Some modern authors,
+such as Brieux (<i>Les Avari&eacute;s</i>) and Andr&eacute; Couvreur (<i>La Graine</i>), have
+pictured in their dramas and novels the tragic effects of venereal
+disease and heredity in the family, as well as their social
+consequences. What is deplorable, is the enormous proportion of
+persons who are infected with venereal diseases.</p>
+
+<br />
+<h4>SEXUAL PSYCHOPATHOLOGY</h4>
+
+<p>With the exception of what is called sexual inversion and pathological
+love of the insane, sexual psychopathology (<i>i.e.</i>, sexual pathology
+of mind) is chiefly limited to the domain of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span>sexual appetite, and
+originates mainly in fetichism (see Chapter V), to which it is closely
+allied. Let us first examine certain anomalies which partly concern
+the lower nervous functions.</p>
+
+<p>First of all a general question presents itself. Hereditary or
+congenital sexual anomalies have been distinguished from those which
+are said to result from vicious habits. Krafft-Ebing, in his
+celebrated book which we have already quoted, makes a capital
+difference between these two causes, and stigmatizes the acquired
+vices with great indignation. I do not deny that there is reason for
+the distinction, but we must take exception to two fundamental errors
+in the manner in which the facts are presented.</p>
+
+<p>In the first place, the difference between hereditary and acquired
+sexual anomalies is only relative and gradual, so that it is necessary
+to avoid opposing one against the other. When an anomaly arrives
+spontaneously in the first sexual glimmer of the child's mind during
+its development, it is obvious that it is the expression of a profound
+hereditary taint, the result of blastophthoria or of unfortunate
+combinations of ancestral energies which have been associated by the
+conjugation of the two procreative germs. In such a case it is
+comparatively easy to prove that this is a pathological symptom
+independent of the will of the individual. But a continuous series of
+degrees in the intensity of a hereditary predisposition to a certain
+sexual anomaly, or to other anomalies or peculiarities apt to provoke
+this anomaly, insensibly connects the purely hereditary pathological
+appetite with that which is simply the effect of acquired vicious
+habits. In this way a strong hereditary predisposition may exaggerate
+a moderate normal sexual appetite, or may give it a pathological
+direction under influences which would have had no effect in a less
+predisposed individual. Again, a slightly marked tendency to
+homosexuality in a man may increase under the seductive influence of a
+passionate invert, when the same individual would have lost this
+tendency if he had fallen seriously in love with a woman. On the other
+hand, the invert would have no influence on an individual who was not
+predisposed.</p>
+
+<p>If the hereditary disposition is very strong, it is developed
+spontaneously or under the influence of very slight circumstances. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span>If
+it is mediocre, it may remain latent and even become extinct when
+favorable circumstances do not awaken it. When it is entirely absent
+the most powerful seduction and the most evil influence cannot give
+rise to the corresponding anomaly. These facts are sufficient to show
+what abuse is made of the term <i>acquired vice</i>. Under this heading are
+designated a number of peculiarities the roots of which are to a great
+extent contained in the germ of heredity.</p>
+
+<p>The power of words on the human mind produces antinomies which do not
+really exist; such is the case with the terms <i>vice</i> and <i>disease</i>.
+Vices depend on a hereditary mnemic disposition, of varying strength
+and more or less pathological, or at any rate unilateral (<i>i.e.</i>,
+developed in one direction only, or connected with a single group of
+objects); according to the good or evil influence of the environment
+they may develop, become limited or even fail to appear. Inversely, we
+may say that many diseases, especially of the brain, are the source of
+vices.</p>
+
+<p>In the second place, it follows from this fundamental principle, that
+the vicious and apparently acquired conduct of certain individuals
+should not be considered as the product of perverted free will, but
+rather as the unfortunate and destructive result of a bad hereditary
+disposition developed under the influence of the bad habits of a
+corrupt environment. This environment being itself composed of men,
+there is a vicious circle of cause and effect which will not escape
+the mind of the thoughtful reader. Bad habits are made by hereditary
+forces, and bad habits develop in their turn by custom, and may even
+create, by blastophthoria, vicious hereditary dispositions. The
+indignation of the moralists who condemn vicious persons are very like
+the temper of a child who strikes the fire which burnt him.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>REFLEX ANOMALIES</h4>
+
+<p>We have already mentioned vaginismus, which is often produced in women
+by the first coitus. Priapism in man is somewhat analogous to
+vaginismus. It is produced by an exaggerated reflex irritability of
+the nerve centers for erection, and results in continual and painful
+erections, which sometimes end in ejaculation without sensation.
+Another anomaly, more or <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span>less reflex and very frequent, produces
+voluptuous sensations and premature ejaculation after short and
+incomplete erections. In some nervous women also, the venereal orgasm
+occurs very rapidly and briefly. These anomalies belong to the domain
+of medicine and are of little importance for our subject.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>PSYCHIC IMPOTENCE</h4>
+
+<p>Psychic impotence is a symptom which occurs accidentally in the normal
+state and very frequently in psychopathological conditions.</p>
+
+<p>A representation or idea of any kind, may suddenly paralyze by
+suggestive action the normal reflex mechanism of the center for
+erection. The blood ceases to accumulate in the corpora cavernosa and
+erection is either arrested or not produced at all. For example, a
+very excited lover, who has had strong erections at the moment when he
+prepared to copulate, may be suddenly overcome with the idea that he
+will fail, or by some other thought which paralyzes erection and
+renders coitus impossible. The remembrance of such a failure and the
+distress and shame attached to it, even efforts to produce erection
+indirectly for another attempt, constitute further causes of
+inhibition of the cerebro-spinal activity; they temporarily extinguish
+the sexual appetite, and prevent by their interference the automatic
+mechanism of erection which they strive to produce. The greater the
+fear of failure, the more the psychic impotence increases. This
+phenomenon may be limited to a certain woman, but it is more often
+general. Sometimes an incomplete erection is produced, which is
+insufficient.</p>
+
+<p>This condition, which depends on auto-suggestion, is best treated by
+hypnotic suggestion. The sentiment of impotence powerfully depresses a
+man, and the depression increases his impotence. This condition often,
+however, disappears by itself.</p>
+
+<p>A special variety of psychic impotence is that in which erection takes
+place, but the idea of ejaculation predominates so much that it
+paralyzes the voluptuous sensations, and causes ejaculation to occur
+without pleasure, or even erection to cease.</p>
+
+<p>Impotence may occur at the first coitus, or may come on gradually. It
+is often produced suddenly at the time of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span>marriage in persons who
+have hitherto been very capable, even in Don Juans. Men may have
+normal erections and pollutions, but these may be stopped by
+counter-suggestions at each attempt at coitus. Habitual masturbation
+may in some cases contribute to produce impotence, but we must not
+generalize from such cases, nor construct a dogma from them, for
+continence may also be a cause of impotence.</p>
+
+<p>All these details, which are combined in all kinds of ways with other
+sexual troubles, but which are also produced alone in men who are
+otherwise normal, throw much light on the relation of the momentary
+mental state of man to his sexual appetite and the accomplishment of
+coitus.</p>
+
+<p>I do not know under what heading the following case should be placed:</p>
+
+<div class="block"><p>A young man of steady habits, and normal sexual appetite, had
+always abstained from sexual connection and masturbation. He
+only had emissions during sleep. The latter were accompanied by
+erotic dreams, but never produced an orgasm, while disagreeable
+sensations occurred on waking. He married for love a woman in
+whom the hymen was resistant, and vaginismus occurred on each
+attempt at coitus. These attempts failed constantly in spite of
+the most intense love and the most ardent desire for children on
+both sides. The husband's erections were incomplete, and he
+never had an ejaculation except when asleep. By the aid of
+hypnotism I succeeded in strengthening his erections, and an
+operation on the hymen cured his wife's vaginismus. The first
+attempts at coitus were not immediately successful, but
+suggestion acted after a time; finally the attempts were crowned
+with success, and followed by a first and second pregnancy. The
+children were healthy.</p>
+
+<p>In this case, the impotence, which had lasted about eighteen
+months, did not affect the mutual love and respect of the
+couple, because the husband's affection combined with his sexual
+appetite had sufficed for the happiness of a woman who was on
+the whole normal.</p></div>
+
+<p>This case is very instructive in several ways, for it gives a good
+example of the nature of the sexual instinct in woman; it also shows
+how the auto-suggestion of emissions occurring only <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span>during sleep may
+hinder copulation in the waking state. But such phenomena are
+extremely rare.</p>
+
+<p>It is hardly necessary to say that there is no true impotence in
+woman; but the same mental paralysis may occur as in man, preventing
+orgasm and often causing disgust.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>SEXUAL PARADOXY</h4>
+
+<p>By this term is understood the appearance of the sexual appetite, or
+even of love, at an abnormal age. Infantile paradoxy is, however, very
+different to senile paradoxy.</p>
+
+<p>Infantile paradoxy must not be confounded with certain forms of
+masturbation, to which we shall return. Some races, especially in the
+tropics, have a much earlier sexual development than others; depending
+more on race than climate. In some, sexual maturity occurs in boys
+between the age of twelve and fourteen, and in girls between nine and
+ten years, while in others the former are hardly mature at twenty and
+the latter before seventeen or eighteen. Again, individual variations
+may be very great in the same race. But, owing to hereditary
+satyriasis or nymphomania, we sometimes in our own country see sexual
+appetite appear in children of eight, seven, or even three or four
+years of age, in a spontaneous manner without any external excitation.
+Lombroso mentions the case of a girl three years old who had an
+irresistible tendency to onanism. I have myself observed the two
+following cases:</p>
+
+<div class="block"><p>(1). A boy of seven years, the son of a brothel keeper, and a
+kind of satyr who committed great excesses, began spontaneously
+to attack little girls of his own age or even younger. He was so
+artful that all means failed in curing him of this habit, and he
+was sent to an asylum of which I was superintendent. He then
+tried to renew his exploits with a boy older than himself. He
+was also idle and disposed to all kinds of folly. He did not,
+however, attempt to copulate with adult women or men. His sexual
+organs were absolutely infantile, without any abnormal
+development. His paradoxy was thus of cerebral origin.</p>
+
+<p>(2). <i>A girl of nine years was brought to my office addicted to
+self-abuse. Upon examination, I found this child highly
+neurotic, the major part of her life had been under unhygienic
+atmosphere, case history, father psychopathic, had been in an
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span>insane asylum, mother &aelig;nemic. The child was sent to a state
+institution for girls and improved remarkably.</i></p></div>
+
+<p>In this case I was told that there was no hereditary taint, but such
+statements prove nothing. Individuals of this kind generally become
+criminals, or else give themselves up to masturbation or prostitution.</p>
+
+<p>Occasionally, the sexual appetite may be preserved for a long time in
+old men, or reappear for a time, with or without sexual power, but as
+a rule, the paradoxy of old men is the initial symptom of <i>senile
+dementia</i>. As this disorder is only commencing when sexual excitation
+occurs, it is not noticed, and the patient is regarded as an immoral,
+vicious or criminal individual. I have seen a patient of this kind
+masturbate openly in an asylum, so great was his sexual excitation.</p>
+
+<p>In most old men affected with senile sexual paradoxy, the sexual
+appetite is directed toward very young girls or even children, which
+aggravates their case from the legal point of view. Very often this
+appetite is perverted and assumes one of the forms we shall speak of
+later. Some of these old men are still capable, but others are not,
+and then their excitation only manifests itself in manipulations of
+the genital organs, etc. Such cases play a considerable part in law
+scandals. The patient (for so he must be called) often becomes the
+victim of blackmail on the part of vicious girls or children, incited
+by unnatural parents. One often sees also, at the onset of senile
+dementia, an old man become enamored of some prostitute or adventuress
+who makes him marry her and thus takes possession of his fortune. The
+law generally makes the matter valid, under the pretext that
+individual liberty must be respected. Such sanction consists in
+reality in sacrificing a patient for the profit of a female swindler.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>SEXUAL AN&AElig;STHESIA OR CONGENITAL ABSENCE OF THE SEXUAL SENSE AND
+APPETITE</h4>
+
+<p>Sexual sensations are so intimately connected with the sexual appetite
+that it is difficult to separate them. No doubt in the adult a certain
+degree of sexual appetite may exist without any voluptuous sensation,
+but this is a secondary phenomenon.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span>Complete sexual an&aelig;sthesia is very rare in man; it is not a special
+form of anomaly, but the reduction to zero of a normal sensation and
+the appetite which corresponds to it. The characteristic feature of
+these cases is that, contrary to what occurs in eunuchs and
+cryptorchids, not only the testicles, but all the correlative sexual
+attributes (the beard, voice, character, etc.) are normally developed,
+and are in no way inverted as in homosexual individuals. Sexual
+an&aelig;sthesia causes no more suffering than color-blindness, but like the
+latter it occasions individual troubles resulting from misunderstanding.
+The sexual an&aelig;sthetic, having a more or less false idea of marriage,
+often marries in complete ignorance, and the results are then
+disastrous, thanks to our laws and customs.</p>
+
+<p>In women, sexual an&aelig;sthesia is very common. Krafft-Ebing is wrong in
+maintaining that in all such cases the women are always neurotic. A
+number of absolutely normal and intelligent women remain all their
+life completely cold from the sexual point of view, apart from the
+normally passive character of the female sex in coitus. It is rather
+the very libidinous woman who is pathological.</p>
+
+<p>We have seen that the normal sexual sentiment of woman is developed
+rather in the direction of love, and desire for children. Erotic men
+often complain of the sexual coldness of their wives, which is
+disagreeable to them; for pleasure in one sex excites and completes
+that of the other. Cold women submit to coitus as a duty, or at any
+rate only mentally enjoy their husband's caresses.</p>
+
+<p>Sexual an&aelig;sthesia occurs normally in old age. It may occur at an
+earlier age, owing to destruction or atrophy of the sexual glands,
+great excesses, or on the contrary, extreme continence. Certain
+diseases and psychoses may also cause it.</p>
+
+<p>The following are a few examples of sexual an&aelig;sthesia:</p>
+
+<div class="block"><p>(1). A normally built man, of high culture and moral sense, was
+affected with complete sexual an&aelig;sthesia since birth. He
+occasionally had nocturnal emissions, and also matutinal
+erections, but no erotic images. When he arrived at mature age
+he had no idea of sexual intercourse, and was completely
+indifferent to everything concerning sexuality. He did not even
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span>comprehend anything relating to sexual affairs, and his replies
+reminded me of conversations with color-blind persons on the
+distinction between red and green! According to his ideas,
+marriage was an intellectual and sentimental union in which
+children came by themselves!</p>
+
+<p>He eventually married a young girl, well educated but extremely
+prudish. One can imagine the revelations which followed! The
+wife, who had a strong desire for children, soon perceived the
+sexual blindness of her husband. She became very unhappy and
+bitterly reproached him. The husband then became aware that
+there should be something in marriage which he had not taken
+into account; but the explanations of coitus by the medical man
+were useless, and hypnotic suggestion was incapable of producing
+the least sexual sensation.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of all this, the husband was full of respect and
+affection for his wife, but was incapable of simulating the
+least sexual appetite. As regards the wife, what she required
+was not coitus, which was simply a means to an end, but
+children. However, her prudery made her prefer this state of
+things to a divorce, which would create scandal. We may notice
+that in such cases erections are only produced mechanically
+during sleep, which renders coitus impossible.</p>
+
+<p>(2). A timid but vain young man of retiring habits, sexually
+cold, had occasional nocturnal emissions sometimes accompanied
+by slightly erotic dreams. Although better informed than the
+preceding case on sexual relations, his sexual appetite was
+almost entirely absent, and he regarded marriage as a purely
+intellectual alliance. He married an intelligent and passionate
+young girl whose sexual appetite was strongly developed, and at
+once began to treat her with great coldness, as a kind of
+domestic servant.</p>
+
+<p>The wife's family were in favor of divorce, but having pity on
+the husband, sent him to me for advice. I explained the matter
+to him, made him understand that the fault was entirely on his
+side, and that his first duty was to show affection for his
+wife, or if not, to accept divorce. The effect was purely
+psychical, and from this moment he became amiable and
+affectionate toward his wife. This was sufficient to cause the
+wife to give up the idea of divorce. I then told her that, on
+account of her husband's timidity and anomaly, the only thing to
+do was to reverse their roles, and for her to make the sexual
+advances. I have not heard anything more from this singular
+couple.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span>(3). A young man who had never had sexual connection before
+marriage, in spite of a strong sexual appetite, made the
+acquaintance of an intelligent young girl of excellent
+character. Marriage followed, and the wife was loyal to her
+husband, but remained sexually cold. She was insensible to
+coitus and only regarded it as a disagreeable complement of
+love. In spite of this she was fond of caresses, devoted to her
+husband, and had several children.</p>
+
+<p>(4). An intelligent and cultured man, normal from the sexual
+point of view, who had frequented prostitutes in his youth, but
+not excessively, married a rather nervous but apparently very
+amorous young woman. The marriage night produced on her the
+effect of a cold douche, and coitus offended and horrified her.
+The husband in his discomfiture took patience; but his love,
+which was never very strong, became shattered. To avoid all
+scandal each of the conjoints practiced dissimulation and
+adapted themselves more or less to each other. The wife allowed
+coitus, the husband tolerated her coldness. Several children
+were born, but the family was unhappy, and after a few years
+divorce put an end to it.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>SEXUAL HYPER&AElig;STHESIA, OR EXAGGERATION OF THE SEXUAL APPETITE</h4>
+
+<p>This anomaly may be congenital, for example, in the sexual paradoxy of
+children. Every one knows the Don Juans and Messalinas with their
+insatiable appetites. These types of sexual hyper&aelig;sthesia are
+certainly less frequent and more abnormal in women than in men, but
+the intensity is as great or greater.</p>
+
+<p>Sexual hyper&aelig;sthesia manifests itself by desires excited by every
+sensorial perception relating to the opposite sex, or simply by
+objects which recall it to the imagination; so that fetichism plays a
+great part in this condition. The feeling of satiety is hardly
+experienced at all, or only for a short time after each orgasm.
+Nymphomaniacs and satyrs are possessed by an insatiable sexual desire,
+often associated with certain sensations of anguish. This
+hyper&aelig;sthesia, even when it is not hereditary, may be developed up to
+a certain point by continued or repeated artificial excitations.</p>
+
+<p>In women it is during or after menstruation that the sexual appetite
+and consequently sexual hyper&aelig;sthesia are generally <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span>strongest, but
+there are many individual variations in this respect, and sometimes
+the opposite occurs.</p>
+
+<p>The effect of sexual hyper&aelig;sthesia is to direct the appetite toward
+any object capable of satisfying it. When the other sex is wanting,
+masturbation is generally resorted to. All mucous membranes (anus,
+mouth, etc.) and even inanimate objects may serve to satisfy the
+pathologically exalted appetite of such individuals. Men most
+distinguished in other respects may abandon themselves to the most
+foolish or abominable practices.</p>
+
+<p><i>Animals are often used to satisfy the hyper&aelig;sthetic sexual appetite
+in both sexes. The healthy woman is not prone to such desires, unless
+of psychopathic taint. Men visit prostitutes, and become excited at
+the sight of every woman who is neither too old nor too repulsive.
+Some individuals of this kind are pursued night and day by erotic
+images, which may even become an obsession and a veritable torment.</i></p>
+
+<p>A further degree of sexual hyper&aelig;sthesia is called <i>Satyriasis</i> in
+man, and <i>nymphomania</i> in woman. I have observed in women two very
+different varieties of sexual hyper&aelig;sthesia. In one, true nymphomania,
+the subjects are attracted toward man bodily and mentally with an
+elementary force; in these the whole brain follows the appetite in
+quite a feminine manner. Other women, on the contrary, are driven to
+masturbation by a purely peripheral excitation; they have erotic
+dreams with venereal orgasms which torment rather than please them;
+but they do not fall in love easily, and may have difficulty in the
+choice of a husband. Their mind alone remains feminine, full of tact
+and delicacy in its sentiments, while their lower nerve centers react
+in a more masculine and at the same time more pathological manner.
+There are many transitional forms between these two extremes.</p>
+
+<p>Sexual hyper&aelig;sthetics are often unhappy, and consult the physician for
+relief from the perpetual excitation which torments them. They attempt
+to master themselves and check their appetite in all ways, and are
+sometimes affected with nervous or mental depression. It is important,
+however, to recognize the fact, that many sexual hyper&aelig;sthetics remain
+quite <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span>fresh and active, and attain an advanced age, provided they
+escape alcohol and venereal disease.</p>
+
+<p>When sexual hyper&aelig;sthesia results chiefly from artificially acquired
+habits it may often be cured by hypnotic suggestion, and establishing
+self-control; but when it is hereditary and very intense, and
+especially when it is connected with infantile paradoxy or other
+anomalies, castration may be the only efficient remedy. When it is
+chiefly acquired, any strong diversion which turns the mind from
+sexual preoccupation to other subjects may have an excellent curative
+effect. The most intense hereditary cases may constitute a plague for
+the individual and for society, and it is then that castration may
+become a blessing by calming the obsessed patient, by giving him the
+opportunity for useful occupation, and by preventing him from abusing
+his fellows and procreating beings similar to himself.</p>
+
+<p>Nymphomaniacs often have polyandrous instincts, and they then become
+more insatiable than men. Several cases of this kind have been
+published in the press, and examples of such women are not rare in
+history. When a woman is possessed by passion she often loses all
+sense of shame, all moral sense and all discretion, as regards the
+object of her desires. She pays no attention to anything which is
+opposed to her passion, but may be full of reserve, tact and
+good-feeling in all other respects. Cases of this kind, however, have
+always a more or less marked pathological character.</p>
+
+<p>In man, satyriasis is very frequent. It often happens that a husband
+continually forces his wife to coitus, even during menstruation. We
+have mentioned already the case of an old peasant of seventy who thus
+abused his poor old wife. In such cases conjugal infidelity very
+commonly occurs. The cynicism of such individuals may go so far that
+they have intercourse with prostitutes or servants in the presence of
+their wives, or even abuse their own children. The wife behaves in
+these cases in different ways according to her character. Many
+tolerate everything and do not complain, for the sake of their
+children; others leave the husband or divorce him; some commit
+suicide.</p>
+
+<p>It would seem quite natural for nymphomaniacs to marry <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span>satyrs, but we
+must bear in mind the evil results for posterity from such an
+accumulation of the sexual appetite.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>MASTURBATION OR ONANISM</h4>
+
+<p>The term onanism is derived from the name of Onan, son of Juda and
+Suah and grandson of Israel. According to the Old Testament, Onan's
+father wished him to marry his brother's widow and have children by
+her; but this did not please Onan, and he provoked ejaculation of
+semen by friction, in order to avoid having children by his
+sister-in-law. "This offended God who slew him."</p>
+
+<p>We have already shown that in the child the sexual appetite manifests
+itself in a kind of obscure presentiment and vague sensations in the
+genital organs. If a young man cannot satisfy his sexual appetite
+naturally, the latter when it increases in strength provokes erotic
+dreams and nocturnal emissions; or artificial excitation of the penis
+may be practiced to produce orgasms: the latter phenomenon is called
+<i>masturbation</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Masturbation in man is performed by friction of the penis with the
+hand or against some soft body. In the latter case especially erotic
+images of naked women or female sexual organs is associated with
+onanism. This kind of masturbation may be called <i>compensatory</i>,
+because it does not depend on an anomaly of the sexual appetite, but
+serves to satisfy a natural want by compensation. There are a whole
+series of manipulations employed for the same object, which constitute
+the psychic equivalent of compensating masturbation. <i>In remote
+garrisons and in boys' schools the more libidinous individuals,
+usually those mentally tainted, often practice mutual masturbation or
+sodomy. This is the sex complex of the degenerate individual and in an
+effort to exterminate these pathological manifestations, they are
+being penalized by law, throughout the civilized world. It is
+unnecessary to prolong this enumeration. Those we have mentioned are
+the most common and it is agreed that men who are addicted to these
+practices are decidedly psychopathic, whether it may be caused by
+faulty heredity or anomaly in the psychology of the individual, this
+still remains to be proven. In reality they are often normal in other
+respects, but simply affected with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span>sexual hyper&aelig;sthesia. Sometimes
+they are feeble-minded individuals who have recourse to such practices
+because they are derided by women. Others are cynics, more or less
+vicious in other respects.</i></p>
+
+<p>Compensatory masturbation is extremely widespread, but it is as a rule
+neither recognized nor admitted because it is easy to conceal.
+Although depressing for those whose will power is overcome by an
+excitation which they cannot conquer, it is relatively the least
+dangerous form of onanism. At the most it leads to a certain amount of
+nervous and mental exhaustion by abuse of the facility of thus
+procuring a venereal orgasm. The loss of substance from frequent
+seminal ejaculations is also more or less weakening, although the
+secretion from the prostate plays a much greater part than the semen.
+But what especially affects the nervous system, is the repeated loss
+of the will, and the failure of resolutions made many times to
+overcome the desire for orgasm.</p>
+
+<p>Here, as elsewhere, effect is too often confounded with cause. Because
+men of feeble will power are addicted to onanism, it is imagined that
+the latter is the cause of the weakness of will. In itself, a seminal
+ejaculation provoked by masturbation is no more dangerous than a
+nocturnal emission; both are often accompanied by nervous sensations
+which are more disagreeable and exhausting than normal coitus. I must,
+however, point out that the effects of moderate masturbation in the
+adult have been greatly exaggerated, either by confounding the effect
+with its cause, or for mercenary objects, by driving timid persons to
+charlatans or to prostitutes.</p>
+
+<p>The active sexual appetite of man, increased by the accumulation of
+semen, is absent in woman. She does not have nocturnal emissions
+accompanied by voluptuous sensations which spontaneously awaken sexual
+desire. For this reason a pathological sexual excitability is
+necessary to spontaneously provoke in woman voluptuous dreams or
+masturbation. For the same reason we cannot speak of compensatory
+masturbation in woman. Onanism, however, is not uncommon among women,
+although less frequent than in men. It results either from artificial
+and local excitations, from bad example, or from <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span>pathological
+hyper&aelig;sthesia. When once the habit is acquired, repetition is produced
+by the difficulty of resisting voluptuous desires.</p>
+
+<p>Women perform masturbation by friction of the clitoris with the
+finger, or by introducing various hard and rounded objects into the
+vagina and imitating the movements of coitus; often also by rubbing
+the crossed thighs against each other. In the insane, masturbation is
+sometimes practiced to an excessive extent. Some hysterical women
+introduce objects into the urethra during masturbation and cause
+severe inflammation of the bladder.</p>
+
+<p>Another variety of sexual excitation which is often substituted for
+coitus among women, is the practice of mutual licking of the clitoris
+with the tongue (<i>cunnilingus</i>). Although not so dangerous as has been
+maintained, these habits are aberrations of the sexual appetite, and
+it is needless to say that every human being should abstain from them
+out of self-respect.</p>
+
+<p>The man who, for some reason or another, cannot obtain normal coitus
+should content himself with nocturnal emissions, and the woman with
+voluptuous dreams, and should both abstain from active and voluntary
+excitations. For my part, I consider prostitution, or "love" which is
+bought, as a variety of compensatory masturbation, and not as normal
+copulation. Coitus with a prostitute, generally infected with venereal
+disease, who receives new clients continually, has as little affinity
+with love as with the normal object of the sexual appetite&mdash;reproduction;
+and its moral value is certainly inferior to that of onanism.</p>
+
+<p>A second form of masturbation occurs in very young children from
+accidental irritation; in boys from phimosis; in girls from itching
+due to worms (oxyuris) about the anus and vulva. Innocent as regards
+its cause, this form of onanism may become dangerous by habit.
+Attention should therefore be paid to phimosis and worms, and the
+former treated by circumcision and the latter by the usual remedies.</p>
+
+<p>A third kind of masturbation is caused by example and imitation. This
+often occurs in schools and among children in general; and in this way
+very precocious sexual excitation may <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span>develop and become a habit
+difficult to suppress. The onanism of young children is certainly
+worse than that which begins after puberty; it not only renders the
+child idle and bashful, or increases these faults; but it also
+interferes with nutrition and digestion and develops a tendency to
+sexual perversion and to impotence. It often ceases, however, after
+careful supervision, combined with physical exercise and fresh air,
+and direction of the attention to other things. On the whole, the
+danger of this form of onanism has also been exaggerated. In most
+cases it is cured, when it is not based on abnormal predispositions or
+on an indolent and feeble character. Love and normal sexual
+intercourse are naturally the best remedies for masturbation due to
+seduction and habit, as soon as the subject has reached sexual
+maturity.</p>
+
+<p>We may include as a fourth form of masturbation the cases of paradoxy
+which we have mentioned previously. In this case onanism is produced
+spontaneously as the result of psycho-sexual precocity or hereditary
+pathological satyriasis.</p>
+
+<p>With the exception of the last paradoxical form which is based on
+incurable satyriasis, all the kinds of onanism which we have mentioned
+hitherto can only be successfully treated by kindness and confidence,
+combined with work and direction of the mind to wholesome and
+attractive subjects; not by threats or punishment. The new reformatory
+schools called <i>Landerziehungsheime</i> (Vide Chapter XVII) are an
+excellent remedy for onanism, for they keep the child occupied from
+morning to night and hardly leave him any time for bad habits; when he
+goes to bed he is too tired to do anything but sleep. However, great
+prudence and active supervision is required in these cases.</p>
+
+<p>The fifth class is constituted by the onanism of sexual inverts, and
+may be called <i>essential onanism</i>. This concerns men whose sexual
+appetite is directed toward their own sex instead of the other. They
+are called <i>homosexual</i>, and mutual onanism is, so to speak, the
+normal satisfaction of their inverted appetite. We shall refer to this
+again later on. While normal sexual intercourse is the best and most
+rational remedy for compensatory masturbation, there is no question of
+it here. Marriage is the worst and most scandalous remedy in such
+cases. It is therefore <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span>of the greatest importance in order to judge
+of the nature of the masturbation, to inquire into the kind of erotic
+images with which it is associated. If, in the case of a man, the
+images are those of women, it is simply a case of compensatory
+masturbation; but if the images are masculine, it is a case of sexual
+inversion. If masturbation is not accompanied by any images, the
+question remains doubtful. In young children this is explained by the
+fact that the psycho-sexual irradiations are not yet developed; but
+after puberty the absence of images as an object of eroticism suggests
+a certain anomaly and sometimes depends on a latent tendency to
+inversion.</p>
+
+<p><b>Relation of Masturbation to Hypochondriasis.</b>&mdash;Some onanists become
+much distressed, and reproach themselves for having spoilt their lives
+by their bad habit. They give way to lamentations before their doctor
+and their acquaintances, wring their hands with despair, and beg every
+one to come to their aid. They look upon themselves as poor sinners
+whose lives have been ruined, either by their own fault or by others.
+They have read Lamert's "Personal Preservation," or other sensational
+books which excite both the fear and the sexual desire of weak
+characters, whom they are intended to exploit. These poor devils
+believe themselves lost, and are truly pitiable objects. These form
+the types which are paraded as terrible examples in books on onanism
+which make timid persons' hair stand on end.</p>
+
+<p>When these unfortunate onanists are questioned on all the
+circumstances of the act of which they accuse themselves, we generally
+arrive at the following results:</p>
+
+<p>We recognize that we have to deal with psychopathic or neurotic
+subjects more or less tainted by heredity, timid and shunning their
+fellows, easily impressed by imagination, possessed of unhealthy
+sentiments and ideas; in fact, hypochondriacs, predisposed to look
+upon every sensation or slight indisposition as a grave disorder
+threatening their health or life. They thus live in perpetual anxiety.
+This mental anomaly has for a long time preceded the onanism, even if
+they have masturbated, which is often even not the case.</p>
+
+<p>Among the numerous patients of this kind that I have treated, there
+were many who had simply had nocturnal emissions since <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span>puberty, but
+they regarded themselves as lost men through masturbation! Many others
+no doubt practice compensatory masturbation, generally because their
+timid nature prevents them from frequenting prostitutes, or committing
+other sexual excesses, while the way in which they analyze their
+sensations easily leads them to onanism. On the other hand, they are
+generally so afraid that they do not give way to excessive
+masturbation, perhaps only once or twice a week or even less often, so
+that the normal frequency of coitus, according to Luther, is often not
+attained and seldom exceeded. Among these persons we find few
+precocious or excessive onanists. I admit, however, that a
+hypochondriacal constitution predisposes somewhat to onanism.</p>
+
+<p>But, what I wish to lay stress upon, is that the onanists who are full
+of lamentation and self-reproach are neither the most numerous nor
+those who commit the greatest excess. The worst onanists, those who
+provoke several ejaculations daily, belong to the category of sexual
+hyper&aelig;sthetics. These have not the classical aspect attributed to them
+by tradition; they are not pale and terrified creatures, but rather
+lewd individuals who are early transformed into impudent Don Juans.
+They may be as courageous, as clever and as strong as others and yet
+be disposed to all kinds of evil tricks and follies. It is, therefore,
+not true, as is so often said, that it is possible to recognize a
+masturbator by his face or manner.</p>
+
+<p>These excessive onanists no doubt do themselves harm in various ways,
+but the great error of taking sexual hypochondriasis for the type of
+onanists, is to confound cause with effect. Sexual hypochondriasis is
+in no way the effect of onanism, but precedes it, and onanism is
+rather its effect, or is simply associated with it. It is obvious that
+onanism, by its depressing effect, aggravates a mind beset with
+hypochondriacal anxieties.</p>
+
+<p>It results from these facts, first, that a sexual hypochondriac should
+be treated as a hypochondriac and not as an onanist; secondly, that
+the worst slaves of masturbation are not to be looked for among pale
+and dejected individuals.</p>
+
+<p>Among women, especially young girls, hypochondriasis is not common and
+cases of sexual hypochondriacs who accuse <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span>themselves of masturbating
+are rare among them. Women who masturbate generally keep their secret
+and are apparently very little affected by it. However, onanism does
+them nearly as much harm as men; it is true they have no loss of
+semen, but the repetition and intensity of the nervous irritation are
+greater than in man, and it is this which causes most exhaustion. In
+spite of this, it is curious to observe that women who masturbate are
+generally less ashamed than men, and are apparently less depressed by
+it. We must bear in mind that the loss of semen by masturbation has in
+man a peculiarly depressing effect, for it lacks its object and
+represents an absolutely abnormal satisfaction of the sexual appetite.</p>
+
+<p>It may be objected that this difference is due to another cause, that
+women who masturbate have less moral tone and are especially depraved
+individuals. I agree that this is often the case, but far from always.
+The intensity of the sexual excitability in women has nothing in
+common with their character; it may be associated with high
+intelligence, with high moral and &aelig;sthetic qualities, and even with a
+strong will. On the other hand, deficiency in moral sense and will may
+occur with sexual frigidity, and, as we have already seen, may lead to
+sexual excess without any voluptuous sensation, in accordance with the
+peculiarities of feminine sentiment. These facts show how complex are
+the causes of a given effect in the sexual domain.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>PERVERSIONS OF THE SEXUAL APPETITE OR PAR&AElig;STHESIA OF THE SEXUAL
+SENSATION</h4>
+
+<p>We are here concerned with sexual appetite provoked by inadequate
+objects. Krafft-Ebing having made a profound study of this question we
+shall follow his subdivisions in the main.</p>
+
+<p><b>Perverted Sexual Appetite Directed Toward the Opposite Sex.</b>&mdash;(A.)
+<i>Sadism</i> (association of sexual desire with cruelty and violence).
+History shows us a number of celebrated persons who satisfied their
+sexual desire by making martyrs of their victims, up to complete
+butchery. The most atrocious types of this kind are perhaps assassins
+such as "Jack the Ripper," who lie in wait for their victims like
+cats, pounce on them, revel <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span>in their terror, assassinate them by
+inches, and wallow voluptuously in their blood.</p>
+
+<p>The term sadism is derived from the celebrated Marquis de Sade, a
+French author, whose obscene romances overflow with cruel
+voluptuousness. Certain reminiscences of sadism are common both in man
+and woman. At the moment of highest excitation in coitus it is not
+uncommon for one or other of the couple to bite or scratch in the
+ecstasy of their amorous embraces. Lombroso remarks on the brutal
+excesses of soldiers when excited after battle. This is so to speak an
+inversion of sadism as regards cause and effect. After the exaltation
+of combat, that of desire possesses the mind, as in the inverse
+direction exaltation of desire gives rise in certain cases to that of
+violence and thirst for blood.</p>
+
+<p>Krafft-Ebing draws attention to the fact that love and anger are the
+two most violent effective conditions, and are at the same time the
+two powers which provoke the most motor discharges. This explains why
+they may be associated in the delirium of unbridled passions. To these
+facts is added an atavistic relic of the instinct of man's ancestors,
+the males of whom fought furiously to conquer the females by violence,
+which provoked desire in them, after the subjection of the object of
+their sexual appetite. True sadism can, however, only become effective
+by the combination of two causes: (1) by an exalted and absolutely
+pathological association of sexual desire with a sanguinary instinct,
+and with the desire to illtreat and overcome a victim; (2) by an
+almost absolute absence of moral sense and sympathy, combined with a
+violent and egoistic sexual passion. It is evident that the slight
+more or less sadic impulses which may involuntarily occur in the
+performance of normal coitus, are quite exempt from the second of
+these causes.</p>
+
+<p>Krafft-Ebing maintains that sadism is usually, if not always,
+congenital and hereditary. Sadism is for a long time restrained by
+fear, education or moral sentiments. It is only gradually, when normal
+coitus cannot procure for the perverted sexual appetite the
+satisfaction it requires, that the sadist gives way to his passion;
+this gives the latter a false appearance of acquired vice.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span>The highest degree of sadism leads to assassination. In this way human
+tigers entice young girls into a wood and cut them to pieces. Some
+begin by forcing them to coitus, after frightening them, or half
+strangling them; others masturbate in their ripped up entrails. But
+some others have no desire for coitus, nor anything resembling it,
+their desire being satisfied only by the sight of the terror,
+suffering and blood of their victim, whom they torture before killing.
+Others again associate desire with the rage of a wild beast to such a
+point that they swallow parts of their victim's body and drink the
+blood.</p>
+
+<p>Sadists become experts in the art of assassination without discovery.
+The cynicism with which some of them have described their sensations
+shows their cold indifference toward the tragic and the horrible.
+Krafft-Ebing describes a series of atrocious types of this kind, and
+unfortunately the press and the criminal law courts continually give
+us fresh examples. Some sadists assassinate children, others men, when
+their perversion is complicated with pederasty or sexual inversion.
+(The story of Bluebeard is probably based on the successive crimes of
+a sadic.)</p>
+
+<p>Sadists do not always confine their attacks to living people; some of
+them are <i>necrophiles</i>, who violate dead bodies and cut them in
+pieces: others again kill animals, whose sufferings and blood serve to
+satisfy their desires.</p>
+
+<p>Some sadists satisfy themselves by flogging prostitutes or pricking
+them till they bleed, while others prefer to martyrize their victims
+slowly, and thus procure the maximum of pleasure. Others again are
+contented with scenes symbolical of servitude, in which women are
+compelled to adore and supplicate them, etc. The humiliation of women
+takes part in the sadist appetite of man and often degenerates into
+fetichism. Simple imagination in which he plays the part of a tyrant,
+and which are complicated with onanism or normal coitus, often suffice
+to satisfy the sadist. Some sadists soil themselves with the
+excrements of the woman they "love!" When sadism assumes the character
+of a symbol or a fetich, seminal ejaculation and sensation generally
+occur without contact with the woman's body.</p>
+
+<p>Sadism is more common in men, but occurs also in women. Messalina and
+Catherine de M&eacute;dici are historical examples. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span>latter had her maids
+of honor flogged before her eyes, and said she was bathing in roses
+when she witnessed the massacre of the Huguenots. Women in whom sadism
+takes a milder form are contented with biting a man till he bleeds,
+during coitus.</p>
+
+<p>Sadism appears to be most often an effect of hereditary alcoholic
+blastophthoria.</p>
+
+<p>(B). <i>Masochism</i> (association of sexual desire with submission to
+cruelty and violence). The term masochism is applied by Krafft-Ebing
+to a form of sexual perversion described by Sacher-Masoch in several
+of his romances. Masochism is exactly the converse of sadism. The
+desire of the masochist is excited by humiliation, submission, and
+even blows; the pain he feels when he is flogged gives him intense
+pleasure. Like sadism, this perversion may be incomplete. When it is
+complete the masochist is affected with psychic impotence and is
+incapable of normal coitus. Ill-treatment and humiliation are alone
+capable of causing him erections, seminal ejaculations and pleasure.
+However, comedies representing his humiliation, or corresponding
+efforts of his imagination may succeed in replacing the reality and
+procure the desired effect.</p>
+
+<p>Like sadism, masochism is hereditary and congenital. When the first
+sexual sensations are produced, the masochist child sighs for a
+dominating woman who will illtreat him and make him her slave. His
+imagination is transported by the idea of being on his knees, of being
+trodden under foot, or bound in chains by her, etc. The cruel heroine
+of his heart must ridicule and humiliate him as much as possible.
+Corporal punishment with a beneficial object does not satisfy the true
+masochist. Rousseau, in his "Confessions," reveals the sexual feelings
+of the masochist.</p>
+
+<p>It is remarkable how far poetic conceptions are combined with the
+perversion of sexual sensations in masochists, leading them to dream
+of an imperious and cruel woman to whom they devote a love as humble
+as it is exalted, while normal coitus causes them no pleasure, and can
+sometimes only be accomplished with the aid of masochistic images.
+These images may also be accompanied by onanism. It is very common for
+masochists to become flagellants, and to be flogged or trampled on by
+prostitutes. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span>But it often happens that they only feel pain instead of
+pleasure, when the comedy which they have started appears revealed in
+all its absurdity, showing them a woman paid to illtreat them, and not
+doing it for her own enjoyment. Some masochists take pleasure in
+imagining themselves assassinated by a woman, or even cut in pieces.
+Others organize theatrical performances in which imperious women play
+the part of judges, before whom they appear naked and are flogged and
+condemned to death. Others again are contented with imagining these
+performances, combining them sometimes with coitus or masturbation.</p>
+
+<p>Krafft-Ebing is no doubt right in considering the lucubrations of the
+poet Baudelaire, and his necrophile imagination of his own carrion
+hung on a gibbet and devoured by vultures, as a mixture of sadism and
+masochism. He sought out the most repulsive women of all races,
+Chinese, negresses, dwarfs, giants, or modern women as artificial as
+possible, to satisfy his pathological instinct. The following case
+quoted by Krafft-Ebing from Hammond, is typical:</p>
+
+<p>A married man and father of several children was sometimes subject to
+attacks during which he visited a brothel, where he chose two or three
+of the fattest women. He stripped the upper part of his body, lay on
+the floor, crossed his hands, shut his eyes and ordered the women to
+tread with all their force on his chest, neck and face. Sometimes he
+required a still heavier woman or more cruel manipulations. After two
+or three hours he was satisfied, paid the women liberally and regaled
+them with wine, rubbed his bruises, dressed himself and returned to
+his office, to repeat this singular performance a week later.</p>
+
+<p>Krafft-Ebing describes, as masked masochism, certain cases of
+fetichism in which the nature of the fetich which causes sexual
+excitation and the manner in which it is used prove a desire for
+maltreatment and humiliation by a woman. This is especially the case
+with shoe and foot fetichism. Among those who are affected with this
+pathological specialty, voluptuous sensations are produced when they
+are trodden on by a woman's shoes or feet. They even dream of women's
+shoes and feet. Some of them put nails in their shoes, the pain of
+which gives them voluptuous sensations. Lastly, the shoes alone,
+especially when they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span>touch the penis, are sufficient to excite their
+sexual desire. Other masked masochists are excited by the secretions
+or even excrements of women.</p>
+
+<p>I have been consulted by a typical masochist, who, being very
+religious, was convinced that his perverted sexual appetite was a sin.
+He therefore married, thinking that God and repentance would change
+him. But when married he naturally found himself absolutely impotent
+and incapable of coitus.</p>
+
+<p>If masochism is common in men, it is produced in women rather as an
+exaggeration in the domain of her normal sexual sensations, for it is
+to a great extent in harmony with her passive sexual role. Woman does
+not like the weak man who submits to her. She prefers a master on whom
+she can lean. In fact, normal women do not like their husbands to ask
+advice from them too often, nor to be wanting in decision and
+self-confidence. On the contrary they like them to be firm and even
+somewhat imperious, provided they are not unkind. It is notorious that
+many women like to be beaten by their husbands, and are not content
+unless this is done. This appears to be especially common in Russia.
+Accentuated forms of pathological masochism are, however, rare in
+women.</p>
+
+<p>Masochism presents a certain analogy with the religious ecstasy of
+fakirs and flagellants who flog themselves. These individuals appear
+to become exalted in a kind of ecstatic convulsion with the idea of
+pleasing God or gaining Heaven by their martyrdom. We may add that,
+like sadism, masochism occurs in sexual inverts, but always having the
+same sex for its object. I know an old gentleman whose only pleasure
+consisted in receiving a shower of blows: as a boy, like Rousseau he
+tried by all kinds of ruses to obtain corporal punishment: when he
+grew up this became impossible and he devised tricks to urge
+schoolboys to fight each other, pretending to be angry and exciting
+their spirit of contradiction: the boys then pretended to fight him,
+and this sufficed for the rest of his life to excite erections and
+seminal ejaculations. This gentleman was a lawyer and told me his
+history, hoping that suggestion might cure him.</p>
+
+<p>The eroticism produced by submission to pain and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span>humiliation is often
+blended with that produced by performing acts of cruelty. These
+mixtures of sadism and masochism have been investigated by Schrenk
+Notzing, who concludes that they are intimately related.</p>
+
+<p><i>Fetichism</i> (production of voluptuous sensations by contact with or by
+the sight of certain portions of the body or clothes of woman). We
+have already mentioned this symptom and have seen the part it plays in
+some forms of masochism. A masked form of fetichism forms part of the
+normal sexual appetite, in the sense that certain parts of the body or
+clothes, certain odors, etc., especially excite the sexual desire of
+many people by recalling the individual to whom they belong.
+Therefore, parts of the body which normally excite sexual desire&mdash;the
+breasts, sexual organs, or other parts of the body usually
+covered&mdash;cannot be regarded as pathological fetiches.</p>
+
+<p>The true fetichist is a very pathological being, whose entire sexual
+appetite, often with all its irradiations in the higher sphere of
+love, if we can speak of love in such cases, is limited to certain
+objects connected with woman. The most common fetiches are women's
+handkerchiefs, gloves, velvet or shoes; or their hair, hands or feet,
+etc. In these cases the fetich plays the essential part, and is in no
+way associated with the image of a woman. The fetich is the sole
+object of "love." The sight or touch of the fetich, the pleasure of
+pressing it against the heart or the genital organs, are alone capable
+of producing erections and ejaculations. There are even fetichists
+whose sexual desire is only excited by the sight of certain feminine
+deformities, such as clubfoot, squint, etc. Hairdressers, who
+masturbate after dressing women's hair, are well-known examples of
+fetichism.</p>
+
+<p>Certain feminine costumes may serve as fetiches, and these are kept in
+some brothels to satisfy certain customers. Shoe fetichism is more
+common than that of clothes or handkerchiefs. Krafft-Ebing mentions a
+typical case of the psychic irradiation of fetichism; the individual
+in question thought it immoral and scandalous that women's shoes
+should be exposed in shop windows. Others blush when they see such
+things in the windows. Fetichism is essentially a masculine
+perversion. I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span>have been consulted by a fetichist who all his life had
+only felt erotic at the sight of shoes; later on he married, and his
+sexual desire becoming more and more concentrated on pointed and
+fashionable shoes, especially women's, but also men's, he could only
+obtain pleasure with his wife when she put on the shoes he was in love
+with, or when he put them on himself. The sight of shoes in shop
+windows always made him blush, while the female body made no
+impression on him. He could not buy the shoes he desired most, owing
+to a sentiment of shame, and the sight of them was often sufficient to
+produce erection and ejaculation.</p>
+
+<p><i>Exhibitionism.</i> There is a class of individuals, especially men,
+whose sole sexual desire consists in masturbating in the presence of
+women. They lie in wait behind some wall or bush, and masturbate
+openly when women pass that way. In these subjects an orgasm is only
+produced when they are observed by women. As soon as ejaculation has
+occurred they fly to avoid the police. They never attempt to molest
+the women whose presence excites them to this performance.</p>
+
+<p>These cases are not uncommon and naturally cause much scandal, so that
+the poor wretches seldom escape the police. These unfortunate persons
+who sometimes hold high social positions, have often been previously
+convicted, but cannot as a rule overcome their passion, which has much
+worse consequences for them than for the women and children whom they
+frighten or annoy.</p>
+
+<p>Exhibitionism is not rare among insane women and I have myself treated
+two typical cases. I do not know whether it occurs in women of sound
+mind, but at all events they cannot be addicted to it without running
+great risk.</p>
+
+<p><b>Sexual Inversion or Homosexual Love.</b>&mdash;However shocking or absurd the
+aberrations of the sexual appetite and its irradiations may be, of
+which we have spoken hitherto, they are at any rate derived from
+originally normal intercourse with adults of the opposite sex. Those
+we have now to deal with are distinguished by the fact that, not only
+the appetite itself, but all its psychic irradiations are directed to
+the same sex as the perverted individual, the latter being horrified
+at the idea of genital contact with the opposite sex, quite as much as
+a normal man is horrified <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span>at the idea of homosexual union. This
+horror is, however, confined to sexual matters, and in no way concerns
+those of social life. It is therefore a question of sexual desire of
+man for man, and woman for woman.</p>
+
+<p>What we have to deal with here has no connection with compensation as
+in cases of compensatory masturbation or pederasty, which are
+practiced, for want of anything better, by individuals whose normal
+sexual appetite cannot be satisfied otherwise. When excitation and
+desire become too strong, the purely animal (spinal) irritation of the
+sexual appetite may drive a man or woman to satisfy themselves by
+means which would otherwise disgust them.</p>
+
+<p>A. <i>Homosexual love in man.</i> It seems absurd that the whole sexual
+appetite and amorous ideals of a man can be directed all his life to
+persons of his own sex. This pathological phenomenon, however, is as
+common as it is certain, although its psychological and normal import
+has long been misapprehended, as much in judicial circles as by the
+general public. It is the inverts themselves, aided by psychiatrists,
+who have finally thrown light on the subject. An invert, named Ulrich,
+announced himself publicly as the apostle of homosexual love,
+describing inverts under the name of <i>Urnings</i>, a name which is still
+used in Germany. Ulrich and his disciples endeavored to prove an
+absurdity by maintaining that homosexuals are a special kind of normal
+men, and by attempting to obtain legal sanction for this kind of love.
+Ulrich gives the name <i>Dionings</i> to men whose sexual appetite is
+normal, <i>i.e.</i>, directed toward women. Such a pretension appears
+necessarily ridiculous to every man whose sexual sense is normal, and
+it is obviously absurd to apply the term "normal" to a sexual appetite
+absolutely devoid of its natural object, procreation. But this is
+quite characteristic of the sentiments of inverts.</p>
+
+<p>Hirschfeld, of Berlin, has recently attempted to show that homosexuals
+constitute a variety of normal man; but he plays with words and facts,
+invoking the names of celebrated inverts, and wrongly asserts that
+inversion is not hereditary.</p>
+
+<p>From the first dawn of sexual feeling in youth, male inverts have the
+same feelings as girls toward other boys. They feel <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span>the need for
+passive submission, they become easily enraptured over novels and
+dress, they like to occupy themselves with feminine pursuits, to dress
+like girls and to frequent women's societies. They regard women as
+friends, as persons with whom they have a fellow-feeling. They
+generally, but not always, have a banal sentimentalism, they are fond
+of religious forms and ceremonies, they admire fine clothes and
+luxurious apartments; they dress their hair and "fake" themselves with
+a coquetry which often exceeds that of women. They are not all like
+this, but one or other of these traits predominates in different
+individuals.</p>
+
+<p>Their sexual appetite, usually very strong and precocious, begins with
+an exalted love for some male friend. I have treated a great number of
+inverts and have always been struck with the intensity of their
+passion. Among other cases, I may mention that of an invert hospital
+attendant, who fell madly in love with one of his comrades and covered
+ten meters of white tape with the name of his beloved. The most
+passionate love letters, vows of fidelity till death, the most
+ferocious jealousy toward other friends of their beloved, and even
+ceremonies symbolical of marriage, are daily events among the
+homosexuals.</p>
+
+<p>The invert does not so easily become enamored of another invert as of
+normal men. These have a special attraction for him, but as they
+generally repulse him with disgust, or threaten to expose or exploit
+him, he is often obliged to content himself with his fellows. These
+gentlemen form among themselves a secret brotherhood, a kind of
+freemasonry which is recognized by signs.</p>
+
+<p>The first appearance of the homosexual appetite with its youthful
+impulses, causes love and happiness to appear to the invert in a
+special aspect, determined by the inverted irradiation of his sexual
+appetite. It represents the aim of his life as an amorous union with
+his beloved, and shapes his idylls, his romance and his ideal to this
+end. But later on, when his sexual desire increases and when he
+discovers that the majority of men feel differently to him, that the
+human race is reproduced by the union of men and women, etc., he
+becomes unhappy. He perceives that it would be both ridiculous and
+dangerous to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span>reveal his inner feelings, and generally gives way to
+masturbation. But all social barriers which oppose his appetite only
+increase his desire, and he becomes less and less able to dominate his
+passion for certain young men. The disgust and indignation of the
+latter, when they discover that they are not the object of simple
+affection but of perverted sexual love, are expressed only too
+clearly, and the poor invert sees himself condemned to perpetual
+torment in trying to hide his most violent desires and his most
+intimate and ideal aspirations, and finally to live in continual dread
+of being betrayed and prosecuted. It is thus easy to understand that
+he is happy in the discovery that his fellows form a secret society,
+and he associates with them immediately, when his moral sense and will
+are not strong enough to be proof against it.</p>
+
+<p><i>If the invert succeeds in finding a male to his liking and with a
+similar degenerative state of mind to his own, he will pay him the
+attention that the normal man would to a woman. It is therefore
+reasonable to believe that this mode of inversion is likewise an
+expression of pathological manifestation of the individual; usually
+accompanied by neurosis and a like corresponding deficiency in the
+physical makeup of the individual.</i></p>
+
+<p>The invert's ideal would be to obtain a legal license for marriage
+between men; but they are not very constant in their love and are much
+inclined to polyandry. Sexual love for women inspires them with
+contempt; they regard it as low and disgusting, at the most only good
+for the production of young inverts!</p>
+
+<p>Homosexual love has played a much greater part in the world's history
+than is generally believed. The Count de Platen and Sapho were
+inverts. The inverts themselves maintain that it was the same with
+Plato, Frederick the Great, Socrates, etc.; but this is not proved. In
+the East and in Brazil, homosexual love is very common.</p>
+
+<p>My experience agrees with that of Krafft-Ebing, that homosexual love
+is pathological in nature, and that nearly all inverts are in a more
+or less marked degree psychopaths or neurotics, whose sexual appetite
+is not only abnormal but usually also exalted. Insane inverts, such as
+King Louis II of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span>Bavaria, a great number of the insane, affected, for
+example, with <i>Pseudologia phantastica</i> (pathological swindlers), and
+who are also homosexual, show the intimate relationship which exists
+between sexual inversion (also called "uranism") and the psychoses.</p>
+
+<p>I agree with Rudin that the psycho-pathological phenomena presented by
+the majority of inverts are primitive and hereditary, and that they
+are hardly ever the effect of their tormented life, as Hirschfeld,
+Ulrich and their disciples maintain. The vexations, anxieties and
+other torments that they suffer may no doubt play a part in developing
+certain nervous conditions previously latent, but they can never
+create hereditary taints. We may admit that sexual inversion
+corresponds to a kind of partial hermaphrodism, in which the sexual
+glands and copulatory organs have the characters of one of the sexes,
+while the brain has, to a great extent, those of the other sex; but
+the phenomenon is none the less pathological.</p>
+
+<p>The inverts with whom we have most to do, especially in public asylums
+and at the courts of justice, are cynics and debauchees in spite of
+the ideal which they parade; but we should be wrong in concluding that
+this is always the case. The cynics make themselves heard because they
+do not restrain themselves. In my private practice I have known many
+very well-conducted inverts, possessing the most delicate sentiments,
+who had become pessimists owing to the shame and grief of a state of
+mind which they hid from the world.</p>
+
+<p>Inverts of this class often commit suicide, after having carried on in
+silence a desperate struggle against their morbid appetite, because
+they prefer death to defeat, which they consider a dishonor. The
+victims of these tragedies deserve all our pity, and sometimes our
+respect. Such individuals generally hold aloof from the brotherhood of
+inverts which they look upon with fear or disgust.</p>
+
+<p>In the picture of homosexuals there are two lamentable shadows, which
+are largely due to the severity with which most legislations track and
+condemn these unfortunate beings.</p>
+
+<p>(1). As soon as an invert realizes his abnormal and dangerous
+situation in society, in which he feels a pariah, he often makes up
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span>his mind to follow the advice of ignorant friends, and even, alas, of
+ignorant doctors, and try and cure himself by marriage. Sometimes he
+begins by visiting a brothel to see if he is capable of normal coitus
+with a woman. In this he often succeeds, if he is able to picture to
+himself a man in the person of the prostitute. He tries to persuade
+himself that the disgust which he felt at this experimental coitus was
+due to the fact that the "love" was bought; and he then decides to
+enter into conjugal life. This is at the same time the greatest
+absurdity and the worst action possible for him to commit, for his
+wife becomes a martyr and soon feels herself deceived, abandoned and
+despised. The invert treats her as a servant; he rarely has sexual
+intercourse with her, sometimes not at all, and only performs it with
+repugnance with a view to the procreation of young inverts, who will
+rise to his ideal. He invites his male lovers to his house and they
+indulge in orgies, especially when the wife, despised and neglected,
+has separated from him. Such marriages, which are fortunately less
+common since this question has been better understood, generally end
+in divorce, preceded by bitter and mutual deceptions. It is really
+criminal to favor them when we know what they lead to. (<i>It is against
+such unions, and against sexual indulgence of this nature, that the
+law ought to exert itself.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>(2). A second very grave result of homosexual love is the continual
+blackmail which is levied on inverts by all kinds of scamps. Public
+urinals are common meeting places for inverts. The blackmailers, who
+know this very well, follow them there and offer themselves for money;
+but as soon as they find out the name of their victim and his
+financial position, they begin to extort hush-money, threatening to
+prosecute him if he does not pay what they ask. If the invert is rich
+or of high position he has only to yield to the extortion, emigrate or
+commit suicide. In this way the life of most well-to-do inverts is
+ruined by perpetual anxieties, emotions and torments, because their
+morbid appetite instinctively urges them to abandon themselves to men
+who feel differently to themselves.</p>
+
+<p><i>Moll, Krafft-Ebing and Hirschfeld have written at great length on
+sexual inversion. The law takes a just point of view <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span>and is generally
+severe as regards this anomaly, especially in Germanic countries. Even
+homosexual love that does not affect minors nor insane persons, is a
+sign of degeneracy, but produces no offspring and consequently dies
+out by means of selection. We hope, therefore, that this type may be
+extinct some day, although it is still decidedly numerous, principally
+in the larger cities of the world. When a normal man is tormented by
+an invert, it is much easier to get rid of him than for a young girl
+to protect herself against the importunities of a man.</i></p>
+
+<p>It is quite another thing when the invert pays his attentions to
+minors, or when his appetites are complicated with dangerous sexual
+par&aelig;sthesias, such as sadism. Not long ago the terrible case of a
+sadist invert, Dippold, startled civilized Europe. By the aid of
+cruelty and intimidation this wretch martyrized two young boys
+confided to him for their education to such a degree that one of them
+died. Legal protection of the two sexes against sexual abuses of all
+kinds should be extended at least to the age of seventeen or eighteen.</p>
+
+<p>Sexual inversion has two curious results which have not received
+sufficient attention. Human society regards it as quite natural and
+without danger for individuals of the same sex to bathe, sleep and
+live together. In lunatic asylums, prisons, reformatories, etc., men
+are attended to by men, and women by women. The vow of chastity of
+Catholic priests and nuns leads in the same way to separation of the
+sexes. In all these customs sexual inversion has not been taken into
+consideration. It is not surprising, therefore, that homosexuals take
+advantage of this state of affairs and seek these situations which
+give them the opportunity for satisfying their perverted passions
+without running much danger. <i>They willingly choose a career suitable
+for their degenerate purposes, and especially that of attendant in
+lunatic asylums. In the latter case they take advantage of the mental
+condition of the patients and their incapacity to make complaints. In
+public baths inverts can freely enjoy the sight of naked men.</i></p>
+
+<p>So far we have only spoken of complete inversion; but there are
+transitional stages. Many individuals are neutral, animated by
+sensations floating between the two sexes. Krafft-Ebing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span>even speaks
+of psycho-sexual hermaphrodites, who are equally attracted by either
+sex, and cohabit sometimes with one, sometimes with the other. I knew
+a married man who was very capable with his wife but in spite of this
+was unfaithful to her, both with men and with other women. He was
+convicted several times for pederasty with men and young boys, and
+confessed to me that he had more pleasure from homosexual intercourse
+than from normal connection with women, but could satisfy himself
+either way. An incomplete invert declared to me that his ideal would
+be a man.</p>
+
+<p>Along with these cases there is a series of homosexuals in whom it is
+assumed that inversion has been acquired, because they commenced with
+a normal sexual desire for women. After being seduced by homosexuals,
+who initiate them in mutual onanism or pederasty, they are suddenly or
+gradually disgusted with women and become inverts (vide <i>Suggestion</i>).
+In reality, these are only relatively cases of acquired inversion. If
+we except the cases which depend on pure suggestion of which we shall
+speak later, there is a latent hereditary disposition to inversion,
+which is awakened on the first occasion and then develops strongly. It
+is easy to prove that men with normal sexual instincts immediately
+abandon the habits of onanism or pederasty which they have contracted
+through bad example or seduction, or by compensation for the want of
+the normal object, as soon as they can obtain normal sexual
+intercourse with one or more women. It is, therefore, false to regard
+homosexual sensations as depending on vice and depravity: they are a
+pathological product of abnormal hereditary sexual dispositions. At
+any rate, this is a general rule which has few exceptions.</p>
+
+<p>Sexual inversion is so widespread that in certain countries, for
+instance Brazil, and even in some European towns, there are brothels
+with men instead of women.</p>
+
+<p>I will mention here a very curious case of purely psychical but
+complete inversion of the sexual personality, combined with complete
+sexual an&aelig;sthesia:</p>
+
+<div class="block"><p>A man, aged 22, the son of an inebriate, with one imbecile
+sister. Of delicate constitution, but very intelligent, he was
+possessed since infancy with the idea that he was a girl,
+although <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span>his genital organs were properly formed and were
+normally developed at puberty. He had a horror of the society of
+boys, and of all masculine work, while he was quite happy in
+performing all the household duties of a woman. An irresistible
+obsession urged him to dress himself as a woman, and neither
+contempt, ridicule, nor punishment could cure him of it.
+Attempts to give him employment as a boy in a small town failed
+completely. His girlish manners made him suspected by the
+police, who took him for a girl dressed in boy's clothes, and
+threatened to arrest him. When he was compelled to put on male
+attire he consoled himself with wearing a woman's chemise and
+corset underneath.</p>
+
+<p>I carefully examined this individual and found him affected with
+complete sexual an&aelig;sthesia. He had a horror of everything
+connected with the sexual appetite, but the idea of sexual
+intercourse with men was still more repugnant than that of
+normal coitus with women. Although the testicles and penis
+appeared absolutely normal, he never had erections. His voice
+was high pitched and his whole manner suggested that of a
+eunuch.</p></div>
+
+<p>This case is very instructive, for it clearly shows how the
+psycho-sexual personality may be predetermined by heredity in the
+brain alone, independently of the sexual organs, and even act without
+a trace of sexual sensation or appetite. This was undoubtedly a case
+of alcoholic blastophthoria and not ordinary heredity.</p>
+
+<p>Krafft-Ebing describes the following scene, taken from a Berlin
+journal, dated February, 1894, which gives a good idea of the manners
+and customs of the homosexual fraternity:</p>
+
+<p>"<i>The misogynist's ball.</i> Almost all the social elements of Berlin
+have their club or meeting place&mdash;the fat, the bald, the bachelors,
+the widowers&mdash;why not the misogynists? This variety of the human
+species, whose society is hardly edifying, but whose psychology is
+peculiar, held a fancy dress ball a few days ago. The sale, or rather
+the distribution of tickets was kept very private. Their meeting place
+is a well-known dancing hall. We enter the hall about midnight.
+Dancing is going on to the music of a good orchestra. A thick cloud of
+smoke obscures the lamps and prevents us at first from distinguishing
+the details of the scene. It is only during an interval that we <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span>can
+make a closer examination. Most of the people are masked, dress coats
+and ball dresses are exceptional.</p>
+
+<p>"But what do I see? This lady in rose tarlatan, who has just
+pirouetted before us has a cigar in her mouth and smokes like a
+trooper. She has also a small beard, half hidden by paint. And she is
+now talking to an "angel" in tights, very <i>d&eacute;collet&eacute;</i>, with bare arms
+crossed behind her, also smoking. They have men's voices and the
+conversation is also masculine, for it turns on 'this cursed tobacco
+will not draw.' Two men dressed as women!</p>
+
+<p>"A clown in conventional costume leaning against a pillar is speaking
+tender words to a ballet dancer, with his arm round her waist. She has
+a Titian head, a fine profile and good figure. Her brilliant earrings,
+her necklace, her shapely shoulders and arms seem to proclaim her sex,
+when suddenly disengaging herself from the embracing arm she turns
+away with a yawn, saying in a bass voice, 'Emile, why are you so
+tiresome to-day?' The novice hardly believes his eyes: the ballet
+dancer is also a man.</p>
+
+<p>"Becoming suspicious, we continue our investigations, beginning to
+think that the world is here upside down. Here is a man who comes
+tripping along; but no, it cannot be a man, in spite of the small and
+carefully curled mustache. The dressing of the hair, the powder and
+paint on the face, the blackened eyebrows, the gold earrings, the
+bouquet of flowers on the breast and shoulder, the elegant black gown,
+the gold bracelets, the fan held in a white-gloved hand&mdash;none of these
+things suggest a man. And with what coquetry he fans himself; how he
+dances and skips about! Nevertheless, Nature has created this doll in
+the form of a man. He is a salesman in one of the large sweet shops,
+and the ballet dancer is his colleague!</p>
+
+<p>"At the table in the corner there is a convivial meeting; several
+elderly gentlemen are gathered round a group of very <i>d&eacute;collet&eacute;</i>
+'ladies' sitting over a glass of wine and cracking jokes which are
+anything but delicate. 'Who are these three ladies?' 'Ladies! laughs
+my better-informed companion; well, the one on the right with the
+brown hair and short fancy dress is a hair-dresser; the second, the
+blonde with the pearl necklace is known <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span>here by the name of Miss
+Ella, and he is a ladies' tailor; the third is the celebrated Lottie.'</p>
+
+<p>"But this cannot be a man? The waist, the bust, the delicate arms, the
+whole appearance is feminine! I am told that Lottie was formerly an
+accountant. To-day she, or rather he, is simply 'Lottie,' and takes
+pleasure in deceiving men as to his sex as long as possible. At this
+moment Lottie is singing a song in a contralto voice acquired by
+prolonged practice, which a female singer might envy. Lottie has also
+taken female parts on the stage. Nowadays the former accountant is so
+imbued with his female role that he seldom appears in the street
+except in woman's attire, and even wears an embroidered nightdress.</p>
+
+<p>"On closer examination of the persons present, I discovered to my
+astonishment several acquaintances. My bootmaker, whom I should never
+have taken for a misogynist, appears to-night as a troubador with
+sword and plumed cap; and his 'Leonora,' in the costume of a bride,
+generally serves me with Havanas in a cigar store. When Leonora
+removed her gloves I recognized her at once by her large chilblained
+hands. Here is my haberdasher promenading in an indelicate costume as
+Bacchus; also a Diana, dressed up atrociously, who is really a waiter
+at a caf&eacute;.</p>
+
+<p>"It is impossible to describe the real 'ladies' who are at this ball.
+They only associate with each other and avoid the women-hating men;
+while the latter also keep to themselves and absolutely ignore the
+fair sex."</p>
+
+<p><b>B. Feminine Sexual Inversion and Homosexual Love.</b>&mdash;Sexual inversion
+is not rare in women, but manifests itself less publicly than the
+corresponding masculine inversion. It is called Lesbian love or
+<i>saphism</i>; and the women inverts are known as <i>tribades</i>. They are
+described in history, but may also be observed in modern towns. <i>They
+satisfy their pathological appetite by degenerate practices heretofore
+mentioned in harmony with their inverted mentality.</i> The feminine
+invert likes to dress as a man and feels like a man toward other
+women. She goes in for manly games, wears her hair short, and takes to
+men's occupations in general. Her sexual appetite is often much
+exalted and then she becomes a veritable feminine Don Juan. I have
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span>known several women of this kind, who held veritable orgies and
+induced a whole series of young girls to become their lovers, in the
+way we have just indicated.</p>
+
+<p>Here again, as in masculine inversion, there is a true irradiated
+love. Inverts want to marry and swear eternal fidelity; they celebrate
+their betrothals, even openly, the invert in male attire representing
+the bridegroom; or sometimes they have secret symbols, such as
+exchanging rings, etc. These sexual orgies are often seasoned with
+alcohol.</p>
+
+<p><i>The excesses of female inverts exceed those of the male. This is
+their one thought, night and day, almost without interruption.
+Jealousy is also as strong as among male inverts. However, these
+nymphomaniac inverts are not very common.</i></p>
+
+<p>A characteristic peculiarity of feminine inversion depends on the
+irradiation of the sexual appetite in woman (<i>vide</i> Chapters IV and
+V). We have seen that there is much less distinction in woman between
+love and local sensations of pleasure, and between friendship and
+love, than in man. When a woman invert wishes to seduce a normal girl,
+it is easy for her to do so. She first wins her affection by the aid
+of the caresses of an exalted platonic love, which is not uncommon
+among women; kisses, embraces, and sleeping in the same bed are much
+more common among girls than boys, and little by little the invert
+succeeds in causing voluptuous sensations in her victim. Very often
+the object of these caresses does not recognize that there is anything
+abnormal in all this, or gives way to her sensations without
+reflection, and then becomes amorous in her turn. I will give an
+example:</p>
+
+<p>A female invert, dressed as a young man, succeeded in winning the love
+of a normal girl, and was formally betrothed to her. Soon afterwards
+the woman was unmasked, arrested and sent to an asylum, where she was
+made to put on woman's clothes. But the young girl who had been
+deceived continued to be amorous and visited her "lover," who embraced
+her before every one, in a state of voluptuous ecstasy, which I
+witnessed myself. When this scene was over, I took the young girl
+aside and expressed my astonishment at seeing her continue to have any
+regard for the sham "young man" who had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span>deceived her. Her reply was
+characteristic of a woman: "Ah! you see, doctor, I love him, and I
+cannot help it!"</p>
+
+<p>What can one reply to such logic? A psychic love of this kind is
+hardly possible in man; but if we go to the bottom of the matter and
+study the nature of woman, we can understand how certain feminine
+exaltations may be unconsciously transformed into love, platonic at
+first, afterwards sexual. At first, "they understand each other so
+well," and have so much mutual sympathy; they give each other pet
+names, they kiss and embrace, and perform all kinds of tender actions.
+Finally, a graduated scale of caresses leads almost unconsciously to
+sexual excitation.</p>
+
+<p><i>This is how it happens that a normal woman, systematically seduced by
+an invert, may become madly in love with her and commit sexual
+excesses with her for years, becoming herself essentially
+pathological. The case only becomes really pathological when it is
+definitely fixed by long habit; a thing which easily occurs in woman,
+owing to the constant and monogamous nature of her love.</i></p>
+
+<p>Krafft-Ebing's cases show the same phenomena, (for instance the invert
+called "Count Sandor" and her victims). In these cases also young
+girls, seduced by inverts, fell into despair and even threatened to
+commit suicide when their seducers abandoned them. On the other hand,
+when a normal man, seduced by an invert, practices mutual masturbation
+the affair remains localized and limited to purely animal sensations
+of pleasure which do not irradiate to his psychic life; such
+irradiations only occur in the invert, so that his victims are always
+ready to abandon him without the least regret. If we except children,
+it therefore follows that the so-called male victims are nearly always
+blackmailers, or simply offer themselves for money.</p>
+
+<p>In fact, the normal man entirely separates the sympathy, or even the
+exalted affection, which he feels for another man, from all sexual
+sensations, and has not the least desire to kiss or caress his best
+friend, still less to have sexual intercourse with him. All sensual
+caresses between men are, therefore, suggestive of inversion even in
+places where women are absent.</p>
+
+<p>In the normal woman, on the contrary, as we have already <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span>mentioned,
+sentiments of exalted sympathy easily provoke the desire for kisses
+and caresses, and these caresses often cause in women a certain amount
+of vague sensual pleasure. When this pleasure leads to progressive
+tenderness and ends in mutual onanism, etc., it nevertheless remains
+intimately connected with psychic exaltations and sentiments of
+sympathy, from which it cannot be separated as in man.</p>
+
+<p>In a former chapter we have described the difference between the two
+sexes, but nowhere is it more distinctly shown than in the relations
+between a female invert and her victims.</p>
+
+<p>It is therefore much more difficult in woman than in man to
+distinguish in particular cases between the hereditary disposition to
+inversion, and saphism acquired by seduction or habit. The latter is
+common in prostitutes and libidinous women.</p>
+
+<p>As we have already said, the pure female invert feels like a man. The
+idea of coitus with men is repugnant to her. She apes the habits,
+manners and clothes of men. Female inverts have been known to wear
+men's uniforms and perform military service for years, and even behave
+as heroes; their sex sometimes only being discovered after their
+death.</p>
+
+<p><b>Sexual Appetite for Children. (Pederosis.)</b>&mdash;It may be questioned
+whether this is a special category, for many sexual assaults committed
+on children are simply the effect of senile dementia, or abuse of
+children to satisfy an otherwise normal sexual appetite. I have,
+however, observed cases where children were so specially, or even
+exclusively, the object of the sexual appetite, that I cannot doubt
+the existence of a special hereditary perversion in this direction.</p>
+
+<p>No doubt, most of those who abuse children are also capable of coitus
+with women, or else they are inverts, sadists, etc.; but with many of
+them sexual passion for children is so marked from their youth upward,
+that it shows a special hereditary disposition. For this pathological
+disposition, thus defined, I propose the term <i>pederosis</i>; that of
+<i>pederasty</i> applying to degeneracy between man and man, whatever
+causes lead to it. Krafft-Ebing, who does not believe in the existence
+of a hereditary pederosis, gives the name <i>erotic pedophilia</i> to the
+abuse of children by depraved persons.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span>The following are cases of exclusive and hereditary pederosis: A
+talented artist, possessing high moral sentiments, was affected from
+his youth with a sexual appetite exclusively directed toward little
+girls of five or six years. At the age of twelve they ceased to
+attract him. He was quite indifferent to adults of both sexes, and
+never accomplished coitus. <i>Having recognized in good time the anomaly
+of his appetite, he succeeded in mastering it all his life, and
+through education on the subject as well as a general physical
+development, he neutralized these morbid desires, particularly through
+the training of his mind to cleaner and more wholesome topics. A great
+help in this type of condition is work therapy. His moral sentiments
+and principles were always strong enough to prevent him going any
+further, and he eventually obtained relief. But this condition gave
+rise to increasing nervous irritation and melancholic depression.</i></p>
+
+<p>In another man, the sexual appetite, also perverted since its origin,
+was directed only toward boys of twelve or sixteen. At one time girls
+of the same age excited him, while he was quite indifferent toward
+adult women and men.</p>
+
+<p>In rare cases the sexual appetite of certain women is directed toward
+little boys.</p>
+
+<p><b>Sexual Appetite for Animals. (Sodomy or Bestiality.)</b><a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a>&mdash;A human
+sexual appetite exclusively directed toward animals is certainly not
+common. Coitus between man and animals usually takes place for want of
+the opportunity for normal satisfaction, or else as the result of
+satyriasis, nymphomania or desire for change. I have observed it
+especially in idiots and imbeciles who are ridiculed by girls. To
+console themselves, they give vent to their feelings with a patient
+cow or goat in the silence of the stable: for this act they get
+several years imprisonment, for the law on this point is severe.
+Certain degraded libertines satisfy their hyper&aelig;sthetic and perverted
+appetites with goats or even with large birds or rabbits.</p>
+
+<p>There are, however, cases where a pathological sexual appetite is
+specially directed toward animals, and it is curious to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span>observe the
+frequent preference of certain individuals for small animals which
+they skin (fowls, geese, rabbits), and thus put to death.</p>
+
+<p><i>Bestiality is not rare in women who are also subject to this filthy,
+obnoxious and degenerative practice. Even if we put aside cases of
+torture inflicted on small animals and if we avoid all prejudices, we
+can still, in all normality, consider bestiality as a crime,
+manifested by the depraved mind. In fact, considered from the point of
+view of law and humanity, bestiality is one of the most indecent of
+all the pathological aberrations of the sexual appetite. Human
+imagination only has marked it with the stigma of moral depravement
+and has made it a crime. But it is recognized scientifically that it
+is a state of mental inferiority and often a sign of idiotic tendency,
+usually accompanied by a case history, tainted heredity and highly
+neurotic constitution. &AElig;stheticism has reason for complaint, and more
+than one painter or sculptor has represented the union of Leda with
+the Swan. It is certainly much better for society, for an idiot or an
+imbecile to be castrated than for him to make a girl pregnant and
+breed more idiots.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>In cases of this kind which I have known and which were brought to
+justice, I consider that the real sinner, the sodomite, should be
+confined to an insane asylum under medical attention, and not, as at
+present, to be condemned to imprisonment, thus making a martyr of him
+for no reason, and putting the ban of society upon him. It is needless
+to say that cases of sodomy complicated by cruelty or sadism, should
+be judged differently.</i></p>
+
+<p>There are also other hereditary or constitutional perversions, more or
+less characteristic, of the sexual appetite, but we cannot enumerate
+all of them. We may mention, however, the erotic excitement which some
+men feel at the sight of statues of women, which urges them to
+masturbate against these statues.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>SEXUAL ANOMALIES IN THE INSANE AND IN PSYCHOPATHS</h4>
+
+<p>When one is familiar with the population of a lunatic asylum, one is
+struck by a singular phenomenon, from the sexual point of view. A
+great number of insane women give evidence of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span>intense sexual desire.
+This desire is manifested in some by incessant masturbation; in others
+by obscene conversation; in many others, by imaginary love, sometimes
+sensual, sometimes platonic; often by direct provocation to coitus
+addressed to the medical officers; but especially by perpetual scenes
+of jealousy, and often by reciprocal suspicions regarding their sexual
+life. In fact, a lunatic asylum reveals to us, in the form of
+repulsive caricatures, all gradations and variations of a more or less
+degenerate feminine sexual life, coquetry, wearing all kinds of
+ornaments, jealous anger, erotic excitement, etc.</p>
+
+<p>The sexual excitation of the insane often makes them soil themselves
+with urine and excrements, and heap insults on persons whom their
+diseased imagination suspects of sexual assaults or immodest acts
+toward themselves or others. They have a tendency to believe
+themselves betrothed or married to kings, emperors, Jesus Christ or
+God. Pregnancy and childbirth play a large part in their delirium.
+Some patients imagine themselves pregnant and pretend that they were
+fecundated secretly. Afterwards they believe that some one has taken
+away their child while they were asleep.</p>
+
+<p>One of my former patients once accused me of going to her bed at night
+and fecundating her every week. She also accused me of having hidden
+the hundreds of children which I was supposed to have procreated with
+her, and martyred them. Owing to these hallucinations she heard their
+cries day and night.</p>
+
+<p>Another patient, affected with curable acute mania, was so erotic
+during her attacks that she made advances toward all the doctors who
+visited her. Her mind was full of such erotic images that after her
+cure she was frightened of being pregnant, although she had passed the
+whole of her time of detention under supervision by female attendants.
+Women who in their normal state are most modest or sexually cold may
+be most erotic when they become insane, and may even behave as
+prostitutes. This is especially observed in periodic hypomania. It is
+a well-known fact in the female divisions of lunatic asylums, that the
+doctors are always surrounded by erotic patients, who catch hold of
+their clothes and pinch them, and try and embrace or scratch them
+according as they are amorous or jealous, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span>so that they often have
+trouble in escaping from these signs of violent love or furious
+jealousy.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, in the male divisions of asylums, one is astonished
+at the indifference and profound sexual apathy of nearly all insane
+men. Some practice masturbation and others attempt pederasty, but all
+with a philosophical calmness due to their dementia. Young women may
+even go among them without any fear of assaults or indecent language.
+It is only a few of the most violent who are exceptions to this rule.</p>
+
+<p>A young lady doctor, assistant medical officer to the asylum at
+Zurich, made her visits alone among all the males, even the most
+violent, without any inconvenience; while, in the female divisions,
+she was approached by the erotic patients as much as were the male
+assistants. I mention this fact because some people wrongly imagine
+that the sexual excitation of insane women is due to the visits of
+male doctors. These facts are very striking and furnish perhaps the
+best proof that the feminine sexual appetite is especially situated in
+the higher brain, while the masculine appetite is situated more in the
+lower cerebral centers, as we have shown above. Mental alienation is
+due to irritations of the higher brain, and this explains why in women
+it lets loose such violent sexual passions and images, and why there
+is so little of this in men.</p>
+
+<p>The sexual pathological symptoms of the insane are as follows:</p>
+
+<p>(1). <i>Erotomania</i> (satyriasis and nymphomania), or abnormal exaltation
+of the sexual appetite. This is especially seen in acute mania, in the
+early stages of general paralysis and senile dementia, also
+temporarily or permanently in other psychoses. It is manifested by
+sexual excesses, obscene language or excessive masturbation. All these
+symptoms disappear after the attack of insanity.</p>
+
+<p>(2). <i>Sexual an&aelig;sthesia</i> or <i>hypo&aelig;sthesia</i> or even <i>impotence</i> may
+occur in the later stages of general paralysis and senile dementia. At
+the commencement of general paralysis there is often violent sexual
+desire combined with more or less complete impotence. The same thing
+occurs, as we shall see, in alcoholism.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span>(3). Subjects affected with systematic delirium of persecution and
+grandeur (paranoia) sometimes commit atrocious sexual excesses, and
+often tyrannize and torment in a terrible way the women who are their
+victims. It is especially in the religious forms of this delirium,
+combined with fanatic ecstasy, that the most repulsive sexual orgies
+occur. I have treated a patient with paranoia who, full of pious
+sayings, regarded himself as a kind of prophet. He made a poor girl
+and her mother sleep in his room and had connection with them
+alternately. Finally, he mixed his semen in coffee with the girl's
+menstrual blood and made her drink the mixture, pretending that this
+was a religious ceremony intended to produce a strong race. In the end
+he set fire to the house of these poor women.</p>
+
+<p>Subjects affected with partial paranoia often turn the heads of
+susceptible women by the aid of ascetic religious phraseology, to
+gratify afterwards their sexual passions. The worst cases are those
+who are able to hide from the public their delirious ideas, and pass
+for normal individuals, misunderstood victims, or even saints. I have
+examined a very orthodox clergyman, highly esteemed by his
+congregation on account of his ascetic and enthusiastic preaching. In
+his own home he illtreated his wife, half strangled her, and exacted
+all kinds of sexual depravity. Unfortunately, the nature of his
+delirium was not very evident, and he dissimulated so well that the
+jurists would not admit his irresponsibility, in spite of my medical
+certificate. His wife was obliged to run away to escape from her
+martyrdom. The community of property in force in this family
+completely ruined this unfortunate woman. The husband was not a
+hypocrite, but simply insane. Volumes could be written on sexual
+atrocities committed by such people.</p>
+
+<p>I will mention briefly the systematic delirium directed toward
+pathological love. This is a very common symptom in insane women who
+combine their amorous sentiments for man with the maddest ideas and
+hallucinations. An insane woman suddenly discovers that the object of
+her love is a king or Jesus Christ, and that she is betrothed to him.
+In her delirium she imagines herself to be queen of the world. In her
+dreams and hallucinations her king or Christ is in bed with her and
+she <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span>imagines she has connection with him. Still under the influence
+of hallucinations, she believes herself pregnant and carries an
+imaginary child for nine months in her womb. She may even imagine that
+she has given birth to a child, and that the child has been taken away
+from her by the aid of narcotics, as we have seen above. Although
+there is an infinite variety in the gradations, the pathological
+images of the cerebral sexual sphere of insane women always revolve
+round this eternal theme.</p>
+
+<p>These pathological irradiations of the sexual sphere are associated
+voluntarily with jealous obsessions and ideas of persecution, which
+make the subjects furious, and which are confirmed by their
+par&aelig;sthesias and hallucinations. Illusions of memory play a great part
+in these cases, for the subjects have often never felt what they
+complain of, and it is then a question of veritable hallucinational
+memory. We may here observe by the way that, even among healthy
+people, the sexual passions, like the others, always tend to falsify
+memory, making things appear in the exclusive sense of the affective
+state. Once fixed in the memory, such conceptions, the false tendency
+of which was originally based on passion, gradually assume the
+subjective character of certainty. Cool-headed people, or those whose
+affective state directs them to contrary conceptions, then see in such
+individuals a deliberate intention to misrepresent the facts. This is
+the reason why people so often hurl mutual insults at each others
+heads, calling each other liars and calumniators, owing to the
+affective illusion of memory.</p>
+
+<p>(4). One of the worst of the sexual anomalies in the insane is
+<i>pathological jealousy</i>, especially in men. Their wives then become
+martyrs, especially in cases of alcoholism and paranoia. It is not
+uncommon for assassination to put an end to their torments. Among
+insane women, jealousy is certainly not less, but they have less legal
+power and less muscular strength. The most violent jealousy is found
+in alcoholics.</p>
+
+<p>Jealous delirium renders the subject furious; a word, a look, or some
+trivial circumstance are enough for him to prove the infidelity of his
+wife. The latter has to avoid the slightest thing which might arouse
+jealousy, but all in vain; reserve and even prudery are regarded by
+the jealous husband as hypocrisy. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span>The unfortunate man watches his
+wife, night and day, like a watchdog: he threatens and insults her
+with no reason, and calumniates her in all ways, even in the presence
+of a third party. He even lays elaborate traps for her. Cases of this
+kind are legion.</p>
+
+<p>(5). It is necessary to say that the <i>sexual par&aelig;sthesias</i>, of which
+we have spoken, sadism, masochism, fetichism, inversion, etc., often
+occur in the insane.</p>
+
+<p>(6). The most atrocious sexual crimes are very often the work of
+idiots or imbeciles, but especially <i>moral idiots</i>, <i>i.e.</i>, persons
+whose idiocy is limited to the moral sense, who are also called simply
+<i>amoral</i>. This is due to hereditary taint, an innate absence of all
+sentiments of sympathy, pity and duty. Rape, violation of children,
+sexual assassination, etc., are usually due to the concomitant action
+of moral idiocy and violent or perverted sexual passions.</p>
+
+<p>(7). <i>Hypochondria</i> also causes singular results in the sexual sphere.
+We have already dealt with the masturbation of certain hypochondriacs,
+which is often wholly or partly imaginary. Others believe they have
+committed terrible sexual excesses, when nothing of the kind has
+occurred. I have seen a hypochondriac married and strongly built, who
+believed his health was ruined because he cohabited with his wife once
+every two or three months. Other hypochondriacs become impotent simply
+because they think they are. Others again imagine they are affected
+with venereal disease, which they have never contracted.</p>
+
+<p>(8). Hysterical men and women have a very peculiar sexuality. Hysteria
+depends on auto-suggestion or on an exalted and morbid dissociability
+of psychic activity. A single idea is sufficient in a hysterical
+subject, to produce the realization of what it represents. The
+passionate imagination may lead to opinions and actions which are
+absolutely contradictory. Love and hatred often alternate by
+transformation. According to the influences to which she is exposed,
+the same hysterical woman may become a good or evil genius.</p>
+
+<p>In the sexual domain the same extremes are produced in a very striking
+manner. Inflamed by love, a hysterical woman may exhibit phenomenal
+eroticism and the most violent sexual <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span>excesses, while indifference,
+disgust, or simply distraction by other ideas will render her
+absolutely frigid. Cold as ice toward other men, she may have
+insatiable sexual desire for the man she loves.</p>
+
+<p>The question is often raised whether a woman can love more than once
+in her life. There is no doubt that many women are so monogamous by
+instinct that they cannot love more than once; but it is also certain
+that a hysterical woman is capable of loving several times, and very
+different persons at different periods of her life. The personality of
+certain erotic hysterical women is even so dissociable that they can
+love with all their strength several men at the same time. But the
+hysterical woman is also capable of hating a man with as much ardor as
+she formerly loved him; or, on the contrary, of loving the one she
+formerly hated, according to the suggestion of the moment. The same
+phenomena occur in hysterical men.</p>
+
+<p>For the same reasons the quality of the sexual sensations and
+sentiments may vary in a hysterical subject according to the
+influences it is subjected to, and pass from the normal to the
+perverted state, or inversely. I have observed a case where a highly
+cultured hysterical subject, in her early youth, fell in love with
+another young girl. At this period her sentiments were purely
+homosexual; her love for the young girl was clearly inverted and
+accompanied by intense sexual desire, while she was absolutely
+indifferent to men. Later on, a man fell in love with her, and she
+yielded to him rather from pity and feminine passiveness than from
+love. Still later she fell passionately in love with another man,
+quite as much as she had been with the young girl of her early youth.
+Her latest love was both exalted and libidinous. Her sexual appetite
+had thus taken the normal direction under the influence of a
+hetero-sexual affection.</p>
+
+<p>In hysterical men analogous changes occur less easily, on account of
+the nature of masculine sexuality which distinguishes more clearly
+between the mind and the appetite; but these changes are observed
+sometimes. In woman, the hysterical imagination and dissociation
+facilitate a polyandrous irradiation of the sexual appetite, which is
+otherwise rare in the female sex. In this respect the sexuality of
+hysterical women resembles that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span>of men and differs from that of
+normal women. Hysterical men, on the other hand, become more feminine,
+not by their appetite being less polygamous, but by the more
+dissociated form of their thoughts and sentiments.</p>
+
+<p>(9). A variety of the pathological love of abnormal individuals is
+<i>imaginary love</i>, not founded on delirious ideas. Certain psychopaths
+of both sexes are convinced that they love some one, but they suddenly
+perceive during their betrothal, or even only after marriage, that
+they are mistaken and that they have never loved the person in
+question. Such illusions are the cause of numerous broken engagements,
+divorce and conjugal bitterness.</p>
+
+<p>(10). <i>Amorous tyranny</i> constitutes another variety in the pathology
+of love. Lovers of this kind constantly tyrannize and torment the
+object of their passion, by their desires, their observations, their
+sensitive temper, their contradictions, their exigencies and their
+jealousy. This atrocious manner of loving is common in both sexes;
+perhaps more so in women than men.</p>
+
+<p>(11). The <i>love of psychopaths</i> is a subject which has no end. If
+human society was better acquainted with psychopathology a great deal
+of conjugal misunderstanding and misery would be avoided.</p>
+
+<p>I have known a woman who would not allow her husband to shut himself
+in the water-closet, for fear he would take the servant with him!
+Another became madly jealous if a woman sat opposite her husband and
+cast the least glance at him; the unfortunate husband not knowing
+where to look, in the street or in hotels, so as to escape his wife's
+jealousy. It is still worse when the husband is jealous.</p>
+
+<p>Other psychopaths torment the object of their love by the perpetual
+care they take over imaginary dangers or the slightest indispositions.
+Others again are affected with hyper&aelig;sthesia, and the least noise, the
+slightest touch, or any sudden sensation, is enough to throw them into
+excitement and make them a nuisance both to themselves and to their
+surroundings.</p>
+
+<p>The pathological exaltation of sentiments, which causes the most
+trifling things to appear as deliberate offenses, and malicious
+intentions, is still more to be feared. The disproportion <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span>between
+love and sexual appetite also torments many psychopaths, either when a
+deep love is combined with sexual indifference or disgust at coitus,
+or even pain (vaginismus, in women, for example); or when an intense
+sexual appetite is combined with want of love or ferocious egoism
+(especially in men).</p>
+
+<p>Certain psychopaths appear profoundly amorous but behave like brutes
+to the object of their love. These are the individuals who are always
+ready to strangle their sweetheart, to stab or shoot her, if she does
+not immediately yield to their desires; or else the feeble creatures
+who threaten to commit suicide if their love is not returned.</p>
+
+<p>Others, tormented by a pathological eroticism are continually annoying
+young and virtuous girls with their obsessions and their pathological
+grossness. I have seen a psychopath of this kind write letters and
+even post cards to a young girl, on which he had drawn pictures of the
+female genitals, by way of gallantry. In women, hatred and vengeance,
+aroused by jealousy, are especially blind and tenacious when the
+chronic passions of psychopathia intervene; this being due to the
+perseverance natural to the sex. By the aid of their refined
+intrigues; by their misrepresented statements due to the illusions of
+a memory distorted by passion, but uttered with a consummate dramatic
+art, some women may play a truly diabolical role, and even deceive a
+whole tribunal. When we get to the bottom of the matter, we often find
+that the primary cause of the evil is a sexual passion embellished and
+idealized afterwards by all kinds of noble motives, but in reality
+more or less unconsciously hypocritical. While deceiving others, these
+psychopathic women also deceive themselves. There are also a number of
+male psychopaths quite analogous to the above and generally
+hysterical.</p>
+
+<p>Other morbid symptoms, such as obsessions and pathological impulses,
+have a certain importance as regards sexual appetite and love. Love or
+rejection, as well as other sexual images, may become the objects of
+obsessions, and then cause the subjects much torment, but without
+harming their surroundings; for the obsessed generally remain passive.
+Pathological impulse to actions may, on the contrary, become dangerous
+and lead to violation, whether combined with perversion or not.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span>(12). We have seen that <i>senile paradoxy</i> often shows itself, as a
+symptom of senile dementia, by a sexual appetite for children. This is
+the initial symptom of the complaint, and may lead to the commission
+of assault. The holy indignation of the public, and often of ignorant
+judges, against these depraved old men often result in the public
+contempt or even the imprisonment of poor patients who have hitherto
+led a blameless life, and who have simply become victims of senile
+degeneration of the arteries of the brain.</p>
+
+<p>(13). I will mention another case which I have observed, which shows
+how complex hereditary cerebral pathology may become, and lead in turn
+to crime, madness and sexual perversion; giving rise to the most
+tragic scenes of human life, and to the degeneration of families.</p>
+
+<div class="block"><p>A very charming and intelligent, but deceitful man, an amoral
+person whose heredity was strongly tainted with mental disease,
+had strong sexual instincts partly inverted. He was attracted
+rather more by men than by women, but committed excesses with
+both sexes. He married a virtuous and intelligent midwife. At
+long intervals he had three attacks of acute mania, but was
+cured after each attack and procreated two boys and a girl. When
+he was sane he spent his time in deceitful occupations and
+speculation and never worked honestly to earn his living. He
+behaved well toward his wife, but this did not prevent him
+committing pederasty with men. He was often convicted for
+pederasty and swindling, and I treated him several times in an
+asylum. His poor wife complained bitterly, but found consolation
+in her husband's apparent love, but especially in the careful
+education of her children. But when the children grew up, her
+illusions disappeared one after another. The daughter became
+feeble-minded, and one of the sons became a bad character. The
+mother consoled herself with the second son who appeared honest
+and hard-working. The father was then in an asylum, his relapses
+having led the tribunal to institute an inquiry into his mental
+condition. One day the mother came to me in despair and showed
+me a letter written by the son of the father, which she had
+opened; the contents were as follows: "Miserable father, when
+you receive this letter I shall be no longer in this world; but
+before dying I wish to curse you. You have been the disgrace of
+the family. You have caused misery to our mother and her
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span>children by your crimes. Why did you bring me into this world?
+For a long time I have felt evil instincts developing in me like
+a cursed heritage. I struggle in vain against them; but the more
+I struggle the more I feel I must succumb. I am incapable of
+resisting much longer; but I will not become a criminal like
+you, so I shall hang myself to-night, and I curse you again
+before doing it."</p>
+
+<p>The unfortunate son did in fact commit suicide, and drove his
+mother to despair. I showed the father his son's letter, but he
+only smiled and shrugged his shoulders.</p></div>
+
+<p>The following is another example:</p>
+
+<div class="block"><p>A man of 50, married, and the father of six children, ranging
+from 6 to 24 years of age, violated them all, both girls and
+boys. The whole family were abnormal and perverse. A son of 18
+had sexual intercourse with his mother and sister. The father
+also had intercourse with dogs and cats. The jury before whom I
+brought the case regarded the man as mad, but he was condemned
+to ten years' imprisonment. An asylum for dangerous and
+perverted lunatics is urgently required for such cases.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>EFFECTS OF NARCOTICS, ESPECIALLY ALCOHOL, ON THE SEXUAL APPETITE</h4>
+
+<p>The functional cerebral paralyses produced by narcotics closely
+resemble in their psychopathological physiognomy the organic paralyses
+which result from slow atrophy of the cerebral cortex, as in general
+paralysis&mdash;exaltation of sentiment, tremor and slowness of movement up
+to total paralysis, disorders of orientation in time and space,
+profound mental dissociation affecting the subconscious automatic
+actions.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time the individual loses the exact appreciation of his
+own personality and of the external world; he regards himself as very
+capable in body and mind while he is becoming more and more powerless;
+and everything appears rose-colored at the time when he is in a most
+critical state. He believes himself possessed of great muscular
+strength when paralysis makes him stagger, and so on.</p>
+
+<p>At the commencement of narcosis the phenomena are somewhat different
+from what they become later; a certain amount of excitement
+predominates, as well as the spirit of enterprise and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span>exaltation of
+the appetites; while later on paralysis, relaxation and somnolence
+play the principal part.</p>
+
+<p>Narcosis acts in a similar way on the genetic sense. It begins by
+exciting sexual desire, but diminishes the power. As Shakespere says:
+"Lechery it provokes and unprovokes; it provokes the desire but it
+takes away the performance." (Macbeth, Act II, Scene iii.) No doubt
+the narcotics are not all equal in action, and each has its specific
+peculiarities; but the words of Shakespere express the essential
+effect of all narcotics on the sexual appetite: First of all
+excitation of the appetite with the disappearance of moral and
+intellectual inhibitory representations, and re&euml;nforcement of the
+spirit of enterprise; afterwards, progressive paralysis of sexual
+power, and finally extinction of the initial appetite itself.</p>
+
+<p>These phenomena are of capital importance in alcoholic narcosis, which
+plays the principal part in civilized countries. The initial
+excitation is here very accentuated. If we make a closer examination,
+however, we find from the first a relaxation of sexual activity and a
+weakening of all sensory irritations. In coitus, erections are
+produced more slowly; the voluptuous sensations, it is true, are of
+great subjective intensity, but they are developed more slowly and
+there is more difficulty in producing ejaculation. The subsequent
+relaxation is very great, and a man who is even only slightly
+intoxicated cannot perform coitus as rapidly, nor repeat it so often,
+as when he has taken no alcoholic liquor. When the narcosis increases
+the impotence becomes complete. Owing to the illusion produced by the
+narcosis, however, a drunken man generally imagines himself to be very
+capable.</p>
+
+<p>The gross and clumsy form which flirtation assumes under the action of
+alcohol is only too well known. The gross and persistent obscenity of
+drunken persons in railway carriages and other places toward women is
+an example of alcoholic flirtation. (<i>Vide</i> Chapter IV.)</p>
+
+<p>Another peculiarity of the sexual appetite in alcoholic narcosis is
+its bestiality. The higher irradiations of love are completely
+paralyzed and sensuality becomes unrestrained, even in men who, when
+sober, are full of refined sentiments.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span>The depraving effect of alcohol on the sexual appetite is therefore
+unlimited. Alcohol does not limit itself to giving free play to a
+bestial appetite, by paralyzing reason and sentiments of sympathy and
+duty; it also has a strong tendency to pervert the appetite itself. In
+a considerable proportion of cases of exhibitionism, inversion,
+pederosis, sodomy, etc., the development of the perversion is greatly
+favored, or even directly produced, by the action of alcohol,
+especially when there is a latent predisposition. I have observed a
+whole series of perversions in persons whose sexual appetite was
+normal when they were sober, but became perverted on the slightest
+intoxication. I am convinced that if more attention was paid to the
+subject the number of cases in which alcohol increases the perversion,
+or is even necessary for its development, would be increased.</p>
+
+<p>But what is of much greater importance is the fact that acute and
+chronic alcoholic intoxication deteriorates the germinal protoplasm of
+the procreators. I refer the reader to what I have said at the end of
+Chapter I on blastophthoria. The recent researches of Bezzola seem to
+prove that the old belief in the bad quality of children conceived
+during drunkenness is not without foundation. Relying on the Swiss
+census of 1900, in which there figure nine thousand idiots, and after
+careful examination of the bulletins concerning them, this author has
+proved that there are two acute annual maximum periods for the
+conception of idiots (calculated from nine months before birth): the
+periods of carnival and vintage, when the people drink most. In the
+wine-growing districts the maximum conception of idiots at the time of
+vintage is enormous, while it is almost <i>nil</i> at other periods.
+Moreover, these two maximum periods come at the time of year when
+conception is at a minimum among the rest of the population; the
+maximum of normal conceptions occurring at the beginning of summer.</p>
+
+<p>If these facts are confirmed by further research, we may conclude that
+even acute alcoholism has a blastophthoric action. We may, therefore,
+assume that when a germinal cell leaves its gland at the moment when
+it is impregnated with alcohol, and achieves conjugation, it is unable
+to return to its normal condition, for want of opportunity to be
+completely and promptly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span>cleansed by nutrition and the circulation.
+This explains how it may transmit to the individual which develops
+from it all kinds of taints and defects.</p>
+
+<p>After what we have said, we can tabulate the destructive effects of
+the narcotic poisons and alcohol in particular, in the sexual domain,
+both from the individual and social points of view, as follows:</p>
+
+<p>(1). Irreflective sexual unions, resulting from exaltation of the
+sexual appetite and temporary paralysis of the sentiments which
+inhibit such unions in persons who are not under the influence of
+alcohol. These include the seduction of girls, orgies with prostitutes
+in brothels, and the procreation of children with low-class women, or
+under unfavorable conditions.</p>
+
+<p>(2). Increase of venereal disease. I have made statistics which show
+that about 75 per cent. of venereal disease is contracted by men under
+the influence of alcohol, chiefly by persons who are slightly
+intoxicated and rendered enterprising thereby.</p>
+
+<p>(3). All kinds of misfortunes and catastrophes, such as illegitimate
+pregnancies, despair, suicide, etc., resulting from irreflective
+sexual unions and venereal disease.</p>
+
+<p>(4). The production of the majority of sexual crimes also resulting
+from the exasperation of eroticism combined with irreflection and
+general motor impulsiveness. Jealousy here plays a great part. The
+most important statistics (for example, those of Baer, in Germany),
+prove that from 50 to 75 per cent. of criminal assaults are committed
+under the influence of alcohol. Indecent exposure, etc., is due to
+alcohol in 75 or 80 per cent.</p>
+
+<p>(5). Exaltation and sometimes development of sexual perversion.</p>
+
+<p>(6). Creation of hereditary alcoholic blastophthoria, either as the
+result of a single drinking bout, or from habitual drunkenness. The
+offspring tainted with alcoholic blastophthoria suffer from various
+bodily and physical anomalies, among which are dwarfism, rickets, a
+predisposition to tuberculosis and epilepsy, moral idiocy and idiocy
+in general, a disposition to crime and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span>mental diseases, sexual
+perversions, loss of suckling in women, and many other misfortunes.</p>
+
+<p>(7). The delirium of jealousy is a specific symptom of chronic
+alcoholism. Its effects are terrible and lead to all kinds of sorts of
+infamies, assaults and even assassination.</p>
+
+<p>(8). Alcohol is also the almost indispensable vehicle of prostitution
+and proxenetism, which could not be maintained without it, at any rate
+in their present disgusting and brutal form.</p>
+
+<p>(9). The coarseness and vulgarity of alcoholic eroticism produce in
+public places, as well as in private, an importunate and obscene form
+of flirtation, which is brutally and cynically opposed to all
+sentiments of propriety and modesty.</p>
+
+<p>The above statements refer chiefly to men. Among women, alcoholism is
+less common, at least in continental Europe; in England, however,
+drunken women are often seen in the streets. Among prostitutes,
+however, alcoholism is almost universal. Proxenetism makes use of
+alcohol to compromise and seduce girls and thus lead them to
+prostitution. When they have once fallen they often drink to forget
+the horror of their situation.</p>
+
+<p>The action of alcohol on the feminine sexual appetite is very
+peculiar. The appetite is generally exalted, while the power is not
+affected, owing to the passive role of woman in coitus. At first,
+paralysis of the psychic inhibitions and their higher irradiations
+(love, duty, modesty, etc.) by alcohol deprives the woman of nearly
+all power of resistance against the sexual desire of the man. It
+results from this that an intoxicated woman becomes the easy prey of a
+man whose sexual appetite is excited. The following case is
+instructive from this point of view:</p>
+
+<div class="block"><p>A young girl of good position married a man of weak and vulgar
+character. Both were rather fond of drink. When she became
+pregnant the wife took large quantities of wine, by the doctor's
+orders, and this led her to inebriety. The friends and
+acquaintances of the husband found this amusing, and began to
+flirt with her to such an extent that she fell a victim to their
+sexual appetites, in her continual state of semi-intoxication.
+The husband at first had not the courage to put an end to this
+and did not wish to divorce her, for pecuniary reasons; for the
+wife had the money. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span>He finally decided to send her to an asylum
+which I superintended, to cure her alcoholism.</p>
+
+<p>From the antecedents of the patient, I expected to see a cynical
+and erotic woman; but she was nothing of the kind. Although
+hardly sober, this woman was modest and well-behaved. What
+struck me most was her extreme of modesty, which at first made
+it difficult for me to investigate her psychological state. Her
+conduct was exemplary the whole time, and she eventually
+confided to me that it was not so much sexual desire as the
+profound indifference and feebleness developed by inebriety
+which had caused her to give way. Before leaving the asylum she
+joined a total abstinence society, returned to her husband and
+succeeded in converting him also to total abstinence. She kept
+to her pledge and lived afterwards in conjugal peace and
+happiness, without ever relapsing into her old infidelity. I saw
+her several years afterwards with her husband, happy and
+flourishing.</p></div>
+
+<p>I have mentioned this case to show that, even in women, sexual excess
+does not necessarily destroy the character, the sentiments of modesty,
+nor the will. It all depends on their cause. If there is congenital
+weakness of character, the evil is irreparable; but if it is only due
+to external forces which can be eliminated in time, its effect may
+often be permanently suppressed. Some female inebriates are sexually
+cold and repulse men; but others are erotic and even nymphomaniacs.</p>
+
+<p>Whosoever has the welfare of humanity at heart, and takes the trouble
+to reflect on the ravages caused by alcohol in human society, should
+have the courage to make a slight effort and renounce all alcoholic
+drink&mdash;say for six months at first, as an experiment&mdash;in order to
+combat the social alcoholic misery by force of example, instead of
+empty phrases. He will then discover, like all abstainers, that the
+usage of alcohol (including wine, cider and beer) however small the
+quantity consumed, only serves to maintain a habit which is vicious
+and disastrous to society, by giving the contagious example of
+so-called moderation, to which a great number of persons cannot
+restrict themselves. He will then abstain for the rest of his days,
+and it will become more and more incomprehensible to him how humanity
+has been led, first by the spirit of imitation, later by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span>the
+conservation of prejudices, to develop, maintain and defend such a
+social abuse by the aid of a legion of sophisms.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>SEXUAL ANOMALIES AND PERVERSIONS BY SUGGESTION AND AUTO-SUGGESTION</h4>
+
+<p>The role of the phenomena of suggestion in sexual life is much greater
+than is generally supposed. I shall return to this subject in a
+special chapter, but I may state here that there is a category of
+sexual perversions and anomalies of all kinds which are not hereditary
+but acquired, and which Krafft-Ebing, although he cites striking
+examples, wrongly attributes to the effect of sexual excess and
+depravity, or which he compares to ordinary psychopathia, while in
+reality they are only the direct effect of strong suggestion or
+auto-suggestion.</p>
+
+<p>I place in this category the cases where a man, whose sexuality has
+hitherto been normal, suddenly becomes pathological as the result of
+some circumstance which produces on him a profound impression. For
+instance, the sexual appetite of an individual may be strongly
+excited, in a brothel or elsewhere, by an erotic woman whose feet or
+shoes are especially elegant. The sight of this well-fitted foot
+exalts his sexual desire to a high degree. From this moment feminine
+shoes, by subjective association, exercise on him an irresistible
+erotic power, which dominates everything else and transforms him into
+a fetichist; the female body no longer elicits his appetite, the
+latter having become the slave of the image of shoes only. (Shoe
+fetichism.)</p>
+
+<p>Sexual inversion may also be acquired by suggestion, when a normal man
+becomes excited by acts of masturbation or pederasty, or simply by
+some psychic image with a strongly suggestive action. He may thus lose
+his normal sexual appetite for women and become homosexual.</p>
+
+<p>These phenomena occur especially in individuals whose suggestibility
+is pathological or hysterical, or even simply exaggerated. But these
+individuals are numerous, and this fact gives us the explanation of a
+large proportion of acquired sexual anomalies, at the same time
+indicating the means of curing them. In such cases, it is not a
+question of moral depravity, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span>nor necessarily of a latent hereditary
+predisposition, but simply of a single sudden suggestive action,
+sometimes repeated.</p>
+
+<p>Among other cases, I may mention that of a well-educated man of very
+refined sentiments, deeply in love with his wife, but very
+suggestible, who became suddenly impotent and homosexual as the result
+of a simple idea-image which became fixed in his mind and subjected it
+by suggestion. His strong character enabled him to resist intercourse
+with males, but he fell into despair and became very unhappy. I am
+convinced that a careful study would reveal an increasing number of
+cases of psychopathia acquired by suggestion or auto-suggestion.</p>
+
+<p>Cases of this kind may be spontaneously cured. Treatment by suggestion
+is indicated and may act directly or indirectly. Everything which is
+of a functional psychic nature may occur by suggestion, or be, on the
+contrary, eradicated by suggestion. The important point is to
+emphasize the fact that whenever a man, hitherto normal, is affected,
+without apparent cause, with a more or less sudden sexual anomaly, and
+which is consequently not the effect of long habit, suggestion or
+auto-suggestion should be borne in mind.</p>
+
+<p>These two conceptions can, moreover, be hardly distinguished, for the
+things which cause suggestion are usually the sensory perceptions of
+sight, smell, touch and hearing, associated with certain situations,
+or with an intense affective state which fixes them in the brain.
+Sometimes it is a question of simple imaginative ideas. The cases
+where a hypnotizer intentionally suggests sexual perversion probably
+exist only in theory. We are, therefore, concerned with fortuitous
+suggestions, acting through persons, situations, objects or ideas,
+which excite the mind by the impression they produce on the sentiments
+and the sexual appetite.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>SEXUAL PERVERSIONS DUE TO HABIT</h4>
+
+<p>Without being congenital and without depending on a special
+predisposition, all the perversions of the sexual appetite that we
+have just described may be acquired, by means of the artificial and
+continued excitation of a sexual appetite which seeks satisfaction in
+change and unusual situations: Moreover, perverse <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span>satisfaction of the
+sexual appetite is often resorted to&mdash;onanism, pederasty or oral
+coitus&mdash;either to avoid conception, or with the idea of escaping
+venereal disease, or in the case of onanism, to avoid publicity,
+trouble or expense. As we have seen above alcohol favors the
+development of sexual perversions.</p>
+
+<p>It is evident that a commerce in women systematically tolerated by the
+state, as is the proxenetism of regulated prostitution, employs all
+means imaginable to attract and excite its clients. In this way
+prostitution becomes the high-school for all the refinements of sexual
+perversion. It not only offers special objects required by individuals
+tainted by heredity with various perversions, but it artificially
+develops perverse habits in the normal man. The manipulations of
+sadism or masochism are even utilized to revive a sexual appetite
+weakened by abuse. Individuals who have become impotent often try to
+excite themselves by observing the coitus of others. In fact a leaven
+of corruption and ignominy ferments on the dunghill of venal and
+artificial excitation of the sexual appetite.</p>
+
+<p>The apostles of Mammon and Bacchus, the former by interest, the latter
+by the aid of a narcosis which paralyzes the higher sentiments and
+reflection, work in concert to maintain this foul swamp. The same
+individuals very commonly combine the two apostleships and become
+themselves the victims of their false gods, after sacrificing hundreds
+of their fellows.</p>
+
+<p>To make matters more clear I will recapitulate as follows:</p>
+
+<p>(1). <i>We often meet with pederasty without a trace of inversion of the
+sexual appetite. It is also practiced on women by the psychopathic
+male. But the normal man hardly ever prefers it to normal coitus.</i></p>
+
+<p>(2). <i>Compensatory masturbation is very common and ceases with the
+opportunity for normal coitus.</i></p>
+
+<p>(3). <i>Sodomy is also often compensatory.</i></p>
+
+<p>(4). <i>It is the same with assaults on children, which seldom depend on
+a hereditary disposition.</i></p>
+
+<p>(5). <i>Lesbian love, a form of degeneracy, artificial excitation of the
+clitoris by the tongue or otherwise, may have quite a different origin
+than from sexual inversion or other perversions.</i></p>
+
+<p>All these things take place chiefly in brothels or with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span>prostitutes,
+in barracks, boarding-schools, convents, and other isolated places
+where men and women live alone and separated from the other sex.</p>
+
+<p>Sadism, masochism, fetichism and exhibitionism are much more rarely
+the result of habits, because their object and the images with which
+they are associated do not offer compensation for the normal
+excitation of the sexual appetite, or only do so insufficiently.</p>
+
+<p>I am here obliged to contradict Krafft-Ebing, who regards
+exhibitionism as the effect of the impotence of certain individuals
+depraved by excesses, or as the unconscious act of certain epileptics.
+No doubt the two conditions which he mentions may present themselves,
+but the exhibitionists I have observed have all been psychopaths whose
+perversion was primordial and hereditary, with the exception of some
+females in whom perversion originated in suggestion or alcoholism,
+which had at any rate aroused the disposition.</p>
+
+<p>Lesbian love merits special mention. Owing to the clitoris being more
+or less concealed, women are often not satisfied by coitus, especially
+when the ejaculation of the male takes place too quickly. Consequently
+a number of normal women prefer to procure an orgasm by means of
+lesbian love (<i>cunnilingus</i>.) There are clubs of female perverts, many
+of whom are not homosexual by heredity.</p>
+
+<p>Although they differ from hereditary perversions, acquired perversions
+are connected with the former by a series of latent hereditary
+dispositions, more or less marked, and often difficult to distinguish
+in particular cases, especially when suggestion is blended with them.</p>
+
+<p>Among the entirely hereditary and congenital sexual perversions, many
+occur in individuals who are well conducted and often possessed of
+delicate and altruistic sentiments. This point is not sufficiently
+recognized. Such persons are nearly always more or less neurotic in
+other respects. They are disheartened by their perversion and are so
+much ashamed of it that they often prefer to carry their secret to the
+grave rather than confide it to their doctor.</p>
+
+<p>Others sometimes confess to a doctor, and the life of a martyr, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span>who
+is always contemplating suicide, is revealed to him. Individuals of
+feeble, cynical, egoistic or abnormal natures, whose number is legion
+in the corrupt centers of modern civilization, yield to their
+perversion and often come before the tribunals, or else become objects
+of public contempt. As it is this class which generally become known,
+it is assumed by too hasty generalization that sexual perverts are
+necessarily cynical, vicious or weak-minded individuals; but this
+induction is false. It is unfortunately impossible to estimate the
+number of sexual perversions dissimulated by a large number of
+pessimists of both sexes, generally celibate and usually males.</p>
+
+<p>I do not pretend that, when sexual perversion is neither hereditary
+nor favored by a latent hereditary predisposition, nor developed or
+fixed by alcoholism, it is usually possible to cure it by suggestion.
+This often acts even in cases where alcohol has aroused a hereditary
+taint. The incorrigible recidivists among the sexual perverts are, I
+am convinced, either hereditary or strongly predisposed, or
+degenerated by alcoholism. The original will power of the pervert is
+also of great importance. Weak-willed perverts always tend to relapse.</p>
+
+<p>The social sanitation of sexual intercourse would certainly reduce to
+a minimum the compensatory perversions of normal persons who abstain
+from alcohol. The prohibition of alcoholic drink would definitely
+eliminate not only the perversions directly due to alcohol, but
+gradually also those due to alcoholic blastophthoria in the
+descendants. Other hereditary perversions, not of alcoholic origin,
+can only be definitely eliminated by healthy selection.</p>
+
+<p>Perversions acquired by suggestion or auto-suggestion should be
+combated by suppression of the depraved examples which cause them, as
+well as by treatment by suggestion. It is needless to say that sexual
+perverts should always abstain from alcoholic drinks.</p>
+
+<br />
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+<br />
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> English translation by F.J. Rebman: Rebman Co., New
+York.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> For further information on this subject see <i>Marshall's</i>
+"Syphilology and Venereal Disease," (London, Balliere, Tindall &amp; Co.);
+also <i>Marshall's</i> translation of <i>Fournier's</i> "Treatment and
+Prophylaxis of Syphilis," (New York: Rebman Co.)</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>Krafft-Ebing</i> describes bestiality (connection with
+animals) and pederasty under the general term of sodomy, but points
+out that the original meaning of sodomy used in Genesis (Chapter XIX)
+signified pederasty, <i>i.e.</i>, anal coitus between men.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER IX<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>SUGGESTION IN SEXUAL LIFE&mdash;AMOROUS INTOXICATION</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p><b>Suggestion. Cerebral Activity. Consciousness. Subconsciousness and
+Amnesia. Auto-suggestion.</b>&mdash;The explanation of the phenomena of
+hypnotism and suggestion by Li&eacute;beault and Bernheim has been a
+veritable scientific revelation for human psychology. Unfortunately it
+has remained to a great extent unknown to the public and the majority
+of medical men and jurists. Even at the present day, this subject is
+regarded either in the light of magic and occult phenomena, or as
+being connected with imposture and charlatanism. This results from the
+incapacity of most men to think in a psychological and philosophical
+manner, to observe for themselves and to take into account the
+connection which exists between the mind and cerebral activity.</p>
+
+<p>I must point out the common error of many physicians, who do not
+understand the psychological nature of hypnotism, and who place it,
+like Dubois, in antinomy with psychotherapy. Hypnotism and suggestion
+in the waking state are one and the same thing; but what the
+physicians I have mentioned understand by suggestion in the waking
+state&mdash;psychotherapy, action by will power, etc.&mdash;is only a chaos of
+misapplied terms and psychological phenomena, only half understood by
+them. Sleep by suggestion is only one of the phenomena of suggestion.</p>
+
+<p>I must refer the reader to Bernheim's book on "<i>La Suggestion et ses
+Applications &agrave; la Th&eacute;rapeutique</i>," and to my book on hypnotism ("<i>Der
+Hypnotismus und die Suggestive Psychotherapie.</i>" Stuttgart, 1902), for
+I cannot enter into the details here. I will, however, attempt to make
+clear the action of suggestion in order to explain its connection with
+the sexual sensations and sentiments.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span>Suggestion consists in the action of ideas or representations on the
+activity of the brain in general, and on some of its activities in
+particular. The terms <i>idea-force</i> and <i>ideoplasty</i> have been
+employed; but all ideas are at the same time forces and are more or
+less ideoplastic according to the nature and intensity of the cerebral
+activity which corresponds to them. Every representation which appears
+in our consciousness is at the same time a cerebral activity. I will
+explain by the aid of an example the relation which exists between the
+play of our <i>conscious</i> ideas and what is incorrectly called our
+<i>unconscious</i> cerebral activity.</p>
+
+<p>For reasons which are too long to explain here, I call <i>subconscious</i>
+all which is usually called unconscious, because I maintain that there
+is probably nothing unconscious in our nervous activity, and that what
+appears to be so is in reality accompanied by an introspection,
+subordinated like its corresponding activity to the great and clear
+introspection of the higher brain, which accompanies the concentrated
+and mobile activity of what we call our attention in the waking state.
+No doubt, we do not as a rule perceive our subconscious activities,
+for want of sufficient intensity in their association with the series
+of aperceptions (states subsequent to attentional activity). But we
+possess a number of observations, due especially to hypnotism, which
+allow us to infer by analogy the existence of subordinated
+introspections corresponding to the cerebral activities which appear
+to us unconscious.</p>
+
+<p>For example, I think of my wife. This idea immediately calls to mind
+that of a journey that I intend to take with her, and in its turn the
+idea of the journey recalls that of the trunk I shall use to pack my
+effects. Almost as rapidly as lightning, the three ideas: (1) my wife;
+(2) the journey; (3) the trunk, apparently succeed each other in my
+consciousness. But, according to the old scholasticism, the idea of
+the journey is awakened by that of my wife, and that of my trunk by
+that of the journey, which would, therefore, be its "cause." But a
+little observation soon shows that the succession of our conscious
+ideas is not so easily explained, for at every moment representations
+appear which have no logical relation to those <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span>which precede them,
+and cannot be caused by them, nor by immediate sensory perceptions
+coming from without.</p>
+
+<p>At a time when the activity of the brain was not understood, the
+existence of an essential mind and a free will were assumed,
+independent of the law of the conservation of energy and of the law of
+causality, independent therefore of the brain, the activity of which
+they commanded more or less at their pleasure. This conception is
+based on ignorance of the facts.</p>
+
+<p>Let us return to our example: why does the idea of my wife call to
+mind that of the journey? It might quite as well suggest others. In
+reality, a number of ideas, or subconscious cerebral activities, act
+at the same time as that of my wife to give rise to the idea of the
+journey. This journey had already been decided on before thinking of
+it at the moment in question, and the resolution that I had taken to
+make it had left in my brain latent impressions (engrams) which
+slumbered there; such as those of the date of departure, the duration
+of the journey, its termination, precautions to be taken for the house
+during our absence, things to take with us, expenses, etc., etc.
+During the infinitely short time when the idea of journey appears in
+my consciousness, between that of my wife and that of my trunk, I have
+no consciousness of all these things. They are, however, closely
+associated with the idea of journey, and in connection with it by the
+thousand threads of a subconscious and latent cerebral force which
+takes place in my cerebral nerve-elements (neurones); and it is their
+hidden action which awakens the idea of journey and directs my
+attention to it, at the same time weakening by their divers
+interferences the intensity of other associated engrams; in particular
+that of the sentiment of traveling, and thereby preventing a series of
+ideo-motor sensations relating to departure from becoming predominant.</p>
+
+<p>What suddenly appears in my consciousness is the verbal representation
+symbolized by the word <i>journey</i>; a general representation of
+synthetic nature, and consequently nebulous. It is the words of
+language only which allow me to synthetize a general idea in a short
+and definite form. Thus, the cerebral flash <i>journey</i> which follows
+the idea of my wife is not caused by the latter idea alone; it has
+been mainly drawn from its <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span>obscurity and brought before the mobile
+conscious attention, by the action of the thousand subconscious
+threads, some of which we have just mentioned, and which have at the
+same time determined its quality.</p>
+
+<p>Without my being aware of it, these dynamic threads, or latent
+engrams, have to a great extent determined the kind of idea which will
+follow that of <i>journey</i>, and which will seem to me to be caused by
+this last alone, namely the idea of <i>trunk</i>. The idea of journey might
+equally well have awakened other images, such as those of the
+acquaintances whom I should meet, or of the town I intended to visit.
+Why that of the trunk? This is simply because the care of the effects
+to be taken, the place they should occupy, etc., revolved
+unconsciously but strongly in my brain, and for the moment
+predominated over other subconscious associations.</p>
+
+<p>This simple example shows us that in reality the three successive
+ideas, <i>wife</i>, <i>journey</i>, <i>trunk</i>, are more under the influence of
+sentiments, representations and former volitions in a latent and
+subconscious state, than dependent on each other. But these latter
+activities are themselves the product of other antecedent activities
+of my brain, extraordinarily diverse and complex. I will attempt to
+make things a little more complete and comprehensible by the aid of a
+comparison.</p>
+
+<p>A man finds himself in the middle of a compact and moving crowd. He
+cries out to attract the attention of the crowd. His voice is heard by
+those immediately around him, but is lost on the moving mass. Against
+his will he is carried away by the crowd in the direction of the
+strongest movement. But if the crowd is immobile and tranquil the same
+man may make himself heard, and may even force his way through the
+crowd and impel it in his turn by the impression that his words have
+made on it.</p>
+
+<p>Something analogous to this occurs in the action of an idea according
+as it is produced in a brain which is awake, active and strongly
+associated, or on the contrary in a brain which rests and sleeps. The
+brain which is active and strongly associated resembles the agitated
+crowd which carries away everything by its activity. In this case a
+single idea, like a single man, cries out in vain, <i>i.e.</i>, is produced
+strongly; it will not impel, but will <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span>be carried away or stifled,
+unless it already possesses, by the former remembrances (engrams)
+which it may revive, a particular power over the brain. It is the same
+with the agitated crowd; if the man who cries out is already known and
+has influence and power, he may arrest it and even bring it toward the
+center of his agitation. The brain which is at rest or sleeping,
+<i>i.e.</i>, feebly associated and not active, resembles the immobile
+crowd. Even when it is new and has not yet become fixed in the memory,
+an idea may produce a deep impression, and awaken activities in its
+own direction. I repeat, if this idea has already acted more or less
+powerfully on the cerebral activity that it has often carried with it,
+it has accustomed this to follow it (<i>i.e.</i>, fortified the engrams and
+facilitated their ecphoria), and then the powerful associated engrams
+which it has left in the organ of thought, will often be capable of
+carrying everything with them, even to the center of the agitation.</p>
+
+<p>In this way I succeeded in suddenly calming by hypnotism a woman who
+was mad with despair over the tragic death of half her family in a
+fire, by the simple fact that I had often hypnotized her previously.
+Immediately after the hypnosis she went away quietly to the place of
+the disaster and was the only one to keep her presence of mind and put
+things in order.</p>
+
+<p>I refer the reader to what has been said concerning the mneme (Chapter
+I). Semon's theory throws light on these questions.</p>
+
+<p>The first thing necessary for suggestion or hypnotism is to put the
+brain of the subject in a state of relative repose, so as to prepare a
+soil ready to receive suggestions. These are then made so as to always
+increase the cerebral repose, in order to weaken the action of the
+threads of subconscious association of which we have spoken above.
+Lastly, the suggestion (or idea which symbolizes the effect it is
+desired to obtain) is accentuated as much as possible, and in a form
+which at once excludes all contradiction. For this purpose everything
+should be utilized&mdash;sentiments and associations which are easily
+introduced, agreeable or repulsive sensations, volitions, etc. Nothing
+paralyzes a suggestive effect so much as emotions, violent sentiments
+in general, inclinations, or repulsions which act in the opposite
+direction, whether they arise from fear, despair, hatred, sadness,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span>joy, love or any kind of affective conditions. The same brain,
+accessible to all kinds of suggestions, will repress some of them as
+soon as it feels a deep sympathy for their contrary. We may suggest in
+vain to an amorous woman, the hatred or disgust of her lover, for the
+sentiment of love is stronger than the effect of a strange suggestion,
+and every suggestion which opposes the strongest aspirations of
+sentiment provokes mistrust and repulsion, which in their turn destroy
+all suggestive power.</p>
+
+<p>As we have indicated in our comparison, every suggestion which has
+succeeded leaves a strong trace, or engram, in the brain. It has
+opened a way by breaking down a barrier or a chasm, and its effect,
+which appeared hitherto difficult or impossible to realize, will
+henceforth be much more easy to obtain. This is why considerable
+cerebral repose is often necessary at first to open a way for a
+suggestion, while later on its effect can often be obtained even
+during the agitation of cerebral activity strongly associated with or
+even led by violent momentary sentiments.</p>
+
+<p>The chief characteristic of suggestive action, is that it traverses
+the paths of subconscious activity, so that its effect occurs
+unexpectedly in our consciousness.</p>
+
+<p>For example, I suggest to a man that his forehead itches. As soon as
+he feels it he is surprised, being unable to understand how my
+prophecy has been transformed into real itching. He then believes in
+my power over his nervous system, <i>i.e.</i>, that his brain becomes more
+receptive to my words, and offers less resistance after having proved
+the value of my predictions. It matters little whether these are
+directed toward sensations or movements, or vaso-motor actions causing
+blushing and blanching, or suppression or bringing on of menstruation
+(in the case of a woman), etc. My influence over him by suggestion
+will increase; <i>i.e.</i>, his brain will accustom itself to the
+suggestions which I give it by letting them dissociate its activity.
+This tendency to be influenced by suggestion is very contagious by
+example. When A influences B successfully, and C, D, E, F and G are
+witnesses of the fact, they will be much more easily influenced by A
+in the same direction; and so on. This explains suggestion affecting
+the masses.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span>It is quite indifferent whether the subjective sentiment of sleep
+occurs more or less in the state of hypnosis or suggestion. This
+sentiment depends chiefly on the presence or absence of a variable
+degree of amnesia (want of memory to awaken). But amnesia only depends
+on the rupture, often fortuitous and unimportant, of the chain of
+remembrances in the series of super-conscious or attentional states of
+cerebral activity.</p>
+
+<p>In somnambulists, who are the most suggestible people, we can produce
+or suppress amnesia at will by a single word, and make them forget or
+remember what has passed. I must dwell on this point, because of the
+current dogma which assumes an essential difference between hypnotism
+and suggestion in the waking state. Such an assumption is based on
+false conception of the psychology of suggestion. The only difference
+consists in the suggestion of amnesia, or the subjective sentiment of
+sleep; or, if one prefers it, the subjective remembrance of sleep
+opposed to the remembrance of having been awakened. But these two
+remembrances may be voluntarily connected with the same past state of
+the brain.</p>
+
+<p>By <i>auto-suggestion</i> is meant the suggestive action of spontaneous
+ideas&mdash;that is to say, ideas which are not suggested to the subject by
+any other person, but the effect of which is identical to that of
+external suggestions. An idea, a sentiment, dominates the mind,
+overcomes all its antagonists and produces a strong suggestive effect
+on the whole nervous system in the direction which it symbolizes. The
+idea of being unable to sleep often produces insomnia; the idea of
+sexual impotence may at once inhibit erection and render coitus
+impossible. The idea of yawning makes one yawn; that of coitus
+provokes erections; the idea of shame causes blushing; that of fear
+blanching; that of pity weeping.</p>
+
+<p>But it often happens unconsciously, in yawning for example, that one
+man suggests it to another who begins to yawn; or the sight of certain
+objects, the hearing of certain sounds, provokes suggestions. Thus the
+sight of an object belonging to a certain woman may cause an erection;
+the odor of some article of diet which has caused indigestion is
+sufficient to cause nausea, etc. We thus see that there is a series of
+transitions between <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span>external intentional suggestion and
+auto-suggestion, in the form of suggestion of objects and unconscious
+or involuntary suggestion of persons. The conception of true or
+intentional suggestion infers the determined will of one man
+influencing another by suggestion; there is no other criterion.</p>
+
+<p>It is quite another question whether the one who suggests wishes to
+benefit his subject, or wishes on the contrary to abuse him or make
+him ridiculous.</p>
+
+<p><b>Sympathy. Love and Suggestion.</b>&mdash;It is of great importance for us to
+know that sympathy and confidence are the fundamental elements of
+success in suggestive action. Even when deceived by the one who
+hypnotizes him, the subject may yield to him while he is not aware of
+it. But there is here a point to be noted. A man may very well see
+clearly with his reason and his logic, he may understand that harm is
+done to him, he may even curse a thing or a person when he reflects,
+and in spite of this be instinctively and subconsciously attracted
+toward this thing or this person, like a moth to a candle, when
+certain sentiments of sympathy or attraction urge him to it. The two
+following examples will make this more clear:</p>
+
+<div class="block"><p>(1). An actor fell in love with a hysterical married woman. This
+woman was very polyandrous, and deceived not only her husband
+but the actor and many others. The actor tried with all the
+power of his reason to be delivered from the tyrannical charm of
+this siren; but the power of attraction of the woman was so
+strong that he could not succeed in resisting her. He came to me
+in despair and begged me to rid him of his passion by hypnotism.
+I realized the difficulty of the situation but did my best to
+help him. Although aided by his reason, all my suggestions were
+overcome by the violence of the passion that his hysterical
+seducer had inspired in him, and I obtained absolutely no
+result.</p>
+
+<p>(2). A well-educated, unmarried woman became so enamored of a
+young man, that she was consumed with passion, grew thin, and
+lost her appetite and sleep. Having exchanged ideas with the
+young man for some time, she became convinced that their two
+characters were not suited to each other, and that
+incompatibility of temper and quarrels would necessarily follow
+marriage. She therefore resisted with all her power and came to
+me <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span>to be cured of her passion by suggestion. My failure in the
+preceding case increased my skepticism, but I did my best to
+succeed; the result, however, was no better than with the actor
+in the preceding case. Time and separation alone gradually
+restored equilibrium in this lady's nervous system.</p></div>
+
+<p>These two cases are very instructive. Suggestion can only successfully
+combat powerful sentiments by arousing other sentiments of sympathy
+which increase little by little and finally become substituted for the
+preceding ones. This brings us to a very difficult question.</p>
+
+<p>In order to influence other persons by suggestion, it is above all
+things necessary to try and associate the ideas which we suggest to
+them with sentiments of sympathy, so as to arouse in them the
+impression that the object to be attained is desirable and agreeable,
+or at any rate that it constitutes a necessity. The woman who
+surrenders to the mercy of her conqueror often experiences a kind of
+pleasure which is associated with the passiveness of her sexual
+sentiments. It is the same in the male masochist.</p>
+
+<p>The physician who hypnotizes is obliged to awaken sentiments of
+sympathy in his subject to combat with their assistance the sentiments
+associated with the morbid state which it is desired to suppress. This
+is usually free from danger when there is no natural sexual attraction
+between the hypnotizer and the hypnotized; when, for example, a normal
+man hypnotizes another man, a normal woman another woman, or an invert
+another invert. Otherwise there is a risk of exciting sexual
+sympathies difficult to eliminate afterwards, when necessary
+precautions have not been taken at first. These attractive sexual
+sensations or sentiments may affect both the hypnotizer and the
+hypnotized and provoke love scenes, which are fatal to success.</p>
+
+<p>For example, a hysterical baroness, whose sexual desire had been
+excited by hypnotism, fell in love with a person named Czinsky, whose
+case was studied and published by Schrenck-Notzing. This baroness
+experienced a kind of suggested love against which her reason resisted
+to a certain extent, while her hypnotizer, himself amorous, lost his
+head. One might say in such a case that suggestion only re&euml;nforced the
+very human <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span>sentiments which occur in all love stories of everyday
+life. Between normal love and suggested love there is such an infinite
+number of gradations that it is impossible to fix exactly the limits
+which separate them.</p>
+
+<p>A hypnotizer may abuse his suggestive power to exploit the love of the
+hypnotized. I have been consulted in a case where an old woman had
+hypnotized a rich young man and had so powerfully influenced him that
+he abandoned his family and married her. As in the case of Czinsky,
+the abuse was obvious. The case was even more grave, for this old
+woman acted only from mercenary motives; in fact, she procured young
+girls for her husband, so as not to lose her suggestive influence
+after marriage: Czinsky, on the contrary, was truly amorous.</p>
+
+<p>As a general rule we may say that, when amorous intoxication is the
+result of intentional suggestion, the subject obeys a certain
+sentiment of constraint, which he may describe later on when he has
+succeeded in recovering himself. He feels a kind of duplication of his
+personality, and perceives that the excitation of his sexual desire,
+as well as his love, have a somewhat forced nature, against which his
+reason attempts to defend him. This reaction often only appears
+afterwards, when the sympathetic action of suggestion begins to fade.</p>
+
+<p>Here again the gradations are infinite, and no absolute rules can be
+formulated, for if the hypnotizer is very skillful and does not let
+his intentions appear, the subjective sentiment of constraint may be
+absolutely wanting; <i>i.e.</i>, never become conscious. If, however, the
+hypnotizer is clumsy and the subject a hysterical woman, love is often
+transformed into hatred in the latter soon afterwards, as is so often
+the case in these subjects, and she may afterwards be convinced by
+auto-suggestion that she was the object of artificial constraint or
+even violence, and describe imaginary or unnatural events as if they
+were real; while she was simply amorous after the fashion of
+hysterical subjects.</p>
+
+<p>It is quite otherwise with cases where a hypnotizer produces in a
+hypnotized woman a state of deep somnambulism and does harm to her
+without her knowledge. Here the victim is absolutely without will, and
+incapable of resisting. These last cases are much more easy to decide,
+especially from the legal point of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span>view; but, as far as we are now
+concerned, the first cases are the most important.</p>
+
+<p>The amorous irradiations produced by the sexual appetite react on the
+latter and increase it. They awaken sentiments of reciprocal sympathy,
+from which results a mutual attraction similar to that of animals.
+Suggestive action depends on the mastery we obtain over the associated
+constellations of subconscious engrams, and we have already become
+acquainted with the phylogenetic and actual relationship which exists
+between sexual sensations and sensations of sympathy. The simple
+juxtaposition of these facts clearly shows that powerful affinities
+exist between suggestion and love. I use the word "affinity"
+advisedly, for we must not go further and regard the two things as
+identical. Fortunately, the majority of curable patients may be cured
+by the prudent awakening of a slight degree of sympathy, and by the
+common efforts made by the hypnotizer and the hypnotized to subdue the
+morbid symptoms, without anything but a certain sentiment of
+reciprocal friendship resulting. On the other hand two human beings
+may be united by sexual love, without either being able to hypnotize
+the other. This is especially the case when, for example, two
+conjoints have known each other for many years, or when two persons of
+higher intelligence, who are not too dependent on their sexual
+intercourse, meet each other.</p>
+
+<p>I am obliged to dwell on these facts, so that my ideas may not be
+falsely interpreted, by premature generalization. On the other hand,
+when a strongly associated brain suggests to a weak brain of the
+opposite sex sentiments of sympathy and makes use of them to arouse
+the sexual appetite, it may produce a suggested love which closely
+resembles natural amorous intoxication. If the discovery of an
+imposture or abuse of power on the part of the hypnotizer weakens or
+destroys the effect of suggestion, the hypnotized subject recovers
+herself. Despite and repentance may then transform her love into
+hatred.</p>
+
+<p>In other cases there is a struggle between sexual desire and the
+disillusion of a deceived love, which often serves as the tragic
+motive in romance and the drama. The following is a typical case of
+suggested love without formal hypnotic proceedings:</p>
+
+<div class="block"><p>An old <i>rou&eacute;</i> aged sixty, married and the father of a family,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span>
+persecuted a very suggestible young girl with his attentions,
+and systematically seduced her by means of erotic readings. He
+produced such an impression on this young girl that she became
+hypnotized and fell in love with the old <i>rou&eacute;</i> She lost all
+conscience, became deceitful and untruthful by suggestion, and
+compromised herself and her family. Her seducer was poor, so
+that it was not his fortune that attracted her. She knew very
+well that this union could lead to nothing, but could not
+resist, and eloped with him. Later on she came to her senses and
+left him.</p></div>
+
+<p>According to an old proverb, young girls laugh at old men and only
+marry them reluctantly or for their money; but in reality this is by
+no means always true.</p>
+
+<p><b>Amorous Intoxication.</b>&mdash;Let us now compare these phenomena with those
+of ordinary life called <i>amorous intoxication</i>. The affinities are at
+once apparent. A man and a woman meet and take a fancy for each other.
+The reciprocal action of looks, speech and touch, in fact all the
+apparatus of the senses and the mind, awakens in both of them
+sentiments of sympathy and sexual desire which mutually strengthens
+each other. Sexual desire invests every action and appearance of the
+loved object with an ever-increasing halo of charm and splendor, and
+this halo of sexual origin increases in its turn the sentiments of
+sympathy; and the sentiments of sympathy increase the sexual desire.
+In this way mutual suggestions grow like a snowball, and rapidly
+attain the culminating point of amorous intoxication, or what is
+called being <i>madly in love</i>.</p>
+
+<p>All this depends only on reciprocal illusion. The more violent and
+foolish the amorous intoxication, without preparation or reflexion,
+and the less the individuals know each other, the more rapidly these
+illusions collapse, like a castle of cards, as soon as some douche of
+cold water sobers the two lovers. Thus indifference, disgust, and even
+hatred, follow "love."</p>
+
+<p>The suggestive element in love is here apparent. Just as a hypnotized
+person will eagerly swallow a raw potato which he takes for an orange;
+so will a person madly in love regard an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span>ugly or wicked girl as a
+goddess, or an amorous girl find her ideal of chivalry and manliness
+in an egoistic Don Juan.</p>
+
+<p>The affinity is still more evident when the amorous intoxication is
+only on one side, while the other plays the part of seducer. When
+motives of pecuniary interest are not the only cause of seduction, and
+even often when they are, the seducer generally brings into play his
+sexual appetite, but only as a collaborator in his work of seduction
+without allowing himself to be dominated by it. In this case one is
+the seducer and the other the seduced. The seducer plays the part of
+the hypnotizer who suggests, while the seduced plays the part of the
+hypnotized, unless the seduction is due to fear, weakness of mind or
+good nature. The seducer is no doubt more or less under erotic
+influence, but never completely. The seduced, on the contrary, falls
+completely under the power of the seducer. The thoughts, sentiments
+and will are all directed by the impulses of the seducer. The latter
+acquires his ascendancy by means of a kind of suggestive power, often
+assisted by the sexual appetite.</p>
+
+<p>In many cases the seduced gives way by pure suggestion of love without
+sexual desire. These are precisely the cases that the law does not
+foresee, and jurists cannot usually understand. In ordinary life, the
+man most often plays the part of seducer or hypnotizer; but this is
+not always the case. Antony, who threw himself at the feet of
+Cleopatra and obeyed her least gesture, was evidently hypnotized.
+Antonys are not rare even at the present day; but they do not
+constitute the rule, nor the normal state.</p>
+
+<p>As we have just described it, suggestion plays a great role in love,
+and explains to a great extent the phenomena of illusion produced by
+amorous intoxication. In spite of the act which deifies it and the
+ecstatic happiness that accompanies it, we must admit that amorous
+intoxication, with its illusory suggestions uncontrolled by reason,
+brings more poison than true happiness into human life. I will attempt
+to explain the matter more clearly. When two human beings with loyal
+instincts have learned to know each other sufficiently, honestly
+avowing their reciprocal feelings and their past life, at the same
+time subduing their sensual appetites and judging the latter with
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span>calmness, so as to be convinced that they may reasonably hope to form
+a durable and happy union, then only may they abandon themselves to
+amorous intoxication, but not before. The fact that the latter makes
+each lover appear to the other in the most ideal light only serves to
+strengthen the feelings of sympathy and make them last for life.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, two egoists calculating coldly, even if they have
+strong sexual appetites and trouble themselves very little with
+reflections on their intellect, may contract a comparatively happy
+marriage, based simply on reciprocal convenience and interest; a
+marriage in which amorous intoxication only plays a very small part,
+or none at all.</p>
+
+<p>The latter case is of great frequency. The novel which delights in the
+description of admirable or ignoble sentiments, and which shows a
+special preference for bizarre and sensational situations, often of a
+pathological nature, makes us forget that the majority of mediocre and
+normal men are little susceptible to the suggestions of amorous
+intoxication, and that they give vent to their sexual desires in a
+more or less reflective and calculating frame of mind, like a
+<i>gourmand</i>. This is not poetical, I admit, but it is much more human.
+Many women also become <i>gourmands</i> in sexual matters.</p>
+
+<p>In all this sexual commerce there are only vestiges or caricatures of
+the poetry of amorous intoxication. It is no longer a question of deep
+love, but of essentially commonplace sexual enjoyment, wisely and
+prudently adapted to other objects of concupiscence, such as money,
+social position, titles, business, etc.</p>
+
+<p>If the poets and the preachers of morality apostrophize me with
+indignation saying that this is the prostitution of love, I shall be
+obliged to protest. So long as sexual enjoyment is not bought, there
+is no prostitution. Man has as much right to a certain agreeable
+satisfaction of his sexual appetite, even without exalted sentiments,
+as he has to satisfy his hunger and thirst, as long as he does no harm
+to anyone. But, I repeat, this question has nothing to do with amorous
+intoxication. The latter is a powerful shock to the whole mind, to the
+principal spheres of cerebral activity, by a suggestive effect,
+usually with the aid of the sexual appetite, but sometimes without
+it.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span>Amorous intoxication naturally differs in quality and in intensity in
+different individuals. In a person with ideal tendencies it may awaken
+the finest harmonies of the symphony of human sentiments, while brutal
+and debased persons may wallow in the mud.</p>
+
+<p><b>Suggestion in Art.</b>&mdash;Suggestion does not act only in the sexual
+sphere, but on the whole mental life. In &aelig;sthetics and in art it has
+an immense and irresistible influence, which gives rise to all the
+capricious exaltations of fashion. The average artist is more or less
+the slave of the &aelig;sthetic suggestions which are in fashion, but the
+average members of the public are absolutely dominated by them.
+Originating in a correct idea of certain effects of light, the most
+absurd exaggerations may become accepted as beautiful and natural by
+an imitative public devoid of personal judgment, by the aid of
+suggestion. These deplorable effects of suggestion may last a long
+time till their nullity or their absurdity causes them gradually to
+disappear. But they are usually replaced by other absurdities.</p>
+
+<p><b>Suggestive Action in Sexual Anomalies.</b>&mdash;In very suggestible persons
+the sexual appetite may be easily led astray by sensory impressions
+created by perverse images. In this way the erotic imagination of a
+very suggestible boy, excited indirectly by another boy, may even make
+the latter the object of his sexual desire. This is how homosexual
+inclinations may be formed by suggestion and maintained by mutual
+masturbation, pederasty, etc. The duration of a perversion of this
+kind often depends on the power of the erotic image which suggested
+sexual desire. This is also the case with onanism, sodomy, etc.; and
+in the inverse direction with impotence.</p>
+
+<p>These facts explain at the same time why and how suggestion may cure
+or ameliorate the anomalies of sexual life. Just as suggestion may
+excite or pervert the sexual appetite, so may it calm it and put it in
+the right direction, unless there is a deeply rooted hereditary
+perversion. We can nearly always considerably attenuate too-frequent
+emissions, masturbation and perversions by suggestion, and often
+entirely cure their acquired forms.</p>
+
+<p>I must here point out that when we have succeeded in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span>removing by
+suggestion a perversion based in whole or in part on organic or
+hereditary causes, this result is always more or less precarious, and
+does not give the physician the right to give his sanction to
+marriage. The following case shows us what prudence on the part of the
+hypnotizer can do with patients of this kind:</p>
+
+<div class="block"><p>A young girl, of good education, was troubled with intense
+sexual desire. She was incapable of resisting masturbation and
+dreamed at night that men and animals were in contact with her
+vulva. These dreams caused intense excitement and were
+accompanied by orgasms. The treatment of a patient of this kind
+by suggestion was no easy matter. However, with the aid of a
+local sedative, the action of which it is needless to say was
+purely suggestive and was combined with appropriate verbal
+suggestions, I succeeded not only in suppressing the onanism,
+but also in almost completely curing the nervous exhaustion of
+this young girl, so that she was afterwards able to resume work.</p></div>
+
+<p>I may add that the patient was hypnotized in the presence of others,
+which can always be done in such cases with a little tact. This is a
+rule from which the physician should never depart.</p>
+
+<p>I cannot enter into more details on this subject, but what I have said
+will suffice to draw the attention of my readers to the action of
+suggestion in the sexual appetite and in love.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER X<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>THE SEXUAL QUESTION IN RELATION TO MONEY AND PROPERTY PROSTITUTION, PROXENETISM AND VENAL CONCUBINAGE</h4>
+<br />
+
+<h4>GENERAL REMARKS</h4>
+
+<p>In Chapter VI we have studied the historical development of human
+marriage as a continuation of the phylogeny of our species, and we
+have shown that marriage by purchase and different forms of polygamy
+constitute a kind of intermediate stage and at the same time an
+aberration of civilization, which has resulted from the association of
+men, combined with the birth of individual property.</p>
+
+<p>When we consider a being of high mentality and deeply rooted
+individualism such as man, in whom the instinct of love and family are
+so strong, led by the inevitable force of circumstances to live in the
+society of his fellows, we can easily understand that certain
+individuals of a higher mentality than the others will endeavor to
+dominate the weaker and less intelligent, and exploit them for their
+own profit and that of their family.</p>
+
+<p>Analogous tendencies are seen in certain animals. Among the bees the
+old workers appropriate the produce of the work of others. Certain
+ants practice a form of slavery, based, it is true on instinct, in
+stealing the pup&aelig; of weaker species which, after hatching, become the
+servants of the idle robbers.</p>
+
+<p>In incomplete animal societies, such as those of the ruminants,
+certain monkeys, etc., the old males, sometimes also the more
+courageous females (cows, for example) direct the herd and become
+recognized as chiefs by the others. But in these cases the personal
+property of objects or even living beings takes no part, because the
+animals have not yet learned its value.</p>
+
+<p>Other animals living isolated show the first tendencies toward
+personal property; for example, the nest where they hoard their
+provisions, while others, such as the ants, bees, wasps, etc., have
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span>the sentiment of collective property well developed. For instance, a
+swarm of ants regards plants with grubs as its property, and defends
+them in consequence.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as he has attained a primitive degree of culture, man
+comprehends that the possession, not only of land and the produce of
+work, but also the persons of other men, may profit him; and this
+leads to slavery. The male being the stronger soon combines the
+satisfaction of his sexual appetite with the advantage of property, by
+placing the woman more and more under his dependence and exploiting
+her. In this way woman becomes an object for sale and exchange, which
+will procure the purchaser, besides satisfaction for his sexual
+appetite, a docile slave and worker and a procreator of children, a
+source of other workers.</p>
+
+<p>This motive, so clearly revealed by ethnography and history,
+sufficiently explains the ignoble traffic that man has made of love,
+or rather of sexual appetite. We have seen in Chapter VI the profit
+made by polygamous barbarians by the possession of many wives and
+children, which led more and more to the buying and selling of the
+latter. These customs are instinctively related to the traffic of
+slaves. Our modern civilization has happily abolished these taints,
+but money still influences our sexual life by measures which are
+hardly any better. The complication and refinement of civilized life
+have made women and children objects of luxury, and not a source of
+wealth as in former times. This is due to two causes. On the one hand,
+a wider and more humane conception of the social position of women and
+children has extended their rights. Man cannot now exploit them to the
+same extent as in the time of patriarchism, while the father of the
+family has, on the contrary, the duty of maintaining his wife and
+family, and of giving the latter a proper education. Among the poor,
+the exploitation of the wife and children still exists; but in the
+case of the rich and cultured the inverse phenomenon is produced. With
+the intention of making his family happy and distinguished, the father
+brings it up in luxury and idleness, and this produces a very harmful
+result. The increasing refinement of modern life and its pleasures
+leads to effeminacy. It bears upon the whole of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span>society and
+degenerates into an artificial desire for brilliancy and show, which
+makes it increasingly difficult to obtain a simple and sober education
+for the family. Men and women, especially the latter, do their best to
+eclipse each other in their table, their toilet, the comfort and
+luxury of their apartments, their pleasures and distractions, their
+banquets and <i>f&ecirc;tes</i>. An enormous mass of the produce of human labor
+is thus dissipated in futilities, for the benefit of unbridled
+frivolity and luxury. It is owing to this that a civilization which,
+thanks to science and progress, far surpasses all those which have
+preceded it in the richness of its means of production for the wants
+of humanity, not only shows more and more rich with superfluous
+wealth, but also more and more poor who vegetate from the want of it.</p>
+
+<p>What is still more grave is that, for reasons of economy, the
+intelligent, educated and cultured marry less often and procreate
+fewer children. Again, our descendants degenerate more and more, owing
+to the consumption of alcohol or other narcotics, and the unhealthy
+life they lead. This degeneration is dissimulated by their
+well-nourished appearance, but is revealed in their increasing
+neuropathic tendency. They become accustomed to a number of artificial
+wants, which make them increasingly difficult to satisfy. This results
+in their exacting from society much more than they give to it by their
+work; whereas each ought to give to society more than he receives from
+it. As evil omens, I must mention the idleness of many women with
+regard to household and manual work. What are the effects of this
+state of things on the sexual life of modern society? They are of
+three kinds:</p>
+
+<p>(1) <i>Marriage for money</i>; (2) <i>prostitution</i>, exploited by
+proxenetism, and between the two (3) <i>venal concubinage</i>.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>MARRIAGE FOR MONEY</h4>
+
+<p>Marriage for money is the modern form or derivative of marriage by
+purchase. Formerly one bought a wife and sold a daughter; to-day one
+is sold to a wife and buys a son-in-law. The improvement consists in
+the fact that the buyer and the bought are no longer in the positions
+of proprietor and object possessed, respectively. Nevertheless,
+marriage at the present <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span>day gives rise to much traffic, speculation
+and exploitation of an evil nature.</p>
+
+<p>These things are so well known that I need not dwell upon them. In
+place of love, force of character, capacity, harmony of sentiments,
+intellectual and bodily health, money is the <i>alpha et omega</i> of
+marriage. Money dazzles most men so that they are blind to everything
+else. They no longer understand that the health and the physical and
+moral worth of a woman constitute a capital which is far preferable to
+all the title-deeds deposited in the coffers of the future
+father-in-law, which are rapidly squandered by children tainted with
+bad physical or mental heredity. In this way ignorance of the laws of
+heredity and the rapacity of pecuniary interests perpetually tend
+toward the antisocial procreation of a degenerate posterity.</p>
+
+<p>Inversely, a number of capable and healthy men and women remain
+celibate and sterile for want of money. Capital exploits them as
+workers and prevents them from reproducing their race; or else their
+own foresight induces them to avoid procreation.</p>
+
+<p>A characteristic sign is observed in military circles, especially in
+the German army where officers who are not well-to-do are forbidden to
+marry a woman unless she has a certain income. The officer must bring
+up his family in accordance with his position. This system, which it
+is sought to justify by all kinds of reasons, shows how the worship of
+the golden calf and class prejudices may degenerate our manners and
+customs. Without fortune one cannot serve the country as an officer,
+or marry, except by selling oneself to a rich woman. In other terms,
+an officer cannot marry according to his own inclination unless he
+possesses a certain fortune. No doubt there are officers who marry for
+love; nevertheless, they are not only obliged to have a certain
+fortune, but the woman they marry must have a certain social position
+and have been well educated. The wife of an officer has to take part
+in balls and official gatherings. She is forbidden to carry on openly
+any business, and her parents must not even be shopkeepers! In a
+German town, one of my relatives heard a rich mother say to her
+daughter, who could not make up her mind to marry a gentleman who
+proposed to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span>her: "If you do not want him, let him go; we do not wish
+to persuade you. We have plenty of money, and if you want to marry
+later on we can easily buy you an officer!"</p>
+
+<p>In the tyranny of class marriages, it is money which almost always
+decides the question. Formerly birth and nobility were everything, and
+it was these which brought power and fortune; nowadays money has
+replaced them, and has monopolized universal power. If an energetic
+and intelligent man revolts, by returning to modest and primitive
+customs, if he dresses simply, performs manual labor, takes his meals
+at the same table as his servants, etc., he is despised and is not
+received into what is called good society.</p>
+
+<p>It is only up to a certain point, and with the exercise of great
+prudence, that any attempt can be made to react against the whirlwind
+of our unbridled luxury, and it is in marriage that this becomes most
+delicate and most difficult. A well-brought-up and well-educated man
+with no money, who wishes to marry while he is a student, so as to
+avoid prostitution or other evils; who is content to live in humble
+quarters with his wife, each doing their own work, will have great
+difficulty in finding a well-nurtured girl to consent to such an
+arrangement. Everything has to be regulated according to the fashion,
+customs and prejudices of the class in which he lives, and this
+usually renders marriage impossible, as long as he has not what is
+called a position. But no one will blame the same student for living
+in concubinage with a grisette. Why cannot the same means of existence
+which allow concubinage suffice for marriage? With this question I
+only touch on a problem to which we shall return, at the same time
+pointing out the canker which corrupts our modern sexual life.</p>
+
+<p>By marriage for money we understand marriage which is based on
+interest and not on love. It is not always a question of money; for
+position, name, titles and convenience often complicate the question.
+Sometimes a ruined aristocrat marries a rich tradesman's daughter, in
+order to repair his fortune, while the vanity of his <i>fianc&eacute;e</i> makes a
+title a desirable acquisition. Sometimes a coquette, by clever
+flirtation, will simulate a love which she does not feel, to catch a
+rich man in her net. But <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span>more commonly there is calculation on both
+sides and both are duped.</p>
+
+<p>Marriage for money is not confined to the rich but also occurs among
+peasants and working people. Everywhere it constitutes one of the
+principal corrupting elements of sexual intercourse and procreation.
+Hard-working servants who have succeeded in saving a few hundred
+dollars are often married for the sake of this small sum, and then
+abandoned as soon as the husband has squandered it. I do not pretend
+that a marriage for money can never be happy; it may happen that the
+contract is an honest one and that love follows it more or less
+haltingly, especially when the calculators have taken into account
+character and health, etc., as well as money.</p>
+
+<p>There is no need for me to continue this theme any further, and I
+shall conclude by stating that this system opens the door to
+hypocrisy, deceit and abuse of all kinds. It is not without reason
+that marriage for money has been branded with the name of <i>fashionable
+prostitution</i>.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>PROSTITUTION AND PROXENETISM</h4>
+
+<p>Prostitution is a very ancient institution and a sign of degeneration
+which is found more or less among all nations. When woman is an
+article for sale it is not surprising that those whose moral worth is
+weak take the traffic into their own hands when they can, and sell
+themselves to men to satisfy their sexual appetites, instead of
+allowing themselves to be passively exploited as articles of commerce.
+Man being the stronger finds it advantageous in the lower and
+barbarous states of civilization to monopolize this traffic for his
+own profit, and deliver the women under his domination to
+prostitution. We have seen that fathers give their daughters, and
+husbands their wives to prostitution.</p>
+
+<p>For the same reason, the woman who prostitutes herself in our modern
+civilization, always runs the risk of being abused without payment;
+which is not to be wondered at considering the doubtful quality of the
+usual clients of the prostitute. It is therefore natural that she
+should seek for a means of protection. She thus takes a male
+protector, or "bully," whom she pays; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span>or else she joins the service
+of those who make a business of prostitution&mdash;or <i>proxenetism</i>.
+Proxenetism and protectors are thus the parasites of prostitution.</p>
+
+<p>Prostitution flourished amongst the ancients and also in the Middle
+Ages, especially after the Crusades (Chapter VI). I do not propose to
+write the history of prostitution; it is sufficient to be acquainted
+with that of the present day. I may, however, remark that among a
+number of primitive races, and in young and progressive nations, whose
+sexual life is still comparatively pure, prostitution is only feebly
+developed. It is especially to Napoleon I that we owe the present form
+of regulation and organization of prostitutes. Like all his
+legislation on marriage and sexual intercourse, this regulation is the
+living expression of his sentiments toward woman; oppression of the
+female sex, contempt of its rights, and degradation of its individuals
+to the state of articles of pleasure for men, and machines for
+reproduction.</p>
+
+<p><b>Organization and Regulation of Prostitution.</b>&mdash;We have just seen the
+social conditions under which prostitution becomes quite naturally
+organized, with its protectors and its proxenetism. There is another
+factor to be added&mdash;that of venereal disease. The infectious germs of
+syphilis and gonorrhea are usually met with in the genital organs of
+man and woman; so that every coitus between a healthy and an infected
+individual may infect the former. Hence the danger of the spread of
+infection increases with the number of mutations in sexual
+intercourse. If a woman offers herself systematically to all the men
+who wish for her, the probability that she will be infected by one of
+them increases in proportion to the number of clients.</p>
+
+<p>In the second place, as soon as she is infected, the danger is
+increased by the number of men who have connection with her, for she
+will probably infect a large proportion of them.</p>
+
+<p>While paying much attention to venereal diseases and their
+consequences, medicine has shown itself inconceivably blind in not
+comprehending the bearing of this elementary arithmetic. We must take
+into account the fact that the complete cure of syphilis is very
+difficult, if not impossible, to prove; that this disease is extremely
+infectious, at least during the first two <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span>years of its course; and
+that it extends to the blood and the whole organism, so that it may be
+communicated, not only by large visible sores, but by small
+excoriations hidden in the mucous membrane of the vagina or the mouth,
+etc.</p>
+
+<p>We must also remember that gonorrhea is less painful in woman than in
+man, and that, even in the latter, it ceases to be painful when it
+becomes chronic. We may add that the microbes (the gonococci) are very
+difficult to reach in all the recesses of the mucous membrane of the
+sexual organs in which they are hidden, and that in women they
+penetrate as far as the womb, when a cure becomes almost impossible.</p>
+
+<p>If we consider that the sexual organs of woman form deep and hidden
+cavities which it is very difficult to examine thoroughly, in spite of
+all the apparatus of modern surgery, and that the mouth in prostitutes
+is also frequently contaminated by unnatural manipulations; lastly,
+that no part of their body is absolutely indemnified, it is easy to
+understand the great danger of infection in public prostitution.</p>
+
+<p>Recognizing the danger of venereal disease, the regulation of
+prostitution was instituted by medical men with the good intention of
+eliminating or of diminishing its danger, since they regarded its
+suppression as impossible. This system consists in the official
+supervision and inscription of every woman who prostitutes herself.
+She is given an official form which obliges her to submit to medical
+examination once a week or once a fortnight, under the penalty of
+being arrested and punished.</p>
+
+<p>To facilitate medical control, regulation generally endeavors to lodge
+prostitutes in brothels or <i>lupanars</i>, under the direction of a
+proxenet. In theory, the brothel is not exactly considered as a State
+institution of public health; the word <i>toleration</i> being used in this
+connection, signifying that it is regarded as a tolerated evil.
+Nevertheless, this distinction only rests on uncertain and subtle
+characters. To tolerate, to license, to organize, to recognize and
+favor, to protect and recommend are notions which merge into one
+another insensibly. As soon as the State tolerates prostitution and
+brothels, it is obliged to enter into official contracts with
+prostitutes and proxenetism; therefore, it recognizes them. Moreover,
+the services which it renders <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span>must be paid for. It is therefore
+necessary that prostitutes and proxenets should pay their tribute to
+the State and to the doctors: but "the one who pays commands."</p>
+
+<p>No doubt this proverb must not be taken to the letter, nevertheless
+the one who pays always exerts a certain pressure on the one who
+receives, and for this reason proxenets and inscribed prostitutes have
+some idea that they form part of an official institution, which raises
+their position not only in their own eyes but in those of the
+irreflective masses. I will cite two examples which show how
+effectively the public organization of a vicious social anomaly
+confuses ideas in persons of limited intelligence.</p>
+
+<p>One of my friends was engaged in combating the official regulation of
+prostitution. A woman, who misunderstood his object, came to him
+complaining bitterly of the loose life her daughter was leading, and
+asked him if he could not help her by placing her in a brothel
+licensed by the State; she would then be under the care of a paternal
+government!</p>
+
+<p>An old proxenet in Paris requested the authorities to transfer the
+management of her brothel to her daughter, aged nineteen. Her house,
+she said, was honest and managed in a loyal and religious spirit; her
+daughter was capable and initiated into the business and would carry
+it on in the same irreproachable manner as hitherto.</p>
+
+<p>These two examples of ingenuousness are sufficiently characteristic of
+the morality of the system. In <i>La Maison Tellier</i> Guy de Maupassant
+has depicted with his masterly pen the psychology of the prostitute,
+the proxenet, and their clients.</p>
+
+<p>For reasons previously mentioned no real confidence can be placed in
+periodical medical examination of prostitutes; on the contrary it
+gives the male public a false security. The object of these medical
+visits is to eliminate diseased women from circulation and compel them
+to submit to hospital treatment. But any one acquainted with the facts
+knows that the treatment is illusory. In a short time every woman in a
+brothel is infected, with very few exceptions. But, on the one hand,
+the proxenets and the prostitutes have every interest in shortening
+the time in hospital; and, on the other hand, the visiting doctor,
+who <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span>often lives partly by their fees, is obliged to treat them with
+respect. [In Paris, the doctors in charge of the inspection of
+prostitutes are paid by the State, and do not depend on fees from the
+women.] The treatment of venereal disease being of long duration and
+very uncertain in its effects, a vicious circle is formed.</p>
+
+<p>A conscientious Dutch doctor, Chanfleury van Issjelstein, who
+attempted to eliminate all infected prostitutes from the brothels,
+succeeded in almost emptying them, by subjecting the infected women to
+prolonged treatment in hospital. This led to a revolt which endangered
+his life, and he had to abandon his scheme.</p>
+
+<p>In ordinary hospital practice only visible sores are treated, and
+gonorrheal discharges as long as they are apparent; the prostitutes
+are then allowed to return to their brothels. Moreover, inspection is
+made too rapidly; for, if every woman was examined carefully from head
+to foot every week, neither the brothels, the prostitutes nor the
+doctors could exist.</p>
+
+<p>Certain persons have made the proposition, as ridiculous as it is
+radical, of submitting every man who visits a prostitute to medical
+inspection! This would indeed be the only means of preventing the
+infection of prostitutes. But I ask my readers to imagine such a
+measure put in practice. Is it likely that the <i>habitu&eacute;s</i> of brothels,
+some of whom visit prostitutes nearly every day or oftener, would make
+this known to a doctor in their town, and submit, before each coitus,
+to a medical examination which would cost them more time and money
+than their pleasure! Can one imagine doctors examining whole <i>queues</i>
+of clients waiting their turn in brothels when business is brisk!</p>
+
+<p>Whilst an independent prostitute still possesses some human sentiment
+and a vestige of modesty which cause her to choose as far as possible
+a limited number of clients, the police certificate of regulation
+officially places the woman who receives it in the class of the
+pariahs of society, and this leads to her losing the little that
+remains of her womanly nature. In brothels, the last vestige of her
+human nature is trampled under foot.</p>
+
+<p><b>Degrees of Prostitution. Protectors.</b>&mdash;Several degrees can be
+recognized in private prostitution. A variety of prostitute <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span>rather
+less low than others, looks for clients at public balls, certain caf&eacute;s
+and other doubtful localities, and hires herself to a certain number
+of temporary acquaintances. The lowest and most common form of private
+prostitution is that of the streets. Generally at night, but sometimes
+in the daytime, these prostitutes, dressed so as to attract attention,
+promenade in certain well-known and frequented streets, and solicit
+passers-by. This is the common method employed in nearly all towns.
+This solicitation is supervised by the police in countries where
+prostitution is regulated, and is only permitted to women who possess
+their certificate of inscription.</p>
+
+<p>Here the "protector" (bully) intervenes, and keeps an eye on the
+clients at the prostitute's house, or sometimes in the street. If they
+do not pay up, or pay too little, or if they threaten or ill-treat the
+woman, the protector administers a drubbing, and sometimes relieves
+them of their purse or clothes.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time the protector spies on the police for the benefit of
+the prostitute. Sometimes he assumes the position of legitimate
+husband, so as to facilitate taking rooms. A "husband" of this kind,
+with a citizen's rights, is very useful to foreign prostitutes, for
+without him they would risk expulsion. The protector is generally a
+scamp of the worst kind, an absolutely depraved and idle vagabond who
+is entirely maintained by his "wife."</p>
+
+<p>Some protectors shine by their sexual power, and are at the same time
+the real lovers of the prostitutes, who keep them, and are plundered
+by them. While they submit to coitus with their clients without any
+pleasure, and only simulate voluptuous sensations, they abandon
+themselves to their protectors or lovers with ardor. It is needless to
+add that the protectors are often criminals, or of the criminal type.
+Those who are well acquainted with prostitution declare that it would
+be impossible without the protector, who is at the same time the
+friend, protector and exploiter of the prostitute, while the brothel
+keeper is only concerned with her wholesale systematic exploitation.</p>
+
+<p><b>Brothels and Proxenets.</b>&mdash;Under the pretext of avoiding the dangers
+of prostitution in the streets, brothels were organized. These are
+generally managed by an elderly female profligate, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span>often in
+partnership with a "husband," who is only a superior kind of
+protector. Officially, the prostitutes are free lodgers in the
+brothel, but in reality they are often prisoners or slaves. They are
+well fed and dressed in a way to attract the clients as much as
+possible. Clothes, food, etc., are placed to their account and the
+crafty brothel keeper generally manages to get them into debt so as to
+always remain their creditor. In this way these miserable outcasts of
+society, who are generally incapable of claiming their legal rights,
+are more or less reduced to slavery. Apparently they are free, but in
+reality they can hardly leave the house without paying their debts,
+and the brothel keeper who wishes to keep them arranges so that they
+cannot pay it.</p>
+
+<p>It is not always easy to distinguish between the different classes of
+prostitutes: the prostitute of the brothel, the street prostitute
+under inscription or not, the private prostitute and lorette or
+grisette. Sometimes a woman may rise from one class to another; but
+more often she falls lower and lower.</p>
+
+<p>We may mention here one of the dangers of brothels. Their good
+organization, their medical supervision, etc., are extolled; but the
+great danger of the arithmetical progression of mutations in sexual
+intercourse is ignored. While a private prostitute rarely receives
+more than one client in an evening, and is not absolutely obliged to
+receive more, every prostitute in a brothel is forced to receive as
+many as present themselves. A girl may thus have connection with men
+twenty or thirty times in the same night.</p>
+
+<p>Under certain circumstances, for instance at the time of conscription
+for recruits at Brussels, the brothels are besieged to such a point
+that one man has hardly time to finish coitus before another comes to
+take his place. It is obvious that such "file firing" greatly
+increases the danger of venereal infection, since a single infected
+person is sufficient to contaminate innumerable clients (even without
+the woman herself becoming infected).</p>
+
+<p>It is often denied that the brothel is a prison, yet this fact has
+been often demonstrated. When, as in France, the police can arrest a
+prostitute at pleasure&mdash;often a virtuous young girl who is taken for
+such&mdash;and put her on the inscription list, the thing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span>is obvious. I
+have treated a girl who became the mistress of a police agent in Paris
+under the threat of being inscribed as a prostitute.</p>
+
+<p>Again, besides the debts we have spoken of, the proxenets have many
+other ways of keeping prostitutes under their dependence. It is very
+difficult for ignorant girls, placed under the ban of society, to
+return to a free and virtuous life. But if a girl shows signs of
+wishing to leave a brothel, heroic measures are adopted, in the form
+of international exchange. A girl who is unacquainted with the
+language of the country is naturally more incapable of gaining her
+freedom than one who does. This is one of the reasons why the brothels
+of different countries exchange their women.</p>
+
+<p>This expedient, which also satisfies clients who desire a change,
+leads to the exportation of women from one country to another, under
+false pretenses, such as the promise of lucrative and easy situations.
+In this way young Swiss girls are exported to Hungary, Hungarians to
+Switzerland, Germans to France, French to England, Europeans to
+Buenos-Ayres, creoles to Europe, etc. For example, if a young French
+girl has been exported to Buda-Pest or Buenos-Ayres, we may be certain
+that she will lose all inclination to run away; for what can she do&mdash;a
+stranger without a cent, with her ignorance and want of character,
+alone in the streets, when she does not understand a word of the
+language?</p>
+
+<p><b>White Slavery.</b>&mdash;The modern commerce in female slaves of civilized
+Europe destined for prostitution is closely connected with the facts
+we have just described. The manner in which brothels exchange their
+merchandise only concerns one side of the question. The principal art
+consists in obtaining young girls, of twelve to seventeen years of
+age, for the brothels. This traffic is formally prohibited by most
+laws; but what are laws made for, if not to be broken? There are so
+many means of training children under some pretext or other, before
+they are independent enough to escape this life of infamy. There are
+so many depraved or hungry parents who are ready to sell their
+children if, in hypocritical but transparent language, a good
+situation is promised them with payment in advance.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span>During a railway journey, I was myself a witness of the manner in
+which a young girl of twelve was sold in this way and sent to
+Pressburg. I was also simple enough to try and appeal for the
+intervention of a consul and an ambassador to prevent the perpetration
+of the crime. They only replied by shrugging their shoulders. How
+could I prove the matter before a tribunal? The child was accompanied
+by a woman who admitted to me that there could hardly be any other
+question than the sale of the child for prostitution. She had only
+been ordered to take the child to Vienna, where they would come and
+take her. This shows the impotence of any person who tries to prevent
+such infamies.</p>
+
+<p>During the last few years an international organization has at last
+been formed to combat white slavery; but so far it has not obtained
+much result. By the aid of depraved parents and all their criminal
+system of seduction, the proxenets always find a way of attaining
+their object. Moreover, it is difficult to see how the State can
+prevent proxenetism from obtaining its merchandise, so long as it
+tolerates and licenses it. We must remember that very young girls,
+almost children, are the most easy to seduce and the most sought
+after.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Training of Prostitutes.</b>&mdash;The most repugnant aspect of
+proxenetism is the seduction and systematic training of the girls. The
+desire for money and fine dresses, the promise of good situations, and
+especially alcoholic intoxication, all play their part in the
+diabolical art of proxenetism. Many young girls, frivolous and fond of
+pleasure, but not wishing to go any further, are easily seduced under
+the influence of wine. As soon as some protector has succeeded in
+seducing a girl, he trades on her shame and fear of discovery, adding
+threats and blackmail. When she has become sufficiently accustomed to
+sexual intercourse, she is initiated into the high-school of vice, and
+systematically instructed in exciting the sexual appetites of men by
+all possible means, natural or otherwise. She is first of all taught
+how to simulate the venereal orgasm by her movements, breathing, etc.;
+to practice <i>coitus ab ore</i>, etc.; to conform to the pathological
+requirements of masochists, sadists, etc., (Chapter VIII). Girls who
+have been seduced and abandoned, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span>those who have had illegitimate
+children, are the most suitable objects for exploitation by the
+jackals of proxenetism. If it is objected that the majority of
+prostitutes have a bad hereditary taint, and that their frivolity and
+idleness incline them from the first to their trade, I reply that
+frivolity and love of pleasure are not at all the same thing as the
+ignoble slavery and disgusting life of a prostitute in a brothel.</p>
+
+<p>The part played by alcohol in prostitution has not been estimated at
+its true value. The coarser and more degraded forms of prostitution
+would not be possible without it. It is by the aid of alcoholic orgies
+that most girls are seduced, and by chronic drunkenness that they
+sustain themselves in their degradation.</p>
+
+<p><b>Localized Prostitution.</b>&mdash;In certain towns, Hamburg for instance, an
+attempt has been made to establish an organization intermediate
+between the brothel and private prostitution, by compelling all
+prostitutes to inhabit certain special streets which are reserved for
+them, at the same time being inscribed by the police. The result has
+been deplorable, and these streets have become uninhabitable. It must
+be borne in mind that the owners or managers of these houses become
+from this fact more or less analogous to proxenets. Whoever lets his
+house for such an object must possess very little sentiment of modesty
+and duty, for he lives indirectly on the produce of prostitution.</p>
+
+<p><b>Clandestine Brothels.</b>&mdash;Besides the official brothels, of which we
+have spoken, there are a number of secret organizations of all kinds,
+which the State is the less able to prevent as it organizes and
+tolerates prostitution and proxenetism on its own account. A number of
+taverns possess secret chambers which are only small brothels, in
+which the servants act at the same time as prostitutes.</p>
+
+<p>It is the same with many small shops (gloves, perfumes, etc.), whose
+innocent appearance only serves as a blind. A number of <i>caf&eacute;s
+chantants</i> are also connected with prostitution and proxenetism.
+Certain tobacco shops, etc., sell obscene objects such as pornographic
+pictures. All these things act especially on youth and become
+disseminated in colleges.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span><b>The Number of Prostitutes.</b>&mdash;The number of prostitutes has been
+estimated at 30,000 in Berlin, 40,000 in Paris, and 60,000 in London.
+It can hardly be assumed that all these women have a pathological
+heredity. As soon as the State recognizes the right of existence of
+this dung-heap, by its toleration and organization, corruption
+hitherto hidden and ashamed raises its head and becomes more and more
+bold, even dragging public organs into its sink. It is the public
+especially, but also the authorities and the doctors who become
+corrupted by contact with official proxenetism, which confuses the
+ideas of morality in every one's head (vide <i>La Maison Tellier</i>, de
+Maupassant). They shut their eyes to the haunts of vice. The proxenets
+feel that they are important personages, and the more enterprising of
+them very often enjoy secret favors and receive visits from State
+officials, and even married persons of high position. It is not
+difficult for any one who reflects a little to see what this state of
+things leads to.</p>
+
+<p><b>Prostitution and the Police.</b>&mdash;The police know very well that in
+certain brothels prostitution is not only associated with alcoholic
+excess, but that certain houses become the haunts of criminals. They
+even regard certain low-class brothels and taverns frequented by
+prostitutes as very useful for the discovery of criminals. Spies of
+all kinds are met with in these places, from the secret agent who
+tracks a criminal and flirts at the same time with the prostitutes, to
+the counter-spy employed by the proxenets to watch the secret agent.
+It is here that the criminal world acquires its rakish manners, but
+its weakness for women and alcohol cause it to fall early into the
+traps of the secret police. It is here also, as well as in the salons
+of high-class proxenetism, that we meet with those indefinable
+individuals who are to-day secret agents of the government, to-morrow
+false noblemen or criminals, and the day after proxenets, and whom a
+former minister of the German Empire designated by the euphemistic
+term of "non-gentleman."</p>
+
+<p><b>The Psychology of Prostitutes and the Cause of Prostitution.</b>&mdash;The
+psychology of prostitutes is a difficult and complicated subject.
+According to the point of view of those who judge them, they are
+considered as women of evil and incorrigible <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span>instincts, or as the
+victims of our bad social organizations. These two assertions are by
+their exclusiveness equally false. Urged by Christian charity, many
+societies for the improvement of morality have attempted to rescue
+fallen women; but, as might be expected, the results have not been
+satisfactory. In fact, the mind of woman is quite differently
+dominated by sexual ideas and their irradiations than that of man. It
+is also less plastic, and becomes more easily the slave of habit and
+routine. If, therefore, a woman has been systematically trained in
+sexual aberrations from her youth upward, all her ideas are
+concentrated on debauch and sexual intercourse, so that it becomes
+impossible later on to restore her to a life of serious social duty.
+Rare exceptions confirm this rule. Moreover, sexual excitation in
+women awakens sexual desire, which becomes exalted by repetition and
+habit.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, it is necessary to recognize that girls who are
+idle, of weak character, hysterical, easily suggestible, coquettes or
+nymphomaniacs, are subjects specially disposed to become seduced.
+Lastly, poverty is one of the most powerful auxiliaries of
+prostitution. I do not wish to be sentimental, nor to give too much
+weight to the well-known statement that a poor woman prostitutes
+herself to appease her children's hunger, or her own. No doubt this
+happens among the oriental Jews and among the proletariat of large
+towns, but it is, on the whole, exceptional.</p>
+
+<p>Poverty acts indirectly in a much more intense and efficacious manner.
+First of all it compels the proletariat to live in the most disgusting
+promiscuity. Not only do the father, the mother and the children
+occupy the same room, but they sleep there, often in the same bed. The
+children are witnesses of their parents' coitus and become initiated
+in sexual intercourse, often in its most bestial form, under the
+influence of alcohol, for example. Neglected and herded together with
+other children, most of them as badly brought up as themselves, from
+their early youth they become acquainted not only with the most gross
+and filthy things, but also with the most pathological and deformed
+excrescences of the unhealthy life of towns. In the proletariat <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span>of
+certain towns there are few girls of fourteen years of age who are
+still virgins.</p>
+
+<p>Again, poverty urges parents to exploit their children, for it is easy
+to deliver them into the hands of proxenetism. But this is not
+confined to the poorest classes; among small tradespeople, poverty is
+also an indirect agent of prostitution. Here again the effect of
+pitiless exploitation is seen; in certain occupations which leave the
+girls free evenings, and also in certain shops, the proprietor only
+pays his employ&eacute;s an absurdly small salary, because they can add to it
+by prostitution. For this reason, many saleswomen, dressmakers, etc.,
+are obliged to content themselves with a minimum wage. When they
+complain, and especially when they are good looking, they are often
+given to understand that with their attractive appearance it is very
+easy for them to increase their income, for many a young man would be
+glad to "befriend them," to say nothing of other insinuations of the
+same kind. I have already pointed out how waitresses are utilized as
+bait in certain taverns, etc. Let us cite a few figures:</p>
+
+<p>About 80 per cent. of the prostitutes in Paris have some occupation
+besides prostitution.</p>
+
+<p>In factories, shops, etc., the average wage of men is 4 francs 20. per
+day; that of women 2 francs 20.; but in domestic service it is only 2
+francs 10. for men and 1 franc 10., or even 90 centimes for women,
+even where the latter do the same work! Is it to be wondered that they
+have recourse to prostitution?</p>
+
+<p><b>High-class Brothels.</b>&mdash;In these establishments the life of the
+prostitute is much more agreeable: the goods of superior quality
+demanded by rich and fastidious clients requires better treatment and
+special care. I will cite a case published in the annual report of the
+Soci&eacute;t&eacute; de Pestalozzi (for cruelty to children) at Vienna:</p>
+
+<div class="block"><p>"In October, 1904, the Tyrolean Society for Abandoned Infancy
+sent us the papers of a young Tyrolean girl of eighteen, who was
+found at Venice under police control. Our attention was drawn to
+the youth of this girl and the incapacity of the father to
+induce her to reform. We were requested to restore her, if
+possible, to an honest life.</p>
+
+<p>We made the usual inquiries. Having many brothers and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span>sisters,
+this girl, at the age of fourteen, obtained a situation at
+Innsbruck, where she was badly treated. She went away and gave
+herself gradually to prostitution, latterly at Vienna.</p>
+
+<p>We had an interview with her at our office and ascertained that
+she had experienced ill-treatment at Innsbruck. She had a modest
+demeanor and made a good impression. She regarded her future
+with equanimity, admitting that she was excluded from society,
+but speaking of her trade as seriously as if it was licit and
+officially recognized.</p>
+
+<p>She assured us that her parents, having great difficulty in
+gaining a livelihood, agreed with her in her choice of a
+"business." She was on very good terms with them and sent them
+money.</p>
+
+<p>To obtain a certificate from the police, the consent of her
+parents was necessary. Her mother had told her that if she
+remained pious and honest no one could reproach her. She held
+"Madame" (the proprietress of the brothel) in high esteem, on
+account of her kind treatment of her "boarders." The house in
+which she was located was first-class, both as regards clients
+and treatment. There were about a dozen young girls there, most
+of them younger than herself, all with their parents' consent;
+and many of them sent home what they earned.</p>
+
+<p>She said that her companions were very happy, being well fed and
+clothed, and earning from 120 to 240 crowns a month. With much
+ingenuousness she told us how Madame, whom she greatly
+respected, had looked after two old "boarders," who no longer
+had any clients. She also had a protector.</p>
+
+<p>We tried to induce her to commence another life, promising her a
+situation, but she refused, saying that even if she wished to do
+so Madame would not let her go; besides, she would always be
+reproached for her past life, and she did not wish to live with
+people who would always despise her. She had already suffered
+enough trouble and did not wish to launch on the unknown.
+Moreover, she had lost her former habits and had never learnt
+anything seriously. In short, she did not wish to give up her
+pleasant and comfortable life!</p>
+
+<p>This conversation led us to the conclusion that the case in
+question was not of a nature to justify any action on the part
+of our society for the rescue of young women.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of her tender age, this girl gave us the impression of
+mature judgment. It appeared already much too late to attempt to
+recommence her education. She also showed signs of great anxiety
+when we spoke to her of leaving her brothel.</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span>This case requires no comment; it gives a good idea of our social
+condition. The religious piety of this girl, and her profound
+veneration for "Madame," are typical of the deviation of moral sense
+by the suggestion of environment.</p>
+
+<p><b>Varieties in Prostitutes.</b>&mdash;We thus see that prostitutes constitute a
+collection of very different individuals. Although it may be true
+that, on the average, their ranks are recruited from girls who are
+coarse, shameless, depraved and alcoholic, it is no less false to
+conclude that all are of bad heredity. A considerable number are
+pathological individuals, including hysterical subjects, nymphomaniacs
+and other psychopaths. Others again are naturally amoral, stupid, idle
+and deceitful, or have been accustomed to vicious surroundings from
+infancy; or else they are of an absolutely indifferent and apathetic
+nature, or very suggestible and yielding to every seduction and
+external impulse. The latter perhaps form the largest contingent,
+because they most easily become the prey of proxenetism.</p>
+
+<p>Many of them have fallen by seduction. Ashamed of their first error,
+and not having the courage to bear the consequences, they gradually
+sink into the swamp of prostitution. Illegitimate births play a great
+part here.</p>
+
+<p>A certain class of prostitutes ply their trade simply from poverty and
+want, being ashamed of it but profiting by it to maintain their
+family. But poverty acts chiefly in combination with other causes.</p>
+
+<p>There still remains a very limited group formed by individuals who
+give themselves up to prostitution for love of it. These are generally
+women with a morbid and violent sexual appetite, joined to want of
+moral sense. Rich women, even countesses and princesses have been
+known to become prostitutes.</p>
+
+<p>This diversity among prostitutes explains why there are different
+degrees in prostitution. Although its depravity is often more or less
+masked by fine clothes and good cheer, the lowest level is represented
+by the girl of the brothels, who is little more than an instrument for
+coitus in the hands of proxenetism (with the exception of certain
+high-class brothels). It is the prostitutes of low-class brothels for
+soldiers who lead the most miserable life. Such houses only keep
+refuse merchandise, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span><i>i.e.</i>, old prostitutes who are no good for
+anything else. There is no sadder sight than a soldiers' brothel.</p>
+
+<p>The prostitution in <i>caf&eacute;s</i>, scent shops, glove shops, etc.,
+constitutes a slightly higher grade. As regards danger of venereal
+infection this is as great as anywhere, but the girls are rather more
+independent and lead a more natural life. It is precisely because
+these places are not under legal protection, that the patrons or
+protectors of prostitutes cannot employ the terrorism of licensed
+proxenets.</p>
+
+<p>The free prostitutes of the streets are about on the same level. They
+are not dependent on proxenetism, but only on their protector and
+proprietor, which is a trifle less degrading. What degrades them most
+of all is police inscription, obligatory medical inspection, and the
+miserable system of solicitation on the pavement. It is necessary to
+have lost all feeling of modesty, and to possess a cynical audacity to
+become a street prostitute.</p>
+
+<p>Prostitutes who only practice occasionally and have not the courage to
+solicit, nor to be inscribed by the police, belong to a higher level.
+But in countries where regulation is in force they always run the risk
+of being arrested by the police and put on the inscription list. These
+private prostitutes constitute the intermediate stage between
+prostitution properly so-called, and venal concubinage, which we shall
+speak of later.</p>
+
+<p>The army of prostitutes is partly composed of pathological
+individuals. Alcohol and vicious habits increase their abnormal
+tendencies, so that their behavior leaves nothing wanting in the way
+of temper, impulsiveness, cynicism and insolence. This is seen every
+day in hospitals for venereal disease. As soon as a prostitute finds
+her physical condition improve after a few days in hospital, sexual
+abstinence arouses her appetite to such an extent that she indulges in
+lesbian love with her companions, or shows herself naked at the
+windows, etc. Some prostitutes of better quality suffer at first from
+the scandalous tone of the brothel, but they generally become used to
+it, and end with adopting it themselves. Honest women, infected
+accidentally or by their husbands, suffer martyrdom when they are sent
+to the venereal divisions of hospitals.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span><b>The Fate of Prostitutes.</b>&mdash;What becomes of prostitutes in the course
+of time? They cannot remain very long in the brothels for they only
+accept young and fine-looking girls. It would be interesting to follow
+the fate of all these women. At all events nothing is more absurd than
+the common saying that the suppression of brothels increases
+prostitution in the streets, and that their introduction suppresses
+it. It is obvious that, as the women in brothels have to be
+continually renewed, they must be continually thrown onto the streets.
+No doubt many prostitutes die at an early age from the results of
+alcohol and syphilis. The only resource left to many, when they are
+ejected from the brothels, is to solicit in the streets or to join
+clandestine brothels or taverns of the same nature.</p>
+
+<p>The most profligate, those who look upon their profession from the
+artistic or the commercial points of view, know how to advance
+themselves and become "Madames"; but these are comparatively few in
+number. Some end in suicide or lunatic asylums.</p>
+
+<p>As a last resource, when no man will have anything to do with them,
+many of them take to the lowest occupations, such as cleaning
+lavatories, etc. At Munich it used to be proverbial that the class of
+"Radiweiber" and "Nussweiber" (old women selling nuts etc., at the
+street corners) were mostly recruited from old prostitutes.
+Occasionally a better class prostitute succeeds in getting married.</p>
+
+<p>If we consider without prejudice the miserable life of a prostitute,
+we cannot hear the term "<i>fille de joie</i>" without a feeling of sadness
+and indignation, for it conveys such bitter and tragic irony. If we
+could ourselves experience the true state of mind which is hidden
+behind the smiles and songs of so many miserable singers at caf&eacute;
+concerts, and behind the brazen artifices of many prostitutes; if we
+could learn their past life and the cause of their fall, no man with a
+spark of pity or sympathy for his fellows could relish with a light
+heart a "joy" bought at such a price. For those who read German, I
+recommend on this subject: <i>Tagebuch einer Verlornen</i>, by Marguerite
+B&ouml;hme. (Berlin: Fontane, 1905.)</p>
+
+<p><b>Prostitution and Sexual Perversion.</b>&mdash;If it is true that many
+prostitutes have a pathological heredity, it is still more sure that
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span>they often have to submit to the fancies of pathological clients. The
+numerous sexual anomalies, of which we have spoken in Chapter VIII,
+are closely connected with prostitution. The refinement of modern
+civilization is so complete that it supplies localities and women for
+the special use of each pathological form of the sexual appetite.</p>
+
+<p>So far we have only spoken of female prostitutes, and we have seen how
+they conform to the customs of sadists, masochists, etc. They allow
+themselves to be maltreated by the former, and maltreat the latter; or
+else they play at exhibitions symbolical of cruelty or humiliation.</p>
+
+<p>For male inverts, on the other hand, there exist male brothels, in
+which young boys practice pederasty for money. For certain rich
+<i>rou&eacute;s</i>, or for those affected with pederosis, children are kept. This
+last class of goods is very dear, for there is always a risk of the
+law intervening. Young virgins also fetch a high price; and they even
+try to sew up the hymen after their defloration, so as to offer them
+several times as virgins!</p>
+
+<p>With what we have said in Chapter VIII, these indications will suffice
+to show that modern prostitution and proxenetism constitute a public
+disgrace, intended to exploit the unbridled desires of men for profit.
+This system has been defended on the grounds of hygiene and the
+protection of virtuous women against the assaults of men, etc. In
+reality, it has resulted in corrupting and effeminating men; in
+restricting the normal sexual intercourse of youth in its natural
+association with an inconsiderate love; in degrading love itself; in
+debarring a great number of capable and virtuous women from marriage,
+from love, and from sexual intercourse in general; lastly, in causing
+complete aberration of the whole sexual life of modern society.</p>
+
+<p>Contemporary literature has begun to consider the psychology of
+prostitution. We have already mentioned <i>La Maison Tellier</i> by de
+Maupassant; Zola's <i>Nana</i> is the history of a high-class prostitute
+related in the well-known realistic manner of the celebrated novelist,
+in which he describes the sexual depravity existing in certain
+Parisian circles of the Second Empire.</p>
+
+<p>I will now make a few remarks concerning a social movement <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span>organized
+against the regulation of prostitution, called abolitionism.</p>
+
+<p><b>Abolitionism and Regulation.</b>&mdash;An Englishwoman, Mrs. Josephine
+Butler, undertook, in the name of liberty, a campaign against
+proxenetism, white slavery and the State regulation of prostitution.
+She also attacked the injustice of the Code Napoleon toward women,
+especially the prohibition of inquiry into paternity, which throws
+girls who have been seduced into the arms of prostitution. The
+abolitionists contest the right of police inscription of prostitutes
+under the pretext of hygiene, of submitting them against their will to
+medical inspection, and of keeping them in brothels. They claim severe
+laws against proxenetism and oppose toleration.</p>
+
+<p>In medical circles the system of regulation has generally been
+defended. It is urged that society has the right to protect itself
+against dangerous infection, and that, with this object, it has as
+much right to treat infected prostitutes compulsorily, as those
+affected with smallpox or cholera. Owing to their shameful trade, they
+maintain that these women have lost all claim to special
+consideration.</p>
+
+<p>This argument appears very reasonable at first sight, but it takes
+quite a different aspect when the facts are examined more thoroughly.</p>
+
+<p>First of all the comparison with smallpox and cholera is illogical,
+for these diseases endanger the innocent public, while the man who
+makes use of prostitution is quite aware of the danger he runs.
+Society is under no obligation to provide healthy prostitutes for the
+use of Don Juan.</p>
+
+<p>Against this it is stated that innocent wives are often infected and
+made to suffer for the sins of their husbands. But such an extensive
+blending of the State with family life does not appear to be
+admissible, and would lead to crying abuses. Society has neither the
+right nor the duty to facilitate the dangerous or injurious acts of
+certain individuals at the expense of others, by rendering them less
+dangerous, so that certain third parties may be less liable to suffer.
+This is an absurd sophism. The duty of society is to make responsible
+the one who has committed the dangerous or injurious act, and to
+punish him if he has done <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span>harm. Here, on the contrary, one only of
+the culprits (the prostitute) is compelled to keep to her vile trade,
+while the man who makes use of her, and often infects her, is free
+from any responsibility. Moreover, the State has no right to act
+against responsible persons under the pretext that their future
+sentiments or actions would have dangerous consequences for others;
+this would lead to arbitrary abuse of power. The insane, and habitual
+criminals make the only exceptions, for their abnormal and
+irresponsible cerebral organization is a perpetual danger to society.</p>
+
+<p>There is one question, however, which arises: Can prostitution in
+itself be regarded as a misdemeanor punishable by law? If this were
+the case, the client would have to be punished as well as the
+prostitute; or both of them be sent to reformatories. This is the only
+logical consequence, for in such cases the two contractors are equally
+guilty, and also equally dangerous as regards infection.</p>
+
+<p>How, therefore, can the system be justified which brands and inscribes
+the prostitute only; which is not content with tolerating her vile
+trade instead of punishing it, but gives it official sanction, causing
+her to fall lower and lower; which finally, to crown the work,
+licenses the proxenetism which exploits her vice? It is difficult to
+imagine more complete hypocrisy, or a more contradictory system.</p>
+
+<p>In former times when slavery was allowed, men's will and pleasure were
+sufficient to justify such measures, which created for their profit a
+class of female pariahs; and this was frankly and openly admitted.
+Nowadays, the equal rights of women which are officially recognized in
+civilized countries no longer allow it, and hygienic arguments only
+can give such modern barbarity the hypocritical appearance of
+justification. Lunatics and criminals are only locked up as a measure
+of safety, and to attempt to improve them; but their bodies are not
+allowed to become an object of commerce for the pleasure of other
+members of society.</p>
+
+<p>But the results of honestly interpreted statistics contradict the
+apparent justification of the regulation of prostitution, in the name
+of hygiene. It is intended to furnish men with a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span>means of coitus free
+from danger; but the facts prove that venereal disease has not been
+diminished by this means. The false security given to men officially
+by regulation makes them all the more careless. The multiplication of
+the sexual connections of each prostitute increases the danger of
+infection at least as much as the elimination of a few diseased
+persons diminishes it.</p>
+
+<p>The corruption of the State and its officials, especially the police
+and the medical inspectors of brothels, the general depravity which
+results from official toleration, and the perversion of ideas of
+morality among the public, increase habits of prostitution, and with
+it the danger of infection. Assured of impunity the pimps and their
+acolytes become more and more audacious and extend their business,
+while the prostitutes, whose number is increased by this system, seek
+to escape the police and practice their trade clandestinely. It is no
+wonder that the swamp to be purified becomes more and more infectious.
+Can it be conscientiously said that hygiene has benefited? This is
+well seen in Geneva and in France. It is enough to compare the number
+of cases of venereal disease and of prostitutes in countries where
+regulation is in force, with those which do not employ it, to show the
+complete fiasco of the system from the hygienic point of view. On the
+average, the number of infectious cases is nearly the same with or
+without regulation and depends on many other causes. I cannot enter
+into the details here and must refer to the statistics and to the
+works published by the Abolitionist Federation (6 Rue St. L&eacute;ger,
+Geneva).</p>
+
+<p>Of all that has been published, nothing appears to me more conclusive
+than the masterly statistics of Mounier, for Holland, in 1889. Even
+among medical men, the originators of regulation, the abolitionist
+point of view is steadily gaining ground. It is beginning to be
+understood that the toleration of proxenetism, and even the
+inscription and medical inspection of prostitutes, are vicious methods
+of social sanitation against venereal infection.</p>
+
+<p>But by the suppression of official toleration and regulation, the
+question of prostitution is in no way settled. This has only a
+negative action, important for the tactics of those who wish to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span>upset
+a scandalous abuse, but which does not respond to the higher task of
+extirpating the root of the evil. The positive work will only begin
+when the State is relieved of its shameful compact with proxenetism
+and prostitution.</p>
+
+<p>In the following chapters we shall examine the remedies which must be
+applied to our sexual anarchy, the result of masculine autocracy, as
+Russian anarchy is the result of Tsarism. I will first make a few
+observations from the medical and hygienic point of view, to the
+partisans of regulation. They exclaim that the abolitionists are
+fanatics, who, from their absence of scientific spirit, will deluge
+society with venereal disease. This bogy has no sound foundation. The
+State regulation of prostitution applied to certain women has not
+diminished the amount of venereal disease, because it does not reach
+it. The State concession of an unnatural vice cannot be hygienic.
+Moreover, it is impossible to completely disinfect prostitutes, this
+disinfection is quite illusory, unless it is also applied to their
+clients, which is impracticable.</p>
+
+<p>In France, where the system of regulation has existed for a long time
+in its strictest form, venereal diseases are extremely prevalent;
+while in Switzerland, where it only exists at Geneva, having been
+suppressed for some years in the Canton of Zurich, they are less
+frequent. Geneva is not less contaminated than other towns in
+Switzerland, in spite of its model brothels, and Zurich has lately, by
+popular vote, confirmed abolition by a crushing majority, in
+opposition to a few interested persons who wished to re&euml;stablish the
+brothels under futile and fallacious pretexts. Some clandestine
+brothels still exist in towns where the authorities shut their eyes.</p>
+
+<p>It has also been maintained that the number of sexual misdemeanors
+would increase with the suppression of brothels. This is another
+illusion. The majority of sexual misdemeanors are due to psychic
+anomalies (Chapter VIII) or to the effects of alcoholic intoxication.
+If they have any relation to prostitution, it is rather that of being
+favored by its orgies.</p>
+
+<p><b>Remedies for the Evil.</b>&mdash;What is wanted first of all are severe laws
+against proxenetism. It is indisputable that commerce made with the
+body of one's neighbor is illegal, even when the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span>latter gives
+consent. It is a crime or misdemeanor which should be prosecuted like
+negro slavery or usury. We should not wait for a complaint to be
+lodged, but prosecute proxenetism officially, for the victims are
+hindered by shame from coming forward. The pimps of proxenetism are
+recruited from the dregs of society. In this domain, as in the others,
+penal law should not be put in force; the object should be the
+protection of society and the improvement of the criminal.</p>
+
+<p>As regards prostitution itself, it cannot be made a misdemeanor
+without opening the door too widely to complete arbitrariness. The
+State cannot prevent a responsible adult from disposing of his own
+body, without introducing religion and metaphysics into legislation;
+but the State can require those who practice prostitution not to
+molest the public. It has, therefore, the right to punish solicitation
+in the streets by fine or imprisonment, especially in often repeated
+offenses. It can also give persons of both sexes, who are victims of
+venereal disease, the right of claiming damages by civil law. The
+legality of this right of indemnity has been much contested. In my
+opinion it is legitimate when the State no longer tolerates or
+regulates prostitution; but so long as it does this, and submits
+prostitutes to obligatory medical treatment, the States takes the
+responsibility of their health. Under the r&eacute;gime of regulation, an
+infected person could logically claim damages from the State, or, at
+any rate from the pimps of licensed proxenetism.</p>
+
+<p>The question of responsibility is quite different when prostitution is
+free. The sexual intercourse of a free prostitute with a man may be
+regarded as a private contract in which each party has the same rights
+and obligations. If one of the two contractors deceives the other by
+concealing venereal disease, the latter has the right to claim
+damages, if there is sufficient proof of infection from this source.</p>
+
+<p>The right of indemnity does not, however, constitute the principal
+point. In order to successfully combat prostitution and venereal
+disease, fundamental social reforms are necessary.</p>
+
+<p>(1). First of all the system of exploitation of the poor by the rich
+should be put an end to, the work of the poor being <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span>remunerated at
+its true value. This requires a social transformation of the relations
+between capital and labor.</p>
+
+<p>(2). The use of narcotics, and especially alcohol, should be
+suppressed.</p>
+
+<p>(3). The false modesty concerning sexual intercourse should be done
+away with.</p>
+
+<p>(4). The public should be instructed in the dangers of venereal
+disease and in the means of preventing contamination. The only certain
+means of curing them consists in not contracting them.</p>
+
+<p>(5). Cleanliness should be universally encouraged, especially in
+sexual intercourse.</p>
+
+<p>(6). Preventive measures should be employed in every coitus, the
+object of which is not procreation.</p>
+
+<p>(7). The treatment of venereal diseases in hospitals should be carried
+out in a decent and humane manner, so as not to shock the modesty of
+either sex, especially women, and so that patients need not be ashamed
+of submitting to medical treatment. Nowadays the venereal divisions of
+hospitals often more resemble brothels. This state of things makes it
+impossible for any woman with a particle of modesty to stay in these
+places. It is evident that women who are more or less virtuous, and
+even the better class of prostitutes, will avoid such hospital
+treatment as much as possible, and will thereby become the worst
+sources of infection.</p>
+
+<p>By treating venereal disease in hospital with more regard for decency
+and modesty, by abolishing the brand of shame, and by separating
+patients according to their behavior, we might succeed in improving a
+state of things which is often unbearable. Patients with venereal
+diseases would then more willingly submit to hospital treatment and
+would be more easily cured. In Italy much progress has already been
+made in this direction.</p>
+
+<p>In conclusion, I am convinced that if we should be contented for the
+present with damming up prostitution and suppressing the causes which
+render prostitutes more and more abject, without yet being able to
+abolish the whole evil, a transformation of our social life, and
+especially the suppression of the reign of capital as a means of
+exploitation of the work of others, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span>and suppression of the use of
+alcoholic drinks, would eventually succeed in the gradual extinction
+of prostitution and the substitution of concubinage, which has much
+less evil results.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>VENAL CONCUBINAGE</h4>
+
+<p>Venal concubinage occupies an intermediate position between
+prostitution and concubinage. It is distinguished from the latter by
+the fact that it is remunerated; but the distinction is very fine.</p>
+
+<p><b>Lorettes.</b>&mdash;This is an old term which may be applied to paid women
+who are not regular prostitutes. It is hardly possible to distinguish
+them from clandestine prostitutes (not on the police inscription).
+They are women who do not practice solicitation or sell themselves to
+the first comer, but generally keep to one man for a time.</p>
+
+<p><b>Grisettes.</b>&mdash;The Parisian grisette, whose type has become classic, is
+a higher class of woman who, at any rate in her primitive simplicity,
+was not wanting in romance. Relations with a grisette may be compared
+to limited and free marriage, in which there is comparative fidelity.</p>
+
+<p>Like some of the free prostitutes, the grisette does not live only on
+the support of her lover. She is often a dressmaker or a shop-girl,
+and makes arrangements with a lover so as to live more comfortably.</p>
+
+<p>When the grisette acts as her lover's housekeeper and lives with him
+on terms of the closest intimacy, the <i>liaison</i> takes a more serious
+character and there is a certain degree of affection or even love.
+However, all these concubinages are generally limited to a few weeks
+or months, so that the natural love of the woman becomes blunted by
+successive polyandry. It is always more or less a question of "an
+accessory business."</p>
+
+<p>There are all kinds of lorettes and grisettes, but as a rule they are
+generally attached to small tradesmen, students, workingmen, etc.,
+rather than to rich men. It is a kind of contract for a limited
+period. This system is very widespread in large towns, where the
+inhabitants do not interfere with each other's affairs; but is
+difficult to manage in small towns, where every one knows everybody.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span><b>Mistresses.</b>&mdash;These may be called the aristocrats of the species.
+Here we see more distinctly the transition from venal love to free
+concubinage based on mutual love. The <i>hetaira</i> of the ancient Greeks
+(vide Chapter VI) corresponded more or less to the modern mistresses,
+especially to the intelligent mistresses of men in high positions. In
+certain respects we may say that George Sand, for example, was a
+<i>hetaira</i> from pure love, while among the Greek <i>hetaira</i> money played
+a great part. Some mistresses are paid; others live on terms of
+equality with their lovers; others again maintain their lovers. We
+must also distinguish between mistresses who live with married men,
+and those who live with bachelors.</p>
+
+<p>The most typical case is that where a bachelor who wishes to remain
+free takes a mistress, whom he also makes mistress of his house, and
+who thus becomes an illegitimate wife who may separate from him when
+it pleases her. Some women contract this kind of union without being
+actually paid, simply for their maintenance, in return for which they
+do the housework. Here there is no actual sale of the body. The
+contract may be indefinite or limited. In such cases the effect of
+money on the attitude of the man toward his mistress is evident; his
+tone is generally less respectful toward paid mistresses than toward
+those who are not paid. The love of the paid mistress is little more
+durable or more intense than that of the grisette, the situation being
+almost the same.</p>
+
+<p>Zola's <i>Nana</i> prostituted herself regularly with rich men: secondly,
+she was the mistress of Fontan, who plays the part of a high-class
+protector; thirdly, she fell in love with Georges in quite an idyllic
+fashion. Bordenave, the manager, had good reason in wishing his
+theater to be called a brothel, as he was more of a pimp than a
+theatrical manager. This example, a little far-fetched, shows how
+ideas pass from one to another in this elastic domain.</p>
+
+<p>There are also married mistresses. The position of mistress to a
+married man is, on the whole, more delicate than that of mistress to a
+bachelor. We are only concerned here with paid mistresses. They seldom
+give themselves to married men except when the home life of the latter
+is more or less disorganized; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span>when the husband is separated from the
+wife, or when he lives in open warfare with her. A married man, on the
+contrary, may secretly visit brothels or private prostitutes, often
+even with his wife's knowledge, because the prostitute can have no
+influence in family affairs. This reason has even been used for the
+defense of prostitution. It is true that married men often have
+connection with other women, and the term mistress has been applied to
+the women who take part in this intercourse, whether they or their
+lover, or both of them, are already married. But in this case money is
+usually only a secondary consideration, when the households concerned
+are not broken up. It is often only the maneuver of an intriguer who
+tries to separate a husband from his wife to marry him herself and
+monopolize his fortune. It is sufficient to show how difficult it
+often is to distinguish the paid mistress from the woman who does not
+give herself from interest but from passion, or from the intriguing
+adventuress who tries to make a good catch.</p>
+
+<p>Lorettes, grisettes and paid mistresses seldom have children. These
+women are more rarely infected with venereal diseases than
+prostitutes, but they are better acquainted with the methods of
+preventing conception.</p>
+
+<p>The fate of the children of venal concubines is generally very sad.
+They are not the fruits of love but of a sexual union based on
+idleness and lewdness. If conception occurs in spite of all
+precautions, artificial abortion is attempted, or if this fails the
+child is sent to the "baby farmer," who gets rid of it. The women who
+dispose of their children in this way are often of the better class;
+common prostitutes often love and take care of their children, while
+the young ladies of society generally try and get rid of their
+illegitimate children, because they are much more compromised. Some
+married women even do not hesitate to perform abortion when a child
+inconveniences them.</p>
+
+<p>We have only mentioned the fourth group of women with which we are
+concerned, because of its mercantile nature. Every union in which a
+human being gives love for money is unnatural. Venal love is not true
+love, but an improper contract between man and woman, with the object
+of satisfying the sexual appetite, without any regard to the higher
+object intended by nature. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span>It sometimes happens that similar
+contracts are made in the inverse direction, when a nymphomaniacal
+woman purchases a fine young man, under some pretext or other. Inverts
+also pay boys to satisfy their perverted appetites.</p>
+
+<p>However unsavory may be the contents of the present chapter, it was
+necessary to write it in order to give a clear idea of the subject.
+Under the pretense of virtue venal love has too long been covered with
+a veil of hypocrisy. Prostitution, marriage for money and venal
+concubinage are, each in its way, elements of corruption and decadence
+which, combined with alcohol, gambling, speculation, the greed for
+money and pleasure in general, threaten our modern culture with ruin.
+Among these anomalies, the State organization of prostitution being
+the most monstrous, it is necessary to begin with its suppression.</p>
+
+<p>Among the ancients, the goddess Venus or Aphrodite was the symbol of
+beauty and love. Although somewhat sly, she was fecund, full of desire
+and charm, and embodied not only the natural aspirations of man, but
+also his artistic ideal. Nowadays, she is dragged in the mire by two
+false gods&mdash;Bacchus, who makes a gross and vulgar brute of her, and
+Mammon, who transforms her into a venal prostitute&mdash;while a
+hypocritical religious asceticism, endeavors in vain to confine her in
+a strait-waistcoat. May the progress of science and culture find the
+power to deliver her from the tyranny of her two infamous companions,
+deified by human ignorance and bestiality. Then only will the goddess
+of love appear in all her glory!</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[326]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>THE INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT ON SEXUAL LIFE</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>However strong may be the hereditary sexual instincts which an
+individual has inherited by phylogeny from his ancestors, and however
+violent their internal outbreaks in his ontogeny, it is necessary to
+recognize that an organism so complicated as that of man is capable of
+adapting itself to its environment to a remarkable and varied degree,
+and that consequently external influences react strongly on the sexual
+appetite. We will now examine these influences, so far as they are not
+dealt with in other chapters.</p>
+
+<p><b>Influence of Climate.</b>&mdash;Warm climates appear to excite the intensity
+of sexual life; man matures more quickly and is more disposed to
+sexual excess. I am not aware of other influences that can be
+attributed to climate. It is, moreover, possible that the direct
+influence of heat has been confounded with the indirect action it
+exerts in the conditions of human existence. In cold countries life is
+more laborious, and this diminishes the intensity of the sexual
+appetite. In warm countries man has not so much concern with
+dwellings, clothes and heating; life is greatly simplified, and this
+freedom from anxiety inclines him to greater sexual activity.</p>
+
+<p><b>Town and Country. Isolation. Sociability. Life in Factories.</b>&mdash;The
+social relations of man exert a great influence on sexual life.
+Hermits and those who live on isolated farms are interesting in this
+respect. Solitude generally leads man to chronic melancholia and to
+abnormal peculiarities, unless he has a library in his hermitage, when
+he may live in the spirit of the intellectual sociability derived from
+the study of books.</p>
+
+<p>It is quite otherwise with one who has no intellectual occupation, or
+one who has lived in solitude from infancy. In this case the hermit
+becomes a kind of savage, without any intellectual <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span>development, and
+reverts more or less to the state of primitive man.</p>
+
+<p>An adult who establishes himself in solitude without providing himself
+with intellectual capital becomes strongly inclined to depressing
+psychoses. This is observed among the isolated farmers, according to
+Professor Seguin, of New York. The man who lives alone, or surrounded
+only by the members of his family becomes disposed to certain sexual
+anomalies, such as incest, sodomy and masturbation.</p>
+
+<p>It is among the agricultural population that we meet with the most
+normal sexual relations and the best hygiene. The French Canadians
+form a good example, and it is the same generally where agriculture is
+practiced by independent peasants, not alcoholized, and having divided
+property. Agricultural families generally procreate more children and
+healthier ones than urban families. No doubt modern medical hygiene,
+both public and private, has made so much progress in towns that there
+may be, at a certain age, proportionally more living children than in
+the country; but the country children are of stronger constitution and
+more healthy in every way.</p>
+
+<p>I had the opportunity of confirming this opinion while I was
+superintendent of a lunatic asylum for many years. I found it was
+impossible to recruit from the town a good staff of nurses of either
+sex.</p>
+
+<p>The inhabitant of towns, it is true, learns his work more quickly, but
+he lacks patience, perseverance and character, and soon shows himself
+wanting in the accomplishment of his physical and moral duties. The
+countryman, on the contrary, is at first slow and clumsy, but soon
+becomes more capable and careful, and more amenable to education. This
+shows that, on the average, the hereditary dispositions of the
+country-bred child are better than those of the town-bred child. The
+latter develops more rapidly and more completely his natural
+dispositions, owing to social intercourse, while the country-bred
+child, although he appears at first sight less intelligent, is really
+better endowed on the average than the town child. The superficial
+observer is easily deceived, but country life accumulates more reserve
+force in the organism than urban life.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span>Sexual excesses in the country are more conformable to nature. Apart
+from marriage, we meet with concubinage, infidelity, and sometimes
+prostitution, but these excesses are never widely spread in small
+places where every one knows each other. An extensive study of the
+alcohol question has shown me that hereditary degenerations and sexual
+evils in the country are principally due to alcoholism and its
+blastophthoria (vide Chapter I). But when factories, mining
+industries, etc., create unhealthy conditions in the country, the evil
+influences of urban life are implanted there, often in a still higher
+degree.</p>
+
+<p>The society of large towns is made up of many different circles, who
+have little or no relations with each other, do not know each other,
+and seldom concern themselves about each other. The individual is only
+known in his own circle. This circumstance favors the increase of vice
+and depravity. In addition to this, the insanitary dwellings, the life
+of excitement and innumerable pleasures, all tend to produce a
+restless and unnatural existence. The best conditions of existence for
+man are contact with nature, air and light, sufficient physical
+exercise combined with steady work for the brain, which requires
+exercise as much as the other organs; this is just what is wanting
+among the poor, in the town and in the factory. Instead of this they
+are offered unhealthy nocturnal pleasures and a prostitution which
+spreads itself everywhere with all the dangerous effects we have
+described. The result is that they become incapable of nourishing and
+raising their children properly, often even of procreating them in
+healthy and natural love.</p>
+
+<p>Such are the conditions of the lower classes in large towns. Along
+with prostitution, venereal disease and alcohol, the wretched
+dwellings in many places lead to infamous promiscuity. In factories
+and mines things are still worse. In these places there is a swarm of
+people continually engaged in most unhealthy occupations, and only
+leaving their work to indulge in the most repugnant sexual excesses.
+The rapacity, frivolity and luxury of society lead to alcoholism,
+poverty, promiscuity and prostitution among the lower classes and
+cause complete degeneration of entire industrial populations.</p>
+
+<p>In the Canton of Zurich I have had the opportunity of closely
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[329]</a></span>observing the physical and moral effects of this degeneration. The
+individuals most incapable as hospital attendants were always factory
+hands. These wretched beings were generally so atrophied in body and
+mind that they were no use for anything except the weaving of silk and
+cotton. In the large English towns, such as Liverpool, and among the
+population of certain mining districts in Belgium, I have met with
+even worse degeneration of the human species. Modesty, morality and
+health are destroyed in this swarming human mass&mdash;dirty, an&aelig;mic,
+tuberculous, rickety, imbecile, or hysterical&mdash;and there is no
+distinction between the factory girl and the prostitute. In certain
+Belgian districts which are a prey to alcoholism, one sometimes sees
+human beings copulating in the streets like animals, or like the
+drunken Kaffirs in South Africa. What can we expect from the
+descendants of a population so completely degenerate? Marriage and
+even concubinage among peasants is golden in comparison!</p>
+
+<p>I will now draw attention to a contemporary phenomenon of the greatest
+interest. The immense development of means of transport, combined with
+progress in the sanitation of dwellings, favors the transportation of
+town to country and country to town. This brings together the two
+modes of human life, and in this I see the dawn of salvation in the
+future. The modern towns of North America, thanks to the great
+extension of their territory, already resemble the country to a great
+extent, each house being surrounded by a garden. The electric tramways
+shorten distances and facilitate this manner of building towns. As
+means of communication become still more simplified and cheapened, the
+advantages of country life will be joined to those of the town without
+suffering from the promiscuity of the latter. The disadvantages of
+country life consist in atrophy of the intellectual dispositions from
+want of contact; improvement in means of transport will bring this
+contact to the country. The result of such distribution of the
+territory of a civilized state, such as I have in view, might be
+called an <i>Agropolis</i>&mdash;an urbanized country or a countrified town. It
+would then be possible to live a life more ideal in human sentiments,
+and healthier as regards material and sexual matters.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[330]</a></span>The state of the countryman or peasant is advantageous for marriage,
+not only because it does not offer such a suitable soil for
+prostitution, but because the danger of venereal disease is
+diminished, and the procreation of healthy offspring favors conjugal
+happiness and constancy in sexual union. From the religious point of
+view, the freedom in sexual intercourse which prevails among country
+people before marriage is looked upon as immoral; but this is a
+natural phenomenon similar to the "marriage by trial" of certain
+savage races, or the "hand-fasting" of the Scotch people, of which we
+have spoken in Chapter VI. People who tolerate and defend prostitution
+should be ashamed of their hypocrisy and of the manner in which they
+distort morality, when in the same breath they reproach peasants with
+their natural but illegitimate unions.</p>
+
+<p>It is needless to say that other causes of degeneration may exist in
+the country as well as in towns; for instance, certain endemic
+diseases, such as myx&oelig;dema and malaria, the brutish life of certain
+tribes, perpetuation of degeneracy by consanguineous unions, etc.</p>
+
+<p>The worst state is certainly that of the proletariat of large towns,
+which is generally associated with crime. In the community of pimps,
+criminals and decadents in general, is constituted a special social
+outlook, which regards the greatest scamp in the light of a hero. When
+a child shows a precocious criminal disposition it is looked upon in
+these circles as a child of much promise. Honest and virtuous children
+are considered in this society as imbeciles, or even as traitors and
+spies, and are consequently despised, hated and ill-treated. The
+deleterious influences we have mentioned do not act alone, but are
+often associated with other factors in causing degeneration of the
+sexual life. When other influences preponderate, we may sometimes
+observe depravity in the country, and on the contrary, healthy and
+normal conditions in certain towns. We must always avoid exaggerating
+the importance of a single factor in making generalizations. Certain
+country villages, the inhabitants of which have become alcoholized and
+degraded, may present a much more unhealthy sexual life than certain
+sober and well-governed towns.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[331]</a></span><b>Vagabondage.</b>&mdash;In the <i>Archiv f&uuml;r Rassen und Gesellschafts biologie</i>
+of 1905 (Archives of the biology of races and of society), Doctor
+J&ouml;rger relates the history of the descendants of a couple of
+vagabonds, which he carefully studied for several generations. Nearly
+all the members of this family became vagabonds, thieves, prostitutes,
+and other society pests. Vain attempts were made to give a good
+education to some of them, but they ran away from school to lead the
+lives of vagabonds or criminals. In a few of them only, education gave
+some results, but not at all brilliant. In this family, alcoholism and
+its blastophthoria played a considerable part.</p>
+
+<p>We can hardly admit that the mnemic phenomena explained in Chapter I
+could have acted appreciably in two or three hundred years, a period
+much too short for the human species. No doubt the common ancestor of
+the above family of vagabonds descended from a family of vagabonds. I
+do not, however, think I am wrong in attributing to blastophthoria,
+superposed on the disastrous combinations of germs which is inevitable
+in the life of vagabonds, the principal cause of this typical
+degeneration of the family, a degeneration in which sexual degradation
+strongly predominates. I recommend Doctor J&ouml;rger's work to any one
+interested in this question. It would be useful to draw up
+genealogical tables, with the medical and psychological descriptions
+of the whole population of a small town.</p>
+
+<p><b>Americanism.</b>&mdash;By this term I designate an unhealthy feature of
+sexual life, common among the educated classes of the United States,
+and apparently originating in the greed for dollars, which is more
+prevalent in North America than anywhere else. I refer to the
+unnatural life which Americans lead, and more especially to its sexual
+aspect.</p>
+
+<p>The true American citizen despises agricultural work and manual labor
+in general, especially for women. His aim is to centralize labor by
+means of machinery and commerce, so as to concern himself only with
+business, intellectual occupations and sport. American women consider
+muscular work and labor in the country as degrading to their sex. This
+is a relic of the days of slavery, when all manual labor was left to
+negroes, and is so to a great extent at the present day.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[332]</a></span>Desirous of remaining young and fresh as long as possible, fearing the
+dangers and troubles of childbirth and the bringing-up of children,
+the American woman has an increasing aversion to pregnancy,
+childbirth, suckling and the rearing of large families.</p>
+
+<p>Since the emancipation of negroes has caused domestic servants in the
+United States to become expensive luxuries, family life has been to a
+great extent replaced by life in hotels and boarding-houses, and this
+has furnished another reason for avoiding conception and large
+families.</p>
+
+<p>It is evident that this form of emancipation of women is absolutely
+deleterious and that it leads to degeneration, if not to extinction of
+the race. The mixed Aryan (European) race of North America will
+diminish and become gradually extinguished, even without emigration,
+and will soon be replaced by Chinese or negroes. It is necessary for
+woman to labor as well as man, and she ought not to avoid the
+fulfillment of her natural position. Every race which does not
+understand this necessity ends in extinction. A woman's ideal ought
+not to consist in reading novels and lolling in rocking chairs, nor in
+working only in offices and shops, so as to preserve her delicate skin
+and graceful figure. She ought to develop herself strongly and
+healthily by working along with man in body and mind, and by
+procreating numerous children, when she is strong, robust and
+intelligent. But this does not nullify the advantage that may accrue
+from limiting the number of conceptions, when the bodily and mental
+qualities are wanting in the procreators.</p>
+
+<p><b>Saloons and Alcohol.</b>&mdash;I desire to draw attention once more to the
+evil influence of saloons and bars. The drink habit corrupts the whole
+of sexual life. It is the origin of the most hideous forms of
+prostitution and proxenetism, and leads to the seduction of girls. I
+must mention again the barmaids whose business it is to attract
+customers by exciting their sexual desire, at the same time exploiting
+themselves by prostitution. These saloons are dens of iniquity in
+which alcohol and prostitution are inextricably confounded. In Germany
+they have become a veritable social plague.</p>
+
+<p>Drink makes men and women not only gross and sensual, but <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[333]</a></span>also
+negligent, imprudent and irreflective. The saloon takes men from their
+homes, and drink directly diminishes the population. This is seen in
+Russia by comparing the abstainers with the drinkers, the former being
+much more fecund. The statistics of Doctor Bezzola show that a single
+drinking bout may have a blastophthoric effect. From this and from
+other causes result the deplorable consequences of coitus which takes
+place during drunkenness.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p>
+
+<p><b>Wealth and Poverty.</b>&mdash;While in former civilizations the rich man
+regarded a multiplicity of wives and children as a condition or cause
+of his wealth and also as its result, in our modern civilization the
+number of children diminishes with the increase of prosperity.
+Children have ceased to be as formerly a source of wealth; on the
+contrary, they occasion much expense for their education. Again, the
+higher the social position of woman the more she fears pregnancy. Her
+life of ease makes her weaker and more delicate, so that she becomes
+less fit for the procreation of children. This phenomenon is an
+unhealthy product of culture and reaches a truly pathological degree
+in America.</p>
+
+<p>We have mentioned marriage for money, which is the prostitution of the
+rich, and poverty, which is one of the causes of common prostitution,
+and we have seen how money influences sexual intercourse. We may now
+state the general principle that a mediocrity living in comfortable
+circumstances without immediate daily wants, under good hygienic
+conditions, but requiring a man to work for his living, constitutes
+the best condition both for a healthy sexual life and for health and
+happiness in general. This is the <i>aurea mediocritas</i>, or modest
+competence, the excellence of which was recognized by the ancients.</p>
+
+<p>The sexuality of the rich man degenerates by luxury, comfort, excess
+and idleness, and by the fact that he is already satiated in his
+youth. That of the poor man is no less degenerate, owing to bad food,
+unhealthy dwellings, neglected education, and by vicious example which
+at the opposite extreme, resembles in many points that of the rich
+man; the exploiter and the exploited meeting in the dens of vice. Such
+is the case <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[334]</a></span>with gambling hells, with dens for prostitution and
+sexual anomalies, where the poor blackmail the rich, while the latter
+in their capacity as social exploiters help to maintain poverty and
+prostitution.</p>
+
+<p>Money makes sexual intercourse unnatural; in place of letting coitus
+take its natural course, it makes it an object of amusement and
+pleasure, and also of speculation, and it debases the bodies of
+wretched girls by making them objects of commerce.</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately, the increasing facility of obtaining money without
+working for it, due to civilization, not only corrupts the sexual life
+of the wealthy and the poverty stricken, but has the same effect on
+the middle classes. A healthy and normal sexual life must be
+associated with honest and arduous work. We have already remarked that
+the solution of the sexual question depends partly on the suppression
+of alcoholic drink. We may add that another side of the question
+depends on the extirpation of the greed for money. If human beings
+could work for the social welfare without private interest, sexual
+relations would soon take their natural course. But it must be
+admitted that it is difficult to find a practical solution for the
+problem of social economy.</p>
+
+<p><b>Rank and Social Position.</b>&mdash;Class distinction and social position
+have always played a part in sexual life. This is especially the case
+where certain class customs and prejudices prescribe a special code
+for marriage. The consanguinity of the nobility and of royal families,
+who can only marry among themselves, has resulted in obvious
+degeneration. Originally there was the desire to preserve the purity
+of noble blood, and rules formulated with this object at first had
+some success; but in the long run the exclusiveness of such selection
+produces degeneration of the group which puts it into practice.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, the severe rules which govern marriages among the
+nobility have resulted in driving the latter to extra-nuptial sexual
+intercourse. In their sexual excesses, the nobility, and even crowned
+heads, seldom amuse themselves with honest and virtuous girls of the
+working classes, but more generally with actresses of loose morals,
+dancing girls, and hysterical sirens and adventuresses of all kinds,
+so long as they are pretty. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[335]</a></span>Since the time of the feudal system, the
+nobility, having lost its real reason for existence, only lives on its
+traditions. It remains in general in a state of idle depravity,
+faithful to its old traditions, except when it has succeeded in
+adapting itself to the work of modern life. It has, in fact, preserved
+the vices of its ancestors rather than their virtues.</p>
+
+<p>The more than doubtful offspring of extra-nuptial intercourse among
+the nobility have often been adopted or raised to the nobility.
+Moreover, kings and princes have often ennobled unworthy persons who
+had succeeded in pandering to their follies or exciting their sexual
+passions. It is, therefore, not to be wondered at if in the offspring
+of such unions, the blood of the highest nobility is tainted with that
+of the worst kinds of heredity.</p>
+
+<p>Another sign or effect of the degeneration of the nobility is found in
+the marriages they so often contract with wealthy heiresses, often of
+mediocre quality, in order to repair their escutcheon. In the Middle
+Ages, the nobility regarded it as degrading to work for their living,
+and this prejudice accelerated their degeneration; for nowadays the
+heroic and chivalrous deeds of the Middle Ages have little opportunity
+for their performance.</p>
+
+<p>Other social classes present certain sexual peculiarities; for example
+the disastrous consequences of celibacy among the Catholic priests.
+This excludes an important and intelligent portion of the species from
+reproduction, and also favors clandestine debauchery.</p>
+
+<p>The army and navy also exert a detrimental action on sexual life.
+First of all they foster one of the lowest forms of prostitution;
+soldiers' women are proverbial, and one of them alone may infect a
+whole regiment. In the second place, the absence of normal sexual
+intercourse favors all kinds of perversion, such as pederasty,
+masturbation, etc. The abominable sexual life of soldiers and sailors
+corrupts them to such an extent that when they marry later on they
+come to their wives with filthy habits, to say nothing of syphilis and
+gonorrhea. The result is the procreation of offspring who are more or
+less tainted in body and mind by the effects of venereal disease
+combined with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[336]</a></span>alcohol. We have already mentioned the rules which
+forbid German officers to marry a woman unless she possesses a certain
+fortune.</p>
+
+<p>In the Norwegian mercantile marine the customs contrast happily with
+those we have just mentioned, and permit officers to live on board
+with their wives. In all respects the Norwegian serves as a model in
+the sexual question; does he not favor conjugal life by only charging
+half-price on the boats for women who travel with their husbands!</p>
+
+<p>Other classes have a less obvious influence on sexual life. On the
+whole, however, all sexual isolation of castes has an unfavorable
+influence. Wherever the prejudices of a caste compel its members to
+intermarry, certain special degenerations are produced. Good quality
+in man is not derived from class or position, but from true innate or
+hereditary nobility of character, and this alone should be the object
+of positive selection, without any distinction of classes.</p>
+
+<p><b>Individual Life.</b>&mdash;There is no doubt that the mode of life of the
+individual exerts an influence on his sexual life. High living
+combined with little bodily exercise generally increases the sexual
+appetite, while insufficient food combined with severe muscular work
+diminishes it.</p>
+
+<p>Intellectual work acts in a variable manner. A distinguished
+psychologist assured me that intense intellectual work excited his
+sexual appetite; others have said the opposite. As a rule, a sedentary
+life increases the sexual appetite; a life full of occupation and
+muscular activity diminishes it. But the question is complicated by
+other influences.</p>
+
+<p>Alcohol diminishes sexual power, while exalting desire or even
+perverting it. The artificial excitants of the sexual appetite,
+cultivated by modern civilization by interested speculation, act in
+rather a different way. Erotic pictures, obscene novels and dramas,
+etc., constitute an unhealthy medium in our centers of civilization,
+which overexcites and corrupts the sexual appetite. The more delicate
+and poisonous the perfume of this atmosphere and the more &aelig;sthetic the
+refinement by which it titillates the senses, the greater is its
+destructive action.</p>
+
+<p>The question of the reunion or separation of the sexes plays an
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[337]</a></span>important part. Life in common among girls and boys from infancy
+usually diminishes sexual excitation, in the same way as among
+brothers and sisters. We find something analogous in different
+branches of human activity where the two sexes live together; for
+instance, at college, in the fields, and in general where work and
+play is common to both sexes.</p>
+
+<p>There are, however, certain exceptions to this rule, which must not be
+taken too generally. Under certain circumstances, life in common of
+the two sexes leads to unfavorable and even perverted sexual
+excitation. This is especially the case when alcohol adds its
+influence; also among nervous or ill-balanced individuals. In my
+opinion it is absolutely unreasonable for the superintendent of a
+lunatic asylum to organize balls at which the insane of both sexes are
+provided with beer or wine. I have only seen bad results from this,
+while I have obtained excellent effects from a temporary reunion of
+the insane of both sexes, by avoiding all alcoholic drinks as well as
+everything which could excite the sexual appetite, such as dancing, or
+the bringing together of erotic or perverted individuals. A young
+female onanist who suffered from sexual excitement complicated with a
+nervous condition, complained to me of being obliged to work as a
+telegraphist among young men, as this continually excited her
+eroticism without the possibility of satisfying it.</p>
+
+<p>This situation, which is a common one in both sexes, gives us a
+valuable indication. No doubt life in common for the two sexes is
+normal and natural, but only on the condition that it leads eventually
+to normal sexual intercourse as the result of love. It is neither
+healthy nor normal to excite an appetite continually without
+satisfying it. Any one who wishes to live a continent life, for
+religious or other reasons, ought not to expose himself to continual
+excitement by too great intimacy with the opposite sex; he should, on
+the contrary, avoid everything which tends to excite his sexual
+appetite and seek everything which tends to pacify it. I am not
+referring here to individuals of a naturally cold and indifferent
+nature, who run little or no risk under such circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>Certain occupations, such as those of employees in stores, telegraph
+offices, etc., in which the two sexes are closely associated <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[338]</a></span>in their
+work, constitute from this point of view a double-edged sword. Other
+unhealthy and monotonous occupations, combined with bad conditions of
+food and lodging, and with all kinds of seduction&mdash;factory hands for
+example&mdash;have a positively deleterious effect on sexual life, which
+becomes absolutely depraved when the two sexes work together. The
+situation is hardly any better when they are only separated during
+working hours.</p>
+
+<p><b>Internats.</b>&mdash;All internats, <i>i.e.</i>, all establishments where
+individuals of the same sex live in the same dwelling for a long time,
+exert a peculiar influence on sexual life&mdash;schools and convents, for
+example.</p>
+
+<p>The great inconvenience of all these establishments lies in the danger
+of contamination from habits of onanism or pederasty. Inverts are
+strongly attracted towards internats, where they find their heart's
+desire where they can easily indulge their perverted passions; the
+dormitory of such an institution having the same effect on them as
+that of a girl's school would have on a young man. (Vide Chapter
+VIII.)</p>
+
+<p>This is a matter which has not received sufficient attention in
+organizing boarding-schools for boys and girls, because it was not
+known that homosexual instincts are hereditary and innate. Such cases
+were regarded only as acquired bad habits.</p>
+
+<p>Lunatic asylums are especially attractive to sexual inverts, who apply
+for the positions of attendants or nurse so as to be able to indulge
+their passions on the insane patients, who are incapable of betraying
+them.</p>
+
+<p>Without being homosexual, nor even seduced by inverts, many normal but
+erotic individuals try to satisfy their sexual appetite on their
+companions&mdash;boys by pederasty, girls by lesbian love, and both sexes
+by mutual onanism.</p>
+
+<p>The chief danger is that of some sexually perverted individual gaining
+entry to a boarding-school and contaminating numbers of normal
+individuals, without anything being discovered; because it is much
+more difficult to supervise a school than a family. This could be
+remedied better by confidence between masters and pupils than by
+supervision.</p>
+
+<p><b>Varia.</b>&mdash;I should never finish if I attempted to describe all the
+influences of environment. The examples mentioned will <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[339]</a></span>suffice to
+show that, in a natural appetite such as the sexual, the two extremes
+of asceticism and excess lead to evil and unnatural aberrations, and
+that the important point is to find or create a healthy environment
+for a healthy sexual life.</p>
+
+<p>We hear a good deal about good or bad luck or chance in the matter of
+love. I do not deny that fortuitous circumstances often determine the
+happiness of an individual in his love affairs. But it is all the more
+deplorable that what is called the good manners of society make it so
+difficult to correct Cupid's blunders. There is room for improvement
+in this direction, and many spoilt lives and much unhappiness might be
+avoided. The unfavorable influence of environment might often be
+corrected by separation or change, if this could be done in time.</p>
+
+<br />
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+<br />
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Vide "Alkoholvergiftung und Degeneration" by Bunge:
+Leipzig 1904; and "Hygiene of the Nerves and Mind" by Forel: Stuttgart 1905.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[340]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>RELIGION AND SEXUAL LIFE</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p><b>Transformation of Profane Customs into Religious
+Dogmas.</b>&mdash;Ethnography has taught us that in the course of time human
+tribes often unconsciously transform profane customs into integral
+parts of their religion, either by attributing them to a divine
+origin, or by elevating them to the rank of commandments of the gods,
+or by connecting them with other dogmas, combining them with worship,
+etc.</p>
+
+<p>Sexual connection plays an important part in this matter. A great
+number of religious rites and customs are nothing else than the
+customs of sexual life (taken in its widest sense) which have been
+symbolized; inversely, a number of dogmas have for their only motive
+the application of a religious basis to sexual customs, which gives
+them more authority.</p>
+
+<p>The religious rites react powerfully on the sexual life and on the way
+in which the members of the tribe or people understand it. We will
+give a few striking examples.</p>
+
+<p>We have seen in Chapter VI that polygamy depends first on the idea of
+ownership, and secondly on marriage by purchase, to which it owes its
+historic origin. But the fact that Islamism and Mormonism, for
+example, have made polygamy an integral part of their religious
+dogmas, has given to the whole organization of the Mahometans and
+Mormons, as well as to their point of view of existence, a particular
+direction which cannot be ignored. In reality, we are just as
+polygamous as they are, but our theoretical and religious sexual
+morality is monogamous while theirs is polygamous, each based on
+contradictory "divine commandments."</p>
+
+<p>Among certain Buddhists, the wife is compelled to follow her husband
+to the grave, which naturally influences sexual life profoundly.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[341]</a></span>Among many savage races there exists matriarchism, which gives the
+woman a high social position. This has even been made a religious
+dogma, while it simply originates from the natural and just idea that
+the mother is much more intimately connected with the children than
+the father.</p>
+
+<p>The duty imposed on men to marry the widow of their brother originated
+from a profane command intended to regulate unions; eventually this
+was made a religious dogma. In the same way circumcision among the
+Jews had its origin in a hygienic custom having no relation to
+religious faith. This did not prevent it becoming later on as
+important a custom as baptism in Christianity. For the Jewish people
+it has the advantage of protecting them to a great extent from
+venereal infection, and against one of the chief causes of
+masturbation.</p>
+
+<p><b>Catholicism.</b>&mdash;We have already spoken of the celibacy of the Catholic
+priests and of its lay origin. The Catholic religion also contains a
+series of detailed precepts concerning sexual connection in general
+and marriage in particular; precepts which were only gradually
+transformed into religious dogmas. As they determine to a great extent
+opinions and manners in the sexual domain, they exert a considerable
+social influence.</p>
+
+<p>The absolute interdiction of divorce among the Catholics (man has not
+the right to separate those whom God has joined together) seals
+forever the most unfortunate unions and leads to misfortunes of all
+kinds, separation of the married couple, <i>liaisons</i> apart from
+marriage, etc. According to Liguori, the Catholic Church prescribes a
+number of details concerning sexual relations in marriage. The woman
+who, during coitus places herself upon the man instead of under him,
+commits a sin. The position and manner of performing coitus are
+prescribed in the most minute details, and the holy fathers make the
+woman play a part unworthy of her position as wife, while according
+the man the widest liberty.</p>
+
+<p>In truly Catholic marriage it is prescribed to procreate as many
+children as possible, and all preventive measures in coitus are
+severely condemned. Hence, if the woman is very fruitful, the husband
+has only the choice between complete abstention from coitus (when both
+conjoints are in agreement) and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</a></span>pregnancies following without
+interruption. The woman never has the right to refuse coitus to her
+husband, nor the latter to refuse it to his wife, so long as he is
+capable of accomplishing it.</p>
+
+<p>It is easy to understand what powerful effects such precepts have had
+and still have on the conjugal life of the Catholics, particularly on
+the quantity and quality of their descendants.</p>
+
+<p><b>Aural Confession.</b>&mdash;Confession requires special mention. In his book,
+"Fifty Years in the Roman Church" (Jeheber, Geneva), on page 151,
+Father Chiniqui, the celebrated Canadian reformer, who later on became
+a Protestant, and for many years played an important part in the
+Canadian Catholic clergy, mentions the points on which the confessor
+interrogates the penitents of both sexes. One cannot reproach him with
+being incompetent.</p>
+
+<p>No doubt the Church of to-day would reply that the confessor is not
+obliged to put all these questions and that the details are left to
+his tact. We will agree that there is a difference between the Canada
+of the last century, a new and primitive country, and the Europe of
+the present day. But I maintain: First, that the confessor does not
+content himself with listening to what the penitents of both sexes
+tell him, but that it is his duty to interrogate them; secondly, that
+a celibate Catholic person, extremely serious and virtuous, to whom I
+put the question unawares, informed me that not only are sexual
+matters dealt with at the confessional, but that they play the
+principal role. And, as it is a question of warning the penitents
+against so-called sins, mortal or not, or of absolving them, I fail to
+see how the priest can avoid speaking of them, when the detailed
+precepts of which we have spoken exist.</p>
+
+<p>I reproduce here the original Latin text. It deals with questions
+which have been treated in Chapter VIII, so that I shall dispense with
+giving a translation.</p>
+
+<p>The confessor puts the following questions to his penitents:</p>
+
+<p>1. <i>Peccant uxores, quae susceptum viri semen ejiciunt, vel ejicere
+conantur</i> (Dens, vol. VII, p. 147).</p>
+
+<p>2. <i>Peccant conjuges mortaliter, si, copula incepta, prohibeant
+seminationem.</i></p>
+
+<p>3. <i>Si vir jam seminaverit, dubium fit an femina lethaliter <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</a></span>peccat,
+si se retrahat a seminando; aut peccat lethaliter vir non expectando
+seminationem uxoris</i> (p. 153).</p>
+
+<p>4. <i>Peccant conjuges inter se circa actum conjugalem. Debet servari
+modus, sive situs; uno ut non servetur debitum vas, sed copula
+habeatur in vase praepostero, aliquoque non naturali. Si fiat
+accedendo a postero, a latere, stando, sedendo, vel si vir sit
+succumbus</i> (p. 166).</p>
+
+<p>5. <i>Impotentia. Est incapacitas perficiendi copulam carnalem perfectam
+cum seminatione viri in vase se debito, seu, de se, aptam generationi.
+Vel, ut si mulier sit nimis arcta respectu unius non respectu
+alterius</i> (p. 273).</p>
+
+<p>6. <i>Notatur quod pollutio, in mulieribus possit perfici, ita ut semen
+earum non effluat extra membrum genitale. Indicium istius allegat
+Billuart, si scilicet mulier sensiat seminis resolutionem cum magno
+voluptatis sensu, qua completa, passio satiatur</i> (vol. IV, p. 168).</p>
+
+<p>7. <i>Uxor se accusans, in confessione, quod negaverit debitum,
+interrogatur an ex pleno rigore juris sui id petiverit</i> (vol. VII, p.
+168).</p>
+
+<p>8. <i>Confessarius poenitentem, qui confitetur se peccasse cum
+sacerdote, vel solicitatem ab eo ad turpia, potest interrogare utrum
+ille sacerdos sit ejus confessarius, an in confessione sollicitaverit</i>
+(vol. VI, p. 297).</p>
+
+<p>In volumes V and VII of Dens may be found many such precepts,
+impossible to reproduce, on which the pious casuist desires his
+penitents to be examined.</p>
+
+<p>Let us now pass on to the celebrated Liguori. Among numerous other
+obscene questions of a refined erotic nature, every confessor is bound
+to put the two following to his penitents:</p>
+
+<p>1. <i>Quaerat an sit semper mortale, si vir immitat pudenda in os
+uxoris...?</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Verius affirmo, quia in hoc actu, ob calorem oris, adest proximum
+periculum pollutionis, et videtur nova species luxuriae contra
+naturam, dicta irruminatio.</i></p>
+
+<p>2. <i>Eodem modo, Sanchez damnat virum de mortali qui, in actu copulae,
+immite ret digitum in vas praeposterum uxoris; quia, ut ait, in hoc
+actu, adest affectus ad-Sodomiam</i> (Liguori, t. VI, p. 935).</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</a></span>Let us now leave the celebrated Liguori and pass on to Burchard, the
+bishop of Worms. He has written a book on the questions which the
+priest should put at the confessional. Although this book no longer
+exists it has been for ages the guide of the Roman Catholic priests at
+the confessional. Dens, Liguori, Debreyne, etc., have taken from it
+their most savory passages, to recommend them as a study for our
+present confessors. We will give a few examples:</p>
+
+<p>(<i>a</i>) To young men:</p>
+
+<p>1. <i>Fecisti solus tecum fornicationem ut quidam facere solent; ita
+dico ut ipse tuum membrum virile in manum tuam acciperes, et sic
+duceres praeputium tuum, et manu propria commoveres, ut sic per illam
+delectationem semen projiceres?</i></p>
+
+<p>2. <i>Fornicationem fecisti cum masculo intra coxas; ita dico ut tuum
+virile membrum intra coxas alterius mitteres, et sic agitando semen
+funderes?</i></p>
+
+<p>3. <i>Fecisti fornicationem, ut quidam facere solent, ut tuum virile
+membrum in lignum perforatum aut in aliquod hujus modi mitteres et sic
+per illam commotionem et delectationem semen projiceres?</i></p>
+
+<p>4. <i>Fecisti fornicationem contra naturam, id est, cum masculis vel
+animalibus coire, id est, cum equo, cum vacca vel asina, vel aliquo
+animali?</i> (vol. I, p. 136).</p>
+
+<p>(<i>b</i>) To young girls or women (same collection, p. 115):</p>
+
+<p>1. <i>Fecisti quod quaedam mulieres solent, quoddam molimen, aut
+machinamentum in modum virilis membri ad mensuram tuae voluptatis, et
+illud loco verendorum tuorum aut alterius cum aliquibus ligaturis ut
+fornicationem faceres cum aliis mulieribus, vel alio eodem
+instrumento, sive alio tecum?</i></p>
+
+<p>2. <i>Fecisti quod quaedam mulieres facere solent, ut jam supra dicto
+molimine vel alio aliquo machinamento, tu ipsa in te solam faceres
+fornicationem?</i></p>
+
+<p>3. <i>Fecisti quod quaedam mulieres facere solent, quando libidinem se
+vexantem extinguere volunt, quae se conjugunt quasi coire debeant et
+possint, et conjungunt invicem puerperio sua, et si fricando pruritum
+illarum extinguere desiderant?</i></p>
+
+<p>4. <i>Fecisti quod quaedam mulieres facere solent, ut cum filio tuo
+parvulo fornicationem faceres, ita dico ut filium tuum supra
+turpidinem tuam poneres ut sic imitaberis fornicationem?</i></p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[345]</a></span>5. <i>Fecisti quod quaedam mulieres facere solent, ut succumberes aliquo
+jumento et illud jumentum ad coitum qualicumque posses ingenio ut sic
+coiret tecum?</i></p>
+
+<p>The celebrated Debreyne has written a whole book on the same subject
+for the instruction of young confessors, and in it he has enumerated
+all kinds of debauchery and sexual perversion which he could imagine,
+"Maechiology," or <i>Treatise on all the Sins against the Sixth</i>
+(seventh in the Decalogue) <i>and the Ninth</i> (tenth) <i>Commandments</i>, as
+well as on all questions of married life connected with them.</p>
+
+<p>This book is very celebrated and is widely studied in the Roman
+Church. We only quote from it the two following questions:</p>
+
+<p>To men:</p>
+
+<p><i>Ad cognoscendum an usque ad pollutionem se tetigerint, quando tempore
+et quo fine se tetigerint; an tunc quoddam motus in corpore experti
+fuerint, et per quantum temporis spatium; an cessantibus tactibus
+nihil insolitum et turpe acciderit; ad non longe majorem in corpore
+voluptatem perciperint in fine inactum quam in eorum principio; an tum
+in fine quando magnam delectationem carnalem senserunt, omnes motus
+corporis cessaverint; an non malefacti fuerint?</i> etc., etc.</p>
+
+<p>To girls:</p>
+
+<p><i>Quae sese tetigisse fatentur, an non aliquem pruritum extinguere
+tentaverit, et utrum pruritus ille cessaverit cum magnam senserint
+voluptatem; an tunc ipsimet tactus cessaverint?</i></p>
+
+<p>Among a thousand other analogous precepts the reverend Kenrick, bishop
+of Boston, in the United States, gives the following to his
+confessors:</p>
+
+<p><i>Uxor quae, in usu matrimonii, se vertit, ut non recipiat semen, vel
+statim post illud acceptum surgit, ut expellatur, lethaliter peccat;
+sed opus non est ut diu resuspina jaceat, quum matrix, brevi semen
+attrahat, et mox, arctissime claudatur.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Puellae patienti licet se vertere et conari ut non recipiat semen,
+quod injuria et emittitur; sed, acceptum non licet expellere, quia jam
+possessionem pacificam habet et haud absque injuria naturae
+ejiceretur.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Conjuges senes plerumque coeunt absque culpa, licet contingat <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[346]</a></span>semen
+extra vas effundi; id enim per accidens fit ex infirmitati naturae.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Quod si vires adeo sint fractae ut nulla sit seminandi intra vas
+spes, jam nequeunt jure conjugi uti</i> (vol. III, p. 317).</p>
+
+<p>Such is the teaching of Chiniqui, the man whose courage and powerful
+individuality succeeded in introducing abstinence from alcohol in
+Canada. His long life was that of a pioneer and an inflexible champion
+of social and moral reform in that country, based on Christianity. He
+died at the age of ninety.</p>
+
+<p>I have quoted the erotic precepts of the confessional from him, as I
+was anxious to quote from an absolutely reliable source. It was not
+with a light heart that Chiniqui abandoned the Catholic Church, but
+only after violent and bitter struggles with conscience, struggles of
+which he relates the tragic episodes, and which lasted for many years.</p>
+
+<p>He commences the chapter from which we have quoted with the following
+words: "Let legislators, fathers and husbands read this chapter and
+ask themselves the question whether the respect which they owe to
+their mothers, their wives and their daughters does not impose upon
+them the duty of forbidding auricular confession. How is it possible
+for a young girl to remain pure in mind after such conversations with
+an unmarried man? Is she not more prepared for the depths of vice than
+for conjugal life?" The author of these lines is a man who was obliged
+for many years to be a confessor himself, and who understood to what
+extent confession corrupted the sexual life of women and priests. It
+is true that persons, priests or women, of strong character, and
+especially those with a cold nature from the sexual point of view, may
+resist such sexual excitation. But has confession been specially
+instituted for this type of character? Every one who is not a
+hypocrite will own that it is exactly the contrary.</p>
+
+<p><b>Religious Prudery.</b>&mdash;The results of such a combination of sexual life
+with religious prescriptions are a mixture of ridiculous prudery and
+continual eroticism. In certain convents (those of the nuns of
+Galicia, for example) the nuns forbid their pupils to wash the sexual
+organs, because it is improper! In Austria the nuns often cover the
+crucifix in their bedroom with a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[347]</a></span>handkerchief, "so that Christ cannot
+see their nakedness"! But the convents of nuns, in the Middle Ages,
+were often transformed into brothels; and it is not uncommon to see
+hypocrites or the subjects of erotic hysteria (both men and women)
+perform sexual orgies of the worst kind under the cloak of religious
+ecstasy.</p>
+
+<p><b>Hottentots. Eunuchs.</b>&mdash;Among the Hottentots, the lips of the vulva
+(<i>labia minora</i>) in women are artificially elongated, and among the
+Orientals eunuchs are made. In themselves these two operations have
+certainly nothing to do with religion and only originated in profane
+customs. In the course of time they were made religious precepts,
+which has deeply rooted them in the customs of the people.</p>
+
+<p><b>Religious Eroticism.</b>&mdash;The examples which we have cited show to what
+extent man is disposed to clothe his eroticism with the cloak of
+religion. He then attributes a divine origin to his desires and lays
+the precepts which he attaches to them on the commandments of his God
+or gods, so as to sanctify them. Hence, the unnatural influence of a
+mysticism, which is nothing else than the crystallized product of the
+fantastic imagination of men, raised to a dogma, imposes itself
+indirectly on natural sexual life, by entering at the back door under
+the cloak of religion. It is obvious that grave abuses or even vices
+often acquire the seal and power of religious precepts; while in the
+same domain a number of other customs or precepts are based on good
+hygienic or moral principles, for example, circumcision and conjugal
+fidelity.</p>
+
+<p>It is perhaps in the domain of pathology that the relations of
+religion to sexual life are the most striking (see Chapter VIII). We
+must not forget that the facts of reproduction seem to ignorant people
+and especially to barbarians, to be of a very mysterious nature. These
+people have no idea of germinal cells or their conjugation. They see
+in conception, embryogeny, pregnancy and birth, the miraculous effects
+of a divine and occult higher power&mdash;of the divinity, often even of
+the devil.</p>
+
+<p>The violent excitement which is associated with the sexual appetite
+and with love urges man to ecstasy; hence it is not to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[348]</a></span>be wondered at
+that eroticism is so often complicated by ecstatic religious
+sentiments.</p>
+
+<p>In his book on Psychopathia sexualis, Krafft-Ebing remarks how easily
+religion, poetry and eroticism are combined and mingled in the obscure
+feelings and presentiments of maturing youth. In the life of saints
+there is always the question of sexual temptations, in which the most
+elevated and ideal sentiments are mixed with the most repugnant erotic
+images. On the same basis are developed the sexual orgies of different
+religious f&ecirc;tes in the ancient world, as well as in certain modern
+sects.</p>
+
+<p>Mysticism, religious ecstasy and sexual voluptuousness are often
+combined in a real trinity, and one often sees unsatisfied sensuality
+seek compensation in religious exaltation. Krafft-Ebing cites the
+following cases from Friedreich's "Legal Psychology" (p. 389):</p>
+
+<div class="block"><p>In this way the nun Blaubekin was perpetually tormented by the
+thought of what happened to the part of Jesus' body removed by
+circumcision.</p>
+
+<p>In order to make his devotions to the lamb of God, V&eacute;ronique
+Juliani, who was canonized by Pope Pius II, took into his
+chamber a terrestrial lamb, embraced it and sucked its breasts.</p>
+
+<p>Saint Catherine of G&ecirc;nes often suffered from such internal heat,
+that, to cool herself, she laid on the ground, crying: "Love,
+love, I can do no more!" In doing this she felt a peculiar
+inclination for her confessor. One day, putting his hand to her
+nose, she perceived an odor which penetrated her heart, "a
+celestial odor the voluptuousness of which could wake the dead."</p></div>
+
+<p><b>The Role of Mental Pathology in Religious Eroticism.</b>&mdash;Among the
+insane, and especially in women, but also in men afflicted with
+<i>paranoia</i> (a mental disease) we often find a strange and repugnant
+mixture of eroticism and religious images. Such are the everlasting
+betrothals with Christ, the Virgin Mary, with God or with the Holy
+Spirit, betrothals in which the venereal orgasm is combined with
+imaginary coitus and masturbation, followed by imaginary pregnancy and
+childbirth. These symptoms give us a clear indication of the relation
+which exists between eroticism and religious exaltation. The French
+alienists <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[349]</a></span>have even designated them by the characteristic term of
+"erotico-religious delirium." A single visit to the female division of
+a lunatic asylum is often sufficient to satisfy the visitor.</p>
+
+<p>A point which has received less attention is the immense historical
+influence which certain psychopathological personalities, chiefly
+hysterical subjects, but also some crazy persons or hereditary
+visionaries, have exercised at all times on human destiny, usually by
+the aid of the suggestive effects of sexual and religious ideas
+(erotico-religious), the connections of which have not always been
+clear.</p>
+
+<p>Every psychiatrist knows the insane whose delirium is combined with
+religious or mystic exaltation, and who by the mysticism of their
+delirium have exercised and continue to exercise a profound influence
+on the mass of humanity which surround them&mdash;"Panurge's Sheep," if I
+may use the expression. These people are themselves so dominated by
+the pathological influence of their auto-suggestions or their delirium
+that they behave with the fanaticism of fakirs, and exhibit an
+extraordinary energy and perseverance in the pursuit of the object of
+their morbid ideas. By their assurance, the sentiment of
+infallibility, and the fire of faith which is manifested in their
+prophetical manner, they fascinate the feeble brains of the people who
+surround them and attract them by their suggestive action.</p>
+
+<p>A very human and often powerful eroticism is usually associated with
+their delirium; but it is covered by a cloak of religious ecstasy,
+which imposes on natures disposed to exaltation, and renders them
+blind to the ignominy which often lies under this ecstasy.</p>
+
+<p>What makes these patients so persuasive is the fact that they are
+themselves persuaded. Even the normal man, we must admit, is guided
+less by reason than by sentiment, and the persons we have just
+described exert a powerful action on sentiment, and this more by their
+piercing glance, their prophetic and dominating tone, their manner and
+appearance, than by the extremely confused text of their discourses
+and doctrines.</p>
+
+<p>In this way there are always arising small epidemics of attraction in
+which a group of individuals allows itself to be infatuated by
+so-called prophets, messiahs, holy virgins and other <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[350]</a></span>visionaries, who
+are only lunatics or crazy persons. Under their influence are produced
+certain forms of insanity by contagion, which have been called double,
+triple or quadruple madness, and which may sometimes take the form of
+an epidemic.</p>
+
+<p>When the "prophet" is more consistent in his words and actions, or
+when his environment is still very ignorant and superstitious, the
+crowd of believers increases still more rapidly, and thus one sees
+even at the present day in less-civilized countries new sects or
+religious guilds, more or less ephemeral, in which the spirit of the
+prophet sometimes stirs up grave sexual orgies.</p>
+
+<p>Among more cultured people the prophet is generally exposed or sent to
+a lunatic asylum, much to the indignation of his disciples, who often
+consist of his wife and children and a few feeble-minded
+acquaintances.</p>
+
+<p>Thanks to the cheapness of printing, these prophets often publish
+their new religious system and sell it among their dupes. I possess a
+small library of works of this kind which have been sent me by their
+authors; probably with the idea that they might one day be taken for
+fools, and to prove to me in advance that they were not.</p>
+
+<p>According to them, God has personally revealed to them the new truth
+in which they believe, and has appointed them as prophets. Erotic
+images are generally associated with their system. One of them, whose
+system is astronomical, divides the planets into males and females.
+Another, a lunatic, describes the pathological sexual sensations by
+the term of "psycho-sexual contact by action at a distance." These are
+phenomena which we meet with at each step in psychiatry, and which
+give the clue to what follows.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Historical Role of Mental Anomalies which are Not Very Apparent
+and Border on Genius. Their Influence on Religious Eroticism.</b>&mdash;These
+persons are not always afflicted with paranoia or other grave
+psychoses, but often hereditary and constitutional psychopaths who are
+only half-crazy or simply hysterical, and who may, in spite of this
+defect, possess a certain degree of intellectual power, an energetic
+will and the fire of enthusiasm. Things then take an essentially
+different course, even when they rest on an analogous basis.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[351]</a></span>The prophet combines with his exaltation a logic which is often very
+concise in its details, although applied on a morbid basis. Moreover,
+he clothes his utterances in fine and poetical language, and in this
+way succeeds in rallying round him, not a flock of Panurge's ignorant
+sheep, but more elevated people and even a considerable proportion of
+the surrounding society. In this case pathological exaltation may be
+united to a high moral and intellectual ideal, which is very apt to
+veil the bizarre fancies of the prophet. We thus meet with the
+astonishing but undeniable fact that certain great historical
+personalities who have exercised a powerful influence on humanity were
+of more or less pathological nature. We discover among them
+erotico-religious traits, more or less marked, often even as the
+leading threads of their arguments.</p>
+
+<p>This important category of individuals constitutes a whole series of
+transitions between the insane prophets of whom we have spoken and
+well-balanced men of genius. It is often very difficult to understand
+and interpret the series of intermediate forms, so graduating and so
+variable, which exist between insanity and genius. It is necessary to
+guard against any exclusive generalization in one way or the other.</p>
+
+<p>In any case, the fact that many men of genius are of pathological
+nature does not authorize us to regard every person of genius or
+originality as insane, whether he attacks the routine and prejudices
+of his contemporaries, or whether he opens up new horizons and goes
+out of the beaten track. Let me cite a few examples.</p>
+
+<p>Joan of Arc was, in my opinion, a hysterical genius whose
+hallucinations were auto-suggestive. The distress of France had
+profoundly agitated her, and, fired with the desire to save her
+country, her brain was affected by auto-suggestion with hallucinations
+of the voices of saints and visions, which pointed out her mission and
+which she regarded as coming from real saints in heaven. At that
+period such things were common enough and need not surprise us. In
+spite of her good sense and modesty, Joan of Arc was urged by an
+exaltation unconscious of self. By a destiny as astonishing as
+providential, this young girl of genius, and at the same time
+pathological, exalted <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[352]</a></span>by ecstatic hallucinations, led France to a
+victorious war of freedom. The most conscientious historical sources
+show that the morality of Joan of Arc was pure and above reproach. Her
+replies to the invidious questions of the Inquisition are admirable
+and bear witness both to her high intelligence and the moral elevation
+of her sentiments. It is evident that the sentiments of love were
+transformed in her into religious ecstasy and enthusiasm for the ideal
+of her mission, a frequent occurrence among women.</p>
+
+<p>Another remarkable example is that of Thomas &agrave; Becket. The sudden
+transformation of this man of the world into an ascetic priest (it is
+true, on the occasion of his nomination as archbishop), from this
+devoted friend and servitor of the king of England into his most
+violent adversary, and into a champion of the Church against the
+State, evidently represents the auto-suggestive transformation of a
+hysterical subject, for this is the only way of explaining such a
+sudden and complete contradiction which caused him to change suddenly
+from one fanaticism to a contrary one.</p>
+
+<p>The religious exaltation of the Mormon prophet, Smith, was no doubt
+combined with eroticism, which made him organize his sect on the basis
+of polygamy.</p>
+
+<p>Mahomet also had visions, and sexual connection plays an important
+part in his teaching and prophesies. The apostle St. Paul was also a
+visionary who passed suddenly from one extreme to another as the
+result of hallucination. Pascal, Napoleon, and Rousseau presented very
+marked pathological traits.</p>
+
+<p>Although some of these cases have no direct connection with the sexual
+question, I have mentioned them to show how such personalities exert
+their influence on the masses, and through them on history. As soon as
+they acquire authority, their peculiar ideas and sexual conceptions,
+however exclusive or even absurd they may be, react strongly on their
+contemporaries, as we see to-day the ascetic ideas of Tolstoi
+influence his numerous disciples.</p>
+
+<p>Sudden conversions, whatever may be their nature, especially when the
+convert goes from one extreme to another, are not the fruit of reason,
+but depend on suggestion or auto-suggestion <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[353]</a></span>and especially on
+pathological suggestibility. (Vide Chapter IX).</p>
+
+<p>In other respects sexual anomalies often govern the acts of hysterical
+persons and other psychopaths. The Roman emperors, Nero, Tiberius and
+Caligula were almost certainly sadists and enjoyed sexual pleasure at
+the sight of the sufferings of their victims. Valerie, Messalina and
+Catherine de M&eacute;dici were also female sadists. Under the hypocritical
+veil of religion, Catherine de M&eacute;dici was the principal instigator of
+the Massacre of St. Bartholomew at Paris, and wallowed in pleasure at
+the sight of the massacre of the Huguenots.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, masochism may give tone to the thoughts and sexual
+feelings of certain persons of great influence, such as Rousseau, and
+to sects of ascetics, such as the fakirs, etc.</p>
+
+<p>Involuntarily, therefore, the sexual feelings of every prophet and
+founder of religion, even during a short period of his life only,
+influence more or less his religious system and consequently the laws
+of morality based on it, which remain after his death.</p>
+
+<p>Hence it is that sentiments, as variable in different individuals as
+sexual sentiments, are obliged to submit to the constraint of fixed
+and tyrannical dogmas which martyrize for centuries, or even thousands
+of years, men who have other opinions than the founder of the religion
+or its interpreters who succeed him.</p>
+
+<p>In religion we see everywhere idealized eroticism, and often idealism
+perfumed with eroticism. The Songs of Solomon, the original sense of
+which was very lay, like that of most religious matters, has been made
+allegorical and applied to the Christian Church, but it was and will
+always remain an erotic poem.</p>
+
+<p>It is hardly necessary to add that natural eroticism very often leads
+the severe and ascetic preachers of morality to the grossest
+hypocrisy. Priests and other pious persons often preach an idealized
+asceticism, while in secret they commit the most disgusting sexual
+excesses.</p>
+
+<p>We must not, however, judge such crying inconsistencies too severely;
+they are to a great extent unconscious and are the result of the shock
+of passion against the tyranny of dogma, prejudice, and public
+opinion. They are often also the result <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[354]</a></span>of mental anomalies. When
+science is allowed to enlighten sexual life freely and openly, the
+hypocrisy of normal people will cease, and that of the abnormal will
+be recognized in time and prevented from doing harm.</p>
+
+<p><b>Transformation of Eroticism into Religious Sentiment.</b>&mdash;In ordinary
+life we find everywhere traces of the mixture of religion with sexual
+sensations and images. The religious ceremonies of marriage among all
+peoples constitute a significant remnant thereof.</p>
+
+<p>When we look for the causes of sudden and progressive religious
+exaltation we often discover that it is nothing else than compensation
+for disappointed love. I refer here to true and fervid exaltation,
+identified with the whole inner consciousness, and not to the religion
+of habit which the average man scarcely remembers in his daily life,
+and only observes on Sunday in the form of a conventional promenade,
+or a contribution to the church. This religion of habit is only an
+empty form, which awakes no sentiment, and consequently is associated
+with no sensation, even erotic, in its followers.</p>
+
+<p>In other individuals it may be otherwise, and certainly was so
+formerly. Everything goes to prove that the exalted sentiments of
+sympathy from which our religion is to a great extent derived, such as
+the holy fervor, the devotional ardor and the delights of ecstasy
+which it has so often procured for its followers and still procures
+for some of them, whether their object be God, Allah, Jehovah, Jesus
+Christ, Buddha, Vishnu, the Virgin Mary, or the Saints, that these
+sentiments have to a great extent their roots in primary erotic
+sensations and sentiments, or represent the direct transformation of
+them.</p>
+
+<p>It is needless to say that all this may take place quite unconsciously
+and with the purest intentions. I hasten to add that the majority of
+true religious sentiments come from quite a different source.</p>
+
+<p>When we study the religious sentiment profoundly, especially in the
+Christian religion, and Catholicism in particular, we find at each
+step its astonishing connection with eroticism. We find it in the
+exalted adoration of holy women, such as Mary Magdalene, Marie de
+Bethany, for Jesus, in the holy legends, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[355]</a></span>in the worship of the Virgin
+Mary in the Middle Ages, and especially in art. The ecstatic Madonnas
+in our art galleries cast their fervent regards on Jesus or on the
+heavens. The expression in Murillo's "Immaculate Conception" may be
+interpreted by the highest voluptuous exaltation of love as well as by
+holy transfiguration. The "Saints" of Correggio regard the Holy Virgin
+with an amorous ardor which may be celestial, but appears in reality
+extremely terrestrial and human.</p>
+
+<p>Numerous sects, both ancient and modern, have entered on the scene in
+a hardly less libidinous manner; for example, the sexual excesses of
+the anabaptists in former times and the sexual ecstasies of certain
+modern sects in America.</p>
+
+<p>If the objection is raised that these sects are the pathological
+excrescences of religion, I reply with their disciples as follows: "We
+have come into the world because your State religions are sunk in
+indifference, hypocrisy and hollow formality, offering nothing to the
+human heart but empty phrases. It behooves us to awaken from this
+sleep. We want enthusiasm and fervor to transform the inner life of
+man and convert him." These words, which we can see and hear
+everywhere by opening our eyes and ears, constitute a formal avowal of
+the suggestive factor in religion. (See Chapter IX.)</p>
+
+<p>In the Canton of Zurich I have myself often had occasion to observe,
+especially among women, the followers of the singular sect of the
+Pastor Zeller, of Maennedorf. He is a kind of visionary prophet who
+heals people after the manner of Christ and John the Baptist, by
+placing his hands on them and anointing them with oil. The cures which
+he obtains are due naturally to suggestion, like those of Lourdes, but
+he attributes them to divine miracles. He even told me naively that he
+heard a grinding (crepitation) in a broken bone, which he regarded as
+a miraculous cure! A crowd of women, mostly hysterical, collected
+around this man with an ardor which was unconsciously directed much
+more to his person than to that of God or Christ whom he was supposed
+to symbolize. I have treated patients who had been to him, and who
+associated with his person both the mildest and the most carnal erotic
+images&mdash;of course, in the innocence of their hearts.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[356]</a></span>It is far from me to reproach this sincere man and many others of the
+same kind, especially the priests who are surrounded by a halo of
+sanctity pushed to ecstasy. I only maintain that when a human being
+exalts himself in the search for pure-mindedness and sanctity, thus
+denying his true nature, he is always in danger of falling
+unconsciously into the most gross sensuality, and at the same time of
+sanctifying this sensuality.</p>
+
+<p><b>Description of Religious Eroticism by the Poets.</b>&mdash;The Swiss poet,
+Gottfried Keller, with his peculiar genius has described religious
+eroticism in an admirable way, especially in his seven legends. Read,
+for example, <i>Dorothea's Blumenk&ouml;rbchen</i> (Dorothea's little
+flower-basket), in which the terrestial lover of Dorothea ends by
+becoming jealous of her celestial lover, of whom she always speaks in
+the most exalted sentiments. Wherever she went she spoke in the most
+tender terms and expressed the most ardent desire for a celestial
+lover that she had found, who waited in immortal beauty to press her
+against his shining breast. When the wicked prefect had bound Dorothea
+on the gridiron under which was placed a slow fire, this hurt her
+delicate body, and she uttered smothered cries. Then her terrestrial
+lover, Theophilus, forcing his way through the crowd, burst her bonds
+and said with a sad smile, "Does it hurt you, Dorothea?" But when
+suddenly freed from all pain she immediately replied: "How could it
+hurt me, Theophilus? I lay on the roses of the lover I adore! This is
+my wedding day!" Keller shows us here, along with eroticism, the
+suggestive effect of ecstasy, which among martyrs, may reach the most
+complete an&aelig;sthesia.</p>
+
+<p>Goethe has also described erotico-religious ecstasy; for example, at
+the end of the second part of Faust, in the prayers addressed by
+certain anchorites to the queen of heaven.</p>
+
+<p><b>Distinction Between Religion and the Ecstasy Derived from
+Eroticism.</b>&mdash;It would be quite false to maintain that religion in
+itself arises from sexual sensations. The terror of death and the
+enigmas of existence, the sentiments of human weakness and
+insufficiency of life, the want of consolation for all miseries, the
+hope of a future life, all play an important part in the origin of
+religions. On the other hand, it is necessary to recognize the
+considerable role of the erotic sexual factor in religious <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[357]</a></span>sentiments
+and dogmas, where on the one hand it leads to ardent fervor, while on
+the other hand it tyrannizes, especially by the exclusiveness of its
+residues transformed into dogmas, the natural expansion of the erotic
+sentiments which are so variable in individuals.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most difficult and important future tasks of social science
+toward humanity is, therefore, to set free sexual relations from the
+tyranny of religious dogmas, by placing them in harmony with the true
+and purely human laws of natural ethics.</p>
+
+<p><b>Compensations.</b>&mdash;In the animal series we have seen that sentiments of
+sympathy are derived, in a general way, by phylogeny, from the
+sentiments of sexual attraction, and we often see in man a sexual
+love, deceived, despised or transfigured, seek compensation or
+idealization in the fervor or religious exaltation. The question
+naturally presents itself whether this compensation or this ideal is
+indispensable, and if other objects of a human and not mystical nature
+cannot take its place.</p>
+
+<p>There are, in my opinion, purely human ideals, which are capable of
+transfiguring erotic love "religiously" quite as well as the mysticism
+of so-called divine revelations. Christianity is called the religion
+of love, and the apostle Paul even places charity higher than faith.
+But what is charity but the synthesis of the social sentiments of
+sympathy, devotion and self-denial, for the benefit of humanity?
+Cannot it, therefore, be established on another basis than that of
+cheques to be drawn on paradise? Cannot exaltation and fervor apply
+their powerful faith, the beauty of their form and the elevation of
+their sentiments to the social ideal and the future welfare of our
+children? Cannot we replace the cult of religious legends, the
+adoration of the works of Jehovah and Christ, as they are given in the
+Bible, by the religion of our descendants and their welfare?</p>
+
+<p>In my opinion, the suggestion of religious ecstasy and love might well
+be directed toward the benefit of society. Its fanaticism is admirably
+adapted to shake the indifference and indolence of men; but this
+source of energy should not be wasted in the adoration of legendary
+mirages, but used for the efficacious culture of a true human religion
+of love on earth.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[358]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XIII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>RIGHTS IN SEXUAL LIFE&mdash;GENERALITIES</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p><b>Rights and Liberty.</b>&mdash;Human ideas of right are very curious. Every
+one appeals to right and liberty, and naturally thinks of himself
+first, without perceiving that in continually claiming his proper
+rights, he tramples under foot those of others. How beautiful are
+these words Rights and Liberty! But in everyday life in what an
+uncompromising way they oppose each other! To give satisfaction to my
+rights and liberty, the right of complete development, according to my
+natural sentiments, is a thing which is perfectly impossible; or, is
+only practicable by constantly infringing the right and liberty of my
+fellow beings.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless people keep harping on this theme; with the exalted tone
+of intimate conviction they inveigh against our social organization,
+cursing the malice of others, but show themselves perfectly incapable
+of resolving the contradictions which gave rise to their thirst for
+liberty and justice.</p>
+
+<p>The cry of despair addressed to right and liberty by modern society is
+nothing else than the expression of the instinctive sentiment of anger
+and revolt produced by the natural evolution of our phylogeny. The
+savage instincts, still considerable in the hereditary foundation of
+human nature (the mneme), revolt against the straight-jacket placed on
+them by social life, and against the want of liberty on the earth,
+which is already too small for humanity.</p>
+
+<p>The natural man is eager for expansion and liberty, and accustoms
+himself with difficulty to the severe restrictions which social
+necessities impose upon him. His nature is still that of a
+semi-nomadic animal, living as an autocrat with his family, possessed
+of a number of egoistic wants, and, wherever he goes, opposing the
+rights, liberties and desires of other men, who generally compel him
+to subordinate his desires to theirs. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[359]</a></span>This is the true reason of this
+impotent cry of vexation and anger against the malice of others and
+the defectiveness of social organization. And yet this cry is
+absolutely necessary, in order that we may find and put in practice a
+social formula as tolerable as possible for the future. But, if we
+except the question of capital and labor, there is no domain in which
+social hindrance is so cruelly felt as in the sexual.</p>
+
+<p>What is human right? Apart from formally admitted distinctions we
+shall divide what is called right from the psychological and human
+point of view into two categories of ideas; <i>natural rights</i> and
+<i>conventional rights</i>.</p>
+
+<p><b>Natural Rights. Right of the Stronger.</b>&mdash;Natural right is quite a
+relative idea: the right to life and its conditions. But, as in this
+world, which is said to be created by a personal and perfect God,
+things are so amicably arranged that living creatures can only exist
+by devouring one another, the oldest effective natural right of every
+living being is precisely that of devouring others weaker than itself.
+This is the right of the stronger. Therefore, the absolute natural
+right is the right of the stronger.</p>
+
+<p><b>Rights of Groups. Ants.</b>&mdash;These notions become altered, however, if
+we regard them from the point of view of <i>relative</i> natural right.
+This does not concern all living beings, but only certain groups. The
+rights of groups are relative from a double point of view. On the one
+hand they give the group of individuals concerned the right of
+interfering with the right to life of other groups, even to
+extinction. On the other hand&mdash;and this is the better aspect of the
+rights of groups&mdash;they are completed by what are called the duties of
+each individual toward others of the same group, that is to say, the
+obligation to have regard for and even protect their rights equally as
+his own. The rights of a group include the social rights and duties in
+the limits of that group.</p>
+
+<p>It is among animals, especially the ants, that we find the most ideal
+organization of the rights of a group. Each individual of the ant
+colony acts in the interests of the community, which are the same as
+its own. It has the right to be nourished and housed and to satisfy
+all its immediate wants, but at the same time it is its duty to labor
+unceasingly in building and repairing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[360]</a></span>the common dwelling, to nourish
+its fellows, to aid in the reproduction and bringing-up of the brood,
+to defend the community and even to take the offensive against every
+living being who does not belong to the community, in order to
+increase its resources.</p>
+
+<p>The rights and duties have here become completely <i>instinctive by
+adaptation</i>, that is to say, they are performed without commands or
+instruction. They result spontaneously from the natural organization
+of ants without the least external obligation intervening. Here, the
+cry of distress of the ferocious human beast, of whom we have just
+spoken, is completely absent, for duty is replaced by instinct or by
+appetite, and its accomplishment is accompanied by a natural sentiment
+of pleasure. Every ant could be idle without being punished by its
+comrades, if it were capable of wishing to be so, but this is
+impossible. Communities of ants can only exist on the basis of the
+social instinct of labor and mutual support, without which they would
+immediately disappear.</p>
+
+<p><b>Egoism and the Rights of Groups in Man. Human Rights.</b>&mdash;The notions
+of the rights of groups in man are infinitely more complicated and
+more difficult to understand. As we have already seen, the most
+primordial instinctive sentiment in man is limited to his family and
+his immediate surroundings. But here even it leaves much to be
+desired. Family disputes, quarrels between brothers and sisters are
+frequent enough; parricide, fratricide and infanticide are not rare.
+In addition to this, beyond the narrow circle of the family, disputes,
+hatred between individuals, deception, robbery and many worse things
+are always the order of the day. In struggles between parties and
+classes, in the abuse of privileges of caste and fortune, in war, in
+commerce, in a word in everything, private interests of egoism take
+precedence of the general interests of humanity.</p>
+
+<p>These facts, and a thousand other pitiable phenomena of the same kind
+in human society, bear witness to the egoistic and rapacious nature of
+man, which proves how little the social instinct is developed in his
+brain. Human society is founded much more on custom and tradition,
+imposed by the force of circumstances, than on nature. Human infants
+resemble <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[361]</a></span>kittens at first much more than young social beings. In
+primitive times, when the earth appeared large to man, the rights of
+groups were limited to small communities which looked upon other men,
+the same as animals and plants, as legitimate prey. Cannibalism and
+even the chase show clearly that man began by becoming more rapacious
+and more carnivorous than his pithecanthropoid ancestor, and his
+cousin the ape of the present day.</p>
+
+<p>It is only later, after the progressive enlargement of stronger
+communities at the expense of weaker; still later, when man commenced
+to comprehend the sufferings for the community which result from the
+autocracy and passion for unlimited pleasure of a few persons;
+finally, when he discovered the narrow limits of the earth, that
+notions of humanity and humanitarianism, that is to say the sentiment
+of human solidarity, were able to develop in the general conscience.
+It was, however, one of the ancients who said "I am a man and nothing
+human can be strange to me." But in his time, as in that of Jesus
+Christ, civilization was already far advanced and influenced by the
+wide humanitarian ideas, more ancient still, of the Assyrians and the
+Buddhists.</p>
+
+<p>Every one who reflects will understand that the relativity of the
+rights of groups in man and that of the duties which correspond to
+them, must in time expand and be applied, little by little, to all the
+human inhabitants of the earth. What is more difficult is the
+definition of what should be understood under the term of humanity,
+capable of being socialized and cultivated.</p>
+
+<p>No doubt, the gap which exists between the lowest living human race
+and the highest ape is considerable and without direct transition.
+However, we gradually begin to recognize, on the one hand, that we
+have certain duties toward animals, at least toward those which serve
+us, and, on the other hand, we know that certain of the lower human
+races, such as the pigmies, the Veddas and even the Negroes, are
+inaccessible to a higher civilization, and especially incapable by
+themselves of maintaining what a number of their individuals learn by
+training when they live among us. We shall, therefore, have to choose
+finally between the gradual extinction of these races or that of our
+own.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[362]</a></span>It is not my business to deal with this question here, to trace the
+limits of civilizable humanity, or to examine the rights and duties of
+civilized men to each other relatively to the rest of the living
+world; or, in other words, to what extent civilized man should have
+the relative right of subjecting other living beings, exploiting them
+in his own interests, nourishing them, or eventually exterminating
+them for the safety of his own existence.</p>
+
+<p>As regards the animal and vegetable kingdoms, from the amoeba to the
+orang-utan, the question is simple enough and settled. It is much more
+difficult to decide for men and for peoples separated from us by great
+racial differences. I must emphasize the profoundness of this
+difference. It is evident that the higher cultivated races, or rather
+blends of races, which live to-day will do better to live in peace
+than to mutually exterminate each other.</p>
+
+<p>It is necessary to discuss these questions at the risk of hurting the
+feelings of sentimental persons. But what is the use of being blind to
+such patent facts? It is not too soon to look closely into the future,
+and it is only thus that we can arrive at any useful result. The
+natural rights of man should evolve more and more from a complex of
+social rights and duties toward a single great group, which we may
+call <i>civilized humanity</i>, the relative limits of which can only be
+traced by repeated trials and by practical experience. The instincts
+of the wild beast are still so deeply rooted, even in civilized men,
+that they can only be adapted gradually and even painfully to a
+natural right thus understood and limited. We must honestly admit that
+such a right only merits very relatively the denomination of <i>natural
+rights</i>. In fact, social rights are necessarily artificial in man. A
+few elementary rights and duties only are quite natural, especially in
+the sexual domain. We are concerned here with adaptations in the form
+of instincts which serve for the support and development of the
+family, as well as for the protection of the individual. Among these
+we may mention the right to life, the duty of labor and the right to
+labor, the right of the infant to be nourished by its mother and to be
+cared for and protected by its parents, the duty of parents to nourish
+their children, the duty of the husband to protect his wife, the right
+to obtain <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[363]</a></span>nourishment from the animal and vegetable kingdoms, the
+right to satisfy the sexual appetite, etc.</p>
+
+<p>There exists, however, a series of other rights and duties, which are
+so necessary that they may be termed natural. Such are the right to
+possess a dwelling place; to defend one's life against attack; to
+think and believe what one wishes so long as one does not impose one's
+ideas and faith on others; the duty to respect the life and property
+of one's neighbor; the duty to give a healthy and sufficient education
+to youth, both in body and mind, etc.</p>
+
+<p>If we regard the matter without prejudice, certain rights and duties
+which have been hitherto considered as natural and self-evident,
+become very doubtful. Such are ecclesiastical and religious rights and
+duties, patriotic and national duties, the rights and duties of war,
+the rights of privileged classes, the rights of property, etc. It is
+clear, from an unprejudiced examination of the development of
+humanity, that these so-called rights and duties are only the historic
+legacies of mysticism or of limited human groupings, and in great part
+artificial. The rights and duties of members of the groups in question
+consisted in mutually protecting their opinions and their national and
+religious interests, etc., and in subjecting or even trampling under
+foot those of other human groups. These lead us quite naturally to the
+second category of general notions of rights.</p>
+
+<p><b>Conventional Rights.</b>&mdash;To speak correctly, conventional rights are
+not rights. They are simply a dogmatic sanction applied to all kinds
+of customs and abuses that men have appropriated, according to local
+circumstances and their fortuitous conquests or acquisitions. Here,
+the consequences of the natural rights of the stronger, religious
+mysticisms and all sorts of human passions, the sexual appetite
+especially, play a very varied and complex role.</p>
+
+<p>The absurdity and injustice of conventional rights is shown by the
+difference, often even the absolute contrast, of the corresponding
+conception of rights among different peoples. In one, polygamy is a
+right and even a divine institution; in another, it is a crime.
+Individual murder is generally considered as criminal, but in warfare
+the slaughter of masses becomes a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[364]</a></span>duty and even a virtue. Theft and
+rapine are regarded in times of peace as crimes, but in time of war,
+under the form of annexation and plunder they are the uncontested
+rights of the victor. In a kingdom, the monarch is looked upon as a
+holy person and offense to his majesty as a crime; in a democracy, it
+is individual domination which is regarded as criminal.</p>
+
+<p>Falsehood and mental restriction are, in certain cases at least, the
+rights or even the duty of the Catholic, who is only forbidden to
+swear falsely in the name of God and religion, while others consider
+all falsehood more or less unjustifiable; others again regard every
+oath as sinful.</p>
+
+<p>The contradictions, inconsistencies, unnatural prescripts and
+tyrannies of what is called conventional rights in different peoples
+are innumerable, and the notions of our rights which we have inherited
+from the Romans are not much better.</p>
+
+<p><b>Retaliation.</b>&mdash;In historical epochs, we see the rights of the
+stronger succeeded by certain notions of rights which may still be
+considered as primordial; such is the law of retaliation or lynch law,
+based on the natural sentiment of vengeance, which is itself derived
+from anger, jealousy and pride, and says "An eye for an eye and a
+tooth for a tooth." The law of retaliation is very natural and very
+human. Although of savage origin, it has at least the merit of
+recognizing in men an equal right in retaliation for injury caused in
+a brutal fashion, without considering inner motives.</p>
+
+<p><b>Expiation.</b>&mdash;We also find in the old law another notion derived
+partly from the preceding, but chiefly from religious mysticism&mdash;the
+notion of expiation. After constructing in his own image a divinity
+blinded by human passions, man attributed to him, from fear of
+vengeance, sentiments of anger and indignation regarding his baseness
+and malice toward his neighbor. He then conciliated the divinity and
+appeased his wrath by making sacrifices, human or otherwise.</p>
+
+<p>At first, sacrifices were not made of criminals or guilty persons, but
+of innocent lambs, men or beasts, sometimes with all kinds of torture,
+to appease the supposed wrath of the gods. Gradually, however, these
+customs became more humane and were changed to the notions of
+expiation which we still have. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[365]</a></span>Whosoever has committed a crime should
+expiate it by some kind of pain, eventually by death. In our modern
+penal law, notions of expiation and retaliation are blended, and when
+we study its roots in ethnology we are not surprised to see the
+expiation and punishment of so-called crimes against God or religion.
+We find in this fact a singular mixture of religious and judicial
+notions. A curious way of appeasing the divinity is the sacrifice of
+animals and other offerings which ancient and savage peoples made and
+still make, in returning thanks for victory or some other good
+fortune, or to appease supposed wrath.</p>
+
+<p><b>Themis.</b>&mdash;In spite of all these errors, ancient civilization
+represented as the ideal of right a goddess of justice, <i>Themis</i>, with
+eyes blindfolded and holding scales in her hands. The scales signified
+that right and wrong should be carefully weighed against each other;
+the bandage, that the judge should pronounce his verdict without
+regard to persons, and be inaccessible to all outside influence. For
+the limited ideas of that period, little removed from retaliation and
+expiation, this blind woman with her scales was a sufficient
+representation of justice. She had no need to trouble about the
+psychology of human nature, mental disorders, diminished
+responsibility or ideal social improvement.</p>
+
+<p><b>Themis Unblindfolded. Fallacy of Free-will.</b>&mdash;Nowadays the task of
+our goddess is not so simple, for the progress of humanity and
+science, especially of psychology and psychiatry, oblige her whether
+she wishes or not, to completely remove her bandage, so as to see
+clearly into the human brain.</p>
+
+<p>It is not simply a question of knowing whether an accused person has
+or has not committed the act which he is accused of, but also whether
+he knew what he was doing, what were the motives which urged him, and
+who is the real instigator of the misdeed. Alcohol, mental anomalies
+and diseases, suggestions, passions, etc., concur in influencing the
+human brain so that it is hardly responsible for its acts.</p>
+
+<p>Again, on further examination, we find that the accepted and
+historical notion of free-will, that is to say the absolute liberty of
+man's will, which constitutes the very existence of our old penal law,
+becomes not only more problematical, but may even <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[366]</a></span>be considered as a
+purely human illusion, resting on the fact that the indirect and
+remote motives of our actions are mainly subconscious.</p>
+
+<p>The great philosopher, Spinoza, has already demonstrated this truth in
+a masterly manner, and modern science confirms it in all respects.
+Every effect has its cause, and all our resolutions are the result of
+the activities of our brain, in their turn determined or influenced by
+hereditary engrams (instincts and dispositions) or acquired
+(memories), which are their internal causes, and combine with causes
+acting from without. Let us admit freely the fallacy of the old axiom
+of human free-will and endeavor to understand that what we consider as
+free will is nothing else than the very variable faculty of our brain,
+more or less developed in different individuals, of adapting its
+activity to that of its environment, and especially to that of other
+men. Also let us endeavor to take into account that our will and all
+our actions are, consciously or unconsciously, determined by a complex
+of energies or hereditary engrams (character), combined with those
+which have acted upon us from without during our life, as well as with
+emotional or intellectual sensory impressions.</p>
+
+<p>Our whole conception of rights, and especially of penal law, should
+then change. We should entirely do away with <i>retaliation</i>, a
+barbarous relic of a more or less animal sentiment of our ancestors,
+and <i>expiation</i>, the relic of a superannuated and superstitious
+mysticism. Modern and truly scientific reformers of penal law have
+already taken account of this necessity. But, in spite of the complete
+inefficacy of the old penal system as regards the diminution of crime,
+they have so far only put into practice few of their ideas.</p>
+
+<p><b>Justification of Rights and Laws.</b>&mdash;After what we have just said,
+there only remain, two reasons to justify the existence of rights and
+laws:</p>
+
+<p>(1). To protect human society against criminals, and in general to
+institute ideas and laws with a view to regulate the mutual interests
+of men, in such a way as to result in natural conditions of existence
+as advantageous as possible, both for the individual and for society:</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[367]</a></span>(2). To study the causes of crimes, social conflicts, imperfections
+and inequalities, so as to obtain, by contending against these causes,
+an improvement in men and their social condition. It is true that what
+we demand here means a complete transformation of the notions of
+conventional right, not only in our old penal law, but also to a great
+extent in civil law; but this transformation is inevitable and has
+even already commenced. Its object is to liberate right from the grasp
+of an old metaphysico-religious dogmatism, and from crystalized
+doctrines derived from superannuated custom and abuse, and to found
+itself on the applied and social natural history of man, who then only
+will merit the name of <i>homo sapiens</i> which was given to him by
+Linnaeus, the great nomenclator of living beings.</p>
+
+<p>Jurists have already too long based metaphysics on old barbarous
+customs and superstitious mysticism, transformed into dogmas. It is
+time that Themis removed her bandage, studied psychology,
+psychopathology and science, and submitted the impartial handling of
+her scales to the influence of truer and juster human factors, even if
+her work thereby becomes more difficult and more complicated.</p>
+
+<p><b>Sexual Rights.</b>&mdash;While sexual sentiments form part of the most sacred
+and intimate conditions of individual happiness, they are also closely
+and indissolubly connected with the social welfare of humanity. In no
+domain is it more difficult to combine harmoniously the welfare of the
+community with that of the individual, and this is why questions of
+right in sexual matters are among the most difficult to solve.</p>
+
+<p>The satisfaction of the sexual appetite in man is part of his natural
+rights. Natural science compels us to formulate this principle; yet it
+is a dogma the consequences of which may become very grave and even
+fatal; for the satisfaction of a man's sexual appetite implies, not
+only the direct participation of one or more human beings in a common
+act, but also that of a much greater number in its indirect effects;
+and it may occasion, according to circumstances, more harm than good.</p>
+
+<p>If the question of reproduction did not exist, it would be more easy
+to put individualism in more or less harmonious accord <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[368]</a></span>with
+socialism. It is thus the sexual relations which present the greatest
+difficulties in the social domain.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of the considerable progress which has been accomplished, our
+modern law is still based to a great extent on the barbarous principle
+of the legal inequality of the sexes. The mind of man and that of
+woman are no doubt of different quality; nevertheless, in a society
+which does not possess asexual individuals like that of the ants and
+bees, and in which the two sexes are compelled to work together
+harmoniously for the social welfare, there is no reason to subordinate
+one sex to the other. Man may have 130 or 150 grammes more brain
+tissue than woman and be superior to her in his faculty of combination
+and invention, but this is no reason why we should only accord his
+wife and mother inferior social rights to his own. His bodily strength
+will always protect him against the possible encroachments of woman.</p>
+
+<p>A first postulate is, therefore, the equality of the two sexes before
+the law. A second postulate consists in the emancipation of infancy,
+in the sense that it should never be considered as an object of
+possession or of exploitation, as was and is still so often the case.</p>
+
+<p>These are the fundamental principles of a normal sexual law. In no
+animal do we find the abuses which man is permitted to practice toward
+his wife and children. Let us now pass on to special questions.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>CIVIL LAW</h4>
+
+<p>The object of civil law is to regulate the relations of men to each
+ether. Properly speaking it does not punish, that is to say, it
+requires no expiation and is not concerned with crime. It seeks to
+improve the social basis for mutual obligations and contracts.
+Nevertheless, it borders on penal law as regards the question of
+damages which one individual must pay another whom he has injured even
+involuntarily, as well as by the coercive measures, both
+administrative and operative, which it employs.</p>
+
+<p>Although resting on a natural basis better adapted to the social
+welfare than penal law, civil law still contains the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[369]</a></span>traditions of
+religious mysticism and the abuse of conventional right.</p>
+
+<p>I shall here analyze in a few words what concerns our subject in
+actual civil law, and shall point out the modifications which appear
+to me desirable. It is, however, impossible for me to enter into the
+details of codes, owing to absence of special knowledge. Moreover,
+this would lead us too far from our subject.</p>
+
+<p><b>Marriage and Sexual Relations in General.</b>&mdash;The coitus of two
+individuals, performed with mutual deliberation and causing no harm to
+a third person, should be considered as a private affair, and should
+have no connection with either civil or penal law.</p>
+
+<p>However great may be the necessary restrictions of this general axiom,
+it must be recognized as valid in principle. Society has no right to
+restrict the liberty of individuals so long as it, or one of its
+members, is not injured by these individuals. So long as coitus is
+freely performed by adult and responsible persons, has no indirect
+consequences, and does not cause fecundation, neither society nor any
+one is injured.</p>
+
+<p>In the practice of law this axiom is not yet generally accepted. Many
+laws, especially among the Germanic peoples, punish concubinage, or
+extra-nuptial coitus. Even when concubinage is tolerated, it is
+considered illegitimate, so that the woman who gives herself to it and
+the children who result from it, have much to suffer. Although they
+constitute simple religious precepts, the ordinances of Liguori and
+others concerning coitus influence in a high degree sexual relations
+in Catholic countries.</p>
+
+<p>As a rule, coitus is only legally recognized as licit in marriage. But
+we have seen in Chapter VI how elastic is the term marriage, which
+varies from polygamy and monogamy to polyandry, and from marriage for
+short periods to indissoluble marriage, to say nothing of the cases
+where women are sacrificed on their husbands' tombs. We have seen that
+religious traditions, arising themselves from barbarous customs, play
+a great part in conjugal law. It is only by infinite trouble that the
+principle of civil marriage has made its way in modern civilized
+states. Even to-day, religious marriage is in some countries only form
+of union which is legally recognized. These <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[370]</a></span>simple facts show to what
+extent we are still hidebound by tradition.</p>
+
+<p>The idea that marriage is a divine institution and that man has the
+right to contract, but not to dissolve it, is still a widespread
+belief, however bizarre it may be. We shall not enter here into the
+detail of the religious forms of marriage, which is referred to in
+Chapters VI and XII.</p>
+
+<p>It is evident, from our modern and scientific point of view, which is
+purely human and social, that civil law only can be recognized as
+valid. Religious forms and ceremonies must be considered as belonging
+to a private domain. For this reason they concern neither the State
+nor society, and should be refused all legal character; for it is our
+duty to strive and liberate humanity from the tyranny of all imposed
+creeds, as we should combat all so-called State religion.</p>
+
+<p><b>Civil Marriage.</b>&mdash;What then is civil marriage, and what ought it to
+be? Our actual civil marriage is the result of trials and compromises
+which require improvement. It is a contract between two persons of
+opposite sex whose mutual object is the reproduction of the human
+species. In this contract the law is unfortunately too much concerned
+with the personal relations of the two contracting parties, and too
+little with the interests of their eventual posterity, which
+necessitates care and attention on the part of the social legislator.
+Moreover, the traditional conception of the dependence of woman
+disturbs the purity and justice of civil marriage.</p>
+
+<p>In my opinion, the first fundamental principles of civil marriage
+should be absolute legal equality of the two conjoints and complete
+separation of property. The momentary amorous intoxication of a woman
+should not allow a man to appropriate her property in whole or in
+part; only truly barbarous laws could permit such iniquity, and they
+should be banished from all the codes of civilized countries.
+Moreover, in countries where woman enjoys important rights, the
+community of property furnishes those who are unscrupulous with the
+means of completely despoiling their husbands.</p>
+
+<p>Further, in common conjugal life, the domestic work of the wife should
+not be considered as obligatory and requiring no <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[371]</a></span>special
+remuneration. Her work has as much right to be considered as that of
+the husband, and should be entered to the wife as an asset.</p>
+
+<p>Community of property is so immoral that it should be considered
+invalid in case of ulterior dispute, when it has been instituted by
+private contract. It is the business of the conjoints to put it in
+practice if they wish, so long as they are of one mind. But when
+dissensions or divorce take place, it only injures the one who has
+remained honest, and at the same time the children.</p>
+
+<p>This is why such contracts ought never be definitely binding to the
+conjoints. Even if the marriage is not unhappy, the extravagances or
+blunders of one of the conjoints may ruin the whole family, in the
+case of common property.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>duration</i> of marriage is very important. If a marriage contract
+exacts sexual fidelity till death, divorce is nonsense. Yet, in
+practice, it is obvious cruelty to keep two individuals legally bound
+together who can no longer live with each other. Thus, the provision
+and license of divorce are necessities of civil law which are
+certainly not ideal, but which cannot be passed over without favoring
+family disturbance and without sanctioning illegality and evil.</p>
+
+<p>Among the most frequent causes of divorce are desire for change in the
+husband, venereal diseases, disputes, incompatibility of temper,
+mental disorders, immorality, ill-treatment and crime. The sterility
+of one of the conjoints and incapacity for coitus may also be
+mentioned as reasons for divorce, although in certain circumstances,
+as we shall see, limited polyandry or polygyny may be much more humane
+than divorce.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as divorce is admitted, important and complicated questions of
+law arise when there are children. We shall refer to these later. The
+legal license of complete divorce thus transforms marriage into a
+temporary contract, which is not so far removed as one would think
+from the ideal relations of free love.</p>
+
+<p>We will examine the circumstances which, apart from the procreation of
+children, may attribute legal importance to the sexual relations of
+two persons. I must first of all observe that, if it wishes, civil
+legislation can very well create a state of things <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[372]</a></span>which gives to
+children born outside marriage the same rights and the same social
+position as legitimate children, and I will even add that such social
+equality would respond to the most elementary sentiments of human
+rights, if these were not already influenced in advance by prejudice
+and mysticism.</p>
+
+<p><b>Minors.</b>&mdash;Civil law should stipulate that minors have not the right
+to marry. This may appear cruel in certain cases, but society has the
+right and the duty to intervene. Minors should be protected against
+all sexual abuse. A young girl under the age of seventeen and a boy
+under eighteen or twenty should be prevented from all sexual
+relations. This is a postulate of individual and social hygiene and
+consequently of all healthy matrimonial law.</p>
+
+<p><b>Lunatics.</b>&mdash;The same applies to lunatics, who are legally comparable
+to minors. Have we the right to forcibly separate a married couple, or
+a couple living in concubinage, because one of the conjoints has
+become insane, when the other does not wish for separation? In Germany
+the procedure of nullity of marriage has been invented for these
+cases, but without gaining much. I shall return to this point in
+connection with another subject, but I may remark here that it is not
+the continuation of marriage nor that of sexual connection which
+injures society, but only the procreation of children. Therefore it is
+only the procreation of children, which should be legally prohibited,
+and sexual connection only when the healthy conjoint agrees to its
+suppression, or when the interests of the afflicted one necessitate
+it.</p>
+
+<p>In the future these particular cases may be regulated in the most
+convenient and humane way possible.</p>
+
+<p>Certain bodily infirmities which one of the conjoints has concealed
+from the other, or of which he was not himself aware, should also
+impair the validity of the marriage contract. Such are chronic
+infectious diseases, especially venereal, impotence in the man and
+sterility in the woman, when the cause was previously known. But here
+again, the law should only intervene at the request of the person
+injured, and to take certain measures to prevent the procreation of
+abortions, without interfering with sexual connection.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[373]</a></span><b>Adultery.</b>&mdash;An important question is that of adultery. Here again, we
+are of opinion that the law has not performed its duty. Proved
+adultery, when fidelity has been promised by contract should give the
+injured party the right of immediate and absolute divorce.</p>
+
+<p>Certain forms of adultery, which take place with the assent of the two
+conjoints, have in reality the character of bigamy and should neither
+be recognized by civil nor penal law. I will cite as an example, the
+case where two conjoints wish to live together for various reasons,
+while the impotence, disease or sterility of one of them induces him
+to concede to the other liberty of sexual connection with a third
+person, apart from marriage. In such a case neither society nor any
+one else is injured and all motive for legal intervention is wanting
+(vide Andr&eacute; Couvreur: <i>La Graine</i>).</p>
+
+<p><b>Divorce.</b>&mdash;The question of divorce becomes extremely difficult when
+one of the conjoints wishes for it and the other does not, and when no
+other reason exists for determining the marriage. We are here
+concerned with the malicious caprices of the god of love, from which
+the world will never be free.</p>
+
+<p>In my opinion, the law in such cases can only do one thing, and that
+is to protect the rights of the children, if there are any, and to
+compel the inconstant conjoint to provide for their nourishment.</p>
+
+<p>The law should also protect the pecuniary and other civil rights of
+the conjoint who wishes to continue life in common. Here especially we
+can recognize the necessity for the separation of property. On the
+other hand, I am convinced that it is useless to maintain at any price
+a union which one party does not wish for. In practice no good results
+from it; it is rather a moral question than a question of law.</p>
+
+<p>In such cases we may observe the despair of the conjoint who has
+remained faithful, both in the marital and legal relations of
+marriage. The law cannot do everything, and here it is powerless; all
+that it can do is to exact delay and attempt at reconciliation, which
+sometimes succeeds.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Right to Satisfaction of the Sexual Appetite.</b>&mdash;We now come to a
+delicate question. The right to satisfy the sexual <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[374]</a></span>appetite must
+necessarily be restricted in more than one respect if injury to third
+parties is to be avoided. If we except certain pathological cases, the
+chief difficulty lies in the fact that the normal sexual appetite can
+only be satisfied by the cohabitation of two persons, and that what
+satisfies the one may often injure or deeply wound the other, and even
+the children. The matter may go so far as to concern penal law, and we
+shall refer to it again in this connection. But, even from the point
+of view of civil law, permission to satisfy the sexual appetite must
+necessarily depend on the consent of both parties. In my opinion no
+exception to this rule can be tolerated.</p>
+
+<p>It is not enough to protect minors; it is also necessary to prevent
+the abuse of the persons of adults against their will. The institution
+of so-called Christian marriage still contains barbarous dispositions
+in this respect, the wife being generally obliged to surrender herself
+to her lord and master as often as he pleases. This is the dark side
+of the picture which exacts sexual fidelity in man.</p>
+
+<p>Inversely, for physiological reasons, a very erotic and sexually
+exacting woman cannot obtain satisfaction, man being incapable of
+commanding erections voluntarily. She can only bring an action for
+divorce if she can prove that her husband is completely impotent.</p>
+
+<p>It is sufficient to reflect on these facts to see how difficult is the
+regulation of sexual connection by law. The legislation of details in
+this domain becomes of necessity an injustice.</p>
+
+<p>We have already considered the great individual variability of the
+sexual appetite. Attempts to regulate it by the rules of a monogamous
+matrimonial code are absurd and impracticable. With all the respect
+due to the moral sentiments of Tolstoi, we are obliged to declare that
+his ascetic opinions on sexual relations are only the dreams of an
+enthusiast.</p>
+
+<p>When a libidinous man marries a young girl who is sexually frigid, and
+when coitus continues to be a horror to his wife, it is quite as cruel
+to demand continence in the husband as submission in his wife. In such
+cases, the conditions can only be made tolerable by divorce, consent
+to concubinage, or bigamy, when a relative adaptation cannot be
+obtained by mutual <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[375]</a></span>concessions. At present our prejudices only allow
+divorce in such cases.</p>
+
+<p>When a man and woman are already tied by pregnancy or by a child, and
+when, apart from the differences in their sexual appetites, love and
+concord reign between them, separation would be cruel.</p>
+
+<p>I readily agree that such extreme circumstances should not be the
+rule, and that in many cases the one who is the more erotic can
+restrain himself, and the one who is cold become accustomed to coitus.
+Nevertheless, in the present chapter we are not concerned with morals
+but with rights, and we have only to reply to the question of knowing
+what should be done when, in sexual connection between two conjoints,
+one desires it and the other does not.</p>
+
+<p>The concentration of sexual passion on a single individual, which is
+generally good from the social point of view, is fatal in these
+special cases. A man falls passionately in love with a woman, or a
+woman with a man, but instead of being reciprocal this love is
+despised by the other. Such a misfortune, which often leads to the
+most tragic consequences, not only in novels but also in real life, is
+only reparable by the renunciation of the one who loves. It is surely
+less cruel to renounce a proposed union than to become the sexual prey
+of a person one does not love. It is, therefore, inhuman and immoral,
+as much in religion as in poetry, to preach in any form, the
+exclusiveness of sentiments, the indissolubility of monogamous
+marriage, and the immutability of love.</p>
+
+<p>It has often been stated that a woman can only love once in her life.
+Such a false and cruel generalization must be energetically opposed.
+It is the business of sentimental poets to delude themselves with such
+sentiments, but those who think it a duty to adhere to dogmas of this
+kind are to be pitied. It is not only death or illness of one of the
+conjoints, dissensions and infidelity, which may cause separation of a
+sexual union, but as is frequently the case, rejected love may
+transform into perpetual martyrdom the life of a person imbued with
+such ideas. The ascetic sentimentalism which results from this has a
+strong element of suggestion which is bad to cultivate.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[376]</a></span>If we would give the one who does not love the absolute right of
+repelling the sexual advances of the other, not only the law but
+morality should in return allow the rejected lover to make another
+choice, where his desire for love will find an echo.</p>
+
+<p>At the present day many people, especially women, prefer to endure
+their unhappiness and even that of their children to the opprobrium to
+which they are often exposed by public opinion in divorce or
+remarriage, or even in becoming engaged to another person, when their
+love has been rejected. It is, therefore, the duty of the legislator
+to banish from the law everything which may appear to sanction such
+opprobrium.</p>
+
+<p>Most laws recognize not only impotence, but also assault, cruelty,
+venereal disease, adultery, etc., as grounds for divorce, but the
+pressure of public opinion causes the existing laws to be too little
+used. We must remember that such violations of conjugal duties give
+the injured party the right of claiming damages.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, we may say that the simplest civil action by one
+conjoint against the other is veritably monstrous when it is not
+accompanied by an action for divorce. When once the couple have come
+to legal disputes, their marriage is in reality dissolved and its
+continuation is an absurdity.</p>
+
+<p><b>Venereal Diseases.</b>&mdash;A very important question from the humanitarian
+and hygienic point of view is that of venereal disease. A man (or
+woman) who knows himself (or herself) to be affected with a venereal
+disease in an infectious state, and who in spite of this has
+connection with a woman, should be regarded as a criminal, at least if
+the woman with whom he has connection is not affected with the same
+disease.</p>
+
+<p>Here the law should intervene by awarding heavy damages to the party
+who has been infected; eventually it may be treated as a criminal
+offense. In such cases claim should be made by the injured party, but
+unfortunately this is seldom done owing to feelings of shame. In the
+future, however, we may hope that the law may be improved for the
+benefit of humanity, for this would be one of the most efficacious
+means of combating venereal disease, and hence avoiding much
+misfortune for families and children.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[377]</a></span>It would also be desirable to prevent the procreation of syphilitic
+infants, for instance, by the use of preventatives (vide Chapter XIV).</p>
+
+<p><b>Prostitution.</b>&mdash;Another difficult question is that of the relation of
+civil law to prostitution. All State regulation of prostitution is to
+be absolutely condemned; but what position should civil law take up
+with regard to free prostitution? We have already seen what an
+abominable social evil is this commerce in human bodies, as regards
+social morality. But it is absolutely useless to try and abolish this
+commerce without attacking its lord and master&mdash;<i>money</i>. The venality
+of man implies the commerce of his body, and as long as everything can
+be got for money, coitus can be bought. It is, therefore, this
+venality which must be attacked, not only by condemning it in words
+but by cutting its roots. If the State will not withdraw its
+protecting hand from prostitution, it might at least combat
+proxenetism and the public manifestations of prostitution, by all the
+legal and administrative measures at its disposal. It would thus
+reduce the matter to intimate personal relations.</p>
+
+<p>Let us hope that, little by little, a social organization more just to
+labor and wages, combined with the prohibition of alcoholic drinks,
+will, in the future, annihilate the causes of commerce in human
+bodies.</p>
+
+<p><b>Children as a Reason for Civil Marriage.</b>&mdash;To resume; we find that
+civil marriage should, by progressive reforms, become a much more free
+contract than it is at present, having for its object a common sexual
+life. The law should abandon its useless and often harmful chicanery
+concerning the questions of sexual relations and love, and regulate
+more carefully the duties of parents toward their children, and thus
+protect future generations against the abuse of the present
+generation.</p>
+
+<p>The difference which exists between marriage and free love should
+gradually disappear, by instituting natural intimate relations on the
+basis of sentiments of social morality, instead of maintaining the
+pretended divine origin of a social institution. It is difficult to
+avoid a smile when we hear the term "divine institution" applied to
+the marriage of a rich girl with a man who has been bought for her.
+(Vide Chapter X.)</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[378]</a></span>Various propositions have been made to give more dignity to the unions
+of free love, which now exist and which always have existed. Modern
+women have remarked that the absurd custom of naming the celibate
+woman differently to the married stigmatizes in society a number of
+poor women and innocent children, and that it would be quite as just
+to apply the term "damoiseau" to celibate men as "mademoiselle" to
+non-married girls. An unmarried woman who has a child, and who has
+only committed the sin of obeying nature, is branded with the stamp of
+shame.</p>
+
+<p>It is the children who constitute the true bond of marriage and give
+it a legal character. When there are no children all legal and State
+interference with conjugal affairs loses its sense so long as no one
+is injured, and civil marriage can then be greatly simplified. I
+maintain that so long as a sterile union, of whatever kind, between
+responsible persons is voluntary, provokes no conflict between those
+who have contracted it, and causes no injury to a third party, the law
+has no right to meddle with it; because this union does not concern
+society nor any of its members, excepting the two parties interested,
+who are in accord.</p>
+
+<p>At the present time, in many countries, the existing laws can be
+utilized to form marriage contracts stipulating separation of
+property, the right of each of the conjoints to the produce of his or
+her work, as well as certain reciprocal rights and duties between the
+parents and children. Matters can thus be arranged so as to correct
+more or less the defects of the law.</p>
+
+<p><b>Marriage of Inverts.</b>&mdash;A peculiar and characteristic phenomenon is
+the ardent desire of many sexual perverts, especially inverts, to
+become secretly engaged or married to the abnormal homosexual object
+of their love. It is needless to say that there can be no question of
+legal regulation of such pathological marriages. But the law may
+ignore them when they do no harm to any one, and regard them as
+private affairs, especially when they prevent much worse evils, such
+as the marriage of an invert to a normal individual.</p>
+
+<p><b>Civil Rights of Children. Matriarchism.</b>&mdash;As we have already said, it
+is the children who constitute the real phylogenetic and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[379]</a></span>psychological bonds in marriage and the family, bonds which are deeply
+rooted in human nature. This is so true that among many savage
+peoples, if not in most, marriage is not considered legal as long as
+it is sterile. Even among civilized people sterile women are generally
+regarded as of less value. We may, therefore, regard the article in
+the Code Napoleon which forbids inquiry into paternity as an unnatural
+measure, or as a monstrosity of civil law.</p>
+
+<p>Two human beings who procreate others contract common duties and
+responsibility of the highest importance. They are, perhaps, the
+highest social duties that man can assume. Is it not then infamous and
+unnatural to legally liberate one only of the procreators, the man,
+from all his responsibilities, simply because certain religious or
+civil formalities were omitted before procreation?</p>
+
+<p>Is the man less guilty than the woman in procreation apart from
+marriage, if we can use the term guilt in such cases? Is it not a
+ridiculous and cruel irony to call <i>natural children</i> those born apart
+from marriage? Perhaps legitimate children are supernatural, or
+unnatural! Is it not infamous to brand with the seal of shame, even
+before their birth, poor illegitimate children, and to confirm this
+indignity by making them bear their mother's name instead of their
+father's?</p>
+
+<p>The most elementary natural law exacts that all children, whether
+"legitimate" or "illegitimate," should have the same social rights,
+and that they should bear either the name of their real father or that
+of their mother; the latter denomination would be the more natural and
+logical. Denomination by the maternal line corresponds to the system
+of matriarchism (Chapters VI and XIX), which is often met with among
+savage races, and which is more just and leads to less abuse than
+patriarchism. Moreover, when women shall have obtained their proper
+rights, there will be an end of the exclusive authority of one of the
+conjoints in marriage.</p>
+
+<p>Equality in the rights of the two sexes will naturally lead to
+denomination in the maternal line, for reasons of simplicity, the
+mother being more closely related to the child than the father.
+Maternity may, no doubt, be sometimes uncertain, as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[380]</a></span>in the case of
+foundlings or changelings, but on the whole it is infinitely more easy
+to establish than paternity. It is sufficient for the mother to have
+sexual connection with two men at the time of conception to render
+paternity doubtful. Again, the mother has a number of pains, cares and
+dangers to undergo in the course of the procreation and education of
+children, which the father escapes. Nature thus gives the mother the
+right to give her name to the family. Our legislation is unfortunately
+far from recognizing such natural right. We may nevertheless form a
+primary proposition, because in my opinion its recognition would avoid
+much complicated litigation:</p>
+
+<p><i>In nature, whenever the offspring of an animal have a protracted and
+dependent infancy, it is the duty of the parents to nourish them and
+bring them up. To allow human parents to dispense with this duty, on
+the grounds of badly constructed and unnatural social theories, is to
+encourage promiscuity, and consequently degeneration of society. It is
+easy to change social customs which are only based on artificial
+dogmas sanctioned by tradition, fashion and habit, whether they are of
+a religious nature or otherwise. But a social organization can never
+violate with impunity the true laws of human nature which are deeply
+rooted in our phylogenetic instincts, without disastrous effects.</i></p>
+
+<p>In Chapters VI and VII we have given irrefutable proof that family
+life and the sentiments of sympathy between husband and wife, parents
+and children, constitute the phylogenetic basis of the sexual
+relations of humanity. Whatever may be the egoistic polygamous
+instincts of man, we can affirm that a natural and true monogamy
+constitutes the highest and best form of his sexual relations and of
+his love. No doubt there are many exceptions which must be taken into
+account. It is absurd to shut our eyes to the fact that our degenerate
+social customs have created unnatural circumstances in which parents
+behave shamefully toward their children, exploiting them, training
+them systematically to mendacity, prostitution and crime, or else
+ill-treating them. We even see unnatural parents, to save legal
+consequences, get rid of children who inconvenience them by the aid of
+slow and coldly calculated martyrdom, which leads them to certain
+death. It is, therefore, necessary to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[381]</a></span>establish special legal
+provision for all these exceptional cases, to protect children against
+the power of unworthy parents and all forms of abuse.</p>
+
+<p>I must here draw attention to the impulse which has recently been
+given to Austrian legislation on the protection of children, by Lydia
+von Wolfring. The State brings up, in philanthropic institutions,
+children who have been maltreated, neglected or abandoned, after
+removal from their unworthy parents, but without relieving the latter
+of their duty in providing nourishment. According to Miss Wolfring's
+system, they are cared for by honest couples without children who wish
+for them, under the supervision of the aforesaid institutions. In this
+way the children enjoy family life.</p>
+
+<p>For educational reasons, the natural family may be imitated in these
+artificial ones, by giving to each couple children of both sexes and
+different ages. The result is perfect: I have seen in Vienna
+artificial families of ten children formed in this way. This shows
+again the rule confirmed by the exception; it would be better for the
+good seed to be more fruitful and the bad sterile.</p>
+
+<p>The normal condition must, however, always be for parents to bring up
+their own children. But here the State and the school should come to
+their aid, and even intervene with authority; for society is under the
+obligation of educating its children to a certain degree of culture,
+and maternal or paternal authority should not have the right to
+prevent or even attenuate this social work. Obligatory and gratuitous
+education is thus a duty of the State which is becoming more and more
+recognized everywhere, although it is still very incomplete and often
+badly carried out.</p>
+
+<p>The State should, moreover, protect the children by restricting the
+power of parents more than is done at present. The child should not be
+allowed to become an object for exploitation by its parents. It has
+also the right to be protected against all unmerited punishment and
+ill-treatment. Corporal punishment, which is still practiced in some
+schools, is a relic of barbarism which ought to disappear.</p>
+
+<p>The State should severely enforce the duty of the procreators <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[382]</a></span>of
+children to nourish their offspring. Rich or poor, no father or mother
+should escape this duty, whether the child is legitimate or
+illegitimate. In our imperfect social condition, it is still much too
+easy for the man to escape and abandon his child to the mother, or to
+public charity. He should be compelled to provide for the life and
+education of his children, whether legitimate or illegitimate, if he
+does not bring them up himself. If unable to provide money, he should
+do the equivalent in labor. Such measures, strictly enforced, would be
+more efficacious than all the complicated laws on sexual relations, in
+maintaining monogamy and fidelity.</p>
+
+<p>I repeat, that these measures should apply to all unworthy parents
+from whom we are obliged to remove the children. These parents are not
+always of the poorer class.</p>
+
+<p>It may be objected that I am unjust in charging such duties to poor
+people who can often hardly keep themselves. I agree that in the
+present state of society it is quite impossible for many parents to
+undertake such important duties. But duty means right, and it is
+evident that we must place rights by the side of the duties which we
+impose on parents.</p>
+
+<p>True justice in this question can only be attained by the essential
+progress of socialism. By socialism, I do not mean certain vague
+communistic doctrines, nor the Utopias of anarchists who imagine that
+"man was born good," but simply an essential social progress in the
+struggle against the domination of individual capital, that is to say,
+usury applied to the labor of others owing to the possession of means
+of production, which is now left to speculators. Men should be enabled
+to enjoy the product of their labor, so that they can lead a human
+life worthy of the name, in sexual matters as in others. But this is
+not all.</p>
+
+<p>From the social point of view, it is absolutely unjust that men who
+procreate children should alone bear the burden of the future
+generation. We know the egoistic proverb of the celibates, who say: "I
+have the right to take life easily, to enjoy myself and be idle, if I
+renounce the happiness of having children, either of my own accord or
+from necessity." This proverb, which may be transposed into "after me
+the deluge," cannot be recognized by any healthy social legislation.
+It is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[383]</a></span>the duty of the State to relieve large families, to facilitate
+the procreation of healthy children, and to impose more work and taxes
+(for instance, artificial families) on sterile individuals. The old
+laws were better than ours in this respect.</p>
+
+<p>I have mentioned above the excellent custom, which exists at the
+present day in Norway, of only charging half-price on the boats to
+married women and other female members of the same family. I cannot
+here enter into the details of this question, but if such reforms are
+some day realized, if universal compulsory education, pensions for old
+age, orphans and invalids, etc., are introduced, then no man will have
+valid motives for escaping the duty of feeding his children and
+bringing them up decently in family life. This will be left only to
+the idle and vicious.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, I can support my propositions by facts. If we compare the
+nature of delinquents, abandoned children, vagabonds, etc., in a
+country where little or nothing has been done for the people (Russia,
+Galicia, Vienna, etc.), with that of the same individuals in
+Switzerland, for example, where much has already been done for the
+poor, we find this result: In Switzerland, these individuals are
+nearly all tainted with alcoholism or pathological heredity; they
+consist of alcoholics, incorrigibles, and congenital decadents, and
+education can do little for them, because nearly all those who have a
+better hereditary foundation have been able to earn their living by
+honest work. In Russia, Galicia, and even in Vienna, we are, on the
+contrary, astonished to see how many honest natures there are among
+the disinherited, when they are provided with work and education.</p>
+
+<p>This fact speaks more than the contradictory statements which the
+fanatics of party politics hurl at each other's heads.</p>
+
+<p><b>Inquiry into Paternity.</b>&mdash;It will be objected that inquiry into
+paternity is often very difficult and dangerous. I do not deny this;
+but, when women have obtained their natural rights, and when the
+education of young girls is guided by the principles which we have
+enunciated in Chapter XVII, the matter will become much easier.
+Moreover, even now, we can with energy and good will determine
+paternity in most cases. Although the great improvement in means of
+transport assists fugitives, it also <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[384]</a></span>favors the discovery and arrest
+of individuals all over the world. International relations between all
+civilized states are improving from day to day. When the world is more
+completely conquered by civilization, we may hope that it will become
+increasingly difficult for evildoers to escape their duties.</p>
+
+<p>Regarding this question from all points of view it is impossible for
+us to give up this primordial condition for the preservation of human
+society, which consists in making parents responsible for the
+nourishment and education of their children.</p>
+
+<p>The famous ideas of phalanstery and promiscuity, so often advanced,
+originated in theoretical and dogmatic minds which had lost their
+instinctive sense of human nature, and ignored what natural science
+and ethnology have revealed to us.</p>
+
+<p>But the responsibility of parents extends to another domain&mdash;the duty
+of not procreating children who are unhealthy in body and mind. We
+shall return to this question later on.</p>
+
+<p><b>Guardianship.</b>&mdash;An excellent institution of our present legislation
+is that of the guardianship of orphans, lunatics, etc. It requires to
+be developed extensively and with care. On the contrary, an evil
+custom is the right accorded by certain countries to parishes charged
+with poor and abandoned orphans, of delivering them by public tender
+to the man who offers the lowest pension&mdash;and only requires them for
+work. This system results in odious abuse, such as neglect, mendicity
+and ill-treatment.</p>
+
+<p>The fate of illegitimate children who are "farmed out" is still worse.
+A tacit alliance is established between rapacity on the one hand and
+social sexual hypocrisy on the other. A number of infanticides and
+abortions result, either from poverty, or from sentiments of shame due
+to our moral customs. Here, civil law and penal law should combine and
+take energetic humanitarian measures to put a stop to this sad abuse.
+An excellent institution is that of homes in the country established
+for unmarried mothers and their children, and for abandoned mothers in
+general.</p>
+
+<p><b>Free Love and Civil Marriage.</b>&mdash;When all the propositions we have
+drawn up have been realized by social legislation, the difference
+which now exists between marriage and free love will be little more
+than a form. The consequences of these two <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[385]</a></span>kinds of union will become
+the same, both for parents and children; the only distinction will
+consist in the existence or non-existence of official control. True
+monogamy will lose nothing, but will gain much.</p>
+
+<p>We shall not then have obligatory monogamy as at present, absolute in
+form, artificially maintained by the aid of prostitution, that is by
+the most disgusting form of promiscuity which renders monogamy
+illusory; but we shall have in its place a relative monogamy much more
+solidly built on the natural rights of the two sexes, it is true more
+free in form, but fundamentally much stronger in the natural and
+instinctive duties dictated by a truly free and reasoned union, as
+well as by the duties by which parents will be bound to their
+children.</p>
+
+<p><b>Form and Duration of Civil Marriage.</b>&mdash;Although it may be true that
+monogamy constitutes the most normal and natural form of family union,
+and offers the best conditions for lasting happiness, both for parents
+and children, we must be blindly prejudiced not to admit that it is
+unnatural to consider it as the only sheet anchor in sexual
+relationship, the only admissible form of marriage, and to make it a
+straight-jacket. History and ethnography show us that polygamous races
+are strongly developed and are still developing; on the other hand, it
+is true that polyandrous races degenerate.</p>
+
+<p>Again, impartial observation of our Christian monogamy shows us that
+it depends to a great extent on appearances, that it is full of
+trickery and hypocrisy, and that to legally enforce it for life must
+be considered as absolutely impossible.</p>
+
+<p>In Catholic countries which prohibit divorce, the latter has been
+replaced by separation, and this becomes the most constant source of
+adultery. The more the laws of a country impede divorce, the more one
+must close one's eyes to promiscuity or prostitution, which has even
+been regulated by the State by the aid of proxenetism, all the while
+preaching monogamy in a loud voice.</p>
+
+<p>These bitter lessons which practice has given to the partisan, of
+obligatory monogamy, prove the absurdity of attempting to restrain the
+natural appetites of man by force and by artificial obstacles. That
+which succeeds, not without difficulty, with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[386]</a></span>some strong characters,
+and more easily with naturally cold temperaments, is impossible to
+realize in the masses.</p>
+
+<p>Polyandry is usually the result of poverty, and the polyandrous races
+are little fecund and tend to disappear. The normal man is
+instinctively more polygynous than the normal woman is polyandrous.
+There are, however, cases where polyandry is justifiable. There are
+women whose sexual appetite, more or less pathological, is so
+insatiable that a normal man is incapable of satisfying it.</p>
+
+<p>If such women were served by several Don Juans by means of a free
+contract, this would be better than giving themselves in despair to
+prostitution (there are some prostitutes created by nymphomania). This
+system would also be better than the seduction of normal young girls
+by the Don Juans in question.</p>
+
+<p>Polygyny is still more indicated when the sterility of the woman or
+her repugnance to sexual intercourse cause family disturbances.</p>
+
+<p>In speaking of polygamy in Chapter VI, we have shown that it exists in
+several forms, and that these are not all so humiliating for the women
+as people think, who only know of the shameful abuses of the
+Mussulman's harem. What lowers the moral level of polygyny is
+especially the barbarous system of marriage by purchase, by which the
+women become slaves burdened with heavy labor, and are in a state of
+legal dependence. We have seen that polygyny has a higher moral
+character among certain Indian tribes where matriarchism rules, and
+where the wife is mistress of the house and family. The danger of
+degradation of the woman ceases when she is equal to the man as
+regards rights and property. In fact, in such a social state, polygyny
+can only constitute an exception. It is here entirely free and becomes
+all the more innocent because divorce is facilitated and strict laws
+on the feeding and education of the children limit the male sexual
+appetite.</p>
+
+<p>I even venture to maintain that the stability of monogamous marriage,
+which should be based on mutual sentiments of respect and love, would
+be much better guaranteed than hitherto by legal liberty of conjugal
+ties, and by duty to children such as I have proposed. If this became
+recognized as conventional, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[387]</a></span>men and women fit to understand each
+other and love in a lasting manner, would find suitable mates more
+easily, and would become united more permanently when their chains
+were voluntary.</p>
+
+<p>If marriages on trial became more frequent in the form of short
+unions, ending with separation, this would not be a great evil, for
+similar unions occur every day in a much baser form. Moreover, the
+effect of legislation with regard to children would put a curb on
+immorality and passion, which cause their worst effects.</p>
+
+<p>If the objection is raised that this would lead immoral people to
+avoid the procreation of children so as to enjoy more varied sexual
+pleasures, I reply that this would be beneficial, for this anti-social
+class of individuals would be eliminated by sterility, by a kind of
+negative selection. We thus place two natural appetites in antagonism;
+that of procreation on the one hand, and sexual enjoyment on the
+other. Whoever inclines to the first, which is the higher and tends to
+preserve the species, is obliged to restrain himself in the second,
+without, however, falling into unnatural asceticism.</p>
+
+<p><b>Consanguineous Marriages.</b>&mdash;To avoid injurious consanguinity, it is
+sufficient, in my opinion, to prohibit the procreation of children
+between direct and collateral relations, especially between parents
+and children and between brothers and sisters. Anything more than this
+is only useless chicanery. Laws which prohibit marriage between
+relations by alliance are absurd, for instance those which forbid a
+widower to marry his sister-in-law (deceased wife's sister), etc.
+Among some peoples such unions are ordained by law!</p>
+
+<p>There is also no valid reason to prohibit unions between first cousins
+or between uncles and aunts, with nephews and nieces. There is nothing
+to prove that such marriages are injurious to the offspring. What is
+harmful is the accumulation of hereditary taints, whether they occur
+in relations or persons who are strangers to each other. Nevertheless,
+the <i>perpetuation</i> of consanguineous unions in the same family is not
+as a rule advisable.</p>
+
+<p><b>Restriction of Personal Liberty in Sexual Life Among Harmful or
+Dangerous Individuals.</b>&mdash;The inability of men to distinguish, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[388]</a></span>among
+the motives of the acts of their fellows, what is abnormal, unhealthy,
+impulsive or obsessional, from what is healthy and normal is one of
+the most deplorable phenomena in social life, and greatly hinders the
+action of reformatory civil legislation and rational administrative
+measures.</p>
+
+<p>The passionate, confused and unreasonable sentiments of the masses
+give expression, according to the impulse of the moment, to two
+contradictory absurdities and injustices. On the one hand, they cry
+out against arbitrary constraint of individual liberty, against
+illegal restriction or detention, when competent judges or experts try
+to limit the movements of dangerous individuals affected with mental
+disorders, but who appear sane to the incompetent public; or when, to
+insure social safety, they send these individuals to a lunatic asylum,
+or limit their dangerous liberty in some other way. On the other hand,
+when such an individual goes free, thanks to the intervention of
+incompetent meddlers, and commits assassination, violation,
+incendiarism, or all kinds of sadic atrocities, or even only
+terrorizes his own family, these same people, suddenly animated by
+contrary sentiments of vengeance, imperiously demand an exemplary
+expiation and all possible reprisals. This sometimes goes as far as
+torture of the culprit or burning at the stake, as with the lynchers
+in America.</p>
+
+<p>It is very difficult for the psychiatrist, who is the competent expert
+in these matters, to make truth and impartiality prevail. He is nearly
+always suspected of seeing madness everywhere, and of being afflicted
+with a mania for sending sane persons to asylums! In reality, he
+desires to take measures which are at the same time humane for the
+insane and protective for society, so as to treat as equitably and
+reasonably as possible the unfortunates who are more or less
+irresponsible for their acts; he wishes to see established laws and
+organizations which will efficiently protect the insane against
+themselves and against the exploitation and abuse of others, at the
+same time preventing them from doing injury to society.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, society and with it the old style of jurist, in
+their ignorant dread of psychopathological matters, endeavor to take
+all possible measures to protect the sane public against <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[389]</a></span>the
+alienists, thus completely neglecting the true interests of the insane
+as well as those of society, while fighting against a phantom! The
+anxiety and mistrust of the public in this matter are continually kept
+up by "brigand stories" related by certain insane or semi-insane
+persons, which are spread by the press, always eager for scandal, or
+by pamphlets which the cheapness of printing places within the reach
+of the poorest!</p>
+
+<p>These phenomena of public psychology greatly hinder the most urgent
+reforms. The public regard asylums with horror, and the path of the
+alienist is thorny, for he is exposed to continual accusations and
+threats whatever he may do, a situation which does not encourage him
+to suggest bold innovations.</p>
+
+<p>Ignorant of psychology and especially of psychopathology, the public
+and with it the formal jurist, the slave of codes (I am only speaking
+of honest lawyers, and not of the number who abuse the situation to
+obtain oratorical and other success and crown themselves with
+laurels), regard themselves as the champions of individual liberty,
+and are unable to perceive that the net result of their efforts is, on
+the one hand, to condemn a considerable number of insane and crazy
+persons to prison, and on the other hand to assure liberty and
+impunity to the most dangerous individuals, always ready to commit the
+most atrocious crimes, or at any rate to make martyrs of a number of
+patient and innocent beings, hard-working and healthy in mind,
+especially women and children.</p>
+
+<p>The alienists, who see clearly into all this misery, easily become
+pessimistic in their impotence against the want of sense, ignorance
+and unconscious passion of the masses, and even competent authorities.
+The natural cowardice of men often makes them shut their eyes to avoid
+nuisances, and causes them to take no action against the most
+dangerous monsters, and especially against those who are most
+mischievous by their pens. This is why the martyrdom of unfortunate
+women and children illtreated by chronic alcoholics, sadists and other
+neuropaths or psychopaths, never comes to an end, owing to the stupid
+outcry against so-called violation of individual liberty.</p>
+
+<p>On this soil, sexual atrocities and crimes, largely increased by
+drink, play an important part. Without troubling myself about
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[390]</a></span>prejudice and indignation I shall say in a few words what appears to
+me to be urgent:</p>
+
+<p>So long as jurists and legislators will not study either psychology or
+psychiatry, and will not submit all habitual criminals and all
+dangerous men to an expert examination, all serious reform in this
+domain will remain impossible. To improve the present state of affairs
+a common understanding between jurists and alienists is urgent; but
+this can only be attained by jurists making a study of psychology, and
+a kind of practical clinic among imprisoned criminals. How can one
+judge and condemn one's neighbor without having the least idea of the
+state of mind of these pariahs of society? All the jurists who have
+the welfare of humanity at heart, should support the <i>international
+union of penal law</i>, and the efforts of men like Professor Franz von
+Liszt, Gaukler of Caen, and many other courageous reformers.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p>
+
+<p>It is needless to say that it is not sufficient to combat the excesses
+of criminal and dangerous individuals, such as sadists, for example,
+by placing them under supervision and preventing them doing harm. It
+is also necessary to attack the cause of the evil by preventing their
+germs from being reproduced, degenerated as they usually are by the
+blastophthoria of their alcoholic parents (vide Chapter I). The first
+question, which is purely legal and administrative, does not concern
+us here; but I may be allowed to say a few words on the second.</p>
+
+<p>Zealous and advanced reformers have proposed castration in such cases,
+which has provoked a general cry of indignation. This has been
+discussed in certain American states. The hyper&aelig;sthetic sentiment of
+our modern civilization cannot tolerate such ideas, while ancient
+races such as the Islamites provided, and still provide eunuchs as
+servants, who are free from danger for their wives, and think little
+of hanging or decapitating men <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[391]</a></span>who cause them any trouble. In the
+same way, we are dumb and impassive before the butcheries of war,
+because they are fashionable, especially when we do not come in
+contact with them. The Pope himself formerly procured eunuchs in order
+to have soprano voices in his church, and did not hesitate to castrate
+young boys for this purpose. The times change and we change with them!</p>
+
+<p>For some years, however, castration has been employed as a remedy for
+certain disorders both in men and women, especially for hysteria in
+women. I admit here that, in an asylum which I superintend, I have
+castrated a veritable monster afflicted with constitutional mental
+disorders, taking advantage of the fact that he himself requested this
+operation to relieve him of pain in his seminal vesicles, but with the
+chief object of preventing the production of unfortunate children
+tainted with his hereditary complaint.</p>
+
+<p>Many years ago I also castrated a young hysterical girl of fourteen,
+whose mother and grandmother were both prostitutes, and who had
+already begun to have intercourse with all the urchins in the street.
+Here again, I frankly admit that the hysterical troubles of the
+patient served me as an excuse to prevent this unfortunate girl from
+reproducing beings who would probably resemble her. I am of opinion
+that castration, or some more benign operation, such as dislocation of
+the Fallopian tubes in women (which renders them sterile without
+destroying the ovaries, or even attenuating the sexual appetite)
+should be performed in order to prevent the reproduction of the most
+deplorable and most dangerous beings.</p>
+
+<p>Among certain individuals, such as sadists, whose sexual appetite is
+dangerous in itself, castration would be necessary. In my opinion, the
+more benign operations are indicated in all individuals whose
+psychopathological condition in this domain is such that they are
+absolutely incapable of resisting their impulses, or of understanding
+the dictates of reason. By this means they could go free instead of
+being incarcerated in asylums.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, I must emphasize the fact that such measures, the
+personal consequences of which are so serious, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[392]</a></span>should only be taken
+in the case of absolutely dangerous, incurable individuals, concerning
+whose pathological state there can be no doubt. I also believe that
+these individuals, especially those with sexual abnormalities, would
+very often consent to the operation, as was the case with my two
+patients.</p>
+
+<p>It would be a great advance if civil legislation would in such cases
+accord official recognition to castration or dislocation of the tubes,
+with the consent of the criminal or patient concerned. At present, our
+laws and regulations are such that a psychopathological monster cannot
+even be castrated when he wishes it, because medical men refuse to
+undertake such an operation without a positive medical indication of
+the usual kind, and because there is no legal protection; yet, when
+done in time, castration would often save sadists and other dangerous
+perverts from a criminal life, and society from their crimes and those
+of their offspring.</p>
+
+<p>When it is only a question of avoiding the procreation of tainted
+children, it would be sufficient to instruct reasonable people in the
+methods of avoiding conception (vide Chapter XIV).</p>
+
+<p>It is important to bear in mind that modern legislation on marriage
+often flavors the reproduction of criminals, lunatics and invalids,
+while it hinders the production of healthy children by men who are
+intelligent, honest and robust. When an abnormal or unhealthy man is
+married, his wife is obliged to submit to the conception of tainted
+children. On the other hand, when a strong, healthy and intelligent
+girl is in a situation, it often happens that everything is done to
+prevent her marrying, so as not to lose her services; the more
+conscientious she is and the more attached to her masters, the more
+often is this likely to occur.</p>
+
+<p>Girls who have illegitimate children often lose their situations and
+their honor. The consideration of cases of everyday occurrence is
+sufficient to grasp the difficulty of the question. What we require is
+more personal liberty for healthy, normal and adaptable individuals,
+and more restrictions for the abnormal, unhealthy and dangerous. The
+civil law of the future will have to take these facts into
+consideration, if it wishes to keep level <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[393]</a></span>with scientific progress,
+and prevent the instinct of the people having recourse to lynch law,
+or retaliation.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, attempts have been made to get out of the difficulty by
+prohibiting the marriage of insane persons or by declaring their
+marriage null when it has already been consummated; or again, by
+admitting insanity as a cause for divorce. Such measures are good as
+makeshifts in a period of transition. They assume that conceptions
+only occur in marriage, and that marriage necessarily means
+procreation. But these two suppositions are false, for it is only the
+pressure of custom and legislation which realizes them in part,
+especially in Catholic countries.</p>
+
+<p>The civil code, in the present state of society, has at least the
+advantage of making possible the dissolution of monstrous unions, such
+as those of the absolutely insane or certain psychopaths of the worst
+kind. Unfortunately, divorce is as a rule only accorded in cases of
+well-marked mental disorders, while in reality the most atrocious
+unions are those which are contracted by crazy persons with only
+diminished responsibility, in whom the public and the law are unable
+to recognize or understand the existence of a definite mental anomaly.
+These people most often marry at a time when no one has yet recognized
+their true mental condition, or foreseen the consequences of their
+marriage. The unfortunate who finds herself (or himself) bound by such
+a union is then an object of endless martyrdom. The frequency of
+mental anomalies causes them to play an immense, and too often
+unrecognized role, in unhappy marriages.</p>
+
+<p>At the request of the mother the tribunal of B&acirc;le recently prohibited
+the marriage of a young man affected with a slight degree of mental
+weakness. This judgment was upheld by the Swiss tribunal for the
+following reasons: "Although capable of work, of earning his living,
+and of performing his military service, an individual may be an
+unsuitable subject for marriage. In the interests of family life and
+the future generation, it is the duty of the State to prevent the
+marriage of the feeble-minded, in order to avoid the perpetuation of a
+race of degenerates." I quote this from a journal. We can only
+congratulate tribunals which have the courage to consider the vital
+interests of the nation in their judgments.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[394]</a></span><b>Right of Succession.</b>&mdash;Although right of succession has no direct
+bearing on the sexual question, it is indirectly connected with it
+through its influence on the procreation of children.</p>
+
+<p>At the present day the poor have more children than the well-to-do.
+This is because they have nothing to lose, because coitus is one of
+their few pleasures, because they are ignorant of the means of
+preventing conception, and because they hope to profit by their
+children's labor. People who have some property are, on the contrary,
+afraid of falling into poverty through the procreation of too many
+children, and those who possess more are afraid of poverty for their
+offspring. The latter only desire a few heirs, so that after their
+death they can leave each a fortune suitable to their social position.</p>
+
+<p>In France, especially, well-to-do people often limit their families to
+two. The parents have the unhappy idea that a certain fortune must be
+assured to their children to enable them to live in comfort. They do
+not understand that the necessity for a man to earn his living by work
+is the chief condition for a healthy existence.</p>
+
+<p>Again, among very rich people there is often the fear that a large
+fortune may lose its power when divided, and thus diminish the
+influence of the family.</p>
+
+<p>It is obvious that great poverty and great wealth constitute two
+extreme social evils. It is deplorable for a child to grow up with the
+idea that he will inherit a large fortune, enjoy life without working,
+and regard poor people more or less as subordinates. But it is still
+worse for a man to remain all his life an object for exploitation, in
+spite of the most repugnant and most arduous work, unless his superior
+faculties and good luck give him the chance of rising. It is also
+discouraging for a man to be unable by arduous work to obtain anything
+for himself or his wife and children, and only to work for society,
+and especially for the interests of capitalists.</p>
+
+<p>Human instinct is not sufficiently social to allow of assiduous and
+hearty work solely in the interests of the community. The egoistic
+sentiments and family instincts of man are still much too strong.</p>
+
+<p>If we take all these facts into consideration, the right of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[395]</a></span>succession becomes very important. It has been attempted to deal with
+the question by progressive taxes on succession to large fortunes: but
+this is not enough. I have not the presumption to give a positive
+opinion on these matters which are not in my province, but I venture
+to suggest the possibility of greatly restricting the right of
+succession by postponing the right to the enjoyment of their heritage
+till the children are of an age when they could earn their own living;
+say, from twenty-five to twenty-six, so as not to interfere with their
+higher education. In this way a man would not be deprived of the
+pleasure of working for himself and his family; and every young man
+and young woman, being obliged to work at some special subject, would
+know that they could earn their living after twenty-five or
+twenty-six, without counting on their heritage.</p>
+
+<p>I do not pretend to build a new social system on this idea, for many
+propositions of the kind have already been made. I only wish to draw
+attention to one element of the problem, which consists in diminishing
+the possibility of the exploitation of man by man, without destroying
+the pleasure for work, at the same time favoring the procreation and
+education of healthy and capable offspring. This naturally presupposes
+a new moral and social state, in which family right would be changed
+and good education organized for all. Even then intelligent men would
+have the desire to rise above the average and bring up their children
+with the same object. This is an instinct in mental development which
+should be carefully cultivated, and not extinguished, by every social
+organization.</p>
+
+<p>In all social systems it must be recognized that certain branches of
+culture, such as scientific research and art, involve great expense
+and bring little or no material reward to the scientist or the artist.
+A richer State ought to provide for these important branches of
+civilization, which always tend to higher culture.</p>
+
+<p>I have already mentioned separation of property and an equable
+division of the fruits of labor between conjoints as the only just
+basis in marriage contracts. I repeat here, that true justice can only
+be established by the recognition of equal legal rights for men and
+women.</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[396]</a></span><br />
+
+<h4>PENAL LAW</h4>
+
+<p>Penal law is the right of punishment. It is based on the ideas of
+<i>culpability</i> and <i>expiation</i>, and these are based on the idea of
+free-will, which is itself founded on a pure illusion, as we have
+shown above.</p>
+
+<p>This simple reflection is sufficient to show the precarious position
+of our present penal law. The science of penal law has too long
+ignored the progress of humanity and of the other sciences. It is
+affected with incurable marasmus, because its foundations are laid in
+error. The idea of expiation was naturally developed on the basis of
+mysticism combined with the right of the stronger, and associated with
+the sentiment of vengeance natural to the low mentality of our animal
+ancestors. Among the latter the weaker was punished because he was the
+weaker: "<i>V&aelig; victis!</i>" and order was obtained by force. But the
+visions of human imagination having urged man to create a god or gods
+in his own image, he attributed to the divinity the sentiments of
+anger experienced by man, and pretended that expiation was required
+for offenses against this or that majesty or human idea, transformed
+into an offense to the divine majesty.</p>
+
+<p>This offense to the divinity was therefore only the nebulous
+expression of a developing social conscience in man, an obscure
+mixture of sentiments of wounded sympathy, adulation of the strong and
+great, and desire for vengeance and expiation. Till then man was
+accustomed to judge other men according to the right of the stronger,
+more or less mitigated by sentiments of family and friendship. His
+terror of natural mysteries&mdash;the forest, night, thunder, hurricanes,
+stars, etc., led him to imagine the intervention of occult powers, and
+later on of higher powers capable of judging good and evil actions,
+the ideas of good and evil being formerly very different from what
+they are at present. The functions of advocates or executors of the
+divine will were always, however, reserved for privileged men, who
+gave judgment in His name, either as priests, kings, or later on as
+judges. We may also note by the way that judgment can be given without
+belief in free arbitration, as is shown by the Mahometan fatalists and
+the judgments of Haroun-al-Raschid, for example. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[397]</a></span>In fact, fatalism
+logically excludes the idea of free-will, for if everything is
+absolutely predetermined, the thoughts, resolutions and acts of man
+are also predetermined, which excludes all liberty.</p>
+
+<p><b>Responsibility.</b>&mdash;I have attempted to show in another work<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> that a
+rational penal law should in no way concern itself with the question
+of free arbitration. The fact that we feel free and responsible is not
+at all sufficient to justify the doctrine of Kant.</p>
+
+<p>The question of knowing whether an absolute predestination (fatalism,
+regulating the universe in advance in all its details) exists or not,
+is a question of pure metaphysics, the solution of which is quite
+beyond human comprehension, and need not occupy us here. We must
+simply depend on the scientific postulate of determinism, <i>i.e.</i>, on
+the law of causality applied to the motives of our actions, a law
+which is very much like that of the conservation of energy, and which
+admits of divers possibilities for the future, for it does not assume
+a knowledge of the first cause of the universe nor the will of a
+divinity.</p>
+
+<p>We shall then understand that the complication of our cerebral
+activities, mnemic and actual, combined with the fact that a great
+part of them (and consequently of the motives for our actions) remain
+subconscious, must produce in us the illusion of free-will.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, we shall find the measure of what we are to
+understand by relative liberty, in the plastic faculties of the
+activity of the human brain, which allow it to adapt itself as
+adequately as possible to the numerous and diverse complications of
+existence, and especially to social relations between mankind.</p>
+
+<p>The most adaptable man is the most free, especially in the sense of
+active and conscious adaptation. There are also men who adapt
+themselves passively and are easily molded. This passive plasticity at
+any rate renders them capable of submitting to everything and only
+provoking conflict as a last resource. These individuals are no doubt
+less free, since they obey the impulses of others; nevertheless, their
+elasticity gives them a certain relative liberty, because they do not
+feel constraint and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[398]</a></span>easily adapt themselves to laws and other social
+requirements. But the highest form of liberty, the moral faculty of
+higher adaptation, is not that of the human fox who exploits others
+for his own profit, but that of true higher intellects, capable of
+adapting their activity to the social requirements of humanity. On the
+contrary, the man who is least free is the one who, dominated by his
+passions and baser appetites, or by insufficiency of intelligence or
+will power, is thereby incapable of conducting himself reasonably,
+gives way to all temptations and impulses, falls into all kinds of
+snares, cannot keep to any resolution, and is in perpetual conflict
+with society.</p>
+
+<p>What is the use of the theoretical belief in free-will in this case?
+This man feels subjectively as free, or often more free, than one who
+is more reasonable and more master of himself, and yet he is a slave!
+When, dominated by his psychic bonds, he violates the law, he is
+punished, but he himself resents the punishment as an injustice. The
+judge who condemns him and imagines he holds the scales of justice in
+equilibrium, only carries out the principles of an unjust law, a kind
+of mild retaliation, exacting moderate expiation. Or again, by
+exercising a right derived from old traditions based on religious
+ideas, he plays the part of proxy for the Deity and judges in His
+place. We might even say that a mail is in reality all the more free
+the better he realizes that he is not so, <i>i.e.</i>, that his actions
+depend on the activity of his brain! At any rate he will then be less
+often deceived and will react in a more plastic manner.</p>
+
+<p><b>The True Task of Penal Law; Its Traditional Errors in the Sexual
+Question.</b>&mdash;Penal law has only one thing to do, that is to cut itself
+free from its roots and transplant itself on a social and scientific
+soil. There would then be no longer a penal law, but a <i>law protecting
+society against dangerous individuals, and a law of administration for
+persons incapable of conducting themselves</i>. Its task would be the
+complement of that of civil law. Henceforth the judge would cease to
+pass judgment on his neighbor and his neighbor's motives, acting as a
+proxy for God. He would no longer punish, but would content himself
+with protecting, restraining and ameliorating.</p>
+
+<p>The history of psychiatry and sorcery proves that we are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[399]</a></span>not
+exaggerating. It is not very long since the insane were regarded, not
+as persons suffering from disease, but as criminals and sorcerers, and
+were treated by punishment and exorcism. The ancients, on the
+contrary, especially certain Greek and Roman physicians (notably
+<i>Caelius Aurelianus</i>) had already recognized that insanity was a
+disease of the brain, and had distinguished its different forms.</p>
+
+<p>Even at the present day, we find among the Catholics and among certain
+Protestant sects, as among savages, a belief in sorcery, and if this
+belief got the upper hand, prosecution for sorcery&mdash;exorcism and other
+forms of cruelty&mdash;would soon become the fashion.</p>
+
+<p>Before the sixteenth century prosecutions for sorcery were universal,
+and remained very common for a long time afterwards. It is only since
+the time of the French Revolution that insanity has been recognized as
+a mental disease. Even in the nineteenth century a German alienist,
+Heinroth, punished the insane like criminals. The atrocious prejudice
+of the people against the insane dates from the time of prosecution
+for sorcery.</p>
+
+<p>Even now we are the slaves of a prejudice which holds a legal
+conviction sufficient to dishonor the prisoner and stain his character
+for the rest of his days. Hans Leuss' book, <i>Aus dem Zuchthause</i> (From
+the prison), 1904, is very instructive on this point. Condemned to
+prison himself, the author makes some wise and dispassionate
+observations which give food for reflection. I may also quote the
+words of Doctor Guillaume, who was for a long time superintendent of
+the penitentiary at Neuchatel, and who is now director of the Swiss
+federal bureau of statistics at Berne. The question we are dealing
+with had been treated in a discussion in which I took part, and to
+which Doctor Guillaume had listened silently. At the conclusion, he
+said to us: "Gentlemen, in the course of my life I have become
+acquainted with a large number of convicts, but I have never been able
+to discover among them more than two classes of individuals; the one
+class were diseased, and the others ... ah! the others; the more I
+study their cases and their personality, I ask myself if I should not
+have done as they did under the same circumstances!" It is unnecessary
+to say that Doctor <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[400]</a></span>Guillaume did not mean to establish two clearly
+marked classes, for most criminals represent a mixture of both; but
+his main idea gives a good idea of the question of penal law.</p>
+
+<p>How sexual questions lead to conflicts with penal law, how penal law
+judges them, and how it ought to judge them after what we have just
+said, I can only refer to what I have said concerning civil law. Our
+present penal law is aware of singular sexual crimes and often
+punishes them from curious motives.</p>
+
+<p>When a poor imbecile, ridiculed by women and overcome by his sexual
+appetite, copulates with a cow, the latter is not injured in any way;
+neither is the owner. Moreover, the question of property does not
+trouble the judge, for he punishes sodomy even when the culprit owns
+the animal. How does the law obtain the right to punish an act which
+does no harm to any one, nor to society, nor even to an animal? It is
+evidently a vestige of religious mysticism, something like punishment
+for sinning against the Holy Ghost. The sins of Sodom and Gomorrah,
+they say, caused the wrath of God, who destroyed these towns for this
+reason. According to the legend, sodomy was a vice of the inhabitants;
+is this why it is punished at the present day? But the masturbation of
+Onan, according to the Bible, also caused the wrath of God; why then
+do not our present laws institute punishment for those who practice
+it?</p>
+
+<p>In many of the Swiss cantons and in Germany, sexual connection between
+men is prosecuted by law. The German legislators have even recently
+discussed the question whether punishment should be enforced only when
+the penis of one man is introduced into the anus of the other
+(pederasty), or whether indecent contact and mutual onanism are
+sufficient to justify punishment.</p>
+
+<p>Our penal law is thus concerned with the question whether it should
+punish or not, according as this or that mucous membrane or part of
+the skin is used for the satisfaction of a morbid sexual appetite!
+These are truly singular points for a legislator to decide, compelled,
+in spite of his incompetence, to play the part of physiologist,
+anatomist and psychologist!</p>
+
+<p>If I am correctly informed, the German legislation is inconsistent in
+punishing sexual intercourse between two men, but <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[401]</a></span>not between two
+women. These examples suffice to show what blind-alleys a penal law
+leads to, the basis of which is vicious and which is guided by the
+traditions of mysticism.</p>
+
+<p>Quite recently, in the Swiss journal of penal law, a jurist seriously
+upheld the necessity for the conception of a crime against religion!
+Ideas of this kind would lead us to punish suicide, like the English.</p>
+
+<p>We will now proceed to analyze the facts from the point of view of
+their true social value.</p>
+
+<p><b>Limits of Penal Law in the Sexual Domain.</b>&mdash;If we would avoid
+injustice and ridiculous contradictions, we should keep to the
+principle that penal justice has only the right to intervene in cases
+where individuals or society are injured, or run the risk of being
+injured. It is also necessary to examine, in each case, whether the
+person who has committed the offense was not irresponsible and
+affected with mental disease at the time; or whether his
+responsibility was not diminished, <i>i.e.</i>, whether he was not
+seriously abnormal without being quite insane. The conception of
+responsibility, necessarily relative, should be understood in the
+sense of relative liberty, which we have defined above.</p>
+
+<p>According to the result of the inquiry (culpability being proved) the
+judge will have to decide how society can be best protected against
+the repetition of such acts, and how the culprit may be most easily
+improved, provided he is capable of improvement.</p>
+
+<p>If, for example, the culprit is an inebriate, his detention in a home
+for inebriates will protect society and benefit the individual much
+better than all the fines and imprisonments at present in force.</p>
+
+<p>If he is an incorrigible recidivist, incapable of resisting his
+criminal impulses, the law should keep him under observation in a safe
+place, or deprive him only of certain dangerous liberties. It is not
+so difficult to decide these questions as the public imagines. The
+antecedents of the criminal, his previous convictions, and a careful
+study of his psychology will nearly always lead to a clear diagnosis
+and prognosis. In this case a mutual understanding between
+psychiatrists and jurists will produce <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[402]</a></span>excellent results. It is
+needless to say that if it is only a case of transient cerebral
+obnubilation, such as sunstroke or somnambulism, etc., the culprit
+should be acquitted.</p>
+
+<p><b>Rape, etc.</b>&mdash;Normal coitus may render a penal action legitimate when
+it is obtained by force or stratagem (rape, abuse of a feeble-minded
+or hypnotized person, etc.). It is evident that measures of protection
+against such acts are urgent, and that persons abused in this way
+should have the right to heavy indemnities. What we require is not so
+much extenuation of penalty for the culprit as greater protection for
+his victims.</p>
+
+<p>In cases of rape, when the woman becomes pregnant against her will, I
+am of opinion that artificial abortion should be allowed by law as an
+exceptional measure. We cannot expect a woman to have a child imposed
+upon her by a man's violence, especially when she is unmarried, and
+oblige her to bring it up, from the simple fact that she conceived it.
+It should be the same in cases of abduction of female minors.</p>
+
+<p>When, on the contrary, a male minor seduced by an adult woman, makes
+her pregnant, it is the woman only who is responsible for the
+maintenance of her child, and there are no reasons to accord her the
+right of abortion, for it is she who desired the sexual act. The close
+bonds which exist between the child and its mother justify such legal
+dispositions.</p>
+
+<p>With regard to civil laws, we have mentioned the case of venereal
+infection after coitus. In this case civil indemnity would be most
+equitable. A penal action could only be based on prosecution by the
+injured party, unless it was a question of directly criminal
+intent&mdash;infection for vengeance, for example.</p>
+
+<p><b>Incest.</b>&mdash;Under the heading of <i>consanguineous marriages</i>, we have
+seen to what extent the conception of incest should be limited, in
+respect to civil law. The grave cases of incest are those between
+parents and children. Their normal causes are mental anomalies,
+alcoholism, proletarian promiscuity, or isolation of a family in some
+remote place. Incest is common, in Switzerland especially, among the
+inhabitants of isolated mountain chalets. I will give a few typical
+and genuine examples of incest giving rise to penal actions:</p>
+
+<p>(1). A drunken and brutal husband persecuted his wife with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[403]</a></span>excessive
+coitus. The latter then gave him her own daughter to satisfy his
+violence.</p>
+
+<p>(2). An inebriate woman induced her own son, aged seventeen, to have
+intercourse with her. Infuriated at the idea that his mother had made
+him her lover, he murdered her one day when he was drunk. Condemned as
+a parricide, this young man conducted himself in prison in a model
+manner. Alcohol, combined with his incestuous seduction, had made him
+the murderer of his mother.</p>
+
+<p>(3). In a family composed exclusively of imbeciles and psychopaths,
+some of whom were put under my care for treatment, incest was
+practiced among nearly all of them; between father and daughters;
+between mother and sons; and between brothers and sisters.</p>
+
+<p>The last case, and many others, show that incest is not the cause but
+the effect of mental disorders. This does not mean that the offspring
+of such unions are not slightly tainted by the mere fact of such
+concentrated incest, but these cases are comparatively so rare that
+they do not contribute to any appreciable extent, as incest, in
+causing degeneration of the race; the factor which causes degeneration
+is here mental disease, which arises from other hereditary causes,
+chiefly of blastophthoric origin.</p>
+
+<p>From what we have said it results that a penal action for incest
+should only take place in the case of minors or insane persons, abuse
+of strength or power, or rape. The measures of civil law should
+suffice to reduce other cases of incest to a minimum.</p>
+
+<p>The disgust which the generality of men feel for sexual union between
+brothers and sisters, and especially between parents and children, is
+the best protection against incest. The elimination of alcoholism, the
+superintendence of the insane, and the improvement of our social
+organization are much more likely than penal laws to lead to the
+gradual disappearance of incest.</p>
+
+<p><b>Assaults on Minors.</b>&mdash;All assaults on minors should naturally be
+prosecuted. But prosecution should take a different form according as
+the culprit is affected with a pathological perverse disposition, or
+whether it is simply a question of abuse of confidence committed by a
+normal man. A master who, having no sexual anomaly, commits assaults
+on young girls, his pupils, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[404]</a></span>should be deprived of the right of
+teaching in girls' schools, for it is only there that he is dangerous.
+If, on the other hand, he is affected with perversion (pederasty,
+etc.), further measures for protection should be taken against him;
+according to the circumstances.</p>
+
+<p><b>Sexual Perversions.</b>&mdash;When we pass, on to sexual perversions, the
+inconsequences and mysticism of our present penal law become still
+more apparent. This code often prosecutes and punishes sexual actions
+which do no harm to any one, or which two persons practice of their
+own accord. Such cases may be suitable for moral or medical treatment,
+but should never justify a penal prosecution. This applies to all the
+manipulations of onanism, pederasty, masochism, fetichism, etc., which
+take place between adults by mutual agreement.</p>
+
+<p>What is the use of prosecuting inverts? It is a fortunate thing for
+society that these psyhcopaths are contented with their mutual sexual
+intercourse, the result of which is sterile and therefore does no harm
+to posterity. The real crime is the marriage of an invert to an
+individual of the opposite sex, and yet this crime is sanctioned by
+the law! It is a crime against the normal conjoint and against the
+children who may result from such an unhappy union. By severely
+punishing homosexual intercourse, the penal laws of many countries
+provoke the lowest form of blackmail, as Krafft-Ebing, Moll,
+Hirschfeld and others have proved by numerous examples, and as I have
+myself confirmed among many of my patients.</p>
+
+<p>It is quite another thing with abnormal or perverse forms of the
+sexual appetite, which can only be satisfied against the will of their
+object, or by injuring it more or less severely. Here it is the duty
+of the law to organize energetic measures of protection; not with a
+view to punish the pervert, who is a diseased person, but to protect
+his victims in time.</p>
+
+<p>We will first deal with <i>sadism</i>; secondly with the violation of
+children. Here a very delicate question arises. In the case of such
+terrible sexual appetites we should not wait for victims before taking
+action. On the other hand, we cannot punish a man, nor even take
+administrative measures against him, simply from the fact that he
+possesses a dangerous appetite, especially <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[405]</a></span>if he is in other respects
+well-behaved and conscientious, and strives with all his might against
+his perversion. I have treated a patient who suffered from a terrible
+pathological appetite of this kind. He was a highly moral man who
+never harmed any one, but was in a state of despair over his
+affliction, which he resisted with all his power, seeking relief in
+masturbation when his passion became too violent.</p>
+
+<p>In such cases, the moral sentiments of an individual offer sufficient
+social protection, and it is neither the right nor the duty of the
+physician to denounce him. But he should advise the patient to retire
+to an asylum to avoid committing a crime, if he feels that he cannot
+restrain his passions. It is very rare for such cases to come to the
+knowledge of the public, for these patients prefer to suffer in
+silence or to commit suicide; but they are none the less instructive
+and characteristic.</p>
+
+<p>At other times dangerous perversions are discovered by chance, the
+pervert, instead of resisting his passion, seeking opportunities to
+satisfy it without discovery. In such cases strong measures should be
+enforced. Unfortunately, sadists are very well aware of the dangers
+they run, and know better than any other criminals how to commit their
+crimes without being discovered. As soon as the perpetrator of a sadic
+crime is discovered, or simply an attempt at sadism, he should be
+arrested and placed where he can do no harm. The question of
+castration arises here: but we do not know yet how far this protects
+the sadist and his victim against recurrence. If this operation proves
+efficacious it should never be neglected.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>exhibitionists</i> present great difficulty. They are not dangerous,
+since they touch nobody. Their "victims," if they can be called so,
+are girls or women before whom they expose their genital organs and
+masturbate. No doubt modesty may be much offended by such acts,
+especially in young girls and children; disgust and fear may also harm
+them; but I think the law is too severe in these cases, for there is
+no question of an injury which is dangerous in itself. I have known
+little girls who have been frightened several times by exhibitionists,
+but I have never known them injured by the disgust which they
+experienced. The affair is too ridiculous and too ugly. It <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[406]</a></span>would be
+sufficient to send exhibitionists to an asylum for short periods,
+unless extreme weakness on their part necessitated prolonged
+detention.</p>
+
+<p>Simple <i>necrophilia</i> should be treated in the same way by penal law.
+But this perversion is more dangerous on account of its relationship
+with sadism. There are some sadists who are only necrophiliacs for
+fear of becoming assassins. Such individuals are very dangerous and
+should be kept in confinement.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>fetichists</i> are, on the contrary, generally very innocent. At the
+most they might be prosecuted for theft when they take away their
+fetiches. One of their worst misdemeanors is that of cutting off the
+hair of young girls.</p>
+
+<p><b>Concubinage. Prostitution. Proxenetism. White Slavery.</b>&mdash;We have
+already seen that concubinage should never be punishable in itself,
+although it is so in some countries. We shall not again return to the
+question whether prostitution should be the object of judicial and
+penal actions. Proxenetism and white slavery, on the contrary, cause
+grave injury to the rights of many individuals and should be made
+criminal offenses; for they are crimes against society and the
+individual, and committed for lucre. It cannot be legal to do commerce
+with the body of one's neighbor: this is a crime which is closely
+related to slavery and similar abuses. (Vide Chapter X.)</p>
+
+<p>The law should punish all public solicitation, obscenity or sexual
+brutality, but the punishment should take a milder form. The sexual
+act and everything connected with it should be absolutely free, but a
+man has no right to provoke or annoy his neighbor by indecent sexual
+invitations if the latter does not wish to respond to them.</p>
+
+<p>It is, however, extremely difficult to fix the limits of what is
+licit, for prudery may also go too far and regard the most innocent
+allusions as provocations. It is absolutely necessary to leave a
+margin for normal sexual invitations. All that is required is that
+they should not overstep the limits of recognized propriety, so long
+as there is not mutual agreement between the two parties. (Vide
+<i>Flirtation</i>, Chapter IV.)</p>
+
+<p><b>Lewdness. Pornography.</b>&mdash;The question naturally presents itself of
+knowing how far it is permitted to proceed publicly with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[407]</a></span>a mutual
+agreement without causing offense or injury to other parties. On the
+whole, our customs are free enough in this respect, and a greater
+liberty in public flirtation would be inconvenient. For instance, lewd
+exhibitions, coitus, etc., could not be allowed in public places.
+Children especially should be protected against such excitations of
+the sexual appetite, and it is necessary to fix a legal distinction
+between what is offensive and what is not offensive to public
+propriety or modesty.</p>
+
+<p>Simple police regulations are sufficient for this purpose, but they
+are very necessary to protect women and children, and occasionally
+young men, against importunities or sexual obsessions, against sexual
+solicitation, or even against assault or other offenses, such as
+incitement to masturbation, obscene words and gestures, etc.</p>
+
+<p>It is, no doubt, very difficult to define the limits. Our modern
+customs have left a large margin for pornography, which they treat
+like a spoiled child. The most dangerous form, however, is not that
+which flaunts itself in shop windows, by advertisements and placards,
+in public kiosks and dancing rooms; but the refined and &aelig;sthetic
+pornography which appears in the form of elegant engravings, erotic
+novels and dramas, under the cloak of art and even under that of
+morality.</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately, the public is a very bad judge of these things. Certain
+books have openly and fearlessly described the sexual vices of our
+time&mdash;for example, Zola's novels and the dramas of Brieux&mdash;and these
+have been stigmatized as pornographic. As a matter of fact their
+authors in no way merit such a reproach. Such works in no way
+encourage immorality; on the contrary, they inspire disgust and a
+healthy and holy terror at the perversity of our sexual customs. No
+doubt such works may have an erotic action on ignorant and low-minded
+persons. The Tyrolean peasants, in their moral indignation, have been
+known to destroy the marble statues of women erected in public places.
+Such acts serve no purpose, for prudery will never rid the world of
+eroticism; it will only increase it by leading to hypocrisy. We have
+something better to do than persecute and insult true art and men of
+talent or genius who expose our social perversions.</p>
+
+<p>Pornography is quite another thing. It is not contented with
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[408]</a></span>representing the &aelig;sthetic, licit, and normal side of natural
+eroticism. It does not depict sexual vice so as to emphasize its
+ugliness and its tragic consequences, but to glorify it. Whether it is
+represented as brazen nudity unadorned, or enveloped in a transparent
+veil which reveals everything it pretends to hide; whether it reels in
+bacchanalian orgies; whether it appears in brilliant fancy dress
+illuminated by electric lights, or in the discreet light of a
+fashionable boudoir; whether it is clearly revealed or equivocal,
+perverted in one way or depraved in another; in all its forms its aim
+is to tickle, to excite, to seduce, to allure, by arousing lewdness
+and inflaming its lowest passions.</p>
+
+<p>The pornographic dishes are often served up with a sentimental and
+moral sauce which naturally does not tend to hide the flavor of the
+meat&mdash;for then all its charm would be gone&mdash;on the contrary it
+increases its spicy quality by means of contrast, at the same time
+making the product more marketable; this hypocritical disguise giving
+it a certain varnish of propriety. The trick of clothing pornographic
+articles with the mantle of virtue may deceive the artless, and give
+the less artless excuse for buying them without putting themselves to
+any inconvenience. In such cases it is extremely difficult to act
+without injustice and without doing injury to art and science by
+vexatious measures. This requires much tact and rare perspicacity.</p>
+
+<p><b>Other Sexual Misdemeanors.</b>&mdash;Many sexual assaults are committed on
+the insane and feeble-minded, in the hope that they will not defend
+themselves and denounce the criminal. We have mentioned the case of
+inverts who become attendants in lunatic asylums in order to satisfy
+their appetites. Such crimes should be classed with those committed
+against minors. In the first place it is necessary to take into
+account the special dangers they present, and in the second place, the
+personality of the criminal, his capacity for repentance, improvement,
+and self-control.</p>
+
+<p><b>Artificial Abortion.</b>&mdash;It is a difficult question to decide whether a
+woman should have the right to dispose of the embryo she carries in
+her womb, and the duties of society with regard to this question. It
+is certainly the duty of society to protect the child <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[409]</a></span>as soon as it
+is born. In this case the laws cannot be too severe in protecting the
+child from unnatural parents, or from the "baby farmers," whose
+business is to get rid of the infants by starving them or exposing
+them to disease.</p>
+
+<p>It is the same with analogous abuses which we have mentioned with
+regard to civil law. These crimes or misdemeanors very often result as
+much from the economic organization of our society, as from want of
+protection for infancy and girl-mothers, as well as from the shame
+with which the latter are branded by our hypocritical customs.</p>
+
+<p>The question becomes more difficult with regard to the embryo <i>before
+birth</i>. Should the law punish artificial abortion? Opinions on this
+question vary. I have already said that in cases of rape, and forced
+pregnancy in general, the right to artificial abortion should be
+conceded to the woman. On the other hand, I think it should be
+prohibited on principle when the fecundating coitus has been voluntary
+on both sides, and when there is no medical reason for such a measure.
+In principle, the human embryo, when once conceived, should have the
+right to live. Birth is only an episode in its life. This generally
+takes place at the end of the ninth lunar month of pregnancy, but a
+child born at the seventh month is often viable. It is, therefore,
+arbitrary not to recognize the right of the embryo to live. On the
+contrary, the right that a woman has to dispose of her body would seem
+to outweigh this, when conception has been imposed on her by stratagem
+or violence. In fact, the right of the embryo to life should depend on
+the wish of the bearers of each of the two germs by which it is
+formed, at the moment of conception.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, numerous exceptions to the above rule should be
+allowed, and doctors should not be too severe, for it would be for
+them to decide in most cases whether artificial abortion was licit or
+not. Some pregnancies are a veritable misfortune for the parents and
+offspring, when the bodily and mental health of the mother or child,
+or both of them, is in danger. When a lunatic or an idiot, married or
+not, makes a woman pregnant, artificial abortion should be allowed;
+also in all cases when an insane or epileptic woman becomes pregnant.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[410]</a></span>An analogous case is that where a drunkard renders his wife pregnant
+against her will, especially when he is intoxicated at the moment; for
+the offspring runs a great risk of blastophthoria.</p>
+
+<p>It is needless to say that abortion should be permitted whenever
+pregnancy seriously endangers the life or health of the mother, or
+when a grave disease in the mother condemns the child to become an
+invalid. On the other hand, such indications should not be acted on
+too lightly; a rational limit is here a matter of practice and common
+sense, combined with medical science.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Right to Live of Monsters, Idiots, or the Deformed.</b>&mdash;The
+preceding remarks naturally lead us to the question whether children
+who are born invalids, deformed, or idiots, etc., should be
+necessarily condemned to live by the law, and whether special
+dispositions should not be made for such cases.</p>
+
+<p>The obligation to preserve, often by means of all the resources of
+medical science, miserable creatures, born as cretins or idiots;
+children with hydrocephalus or microcephalus, without eyes or ears, or
+with atrophied genital organs, etc., is an atrocity sanctioned by the
+law. Would it not be better to allow these miserable beings to be
+suppressed by means of a painless narcosis, with the consent of the
+parents and after an expert medical opinion, instead of condemning
+them by law to a life of misery? Science has proved that every
+congenital malformation of the brain is as incurable as that of any
+other organ.</p>
+
+<p>Here again our legislation is fettered by ignorance and religious
+dogma. On one hand, immense armies are organized to kill the most
+healthy men by thousands and tens of thousands, and many more
+thousands are abandoned to famine, prostitution, alcoholism and
+exploitation; on the other hand, medicine is expected to employ its
+whole art and efforts in prolonging life as long as possible and thus
+martyrizing miserable human wretches, degenerate in body and mind or
+both, often when they cry out for death!</p>
+
+<p>Large asylums are built for idiots, and there is much joy when after
+many years of persevering effort some devoted person succeeds in
+teaching these beings, whose mentality is far inferior to that of a
+monkey, to repeat a few words like a parrot, to scribble <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[411]</a></span>some words
+on paper, or to repeat a prayer mechanically with their eyes turned
+toward heaven!</p>
+
+<p>It is difficult to compare these two facts without feeling the bitter
+irony of what are euphemistically called our hereditary customs. In
+truth, the nurses and teachers who devote themselves to the education
+of cretins and idiots would do better to occupy themselves in some
+manual work; or even leave the idiots to die, and themselves procreate
+healthy and capable children in their place! But this question does
+not properly belong to our subject.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Rights of the Embryo.</b>&mdash;A distinction is generally made between
+artificial abortion practiced in the first months of pregnancy and
+that induced in the later months. When the child is born viable, the
+term premature labor is used. When this is induced with the object of
+getting rid of the child the penalty is much more severe than for
+abortion, for it is regarded almost as infanticide.</p>
+
+<p>For this reason, and owing to the difficulty of the whole question, a
+mother should never be given the right to destroy the embryo or child
+in her womb, excepting in cases where pregnancy has been forced upon
+her. Each case should be submitted to a medical examination, and a
+doctor's certificate should be required. This is all the more
+indicated since our present knowledge makes it easy to prevent
+pregnancy by anticonceptional measures. Society is, therefore,
+entitled to demand that a mother who has voluntarily conceived a child
+has no right to interrupt its development, <i>i.e.</i>, to kill it. If, as
+we hope, we shall eventually obtain more extended rights for women and
+greater sexual liberty in general, even in marriage, the reasons
+justifying artificial abortion, apart from medical or hygienic
+measures, will become more and more rare.</p>
+
+<p>The stigma of shame which is branded on illegitimate maternity
+unfortunately justifies many cases of abortion and even infanticide.
+Things ought to change in this respect, and in the future no pregnancy
+ought to be a source of shame for any healthy woman whatever, nor
+furnish the least motive for dissimulation.</p>
+
+<p>If the objection is raised that I am inconsistent; that every <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[412]</a></span>man,
+and consequently every woman, should have the power to dispose of
+their own body on every occasion, and that penal law should therefore
+take no cognizance of artificial abortion, I reply that this does not
+apply to the case in point; for it is here a question, not of one
+body, but of two or more (in the case of twins). From the moment of
+conception the embryo acquires a social right which merits all the
+more protection, the more its possessor is incapable of looking after
+it.</p>
+
+<p><b>Adultery.</b>&mdash;Adultery, which even at the present day is often
+considered as a crime or misdemeanor, should be simply regarded as a
+reason for divorce. We have already treated the question with regard
+to civil law, and have shown the futility of trying to obtain fidelity
+by law. In my opinion, the misdemeanor of adultery should be entirely
+abolished from penal law. When it is complicated by fraud or other
+crimes, it is the latter only which are concerned.</p>
+
+<p><b>Human Selection.</b>&mdash;The indirect danger to which children of bad
+heredity are exposed constitutes a grave social evil. At present,
+penal law is absolutely impotent in this matter. We have seen what
+civil law might perhaps effect, and what is already done in some
+countries. In another chapter we shall discuss much more appropriate
+measures for improvement in this domain.</p>
+
+<p>We have already mentioned castration and certain cases in which it
+might be practiced. These cases will always be very limited, and it is
+on the basis of social morality and hygiene of the race that the
+question of conception should be regulated in a rational and voluntary
+manner. We shall obtain much more in this way than by legal measures,
+which are always lame because they interfere with individual liberty.
+We must never forget that the law is only a necessary evil, and often
+a superfluous one.</p>
+
+<p>In conclusion, I may remark that penal law should be combined, like
+civil law, with administrative measures, to protect both the
+individual and society in sexual matters, at the same time watching
+over the interests of future generations. But it should only do this
+as far as the weakness and eroticism of men hinder a similar or better
+result from being obtained by moral education, combined with rational
+intellectual instruction.</p>
+
+<br />
+<hr style="width: 5%;" />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[413]</a></span><br />
+
+<h4>APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XIII</h4>
+
+<h4>A MEDICO-LEGAL CASE</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>The following case occurred in 1904 in the Canton of St. Gall, in
+Switzerland, and confirms my opinion:</p>
+
+<p>Frieda Keller, born in 1879, was the daughter of honest parents. Her
+mother was mild-mannered and sensible, her father loyal, but harsh and
+sometimes violent. Frieda was the fifth of eleven brothers and
+sisters. She was a model scholar. At the age of four years she had
+meningitis which left her with frequent headaches. In 1896-97 she
+learnt dressmaking and helped at home in the household work. When she
+was free, she did embroidery to help her family. Afterwards she
+obtained a situation in a dressmaker's shop at St. Gall, where she got
+sixty francs a month.</p>
+
+<p>To increase her income she worked on Sundays as a waitress at the Caf&eacute;
+de la Poste. The proprietor, a married man, began to persecute her
+with his affections, which she had great difficulty in avoiding. She
+then entered another shop where she got eighty francs a month. One
+day, in 1898, when she was then nineteen, the proprietor of the caf&eacute;
+succeeded in seducing her, and on May 27, 1899, she gave birth to a
+boy at the Maternity of St. Gall. She had confessed her misfortune to
+her parents, and her mother had pity on her. Her mother had also been
+seduced and rendered pregnant at the age of fifteen; abandoned by her
+seducer she committed infanticide, and was sentenced to six years'
+imprisonment; as she had always been well-behaved, the tribunal had
+recognized that she acted "less by moral depravity than by false
+sentiment of honor." Frieda, who was fond of her mother, knew nothing
+of this history. The father was very hard toward his daughter and
+refused her all help and pity. Twelve days after her confinement she
+took her child to the Foundling Hospital at St. Gall.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[414]</a></span>Her seducer then promised to maintain the child, but never paid more
+than eighty francs. After a time he left the town and was seen no
+more. The circumstances under which Frieda became pregnant were not
+fully inquired into and her seducer was ignored. It was not absolutely
+a case of rape, but of taking a poor, weak and timid girl by surprise.</p>
+
+<p>Frieda Keller felt nothing but disgust for her seducer. Later on the
+latter would no doubt deny the fact of his paternity; but he had
+tacitly admitted this by the payment of eighty francs.</p>
+
+<p>Frieda had to pay five francs a week to the Foundling Hospital and
+also thirty-four francs to her married sister. In 1901 her father
+died, and in 1903 her mother. Frieda inherited 2,471 francs from her
+father, but this sum was tied up in her brother's business and he
+never sent her the interest. It is characteristic of her mentality
+that she never attempted to exact it.</p>
+
+<p>Then began for this unfortunate young girl a life of struggle and
+despair. She was possessed of two ideas. On the one hand she could no
+longer maintain her child, and on the other hand would not admit
+anything from shame. They would not keep the child in the hospital
+after Easter, 1904, when it would reach the maximum age of five years.
+What was she to do?</p>
+
+<p>Frieda Keller was then evidently in a pathological state of mind,
+which was upheld by her defender, Doctor Janggen. She wished to keep
+her secret and provide for the maintenance of the child; but she took
+no steps in this direction. She did not seek for cheap lodgings, not
+for a rise of salary, nor even for the money illegally detained by her
+brother for his own profit. She never spoke to her married sister, nor
+to any one, of her desperate position. The father of her child had
+disappeared and she never gave information against him for fear of
+divulging her secret. Moreover, the law at St. Gall only admitted the
+charge of paternity against unmarried men! She found no practical way
+of disposing of her child. After Easter, 1904, when the child was
+discharged from the hospital, she was haunted by a single idea&mdash;to get
+rid of the child. She struggled for a long time against this
+obsession, but in vain, and it finally became a resolution.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[415]</a></span>Although she was fond of her sister's children, she did not love her
+own. She rarely visited her child and appeared to take no notice of
+it. This woman who was well-disposed toward every other creature, who
+was of exemplary conduct and would not hurt a fly, never even spoke of
+her own child. On April 9th she wrote to the hospital that she would
+come and fetch the child.</p>
+
+<p>A few days before this she took a long walk in the woods; the next day
+she wept at home, while looking for some string. Alone with her
+despair, she had definitely made her terrible resolution. She said
+afterwards, at the assizes:</p>
+
+<p>"I could not free myself from the feeling that I must get rid of the
+child."</p>
+
+<p>She then went to the hospital, after having bought new clothes for the
+child, and told the authorities that an aunt of hers at Munich would
+take care of the child. She then took the child to the woods. Having
+found a lonely spot she sat down for a long time while the child
+played in the wood. For some time she had not the courage to do the
+deed, but at last an irresistible force, as she said, urged her to do
+it. With her hands and shoes she dug a grave, then strangled the child
+with string, with such force that it was difficult to untie the knot
+on the dead body afterwards. She knelt for some time by the child till
+it ceased to give any signs of life, then buried it, and returned home
+restraining her tears with difficulty.</p>
+
+<p>On the 1st of June she wrote to the hospital that the child had
+arrived at Munich. On the 7th of June the body was exposed by rain and
+was discovered by some Italians. On the 14th of June she was arrested.
+During the trial she declared that her action had been the result of
+her inability to maintain the child, and the necessity of keeping her
+secret. This secret was the shame and dishonor of involuntary
+maternity and illegitimate birth.</p>
+
+<p>All the witnesses spoke in favor of Frieda Keller and gave evidence
+that she was well-mannered, intelligent, hard-working, economical, of
+exemplary conduct and loving her sister's children. She did not deny
+the premeditation of her crime, and in no way sought to diminish her
+responsibility.</p>
+
+<p>According to the law of St. Gall, such cases are punishable <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[416]</a></span>with
+death; but Frieda Keller's sentence was commuted to penal servitude
+for life.</p>
+
+<p>Such are the facts of this case taken from the official report, and
+from an extract published by M. de Morsier in the <i>Signal de Gen&egrave;ve</i>.</p>
+
+<p>We are compelled to exclaim with M. de Morsier that a legislation
+which, in such a case, condemns to death one who can justly be called
+a victim, while leaving unpunished the real culprit, is calculated to
+destroy all belief in justice in a democracy which calls itself
+Christian. It is a justice of barbarians, a disgrace to the twentieth
+century. The tribunal and the juries have enforced to the letter an
+article in the Code, and this is called justice! We may well say:
+<i>Fiat justitia, pereat mundus.</i></p>
+
+<p>Frieda Keller was no doubt in an abnormal condition of mind; she
+probably suffered from the influence of auto-suggestion which became
+an obsession. Such cases are not uncommon. This is clearly shown by
+the absurdity of her manner of acting, which was both useless and
+pernicious, while she might easily have got out of her difficulty in
+other ways. If our judges and juries had a little more knowledge of
+human psychology and a little less of the Code in their heads, they
+would have had some doubts on the mental integrity of the accused, and
+would have ordered an expert examination by a mental specialist. But,
+apart from this point, I put the question&mdash;can we expect from a woman,
+maternal sentiments for a child resulting from sexual surprise
+bordering on rape?</p>
+
+<p>In the preceding chapter I have demanded the right of artificial
+abortion to women rendered pregnant by rape or against their will, and
+I think the case of Frieda Keller supports my contention. I do not
+intend to justify the assassination of a child already five years of
+age; but I wish to point out that the absence of maternal love is
+quite natural in such a case. It is precisely the instinctive aversion
+of Frieda Keller for her child, otherwise inexplicable, which shows
+most clearly that it was a case of imposed maternity, or sexual
+satisfaction on the part of the father alone.</p>
+
+<p>The tragic case of this unfortunate woman well illustrates the
+brutality and hypocrisy of our customs regarding the sexual <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[417]</a></span>question,
+and shows what terror, shame, torment and despair may be caused by the
+point of view of the so-called rules of morality. In the presence of
+these facts I do not think I can be accused of exaggeration: it is
+only parchment-hearted jurists and government officials who can remain
+indifferent in such cases.</p>
+
+<p>Penal servitude for life for the poor victim of such cruelty is a kind
+of "mercy" which rather resembles bitter irony. The law of St. Gall
+can do only one thing to repair the evil; that is to change its laws
+and liberate the victim as soon as possible.</p>
+
+<p>In ordinary infanticide the true assassin is not usually the mother
+who kills her child, but rather the father who abandons the woman he
+has made pregnant, and disowns the result of his temporary passion. In
+the case of Frieda Keller, maternal heredity, the results of
+meningitis, stupidity, irreflection, want, shame, fear, a pathological
+obsession, and finally the unworthy conduct of the father, all
+combined in making this unfortunate girl a victim rather than a
+criminal. Her child was not only a source of great anxiety but also an
+object of instinctive repulsion.</p>
+
+<p>How is it that such a brave and industrious woman can feel repulsion
+toward her own child? If the judges had asked themselves this question
+and had replied to it without prejudice, forgetting for the moment
+their Code and prejudices, they would not have had the courage to
+condemn the woman to death, nor even to condemn her at all; for their
+conscience would have clearly shown them the true culprits&mdash;masculine
+brutality, our hypocritical sexual customs, and the unjust laws
+inspiring terror in a feeble brain.</p>
+
+<p>When every pregnancy and every birth are looked upon by human society
+with honor and respect, when every mother is protected by law and
+assisted in the education of her children, then only will society have
+the right to judge severely of infanticide.</p>
+
+<br />
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+<br />
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Vide <span class="sc">Delbr&uuml;ck</span>, <i>Gerichtliche Psychopathologie</i>
+(Job. Ambr. Barth, Leipzig, 1897).&mdash;<span class="sc">Delbr&uuml;ck</span>, <i>Die
+Pathologische L&uuml;ge und der pyschisch abnorme Schwindler</i> (Ferdinand
+Enke, Stuttgart, 1891).&mdash;<span class="sc">Forel</span>, <i>Crime et anomalies mentales
+constitutionnelles</i> (<span class="sc">Gen&egrave;ve</span>, 1902, H.
+K&uuml;ndig,).&mdash;<span class="sc">K&ouml;lle</span>, <i>Gerichtlich psychiatrische Gutachten</i>
+(from the clinic of Professor Forel at Zurich), Stuttgart, 1894,
+Ferdinande Enke.&mdash;<span class="sc">Von Liszt</span>, Schutz der Gesellschaft gegen
+Gemeingef&auml;hrliche (<i>Monatsschrift f&uuml;r Kriminalpsychologie und
+Strafrechtsreform</i>).&mdash;<span class="sc">Forel</span>, Die verminderte
+Zurechnungsf&auml;higkeit (<i>die Zukunft</i>, 1899, no 15), etc.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> "Die Zwiechungsf&auml;higkeit des normalen Menschen,"
+Munich.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[418]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XIV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>MEDICINE AND SEXUAL LIFE</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p><b>General Remarks.</b>&mdash;Theology teaches belief in God and a future life;
+law represents the application of codified laws and customs, old and
+new; medicine is said to be an art&mdash;the art of curing sick people.</p>
+
+<p>At the origin of each of these three branches of human activity we
+find an acquired idea. Man has been led to the religious idea and to
+the worship of one or more gods by his terror of certain unknown and
+occult powers superior to his own, and by the idea that his faculty of
+knowledge, his power, and the duration of his life were limited.</p>
+
+<p>The origin of law is in moral conscience, a phylogenetic derivative of
+the sentiments of sympathy, <i>i.e.</i>, sentiments of duty and justice,
+combined with the idea of the necessity for men to live in societies.</p>
+
+<p>As regards medicine, this owes its existence to the fear of disease,
+pain and death, which is modified by the acquired experience that
+certain substances may sometimes ease suffering.</p>
+
+<p>Theology, if separated from morality whose domain it has usurped,
+lives on mysticism, and endeavors to give it a natural and human
+appearance by adorning it with sonorous phraseology. Law, losing sight
+of its origin and object of existence, only concerns itself with
+comments on the text of laws, and in discussing the application of the
+articles of the Code. Medicine has concerned itself too much with the
+life of the patient, instead of the improvement of human life in
+general.</p>
+
+<p>In order to cure a physical malady, to re&euml;stablish abnormal or damaged
+functions as far as this is possible, the physician must be acquainted
+with the vital manifestations of the body in its normal state. For
+this reason the art of medicine depends on the accessory sciences,
+chiefly anatomy and physiology. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[419]</a></span>These accessory sciences have
+considerably developed in the evolution of medicine, and the art of
+medicine has become the chief motive power which urges men to research
+and discovery in the biological sciences, such as histology,
+embryology, comparative anatomy and physiology, anatomy and physiology
+of the brain, bacteriology, etc. Pure science now occupies such a
+position in medical studies that the "healing art" often remains in
+the background; although it must later on take the chief part, and is
+regarded by the public as of the greatest importance.</p>
+
+<p>The value of the art of medicine is subject to great variations. It is
+only of real value when, free from all charlatanism, it rests on a
+sufficiently scientific basis; for the art of an ignoramus falls into
+error and employs inappropriate methods; on the other hand, the art of
+a charlatan has for its object the purse of the patient. It is common
+to meet with physicians who have a good practical experience of art
+without possessing scientific knowledge, others who have both
+practical experience and science but are charlatans, others again who
+are very scientific but incapable in practice. The ideal is a
+combination of art, science and disinterested honesty; but it is not
+very uncommon to meet with a combination of ignorance, incapacity and
+charlatanism. Lastly, too many doctors, otherwise capable and
+intelligent, are too much influenced by authority, text-books and
+prejudices, instead of observing and judging each case for themselves
+in the true scientific spirit. Many dogmas of medical education rest
+on hypotheses, theories or statements which have no solid foundation,
+and do not represent the fruits of a true personal experience of human
+life. Many doctors only see through other people's glasses, without
+reflecting for themselves; the worst of these are those with
+"systems," hom&oelig;opaths, the disciples of natural medicine, etc. It is
+especially in the sexual question that these human weaknesses of
+medical practitioners often lead to the most pitiable results.</p>
+
+<p>We must first of all take to heart the fundamental principle of
+hygiene, which is at the same time that of all honest and sound
+medicine&mdash;<i>prevention is better than cure.</i></p>
+
+<p>The modern opinions of medical men on the sexual question <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[420]</a></span>are still
+unfortunately greatly obscured by prejudice, authority, and the
+indirect influence of the doctrines of religious morality. The same
+applies to the question of alcohol. However, it is to medicine and its
+accessory sciences that we owe the knowledge which now renders it
+possible to judge of the sexual relations of man from the true and
+healthy point of view of social and moral science.</p>
+
+<p>We cannot describe here all the relations of medicine to sexual life.
+Chapters I, II, III, IV and VIII are entirely based on its results and
+on those of natural science. What we have still to consider relates
+especially to sexual hygiene, for we have already treated of pathology
+in Chapter VIII. I shall reserve the general and social part of
+hygiene for the last chapter of the book, and shall confine myself
+here to certain special points, and the criticism of current, but
+erroneous, medical opinions on the sexual question.</p>
+
+<p><b>Prostitution. Sexual Hygiene. Sexual Connection Apart from
+Marriage.</b>&mdash;All regulation and medical supervision of prostitution
+should be rejected, not only from the moral point of view, but also
+from that of hygiene, as a deplorable error, incapable even of
+fulfilling its avowed object&mdash;protection against venereal disease.</p>
+
+<p>Faith in the dogmas and authority of an existing institution has led
+medical men to take a false view of the question. They demand from the
+adversaries of regulation proof of a diminution in venereal disease
+when regulation was not in force. This is both unjust and absurd. It
+is for the supporters of regulation to prove that State regulation of
+prostitution has led to any appreciable improvement of the social
+evil. Then only can it be asked if the maintenance of such vexatious
+measures is still justifiable. But medicine has not furnished the
+proof demanded from it; on the contrary, its attempts in this
+direction have entirely failed. After all, the system is kept up, not
+because it diminishes venereal infection, but because it gives
+satisfaction to the sexual appetite of men and their desire for
+change. Society, however, has no right to organize such a monstrosity
+as regulated prostitution and licensed proxenetism, for the special
+pleasure of debauchees.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[421]</a></span>In virtue of the false dogma of regulation, many doctors, even at the
+present day, recommend young men to visit brothels, for alleged
+hygienic reasons. This deplorable custom perverts youth and gives it
+false ideas. It is a remedy much worse and much more dangerous than
+the evil it is supposed to cure, worse than masturbation, much worse
+than nocturnal emissions. Sexual anomalies and perversions are not
+cured in brothels; on the contrary they develop there.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, it is absurd to exaggerate the effects of onanism and sexual
+excesses in themselves, and thus increase the anxiety of a number of
+unfortunates. In Chapter IV, we have already spoken of great
+variations which the sexual appetite presents without ceasing to be
+normal, and we have mentioned the rule given by Luther. In my opinion
+the advice given by the doctor should be as follows:</p>
+
+<p>As long as he does not wish to marry, a young man should remove as far
+as possible all sexual ideas from his thoughts. He should be contented
+with nocturnal emissions, which are produced spontaneously, and should
+avoid all the manipulations of onanism. A young girl should do the
+same all the more easily, because her sexual appetite is normally
+weaker, and is not accompanied by glandular secretions which more or
+less demand ejaculation.</p>
+
+<p>Persons unable to resist their sexual appetite should be extremely
+prudent in their extra-nuptial intercourse. Moreover, there is no need
+for this to assume the character of prostitution.</p>
+
+<p><b>Medical Advice.</b>&mdash;It is the doctor's duty to give friendly advice to
+every one who consults him on sexual questions, without posing as a
+judge or a moralist. He should never frighten or reprimand the poor
+hypochondriac who blames himself for masturbation, nor sexual perverts
+of any kind, unless, of course, they are absolutely dangerous, such as
+sadists. He should, on the contrary, calm their fears and give them
+encouragement; and in this way he may do much good.</p>
+
+<p>Hypnotic suggestion gives him a means of directly combating many cases
+of sexual excitation, or at least of attenuating them, by directing
+the cerebral activity of the patient to other <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[422]</a></span>subjects. Each case
+should be judged by itself and attention should be paid to the
+different points we have studied in this book. Even between husband
+and wife, and especially as a consequence of monogamy, certain
+unfortunate or delicate circumstances may raise difficulties; for
+example, the periods during which conception should be avoided, a
+certain time after accouchement and during certain morbid conditions.</p>
+
+<p>In this case unskillful medical advice may have unfortunate results.
+When a doctor forbids a husband to have sexual intercourse with his
+wife he exposes him to two dangers. If the husband remains continent
+and sleeps in a separate room for too long a time, conjugal love may
+become so cooled that a permanent barrier is established between man
+and wife; if, on the other hand, he abandons himself to prostitution,
+he may contract venereal disease and infect his wife. Again, the
+husband may become enamored of another woman and wreck the happiness
+of his family. The doctor who prohibits conjugal coitus thus takes a
+great responsibility. For this and other reasons we have now an
+important question to consider.</p>
+
+<p>Opinions differ considerably as to the effects of sexual continence.
+All extreme assertions are erroneous. It is quite certain that the
+harmful effects of continence have been greatly exaggerated. Normal
+persons of both sexes may remain continent, although not without some
+trouble and discomfort. In a general way, we may accept the statement
+that many morbid conditions are known to result from sexual excess,
+but few from continence. This, however, goes a little too far, for
+certain psychopaths and sexual hyper&aelig;sthetics often lapse into a state
+of mental and nervous excitement from forced continence, so that their
+neurosis becomes accentuated and may even end in insanity. I have seen
+this occur both in men and women, but such cases are very rare.</p>
+
+<p>Continence is not an easy matter for erotic individuals, and requires
+a heroic internal struggle, especially in men. The Canadian reformer,
+Chiniqui, whom we have previously quoted, relates the history of a
+monk who tore off his testicles in despair at being unable to conquer
+his violent sexual appetite.</p>
+
+<p>The fine preachers of morality, endowed with a cold <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[423]</a></span>temperament, or
+simply senile, who hold forth on the "immorality" of the consequences
+of the sexual appetite, would do well to take such facts to heart.</p>
+
+<p>We must not forget that among our brutal, yet human ancestors the
+struggle for life demanded the cruel and wanton exposure or slaughter
+of all weak and decrepit individuals, and that epidemic diseases,
+plagues, and pests ravaged the peoples without mercy. Of course our
+present civilization has put up a barrier against all this. Yet, for
+that very reason the blind and thoughtless propagation of degenerate,
+tainted, and enfeebled individuals is another atrocious danger to
+society. But then the sexual appetite cannot be legislated out of
+existence or killed by repressive measures.</p>
+
+<p>Quite recently it has been scientifically demonstrated that absolute
+sterilization can be produced by the application of the Roentgen Ray,
+but at what period of treatment this result may be obtained still
+remains an unsettled question, thus leaving the possibility of
+incurring the risk of effecting only a doubtful degeneration of the
+germs.</p>
+
+<p>We can but consider all legislation and all police measures which are
+intended to regulate the sexual intercourse in the human family, as
+absolute failures, as inhuman, in fact as down-right detrimental to
+the race. Exacting laws have never improved the morals of any race or
+nation; hypocrisy and secret evasion are the only results obtained. It
+would be better by far if steps were taken to enlighten the masses on
+the questions of sexual heredity and degeneration. Wisdom of this kind
+does not corrupt. It is rather the unrestricted power of capital and
+wealth that brings the rot into the community. Healthy people should
+be made to know that a large number of sound, industrious children is
+a blessing, in fact, riches to the family, but on the one condition
+only, viz.: that they are not relegated to detestable slavery through
+the overbearing suppression of capital.</p>
+
+<p>When the dignity of labor shall once have been raised on the pedestal
+of worship now occupied by Mammon, there will no longer be need for
+complaint about small families and decreasing birth-rates, such as we
+hear so much at the present day in France and in the United States.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[424]</a></span>A few examples might throw some light on this subject.</p>
+
+<p>(1) Dr. Pelman of Bonn, assisted by the local authorities, made an
+inquiry into the progeny of a certain Ada Jurke (born in 1740, died in
+the beginning of the nineteenth century), who was hereditarily
+tainted, a drunkard and a degenerate. Her descendants down to the
+present time number 834 persons. The lives of 709 of these individuals
+have been officially recorded as follows: 106 were illegitimate
+children; 142 were mendicants and tramps; 64 were unable to perform
+any kind of work towards their own support and became a charge to the
+community; 181 of the women were prostitutes; 7 persons were convicted
+of murder and 69 of other crimes. All this within a period of 75 years
+at a cost to the state, according to the public records, of five
+millions of marks (about $1,250,000) in the shape of monetary support,
+jail and law expenses, claims for damages, etc., etc.</p>
+
+<p>(2) Dr. J&ouml;rger, Director of the Insane Asylum at Waldhaus, by Chur, in
+Switzerland, followed up in a similar fashion the history of a family
+of vagrants. The full report may be found under the title of "The Zero
+Family," in the <i>Archiv f&uuml;r Gesellschaft's-u. Rassenbiologie</i>, 1905,
+Heft 4, page 494 et seq. It is sad to read of the untold misery,
+profligacy, and distress spread broadcast by this family, not to speak
+of the many crimes committed by its members.</p>
+
+<p>It is depressing to witness how sheer ignorance and callousness to the
+interests of the human race at large allow such people to multiply
+without let or hindrance. The unfortunate part about it all is that
+this species of humanity is on the steady increase. They really form
+the principal hearths whence emanate our criminal classes, that fill
+our jails, our Charity Homes, our Hospitals, our Sanatoria, our Insane
+Asylums. They breed and multiply not because it affords them a special
+pleasure to procreate crime, insanity, and degeneracy, but because no
+one takes the trouble to instruct them in the perniciousness of
+bringing into this world offspring that can only find and themselves
+again disseminate misery, want, and wretchedness; or to teach them how
+to prevent this calamity.</p>
+
+<p>(3) Still another category of dangerous elements is becoming <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[425]</a></span>more
+numerous every day. I refer to the <i>neurasthenics</i>. Heredity is an
+important factor here, too, as every neurologist is able to attest
+from his own daily observations. The worst feature about this peril is
+the fact that neurotics as a rule suffer from excess of sexual
+appetite, whilst they are sorely lacking the power of self-control,
+circumstances which often enough lead to crime, insanity, and suicide.
+Untold thousands of them, unaware of the fearful consequences of
+hereditary impairment, go on bringing into this world children
+destined to unhappiness and suffering. It is noteworthy too that these
+nervous wrecks generally intermarry. Does not this account to a large
+extent for the great number of unhappy marriages recorded nowadays?</p>
+
+<p>Of course, it is quite evident that under such pitiable conditions,
+the hereditary taints become increasingly aggravated. If the patients
+have money, which is very often the case, they prove profitable
+customers of the "nerve-specialist," and likewise of the endless chain
+of private sanatoria for nervous diseases. It is a sad spectacle
+indeed. My own experience has taught me that nine out of ten of these
+unfortunate beings have families, because they are ignorant of the
+dangers of heredity, and unfamiliar with the safe and proper means for
+preventing conception. Why not teach them? A few cases may suffice.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>a</i>) An hysterical woman, whose father was a lascivious, egotistical
+crank, married a man absolutely devoid of will power and energy. She
+was gifted; the marriage a failure. Of the two children, one was an
+indolent, thoroughly useless, good-for-nothing boy, whose only thought
+was of wasting money on pretty neckties and the like and of flirting
+with the girls, of which art he was a past-master. The other one, a
+girl, betrayed the same characteristics and disposition. The mother
+was in despair and inconsolable, cursing her offspring and the
+marriage alike. Too late, alas!</p>
+
+<p>(<i>b</i>) The son of a neurasthenic father and an hysterical mother,
+although of a good-natured disposition, had the vilest, uncontrolable
+temper, which would suddenly carry him away to acts of violence only
+to be bitterly regretted immediately afterwards. Whilst drunk he
+became excited and drawing a revolver wounded several innocent
+bystanders. As an officer in the army he was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[426]</a></span>insulted by a tipsy
+student, whom he shot down on the spot, although he was sober himself
+at the time. On another occasion he shot himself in the breast, but
+recovered. Presently he fell in love most desperately with an
+hysterical woman and married her. The mother-in-law, who was an
+eccentric, mischievous person, started a bitter feud between the two
+families. He became greatly wrought up over the affair and demanded of
+his wife to stop the quarrel at once. As she demurred, he ended her
+life with a bullet from a pistol. Of course, he was arrested and
+languished in jail in utter agony and despair. What a future for those
+two unfortunate children that sprang from this union! I may point out
+here that at the time when he killed his wife, whom he loved
+passionately, he was not under the influence of strong drink, for he
+had given up the use of alcohol altogether for quite a number of
+years.</p>
+
+<p>(<i>c</i>) A very religious lady had married a man who became insane. He,
+too, was a devout churchman. There were 8 children. Under treatment
+the father improved and was dismissed from the asylum. I urged them
+both to prevent further conception, having in view the dangers of
+hereditary taint in the possible offspring. The wife indignantly told
+me that her church demanded of her to bear as many children as she
+could. They had several more, all of them candidates for the insane
+asylum or the institute for nervous patients. And that is called
+religion and morality!</p>
+
+<p>(<i>d</i>) A heavily tainted couple, desperately enamored of each other,
+came to me in great distress to ask: "May we get married?" I answered:
+"It does not strike me as being the wisest thing for you to do. But if
+you cannot exist without each other, by all means get married; but
+think what a calamity it would be, if two beings tainted as you both
+are, were to beget offspring." "But we are so fond of children."
+"Well, that is easily mended. There are plenty of healthy orphans
+whose parents were strong and sound both in body and in mind, but who
+are strangers to a father's and mother's love, and are craving for a
+good education. Make your own choice, but take only the very best.
+Then you will have a family and enjoy all the pleasures of parenthood.
+As for the rest, heed my advice. Avoid pregnancy."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[427]</a></span>The law of heredity winds like a red thread through the family history
+of every criminal, of every epileptic, eccentric and insane person.
+And we should sit still and witness our civilization go into decay and
+fall to pieces without raising the cry of warning and applying the
+remedy?</p>
+
+<p>However, this is by no means all. Tuberculosis is the white plague of
+to-day. It is considered an established fact that every living human
+being inhales and swallows tubercle bacilli by the millions every day,
+and it is even claimed that every one of us harbors somewhere in the
+economy this dreadful poison to a larger or smaller degree. Whilst the
+pure, immune blood in a sound, robust constitution is able to resist
+the inroads of, and even to kill, sterilize, and eliminate these
+bacilli, the weaker and hereditarily tainted individual falls a prey
+to the attacks of this dire disease by the thousands. True, serum
+therapy and open-air treatment are accomplishing many cures, but the
+hereditary disposition remains in the system all the same, and may be
+transmitted to the coming generation, or at any rate may impair the
+power of resistance in the offspring.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, the sexual appetite is very pronounced in phthisical
+patients. They marry and beget children in the most wanton fashion.
+The law cannot and does not prevent them, and the carnal instinct is
+not to be killed. What is to be done when law and religion forbid the
+application of preventive measures and even prosecute the person that
+recommends them?</p>
+
+<p>Local disease and pathological conditions in the woman (at times in
+man also), within wedlock, may render parturition an immediate danger
+to the life of the mother or of the child or of both together, for
+instance, cancer of the womb or other affections of the uterus, kidney
+disease, a deformed pelvis. Surely in such cases it is the bounden
+duty of the physician to intervene and council against, nay,
+absolutely forbid impregnation. Well, how is it to be done? Must
+husband and wife, who love and esteem each other, be separated? It
+would be unnatural, in fact it is quite impossible. Or should they
+abandon sexual intercourse all together and live like brother and
+sister? Well, a few exceptionally cold natures may have will power
+enough to carry into effect such a pact. But in 99 out of 100 cases
+the interdict of the sexual act sends the husband to satisfy <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_427a" id="Page_427a">[427a]</a></span>his
+cravings elsewhere and contract disease, or he falls in love with
+another woman and wrecks home and family.</p>
+
+<p>Similar conditions may be brought about by other causes as well. Take,
+for instance, the poor workingman or mechanic who has already six or
+seven children and whose wife is unusually fertile, giving birth to
+children year after year. The wages of the father do not suffice to
+properly support them all. The food that can be purchased with the
+slender means is not at all adequate. Rent and other bills fall behind
+and the man gets in debt. They are both young yet. What is to be done?
+If they follow the natural law there will be an increase in the family
+every year. Moreover, these ever-recurring labors weaken the
+constitution of the woman and sap away her strength. Starvation?
+Sexual continence in wedlock? It is strange, indeed, to hear rich men,
+well-fed clergymen, pious zealots and reformers, leaning back in their
+comfortable chairs after a sumptuous meal and smoking an expensive
+Havana cigar, discuss this burning question and bewail the immorality
+of the common people.</p>
+
+<p>Statistics prove that these very people, who extol to the poor all the
+blessing of a big family, never live up to their teachings either in
+theory or in practice. The majority of these apostles of morality have
+no children at all, or at the utmost two or three. Why should that be
+so? What interesting reading it would make if the sexual history of
+these persons were followed up and printed.</p>
+
+<p>Money, hygiene, reason, and the most elementary laws of humanity
+demand that the wife, who is fertile above the average, should have a
+rest of at least 18 months between each succeeding pregnancy. But this
+cannot be achieved in the natural course of events, except in very
+rare cases, without wrecking the marriage.</p>
+
+<p>If we crystallize this sexual, social question, we arrive at the
+following conclusions:</p>
+
+<p>There are a great many cases, especially of a pathological character,
+but none the less also in normal and sound individuals, in which
+procreation, within wedlock or without, is dangerous either definitely
+or temporarily, either for the mother or the child, or for both, and
+for that reason should be interdicted. Very few men and a very small
+proportion of women&mdash;no <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_427b" id="Page_427b">[427b]</a></span>matter how firmly they may be resolved&mdash;are
+capable of effectually suppressing their sexual needs. And even if
+they succeed, the consequences are generally of a disastrous nature,
+loss of marital love, secret illicit relations with others and
+subsequent infidelity, nervous disorders, impotence, etc.</p>
+
+<p>In all these cases we are confronted with the following dilemma:</p>
+
+<p>(1) In the unmarried person: onanism or prostitution, or both. Is that
+morality? Such people must either forever forego love, marriage, and
+normal, lawful sexual intercourse, or face sterility in wedded life.
+(I do not recognize prostitution&mdash;see chapter X&mdash;as normal
+intercourse.)</p>
+
+<p>(2) Within marriage: onanism, prostitution, and infidelity, or the
+adoption of rational preventive measures.</p>
+
+<p>I leave it to the reader and to the lawmakers to pick out the correct
+alternative and to arrive at the one possible, decent, and ethical
+solution of these conflicting questions.</p>
+
+<p>I do not admit that constitutionally frigid natures or those who find
+it easy to control their sexual appetite, have any right whatsoever to
+pose as normal samples of the human race and to simply ignore the
+existence of temperaments, characters, and constitutions so widely
+differing from their own. This world's history teaches us that nothing
+good has ever come from such vain assumptions, unless it be empty
+phrases and dead letters. These righteous, frigid, and strong natures
+ought, indeed, to be grateful to their ancestors for having handed
+down to them that happy disposition, and to prove their gratitude by
+making particular efforts to help those that are yet to come, in
+obtaining and sharing the same benign blessing.</p>
+
+<p>It seems almost incredible that in some countries medical men who are
+not ashamed to throw young men into the arms of prostitution, blush
+when mention is made of anticonceptional methods. This false modesty,
+created by custom and prejudice, waxes indignant at innocent things,
+whilst it encourages the greatest infamies.</p>
+
+<p><b>Hygiene of Marriage.</b>&mdash;When marriage is consummated on the basis of
+free reciprocal consent, when both parties know exactly to what they
+have pledged themselves, when the corrupting influence of money is
+eliminated, when all unnatural regulation is suppressed, when the
+superfluous blending of religion and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[428]</a></span>legislation have been abolished
+from the bonds of matrimony, when woman has finally obtained equal
+rights with man&mdash;then love and mutual respect, combined with the
+sexual appetite, will constitute the intimate and personal ties of
+marriage. At the same time, instinctive sentiments and legal duties
+toward the offspring will furnish it with a complementary and lasting
+cement. Among men whose nature is true, the instructive sentiment of
+altruism or conscience urges them to the performance of social duties
+without the necessity of any legal obligation.</p>
+
+<p>A few medical points now require our attention. The husband should be
+older than the wife, on the average from six to twelve years. This
+point is very important if a monogamous union is to be lasting. Woman
+matures earlier than man, both mentally and sexually; her personality
+becomes more rapidly adult than his; she ages more quickly and loses
+her faculty of procreation sooner than man. Certain savage races solve
+the problem by marrying as boys and girls, casting off their wives
+when they grow old, to marry younger ones. Among civilized races, man
+manages his affairs by making use of prostitution. From his youth he
+succumbs to physical and moral corruption, often complicated with
+venereal infection, and then often regards marriage as a kind of
+hospital for incurables, where the wife plays the parts of housekeeper
+and nurse combined!</p>
+
+<p>It is not easy to steer clear of these rocks, nor to formulate a rule
+for lasting monogamy. The old style of polygamy is brutal, and
+prostitution is still more disgusting. The sentiments of the egoist
+are summed up in the maxim, "After me the deluge!" To this the
+preacher of morals replies that "man should curb his passions." But
+this eternal dialogue does not help us in the least.</p>
+
+<p>I propose a middle course, as follows: The young man who possesses
+sufficient strength to overcome his sexual appetite, or whose sexual
+appetite is so moderate that he can remain continent till the age of
+about twenty-five years, so as to enable him to avoid prostitution,
+promiscuous sexual intercourse or masturbation&mdash;this young man, I
+maintain, has the best chance of gaining the first prize in life. If
+he is free from prejudice <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[429]</a></span>and is not afraid of using anticonceptional
+measures for a certain time, he may then marry a young girl, to whom
+he may become permanently attached, if their two characters suit each
+other.</p>
+
+<p>A young girl may very well marry at seventeen or eighteen, or at any
+rate between eighteen and nineteen. She is then sexually mature and
+her mentality is sufficiently developed, so that the difference in age
+we have required may be obtained. Young people thus united may
+continue their studies before procreating children, and their marriage
+will stimulate them to work.</p>
+
+<p>When the intoxication of the honeymoon is over, the continuance of
+conjugal happiness depends on an intimate adaptation of the two
+conjoints in sentiments, intelligence and sexual appetite; an
+adaptation which purifies love on both sides. Work in common, a common
+ideal, mutual respect full of affection but free from flattery, and a
+reciprocal education which does not degenerate into pedantry nor
+tyranny, are the principal conditions for conjugal happiness.</p>
+
+<p>It is absolutely necessary to avoid everything which causes reparation
+or exclusion, even in appearance. At the risk of appearing ridiculous
+in the eyes of certain superior persons, I repeat that separation of
+beds and bedrooms is a dangerous experiment to make in marriage, and
+that it may easily lead to estrangement, even when based on the
+highest motives.</p>
+
+<p>It is the same, in a still higher degree, with sexual continence in
+marriage, even when it does not last for years, excepting in cases of
+grave disease or senile impotence.</p>
+
+<p>It is often stated that a woman should avoid coitus for long periods,
+because among certain savage races the husband does not cohabit with
+her during pregnancy and the two years of nursing which follow it; the
+woman being considered by religion as "impure" during this period. But
+this proves nothing, for this custom only concerns polygamists, who
+make up for it with other women. If our monogamous marriage is to be
+natural, and not satisfied with words and illusions, it is necessary
+for sexual intercourse to be intimate and constant, and it should only
+be interrupted for short intervals, corresponding to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[430]</a></span>natural
+wants of the two conjoints, adapted to each other by mutual
+concessions.</p>
+
+<p>Apart from this, menstruation and accouchement constitute the only
+exceptions based on physiology. According to Gr&uuml;ber (<i>Hygiene des
+Geschlechtslebens</i>) accouchement requires an interruption of at least
+four weeks; I should say at least six weeks. Every husband, with the
+possible exception of the most horrible satyrs, can submit to this
+without much discomfort. Pregnancy, on the contrary, does not require
+continence, provided the husband takes account of his wife's condition
+and treats her with care.</p>
+
+<p>During the last months of pregnancy all violent movements and pressure
+on the abdomen should be avoided during coitus, so as not to injure
+the embryo. This may be effected by coitus in the lateral position.</p>
+
+<p>Professor Pinard of Paris advises the prohibition of coitus during the
+latter part of pregnancy, because it may lead to premature birth. As
+regards accouchement at the seventh, eighth or even at the beginning
+of the ninth month, this might, it is true, be proved by figures, but
+at this time the embryo is sufficiently protected, and with the
+precautions indicated above, I consider the danger as nil. As regards
+the end of the ninth month, the margin of errors as to the movement of
+conception and the signs of birth at term hardly allow of statistics
+which exclude subjectivism, and the danger becomes less and less. In
+any case a conscientious husband would run no risks under these
+circumstances if he was aware of the danger.</p>
+
+<p>What is more important for the wife is that she should have sufficient
+rest between her pregnancies. A year at least should elapse between
+parturition and the next conception; this gives approximately two
+years between the confinements. This is easily managed by the aid of
+the preventive animal membranes we have mentioned. In this way the
+wife keeps in good health and can bear healthy children at pleasure.
+It is certainly better to procreate seven healthy children, than to
+procreate fourteen of which seven die, to say nothing of the mother
+who rapidly becomes exhausted by uninterrupted confinements.</p>
+
+<p>No rule can be given for the frequency of sexual connection <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[431]</a></span>in
+marriage; this is a matter for reciprocal arrangement. Luther's rule
+of two or three times a week may be considered a normal average for
+virile persons of good constitution.</p>
+
+<p>Women who are sexually cold and fond of children, but who have a
+horror of coitus, cannot, in my opinion, be regarded as types of the
+normal wife, nor can they expect their husbands to abstain from all
+coitus except that intended for procreation. On the other hand, the
+wife should certainly be made acquainted with the nature of sexual
+intercourse and its consequences before marriage. Further, before
+engaging in a life-long union, a man and woman ought to explain to
+each other their sexual feelings so as to avoid deception and
+incompatibility later on.</p>
+
+<p>Without having ever experienced a sexual orgasm, either by coitus or
+by masturbation, a normal young girl, when she is sufficiently
+instructed in sexual matters, may easily decide whether the idea of
+coitus with a man for whom she feels affection is repugnant or
+attractive to her. In the case of young men it is still easier.</p>
+
+<p>A woman who had received a complete medical education and had remained
+a virgin, but who was well-informed on sexual life, gave me very
+precise information on this subject. For a long time the idea of
+coitus with men was repugnant to her, till she made the acquaintance
+of the one who gained her affections. Repugnance was then replaced by
+desire. This case also gives a good example of the monogamous sexual
+feeling of the normal woman.</p>
+
+<p>In Chapter XVII we shall discuss the manner in which youth should be
+initiated into the sexual question. Our present formality, combined
+with general ignorance of girls on sexual matters, renders a mutual
+understanding prior to definite betrothal generally impossible.
+Moreover, there is a sort of hysterical and pathological love, the
+product of the imagination, which is associated with sentimental words
+and sighs as well as coquetry, but transformed into disgust or hatred
+by the first coitus. Although more common in women this false love is
+met with in hysterical men. Sometimes the illusion disappears while
+there is yet time to break off the betrothal. Marriage by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[432]</a></span>trial and
+has been attempted by some, but with varied success.</p>
+
+<p>For a number of reasons, both parties should be medically examined
+before marriage. This precaution may reveal the presence of a narrow
+pelvis or vaginismus in the woman, or aspermia, venereal disease,
+etc., in the man.</p>
+
+<p>When a woman will only support coitus with a view to procreation, she
+would do well if she informed her <i>fianc&eacute;</i>, who can then consider
+whether he can submit to such restriction. If the wife will not allow
+her husband a concubine it generally results in clandestine
+extra-nuptial relations and subsequent divorce proceedings.</p>
+
+<p>My opinion on this subject will no doubt appear very immoral to many
+people, but it is natural and rational. It is needless to say that I
+do not intend that a man has the right to compel his wife to have
+intercourse whenever he pleases. The question is a very delicate one;
+but, by the aid of goodwill a satisfactory solution of the problem can
+be obtained in most cases, in the manner indicated above. Love and
+mutual respect will always find a way out of the difficulty. It is
+necessary to avoid extreme asceticism and unnatural idealism on the
+one hand and excessive sexual indulgence on the other hand. In the
+sexual question above all others it is the wisest course to strike a
+happy medium.</p>
+
+<p>An extremely important question is that of the procreation of
+children. We have just explained how this can be regulated at will; we
+have now to consider how children of the best quality can be
+procreated.</p>
+
+<p>The first condition is the good quality of the parents. Their heredity
+or the intellectual and physical value of their ancestry is of
+paramount importance. We must take into consideration, not only the
+intelligence and physical health, but also good sentiments, a
+conscientious character and energy of will. What is the use of
+procreating healthy and robust children if they are vain, egoistic,
+impulsive, crafty, wanting in will power, or perhaps criminal? Such
+individuals constitute a social plague.</p>
+
+<p>At the time of conception the parents should not be in a condition of
+acute or chronic alcoholism, nor affected with any <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[433]</a></span>disease; otherwise
+the progeny may be tainted by <i>blastophthoria</i> (Chapter I).</p>
+
+<p>The age of the procreators should also be taken into account. Children
+born of parents advanced in years are generally feeble.</p>
+
+<p>The fatal error which causes the procreation of children to depend on
+pecuniary reasons and interests is a social misfortune. Healthy men
+and women ought never to avoid reproduction, even when they are poor.
+Progeny of good quality grow up, so to speak, by themselves. Progeny
+with evil instincts, or decadent, have a pre-existing hereditary
+taint, or have been affected by blastophthoria in some other way.</p>
+
+<p>No doubt acquired diseases or accidents may make an invalid of a child
+or a man, but these are exceptions which prove the rule, for here
+again the descendant of healthy parents is more resistant than others,
+if he has not artificially altered his state of health and power of
+resistance by alcohol or venereal disease.</p>
+
+<p>Among savages, and at the present day among many peasants, children
+are rather an advantage than a burden, because these people have
+simple and healthy habits and few wants. It is our artificial and
+unhealthy desire for luxury, frivolity, comfort and enjoyment, our
+muscular weakness resulting from want of exercise, our exaggerated
+terror of diseases and microbes, in a word our effeminacy, which makes
+us so incapable of rearing large families simply and cheaply. No doubt
+it becomes more and more necessary to give children a good education,
+and this necessity complicates the question. But, in my opinion this
+education will in the future be conducted by the State.</p>
+
+<p><b>Hygiene of Pregnancy.</b>&mdash;This subject is too special to be fully dealt
+with here. We may, however, mention that idleness and overwork are
+equally detrimental to the pregnant woman and her child. It is
+needless to say that every pregnant woman requires care and good food.
+Violent efforts, especially in the upright position, should be avoided
+(vide Bachimont: <i>La Puericulture intra-uterine</i>, 1898, Paris). But
+domestic work and moderate exercise of the body are beneficial.
+Precautions are especially necessary during the last months of
+pregnancy for the general health of the mother and child, but
+imprudence <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[434]</a></span>during the early months may cause abortion in many women.
+The progressive enervation of women in easy circumstances has no doubt
+rendered them less adapted to procreation. This failing should be
+corrected by progressive but prudent training.</p>
+
+<p><b>Medical Advice as to Marriage.</b>&mdash;The permission or prohibition of
+marriage is a delicate question at the present day, but will be less
+so in the future, if our propositions are realized. If one of the two
+candidates for matrimony has been or is still insane, or seriously
+affected with tuberculosis, or with active syphilis or chronic
+gonorrhea, it is clearly our duty to prohibit marriage.</p>
+
+<p>If the situation is not so grave, and if it is only a question of
+hereditary taint, especially when there is a probability of the
+offspring being deformed in body or mind, we may content ourselves
+with prohibiting the procreation of children, while giving permission
+for marriage, provided anticonceptional measures are used. The
+importance of these measures is obvious in such cases. We should
+explain to the young people in question that the procreation of
+unhealthy or backward children is bad and even criminal, and warn them
+against such an unpardonable act of thoughtlessness. If they are very
+fond of children they can be recommended to adopt poor orphans.</p>
+
+<p>There is no need, however, to be too severe. Medical men are often
+pessimists, and have a tendency to see disease everywhere and to give
+a grave prognosis. The procreation of children should not be
+prohibited simply because there is insanity in some member of the
+family, but the probabilities of hereditary transmission should be
+calculated in the way we have explained in the first chapter of this
+book.</p>
+
+<p>Taking into consideration the bodily and mental health and the
+character of the two candidates for marriage, as well as that of their
+ancestry, the physician should consider what is likely to be the
+average quality of children from such a marriage. According as his
+calculation leads to a probability above or below the average of the
+population, from all the points of view of the social value of man, he
+will advise the parties concerned as to freedom or limitation in
+procreation.</p>
+
+<p>The average of humanity must not be placed too high, and the physician
+should always keep in mind the great mental <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">[435]</a></span>mediocrity, weakness of
+will, the low moral level and physical defects of the bulk of the
+population.</p>
+
+<p>When persons who are intelligent and educated, but more or less
+psychopathic or hereditarily tainted, put questions of this kind to
+the doctor, because they are very conscientious and prudent, they
+should be recommended to lead a healthy life and avoid alcohol, but
+need not remain sterile, for their offspring may be morally and
+intellectually above the average, and if all blastophthoric influences
+are avoided there is a possibility or even probability of gradual
+regeneration. In short, the doctor must treat each case on its own
+merits, carefully weigh both sides of the question, and avoid being
+influenced by exclusive dogmas of any kind. Thus only can he give wise
+and useful advice.</p>
+
+<p>What is of especial importance for us, is the knowledge that it is not
+necessary, from the point of view of social hygiene, to prohibit
+marriage for the sole reason that the offspring may be of bad quality.
+We can allow psychopaths with hereditary taints, or even invalids of
+both sexes, to contract sterile marriages, by requiring them to avoid
+conception by some means or other, in the name of social hygiene and
+morality. In such cases dislocation of the tubes has a definite
+effect, and if we consider the negligence and weakness of mind of such
+individuals, we should do well to recommend this proceeding whenever
+there is a clear indication for inducing sterility. In this way we
+avoid cruel measures, which, by the way, are almost impracticable,
+which take away all hope of love and happiness from these
+unfortunates, throw them into the arms of prostitution or bitter
+pessimism, and make them disgusted with their own existence.</p>
+
+<p><b>Medical Secrecy.</b>&mdash;Medical secrecy and its limitation is a very
+delicate question, especially in sexual matters. Opinions vary in
+different countries and among different individuals. In France medical
+secrecy is almost made an idol; the medical man may refuse to give
+evidence in a court of law and even conceal a crime. In Germanic
+countries, on the contrary, especially in German Switzerland, too
+little importance is attached to medical secrecy. In short, medical
+secrecy is an elastic idea which is open to different interpretations.</p>
+
+<p>Although certain particular cases may present great <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">[436]</a></span>difficulties,
+there is a middle course of moral conduct which will serve the purpose
+of every conscientious doctor. As a general rule the doctor's duty is
+to keep secret everything confided to him by his patients, except when
+the patients themselves speak openly of it, or authorize their doctor
+to do so. There are, however, exceptions to this rule.</p>
+
+<p>First of all it assumes normal responsibility in the patient, and is
+only conditional among irresponsibles. When a lunatic, for example,
+relates to a doctor, under the seal of secrecy, certain things which
+depend on delirious ideas and which threaten the safety of others, or
+which render certain measures necessary in the patients' own interest,
+the doctor's duty is to make known the state of affairs, but only to
+responsible persons. It is the same as regards children. It is
+needless to say that the doctor should use all possible measures in
+the interest of the patient or child.</p>
+
+<p>But even with responsible persons medical secrecy has its limits. The
+doctor is here only bound to secrecy so far as it does not injure the
+rights of other individuals, or those of society.</p>
+
+<p>It is the duty of a medical man to report all cases of smallpox or
+cholera, etc., even against the consent of the patient, and to isolate
+the latter to avoid an epidemic, which is contradictory to medical
+secrecy. In short, he must not, under the pretext of medical secrecy,
+become an accomplice of harmful acts or crimes. I will mention a few
+examples bearing on the sexual question:</p>
+
+<p>A sadist or a sexual pervert addicted to assaults on children consults
+a doctor and confides to him his morbid appetite. It is obvious that
+the doctor has to do with a dangerous individual and is at the same
+time in a difficult position. In this case extreme measures are bad.
+The doctor who simply treats the patient without concerning himself
+about the possible victims, contravenes his duties. The one who
+replies to the patient, "you are a beast; go away or I shall denounce
+you," acts in a still worse manner. The one who simply denounces the
+patient also puts himself in the wrong. In my opinion, the doctor
+should first of all make a thorough examination of the mental and
+sexual condition of the patient, so as to establish the degree of
+perversion and satisfy himself whether he has to do with an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">[437]</a></span>honest
+individual worthy of pity, who strives to overcome his morbid
+appetite; or, with a crafty egoist with no conscience, who only
+consults the doctor to escape from temporary difficulties into which
+his perversion has led him, and who indulges his morbid appetite
+without scruple, constituting a perpetual danger to society.
+Unfortunately, the latter cases are very common, and the doctor is
+usually consulted from interested motives only. Under these
+circumstances medical secrecy renders the doctor the accomplice of the
+criminal.</p>
+
+<p>Between the honest patient and one who is absolutely perverse, there
+are many transitional stages. In these cases the doctor should always
+make a careful examination before forming an opinion. If he feels
+uncertain, he should call in a specialist in mental disease, and then
+act accordingly. If he is convinced that the patient has made the
+resolution to overcome his morbid appetite, and has so far resisted
+the temptation to injure any one, he should strengthen the patient's
+resistance by doing everything possible (except marriage) to rid him
+of his malady; he should make him aware how dangerous his condition is
+to himself and to others; he may even recommend either castration or
+masturbation in case of urgency, in order to avoid crime; he should
+make him promise to come immediately for internment in an asylum, as
+soon as he can no longer resist. Under these conditions he may respect
+medical secrecy and at the same time save the existence of the
+unfortunate patient, while protecting society.</p>
+
+<p>In more severe cases, when the doctor is convinced that the patient is
+incapable of controlling himself or does not wish to, or that he has
+already committed crimes, he should act as follows: He must explain to
+the patient that it is impossible for him to take the responsibility
+and that he must be immediately sent to an asylum, in default of which
+information will be given against him. We must make him understand
+that he is a danger to society and goes beyond the limits of what is
+licit, but that if he voluntarily submits to rational treatment,
+offering all requisite guarantees on both sides, he (the doctor) is
+disposed to avoid any legal action.</p>
+
+<p>The duty of medical secrecy ought never to go so far as to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">[438]</a></span>render the
+medical man an accomplice of dangerous individuals or criminals. The
+lunatic asylum in such cases is the natural refuge for the patient, as
+the lazaret is for cases of smallpox or cholera. These cases, however,
+require public asylums which are not too large, well organized, with
+divisions for different cases, and provided with a sufficient medical
+staff.</p>
+
+<p>I have chosen as the first example one of the worst kind of cases
+which endanger the public safety. But there are other cases such as
+that depicted by Brieux in "<i>Les Avari&eacute;s</i>." A syphilitic subject
+wishes to marry before he is cured, and consults his doctor. Does the
+whole duty of the doctor consist in dissuading the patient from
+marriage? Has he actually the right to be silent when the patient will
+not listen to him, and thus allow an innocent young woman to be
+contaminated, through respect&mdash;or rather idolatry&mdash;for medical
+secrecy? Is it not rather his duty to say to the patient: "Beware! If
+you do not promise to obey me, I will immediately denounce you to your
+<i>fianc&eacute;e</i> and her parents, and will tell them the state of affairs."
+It seems to me that this is his duty. In this case the doctor does not
+denounce the patient without his knowledge; he threatens him face to
+face, and may speak to him as follows: "You have confided in me. I am,
+it is true, under the obligation of medical secrecy toward you, so
+long as you do no harm to any one. But if, in spite of all my
+explanations and warnings, you attempt to marry in your present state,
+rendering yourself guilty of infamous deceit toward a family and an
+unfortunate young woman whose health you will ruin, trusting in the
+obligation of secrecy which ties my tongue, I must inform you that I
+have a much higher duty than that of a doctor toward his patient&mdash;my
+duty toward society, which I shall fulfill, and so prevent an innocent
+person from becoming your victim."</p>
+
+<p>This is my view of the duty of a conscientious doctor who upholds the
+dignity of his profession. An analogous case came under my
+observation: A young tuberculous subject affected with several "white
+swellings" wished to marry. He refused to listen when I declared that
+he would be guilty of a crime toward his <i>fianc&eacute;e</i>. Thereupon I told
+him that I should tell everything to the young girl. I did this at
+once and so <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439">[439]</a></span>prevented the marriage. This egoist succeeded later on in
+capturing the heart of another young girl, whom I also warned, but who
+married him out of pity. At any rate I consider that I did my duty.</p>
+
+<p>In my opinion, this is also our duty in cases of chronic gonorrhea,
+insanity, and hereditary or constitutional sexual perversions, etc.
+Formerly, when sexual inversion was regarded as an acquired vice, it
+was attempted to cure it by marriage. Such a social monstrosity is
+even seen at the present day, and certain ignorant doctors recommend
+it. We sometimes meet with inverts who desire to procreate homosexual
+beings like themselves. As sexual intercourse with the objects of
+their perverted passion cannot give them this pleasure, they marry in
+order to procreate children by some poor woman whom they have
+victimized, without in the least renouncing their homosexual orgies.
+Their wives play the part of housekeeper or servant, whose accessory
+function is to breed young inverts! Is it necessary to say that any
+self-respecting doctor who is aware of this state of affairs should
+never countenance such marriages? Here again, his duty is to threaten
+the invert with immediate denunciation to his <i>fianc&eacute;e</i>, when he
+appears determined to accomplish his crime.</p>
+
+<p>Again, the doctor may be consulted with regard to certain hereditary
+taints, or possibly only a bad ancestral history, and whether marriage
+is advisable under the circumstances. In some cases there may be some
+doubt and it is necessary to know the opinion of the other party
+concerned, and whether this party is also affected in a similar way,
+etc. The first duty of the doctor is to demand absolute frankness and
+to say, "under this or that condition and in such and such
+circumstances, you may perhaps marry, but under no pretext have you
+the right to conceal the truth from your betrothed. It is to your own
+interest to be frank, for no marriage founded on deceit can be happy.
+Give me permission to discuss the matter with your <i>fianc&eacute;e</i> (or
+<i>fianc&eacute;</i>). We shall then see what is best to be done."</p>
+
+<p>In my experience, the person who consults a doctor usually accepts
+this proposal, and we can thus avoid many misfortunes and do much
+good.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_440" id="Page_440">[440]</a></span>It is impossible to fix a general rule. According to the degree of
+hereditary taint or the nature of the infirmity, we allow marriage
+with or without children, or do not allow it. In such cases it is
+rarely necessary to have recourse to the threat of denunciation, but
+this may be required in the case of egoistic or vicious individuals.
+On several occasions a betrothed couple have come to me for advice as
+to their proposed marriage, and have freely disclosed their most
+intimate relations and antecedents. This is as it always should be, if
+men were more loyal in sexual matters and understood better their true
+interests. In this way the doctor's task is greatly facilitated. When
+the public is more enlightened on the whole question it will become
+more and more easy to arrive at a just conclusion, even without the
+doctor's help.</p>
+
+<p><b>Artificial Abortion.</b>&mdash;We have already spoken of another question
+which is often put to doctors&mdash;that of artificial abortion. (Vide
+Chapter XIII.) In every case of this kind all the circumstances must
+be carefully weighed. I repeat here, that in the future more attention
+should be paid to social interests, instead of always requiring the
+preservation of an embryo for the sole reason that the state of the
+mother does not contra-indicate pregnancy or accouchement. The
+question is whether a miserable abortion or an idiot should be allowed
+to come into the world. If we allow children who are born monsters,
+idiots or invalids to live, we should at least do what we can to
+prevent them being born. It will no doubt be objected that it is much
+easier to recognize the quality of a child after birth than before,
+and this objection is quite legitimate. But so long as the laws
+protect the lives of the most miserable monsters we must get out of
+the difficulty as best we can.</p>
+
+<p><b>Treatment of Sexual Disorders.</b>&mdash;We cannot enter here into all the
+details of a purely medical question, and shall only touch on certain
+special points. Patients with venereal disease are often treated in a
+very defective manner, because many of them are ashamed to submit to
+rational treatment. The treatment of venereal diseases should be
+carried out with more regard for the feelings of the patients; there
+should be special hospitals for each sex, with separate divisions, so
+that patients <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_441" id="Page_441">[441]</a></span>can be treated without betraying their identity. The
+fear of being recognized prevents many better-class women from
+applying for treatment. The idea of being placed in the venereal
+divisions of a hospital along with common prostitutes is unbearable to
+them. For this reason I maintain that anonymous treatment should be
+instituted at hospitals in all the chief localities. This humanitarian
+work would benefit not only the patients, but society in general, by
+diminishing the number of venereal infections. Treatment by private
+practitioners is too costly for poor people and does not easily remain
+anonymous. Therefore, the creation of hospitals for venereal disease
+is very necessary in the public interest, and would benefit public
+health much more than the regulation of prostitution.</p>
+
+<p>The treatment of sexual perversions is also very important. These
+disorders are either hereditary, or acquired by auto-suggestion or
+evil example. By provoking suggestion and good habits in the opposite
+direction, hypnotic suggestion is alone capable of acting directly
+against the evil. Other remedies, such as distraction of the mind by
+work or fatigue, by marriage, electricity, etc., have only an indirect
+suggestive action. When a perversion has been acquired by
+auto-suggestion or by habit, especially in the case of onanism,
+hypnotic suggestion should always be employed. In compensatory
+masturbation, where normal sexual appetite exists, and where it is
+only the opportunity of satisfying it that is wanting, marriage or
+normal sexual intercourse are sufficient to cure the bad habit.</p>
+
+<p>We must not, however, too easily admit the existence of acquired
+perversions. Apart from compensatory masturbation, which is not a
+perversion, but only an outlet to a pent-up natural want, true
+acquired perversions are rather rare, and as we have seen generally
+auto-suggestive. Pederasts, sodomists, and others, whose perverse
+habits are truly acquired, have usually taken to them for want of
+something better, and prefer normal coitus if they have the
+opportunity and the means of procuring it. It is true, however, that
+some debauchees contract these perverse habits from desire for change,
+or from fear of infection or conception, but these individuals seldom
+consult the doctor.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_442" id="Page_442">[442]</a></span>Thus the individuals who consult a doctor are nearly always more or
+less pathological, and belong to the domain of hereditary or
+auto-suggestive perversions. For the first, at least, we avoid
+recommending marriage. Von Schrenck-Notzing has sometimes succeeded in
+transforming hereditary inversion into normal sexual appetite for
+women, by hypnotic suggestion. I have also succeeded myself, two or
+three times. After a cure of long duration, confirmed by frequent
+visits to prostitutes, Von Schrenck-Notzing has ventured to recommend
+marriage; but I have never done this, as I do not consider a cure
+sufficient to guarantee definite success, in the case of disorders so
+deeply rooted in the constitution. In such cases I have endeavored, as
+far as possible, to weaken the sexual appetite and induce the patient
+to be contented with nocturnal emissions. I have always debarred
+inverts from marriage, impressing them with the fact that to marry
+would be a crime, and that they had a hundred times better masturbate;
+or, if they wish to attempt intercourse with women, to be contented
+with a mistress, avoiding the procreation of children.</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately, our present laws and customs prevent us from
+recommending or even allowing inverts to "marry" their fellows, as
+they so strongly desire to do. This would be very innocent from the
+social point of view, and the poor wretches would be content, and
+would cease to be a menace to normal individuals.</p>
+
+<p>I am, therefore, of the same opinion as those who demand the
+suppression of all laws which punish or prosecute sexual inversion and
+pederasty committed between adults and in common agreement. So long as
+pederasts do not harm normal individuals, and so long as they do not
+seduce minors, they should be left alone, the same as all other
+sexually perverted individuals who are not dangerous. But when a
+patient of this kind wishes to be treated, through shame or nervous
+excitement, the doctor should hypnotize him and suggest distraction of
+mind by useful occupations. Psychic treatment is always the most
+efficacious. It is only in cases where it is certain that the
+perversion is purely acquired and easily curable that marriage can be
+allowed, or the procreation of children. I am not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_443" id="Page_443">[443]</a></span>referring here to
+sterile marriages between perverts or psychopaths, which we have
+mentioned above, and which can always be allowed when the two parties
+are fully enlightened on the subject.</p>
+
+<p>Frequent emissions, masturbation, sexual hyper&aelig;sthesia and impotence
+may often be improved or even cured by suggestion. In such cases, if
+the sexual appetite is otherwise normal, marriage need not always be
+prohibited. Each case must be judged on its merits.</p>
+
+<p>In sexual an&aelig;sthesia marriage is an error based on a grave
+misconception. Even in partial an&aelig;sthesia it may have deplorable
+effects. We are now only speaking of an&aelig;sthesia in man. Most young
+virgins are an&aelig;sthetic in the sense that they are not acquainted with
+the venereal orgasm and cannot tell how far their hitherto dormant
+sexual appetite will develop. The sexual instruction which we have
+recommended for young girls would have the advantage of making those
+who are absolutely sexually frigid disgusted with marriage and coitus,
+as soon as they know all about it.</p>
+
+<p>The consequences of sexual an&aelig;sthesia are much more innocent in woman
+than in man, because this an&aelig;sthesia neither prevents coitus nor
+fecundation. A woman who is sexually an&aelig;sthetic may marry a man who is
+affected with the same condition, when both parties are aware of the
+fact and desire to contract a union which is hardly sexual, but rather
+a union of minds with a common ideal. This is the true platonic love
+which is admitted in theory. It is not very common and must not be
+confounded with homosexual inclinations. It has its object of
+existence, for those affected with an&aelig;sthesia may feel the want of
+affection and of home, as well as sentimental communion. If they
+desire children they can adopt them.</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately for themselves, the subjects of sexual an&aelig;sthesia have
+as little idea of sexual sensations as a blind man has of colours;
+this causes them to commit great blunders, because they do not
+comprehend the nature of the sexual appetite in others, and often
+marry an erotic individual without knowing what they are doing.</p>
+
+<p>The special treatment of diseases of the male and female <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_444" id="Page_444">[444]</a></span>sexual
+organs is beyond the scope of this book. I may, however, remark that
+specialists are often wrong in treating the genital organs locally for
+pathological symptoms which depend on cerebral disorder, which can
+only yield to psychic treatment and suggestion. This is the case with
+many disorders of menstruation in women, psychic impotence and
+frequent seminal emissions in men, masturbation, etc., (except cases
+due to phimosis, or local irritation caused by worms, etc.) I hasten
+to add that this remark in no way excuses errors in the opposite
+direction, viz, neglect of local treatment, when this is indicated
+after careful examination.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_445" id="Page_445">[445]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XV<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>SEXUAL MORALITY</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p><b>Law and Morality.</b>&mdash;The limits of morality and law are difficult to
+fix. With the old conception of law and the expiation of crime it was
+otherwise. Yet it is precisely the old law, based on dogma and
+religious metaphysics, which has most usurped the domain of morality,
+by considering as crimes all kinds of acts which, without hurting men
+in the least degree, were opposed to the ruling ideas and prejudices
+concerning religion and morality.</p>
+
+<p><b>Human and Religious Morality.</b>&mdash;What then constitutes ethics or true
+human morality? A dogmatic system, of ethics has been built on a
+collection of commandments supposed to be inspired by God. Religions
+have established different duties toward God, and these duties or
+commandments are in part very inhuman. This has often resulted in
+direct contradictions between ethics attributed to divine revelation,
+and pure human ethics. Moreover, the divine commandments vary in
+different religions.</p>
+
+<p>The god of certain Malays commands them to eat the heart of their
+enemies; Jehovah was vindictive and jealous, ordering Abraham to
+sacrifice his own son to prove his faith, causing whole tribes to be
+annihilated, even drowning the whole of humanity by the flood, while
+the God of the Christians is milder and more conciliating; Allah rules
+as a fatalist and orders the massacre of the Christians and abstinence
+from alcohol, while Jesus Christ tells men to love their enemies and
+allows wine; the god of the Hindus orders the widow to follow her
+husband to the grave; a number of other gods exact human sacrifice;
+Buddha taught oblivion in the future, others a more or less eternal
+paradise, hell and purgatory, according to the conduct of men.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_446" id="Page_446">[446]</a></span>It will be agreed that it is difficult to obtain anything logical or
+coherent from the total of different religious moralities. As regards
+the sexual question, so-called divine commandments, such as those of
+monogamy and polygamy, directly contradict each other.</p>
+
+<p>For this reason, we will leave the so-called revealed morality to the
+priests of diverse religions who pretend to have received them
+directly from God, and will confine ourselves to the study of purely
+human morality. This should never be based on any dogmatic formula,
+like the above on their religious dogmas; it must be evolved from the
+natural conditions of human life.</p>
+
+<p><b>Morality and Hygiene.</b>&mdash;Morality is intimately connected with
+hygiene, and wherever there appears to be a contradiction between
+hygiene and ethics this is due to the fact that individual hygiene has
+only been considered, and not public or social hygiene&mdash;that is the
+hygiene of the race. It is the duty of the medical profession to place
+social above individual hygiene, to subordinate the hygienic welfare
+of the individual to that of society. A contradiction may exist
+between individual morality and hygiene, never between social morality
+and hygiene.</p>
+
+<p><b>Definition of Morality.</b>&mdash;How can we define morality or ethics?
+Liberated as far as possible from all hypothesis, ethics is
+theoretically the study of what is good or bad in human actions, and
+practically, as regards morality, the duty of doing good and avoiding
+evil. But this is hardly explicit, for what do we understand by good
+and evil? Not only do some consider good what others consider evil,
+but the words which Goethe puts into the mouth of the devil (in
+"<i>Faust</i>")&mdash;that while wishing evil he often did good&mdash;will always be
+true. This gives a faithful representation of the deplorable want of
+adaptation which exists between the good and evil effects of our
+actions on the one hand, and the goodness or wickedness of our motives
+on the other hand. The inverse is also true, for good intentions often
+have evil results. We must, therefore, carefully distinguish between
+the ethical motives of the good and bad effects of an action.</p>
+
+<p>If we continue our analysis we shall discover that the same action may
+be good for one and bad for another. When a wolf devours a lamb, it is
+good for the wolf but bad for the lamb. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_447" id="Page_447">[447]</a></span>We cannot live without
+destroying other lives, animal or vegetable. The money we earn comes
+out of the pockets of others without their always obtaining a
+corresponding profit, and so on. Morality is thus <i>relative</i>, and we
+have not the faculty of discovering anything which is absolutely good
+or absolutely bad in itself.</p>
+
+<p>All that men can expect by mutual exchange of their wisdom and good
+will is to do as little evil and as much good as possible, that is to
+say, to diminish the amount of their physical and psychic ills by
+improving their mutual conditions of existence, and thus increasing
+the amount of good. Even this is only possible by limiting the ideas
+of good and evil almost exclusively to humanity, trampling on the
+conditions of existence and the development of other beings, or at
+least concerning ourselves with them only as far as they are useful to
+us.</p>
+
+<p>Further, we have seen that it is very difficult to extend the
+conception of social welfare to all the living races of humanity, for
+some of them are at the same time so fecund and so inferior in
+quality, that if they were allowed to multiply around us without any
+precaution they would soon starve and supplant us. Then the barbarity
+of their lower instincts (vide weight of brain in different races at
+end of Chapter VI) would soon take the upper hand and become general,
+as the negroes of Hayti have shown us by a lesson which is worthy of
+our attention.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore, an exaggeration of moral sentiments, resting on a false
+basis, would have the positive result of striking a fatal blow at our
+social morality, slowly built up during hundreds or thousands of
+years.</p>
+
+<p>Lastly, the same action may first of all do evil and afterwards good,
+for example, a painful lesson; or <i>vice versa</i>, as in the satisfaction
+of a gluttonous appetite.</p>
+
+<p><b>Morality can only be Relative.</b>&mdash;It follows from these considerations
+that our moral duties can only be relative, and cannot bind us in the
+same way nor in the same degree to all living beings, not even to all
+men, if we would avoid sacrificing what is lofty to what is vile. In
+theory, the definition of human morality will consist in a just and
+scientific definition of social welfare <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_448" id="Page_448">[448]</a></span>and the exigencies which it
+imposes on individuals, in order that the latter do not do evil in
+attempting to do good. In practice, it will be the general effort made
+to develop successfully this social welfare by the aid of individual
+will. This presupposes in the first place education of the will, the
+dispositions to useful work, and the altruistic sentiments of each
+individual. It is neither theoretical dogma nor preaching, but action
+and example which make for the education of man.</p>
+
+<p>The noblest task of moral action is to strive for the welfare of
+future generations.</p>
+
+<p><b>Altruism and Egoism.</b>&mdash;Properly understood, altruism and egoism do
+not form an antinomy, or only quite a relative antinomy. It is
+absolutely wrong to found social order by letting loose all our
+egoistic appetites without restriction. But it is quite as wrong to
+oppose them with an exaggerated and unnatural asceticism, which
+reflects in our eyes an erroneous ideal of altruism.</p>
+
+<p>When a bee or an ant disgorges the honey from its stomach for the
+benefit of its companions, it enjoys it. By sacrificing its life for
+the hive or the nest, it satisfies an altruistic or social instinct.
+Cannot man also be more happy in giving than receiving? How can we
+explain the great sacrifices, the martyrs who suffer and die for their
+country, for their family, for science, for an idea, if enthusiasm&mdash;an
+expanded sentiment of pleasure&mdash;did not lead man to disinterested
+sacrifice, or if an inner obsession did not find its satisfaction in
+the welfare of humanity?</p>
+
+<p>Let us seek all measures which by social adaptation can ennoble our
+human egoism, reduce it to its indispensable and just measure, and
+maintain it in proper equilibrium, by the aid of an active altruism;
+that is to say, by social habits of self-sacrifice for the benefit of
+the community. We shall then obtain a paradise on earth, no doubt very
+relative, but far preferable to our present anarchy based on the
+strife of personal interests.</p>
+
+<p>The chief thing wanting is a good hereditary quality among human
+individuals, a quality which is still entirely left to chance, by the
+most deplorable selection; the second requisite is the education of
+character and will in our children. Our religion <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_449" id="Page_449">[449]</a></span>and our schools have
+shown themselves incapable of raising the bulk of the people above
+barbarism, that is to say from apathy, vulgarity of sentiment,
+routine, ignorance and prejudice. No doubt intellectual culture and
+religious ethics have accomplished a certain amount of moral progress,
+but the methods employed in our churches and schools have not advanced
+with science. They are in no sense adapted to our present moral wants
+and still less to the exigencies of the future.</p>
+
+<p>It is on the basis of a natural human morality, such as we have just
+described, that we must found sexual morality or ethics, and it is not
+difficult to form clear ideas on this subject, if we take the trouble
+to examine the facts explained in the first fourteen chapters of this
+book.</p>
+
+<p>From the social and moral point of view we may consider an action as
+<i>positive</i> or useful, <i>neutral</i> or indifferent, and <i>negative</i> or
+harmful. But the same action may be at the same time positive,
+negative or indifferent, relatively to one or more groups of
+individuals. But in ethics it is not only a question of the action in
+itself, but especially the inner motives which lead to it; for, to
+leave the good and ill of society to chance and ignorance, is to deny
+the possibility of progress. It is difficult for a man to accomplish
+positive social actions, when the moral sentiments of conscience and
+duty are wanting. On the other hand, a narrow-minded individual, with
+false judgment, will accomplish negative social actions through moral
+motives, while in certain cases an individual may accomplish positive
+social acts fortuitously through perverse motives. Through vengeance,
+a generous legacy may be left which injures an individual, while
+profiting the public. Without being perverse, motives may be simply
+egoistic and lead to good by calculated egoism.</p>
+
+<p>By altruist, we understand a man animated by powerful moral sentiments
+which preside over social humanitarian volitions. By the term pure
+egoist, we designate one in whom self forms the exclusive object of
+sentiments of sympathy. In himself, the egoist is indifferent from the
+moral point of view, so long as he injures no one, and the altruist
+himself cannot live without a certain amount of egoism. The ideal of
+social <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_450" id="Page_450">[450]</a></span>sentiment therefore consists in the combined action of
+egoistic and altruistic sentiments, adapted to the wants of society
+and its members. As among certain ants, there should exist a complete
+compensatory regulation between the egoistic sentiments and appetites
+on the other hand. The antagonist of altruism is not the egoist, but
+the perverse individual whose acts are by instinct almost constantly
+negative from the moral point of view. Egoism urges a man in such an
+irresistible way to abuse and harm others in order to satisfy himself,
+that a pure egoist can rarely remain indifferent from the moral point
+of view. These considerations suffice to show the impossibility of
+basing social order on pure egoism, as so many people desire.</p>
+
+<p><b>Sexual Morality.</b>&mdash;Sexual morality depends upon what we have just
+said. By itself, the sexual appetite is indifferent from the moral
+point of view. A great confusion of ideas, based on religious
+misunderstanding, has led to the term morality being more and more
+identified with that of moral conduct in the sexual domain. In short,
+ethics has been more or less confounded with sexuality. From this
+point of view, a sexually an&aelig;sthetic individual is regarded as
+extremely "moral," while he is perhaps in other respects a knave. In
+reality his sexual indifference has not the least moral value. For the
+same reason an invert is not virtuous because he does not seduce
+girls.</p>
+
+<p>From the Protestant point of view it is immoral to burden one's wife
+with continual pregnancies, while from the Catholic point of view it
+is immoral to interfere with these pregnancies by preventive measures.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, the sexual appetite gives rise to much conflict with
+human morality, for the simple reason that it looks upon human beings
+as objects of pleasure. Fetichism, in which the sexual appetite is
+directed toward inanimate objects, and sodomy, directed to animals,
+are by themselves almost incapable of entering into conflict with
+morality as we understand it.</p>
+
+<p>The opinion of many people who consider the employment of
+anticonceptional measures as immoral, while defending prostitution,
+shows how much ideas vary on the subject of sexual ethics. Preachers
+of morality, and even priests, sometimes blame a young man who wishes
+to marry his mistress, and urge <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_451" id="Page_451">[451]</a></span>him to get rid of her and the child
+by paying a sum of money. The inconsistency of men in the way they
+introduce their so-called moral ideas into sexual questions is simply
+incredible. Their heads are full of a jumble of hypocrisy, mysticism,
+prejudice, pecuniary interests, veneration for old traditional customs
+called good manners, a jumble which absolutely confuses all ideas of a
+healthy sexual morality. Look at the indignation of parents when their
+children become betrothed to persons whom they consider to be beneath
+them in social position, or who possess too little money! And all
+these people are unconscious of their immorality, which sails under
+the flag of morality!</p>
+
+<p>What standpoint are we to take in the sexual domain, which is free
+from prejudice, with regard to true human morality? This is the
+question which an honest and truly moral man has to put to himself.</p>
+
+<p>The first principle is the old medical adage: <i>Above all things do no
+harm</i>; the second is: <i>Be as useful as possible, both individually and
+socially.</i></p>
+
+<p>The commandment of sexual morality will thus be: <i>Thou shalt do no
+harm willingly to any person, nor to humanity, by thy sexual appetite
+or acts, and thou shalt do thy utmost to promote the happiness of thy
+neighbor and the welfare of society.</i></p>
+
+<p>Endowed with sexual appetite and the faculty of love, the social man
+will utilize both for the benefit of the community as well as his own.
+If he acts honorably his task will not be easy, but he will experience
+all the more satisfaction, for his good deeds will bring their own
+reward. He should bear in mind the following examples:</p>
+
+<p>(1). A man of bad disposition, excited by momentary sexual passion,
+seduces a girl, makes her pregnant, and then disappears. He injures
+his victim and himself without deriving any advantage. His action is
+therefore negative, and is to be condemned both from the ethical and
+the egoistic point of view.</p>
+
+<p>(2). Through motives of religious morality, a virtuous girl marries a
+depraved drunkard in order to save him. This rarely succeeds, and if
+it does it is generally incomplete. From the egoistic point of view
+this experiment is exclusively negative. From the altruistic point of
+view the motives are, it is true, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_452" id="Page_452">[452]</a></span>very positive, but the social
+effects are still more negative. If all goes well, our virtuous and
+exalted girl will succeed in improving the drunkard, but if she
+procreates children, she will have unconsciously sinned against them,
+and her good action will result in the sins of the father being
+visited on the children.</p>
+
+<p>(3). A man with marked hereditary taints, impulsive, psychopathic and
+possessed of a strong sexual appetite, marries an honest girl of good
+family, and has several children by her. Such an action is positive
+from the egoistic point of view, for the individual in question
+benefits himself. From the ethical point of view, it is negative, for
+it makes an honest woman unhappy, and probably leads to the
+procreation of children of bad quality.</p>
+
+<p>(4). A man, healthy in body and mind, capable, hardworking and full of
+ideals, finds a suitable companion. Instead of leading an easy life,
+they both undertake as much work as possible, especially social
+duties, and procreate at sufficient intervals as many children as they
+can without injury to the health of the wife. This is an ideal
+combination of positive altruism with positive egoism.</p>
+
+<p>It is not every one who has the good fortune to fulfill the conditions
+necessary for this combination. A positive sexual morality is,
+however, by no means excluded in less favorable conditions. Certain
+psychopathic or feeble individuals may contract sterile marriages in
+the manner previously indicated, and may recompense themselves for the
+absence of children by devoting themselves all the more to social
+duties, or to the education of abandoned orphans.</p>
+
+<p>When a union is concluded between a person who is capable in all
+respects, and another who is not, the latter should give the other
+permission to procreate children by a third party, more adapted to
+give rise to healthy offspring. Although this is immoral according to
+current conventional opinion, it seems to me that such a proceeding
+could become reconciled with positive morality in the future.</p>
+
+<p>In short, whoever understands the true nature of sexual ethics will
+always find a means of accomplishing good actions and avoiding bad
+ones, at the same time satisfying his normal appetites, provided these
+injure no one.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_453" id="Page_453">[453]</a></span>The truly moral man will never become the accomplice of such a social
+iniquity as proxenetism with prostitution and all its satellites, but
+will oppose them with all his power. He will always avoid doing wrong
+to any one by his sexual appetite; and if his passion drives him to a
+thoughtless act, he will do his utmost to redress the bad effects
+which may result from it.</p>
+
+<p>The psychological action produced by conjugal infidelity merits
+special attention. It depends on the more or less egoistic or
+altruistic qualities of the one who becomes enamored of a third
+person. I have observed the two chief varieties of cases. If the
+guilty husband has naturally moral and social sentiments, his
+extra-nuptial love renders him still more affectionate toward his
+legitimate wife. He eases his conscience by becoming more indulgent to
+his wife. When his amorous intoxication is over, he will try to avoid
+everything which may damage the reputation of the other woman, and
+will provide for her future. If there are children by this adultery,
+he will provide for them.</p>
+
+<p>It is the same with a married woman who is in love with another man.
+In this case the whole personality is more powerfully involved than in
+man. But on the other hand, the natural energy of the woman will lead
+her to try and arrange a marriage between her lover and some other
+good woman, and to resist coitus with him.</p>
+
+<p>If the matter goes as far as complete infidelity, and even without it,
+various reactions may be observed. When her sentiments are monogamous,
+as is the case with most women, the love of a woman for her husband
+disappears and is replaced by pity. She easily becomes peevish in her
+resignation. She often seeks divorce, even when adultery has not taken
+place. When she is polyandrous, as is the case with many hysterical
+women, she is quite capable of lavishing her caresses on her husband
+as well as her lover, a thing which is impossible for normal women.</p>
+
+<p>What induces want of respect for his wife in the unfaithful egoist, is
+not so much the monogamous sentiment, which is somewhat exceptional in
+man, but intoxication of his senses by another woman. He then becomes
+miserly and disagreeable toward his wife, finding fault with her in
+every way, but the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_454" id="Page_454">[454]</a></span>innocent and deceived victim finally discovers the
+true cause of this change of manner. Some women who are ill-treated in
+this way, preserve their love for their husbands, while others never
+pardon the slightest infidelity, not even an innocent platonic
+affection, in their husbands.</p>
+
+<p>The brutality of a husband toward his wife, when he is in love with
+another, often knows no limits. From bad temper, chicanery, contempt
+and hatred, he often goes on to blows and even murder, as the annals
+of criminology prove too well. Egoistic women who have a lover, also
+treat their husbands badly. Owing to their legal subordination and
+comparative physical weakness, they reveal their sentiments in a less
+brutal form, but malice and bad temper are not wanting. In such cases,
+the woman's principal weapon is cunning, which may go as far as
+poisoning the husband. More commonly she simply abandons him, to force
+him to divorce.</p>
+
+<p>There are many transitions and varieties, but the reactions we have
+mentioned are the most common. It is quite natural, when one of the
+conjoints falls in love with a third person, for the sexual appetite
+to become cold toward the conjoint, and for this frigidity to make her
+appear less desirable and show up her defects.</p>
+
+<p>Sexual morality is twice mentioned in the ten commandments of Moses:</p>
+
+<p>Seventh commandment: <i>Thou shall not commit adultery.</i></p>
+
+<p>Tenth commandment: <i>Thy shall not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his
+man servant, nor his maid servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor
+anything that is thy neighbor's.</i></p>
+
+<p>In the eleventh commandment of Jesus Christ the words: <i>Thou shall
+love thy neighbor as thyself</i>, represent approximately the point of
+view of modern ethics. Nevertheless contemporary social progress
+requires more and better. It is not so exalted as to say "Love those
+who persecute you," but it demands a more rational and better
+formulated ethics, somewhat as follows: <i>Thou shall love humanity more
+than thyself, and thou shalt seek thy happiness in the welfare of its
+future.</i> Such a formula expresses the commandment of sexual ethics as
+we have defined it.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_455" id="Page_455">[455]</a></span>In the commandments of Moses the wife is regarded as property, and the
+desire for the wife of one's neighbor is threatened with divine
+punishment inasmuch as it covets the property of one's neighbor. When
+woman is treated as a free subject and as the equal and companion of
+man, it is evident that a fundamental revision of such ideas is
+requisite. Certain forms of adultery with voluntary consent on both
+sides may even become positive from the moral point of view.</p>
+
+<p><i>In spite of this, one of the principal tasks of man's sexual morality
+will always be to restrain his erotic polygamous desires, for the
+simple reason that they are especially apt to injure the rights and
+the welfare of others.</i> We must make exception for certain special
+cases in which no one is injured. (Vide Couvreur's "<i>La Graine</i>," and
+de Maupassant's "<i>Mouche</i>.")</p>
+
+<p>The novelist loves to treat of tragic situations, often giving them a
+fatal ending to excite the feelings of his readers. We must avoid
+basing sexual ethics on such ideas. The average man, or even one whose
+nature is a little above the average, is rarely as passionate as the
+heroes in novels. He does not commit suicide for rejected love, but
+finds compensation in time. He can even overcome jealousy.</p>
+
+<p>It is thus an exaggeration, depending partly on the suggestion and
+auto-suggestion of amorous intoxication, to require in the ethics of
+love the absolute fusion of the personality of two human beings, a
+mutual fusion of sentiments and ideas destined to last till death.
+This kind of morality reverts to dual egoism, and in no way represents
+the ideal of human happiness. However beautiful conjugal fidelity, its
+exaggeration is deplorable, when it only results in the idolatrous
+worship of a single being, living or dead, and regards the rest of the
+world with indifference, if not with hostility.</p>
+
+<p>We have already shown that the altruistic sentiments of man are the
+direct or indirect<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> derivatives of the sexual appetite, and
+especially of sexual love. The true secret of sexual ethics <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_456" id="Page_456">[456]</a></span>consists,
+therefore, in a cult of altruism in the sexual domain. This cult
+should not waste itself in moral phrases, but show its strength by
+social deeds.</p>
+
+<p>A sad proof of human weakness is given daily by certain forms of
+modern ethics which waste themselves in public conferences or in
+declamations in the press. This kind of morality is in accordance with
+pure egoism. Without social work, it is not true morality, whether
+this work be public or modestly hidden.</p>
+
+<p>The struggle for existence was formerly carried on by man against
+nature, against animals, and especially against other men. Nature and
+animals (excepting the cosmic forces and microbes) are nowadays
+conquered by the human brain, and wars are seldom waged except between
+great empires, a fact which will sooner or later reduce them to
+absurdity. For this reason the morality of the god of war and of
+patriotic chauvinism has had his day and loses more and more his
+reason for existence. Modern ethics has already become a social and
+international human ethics, and will become more so in the future.</p>
+
+<p>As in olden times a true hero knew how to combine love of his wife
+with love for his country, to obtain in his conjugal union the
+strength to fight for his ideal, so our modern love will serve to
+stimulate us in the pursuit of an ideal, in our fight for social
+welfare. Man and woman must fight side by side, as this struggle
+requires from both an intense and lifelong effort. But it is precisely
+in this effort, in this work, that they will obtain their highest
+enjoyment. This effort supports and strengthens not only the muscles,
+but especially the mind, the cerebral energy.</p>
+
+<p>The struggle for social welfare prepares for us the highest and most
+ideal joy. It teaches man to master himself, to overcome his natural
+idleness, his desire for pleasure, his dependence on all kinds of
+futile habits and base appetites. It educates his will, curbs his weak
+and egoistic sentiments, while exercising his faculty for creating
+good and useful works. Thanks to this incessant strife, a brain of
+even mediocre quality may become a useful social instrument.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_457" id="Page_457">[457]</a></span>I ask in all sincerity if, living in the way we have just described, a
+man will find the time and inclination to indulge in the love stories
+which the novels of our libraries offer to readers of both sexes for
+their daily consumption? I reply: if the man is normal, no. It is only
+pathological natures, with their exaggerated sentiment and morbid
+passions, which remain incapable of mastering their passionate
+emotionalism and reducing it to silence. Other individuals, normal or
+semi-normal, are artificially urged to exaggerated exaltation in the
+sexual domain by idleness, by reading pernicious novels which excite
+their sexual appetite and their sentimentality, also by the artificial
+life and feverish activity of life in cities.</p>
+
+<p>Work in itself is not sufficient, and every one ought to add social
+work to his ordinary occupation. In fact, the monotony of any special
+occupation, and even the exclusive work of a scientific speciality,
+ends by giving the cerebral energy itself an exclusive character. The
+moral sentiments become atrophied. Exclusiveness in a speciality,
+practiced without any complement, easily leads to exclusiveness in
+love (not in the sexual appetite!). We often see two egoists, or
+several in a family, working together to exploit the rest of society.
+As long as they keep in good health and their business prospers, as
+long as the egoistic plans of a third party do not upset their
+calculations, they may remain faithful to each other and live in
+comparative happiness. But what else?</p>
+
+<p>Whoever, on the contrary, has known how to combine with his conjugal
+love, a lively interest in humanity, will always find in the latter a
+consoling compensation for the greatest misfortunes and the most cruel
+losses. He will not fall into a state of despair, but will survive his
+trouble, and will become reconciled to men and society without
+expecting anything from them, for he will have been accustomed all his
+life to work in an impersonal manner.</p>
+
+<p>If I am accused of being enthusiastic over an ideal which is
+impossible to attain, I protest strongly. Good habits may always be
+acquired, and true altruists are found among the most modest of men,
+among simple workingmen or peasants who comprehend and realize the
+ideal I have just depicted.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_458" id="Page_458">[458]</a></span>In Chapter XVII we shall see in what way the dispositions of the child
+can be and ought to be developed in the direction indicated. It is
+needless to say that pure egoists and perverse individuals, who are
+negative from the moral point of view, in other words natures which
+are evil and harmful by heredity, can never be educated so as to
+become altruists. But these perverse natures do not form the majority.
+The great majority of men, although idle and indifferent, may still
+become habituated to social work by suitable education, as soon as the
+external forces which urge them to evil, such as drink and the greed
+for money, have been removed and replaced by beneficial forces.</p>
+
+<p>Lastly, the whole attention of humanity should be directed toward its
+proper selection, so as to increase the number of useful individuals,
+and diminish or gradually eliminate the bad and incapable. But this is
+the work of many centuries of enlightenment and education, a work
+which we can only begin at present. We find ourselves here in face of
+one of the weakest points in human nature, a weakness which consists
+in only becoming enthusiastic over progress which will enable self to
+attain its object, and not help others. When self does not quickly
+obtain a palpable result, it is paralyzed and discouraged, and turns
+its back on reform under the most futile pretexts. I will give an
+example:</p>
+
+<p>A young bachelor became enthusiastic over the social reform of
+abstinence from alcohol. For some years he worked with zeal, took part
+in numerous public demonstrations, and became an apostle of total
+abstinence. One day, after some failure, he turned his back on
+abstinence, declaring that the movement had no future. Nevertheless,
+the social movement of abstinence progressed without him. After some
+years, he was asked the reason why he had abandoned the movement.
+After having first of all repeated his pretext, he confessed that he
+did not wish to appear eccentric. He admitted that he had never felt
+so well as when he was an abstainer, appeared somewhat astonished to
+learn that the movement had made so much progress without him, was
+finally convinced of his error, and promised to return to the camp of
+the faithful.</p>
+
+<p>In common daily events of this kind lies the secret of the slow
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_459" id="Page_459">[459]</a></span>progress of every social reform. Men who are momentarily enthusiastic
+nearly always expect everything to progress according to their
+imagination, and when they see that it will be some time before any
+obvious result is attained, they become discouraged, because they have
+neither the personal courage nor the perseverance to remain in a
+minority and wait. The same want of perseverance, courage and judgment
+is found in the education of children, and it will take a long time to
+enlighten people on this subject.</p>
+
+<p>It would seem that we have lost sight of our subject in occupying
+ourselves with the irradiation of love, which forms the object of
+social sentiments or ethics (vide Chapter V). But it is by exactly
+understanding and realizing this irradiation of love that we shall
+gradually suppress the unhealthy social aberrations of the sexual
+appetite, and prevent them doing harm, by guiding them in the path of
+a healthy morality. It is not the severe external constraint of
+so-called moral laws, it is not by the threats or punishments of hell,
+nor the promise of paradise, nor the moral preachings of the priests,
+parents or pedagogues, nor an exalted asceticism, which can ever
+construct a healthy, just and lasting sexual ethics. It is not by
+words that we recognize the value of moral precepts, but by their
+results. It is quite certain that the sexual life of man can never
+rise above its present state without being freed from the bonds of
+mysticism and religious dogma, and based on a loyal and unequivocal
+human morality which will recognize the normal wants of humanity,
+always having as its principal object the welfare of posterity.</p>
+
+<p>Marriage should be considered as a means of satisfying the sexual
+appetite, and at the same time a moral and social school of life; not
+as a refuge for egoism. Division of duties, absolute equality of
+rights and social work in common, will solidify more and more the
+sexual bonds of two conjoints. By the aid of a better understanding of
+the wants of human society, the conjoints will learn how to overcome
+their egoistic sentiments, their polygamous inclinations, and their
+jealousy, etc.</p>
+
+<p>In striving for happiness, and especially for the sexual happiness of
+others, such conjoints will learn better how to excuse <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_460" id="Page_460">[460]</a></span>and pardon the
+sexual failings of other men. They will cease to despise the poor
+man's household, the girl-mother, the divorced wife, the concubine,
+even the poor invert, and other failings in their fellow beings. On
+the contrary, they will do their utmost to make their lot a happier
+one, by helping all those for whom help may be efficacious. They will
+find their greatest pleasure in this work, and if one of them becomes
+himself the victim of some sexual failing, he will be pardoned all the
+more easily, and will master it all the more quickly.</p>
+
+<p>There will then be no time to make life bitter by bad temper, slander,
+acrimony, sulking and other conjugal disputes. The husband will no
+longer behave with the despotism of a lord and master, and the wife
+will no longer think it her duty to humble herself. Religious dogmas
+will no longer separate man from woman. Priests will no longer be
+required in marriage. Lastly, there will be no more fear of death;
+this will be regarded as a welcome rest after the long labor and duty
+fulfilled of a well-spent life.</p>
+
+<p>I cannot help taxing with narrow-mindedness, and even unintelligence,
+persons who consider such an ideal of life as a fantasy impossible to
+realize, or as the product of exalted dreamers who do not know the
+world. No doubt this ideal cannot be attained by ill-constructed,
+unnatural beings, tainted by a morbid heredity, or depraved by
+idleness, vice and passion for pleasure, who have lost their
+elasticity and plasticity of brain or have never possessed them. It
+has, however, been often realized already by men and women of better
+quality. It is, therefore, necessary to act on the children, both by
+education and selection, in order to obtain a youth of superior
+quality.</p>
+
+<p>Let us not abandon the future of our race to the fatalism of Allah;
+let us create it ourselves!</p>
+
+<br />
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+<br />
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> It is true that the friendly union of individuals of the
+same sex is often fundamentally derived from the phylogenetic development of animal or
+human societies. But the sentiments of sympathy, on the sole basis of which such friendly
+unions may be developed, are only themselves the derivatives of the more primitive sentiments
+of sympathy of one individual for another, and these latter have originated in sexual attraction.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_461" id="Page_461">[461]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XVI<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>THE SEXUAL QUESTION IN POLITICS AND IN POLITICAL ECONOMY</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>Power and money have always been the principal aims of politics.
+Political economy is a science which deals with the great family of
+nations and their conditions of existence. Based on history,
+statistics and observation, it seeks for the laws which govern the
+production, consumption and division of goods, labor and its products,
+the social organization of nations, their health, the increase or
+decrease of the population, the death-rate, birth-rate, etc.</p>
+
+<p>I cannot here enter into the details of the domestic economy of the
+nation, as this is beyond my province. I may, however, point out that
+this science has too much neglected the natural sciences, owing to its
+traditional connection with politics.</p>
+
+<p>In 1881 Cognetti de Martiis<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> had already attempted to apply the
+ideas of evolution to political economy. Recently, Prof. Eugene
+Schwiedland of Vienna treated the same subject in an interesting study
+of the ideas of want and desire in human psychology.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> So far, it is
+only the quantity and not the quality of men which has been taken into
+account, originating from the false idea that man made in God's image
+can only come into the world in a perfect state. If he was often
+malformed in body and mind, this was the fault of his sins. Even
+hereditary degeneration to the third and fourth generation was
+considered as divine punishment for the sins of the fathers on the
+children.</p>
+
+<p><b>War.</b>&mdash;The despots of olden times, like those of to-day, have always
+regarded men as instruments of their ambition or even as food for
+cannon. When Napoleon I established a bounty for large families, he
+was no doubt thinking of the number of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_462" id="Page_462">[462]</a></span>soldiers he could make for the
+use of his son. He had good reason to provide for the replenishment of
+the ranks of his army. The mental quality of the individuals mattered
+little to him. Wars are a harmful factor in human selection, for they
+destroy or mutilate the fittest in the prime of life, while leaving
+the unfit and the aged.</p>
+
+<p>Moreover, we have already seen to what an extent the quality and even
+the quantity of soldiers suffer from venereal disease and alcohol.
+After certain long wars the male population has been decimated to such
+a point that polygamy had to be resorted to to reconstitute the
+nation. It is, therefore, obvious that wars have a bad influence on
+the sexual relations of men, and hence on the quantity, or what is
+still worse, the quality of a nation.</p>
+
+<p><b>Statistics.</b>&mdash;Political economy is still more important. I do not
+doubt the correctness of the figures which tell us that under this or
+that economic system the population increases, while under another
+system it diminishes, etc. But these are only summary data whose true
+causes remain in the dark. It is necessary to carefully study the
+factors which produce these figures. Emigration and immigration with
+their causes, the intimate habits of individuals and families, their
+willingness and aptitude for work, etc. One fact which follows another
+is not always the direct consequence of it and if we examine things
+more closely, we arrive at curious results.</p>
+
+<p><b>Alcohol.</b>&mdash;Things being otherwise equal, it is found that nations who
+abstain from alcohol and those who are moderate consumers are more
+prolific than nations who are addicted to drink. In Russia, for
+instance, the abstainers, although of the same race and living under
+the same conditions, are more prolific than their neighbors who drink.</p>
+
+<p>As we have already pointed out, alcohol greatly deteriorates the
+quality of man by blastophthoria, and we must agree with men such as
+Darwin, Gladstone, Cobden, Comte, etc., that alcohol (even in
+so-called moderation) does more harm to a nation than war, plague and
+famine together.</p>
+
+<p>We find here an economic factor of the first order, to which the
+majority of economists (with the exception of Cobden) are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_463" id="Page_463">[463]</a></span>blind. It
+is a very short-sighted policy to regard the alcohol industry as a
+source of wealth and welfare for nations. What an amount of labor,
+human power and valuable land is employed to produce this mischievous
+substance which, although useful in pharmacy and other industries,
+neither nourishes nor strengthens, but deteriorates the organism and
+leads to degeneration of the race! If it were not so sad, it would be
+ridiculous to observe the serious way in which high officials, or even
+scientists, calculate the product of taxes on distilled and fermented
+liquors, the laws for their import and export, the monopoly of their
+manufacture, etc. It is remarkable how the budget is balanced by the
+aid of the alcoholic intoxication of the people, and how people are
+made to believe that a masterpiece of political economy is thereby
+achieved. In reality, the health and strength of the nation are
+sacrificed. This kind of political economy can only be qualified as
+false and deceitful. We cannot too often nor too strongly stigmatize
+its destructive influence on sexual matters and on the hereditary
+energies of humanity.</p>
+
+<p><b>Density of Population.</b>&mdash;As regards the most desirable figures for
+population, opinions are diametrically opposed. Some authors look for
+the happiness of humanity in prolific reproduction, and imagine that
+by utilizing all parts of the globe an unlimited number of people
+could be supported by its produce.</p>
+
+<p>We cannot regard with favor this singular Chinese-like ideal, which
+would tend to transform the whole world into a huge cornfield for the
+raising of men like rabbits. Moreover, it is greatly to be feared that
+the real Chinese, when they have become sufficiently armed and
+re-civilized, will transform the surface of the earth into a human
+stable, if we do not take sufficient precautions.</p>
+
+<p><b>Neo-malthusianism.</b>&mdash;On the other hand, a certain group of idealists,
+the neo-malthusianists, have declared a war of extermination against
+all increase of the population. I have myself been accused by one of
+them of committing a crime by procreating more than four children!
+Neo-malthusianists of this kind only deal with quantity and do not
+concern themselves with quality.</p>
+
+<p>They recommend, as we do, the employment of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_464" id="Page_464">[464]</a></span>anticonceptional
+measures, but they do so without any discrimination. They address
+themselves to the altruistic and intelligent portion of the public,
+and induce the most useful members of society to procreate as little
+as possible, without recognizing that with their system, not only the
+Chinese and negroes, but, among European races, the most incapable and
+amoral classes of the population are those who trouble the least about
+their maximum number of children. Hence, the result they obtain is
+exactly the opposite of what they intend.</p>
+
+<p>Among the North Americans and New Zealanders, with whom
+neo-malthusianism is very prevalent, the number of births among the
+intelligent classes is diminishing to an alarming extent, while the
+Chinese and negroes multiply exceedingly. In France, the practice of
+neo-malthusianism is chiefly due to reasons of economy.</p>
+
+<p><b>Rational Selection.</b>&mdash;These two extremes, which are equally absurd,
+should be replaced by rational selection. Neo-malthusianism should be
+confined to the unfit of all kinds, and to the lower races. On the
+contrary, the fit should be urged to multiply as much as possible. By
+this means we obtain an indirect factor of the first order for a
+rational political economy; I even maintain that it is the most
+important of all. No doubt its action is extremely slow, and it would
+take centuries to obtain a definite result. But if the principle of
+proper human selection ever prevails, we may confidently hope for a
+good future for our descendants.</p>
+
+<p>A time will come when the human population of the earth will become
+more or less stationary. If, in the meantime, human nature has
+succeeded in appreciably improving its quality, and in gradually
+suppressing the physical and mental proletariat with its poverty,
+hunger and brutality, which now infests the world&mdash;then only will the
+dogmas of our modern neo-malthusianists acquire a certain object for
+the whole world.</p>
+
+<p>If humanity does not soon begin to degenerate by brutish accumulation,
+but finds in time the means to gradually elevate its quality, our
+future descendants will take care not to abandon rational selection. A
+capable and active man gives to society much more than he receives,
+and thus forms an economic asset. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_465" id="Page_465">[465]</a></span>A person who is unfit in body or
+mind, receives more than he gives, and thus constitutes an economic
+deficit.</p>
+
+<p><b>Contrary Selection.</b>&mdash;We have seen in Chapter VI how certain customs
+of essentially human origin ended by becoming part of religion.
+Unfortunately for humanity, religion and politics have at all times
+generally combined to do wrong. The celibacy of priests (to say
+nothing of the Inquisition, religious wars, and the fatalism of Islam)
+which is based on a kind of religious politics, has largely resulted
+in sterilizing the more intelligent among Catholic races.</p>
+
+<p>The prohibition of inquiry into paternity is another abominable custom
+of the same kind introduced by Napoleon. Laws of this nature lead to
+artificial abortion and encourage promiscuous intercourse. The safety
+of families and sexual intercourse lies in the duties of parents
+toward their children.</p>
+
+<p>The principal task of a political economy which has the true happiness
+of men at heart, should be to encourage the procreation of happy,
+useful, healthy and hard-working individuals. To build an
+ever-increasing number of hospitals, asylums for lunatics, idiots and
+incurables, reformatories, etc.; to provide them with every comfort,
+and manage them scientifically, is no doubt a very fine thing, and
+speaks well of the progress and development of human sympathy. But,
+what is forgotten, is that by concerning ourselves almost exclusively
+with human ruins, the results of our social abuses, we gradually
+weaken the forces of the healthy portion of the population.</p>
+
+<p>By attacking the roots of the evil and limiting the procreation of the
+unfit, we shall be performing a work which is much more humanitarian,
+if less striking in its effect.</p>
+
+<p>Formerly, our economists and politicians hardly ever considered this
+question, and even now very few are interested in it, because it
+brings neither honors nor money, as we do not ourselves see the fruits
+of such efforts. Any one who aims at serious reforms and puts his hand
+to the work is looked upon as eccentric, or even mad. This is why we
+are contented with the kind of humanitarianism which makes a show and
+panders to the sentimentality of the masses, by holding out a
+charitable hand to the visible and audible evils which make women
+weep. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_466" id="Page_466">[466]</a></span>In short, we amuse ourselves with repairing the ruins, but are
+afraid of attacking what makes these ruins!</p>
+
+<p><b>The Laws of Lycurgus.</b>&mdash;There was once in Sparta a great legislator
+named Lycurgus, who attempted to introduce a kind of human selection
+into the laws. He wished to make the Spartans a strong nation, because
+at that time bodily strength was almost the only ideal of the people.
+He understood the value of hardness but not that of work. The
+importance of selective elimination of the diseased and weak was
+apparent to his pre-Darwinian intuition, but in his time natural laws
+were not understood. However, in spite of their failings, the laws of
+Lycurgus succeeded up to a certain point in making the Spartans a
+strong nation.</p>
+
+<p>According to the laws of Lycurgus, the Spartan inherited no property,
+and was forbidden all luxury. He had to eat his simple black broth
+with his fellows, and to exercise himself continually in trials of
+strength and skill. Every Spartan had to marry, and the bonds of
+matrimony were strictly observed. Every weak child was eliminated. But
+there were two fundamental errors in the Spartan organization.</p>
+
+<p>First of all, the Spartan was a warrior, but not a worker, and
+although hardened, was an aristocrat. He left all labor to his slaves,
+and in this way strengthened his slaves and enfeebled himself in many
+respects. The value of work in strengthening and developing the brain
+and the whole body was not then understood.</p>
+
+<p>In the second place, all the efforts of the Spartans were directed
+toward muscular strength, bodily skill, courage, and simple wants, but
+not at all toward a life of higher intelligence or ideal sentiments.
+The exclusiveness with which they only promoted man's bodily
+development, while neglecting his intellect, their negligence of the
+laws of organic evolution due to ignorance of natural science, would
+sooner or later have led to the decay of the Spartans.</p>
+
+<p>However, it was not the laws of Lycurgus in themselves, but their
+abandonment, which was the direct cause of the decadence of Sparta.
+The Spartans only sought for power, and this led to envy and jealousy,
+a deplorable although indirect result of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_467" id="Page_467">[467]</a></span>exclusiveness of their
+laws. These laws, however, will always constitute a unique historical
+document, a remarkable attempt at human selection.</p>
+
+<p>We are at the present day incomparably better armed intellectually
+than Lycurgus to deal with the question of selection. What is chiefly
+wanting is initiative on the part of the men who are charged with the
+government of their fellows. They are so deeply absorbed in economic
+interests and rival influences, that all desire of aspiring to a
+higher social ideal is paralyzed and etiolated in them. We require a
+powerful social shaking if we are to make steady progress.</p>
+
+<p><b>Politics and the Sexual Question.</b>&mdash;"<i>Cherchez la femme</i>" is the
+common expression when anything unusual occurs in society. It would be
+more correct to say "Look for the sexual motive!" The actions of men
+are determined much more by their passions and sentiments than by
+purely intellectual reflection, <i>i.e.</i>, by reason and logic.</p>
+
+<p>But no sentiment is stronger than the direct sexual sentiment, or its
+derivatives&mdash;love, jealousy and hatred. From this results a fact which
+social systems have too much neglected, namely: that in all the
+domains of human social activity, the sexual passions and their
+psychic irradiations often interact directly or indirectly in a
+mischievous way. Mistresses and courtesans have always played a
+considerable part in political intrigue.</p>
+
+<p>It is not necessary to have such a tragic scandal as that which caused
+the assassination of the king and queen of Servia. Everyday
+influences, even the smallest and most dissimulated, are often the
+most efficacious. Sexual intrigues have at all times influenced and
+directed the fate of nations. History relates a number of cases of
+this kind, but there are many more which have never been revealed to
+the public. It is sufficient to mention this fact. Every one who
+reflects will find an illustration of it, in the history of the past
+as well as in the politics of the present, in the courts of monarchs
+and in small democracies, in the local history of provinces, in his
+own parish, and lastly among his own relatives, friends and
+acquaintances.</p>
+
+<p><b>Sexual Life in Social Action.</b>&mdash;The socialist who said that the
+social question was exclusively a question of stomach mistook <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_468" id="Page_468">[468]</a></span>its
+scope as well as human psychology. However admirably the economic
+relations of men and their work may be regulated, the introduction of
+sexual passions into social life will never be eliminated. All that
+can be done is to give both sexes an education which will elevate
+their social conscience and attenuate the evil influences exercised by
+personal sexual sentiments on social actions.</p>
+
+<p>The sexual question, therefore, intervenes in politics and in the
+whole of social life. Moreover, if the deplorable social influence of
+money and the attraction it exerts could be eliminated, antisocial
+acts, which only depend indirectly on the sexual passions, would lose
+much of their danger and infamy.</p>
+
+<p><b>The R&ocirc;le of Women.</b>&mdash;Here again, much may be expected from the free
+emancipation of woman, and from her work in social questions in
+conjunction with man. This work in common will make them more clearly
+understand the high importance of their social task. Then sexual life
+will encourage social development instead of hindering it; it will
+cease to be considered as an egoistic pleasure but as a means of
+procreation, and will become the acme of an existence founded on the
+joy of work.</p>
+
+<p>We can already see, in countries where women have a vote, that they
+know very well how to benefit by social progress. If it is objected
+that woman is more conservative and more routine than man, I reply
+that this inconvenience is compensated by the fact that she is on the
+whole more inclined to enthusiasm, and to be led by noble masculine
+natures, who have the sense of the ideal, than by others (vide Chapter
+V). Her great perseverance and courage are also inestimable qualities
+for social work which aims at true progress.</p>
+
+<p><b>Necessity and Desire.</b>&mdash;In the work which I have already quoted,
+Schwiedland points out the need for distinguishing between necessity
+and desire, in political economy. In practice it is no doubt difficult
+to always make an exact distinction between necessity and luxury. What
+our ancestors considered as luxuries we now regard as necessities. Man
+knows no limits in his desires; he is insatiable in his passion for
+pleasure and change. Certain socialists, especially anarchists, make a
+great <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_469" id="Page_469">[469]</a></span>mistake in proclaiming the right of man to satisfy all his
+desires. This is a proclamation of corruption and degeneration. As it
+is just to exact the right to satisfaction of the natural wants of
+each, so is it unjust to sanction every desire and every appetite.</p>
+
+<p>It is a question of distinguishing between good and useful wants and
+evil desires. All wants which promote a healthy life, all instincts
+which lead to social work, are good. All desires, which damage the
+health and life of the individual or injure the rights and welfare of
+society, are bad, and are the procreators of luxury, excessive
+concupiscence, and often corruption. Between these two extremes there
+are desires which are more or less indifferent, for example, that of
+possessing objects of beauty.</p>
+
+<p>Certain objects of human desire are harmful in themselves, such as the
+use of alcoholic liquor and narcotics. Others are only harmful when
+pushed to excess, such as good living, sexual pleasures, personal
+adornment, etc. Among the things desired by man, sexual pleasure plays
+a great part. Thus, when a pasha or a sultan provides himself with a
+large number of women, this excess is harmful from the social point of
+view, as it injures the rights of others. I have sufficiently dwelt on
+this fact elsewhere. I wish only to indicate here, with Schwiedland,
+how necessary it is to fix the limits between necessities and desires
+from the point of view of political economy, however relative and
+subjective these limits may be.</p>
+
+<br />
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+<br />
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> "Le forme primitive nella evoluzione economia."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> "Die psychologischen Grundlagen der Wirtschaft."
+<i>Zeitschrift f&uuml;r Sozialwissenschaft</i>, 1905.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_470" id="Page_470">[470]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XVII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>THE SEXUAL QUESTION IN PEDAGOGY</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p><b>Heredity and Education.</b>&mdash;If we review the facts contained in
+Chapters IV, VI, VII and VIII, we must conclude that the sexual
+appetite, sensations and sentiments of every human being consist of
+two groups of elements: (1) <i>phylogenetic</i> or hereditary (hereditary
+mneme); and (2) elements <i>acquired</i> during life by the combined action
+of external agents and habit or custom.</p>
+
+<p>The first lie dormant in the organism for a time, in the form of
+latent energies or dispositions, and form part of what is called
+<i>character</i>. Most of them do not disclose themselves till the age of
+puberty, and their development afterwards takes place under the
+influence of external stimuli, which are modified by the will of the
+individual, <i>i.e.</i>, by his brain.</p>
+
+<p>The second are the result of the influence excited by erotic
+excitations and habit on the first.</p>
+
+<p>Pedagogy can in no way change the first, for they are predetermined,
+and constitute the soil to be cultivated by education. The task of the
+latter can, therefore, only be to guide the hereditary sexual
+dispositions into paths as healthy and useful as possible. In the case
+of perverse dispositions, such as homosexual appetites, sadism, etc.,
+moral education can only act in a general way on the character, and
+combat that which excites the appetites. It cannot change the
+character of the latter; there must be no illusion on this point.
+Wherever hereditary dispositions present a normal average, education
+can do much to avoid pathological errors and habits, by guiding the
+sexual appetite in a healthy direction and by avoiding excess.</p>
+
+<p><b>Sexual Education of Children.</b>&mdash;Habit always diminishes the erotic
+effect of certain perceptions of the senses; and inversely, eroticism
+or sexual desire is especially excited by unaccustomed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_471" id="Page_471">[471]</a></span>perceptions
+and images relating to the other sex. The adult, unfortunately, nearly
+always makes the same error in pedagogy; he unconsciously attributes
+his own adult sentiments to the child. What excites the sexual desire
+of an adult is quite indifferent to a child. It is, therefore,
+possible to speak plainly to children to a certain extent on sexual
+questions, without exciting them in the least; on the contrary, if the
+child becomes accustomed to consider sexual intercourse as something
+quite natural, this will excite his curiosity to a much less degree
+later on, because it has lost the spice of novelty.</p>
+
+<p>If the child is accustomed to the sight of nudity in adults of his own
+sex, he will see nothing peculiar in his own sexual organs and pubic
+hairs when these develop. On the other hand, children brought up with
+strict prudery and in complete ignorance of sexual matters, often
+become greatly excited when their pubic hairs develop; they feel
+ashamed and at the same time erotic. When they are not prepared, girls
+become still more excited at the first appearance of menstruation, and
+boys at their first seminal emission. The mystery which is made of
+everything relating to sexual matters is not only a source of anxiety
+to children, but also excites their curiosity and the first signs of
+eroticism, so that they generally end by being instructed on the
+subject by other depraved children, by observing copulation among
+animals, or by obscene books, in a manner which is certainly not
+favorable to healthy development. What is still worse is that the
+child is generally instructed at the same time in masturbation,
+prostitution, and sometimes even sexual perversion.</p>
+
+<p>The so-called innocence, or na&iuml;ve ignorance, of an adolescent
+possesses quite a peculiar charm of attraction for libertines of both
+sexes, who find a refined erotic pleasure, a unique relish, in the
+seduction of the innocent, in the role of "initiator in the sexual
+art." Parents, unfortunately, seldom realize the evil consequences of
+their passiveness, I will even say cowardice, in making use of
+subterfuge, pretext and falsehood, to elude the na&iuml;ve questions of
+their children concerning sexual matters. I will here quote the
+opinion of an enlightened mother of a family, Madame Schmid-Jager, an
+opinion with which I entirely agree:</p>
+
+<div class="block"><p>"All mothers, or nearly all, bring up their daughters with a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_472" id="Page_472">[472]</a></span>
+view to matrimony. Can we pretend that they are properly
+prepared for it? Alas! no; the most elementary knowledge which
+should be possessed by the future wife and mother is neglected,
+and for centuries our young girls have been married in more or
+less complete ignorance of their natural functions and duties.
+The slaves of routine will reply that it has always been so,
+that the world has been none the worse for it, and that women
+when once married have always learnt by personal experience all
+that was necessary. No doubt they are sometimes taught to cook
+and sew and to do household work, but they are told nothing
+concerning their sexual functions, nor of the consequences of
+these. At Zurich a school has been instituted for nurses and
+midwives which will soon give good results. This school is also
+open to young girls who, without becoming professional nurses,
+desire to learn how to take care of the sick in their own
+families, and especially the newly born. This is an experiment
+worthy of encouragement which should be extended universally.</p>
+
+<p>"The awkwardness, incapacity and ignorance of a young wife, when
+she starts housekeeping and has a baby, are astonishing. She
+often pays dearly for it, in spite of the instinct which is so
+much talked about. It is not the same as with animals, whose
+instincts are sufficient for the care of the young.</p>
+
+<p>"A lady doctor of Zurich, Madame Hilfiker, has lately developed
+a scheme of much greater importance, which will require a great
+effort on the part of women and the intervention of legislation,
+if it is to be realized. Men, she says, maintain their muscular
+strength by military service. Every young woman, who is not
+prevented by her occupation, should perform the equivalent of
+military service, from the age of eighteen, in obligatory
+service for a year, in hospitals, asylums, maternities,
+<i>cr&egrave;ches</i> (public nurseries) or public kitchens. Such training
+would be extremely useful for future wives, and would at the
+same time provide the institutions in question with useful
+workers. Why should men be the only ones to perform obligatory
+social service? I expect," says Madame Schmid, "many adverse
+criticisms on this proposal, one of which I will refute <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_473" id="Page_473">[473]</a></span>at
+once. The ladies of the middle classes will strongly object
+because their daughters will see and hear so many things which
+ought to be hidden till they marry! But why should they be
+hidden? In order to prepare our daughters for marriage, is it
+not logical to begin by telling them what it is, what it
+involves and what it exacts?" ("<i>L'Education sociale de nos
+filles</i>," 1904.)</p></div>
+
+<p>In neglecting this duty our parents and teachers commit a veritable
+crime. Does a normal man ever marry without knowing what he is doing?
+Yet our young girls are kept by their mothers in insensate and often
+dangerous ignorance of their whole future. Whoever invented this
+absurd and mischievous idea that a young girl should remain ignorant
+of her natural functions till the moment when she has bound herself
+for life to fulfill them? The law punishes persons who cause others to
+enter into contracts, while intentionally concealing the true
+conditions. This might almost equally well apply to parents who allow
+their daughters to marry in ignorance. Some women reply to this that
+marriage would be too sad and would have little attraction if it were
+not preceded by any illusion. Certain illusions which are natural to
+youth may be healthy, but the fantastic dreams which are in evident
+contradiction with reality, and nearly always followed by disillusion,
+are bad. A young woman who has always lived in a state of
+transcendental idealism till her marriage, infallibly courts
+disappointment, deception and heart-break. A wiser education would
+often succeed in sparing young women from this sudden and cruel
+disillusion. The moral level of men would also be raised if their
+future wives were better instructed in sexual matters, and exacted
+that the past life of their future husbands should give a better
+guarantee for the future.</p>
+
+<p>It must, moreover, be understood that blind and obstinate resistance
+to new ideas serves no purpose. Our manners and customs change in
+spite of us; our girls will no longer allow themselves to be led
+blindly, but will seek more and more freedom. Would it not be wiser to
+take things in time and warn them of the dangers ahead? With
+incredible carelessness parents send their daughters into service
+abroad, without considering <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_474" id="Page_474">[474]</a></span>that they may be at the mercy of the
+first Don Juan who comes across them, or even fall into the meshes of
+"white slavery," if they are left to go in ignorance of sexual
+affairs, as is often the case (vide Chapter X). Moreover, by no longer
+taking a false and artificial view of life, girls will be more capable
+of understanding and sympathizing with the misery which surrounds
+them&mdash;the troubles of unfortunate marriages, seduced and abandoned
+girls, etc. What they lose in illusion they will gain in more useful
+knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>How are we to begin? We should certainly not wait till the eve of
+marriage, but begin in childhood. In theory, it is wrong to lie to
+children, if they are to maintain unshaken confidence in their
+parents, and remain truthful themselves. No doubt we cannot explain
+everything to a child at the age when it begins to ask its mother
+certain embarrassing questions, but we should endeavor as far as
+possible to tell it the truth in a manner suitable to its age. When
+this is impossible, every child who knows that no reasonable
+explanation is ever refused it will be satisfied with the answer: "You
+are too young now to understand that; I will tell you when you are
+older." Every child who speaks openly to its mother asks sooner or
+later how children come into the world. It is easier to reply to this
+when the child has had the opportunity of observing the same thing in
+animals. Why should the mother conceal the fact that it is nearly the
+same in man as in animals? The child never thinks of blushing or
+laughing at natural phenomena.</p>
+
+<p>The initiation of children into the mechanism of reproduction is best
+obtained by the study of botany and zo&ouml;logy. If no mystery is made of
+these things in the case of plants and animals, why should not
+instruction be given in human reproduction? On this point Madame
+Schmid remarks as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"The father or the master should instruct the boys in this subject,
+and the mother or mistress the girls. Parents will then be able more
+easily to abandon their old and absurd prejudices, which they
+preserve, not so much because they attach any great importance to
+them, but because they shrink from the difficulty of explaining
+themselves to their children. We often see mothers, who would never
+have touched on the question with a child <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_475" id="Page_475">[475]</a></span>still ignorant of sexual
+matters, abandon the reserve hitherto observed in their language in
+the presence of the child, as soon as they perceive that it has become
+more or less acquainted with sexual phenomena. This is quite
+characteristic, and what is more so is that these mothers, and often
+also the fathers, frequently make equivocal jokes on the subject with
+their children instead of seriously discussing it.</p>
+
+<p>"It is regrettable that so few pedagogues take up these questions, and
+that the instruction of children on the sexual question is left to the
+most impure sources&mdash;domestic servants, depraved companions,
+pornographic books, etc. This results in a deplorable estrangement
+between the children and their parents or masters, which destroys
+mutual confidence.</p>
+
+<p>"If we wish to contend with sexual perversions acquired at an early
+age, or the precocious development of an unhealthy sexual appetite,
+this is not to be effected by prudery or vague moral preaching, but by
+affection and frankness. In this case, evasive replies, combined with
+so-called strict morals, only lead to estrangement, dissimulation and
+hypocrisy, and the result is often irreparable."</p>
+
+<p>Madame Schmid also insists on the necessity of making young girls work
+and learn some business, so as to render them capable of surviving in
+the struggle for existence without being obliged to throw themselves
+at the head of the first man who presents himself, or becoming the
+prey of prostitution. She also emphasizes the necessity of
+remunerating the wife for her work as mother and housekeeper, as the
+husband is remunerated for his work.</p>
+
+<p>It is needless to add that it is quite as necessary to instruct boys
+as girls in sexual questions. They do not run the risk, like girls, of
+falling through ignorance into the abject dependence of a forced
+marriage, and have no pregnancies to fear; but they are more exposed
+to temptation. When their sexual appetite has been once excited by
+masturbation or in some other way, it becomes very difficult to put
+them on the right path; to say nothing of the danger of venereal
+disease.</p>
+
+<p>I therefore appeal to all fathers and masters in the same way that
+Madame Schmid appeals to mothers and mistresses <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_476" id="Page_476">[476]</a></span>Take measures in time
+and do not wait till the boys are instructed by evil persons of either
+sex, or till they have already been seduced, thanks to their erotic
+curiosity. It is generally evil companions who seduce them, but
+sometimes erotic women.</p>
+
+<p><b>Exclusiveness in Education. Punishment. Automatism of Parents. Wants
+of Children.</b>&mdash;In the human brain, intelligence and sentiment are
+intimately connected with one another, and from their combination
+arise volitions, which in their turn, react more or less strongly on
+cerebral activity, according to their solidity and duration. It is
+thus a great mistake to think that we can treat separately, by the aid
+of theoretical dogmas, the three great domains of the human
+mind&mdash;intelligence, sentiment and will. It is a fundamental error to
+imagine that the intelligence can be educated only at school, leaving
+sentiment and will to the parents. But it is still more absurd to
+attempt to act on sentiment, especially on ethical sentiment, and on
+the conscience, which is derived directly from sympathy, by moral
+preaching and punishment. What false conceptions of the human mind lie
+in these moral sermons, in this theoretical moral teaching, in these
+punishments and anger! Is it credible that, by the aid of abstract and
+arid dogmas supported by punishment, conscience and altruistic
+sentiments can be impressed on the brain of a child, which is only
+accessible to concrete ideas, to sympathy, affection and amusement? We
+may see daily, in nearly every family, parents finding fault with
+their children, in a vexatious, irritated or sorrowful tone of voice,
+to which the children reply by inattention, or tears, or more often by
+a repetition of the same tone of irritation. These scoldings pass
+through the child's mind without leaving any trace of an effect. Such
+stereotyped scenes produce in the intelligent observer the painful
+impression of two barrel-organs whose tunes are automatic. If this is
+the kind of moral teaching which is supposed to act on the child's
+mind, it is not astonishing that it has futile and even harmful
+effects. The parents do not appreciate the fact that when scolding
+their children they are only giving vent to their own bad temper. But
+the children are well aware of this fact, consciously or not, and
+react accordingly. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_477" id="Page_477">[477]</a></span>most deplorable thing is that they copy all
+these bad habits, like monkeys.</p>
+
+<p>True moral teaching, the true way of influencing children for good,
+lies in the manner of speaking to them, treating them and living with
+them. Affection, truth, persuasion and perseverance should be manifest
+in the acts and manners of parents, for these qualities only can
+awaken sympathy and confidence in the breasts of children. It is not
+cold moral speech, but warm altruistic feeling, which alone can act as
+a moral educator of children.</p>
+
+<p>A savant who delivers excellent and erudite lectures to his pupils in
+a dry and wearisome manner teaches them nothing, or at any rate very
+little. The students yawn, and are quite right in saying they could
+learn these things just as well out of a book. A teacher, however, who
+speaks with animation and knows how to hold the attention of his
+audience impresses his remarks on their brain. In the former case
+there is intelligence without feeling, while in the latter case the
+audience is held by the suggestive and contagious power of enthusiasm.
+Dry science, at the most, fills the memory, but it leaves "the heart"
+empty. What does not come from the heart has difficulty in entering
+the head.</p>
+
+<p>It is precisely in this way that the will must be exercised by
+perseverance. The child must be made eager for social work; he must be
+urged to all noble and disinterested actions, without stimulating his
+emulation by promises of reward, or by punishment.</p>
+
+<p><b>New Schools.</b>&mdash;The object we desire may be attained by a system of
+education such as that of the new schools (<i>Landerziehungsheime</i>),
+which were first founded by Reddie in England, afterwards by Lietz in
+Germany, by Frey and Zuberu&uuml;bler in Switzerland, and by Contou in
+France. These institutes have finally realized the ideas of Rousseau,
+Pestalozzi, Owen and Froebel.</p>
+
+<p>For the teacher who understands the psychology of children, it is a
+true pleasure to witness the teaching at these Landerziehungsheime.
+The children take a delight in their school and become the comrades of
+their master. Physical exercise, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_478" id="Page_478">[478]</a></span>the development of the powers of
+reason and judgment, the education of the sentiments and will, are all
+harmoniously combined. The children are not given the dry text-books
+of our schools, but made familiar with the works of the great authors
+and men of genius. Instead of their existence becoming etiolated under
+the weight of domestic duties, and under the sword of Damocles of
+examinations, they thrive by living as far as possible among the
+things they ought to learn. They thus assimilate the object of
+instruction, which becomes a living and useful part of their
+personality, instead of becoming encysted in the brain in the form of
+dead erudition like a foreign body, and filling it with formul&aelig; learnt
+by heart. Such formul&aelig; are ill-understood by children, and later on it
+is difficult for them to clear their brains of this indigestible
+rubbish to make room for the realities of observation and induction.
+The only punishments at the Landerziehungsheime are those which
+naturally result from the fault committed.</p>
+
+<p>The pupils and their masters bathe together in a state of nature. The
+sexual question is treated openly in these schools in a proper,
+natural and logical way. The open confidence which obtains between
+masters and pupils, combined with free intellectual and physical work
+and the absolute exclusion of alcoholic drinks, constitute the best
+preventive and curative remedy for masturbation, sexual precocity and
+all perversions which are not hereditary.</p>
+
+<p>It is needless to say that such schools cannot cure a pathological
+sexual hereditary mneme, whether it consists in perversion, precocity
+or some other vice. Every boarding school has its drawbacks, on
+account of the possible influence of mischievous individuals.
+Nevertheless, no boarding school offers such excellent conditions as
+the Landerziehungsheime, for as soon as a boy gives evidence of any
+sexual perversion, this perversion soon becomes well known, thanks to
+the good sense which prevails in the whole school.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p>
+
+<p><b>Standard of Human Value in the Child.</b>&mdash;Our pedagogy has hitherto not
+understood the true standard of human value. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_479" id="Page_479">[479]</a></span>The social value of a
+man is composed of two groups of factors; mental and bodily hereditary
+dispositions, and faculties acquired by education and instruction.
+Without sufficient hereditary dispositions, all efforts expended in
+learning a certain subject will generally fail more or less. Without
+instruction and without exercise, the best hereditary dispositions
+will become atrophied, or will give indifferent results. But
+hereditary dispositions not only influence the different domains of
+knowledge, as the traditional pedagogues of our public schools seem to
+admit, they also act on all the domains of human life, especially on
+the mind. Good dispositions in the domains of will, sentiment,
+judgment, imagination, perseverance, duty, accuracy, self-control, the
+faculty of thinking logically and distinguishing the true from the
+false, the faculty of combining &aelig;sthetic thoughts and sensations, all
+constitute human values which are much superior to the faculty of
+rapid assimilation or receptivity, and a good memory for words and
+phrases.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless these last faculties are almost the only ones which are
+taken into consideration in our examinations, which decide nearly
+everything in our schools and universities. Is it to be wondered at
+that, by the aid of such a false standard, mediocrities whose brains
+are only the echoes of their masters and those who bow to authority,
+climb to the highest official positions, and even to most of those
+positions which are not official?</p>
+
+<p>With a good memory and the gift of rapid comprehension, one can obtain
+everything, even without the protection of the clergy, freemasonry or
+any other powerful association or personality (male or female)! If
+they do not possess these natural secondary gifts, the most capable
+men, even men of genius, are passed over or only obtain a situation by
+circuitous routes and great efforts, after much loss of time.</p>
+
+<p>In the Landerziehungsheime, Dr. Hermann-Lietz uses a scale intended to
+estimate the psychological and social value of the pupils. First of
+all the results obtained from two standards are measured:</p>
+
+<p>(<i>a</i>) <i>Individual</i>: Does the actual value of work performed by the
+pupil always correspond to his faculties?</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_480" id="Page_480">[480]</a></span>(<i>b</i>) <i>Objective</i>: Is the work very good, good, mediocre or bad,
+compared with the normal human average?</p>
+
+<p>After this the different domains of psychology and human activity are
+passed in review, a thing which is quite possible in a school of this
+kind whose object is to carry out the integral education of man.</p>
+
+<p>1. <i>Bodily results</i>: Health, disease, weight of body, activity,
+walking, running, swimming, cycling, games, ski, gymnastics.</p>
+
+<p>2. <i>Conduct</i>: Order, cleanliness, punctuality. Conduct outside, etc.</p>
+
+<p>3. <i>Moral and religious results</i>: Conduct toward parents, masters,
+companions, self and others. Veracity, zeal and sentiment of duty;
+honesty in the administration of his personal property and that
+entrusted to him; sentiment of solidarity and disinterestedness. Is
+the pupil worthy of trust? Is he conscientious? Strength of moral
+sentiments, moral comprehension and moral will.</p>
+
+<p>4. <i>Intellectual results</i>: Practical work; gardening, agriculture,
+carpentry, turning, locksmith's work, work in forge. Drawing, writing,
+elocution, music. Knowledge of literature and human nature, physics,
+mathematics and natural science.</p>
+
+<p>5. <i>General results</i>: Strength of character, physique and
+intelligence; faculty of observation, imagination and judgment. Real
+value of practical work, artistic and scientific.</p>
+
+<p>Measured by such a standard, the human value of a pupil takes quite
+another character to that judged by the results of examinations. By
+means of this standard, it is possible to predict with much more
+certainty what kind of man the child will become. There is no need to
+add that there are no examinations in these schools, for the whole
+life is a perpetual examination.</p>
+
+<p>Samuel Smiles, in "<i>Self Help</i>" relates that Swift failed in his
+examinations, that James Watt (the discoverer of the motive power of
+steam), Stephenson and Newton were bad pupils, that an Edinburgh
+professor regarded Walter Scott as a dunce. [The same with Darwin, who
+says in his autobiography, "When I left the school I was, for my age,
+neither high nor low in it, and I believe that I was considered by all
+my masters and by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_481" id="Page_481">[481]</a></span>my father as a very ordinary boy, rather below the
+common standard in intellect."] These examples of the way in which the
+school of tradition judges human mental value might be multiplied a
+hundredfold, but they will suffice, especially if we compare them with
+the future of the distinguished pupils of colleges in practical life.
+These facts are not due so much to later development, as to the
+disgust inspired by our system of education in reflective minds which
+refuse to be overloaded with a heap of dry things learnt by heart,
+undigested, often hardly comprehensible, or open to contradiction.</p>
+
+<p>It is only on the basis of a just evaluation of man, from all points
+of view, that we can found a proper human selection.</p>
+
+<p><b>Coeducation.</b>&mdash;It is now beginning to be understood that the
+coeducation of the two sexes in schools, not only does no harm, but is
+very advantageous, both from the sexual and the moral points of view.
+In the universities it is already established. In children's schools
+and many primary schools it has always existed. It is especially the
+authorities of secondary schools who have raised opposition.</p>
+
+<p>In the secondary schools in Holland and Italy, as well as in some
+Swiss gymnasiums, coeducation has been introduced without the least
+inconvenience; on the contrary, it has led to the best results.</p>
+
+<p>A native of Finland, Miss Maikki Friberg, has lately made an appeal in
+favor of coeducation based on the excellent results obtained in her
+country. Some feared that sexual excitement would result; but this is
+an error, for the custom of daily co-existence of the sexes diminishes
+the sexual appetite. The forbidden fruit loses its charm as soon as it
+appears no longer to be forbidden!</p>
+
+<p>It is unnecessary to say that it is not intended that girls and boys
+should sleep in the same dormitories, nor bathe together in the
+costume of Adam and Eve! Our remarks do not apply to boarding-schools,
+but to coeducation in public schools.</p>
+
+<p>When we speak of coeducation, we generally meet with the argument that
+the nature and vocation of women differ from those of men, and that
+consequently their education ought to differ. To this I reply as
+follows: The external objects of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_482" id="Page_482">[482]</a></span>world, the branches of human
+knowledge, in fact the subjects for study and instruction, are the
+same for both sexes. It is, therefore, both a useless waste of forces
+and an injustice to organize an inferior education for women.</p>
+
+<p><b>Instruction in Coeducation.</b>&mdash;A course of instruction as interesting
+as possible should be organized for each subject, without distinction
+of sex. This rule should also apply to things which are generally
+considered as the special province of women; such as sewing,
+dressmaking, cooking, household work, etc. It will then be the
+business of each sex to choose the subject most suited to its
+abilities.</p>
+
+<p>Part of the course of instruction should be obligatory for all, while
+another part intended for ulterior individual development should be
+optional, according to individual taste and talent. In the obligatory
+part of instruction certain subjects might be made obligatory for one
+sex and optional for the other; sewing and algebra, for instance. In
+this way each sex could choose the most suitable subjects, as is the
+case now in universities only.</p>
+
+<p><b>Danger of Sexual Perversions.</b>&mdash;A very important point, unfortunately
+little understood in sexual pedagogy, is that of congenital sexual
+perversions. Tradition regards every sexual anomaly as an acquired
+vice, which should be treated by indignation and punishment. The
+effects of this manner of looking at the question are disastrous. It
+gives entirely wrong ideas to youth, and shuts the eyes of parents and
+teachers to the truth.</p>
+
+<p>It is not without a serious motive that I have described at length the
+repugnant phenomena of sexual pathology (Chapter VIII). Teachers and
+parents should be thoroughly acquainted with this subject. But this is
+not enough, for these phenomena commence in infancy. It is a long time
+before the child whose sexual appetite is perverted has the least idea
+that his inclinations and desires are considered by others as
+abnormal. The psychic irradiations of his abnormal appetite usually
+constitute the sanctuary of his ideal aspirations and sentiments, the
+object of obscure hopes and struggles which are opposed to nature and
+the inclinations of his comrades. This is why he neither understands
+the world nor himself in this respect. His amorous exaltations are
+ridiculed, or else they inspire disgust. Anxiety <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_483" id="Page_483">[483]</a></span>and shame alternate
+more and more with the perverse aspirations of his mind, which slowly
+increase. It is only when he arrives at the age of puberty that the
+pervert understands his exceptional position; he then feels that he is
+exiled from society, abandoned and without a future. He sees his ideal
+aspirations mocked by men and regarded as a ridiculous caricature or
+even as a culpable monstrosity. He is obliged to hide his passions
+like a criminal. As his character is often weak and impulsive, and is
+combined with a strong and precocious sexual appetite, he is very
+easily led astray, especially if he discovers suitable objects for his
+appetite, or perverted companions like himself.</p>
+
+<p>In this way, in secondary schools, we often find groups of young
+inverts who succeed by cunning in seducing their friends. The mention
+of these phenomena, which from time to time give rise to school
+scandals, should be enough to make any one who is unprejudiced
+understand the urgency for instructing children betimes in sexual
+questions. This is a duty which is necessary in the name of hygiene
+and morality.</p>
+
+<p>It is evident that if parents and masters exchange ideas on this
+subject with children, freely but decently, they will soon bring to
+light the sexual nature of the latter. They will discover which girls
+are cold and indifferent, and which are precociously erotic.</p>
+
+<p>It is needless to say that one should speak and act differently in the
+two cases. There is no risk in instructing the first on the whole
+sexual question, but prudence is required with the latter, who should
+be guarded against anything which stimulates their appetite, by
+warning them of the dangers of venereal disease, illegitimate children
+and seduction.</p>
+
+<p>We sometimes meet with young girls of hysterical nature with inverted
+inclinations, who become enamored of other girls and have a sexual
+repugnance for men. Occasionally a sadist is discovered.</p>
+
+<p>Among boys we observe analogous differences in the intensity and
+precocity of the sexual appetite. An attentive observer will
+frequently discover homosexual appetites in boys, for these are
+comparatively common. Other perversions, such as sadism, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_484" id="Page_484">[484]</a></span>masochism,
+fetichism and exhibitionism, etc., are more rarely met with.
+Masturbation is common in both sexes.</p>
+
+<p>The great advantage of such discoveries is that children affected with
+sexual perversions can be put under special supervision, and above all
+things kept away from boarding schools, where they are subject to
+great temptations. An invert in a boarding-school is in reality almost
+in the same position as a young man who sleeps in the same room as
+young girls, and no one thinks of the danger.</p>
+
+<p>When perversion is recognized, the subject should not be treated as a
+criminal, nor even as a vicious individual, but as a patient afflicted
+with a nervous affection who is thereby dangerous to himself and
+others. He should be treated and prevented from becoming a center of
+infection for his surroundings. Inverts should be specially supervised
+and taken care of till adult age. When they come of age, in my
+opinion, it would be an innocent idea to allow them to marry persons
+of their own sex, as they so much desire to do. Normal adults can very
+well protect themselves against their attentions, when they are warned
+by sufficient instruction in sexual questions.</p>
+
+<p>The child, on the other hand, has the right to be protected against
+all contamination by perversion, as against all sexual assault of
+whatever nature, and it is the duty of society to organize its
+protection. But this cannot be done unless society is itself
+instructed on the question, and in a position to give a rational
+education to youth such as we have sketched above.</p>
+
+<p>If dangerous congenital perversions are discovered, such as sadism and
+pederosis, energetic measures of protection should be taken; in grave
+cases, the operations we have spoken of, or permanent internment.</p>
+
+<p>Apart from suggestion, there is no better remedy against masturbation
+than a system of education such as that in force in the
+Landerziehungsheime, especially continuous physical labor combined
+with useful and attractive intellectual occupation. When such a system
+of education is put in force at an early age, the sexual appetite
+develops more slowly and more moderately, and has the most favorable
+influence on the whole sexual life of man.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_485" id="Page_485">[485]</a></span>In speaking of masturbation in Chapter VIII we have seen that it may
+be the expression of very different conditions, and we should act
+accordingly.</p>
+
+<p><b>Eroticism in Childhood.</b>&mdash;By giving children betimes the requisite
+instruction on the sexual question, they are tranquilized. Many boys
+and girls give themselves up to despair because of the erroneous and
+terrifying ideas they have of sexual affairs. On the one hand, they
+hear pornographic remarks which disgust them, while their parents
+envelop the subject in mystery; on the other hand, their sexual
+appetites evoke desire and call for satisfaction. When a young man in
+this state of mind has an emission, either spontaneously or as the
+result of artificial excitation, he is seized with anxiety and shame,
+often also with phantoms of disease and moral depravity. He then
+requires almost heroic resolution to unburden his mind to a doctor or
+to his father. With nervous subjects, inclined to be melancholic or
+hypochondriacal, such a state of mind sometimes leads to suicide.</p>
+
+<p>Another advantage in the instruction of children in sexual matters is
+that the questions of heredity, alcohol and venereal disease can be
+explained to them at the same time. In giving these explanations it is
+important not to awaken eroticism in the child by dwelling more than
+necessary on sexual topics. Instruction in this subject should not be
+given too frequently; on the contrary, the attention of youth should,
+as far as possible, be drawn away from sexual questions to other
+subjects, till the age of maturity.</p>
+
+<p>With the same object, erotic and pornographic literature should be
+condemned. Unfortunately, many novels and dramas which meet with the
+approbation of society, thanks to their fashionable or even decent
+form of presentation, are often full of half-veiled eroticism, which
+is much more exciting to the sexual appetite than the brutal and
+realistic descriptions of Zola or Brieux, or even the erotic art of de
+Maupassant.</p>
+
+<p>A doctor once told me that in his country the country children, who
+observed copulation among animals, often made similar attempts
+themselves, while bathing or otherwise. Yet these country-people are
+no more corrupt or degenerate than the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_486" id="Page_486">[486]</a></span>townspeople. Here again,
+proper instruction and warnings would be the best remedy, especially
+in the case of girls.</p>
+
+<p>What is to be said, on the contrary, of certain Austrian judges who
+punish by imprisonment urchins of fourteen, who have copulated with
+girls of the same age or made them pregnant? Have they punished the
+real culprit? Do they imagine that they have done anything that will
+improve these children?</p>
+
+<p>The confession of Catholics plays a deplorable pedagogic part in the
+sexual domain. We may admit that some high-minded priests may be
+capable of modifying their interpretation of the prescriptions of
+Liguori and others which we have cited, and do little or no harm to
+young people of either sex. It must, however, be recognized&mdash;and the
+most devout Catholic cannot deny it&mdash;that priests are only human, and
+have not all the noble spirit nor the tact to fulfill the ideal
+required of them in their behavior toward women. This is enough to
+make the confessional, in many cases, a depraved institution from the
+sexual point of view. On this subject, I refer the reader to what has
+already been said in Chapter XII on the experiences of the Canadian
+reformer, father Chiniqui.</p>
+
+<p>The following instance is very characteristic. A very prudish man,
+observing children of both sexes bathing together, exclaimed to them
+indignantly, that this was improper. Thereupon a little boy replied
+naively: "We do not know which is a boy nor which is a girl, because
+we have no clothes." This charming reply shows how certain moral
+intentions are more likely to attract the attention of young people to
+erotic subjects.</p>
+
+<p><b>Corporal Punishment and Sadism.</b>&mdash;An important fact has recently
+attracted the attention of the whole world, concerning certain
+terrible crimes. There is no longer any doubt that in some cases
+perverted masters and teachers find satisfaction for their sadist
+sexual appetite in the corporal punishment of children. This was the
+case with the German teacher, Dippold, who, to satisfy his perverted
+appetite flogged two children confided to him by their parents, till
+one of them died.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Arbeiter Zeitung</i>, of Vienna, a very conscientious journal,
+published the case of a prince of a small German state, who, whenever
+a schoolmaster ordered corporal punishment to a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_487" id="Page_487">[487]</a></span>pupil, offered to
+execute it himself. The journal in question attributes with good
+reason this fantasy to sadism.</p>
+
+<p>Again, many children were at one time belabored with blows for several
+years by a person who pretended to be a police agent, and who
+threatened them with prosecution if they complained. One boy more
+courageous than the others finally gave information, and the affair
+then ended.</p>
+
+<p>We thus see that sadism does not always manifest itself by
+assassination. Its less dangerous forms in which pleasure is obtained
+by blows or some other form of bodily or mental ill-treatment, are no
+doubt much more common. They constitute a kind of complement to sexual
+desire in pathological individuals whose appetite is only partly
+perverted. This fact, which has hitherto not received sufficient
+attention, gives one more reason for the abolition of corporal
+punishment in schools, for the art of dissimulation and refinement of
+torture are unlimited in the sexually perverted. A thousand
+hypocritical pretexts serve to conceal their morbid appetite, and it
+has been proved by experience that they can succeed for a long time in
+deceiving even experts in this subject. This was the case with Dippold
+and many others.</p>
+
+<p>Corporal punishment of schoolboys is only useless and harmful
+brutality. It is a disgrace to civilization that it is still
+maintained at a time when the bastinado has been suppressed among
+convicts.</p>
+
+<p><b>Protection of Childhood. Child Martyrs.</b>&mdash;Children, especially when
+illegitimate or of another marriage, are often exposed to atrocious
+treatment in which alcohol and sexual passion, inconvenienced by the
+presence of the child, play a great part.</p>
+
+<p>I here refer the reader to the last work of Lydia von Wolfring.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a>
+This author, who has made a special study of the judicial protection
+of children, makes the following propositions directed against parents
+and tutors who commit misdemeanors against children or pupils confided
+to them, or who incite the latter to commit misdemeanors, or who show
+themselves incapable of protecting them against others who abuse them
+in the manner indicated (this last condition applies especially to
+concubines, widows, etc.).</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_488" id="Page_488">[488]</a></span>(1). Withdrawal of paternal, maternal or tutelary authority and
+nomination of another tutor.</p>
+
+<p>(2). Complete withdrawal of children in grave cases.</p>
+
+<p>(3). Nomination of a "co-tutor" in all cases where a husband who
+survives his wife and has children who are minors, contracts a second
+marriage or lives in concubinage.</p>
+
+<p>(4). Withdrawal of paternal and sometimes maternal authority from all
+parents who leave the education of their children to public or private
+charity, unless compelled to do so by poverty.</p>
+
+<p>Without having a direct bearing on our subject the above propositions
+contain the elements of an efficacious, though indirect, protection
+against the abuses committed toward children; for example, when
+parents urge their children to prostitution. As regards proposition 4,
+I refer to what I have said in Chapter XIII. While authority over
+their children is withdrawn, unnatural parents of this kind should be
+obliged to work for their children's maintenance.</p>
+
+<p><b>Future Possibilities.</b>&mdash;Unfortunately we must admit that the programme
+of a sexual pedagogy for the future, such as we have sketched here, is
+very far from being realized. The Landerziehungsheime, which should
+serve as examples for future state schools are still sparsely
+distributed, and it seems impossible to carry out universally a
+rational sexual education, till the state and the public are better
+informed on the subject and have got rid of their prejudices. This hope
+appears to be only the reflection of a distant future. In the meantime
+every one must do his best. Parents, and some masters, can do much by
+free initiative. It is above all things necessary that young people who
+are interested in social reforms should not be satisfied with empty
+phrases, nor "play to the gallery." They should set the example in
+their own sexual relations, in condemning old customs which are opposed
+to true natural human ethics; they should show their adherence to
+sexual reforms by action and example, by raising objections to marriage
+for money, to the tyranny and formality of marriage, to prostitution,
+etc.; and they should attempt to put in force a healthy selection and a
+rational education such as we have indicated above.</p>
+
+<br />
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+<br />
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Vide.&mdash;Ernest Contou: <i>Ecoles nouvelles et
+Landerziehungsheime</i>, Paris, 1905; Wilhelm Frey:
+<i>Landerziehungsheime</i>, Leipzig, 1902; Forel: <i>Hygi&egrave;ne des nerfs et de
+l'esprit</i>, Stuttgart, 1905.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> "Das Recht des Kindes: Vorschl&auml;ge f&uuml;r eine gesetzliche
+Regelung." <i>Allgemeine &ouml;sterreichische Gerichtszeitung</i>, 1904.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_489" id="Page_489">[489]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XVIII<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>SEXUAL LIFE IN ART</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p><b>The Genesis of Art.</b>&mdash;Art represents in a harmonious form the
+movements of our sentimental life. The phylogeny of art is still very
+obscure; Darwin attributes it to sexual attraction, through the
+efforts made by one sex to attract the other; but his arguments have
+never convinced me.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p>
+
+<p>Aristotle recognized in art the principles of representation of the
+beautiful and of imitation. Karl Groos, of Giessen, refutes Darwin's
+hypothesis, and upholds the principle of the representation of self by
+sensations which relate to the subject, thus giving a tangible object
+to corresponding internal emotions (among animals, for example, the
+pleasure of hearing their own voice).<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p>
+
+<p>The motor instinct and the movements executed in play seem to be among
+the most primitive autonomous creators of art. Similar play is
+observed in ants. In man, Groos attributes a considerable role to
+religious ecstasy and ecstasy in general, in the genesis of art.
+"Since its object is to excite the sentiments, it is obvious that art
+utilizes from the first the domain which is richest in emotional
+sensations, that is the sexual domain." He shows at the same time that
+erotic subjects have a much more general and definite importance in
+highly developed art than in what we know of primitive art.</p>
+
+<p>Groos is certainly right, for primitive eroticism was too coarse and
+sensual, too exclusively tactile to affect the mind as deeply and with
+such gradations of symphony as is the case with civilized man. This
+reason alone seems to me sufficient to support Groos' view, which is
+also confirmed by the fact that primitive works of art contain very
+few erotic subjects.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_490" id="Page_490">[490]</a></span>The more delicate art becomes the better it acts. The intensity of its
+action depends, however, more especially on the power with which it
+moves our feelings. Art requires discord, not only in music, but
+elsewhere, in order to act more strongly on the human emotions by the
+effect of contrast. In describing the ugly it awakens desire for the
+beautiful. Art should be spontaneous and exuberant with the truth of
+conviction; it should be free from mannerism and all dogmatism,
+intellectual or moral. The positive &aelig;sthetic sentiment, or sentiment
+of beauty is very relative, and depends essentially on the
+phylogenetic adaptation of the human sentiments, as well as on
+individual habits and popular customs. The odor of manure is no doubt
+pleasant to a farm laborer, but it is unpleasant to us. The male
+invert finds man more beautiful than woman. A savage or a peasant
+regards as beautiful what a cultured man considers ugly. The music of
+Wagner or Chopin is tiresome to a person with no musical education or
+ear, while a melomaniac goes into raptures over it.</p>
+
+<p><b>Erotic Art.</b>&mdash;It is quite natural that the chord whose vibrations
+influence the most powerful human emotion&mdash;sexual love&mdash;has an
+infinite variety of vibrations in all forms of art. Music gives
+expression to the sexual sensations and their psychic irradiations by
+tones representing desire, passion, joy, sadness, deception, despair,
+sacrifice, ecstasy, etc.</p>
+
+<p>In sculpture and painting it is love in all its shades which furnishes
+the inexhaustible theme; but it is in the domain of literature that
+love celebrates its triumphs, and often also its orgies. The novels
+and dramas in which it plays no part could be easily counted. I am not
+referring only to common novelettes, nor to those pot-house dramas
+which, in spite of repeating continually the same sentimental motives,
+always succeed in arousing the uncultivated sentiments of the masses.
+The greatest art aims at representing tragic, refined and complex
+conflicts of the human sexual sentiments and their irradiations, so as
+to awaken emotion by causing vibrations in the deepest chords of the
+human mind. Among poets and authors I may mention Shakespere,
+Schiller, Goethe, de Musset, Heine, Gotthelf, and de Maupassant; among
+musicians, Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_491" id="Page_491">[491]</a></span>Schumann, Loewe; among
+painters, Titian, Murillo, Boecklin; and sculptors such as those of
+the ancient Greeks or the modern French school.</p>
+
+<p>Art and pure intellect do not form an antinomy; they are associated
+together in the human mind as thought and sentiment, each preserving
+its own, though relative, independence. Every artistic representation
+requires an intellectual foundation, in the same way as every
+sentiment is connected with ideas. The artist takes his subjects from
+the external world, from life, and from the events of all ages. He
+also utilizes the progress of science for the mechanism of his art.
+But, to transform the material into a complete picture, with a unity
+of action, where the different sentiments harmonize; to transform the
+work of art into a symbol of something human; to make the whole work
+speak to every mind capable of comprehending it, all this can only be
+the work of a great artist with creative genius.</p>
+
+<p><b>Art and Morality.</b>&mdash;True art is in itself neither moral nor immoral.
+Here we can well say&mdash;to the pure everything is pure. In the mirror of
+an impure mind, every work of art may appear as a pornographic
+caricature, while to the high-minded it is the incarnation of the
+noblest ideal. The fault is not with art and its products, but with
+nature and the peculiarities of many human brains, which deform
+everything they perceive, so that the most beautiful works of art only
+awaken in their pornographic minds cynical sexual images.</p>
+
+<p><b>Art and Pornography.</b>&mdash;After having enunciated the preceding
+fundamental principles, we must examine the following facts, which
+have a special importance for the question with which we are dealing.
+Under the banner of art are grouped a number of human enterprises
+which are far from deserving this honor. There are few great artists,
+but thousands of charlatans and plagiarists. Many of those who have
+never had the least idea of the dignity of art, pander to the lower
+instincts of the masses and not to their best sentiments. In this
+connection, erotic subjects play a sad and powerful part. Nothing is
+too filthy to be used to stimulate the base sensuality of the public.
+Frivolous songs, licentious novels and plays, obscene <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_492" id="Page_492">[492]</a></span>dances,
+pornographic pictures, all without any trace of artistic merit,
+speculate on the erotic instinct of the masses in order to obtain
+their money.</p>
+
+<p>In these brothels of art, the most obscene vice is glorified, even
+pathological. Unfortunately, this obscenity spoils the taste of the
+public and destroys all sense of true and noble art. At the bottom of
+all this degeneration of the sentiment of art and its products in the
+sexual domain, we always find on close examination, corruption by
+money and brutalism by alcohol. I say advisedly, the sentiment of art
+and the products of art, for it is not sufficient for true artists to
+create their masterpieces, it is also necessary for them to find an
+echo in the public, and be understood by them. The two phenomena go
+hand in hand, as supply and demand. When the sentiment of art is low
+among the public, the quality of the artistic production is also low,
+and inversely. Professor Behrens, director of the Industrial School of
+Art at Dusseldorf, is in complete accord with me in the debasing
+effect of alcohol on the artistic sentiment. (<i>Alkohol und Kunst.</i>)</p>
+
+<p>After establishing these facts, we return to the fundamental but
+delicate question: How is true erotic art to be distinguished from the
+pornographic? While certain ascetic and fanatical preachers of
+morality would burn and destroy all the erotic creations of art under
+the pretext that they are pornographic, other disciples of decadence
+defend the most ignoble pornography under the shield of art.</p>
+
+<p>I will cite two examples which have already been mentioned previously
+(Chapter XIII). In a very primitive and bigoted region of the Tyrol,
+certain undraped, but very innocent, statues of women were erected in
+the streets. Feeling their modesty deeply wounded, and regarding the
+representation of the natural human body as a great inducement to
+misconduct, the peasants of the district broke up these statues. The
+same with the captain of police at Zurich, who made himself notorious
+by ordering the removal of the picture by Boecklin, entitled "The
+Sport of the Waves," regarding the two mermaids in the picture as a
+danger to the morality and virtue of the citizens of Zurich!</p>
+
+<p>I designate by the term charlatanism, everything which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_493" id="Page_493">[493]</a></span>consists in
+decorating or covering by the term art, all possible perversions of
+pornography, often pathological. Persons of artistic nature, dominated
+by emotional sentiments, will no doubt be excused for being often
+overexcited to a more or less pathological degree, for executing all
+kinds of fantastic vagaries in their sexual life, and for being
+capricious and excessive in love. These things are almost inseparable
+from the artistic temperament. But the systematic education of
+pornography, and the sexual orgies which are cynically made public, go
+decidedly beyond what is licit, and cannot be included in the scope of
+art without degrading it. The individual and pathological failings of
+artists and the eccentricities to which they often become victims,
+must not be confounded with art and its products.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, we often find eroticism hidden where we should
+least expect it, for instance in certain books for the edification of
+the pious. Here also it does not fail to produce its effect, although
+old maids and pious families place these books in their libraries and
+recommend them as proper reading. It has been said with reason, that
+"what is improper in the nudity of a statue is the fig-leaf and not
+what is underneath." It is, in fact, these fig-leaves&mdash;sculptured,
+painted, written or spoken&mdash;which awaken lewdness rather than deaden
+it. By drawing attention to what they conceal, they excite sensuality
+much more than simple nudity. In short, the eroticism which plays at
+hide and seek is that which acts with greatest intensity. The
+directors of ballets and other similar spectacles know this only too
+well, and arrange accordingly.</p>
+
+<p>I have seen at the Paris Exposition an Arab woman perform the erotic
+dance called the "danse du ventre," in which the various movements of
+coitus are imitated by movements of the hips and loins. I do not
+think, however, that this pantomime, as cynical as it is coarse,
+produces on the spectators such an erotic effect as the <i>d&eacute;collet&eacute;</i>
+costumes of society ladies, or even certain amorous scenes of
+religious ecstasy in words or pictures (vide Chapter XII). As the
+"danse du ventre" was produced under the head of <i>ethnology</i>, it was
+witnessed by society ladies without their being in the least degree
+wounded in their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_494" id="Page_494">[494]</a></span>sentiments of modesty! It is extremely difficult, if
+not impossible, to define the limit between art and pornography. I
+will attempt to give an example.</p>
+
+<p>In his novels and romances, Guy de Maupassant has given perhaps the
+finest and most true descriptions which exist of the psychology of
+love and the sexual appetite. Although he has depicted the most
+ticklish sexual situations, often most <i>recherch&eacute;</i>, we can say that
+with few exceptions he has not written in a pornographic spirit. His
+descriptions are profound and true, and he does not attempt to make
+attractive what is ugly and immoral, although he cannot be blamed for
+moralizing.</p>
+
+<p>We have seen that the old hypocritical eroticism consisted essentially
+in the art of describing sexual forbidden fruit and making it as
+desirable as possible, at the same time covering it with pious phrases
+which were only a transparent mask. Vice was condemned, but described
+in such a way as to make the reader's mouth water. There is nothing of
+this in Guy de Maupassant, nor in Zola. By their tragic descriptions,
+they provoke disgust and sadness in the reader, rather than
+sensuality. It is otherwise with the illustrations which de
+Maupassant's publisher has added to his works and which are frankly
+pornographic. These are not fair to the author.</p>
+
+<p>Another comparison shows, perhaps, still better the uncertainty of the
+line of demarcation between pornography and art. If we compare Heine
+with de Maupassant, I think we must admit that, in spite of the
+refinement of his art, the pornographic trait is incomparably stronger
+in the former, because Heine continually loses the thread of moral
+sense which impregnates most of the works of de Maupassant. The latter
+author emphasizes evil and injustice in the sexual question.</p>
+
+<p>The refined art of the Greeks contains much eroticism and much nudity,
+but there is nothing whatever immoral in either. Innocence and beauty
+are so apparent that no one can think of evil. When we look at the
+antique statues of the Greek sculptors; when we read Homer, especially
+the story of Ares and Aphrodite; when we read the bucolic idyll of
+Daphnis and Chloe, we can no longer have any doubt on the point. It is
+not nudity, it is not the natural description of sexual life, but the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_495" id="Page_495">[495]</a></span>obscene intention of the artist, his improper and often venal object,
+which has a demoralizing effect.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, I repeat that the purest artistic creation may serve as a
+pornographic theme for every individual who is accustomed to introduce
+into his parodies his own depravity, immorality and obscene
+sentiments. I do not deny that in antiquity, especially at the time of
+the decadence of Rome, pornography and cynical coarseness often ruled
+in the sexual domain. History and the ruins of Pompeii give abundant
+evidence of it. But such phenomena occurred at the periods of
+decadence. Who then can decide where art ends and pornography begins,
+or how far eroticism may without danger be expressed in art? This
+question is so difficult and delicate that I am unable to answer it
+with sufficient competence. I think that when the reign of capitalism
+and alcohol has come to an end, the danger of pornography will be
+reduced enormously. I believe we ought to avoid extremes in both
+directions. Wherever pornography manifests itself in a purely cynical
+way, denuded of all art, society can and should suppress it. When it
+appears under an artistic mantle, it should be possible in each
+particular case to weigh the artistic merit of the work against its
+immoral tendencies, taking all other accessory circumstances into
+account, in order to decide the real weight of each of these elements.
+The corrupting action should also be carefully considered, which
+experience proves to have been exerted on the public by certain
+so-called works of art, or artistic exhibitions, as for example
+certain <i>caf&eacute;s chantants</i>, etc.</p>
+
+<p><b>Pathological Art.</b>&mdash;The progressively pathological nature of certain
+productions of modern art constitute without any doubt a vicious
+feature; a fact of special importance in the sexual question. Witness
+what I have said concerning the poet Baudelaire. Erotic art ought not
+to become a hospital for perverts and sexual patients, and should not
+lead these individuals to regard themselves as interesting specimens
+of the human race. It should not make heroes of them, for in acting
+thus, it only confirms their morbid state, and often contaminates
+healthy-minded people.</p>
+
+<p>A great number of novels, and even modern pictures, deserve <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_496" id="Page_496">[496]</a></span>the
+reproach of being pornographic works. In these are described, or
+painted, beings that we meet in hospitals for nervous diseases, or
+even in lunatic asylums, but more often phantoms which only exist in
+the pathological mind of the author. No doubt, art should not allow
+itself to be instructed in morality by pedagogues and ascetics; but,
+on the other hand, artists ought not to forget the high social mission
+of their art, a mission which consists in elevating man to the ideal,
+not in letting him sink into a bog.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Moral Effect of Healthy Art.</b>&mdash;Art has great power, for man is
+directed by sentiment much more than by reason. Art should be healthy;
+it should rise toward the heavens and show the public the road to
+Olympus&mdash;not the Olympus of superstition, but that of a better
+humanity. It is not necessary for this that it should diminish the
+energy of its eternal theme&mdash;love. No truly moral man would wish to
+eliminate the seasoning of eroticism whenever artistic necessity
+requires it, but art should never prostitute itself in the service of
+venal obscenity and degeneration.</p>
+
+<p>As to the manner in which it attains its object, while holding to its
+fundamental principles, that is its own affair, the business of the
+true artist. I cannot, however, in my capacity as a naturalist,
+refrain from giving a little modest advice to certain modern artists;
+that when they wish to take for the subject of their works the themes
+of social morality, medicine or science, they should avoid previous
+study of their subject in scientific books; that they should follow
+the example of de Maupassant and begin by living themselves the
+situations which they wish to depict, before beginning to model their
+work. Without this they will completely fail in artistic effect, and
+will become bad theorists, bad scientists, bad moralists and bad
+social politicians, at the same time ceasing to be good artists. If
+Maeterlinck's "Life of Bees" is a fine work of art, it is not only
+because the author is a distinguished writer, but because he was
+himself acquainted with bees, being an apicultor, and did not make his
+book a mere compilation of other scientific works.</p>
+
+<p>Along with the struggle against the debasing influence of money and
+alcohol, the elevation of the artistic sentiment <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_497" id="Page_497">[497]</a></span>among the public
+will contribute strongly to condemn pornographic "&aelig;sthetics." The
+false and unnatural sentimentalism, spiced with erotic lewdness, which
+is displayed in the trash offered to the public under the title of
+"art," fills every man who possesses the least artistic sense with
+disgust. Disgust evidently constitutes a beneficial mental medicine in
+the domain of art, and we cannot agree with the severe and ascetic
+minds who think that true morality has nothing to do with art, or even
+that everything moral should be destitute of art. These people are
+completely deceived and unwittingly promote pornography, by repelling
+humanity with their austerity and driving it to the opposite extreme.
+The &aelig;sthetic and moral sentiments should be harmoniously combined with
+intelligence and will, each of these departments of the mind
+participating by its special energies in the elevation of man.</p>
+
+<p><b>Anticonceptional Measures from the &AElig;sthetic Point of View.</b>&mdash;In
+conclusion, I will refer to a subject which is perhaps not quite in
+its place in this chapter. The anticonceptional measures recommended
+for reasons of social hygiene, which tend to regulate conceptions and
+improve their quality, have been often condemned, sometimes as
+immoral, sometimes as contrary to &aelig;sthetics. To interfere in this way
+with the action of nature is said to injure the poetry of love and the
+moral feeling, and at the same time to disturb natural selection.</p>
+
+<p>There are several replies to these objections: In the first place, it
+is wrong to maintain that man cannot encroach on the life of nature.
+If this were the case, the earth would now be a virgin forest and a
+great many animals and plants would not have been adapted to the use
+of man. Our fields, our gardens and our domestic animals would die,
+instead of bearing fruit and multiplying as they do at present. The
+naturalist has much more fear of seeing rare and interesting wild
+plants and animals exterminated from the face of the earth by the
+egoistic and pitiless hand of man. He seeks in vain the means of
+checking this work of destruction.</p>
+
+<p>We have proved without the least deference, often with a brutal hand,
+to the misfortune of art and poetry, that we are capable of
+successfully intermeddling with the machinery of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_498" id="Page_498">[498]</a></span>nature, even in what
+concerns our own persons. I shall not return here to the subject of
+ethics. In Chapter XV, I have sufficiently shown how false is our
+present sexual morality, and I have proved in Chapter XIV the absolute
+necessity of measures to regulate conception in order to realize an
+efficacious social sexual morality.</p>
+
+<p>The &aelig;sthetic argument appears at first sight more valid; it is
+unnecessary, however, to discuss matters of taste. Spectacles are
+certainly not particularly &aelig;sthetic; nevertheless the poetry of love
+does not suffer much from their use, and when one is shortsighted or
+longsighted one cannot do without them. Great artists wear spectacles.
+It is the same with false teeth, with clothes, with bicycles and a
+hundred other artificial things which man makes use of to make his
+life more easy. So long as they are novel and unusual they wound the
+&aelig;sthetic sentiment; but when we become accustomed to them we no longer
+take notice of them. Man has even come to regard as &aelig;sthetic, women's
+corsets which deform their chests, and pointed shoes which deform the
+feet. I am certain that the first man who mounted a horse was accused
+by his contemporaries of committing an act contrary to &aelig;sthetics!</p>
+
+<p>From all points of view, the details of coitus leave much to be
+desired from the &aelig;sthetic point of view, and such a slight addition as
+a membranous protective does not appear to make any serious
+difference. It is impossible for me to recognize the validity of such
+an objection, which I attribute to the prejudice against anything
+which disturbs our habits.</p>
+
+<br />
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+<br />
+
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> See also Lameere "<i>L'&Eacute;volution des ornements sexuels</i>,"
+1904.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p class="noin"><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> "Die Anf&auml;nge der Kunst und die Theorie Darwins."
+<i>Hessiche Bl&auml;tter f&uuml;r Volkskunde</i>, Vol. III, Part 2.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_499" id="Page_499">[499]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XIX<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+
+<h4>CONCLUSIONS</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p><b>Utopia and the Realizable Ideal.</b>&mdash;The term Utopia may be applied to
+every ideal project elaborated by human imagination for the future
+welfare of society, which has no healthy and real foundation, is
+contrary to human nature and the results of experience, and has
+consequently no chance of success. Persons of conservative minds who
+live in prejudice and in the faith of authority apply the term Utopia
+to every ideal which has not been legalized and sanctioned by time,
+custom, or authority. This is a grave error, which, if it always
+prevailed, would bar the way to all social progress.</p>
+
+<p>As regards the ideal, the future may realize much progress that the
+past has not known, and on this point Ben Akiba was wrong in saying
+that "there is nothing new under the sun." International
+communication, universal postage, the suppression of slavery in
+civilized countries, the artificial feeding of new-born infants, the
+telephone, wireless telegraphy, etc., are realized advances which had
+formerly never appeared on the horizon of humanity, and which would
+have been regarded as impossible fantasies, or Utopias.</p>
+
+<p>Why should the common use of an international language and the
+suppression of war between civilized countries be Utopias? The most
+diverse races already speak English, and all might learn Esperanto. In
+the interior of countries such as France and Germany, etc., the old
+feudal wars ceased long ago. Why should a more and more international
+union between men be impossible?</p>
+
+<p>Why should the suppression of the use of narcotic substances such as
+alcohol, opium, hashish, etc., which poison entire nations, be
+Utopian? Why should it be the same with the economic reform desired by
+socialists, that is the equitable division <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_500" id="Page_500">[500]</a></span>of wages; for example, by
+the aid of a co&ouml;perative system or by the reduction of capital to a
+minimum?</p>
+
+<p>These things are all possible, and even necessary for the natural and
+progressive development of humanity. It is only the prejudice of old
+customs, based on the conservative tendency of sentiments, which
+opposes these projects and tries to ridicule them by calling them
+Utopian. In its shortsightedness, it does not see the change which
+occurs all over the world in the social relations of men, or does not
+estimate them at their true value, and it cannot abandon its old
+idols.</p>
+
+<p>Lastly, why should rational reforms in the sexual domain be more
+difficult to realize than the artificial feeding of infants, than the
+actual triumphs of surgical operations, than sero-therapy, than
+vaccination, etc.? In the same way that shortsighted and longsighted
+persons wear spectacles, or those who have no teeth use artificial
+ones, so may men who are tainted by hereditary disease employ
+preventatives in coitus to avoid the procreation of a tainted progeny;
+and the same means may be employed to give women time to recover their
+strength after each confinement.</p>
+
+<p><b>R&eacute;sum&eacute;.</b>&mdash;Let us briefly recapitulate the matter contained in the
+chapters of this book:</p>
+
+<p>(1). In the first five chapters I have given an account of the natural
+history, anatomy and functions of the reproductive organs, and the
+psychology of sexual life.</p>
+
+<p>(2). In Chapter VI, I have given (chiefly according to Westermarck) a
+<i>r&eacute;sum&eacute;</i> of ethnography and the history of sexual relations in the
+different human races.</p>
+
+<p>(3). In Chapter VII, I have attempted to trace the zo&ouml;logical
+evolution of sexual life along the line of our animal ancestors, and
+to briefly describe the evolution of sexual life in the individual,
+from birth till death. I have thus endeavored to acquaint the reader
+with the two sources of our sexual sensations and sentiments&mdash;the
+hereditary or phylogenetic source, and the source acquired and adapted
+by the individual.</p>
+
+<p>(4). In Chapter VIII, I have described the pathology of sexual life,
+because this concerns social life much more than is generally
+supposed.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_501" id="Page_501">[501]</a></span>(5). In Chapters IX to XVIII, I have explained the relations of sexual
+life to the most important spheres of human sentiments and interests,
+to suggestion, money and property, to the external conditions of life,
+to religion, law, medicine, morality, politics, political economy,
+pedagogy and art. Incidentally, I have glanced at the social
+organizations and customs which depend on these relations.</p>
+
+<p>If we sum up the results obtained, we can draw from them a series of
+conclusions which we will divide into two groups:</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>NEGATIVE TASKS</h4>
+
+<p class="cen"><i>Suppression of the Direct or Indirect Causes of Sexual Evils and<br />
+Abuses, and the Social Vices which Correspond to Them</i></p>
+
+<p>The corruption into which a semi-civilization has plunged humanity, by
+facilitating the means of obtaining satisfaction for its unbridled
+passion for pleasure, is maintained by the latter itself. But in the
+long run, the unlimited abandonment of the individual to pleasure
+cannot be in accord with the welfare and progress of society. This is
+the knotty point. It is necessary for a better social organization to
+artificially restrain the passion for pleasure, at the same time
+raising the social quality of men; that is to say, their altruism or
+instinct (social ethics). We can only expect immediately the first of
+these two objects; but we have seen that it is possible to prepare the
+second for the future, by neglecting none of the factors of social
+salvation.</p>
+
+<p>We have become acquainted with the most important roots of sexual
+degeneration, due to semi-civilization. I use the word
+"semi-civilization" because our present culture is still very
+incomplete and has hardly done more than skim over the surface of the
+masses.</p>
+
+<p>Men of higher culture have overcome the maladies of infancy of
+civilization much better than the uneducated masses, and it is
+precisely this fact which should give us courage and confidence in a
+future in which a true higher culture will be the appanage of all. The
+roots of degeneration are either directly or indirectly associated
+with sexual life. It is our duty to declare war of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_502" id="Page_502">[502]</a></span>extermination
+against all of them, and not to cease this contest before reducing
+them to their natural primitive minimum. The following are the chief
+evils to be contended against.</p>
+
+<p><b>1. The Cult of Money.</b>&mdash;We have recognized the primary sources of
+degeneration in the historical development of humanity and its sexual
+life (Chapters VI and X). They consist in the exploitation of man by
+man, in the desire of possessing riches and power, which become the
+source of marriage by purchase and by abduction, of prostitution and
+all the modern requirements by the aid of which is cultivated the
+passion for sexual pleasures, thanks to the power of money.</p>
+
+<p>The priests and disciples of Mammon lie when they say that their
+god&mdash;the golden calf&mdash;is the most powerful stimulus to work and the
+principal promoter of culture. If we look closer we see the contrary.
+Men of genius, thinkers, inventors and artists are urged to work by
+their hereditary instinct, by true love of the ideal and thirst for
+knowledge. The disciples of Mammon, on the watch for the discoveries
+and creations of these men, rob them not only of the fruit of their
+work, but often of the honors which belong to them. Intellectual
+robbery is added to pecuniary robbery.</p>
+
+<p>These are the methods of "Mammonism," which must be seen to be
+appreciated; and we are told that this kind of industry should be the
+only stimulus to human work and culture! No doubt, the unbridled lust
+for gain urges men to feverish activity; but this kind of zeal, which
+is nearly always associated with the passion for pleasure, and only
+works to obtain the means of satisfying it, is unhealthy. It is
+necessary for other factors to act in stimulating human work.
+Fortunately these forces exist, and can be found, for without work
+there can be no culture, social progress nor happiness.</p>
+
+<p>The worship of the golden calf, the utilization of accumulated wealth
+as a means of exploiting the work of others for individual interest,
+is therefore the primary and principal root of social degeneration,
+marriage for money, prostitution and all their corrupt associations.
+If this root is not torn out, humanity will never succeed in the
+sanitation of sexual matters. The struggle against the exaggerated
+modern legal rights of capital, and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_503" id="Page_503">[503]</a></span>abuses which result from it,
+is therefore one of the most important tasks to be accomplished in
+order to lead indirectly to the sanitation of sexual intercourse.</p>
+
+<p><b>2. The Use of Narcotics.</b>&mdash;The habit of using narcotic poisons,
+especially alcohol, leads to the physical and moral degeneration of
+men, a degeneration which not only affects the individuals concerned,
+but also their germinal cells and consequently their offspring. I have
+designated this degeneration by the term <i>blastophthoria</i>.
+Blastophthoria is intimately connected with sexual phenomena, and
+thanks to it, the individual influence of these poisons may extend to
+many generations.</p>
+
+<p>A single radical remedy would be easy to apply, if men were not so
+much the slaves of their habits and prejudices, of capital and the
+passion for pleasure. All narcotic substances, especially distilled
+and fermented drinks, should be abolished as a means of pleasure and
+relegated to pharmacy, in which they may still be used as remedies,
+with special precautions. Alcohol may also be used for industrial
+purposes.</p>
+
+<p>Science has proved that even the most moderate indulgence in alcohol
+disturbs the association of ideas, and renders them more superficial,
+without the subject being aware of it. This slight degree of alcoholic
+narcosis causes in man a temporary feeling of pleasure and gayety to
+which he soon becomes accustomed. In this way there is created in him
+a desire for more, too often with increasing doses.</p>
+
+<p>Most narcotics, especially alcohol (either fermented or distilled),
+have the peculiarity of exciting the sexual appetite in a bestial
+manner, thereby leading to the most absurd and disgusting excesses,
+although at the same time they weaken the sexual power. The transient
+pleasure produced by these substances is, therefore, of no real and
+lasting advantage, while it results in the most terrible individual
+and social miseries.</p>
+
+<p>Societies for total abstinence from all alcoholic drinks have
+undertaken a war of extermination against the use of all poisons used
+for purposes of pleasure, when experience has proved their social
+danger. Let us hope that they will succeed; then a second fundamental
+root of degeneration of sexual life will be destroyed.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_504" id="Page_504">[504]</a></span><b>3. The Emancipation of Woman.</b>&mdash;A third source of sexual anomalies is
+due to the inequality of the rights of the two sexes. This can only be
+attacked by the complete emancipation of women. In no kind of animal
+is the female an object possessed by the male. Nowhere in nature do we
+find the slave-law which subordinates one sex to the other. Even among
+ants, where the male, on account of his great physical inferiority, is
+very dependent on the workers, the latter do not impose on him any
+constraint. We have already refuted the argument which is based on the
+intellectual inferiority of woman.</p>
+
+<p>The emancipation of women is not intended to transform them into men,
+but simply to give them their human rights, I might even say their
+natural animal rights. It in no way wishes to impose work on women nor
+to make them unaccustomed to it. It is as absurd to bring them up as
+spoilt children as it is cruel to brutalize them as beasts of burden.
+It is our duty to give them the independent position in society which
+corresponds to their normal attributes.</p>
+
+<p>Their sexual role is so important that it gives them the right to the
+highest social considerations in this domain. I will not repeat what I
+have said in Chapter XIII, but simply state categorically that, when
+women have acquired in society rights and duties equal to those of men
+(in accordance with sexual differences), when they can react freely
+according to their feminine genius, in a manner as decisive as men, on
+the destinies of the community, a third fundamental root of present
+sexual abuses will be suppressed. The complete emancipation of woman
+thus constitutes our third principal postulate, and in this I am in
+accord with Westermarck, Secretan and many other eminent persons.</p>
+
+<p>The difference which exists between the two sexes does not give any
+reasonable excuse to man for monopolizing all social and political
+rights. The external world and our fellow beings, by whom and for whom
+we live in body and mind, are the same for woman as for man, so that
+even when the mentality of one sex is on the average a little higher
+than that of the other, the first cannot claim the right of refusing
+the second the liberty of living and acting from the social point of
+view according to her <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_505" id="Page_505">[505]</a></span>own genius. The two sexes differ in many
+respects it is true; on the other hand, all legal and consequently
+artificial constraint of one by the other has the effect of hindering
+the free development of both. Each sex has the right to look upon the
+world and assimilate it according to its nature. It can thus develop
+its personality so that it does not become etiolated and atrophied
+like a domestic animal. It is only the right of the stronger,
+cultivated by narrow-minded prejudice, that can deny or misunderstand
+these facts. The legal restrictions which we impose on woman, on her
+mentality and her whole life, especially her conjugal life, have
+nothing in common with the just restrictions which the law should
+provide against the encroachments of individual egoism, which injure
+the rights of others or those of society.</p>
+
+<p><b>4. Prejudice and Tradition.</b>&mdash;There is still another enemy opposed to
+reform, which is so deeply rooted in human nature that we can only
+hope for a slow improvement in the quality of men, by its progressive
+weakening. I refer to the host of prejudices, traditional customs,
+mystic superstitions, religious dogmas, fashions, etc. I should
+require many pages of moral preaching to deal with all the vices which
+are perpetually created and supported by the wretched tendency of the
+human mind to sanctify every ancient tradition and consider it as
+unalterable.</p>
+
+<p>Prejudice, faith in authority, mysticism, etc., with conscious or
+unconscious hypocrisy, and by the aid of more or less transparent
+sophisms, place themselves at the service of the basest human
+passions&mdash;envy, hatred, vanity, avarice, lewdness, scandal, desire of
+domination and idleness&mdash;and clothe them all with the sacred mantle of
+ancient customs, the better to sanction their ignominy by relying on
+the authority of tradition. There is no infamy which has not been
+justified, glorified or even deified in this way.</p>
+
+<p>I am convinced that it is only by the introduction of the scientific
+spirit, of an inductive and philosophical manner of thinking, into
+schools and among the masses, that we shall be able to contend
+efficaciously with the routine and parrot-like repetitions which are
+rooted in the worship of authoritative doctrines and prejudices based
+on the sanctity of what is old.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_506" id="Page_506">[506]</a></span>We have already sufficiently dealt with the superannuated prejudices
+and customs to be contended with in the sexual domain, and need not
+return to them. The whole of this category of causes of evil, a
+category which also plays a great part in all other domains of human
+life, can only, therefore, be contended with by true science combined
+with an integral and free education of the character of youth.</p>
+
+<p>I must once again insist on the necessity of a fight to a finish on
+this ground. It is necessary for this that scientists should from time
+to time emerge from their sanctums, and let their lights shine in the
+whirlpool of human society. They must take part in social conflicts
+and avoid losing touch with what is and always will be human.</p>
+
+<p>The following postulates relate to aberrations and dangers which are
+more partial or more local.</p>
+
+<p><b>5. Pornography.</b>&mdash;In Chapters V, X and XVIII, I have spoken of
+pornography, and in Chapter XVII, of its great danger to the
+development of a normal sexual life in youth. Although pornography
+owes much of its origin and development to the greed for gain, it must
+not be forgotten that, on the other hand, masculine eroticism tends to
+promote its mercantile interests. It is the duty of society to oppose
+the pornographic products of morbid eroticism, without imposing the
+least constraint on true art. The sexual appetite of man is on the
+average rather strong; we may even say that it is much too strong,
+compared with the social necessities of procreation. It is, therefore,
+quite superfluous to artificially stimulate it. The struggle against
+pornography must, therefore, be raised to the rank of a postulate.</p>
+
+<p>We must not forget, however, that we shall contend with it much more
+successfully by fulfilling our first four postulates, and in raising
+the artistic ideal and feeling in man, than by direct measures of
+suppression. The latter should be limited to the most coarse and
+corrupt productions of pornography.</p>
+
+<p><b>6. Politics and Sexual Life.</b>&mdash;I need only remind the reader of the
+encroachments of politics on sexual life, and especially of the abuse
+of sexual influence in the domain of politics. It is needless to point
+out the necessity of opposing all useless <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_507" id="Page_507">[507]</a></span>intermeddling of the State
+in the sexual life of individuals by the aid of unjustifiable
+regulations, as well as all intervention in the natural sexual
+requirements of man (in marriage, etc.), when no individual or social
+interest is injured. What is much more difficult, is to prevent the
+pressure of sexual sympathies and antipathies, and especially of
+amorous passions in politics.</p>
+
+<p><b>7. Venereal Disease.</b>&mdash;There is need for a great combat with venereal
+disease and pathological corruptions of the sexual appetite. (Vide
+Chapters VIII, XIII and XIV.) Sexual criminals should be treated
+conjointly with the pathology of the sexual appetite, and in the same
+manner; for it is nearly always a question of anomalies of the human
+brain, which are impossible to improve or eliminate by punishment or
+other penal measures.</p>
+
+<p>For the present, medical and administrative measures of restriction,
+undertaken by society against dangerous and degenerate individuals in
+the sexual domain, are the only possible remedy. We should also
+endeavor in the future to prevent such individuals from breeding and
+suppress the causes of blastophthoria, by the aid of our second
+postulate.</p>
+
+<p><b>8. The Conflict of Human Races.</b>&mdash;There remains a last postulate,
+extremely arduous and serious, which we have already mentioned. How is
+our Aryan race and its civilization to guard against the danger of
+being passively invaded and exterminated by the alarming fecundity of
+other human races? One must be blind not to recognize this danger. To
+estimate it at its proper value, it is not enough to put all "savages"
+and "barbarians" into one basket and all "civilized" into the other.
+The question is far more complicated than this. Many savage and
+semi-savage races become rapidly extinct on account of their
+comparative sterility. Europeans have introduced among them so much
+alcohol, venereal disease and other plagues, that they promptly perish
+from want of the power of resistance. This is the case with the
+Weddas, the Todas, the Redskins of North America, the Australian
+aboriginees, Malays and many others.</p>
+
+<p>The question presents itself in another aspect with regard to negroes,
+who are very resistant and extremely prolific, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_508" id="Page_508">[508]</a></span>everywhere adapt
+themselves to civilized customs. But those who believe that negroes
+are capable of <i>acquiring</i> a higher civilization without undergoing a
+phylogenetic cerebral transformation for a hundred thousand years, are
+Utopians. I cannot here enter into the details of this question. It
+seems obvious to me, however, that in the already considerable time
+during which the American negroes have been under the influence of
+European culture, they ought to have often demonstrated their power of
+assimilating it and of developing it independently, according to their
+own genius, if their brains were capable of so doing. Instead of this,
+we find that negroes in the interior of the island of Haiti, formerly
+civilized by France, then abandoned to themselves, have, with the
+exception of a few mulattoes, reverted to the most complete barbarism,
+and have even barbarized the French language and Christianity, with
+which they had been endowed.</p>
+
+<p>Compare with this the rapidity with which a civilized or civilizable
+race, depending on its innate energy, assimilates our culture with or
+without Christianity! We need only look at what has happened in Japan
+during the last thirty years, and what the Christian races of the
+Balkan countries have been doing after delivery from the yoke of the
+Turks&mdash;for example, the Roumanians, Bulgarians and Greeks.</p>
+
+<p>It is by its fruits that we judge the value of the tree. The Japanese
+are a civilizable and civilized race, and must be treated as such. The
+negroes, on the contrary, are not so; that is to say, they are only by
+themselves capable of quite an inferior civilization, and only become
+adapted to our customs by a superficial veneer of civilization.</p>
+
+<p>Up to what point can the Mongolian, and even the Jewish race, become
+mixed with our Aryan or Indo-Germanic races, without gradually
+supplanting them and causing them to disappear? This is a question I
+am incapable of answering. If it were only a question of the Japanese
+there would be no serious difficulty and the assimilation would be
+beneficial. But the Chinese and some other Mongolian races constitute
+an imminent danger for the very existence of the white races. These
+people eat much less than ourselves, are contented with much smaller
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_509" id="Page_509">[509]</a></span>dwellings, and in spite of this produce twice as many children and do
+twice as much work. The connection of this with the sexual question is
+not difficult to understand.</p>
+
+<p>Possibly we might make a compact with the Mongols, and the Chinese in
+particular, which would allow both races to live on the earth without
+annihilating each other. I am quite convinced that we have more to
+fear from their blood and their work than from their arms. Some time
+ago experts in Far-Eastern questions predicted that the world would
+end by becoming Chinese.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>POSITIVE TASKS</h4>
+
+<p>The elimination of the abuses and dangers, pointed out under the
+heading of negative tasks, would prepare the soil for a healthier and
+more ideal development of the sexual relations of humanity in the
+future. These require the prevention of blastophthoric deterioration
+of germ cells, as well as all pathological degeneration of sexual
+intercourse. They also require true and natural affection, free from
+the influences of prejudice and money, and capable of surviving
+amorous intoxication. Lastly, they require a natural human
+organization, adapted to the social welfare, the duties of parents
+toward their children, and the rights they have over them.</p>
+
+<p><b>Human Selection.</b>&mdash;This is impossible to attain without recourse to
+artificial means, which have hitherto been generally condemned, or
+employed with an unhealthy and corrupt object. I refer to the
+distinction between satisfaction of the sexual appetite and the
+procreation of children.</p>
+
+<p>Although it is true that the two things are inseparably connected in
+plants and animals, it is equally true that the culture and social
+development of humanity all over the world have given rise to
+conditions and necessities other than those which formerly existed,
+conditions which at the present day are so clearly evident that they
+cannot be disregarded.</p>
+
+<p>The struggle for existence, as it obtains between the different animal
+species, hardly exists any longer in man. The latter has now to fight
+with microbes, and other infinitely small things of the same nature.
+The combat between man and man, in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_510" id="Page_510">[510]</a></span>form of international warfare,
+is approaching its end. The wars of the present day, as foolish as
+they are formidable, are rapidly becoming absurd. We may even hope
+that the supreme struggle which is impending between the Aryan and
+Mongolian races will end in peaceful agreement.</p>
+
+<p>Is it, therefore, rational to abandon the quantitative and qualitative
+regulation of the procreation of children to natural selection&mdash;that
+is to say to brutal chance, disease, famine or infanticide&mdash;at a time
+of human evolution when science contends with the greatest success
+against accident, disease, infant mortality and famine?</p>
+
+<p>Our strong sexual appetite is no longer in proportion to the
+exigencies of procreation, nor to the means of providing food for our
+descendants, nor to the right of the latter to better or even
+tolerable existence, for the simple reason that the weak, the diseased
+and the children are no longer eliminated as in former times among
+primitive races by infanticide, epidemics, wild-beasts, neglect or war
+(it is now the strong and courageous who are eliminated by the
+latter). But it is not in our power to modify our instinctive and
+hereditary sexual appetite, while we have always at hand the necessary
+means to regulate and improve procreation.</p>
+
+<p>No prejudice, no dogma, no repetition of old maxims, based on
+so-called immutable natural laws, can stand against such simple and
+elementary truths. We like to call "natural laws" what to our limited
+knowledge appears regular in nature. We formulate a law, and too often
+make an idol, instead of always making further examinations, in the
+light of new truths, to see if these so-called laws hold good. But the
+new truths are there, crying for recognition. The sheet-anchor is in
+our hands, in the form of measures to prevent or regulate conception.</p>
+
+<p>We must, therefore, have recourse to these measures, with prudence,
+employing them only at first where they are most necessary, and
+especially insisting on the procreation of numerous children wherever
+mental and moral strength is combined with bodily health. In this
+connection I am strongly opposed to the neo-Malthusians, who simply
+propose to diminish the number of births indiscriminately, as well as
+to the religious <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_511" id="Page_511">[511]</a></span>dogmas, especially Catholic, which, under the
+fallacious pretext of so-called divine inspiration, would hinder the
+progress of the social sciences.</p>
+
+<p>Human selection is the principle which should lead us to the object to
+be attained in the remote future. It is not by legal constraint, but
+by universal instruction, that we shall obtain general recognition and
+acceptance of this principle. We have proved in Chapter VI, with
+regard to sexual selection, that women are much more exclusive in
+their choice than men, and that among savages they prefer courage and
+bodily strength. At the present day, owing to change of customs,
+cultured and intelligent women are, on the contrary, much less
+attracted by man's physical strength than by his intellectual
+superiority or genius. This gives us a very important indication of
+the selection we desire, and confirms the necessity of instructing
+women in sexual matters. I foresee that the enlightened and
+intelligent women are those who will support human selection with the
+greatest energy and success.</p>
+
+<p>I repeat here that it is not our object to create a new human race of
+superior beings, but simply to cause gradual elimination of the unfit,
+by suppressing the causes of blastophthoria, and sterilizing those who
+have hereditary taints by means of a voluntary act; at the same time
+urging healthier, happier and more social men to multiply more and
+more.</p>
+
+<p>A profound study of blastophthoria and all the phenomena of the mneme
+and normal heredity leaves no doubt on the possibility of attaining
+this object. Is not the quality of dogs improved by breeding from the
+good and eliminating the bad? Are not certain families distinguished
+in their character, work and intelligence, because for many
+generations their ancestors have preserved these qualities and
+maintained the family type by means of careful marriages? On the other
+hand, are not cowardice, falseness and meanness, etc., reproduced with
+quite as much certainty in other families? I refer the reader to the
+description given by J&ouml;rger of the disastrous effects of alcoholic
+blastophthoria and bad heredity produced during nearly two centuries
+in the numerous members of a family of vagabonds (vide Chapter XI).</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_512" id="Page_512">[512]</a></span>One must be blinded by religious prejudice to deny such striking
+truths. No doubt, our pathological degenerations and our
+cross-breeding are so infinitely complex that at any time atavism may
+produce ecphoria of better children derived from bad parents, and that
+of inferior children derived from better parents. We have seen in the
+first chapter the complex relations which exist between these
+phenomena. We must not allow ourselves to be deceived by the
+appearances of certain particular cases.</p>
+
+<p>What then are the types of men which we should endeavor to produce?</p>
+
+<p><b>Types to Eliminate.</b>&mdash;First of all we must understand that negative
+action is much easier than positive. It is more easy to mention the
+types which should not be allowed to multiply than those which should.
+These are, in the first place, all criminals, lunatics, and imbeciles,
+and all individuals who are irresponsible, mischievous, quarrelsome or
+amoral. These are the persons who do the most harm in society, and
+introduce into it the most harmful taints. It is the same with
+alcoholics, opium-eaters, etc., who, although often capable in other
+respects, are dangerous by their blastophthoric influence. Here the
+only remedy consists in the suppression of the use of narcotics, for
+it is no use eliminating a few narcotized individuals as long as a
+greater number is always being produced.</p>
+
+<p>Persons predisposed to tuberculosis by heredity, chronic invalids, the
+subjects of rickets, hemophilia, and other persons incapable of
+procreating a healthy race owing to inherited diseases or bad
+constitution, form a second category of individuals who ought to avoid
+propagation, or do so as little as possible.</p>
+
+<p><b>Types to Perpetuate.</b>&mdash;On the other hand, men who are useful from the
+social point of view&mdash;those who take a pleasure in work and those who
+are good tempered, peaceful and amiable should be induced to multiply.
+If they are endowed with clear intelligence and an active mind, or
+with an intellectual or artistic creative imagination, they constitute
+excellent subjects for reproduction. In such cases certain taints
+which are not too pronounced may be passed over.</p>
+
+<p>True will-power, <i>i.e.</i>, perseverance in the accomplishment <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_513" id="Page_513">[513]</a></span>of
+rational resolutions, and not the tyrannical and obstinate spirit of
+domination, is also one of the most desirable qualities which ought to
+be reproduced. Will-power must not be confounded with impulsiveness,
+which is rather the antinomy of it, but often deceives superficial
+observers, and makes them believe in the existence of a strong will,
+because of the violent manner in which it tries to realize momentary
+impulsive resolutions.</p>
+
+<p><b>Human Social Value.</b>&mdash;We have seen that, owing to traditional
+routine, the intellectual merit of a young man is unfortunately judged
+by the results of examinations. To succeed in these, a good memory and
+strong mental receptivity are all that is necessary. It follows from
+this that nonentities often attain the highest social positions, while
+originality, creative power, perseverance, honesty, responsibility and
+duty take a back place. I refer the reader to what I have said on the
+estimation of human value, especially in the Landerziehungsheime
+(Chapter XVI). They should be estimated according to their utility in
+practical social life, where the qualities of will and creative
+imagination play a more considerable part than memory and rapidity in
+assimilating the ideas of others.</p>
+
+<p>But we have seen that the standard of ordinary examinations is false,
+even as regards pure intelligence. Critical judgment and imaginative
+power of combination have a much greater intellectual value than
+memory or the power of assimilation. It is, therefore, not to be
+wondered at that the boy who is at the top of his class so often turns
+out a failure, while the dunce who failed in his examinations
+sometimes becomes a genius or at any rate a very useful and capable
+man. From such facts, which are extremely common, it is falsely
+concluded, by a kind of fatalism, that "one never knows what will
+become of a man, for personalities change so much." This false
+conclusion is simply due to the erroneous criterion which is used in
+the evaluation of childhood, combined with the disgust inspired in
+strong and original minds by our schools.</p>
+
+<p>Diseases and other accidents may sometimes hinder the development of
+good dispositions, or even cause them to abort completely.
+Nevertheless, we shall rarely make false prophecies <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_514" id="Page_514">[514]</a></span>if we begin by
+avoiding the gross errors that we have pointed out in the mental
+evaluation of youth. It is also necessary to institute extensive
+psychological observations on the development of individuals, and in
+the value of their work at adult age compared with their peculiarities
+observed in childhood. I am certain that in this way the social value
+of a young man, or even a child, and in general all members of human
+society, could be calculated in advance in a more exact way.</p>
+
+<p><b>Domestic Animals and Plants.</b>&mdash;The weak constitution of the domestic
+varieties of plants and animals has been used as an argument against
+human selection. If the animal and vegetable varieties which we raise
+by artificial selection have not enough strength when left to
+themselves, this is due to the fact that in creating them we have not
+consulted their interests in the struggle for existence, but only our
+own. For example, we raise for our own use fat pigs which can scarcely
+walk, pear trees with succulent fruit which has very few seeds, etc.
+It is obvious that these monstrosities cannot be expected to maintain
+themselves in the struggle for existence. Human selection, on the
+contrary, is only concerned with what is advantageous for man,
+individually as well as socially. It is, therefore, not a question of
+a Utopian hypothesis, but of facts, the daily consequences of which we
+can observe in society, if we only look at them without prejudice.</p>
+
+<p><b>Calculation of Averages.</b>&mdash;Francis Galton has studied this question
+by the aid of the law of variations and by the calculation of
+probabilities. This law only deals with so-called fortuitous elements,
+due to thousands of minute causes which act to a great extent against
+each other and become mutually compensated in their general effect, so
+that the two extremes are always represented by small numbers and the
+average by large numbers. But, when certain special and greater forces
+come into play, the general resultant is deviated in one direction or
+the other.</p>
+
+<p>Galton shows that this law applies to social relations and mental
+values as well as to the stature of the body. In a given society there
+are always some individuals who are very good, some very bad, and many
+mediocrities. When a powerful <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_515" id="Page_515">[515]</a></span>general factor, such as alcohol or
+corruption by money, lowers all the individual values, the total value
+of the whole scale of capacities is lowered. Galton shows that the
+average values can be appreciably raised by inducing the class of
+higher values to reproduce themselves, and by preventing the lower
+values from doing so.</p>
+
+<p>Prof. Jules Amann has shown how the immigration of the Huguenots into
+Switzerland and Germany after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes by
+Louis XIV (1685) contributed to raise the mental level in these
+countries and continues to do so at the present day.</p>
+
+<p><b>Visions of the Past and Future.</b>&mdash;It is always sad to see capable,
+hard-working men and women, very useful from the social point of view,
+remaining sterile, simply on account of our social or religious
+prejudices; whereas, for the benefit of the community, they ought to
+marry as young as possible and procreate numerous children.</p>
+
+<p>I have already said (the idea is found in Andr&eacute; Couvreur's <i>La
+Graine</i>) that, if the sterility of one of the conjoints in marriage
+unfortunately leads to sterility in the other conjoint, the law, to
+make good the loss, should allow bigamy or concubinage in favor of the
+second, when the latter is very capable. I cannot dwell too strongly
+on the necessity of compensating for the sterilization which is so
+necessary with ill-formed or incapable beings, as well as for the
+period of rest which is due to women between their confinements, by an
+energetic multiplication of all useful and capable individuals.</p>
+
+<p>In the same way, it is a real pity to see so many healthy, active and
+intelligent girls become old maids, simply because they have no money
+and do not wish to throw themselves at the first scamp who comes. It
+would be far better to allow a little free polygamy, with complete
+equality of the two sexes and certain legal precautions, than to lose
+so much good seed and grow so many weeds. I refer the reader to what I
+have said on the duties of parents toward their children, and on the
+duties of society toward the procreators of healthy children. (Chapter
+XIII.)</p>
+
+<p>It would certainly take a century to obtain any appreciable
+improvement in the quality of a race by this procedure, even if <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_516" id="Page_516">[516]</a></span>it
+were carried out in a methodical and general way. At the end of a few
+centuries our descendants might recognize the happiness that they owe
+to our efforts. They would also no doubt be astonished at being
+descended from such a race of barbarians, and at having so many
+drunkards, criminals and imbeciles among their ancestors. The mingling
+of mysticism in sexual life, which now exists under the name of
+religion, would appear to them almost the same as idolatry and the
+practice of "magicians" among savage races appears to us.</p>
+
+<p>As to the effects of alcoholic drinks and prostitution, these would
+give them almost the same impression as the instruments of torture of
+the Middle Ages which we see exhibited in museums, or the horrors of
+the Inquisition, or burning at the stake for witchcraft.</p>
+
+<p>Many of my readers will no doubt regard my comparisons as exaggerated
+or fanatical, because, imbued as we are with contemporary thought, we
+cannot, without a great effort of imagination and having at our
+disposal much experience and many objects of comparison, identify
+ourselves with the thought of the past or that of the future. I
+recommend persons who cannot appreciate this fact to read the "Key to
+Uncle Tom's Cabin," by Harriet Beecher-Stowe (not the novel itself).
+This book contains numerous documents relating to the time of negro
+slavery before the American war of secession. When they read what
+happened at that time, for example, advertisements in the public
+journals of dogs trained to track escaped slaves, they will perhaps
+agree with me. Pious pastors then gave their support to slavery, as
+they often do now to alcohol. What now appears to us as monstrous
+seemed then quite natural.</p>
+
+<p><b>Reform in Education.</b>&mdash;After human selection, I consider pedagogic
+reform in the sexual and other domains as the most important of
+positive reforms. (Vide Chapters XVII and XIII.) Although good quality
+in the germ is one of the fundamental conditions for man's happiness,
+it is not sufficient. Just as we can obtain by education comparatively
+useful individuals from comparatively defective germs, so can we more
+easily damage phylogenetically good germs, by evil influences during
+their ontogeny.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_517" id="Page_517">[517]</a></span>Society should devote all its care to the good general education of
+the body and mind of children. It should do everything possible to
+develop harmoniously the intelligence, sentiments, will, character,
+altruism and &aelig;sthetics, after the manner of the Landerziehungsheime,
+which we have described in Chapter XVII. Every good hereditary type
+should be given the opportunity for free expansion, by means of
+rational education and work.</p>
+
+<p>With regard to individuals who are defective by heredity, their better
+dispositions might be developed up to a certain point and made to
+antagonize the bad dispositions, so that the latter should not
+predominate in the brain. (Vide Chapter XVII.)</p>
+
+<p>In spite of the great importance of rational pedagogy, we must not
+forget that it is incapable of replacing selection. It serves for the
+immediate object, which is to utilize in the best possible way human
+material as it exists at present; but by itself it cannot in any way
+improve the quality of the future germ. It can, however, by
+instructing youth on the social value of selection, prepare it to put
+the latter in action.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4>UTOPIAN IDEAS ON THE IDEAL MARRIAGE OF THE FUTURE</h4>
+
+<p>The outward life of man is largely influenced by events of the moment;
+but his inner life is determined by memories of the past combined with
+heredity, and thus gives rise to efforts toward the future. The past
+should never be allowed to dominate the present or the future, but
+should combine past experience with new impressions, and constitute a
+prolific source of ideas and resolutions.</p>
+
+<p>The marriage of the future pre-supposes people to be completely
+instructed from their childhood in natural sexual intercourse and its
+eventual dangers. It pre-supposes man brought up without alcohol or
+other narcotics, possessing the right to utilize the produce of his
+work for life and the maintenance of his own person, but not that of
+capitalizing for himself or his children, nor of making legacies to
+others, <i>i.e.</i>, of founding by the aid of money a power for the
+exploitation of others. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_518" id="Page_518">[518]</a></span>Everyone will know from his childhood that
+work is a necessary condition for the existence of all.</p>
+
+<p>Brought up in common with absolutely equal rights, girls and boys will
+be aware of the differences in their life tasks, such as differences
+of sex and individuality indicate them. Till the age of sixteen, or
+perhaps longer, they will have been instructed in the schools by
+simultaneous development of intelligence, bodily and technical
+exercises, &aelig;sthetics, moral and social sentiments and will. Without
+frightening them with the specter of eternal punishment, and without
+alluring them by the promise of paradise after death, they will have
+been taught that the object of our transient individual existence is
+continual effort to attain a pure human ideal. They will have learnt
+to find the truest satisfaction in the accomplishment of their
+different duties, and in work in common for the benefit of society.
+They will also have learnt to despise frivolity and luxury, to attach
+no importance to personal property and to put all their ambition into
+the quantity and quality of their work.</p>
+
+<p>The sexual appetite will manifest itself in different individuals at
+different ages. Trained from childhood not to yield to every desire,
+but to subordinate their appetites to the welfare of the community,
+they will not yield immediately. Moreover, they will know the
+signification of this appetite. They will also know that their
+patience will not be tried too long, and that they may speak openly on
+sexual subjects to their masters and parents and even to their
+companions of the opposite sex.</p>
+
+<p>What will be the consequences of such a state of things? Attachments
+will be formed early. But, instead of making all kinds of calculations
+concerning money, social position, etc.; instead of concealing their
+thoughts in the form of conventional politeness; instead of avoiding
+an honest explanation of the knotty point, or, at the most passing
+over this explanation like a cat on hot cinders; instead of trying to
+dazzle by their charms the one they wish to capture, the lovers of the
+future will be much more frank because they will have less reason to
+dissimulate. They will exchange plans for the future, and will
+mutually test each other's constancy and loyalty without fear of
+scandal and slander.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_519" id="Page_519">[519]</a></span>The two sexes will be able to enter into free relations with each
+other, first of all because they will both be instructed in sexual
+life, and secondly, because manners and customs will be more free.
+Without actual sexual intercourse, two lovers will thus be able to see
+whether their temperaments are well adapted to each other.</p>
+
+<p>Then, thanks to its liberty, the period of betrothal will allow a free
+interchange of ideas on life between the parties concerned, so that
+they will soon find out whether they are likely or not to live
+harmoniously in conjugal union. Questions of heredity, procreation and
+education will be dealt with calmly and freely. This will be certainly
+more moral than the present conversations between betrothed couples,
+"well-brought up," who, apart from certain conventional degrees of
+flirtation, hardly dare mention anything but commonplaces.</p>
+
+<p>A young man of talent, who wishes to continue his studies, will not be
+prevented from marrying. He may, for example, marry at twenty-four a
+young girl of eighteen and continue his studies till he is twenty-six.
+The inconvenience will be slight, for the habits of life will be
+simpler, and he can easily, by anticonceptional measures, avoid having
+children for a year or two.</p>
+
+<p>What will marriage be like? First of all, all useless luxury and
+conventional formality will be reduced to a minimum. The husband and
+wife will both work, either together, or each on their own account,
+according to circumstances. Part of the work will naturally be devoted
+to the children. As at present, the husband will be able to
+participate in the personal education of the children, if he is more
+disposed than the wife.</p>
+
+<p>Equality in the rights of the two sexes and matriarchy (vide Chapter
+XIII) will not render conjugal relations less intimate, but will, on
+the contrary, deepen their roots by raising their moral value. There
+will be less time to shine in society; dinner-parties and society
+functions of all kinds will be unknown; these things are for the idle
+rich, who have time to kill and money to spend. If a friend comes, and
+there is time to receive him and something for him to eat, he will be
+invited to take "potluck" with his family.</p>
+
+<p>Clothes will be simple, comfortable and hygienic. Dwellings <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_520" id="Page_520">[520]</a></span>will be
+artistic, &aelig;sthetic and scrupulously clean. Pomp and luxury are not
+art, and are sometimes so overdone that they wound the most elementary
+sense of &aelig;sthetics.</p>
+
+<p>If the occupation of the married couple or the number of their
+children render domestic servants necessary, the latter will not have
+the same position in the family as our present servants. Their
+education and social position being the same as those of the members
+of the family, they will take the position of companions rather than
+servants. No domestic work will be considered as degrading.</p>
+
+<p>If the marriage is sterile, the conjoints will adopt orphans or
+children from other large families. In certain cases, of which we have
+spoken, concubinage may be preferred which, with such a change in
+social organization, will amount to bigamy; but here everything will
+be done openly and by mutual agreement. In such cases any one who
+cannot overcome jealousy will be divorced.</p>
+
+<p>If, in spite of everything, a marriage is not happy, owing to
+incompatibility of character, the marriage (or sexual contract) will
+be dissolved, after legal provision for the children and their
+education. After this each of the conjoints will be free to marry
+again. This last contingency will probably not be more frequent than
+it is as present, possibly less, especially when there are children,
+for divorce is always painful when there are children to be brought
+up.</p>
+
+<p>Work, and the effort of striving toward the ideal of social life, are
+the best and most healthy distractions for the sexual appetite. It is
+the idleness, luxury and corruption of large cities which cause it to
+degenerate. Moreover, work revives love and leaves little time for
+family disputes.</p>
+
+<p>With a little independence of character, and abandonment of old
+prejudices, we can even now realize our scheme to a great extent.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Art of Loving Long.</b>&mdash;The ideal true love often only shows itself
+after the first amorous intoxication has subsided. In order to remain
+harmonious, love requires above all things the higher psychic
+irradiation of intimate sympathetic sentiments associated with the
+sexual appetite, with which they should always <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_521" id="Page_521">[521]</a></span>remain intimately
+connected, or at any rate as long as the duration of the active sexual
+life of man. Later on, in the evening of life, the first are
+sufficient.</p>
+
+<p>The great error into which most men fall who marry is to rely on the
+civil and religious bonds of matrimony. As soon as the union is
+sealed, they return to their usual habits and mode of life. Each
+expects much from the other and gives as little as possible. When
+amorous sexual intoxication is over, the husband no longer finds any
+charm in his wife, he becomes enamored of other women to whom he
+devotes his attention, reserving his bad temper for his wife, while
+the latter takes no more trouble to please him.</p>
+
+<p>I agree that a man cannot for long conceal his true nature; we are
+what we are by heredity. Nevertheless, the art of being amiable may be
+acquired by habit and education, an art which the poorest may employ.
+Education should never cease during life. Along with the higher
+sentiments of love and mutual respect, lasting sexual attraction is a
+link of inestimable value in maintaining a long and happy union
+between man and woman in marriage.</p>
+
+<p>The married couple should, therefore, avoid everything which may
+rupture this link. The wife should devote herself to making the home
+attractive to her husband. The latter, on his part, should neither
+regard his wife as a mere housekeeper, nor only as an object for the
+satisfaction of his sexual appetite. Such a conception of woman and
+marriage is unfortunately very common and is incompatible with true
+conjugal happiness.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, it is not enough for the husband to esteem and
+respect his wife as a faithful companion, to whom he is united in a
+purely intellectual way. For the couple to find lasting and complete
+happiness in marriage, love, however ideal it may be, should be
+accompanied by sexual enjoyment. In short, intellectual and
+sentimental harmony should be combined with sensual harmony in a
+single and sublime symphony. The husband should not only regard his
+wife as the incarnation of all the domestic virtues, but should also
+continue to imagine her as the Venus of his early love.</p>
+
+<p>This condition may be realized even when youth has passed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_522" id="Page_522">[522]</a></span>away,
+provided the deep sympathetic sentiments of an ideal love have truly
+existed and are maintained. The wife will then continue to be for her
+husband the goddess she has always been. But if this condition is not
+realized it is not always easy for the husband, with his polygamous
+disposition, to remain insensible to the charms of other women.
+However, habit and imagination may do much to correct this tendency.</p>
+
+<p>I think the following advice may be useful to the husband (and
+occasionally also to the wife). When his sexual passion is excited by
+another woman and he is in danger of succumbing, he should endeavor,
+by the aid of his imagination, to clothe his own wife with the charms
+of his would-be seducer. With a little determination this measure will
+often succeed; he will thus strengthen his sexual desire toward his
+own wife, and perhaps increase hers also. In this way, a flame which
+threatened to destroy conjugal happiness may sometimes serve to
+strengthen it, by reviving afresh the mutual feelings of love and
+desire. In the first part of his "Wahlverwandtschaften" (elective
+affinities), Goethe designates this phenomenon by the term <i>mental
+adultery</i>; but I am of the opinion that it is rather the expression of
+a <i>mental conjugal fidelity</i> which is strengthened by sensual
+substitution.</p>
+
+<p>When there is true love and good-will on both sides, such experiences
+may often help toward the gradual consolidation of conjugal relations.
+Not only may a deviated passion be brought back to the conjugal bed,
+but certain discords may be restored to harmony, and the couple may
+find new desire and mutual affection which have been put to the test.</p>
+
+<p><b>Matriarchism.</b>&mdash;With regard to family relations there is an important
+point to consider, which we have already touched upon in Chapter XIII.
+The power of man and of patriarchism has had the result of giving the
+father's name to the family. This system is not only unnatural, but
+also has deplorable effects. If it is true that the germ of the
+individual (<i>Chromosomes</i>, Chapter I) inherits on the average as much
+from the father as from the mother, the latter is more closely
+connected with it from all other points of view. Races in which the
+maternal influence predominates in the family, not only in name <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_523" id="Page_523">[523]</a></span>but
+also in other respects, have better understood the voice of nature.</p>
+
+<p>The fact that the mother carries the child for nine months in her
+womb, and for many years after birth is more intimately associated
+with it than the father, gives her a natural right which the father
+cannot claim. Children ought, therefore, to be named after the mother.
+Moreover, in case of divorce, it should be the rule for children to be
+restored to the mother, unless there are special reasons for another
+decision.</p>
+
+<p>It is evident that in the conditions of modern civilization we cannot
+return to matriarchism in its primitive sense. An old patriarch cannot
+become the sole sovereign of all his descendants without the
+occurrence of grave abuses, no more can this power devolve on a
+grandmother. Apart from denomination in the maternal line, I mean by
+matriarchism, the legal privilege of the management of the family
+conferred on the wife, who is in reality the center of the family.</p>
+
+<p>I will sum up what appears to me to be required, in the following
+propositions:</p>
+
+<p>1. Denomination in the maternal line.</p>
+
+<p>2. With the exception of cases in which the wife loses her maternal
+rights owing to incapacity, bad conduct or insanity, etc., or when the
+law is obliged to deprive her of them, she alone will possess the
+guardianship and the management of her children during their minority.</p>
+
+<p>3. The wife will be proprietor and housekeeper of the house and
+household. Her work of housekeeping and her maternal duties will be
+estimated at their just value, and will have the right to
+compensation, equivalent to the husband's work in his business.</p>
+
+<p>4. As long as conjugal union exists, the husband has the right to live
+in his wife's house, for the protection he gives to the family, for
+the work he gives toward the house and the education of the children,
+as well as for his pecuniary contributions toward the expenses of
+both.</p>
+
+<p>5. With the exception of contributions to the house and education, and
+to the feeding and clothing of the children, the product of the
+husband's work and private fortune belong to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_524" id="Page_524">[524]</a></span>him, just as the product
+and fortune of his wife are her own property. In the case of divorce
+there will then be no difficulty in separating the two properties.
+Excepting in cases mentioned in the second proposition, which will be
+decided by law, the children will belong to the mother only. But as
+long as he lives and is able to work, the divorced father must
+continue to contribute to the maintenance and education of the
+children he has procreated, till they come of age.</p>
+
+<p>These propositions have only a legal value, and will only be required
+when the conjoints cannot come to a mutual understanding. They in no
+way concern those who are able to live together in mutual concord. A
+weak and passive woman will continue as before to subordinate herself
+to the advice and opinions of a husband stronger and wiser than
+herself.</p>
+
+<p>It is needless to say that, after divorce or separation, things will
+not always go smoothly, although more so than at present. The husband
+will always have the right to have certain claims decided by law. When
+the law is not exclusively in the hands of men, it will be more
+capable of protecting the rights of women. Cases in which a mother is
+incapable of bringing up her own children, or where the father is
+capable of great devotion and sacrifice are not now so rare, but they
+are nevertheless exceptional.</p>
+
+<p><b>The Present Day.</b>&mdash;It is not to be expected that the above
+propositions will find much support at the present day among the
+majority of people, still less that they will soon be realized by the
+governing bodies, considering their conservative and idle tendencies
+and their inertia. It may be asked, on the other hand, whether the
+present laws do not already provide us with the ways and means of
+attaining the ideal that we propose. I already see two:</p>
+
+<p>First of all, as pointed out in Chapter XIII, we may enter into
+contracts which make the properties entirely separate, and according
+to the local legislation in force, fulfill other of the above
+propositions. For instance, in some countries, the wife can preserve
+by contract the property and management of the house, etc.</p>
+
+<p>In the second place, illegitimate children now bear the family <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_525" id="Page_525">[525]</a></span>name
+of their mother; this is exactly what we desire. When concubinage is
+not prosecuted and punished by law, a free marriage could be arranged
+by private contract which would fulfill the above conditions. Some
+persons, I admit, would require much courage to do this, for it is not
+every one who can brave public opinion when he has a good reputation
+to lose. Moreover, such unions would not enjoy the protection of the
+State. By a little perseverance, however, the public might be induced
+to call the woman "Mrs." instead of "Miss."</p>
+
+<p>It is not impossible for unions of this kind between honorable persons
+to become more frequent, and gradually compel society to recognize
+free unions as the equivalent of traditional, or so-called legal,
+marriage, to accord them the same rights and recognize the children
+born of them. The conjoints could be named by combining both family
+names; for example, if Miss Martin enters into a free union with Mr.
+Durand, she might be called Mrs. Martin-Durand, and her husband Mr.
+Durand-Martin.</p>
+
+<p><b>Conclusion.</b>&mdash;It may perhaps be thought that I am imagining the
+existence of the purest ideal and the happiness of paradise in a world
+in which the hereditary quality of men will be no better than it is
+to-day. I hope that no reader who has followed me carefully will
+regard me as so ingenuous. Then as now there will be intrigues and
+disputes, hatred, envy, jealousy, idleness, impropriety, falsehood,
+negligence, temper, etc., but their power will be less. There will be
+less excuse for these bad qualities and those who possess them will be
+regarded as pathological individuals who should be eliminated as much
+as possible by means of proper selection, combined with good hygiene
+and thorough education.</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, men of originality and high ideals will be able to
+develop much more freely and naturally than at present. They will no
+longer be the slaves of power, money, prejudice and routine. They will
+not be obliged to conform to religious hypocrisy, but will be able to
+speak and act according to their convictions. Marriage, and sexual
+relations in general, will no longer be a perpetual conventional
+falsehood. The sentiments no longer fettered, will not be led astray
+into mischievous ways <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_526" id="Page_526">[526]</a></span>by artificial excitement, so long as they do
+not depend on unhealthy dispositions, for the pretexts and especially
+the pecuniary inducement to commit evil actions and contract bad
+habits will have been removed as far as possible.</p>
+
+<p>For the same reason prostitution will become almost impossible, for it
+will cease to have any reason for existence. Immoderate sexual
+intercourse, like other excesses, will not cease to exist, but will be
+kept in certain limits by the work which no one will be able to
+escape.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of his history of materialism (1874) F.A. Lange wrote as
+follows:</p>
+
+<p>"We lay down our pen and terminate our criticism at a time when Europe
+is agitated by the social question. In the vast social domain, all the
+revolutionary elements of science, religion and politics meet together
+and seem prepared for a decisive battle. Whether this battle remains a
+simple contest of minds or whether it takes the form of a cataclysm
+which will bury thousands of unfortunates in the ruins of a
+disappearing period, one thing is certain:&mdash;the new epoch will only
+succeed by abolishing egoism, and placing the work of improvement of
+the human race in the hands of a human co&ouml;perative society, in place
+of our feverish work which has only personal interest at heart.</p>
+
+<p>"The contests which are impending will be mitigated if the minds which
+are to direct the people are imbued with the knowledge of human
+evolution and historical phenomena.</p>
+
+<p>"We must not abandon the hope that in the remote future great changes
+may take place without defiling humanity with fire and bloodshed. It
+would certainly be the finest reward for strenuous work of the human
+mind, if it could from this time prepare an easy way to that which a
+certain future reserves for us, avoiding atrocious sacrifices and
+saving the treasures of our civilization to be transmitted to the new
+epoch.</p>
+
+<p>"Unfortunately, this prospect has little chance of realization, and we
+cannot disguise the fact that blind party passion goes on increasing,
+and that the brutal struggle of interests becomes more and more
+removed from the influence of theoretical research. However, our
+efforts will not all be in vain, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_527" id="Page_527">[527]</a></span>truth will prevail in the end.
+In any case the observer who thinks has no right to be silent, simply
+because at the present moment he has only a small number of
+listeners."</p>
+
+<p>Thirty years ago Lange's pessimism would be comprehensible; but ideas
+have progressed since then, and the prospects of to-day give us more
+courage for social work.</p>
+
+<p>The Utopian ideas which I have expressed have in no way the pretension
+to be new. Analyzing the facts in the most diverse domains, I have
+simply attempted to find those which seem to me suited to solve the
+sexual problem of the human race most advantageously under the present
+social conditions. Every one to-day admits that our sexual life leaves
+much to be desired, but is afraid of touching the crumbling edifice.</p>
+
+<p>I leave it to my readers to decide whether my ideas are nothing more
+than Utopian, or whether they do not rather represent a realizable
+ideal, begging them to reflect as calmly and independently as possible
+before giving their judgment.</p>
+
+<p>After all, we have to choose between pessimistic acceptance of the
+fatal decay of our race for the benefit of the Mongols, and an
+immediate and energetic effort toward selective and educational
+improvement, an effort which will alone be capable of reviving our
+hereditary vital energy. Whoever decides in favor of the latter
+alternative should occupy himself with the sexual question, and boldly
+declare war against the domination of private capital, the abuse of
+alcohol, and all the prejudices by which we are hampered. He should
+abandon the luxury and effeminate comfort of our time and return to
+the principles of Lycurgus and the Japanese&mdash;to the education of
+character and self-control by methodical training in continuous social
+work combined with voluntary fatigue and privation.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_528" id="Page_528">[528]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REMARKS</h3>
+<br />
+
+<p>I shall no doubt be reproached for not having taken sufficient notice
+of other works on the subject of this book. I have, however, desired
+to express my own opinion without allowing myself to be unduly
+influenced by others. I will nevertheless make a few remarks on the
+bibliography of this subject.</p>
+
+<p>I may mention the celebrated work of the Italian physician,
+Mantigazza, on the <i>Physiology of Love</i>. It is a curious fact that
+this author, after his poetic descriptions of love, is in favor of
+prostitution. The German socialist, Bebel, has written a very
+remarkable book on woman in the past, the present and the future. In
+spite of scientific errors, which are easily excused in a self-made
+man who became one of the leaders of the German Reichstag, this book
+remains a veritable social monument on the sexual question. With the
+exception of his strong political bias, and the errors I have just
+mentioned I am, on the whole, in accord with the ideas of Bebel.</p>
+
+<p>Another German author, B&ouml;lsche, (<i>Das Liebesleben in der Natur</i>) has
+recently described love among all organized beings, including man,
+with a tone of forced pleasantry which spoils the profound knowledge
+of the author on the zo&ouml;logical and other subjects which he treats.</p>
+
+<p>With regard to German literature, I recommend the <i>Archiv f&uuml;r Rassen
+und Gesellschafts' Biologie</i>, edited by Doctor Plotz of Berlin. This
+publication has for its object the study of the causes of degeneration
+in our race and the remedies for it. Among other articles which have
+appeared in this publication I may specially mention those of
+Shallmayer on <i>Heredity and Selection in the Life of Races</i>, and
+Thurnwald, <i>Town and Country in the Life of the Race</i>. I may also
+mention Plotz: <i>Die T&uuml;chtigkeit unserer Rasse und der Schutz der
+Schwachen</i>, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_529" id="Page_529">[529]</a></span>1895, and <i>Mutterschutz</i>, a journal for the reform of
+sexual ethics, 1905.</p>
+
+<p>France has always shone in the domain of the poetry of love and the
+art connected with it. Apart from the ancient classics I may refer to
+George Sand, Alfred de Musset, Lamartine, and Madame de Stael. In the
+practical conception of free love, George Sand was in advance of her
+time. Among modern authors there are Paul Bourget; Andr&eacute; Couvreur, who
+in <i>La Graine</i> deals with the problem of human selection; Brieux, who
+in <i>Les Avari&eacute;s</i>, attacks the social tragedies of venereal disease.
+The book of Vacher de Lapouge on social selection is full of
+interesting ideas, although too much influenced by the unstable
+hypothesis of Gobineau. To make distinct zo&ouml;logical species of
+dolichocephalics and brachycephalics, as Vacher de Lapouge attempts,
+is a grave error in zo&ouml;logy. Charles Albert: <i>L'Amour Libre</i>, and
+Queyrat: <i>La D&eacute;moralization de l'id&eacute;e sexuelle</i>, give the note of
+contemporary change in ideas on the sexual question.</p>
+
+<p>In <i>Le Mariage et les Th&eacute;ories Malthusiennes</i> (Paris, 1906) Dr.
+Georges Guibert recommends early marriage, but does not take account
+of human selection. Remy de Gourmont, <i>Physique de l'amour; Essai sur
+l'instinct sexuel</i>, Paris, 1903, describes, very pessimistically, love
+in the animal kingdom. Jeanne Deflou (<i>Le Sexualisme</i>, Paris, 1905)
+has written a virulent feminine complaint against the injustice of the
+stronger sex.</p>
+
+<p>But the French author who has given the most profound, the truest
+descriptions of the psychology of love and the sexual appetite is
+undoubtedly Guy de Maupassant. No doubt his last illness caused him to
+produce certain more or less regrettable works in which certain
+pornographic traits appeared. He may, perhaps, be accused of having
+too often described the pathology of love, which, by the way, he
+admirably understood. Perhaps also, he has too often dealt with
+exceptional situations and irresponsible passions. But these are only
+details, and we must admit that by drawing attention to the unhealthy
+features of our modern sexual life, he compels the reader to reflect,
+and inspires him not only with disgust for evil but with profound
+sadness and a feeling of revulsion. He often reveals his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_530" id="Page_530">[530]</a></span>predilection
+for the refined, hypersensitive love of the boudoir which we have
+regarded here as a symptom of social degeneration. But this does not
+prevent his clear insight into the love of the proletariat, the
+peasant or the healthy man. He knows man as well as woman, and if he
+has presented them most often under their least moral aspect it is
+because he has observed them closely. But occasionally he rises to the
+greatest heights of the truest, purest and most profound love.</p>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a><hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_531" id="Page_531">[531]</a></span><br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+
+<h2>INDEX</h2>
+
+<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_532" id="Page_532">[532]</a></span><br />
+<hr />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_533" id="Page_533">[533]</a></span><br />
+
+<h3>INDEX<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">ToC</a></span></h3>
+<br />
+
+<ul><li>Abolitionism, <a href="#Page_316">316</a></li>
+
+<li>Abortion, artificial, <a href="#Page_408">408</a>, <a href="#Page_440">440</a></li>
+
+<li>Abstinence, sexual, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li>
+
+<li>Accouchement, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li>
+
+<li>Adornment, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li>
+
+<li>Adultery, <a href="#Page_373">373</a>, <a href="#Page_412">412</a></li>
+
+<li>Alcohol, effect on embryo, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_462">462</a>
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>effect on sexual appetite, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a>, <a href="#Page_503">503</a></li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Altruism and Egoism, <a href="#Page_448">448</a></li>
+
+<li>Amorous Intoxication, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li>
+
+<li>Americanism, <a href="#Page_331">331</a></li>
+
+<li>An&aelig;sthesia, sexual, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li>
+
+<li>Anthropoid apes, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li>
+
+<li>Anticonceptional measures, <a href="#Page_423">423</a>, <a href="#Page_497">497</a></li>
+
+<li>Antipathy, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Antony and Cleopatra</i>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li>
+
+<li>Ants, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_359">359</a></li>
+
+<li>Art, moral effect of, <a href="#Page_496">496</a>
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>in sexual life, <a href="#Page_489">489</a></li>
+  <li>of loving long, <a href="#Page_520">520</a></li>
+  <li>and pornography, <a href="#Page_491">491</a></li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Aspermia, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li>
+
+<li>Assaults on minors, <a href="#Page_403">403</a></li>
+
+<li>Atavism, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li>
+
+<li>Attraction, methods of, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li>
+
+<li>Audacity, masculine, <a href="#Page_115">115</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Bachelors, old, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li>
+
+<li>Bartholin's glands, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li>
+
+<li>Beauty, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Becket</i>, <a href="#Page_352">352</a></li>
+
+<li>Bees, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Bernheim</i>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></li>
+
+<li>Bestiality, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Bezzola</i>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li>
+
+<li>Birth, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li>
+
+<li>Blastophthoria, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li>
+
+<li>Braggardism, sexual, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li>
+
+<li>Brain, weight of, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Brieux</i>, <a href="#Page_407">407</a>, <a href="#Page_438">438</a></li>
+
+<li>Brothels, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>clandestine, <a href="#Page_307">307</a></li>
+  <li>high class, <a href="#Page_310">310</a></li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Budding, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li>
+
+<li>Bullies, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li>
+
+<li>Butterflies, <a href="#Page_74">74</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li><i>Caelius Aurelianus</i>, <a href="#Page_399">399</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Caligula</i>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li>
+
+<li>Castration, <a href="#Page_25">25</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Catherine de Medici</i>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li>
+
+<li>Catholicism, Roman, <a href="#Page_341">341</a></li>
+
+<li>Cell division, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li>
+
+<li>Celibacy, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li>
+
+<li>Children and marriage, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>civil rights of, <a href="#Page_378">378</a></li>
+  <li>education of, <a href="#Page_471">471</a></li>
+  <li>protection of, <a href="#Page_487">487</a></li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li><i>Chiniqui</i>, <a href="#Page_342">342</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Chauvin, de</i>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
+
+<li>Civil law, <a href="#Page_368">368</a></li>
+
+<li>Civil marriage, <a href="#Page_370">370</a></li>
+
+<li>Climate and sexual life, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li>
+
+<li>Clitoris, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
+
+<li>Coeducation, <a href="#Page_481">481</a></li>
+
+<li>Coitus, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li>
+
+<li>Commandments, <a href="#Page_454">454</a></li>
+
+<li>Conception, regulation of, <a href="#Page_423">423</a></li>
+
+<li>Concubinage, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>, <a href="#Page_406">406</a></li>
+
+<li>Confession, Roman Catholic, <a href="#Page_342">342</a></li>
+
+<li>Conjugation, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li>
+
+<li>Consanguinity, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li>
+
+<li>Constellations, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li>
+
+<li>Continence, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_422">422</a></li>
+
+<li>Coquetry, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li>
+
+<li>Corpus cavernosum, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>luteum, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li><i>Correggio</i>, <a href="#Page_355">355</a></li>
+
+<li>Correlative sexual characters, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a></li>
+
+<li>Council of Trent, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li>
+
+<li>Cunnilingus, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li><i>Darwin</i>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_480">480</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Debreyne</i>, <a href="#Page_345">345</a></li>
+
+<li>Decidua, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Demosthenes</i>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li>
+
+<li>Divorce, <a href="#Page_373">373</a></li>
+
+<li>Domestic animals and plants, <a href="#Page_514">514</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Dubois</i>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li>
+
+<li>Duty, <a href="#Page_106">106</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Ecphoria, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li>
+
+<li>Ecstasy, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>ecstasy and religion, <a href="#Page_356">356</a></li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Education, <a href="#Page_470">470</a>, <a href="#Page_516">516</a></li>
+
+<li>Egoism, <a href="#Page_361">361</a>
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>dual, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Egoistic love, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
+
+<li>Embryo, formation of, <a href="#Page_9">9</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_534" id="Page_534">[534]</a></span>
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>rights of, <a href="#Page_411">411</a></li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Embryology, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li>
+
+<li>Endogamy, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li>
+
+<li>Engram, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li>
+
+<li>Environment and sexual life, <a href="#Page_326">326</a></li>
+
+<li>Epididymis, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li>
+
+<li>Epispadias, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li>
+
+<li>Erection, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
+
+<li>Eroticism, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_485">485</a>
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>and religion, <a href="#Page_354">354</a></li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Erotomania, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li>
+
+<li>Ethnology of sexual life, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li>
+
+<li>Eunuchs, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_347">347</a></li>
+
+<li>Evolution, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>sexual, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Exhibitionism, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_405">405</a></li>
+
+<li>Exogamy, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li>
+
+<li>Expiation, <a href="#Page_364">364</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Factory life, <a href="#Page_326">326</a></li>
+
+<li>Fakirs, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></li>
+
+<li>Fertilization of eggs, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li>
+
+<li>Fetichism, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Fischer</i>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
+
+<li>Flirtation, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li>
+
+<li>Free love, <a href="#Page_384">384</a></li>
+
+<li>Free will, <a href="#Page_365">365</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Genital organs, female, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>organs, male, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Germinal cells, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Goethe</i>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>
+
+<li>Gonorrhea, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li>
+
+<li>Grisettes, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_322">322</a></li>
+
+<li>Guardianship, <a href="#Page_384">384</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Guillaume</i>, <a href="#Page_399">399</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li><i>Haeckel</i>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li>
+
+<li>"Hand-fasting," <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li>
+
+<li>Heredity, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>of acquired characters, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li><i>Hering</i>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li>
+
+<li>Hermaphrodites, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Hertwig</i>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li>
+
+<li>Hetaira, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Hirschfeld</i>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li>
+
+<li>History, mental anomalies in, <a href="#Page_350">350</a></li>
+
+<li>Homophony, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li>
+
+<li>Homosexual love, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li>
+
+<li>Hottentots, <a href="#Page_347">347</a></li>
+
+<li>Human selection, <a href="#Page_412">412</a>, <a href="#Page_509">509</a></li>
+
+<li>Hybridity, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li>
+
+<li>Hymen, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
+
+<li>Hyper&aelig;sthesia, sexual, <a href="#Page_225">225</a></li>
+
+<li>Hypnotism, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></li>
+
+<li>Hypochondriasis, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li>
+
+<li>Hypocrisy, sexual, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li>
+
+<li>Hypospadias, <a href="#Page_210">210</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Ideal Marriage, <a href="#Page_517">517</a></li>
+
+<li>Idealism, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li>
+
+<li>Idiots, <a href="#Page_410">410</a>
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>moral, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Imaginary love, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li>
+
+<li>Impotence, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li>
+
+<li>Incest, <a href="#Page_402">402</a></li>
+
+<li>Insane, sexual anomalies in, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li>
+
+<li>Internats, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li>
+
+<li>Inversion, sexual, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li>
+
+<li>Inverts, marriage of, <a href="#Page_378">378</a></li>
+
+<li>Irradiations of love, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>"Jack the Ripper," <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li>
+
+<li>Jealousy, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Joan of Arc</i>, <a href="#Page_351">351</a></li>
+
+<li><i>J&ouml;rger</i>, <a href="#Page_331">331</a></li>
+
+<li>Jus prim&aelig; noctis, <a href="#Page_151">151</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li><i>Keller</i>, <a href="#Page_356">356</a></li>
+
+<li>Kinship, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Krafft-Ebing</i>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_404">404</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li><i>Lamarck</i>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li>
+
+<li>Landerziehungsheime, <a href="#Page_477">477</a></li>
+
+<li>Lesbian love, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Liguori</i>, <a href="#Page_341">341</a></li>
+
+<li>Lorettes, <a href="#Page_322">322</a></li>
+
+<li>Love, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li>
+
+<li>Love and sexual appetite, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>maternal, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li>
+  <li>and religion, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li><i>Lubbock</i>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li>
+
+<li>Lycurgus, laws of, <a href="#Page_466">466</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li><i>Marchal</i>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li>
+
+<li>Mariage de convenance, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li>
+
+<li>Marriage by purchase, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>by rape, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li>
+  <li>consanguineous, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_387">387</a></li>
+  <li>duration of, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li>
+  <li>for money, <a href="#Page_295">295</a></li>
+  <li>forms of, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li>
+  <li>hygiene of, <a href="#Page_427">427</a></li>
+  <li>ideal, <a href="#Page_517">517</a></li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Masochism, <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li>
+
+<li>Masturbation, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li>
+
+<li>Maternal love, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li>
+
+<li>Maternity, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
+
+<li>Matriarchism, <a href="#Page_378">378</a>, <a href="#Page_522">522</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Maupassant, Guy de</i>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>, <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li>
+
+<li>Medical advice, <a href="#Page_421">421</a>, <a href="#Page_434">434</a>
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>secrecy, <a href="#Page_435">435</a></li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Medicine and sexual life, <a href="#Page_418">418</a></li>
+
+<li>Medico-legal case, <a href="#Page_413">413</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Mendel</i>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li>
+
+<li>Menstruation, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li>
+
+<li>Mental Capacity, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Mercier</i>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Merrifield</i>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Messalina</i>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Meynert</i>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Mill, Stuart</i>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li>
+
+<li>Mistresses, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li>
+
+<li>Mitosis, <a href="#Page_7">7</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_535" id="Page_535">[535]</a></span></li>
+
+<li>Mneme, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li>
+
+<li>Modesty, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>
+
+<li><i>M&oelig;bius</i>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li>
+
+<li>Money, cult of, <a href="#Page_502">502</a></li>
+
+<li>"Monkey's love," <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li>
+
+<li>Monogamy, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li>
+
+<li>Morality, <a href="#Page_445">445</a></li>
+
+<li>Mormons, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Moses</i>, <a href="#Page_454">454</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Murillo</i>, <a href="#Page_355">355</a></li>
+
+<li>Mysogynists' ball, <a href="#Page_249">249</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li><i>Napoleon</i>, <a href="#Page_352">352</a></li>
+
+<li>Narcotics and sexual life, <a href="#Page_503">503</a></li>
+
+<li>Natural selection, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li>
+
+<li>Neo-malthusianism, <a href="#Page_463">463</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Nero</i>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li>
+
+<li>Nocturnal emissions, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li>
+
+<li>Nudity, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li>
+
+<li>Nymphomania, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Old maids, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
+
+<li>Onanism, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li>
+
+<li>Ontogeny, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>of sexual life, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Orgasm, veneral, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li>
+
+<li>Ovulation, <a href="#Page_19">19</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Pal&aelig;ontology, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li>
+
+<li>Pangenesis, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li>
+
+<li>Paradoxy, sexual, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li>
+
+<li>Parthenogenesis, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li>
+
+<li>Passiveness in woman, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li>
+
+<li>Paternity, inquiry into, <a href="#Page_383">383</a></li>
+
+<li>Pathology of sexual organs, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></li>
+
+<li>Patriarchism, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
+
+<li>Patriotism, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Paul, St</i>, <a href="#Page_352">352</a></li>
+
+<li>Pedagogy and the sexual question, <a href="#Page_470">470</a></li>
+
+<li>Pederasty, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li>
+
+<li>Pederosis, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li>
+
+<li>Penal law in sexual matters, <a href="#Page_396">396</a></li>
+
+<li>Penis, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
+
+<li>Phallus, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li>
+
+<li>Phylogeny, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>of love, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li>
+  <li>sexual life, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Pimps, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li>
+
+<li>Pithecanthropus, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li>
+
+<li>Placenta, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li>
+
+<li>Police and prostitution, <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li>
+
+<li>Polities and sexual question, <a href="#Page_461">461</a>, <a href="#Page_467">467</a>, <a href="#Page_506">506</a></li>
+
+<li>Polyandry, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li>
+
+<li>Polygamy, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li>
+
+<li>Pornography, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_406">406</a>, <a href="#Page_506">506</a></li>
+
+<li>Pregnancy, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_433">433</a></li>
+
+<li>Prejudice and tradition, <a href="#Page_505">505</a></li>
+
+<li>Preventive membranes, <a href="#Page_425">425</a></li>
+
+<li>Procreative instinct, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li>
+
+<li>Promiscuity, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li>
+
+<li>Prostate, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
+
+<li>Prostitutes, fate of, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>number of, <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li>
+  <li>psychology of, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li>
+  <li>training of, <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li>
+  <li>varieties of, <a href="#Page_312">312</a></li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Prostitution, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>regulation of, <a href="#Page_316">316</a></li>
+  <li>and sexual perversion, <a href="#Page_314">314</a></li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Protectors, <a href="#Page_303">303</a></li>
+
+<li>Protoplasm, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li>
+
+<li>Proxenetism, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>, <a href="#Page_406">406</a></li>
+
+<li>Prudery, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>
+
+<li>Psychic impotence, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li>
+
+<li>Psychic irradiations of love, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li>
+
+<li>Psychopathology, sexual, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li>
+
+<li>Puberty, <a href="#Page_77">77</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Race and sexual life, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li>
+
+<li>Rape, <a href="#Page_402">402</a></li>
+
+<li>Rational selection, <a href="#Page_464">464</a></li>
+
+<li>Religion and love, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li>
+
+<li>Religion and sexual life, <a href="#Page_340">340</a></li>
+
+<li>Religious eroticism, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>prudery, <a href="#Page_346">346</a></li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Reproduction in vertebrates, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li>
+
+<li>Restriction in sexual life, <a href="#Page_387">387</a></li>
+
+<li>Retaliation, <a href="#Page_364">364</a></li>
+
+<li>Rights in sexual life, <a href="#Page_358">358</a></li>
+
+<li>Right to satisfaction of the sexual appetite, <a href="#Page_373">373</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Rousseau</i>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_352">352</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li><i>Sade, Marquis de</i>, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li>
+
+<li>Sadism, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_404">404</a>, <a href="#Page_486">486</a></li>
+
+<li>Satyriasis, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Schiller</i>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Schopenhauer</i>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Schwann</i>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Seguin</i>, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li>
+
+<li>Selection, contrary, <a href="#Page_465">465</a>
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>human, <a href="#Page_412">412</a>, <a href="#Page_509">509</a></li>
+  <li>natural, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li>
+  <li>rational, <a href="#Page_464">464</a></li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Semen, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Semon</i>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li>
+
+<li>Seminal vesicles, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li>
+
+<li>Senile paradoxy, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li>
+
+<li>Sexual appetite in man, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>appetite in woman, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li>
+  <li>disorders, <a href="#Page_440">440</a></li>
+  <li>excitation, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li>
+  <li>hygiene, <a href="#Page_420">420</a></li>
+  <li>morality, <a href="#Page_445">445</a>, <a href="#Page_450">450</a></li>
+  <li>pathology, <a href="#Page_208">208</a></li>
+  <li>perversion, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, <a href="#Page_404">404</a>, <a href="#Page_482">482</a></li>
+  <li>power, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li>
+  <li>selection, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Sexes, production of, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Shakespere</i>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li>
+
+<li>Shame, sense of, <a href="#Page_157">157</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_536" id="Page_536">[536]</a></span></li>
+
+<li>Social position, <a href="#Page_334">334</a></li>
+
+<li>Sodomy, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li>
+
+<li>Soft chancre, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Solomon</i>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li>
+
+<li>Spermatorrhea, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li>
+
+<li>Spermatozoa, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Spinoza</i>, <a href="#Page_366">366</a></li>
+
+<li>Standard of human value, <a href="#Page_478">478</a>, <a href="#Page_513">513</a></li>
+
+<li>Struggle for existence, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li>
+
+<li>Succession, right of, <a href="#Page_394">394</a></li>
+
+<li>Suckling, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
+
+<li>Suggestion in art, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>
+  <ul class="nest">
+  <li>in love, <a href="#Page_284">284</a></li>
+  <li>in sexual life, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></li>
+  <li>in sexual anomalies, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></li>
+  </ul>
+</li>
+
+<li>Sympathy, <a href="#Page_284">284</a></li>
+
+<li>Syphilis, <a href="#Page_213">213</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Testicles, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Themis</i>, <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Tiberius</i>, <a href="#Page_365">365</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Tolstoi</i>, <a href="#Page_352">352</a></li>
+
+<li>Types to eliminate and perpetuate, <a href="#Page_512">512</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Urnings, <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li>
+
+<li>Uterus, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li>
+
+<li>Utopia, <a href="#Page_499">499</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Vagabondage, <a href="#Page_331">331</a></li>
+
+<li>Vagina, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Van Beneden</i>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li>
+
+<li>Venereal diseases, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_376">376</a>, <a href="#Page_507">507</a></li>
+
+<li>Virgins, cult of, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li>
+
+<li>Vitellus, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Vries, de</i>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>War, <a href="#Page_461">461</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Weismann</i>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Westermark</i>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li>
+
+<li>Wealth and poverty, <a href="#Page_333">333</a></li>
+
+<li>White slavery, <a href="#Page_305">305</a></li>
+
+<li>Woman, emancipation of, <a href="#Page_504">504</a></li>
+
+<li>Womb, <a href="#Page_21">21</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li>Yolk, <a href="#Page_11">11</a><br /><br /></li>
+
+
+<li><i>Zeller</i>, <a href="#Page_355">355</a></li>
+
+<li><i>Zola</i>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_407">407</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+
+<div class="tr">
+<p class="cen"><a name="TN" id="TN"></a>Typographical errors corrected in text:</p>
+<br />
+Page &nbsp;&nbsp;22: &nbsp;Kulliker replaced with K&ouml;lliker<br />
+Page &nbsp;&nbsp;52: &nbsp;Vericles replaced with Vesicles<br />
+Page 256: &nbsp;exidence replaced with evidence<br />
+Page 273: &nbsp;'sexual perversion proflably exist' replaced with 'sexual perversion probably exist'<br />
+Page 353: &nbsp;Medici replaced with M&eacute;dici<br />
+Page 404: &nbsp;psycopaths replaced with psyhcopaths<br />
+Page 426: &nbsp;heriditary replaced with hereditary<br />
+Page 442: &nbsp;Schrenk-Notzing replaced with Schrenck-Notzing<br />
+Page 459: &nbsp;perseverence replaced with perseverance<br />
+Page 490: &nbsp;Shakspere replaced with Shakespere<br />
+Page 514: &nbsp;necesssary replaced with necessary<br />
+Page 528: &nbsp;recommned replaced with recommend<br />
+Page 529: &nbsp;Les Avaries replaced with Les Avari&eacute;s<br />
+Page 535: &nbsp;veneral replaced with venereal<br />
+</div>
+
+<br />
+<hr />
+<br />
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Sexual Question, by August Forel
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Sexual Question, by August Forel
+
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+
+Title: The Sexual Question
+       A Scientific, psychological, hygienic and sociological study
+
+Author: August Forel
+
+Translator: C. F. Marshall
+
+Release Date: September 4, 2009 [EBook #29903]
+
+Language: English
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+    | Transcriber's Note:                                       |
+    |                                                           |
+    | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has     |
+    | been preserved.                                           |
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+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+THE
+SEXUAL QUESTION
+
+A SCIENTIFIC, PSYCHOLOGICAL, HYGIENIC
+AND SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY
+
+BY
+AUGUST FOREL, M.D., PH.D., LL.D.
+Formerly Professor of Psychiatry at and Director of the
+Insane Asylum in Zurich (Switzerland)
+
+_ENGLISH ADAPTATION FROM THE SECOND GERMAN
+EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED_
+
+BY
+C.F. MARSHALL, M.D., F.R.C.S.
+Late Assistant Surgeon to the Hospital for
+Diseases of the Skin, London
+
+ILLUSTRATED
+
+_REVISED EDITION_
+
+[Illustration]
+
+BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
+PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS BOOK COMPANY
+HENRY AND PACIFIC STREETS
+1931
+
+
+
+
+Copyright, 1906
+Copyright, 1922
+
+OWNED BY
+PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS BOOK CO.
+
+
+
+
+PRINTED IN U.S.A.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
+
+
+This book is the fruit of long experience and reflection. It has two
+fundamental ideas--the study of nature, and the study of the
+psychology of man in health and in disease.
+
+To harmonize the aspirations of human nature and the data of the
+sociology of the different human races and the different epochs of
+history, with the results of natural science and the laws of mental
+and sexual evolution which these have revealed to us, is a task which
+has become more and more necessary at the present day. It is our duty
+to our descendants to contribute as far as is in our power to its
+accomplishment. In recognition of the immense progress of education
+which we owe to the sweat, the blood, and often to the martyrdom of
+our predecessors, it behoves us to prepare for our children a life
+more happy than ours.
+
+I am well aware of the disproportion which exists between the
+magnitude of my task and the imperfections of my work. I have not been
+able to study as much as should be done the innumerable works which
+treat of the same subject. Others, better versed than myself in the
+literature of the subject, will be able later on to fill this
+regrettable lacuna. I have endeavored, above all things, to study the
+question from all points of view, in order to avoid the errors which
+result from any study which is made from one point of view only. This
+is a thing which has generally been neglected.
+
+I must express my thanks to my friend, _Professor Mahaim_, and
+especially to my publisher and cousin, _S. Steinheil_, for the help
+and excellent advice which they have given me in the revision of my
+work; also to _Professor Boveri_, who has been kind enough to revise
+the figures, 1 to 17.
+
+                                                    DR. A. FOREL.
+
+Chigny pres Morges (Suisse).
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
+
+
+The text of the first edition has been revised and corrected, but,
+apart from some points of detail, the subject matter has not been
+changed. The examples at the end of Chapter V (First Edition) no
+longer form a special appendix; they have been included in the parts
+of the book which specially concern them; some of them have been
+omitted as being superfluous.
+
+In the domain with which we are concerned the French public are too
+much afraid, I think, of crudities and of calling things by their
+proper name. By veiled words and by indirect locution one may say
+anything, but I have decided not to employ such subterfuges in
+treating of such a vital social question with the seriousness that it
+requires. It seems that there is a fear of young people hearing the
+sexual question spoken of freely and openly; but it is not taken into
+account that in hiding these things under half-understood words one
+only excites their curiosity, and, owing to their being blindfolded,
+they are delivered into the snares and surprises of debauchery.
+
+I cannot better illustrate the error that I have just pointed out than
+by quoting, among several others of the same kind, a letter which I
+have received from a young girl, aged 21 years, intelligent, virtuous,
+educated, and well brought up, but without restraint.
+
+Having read my book she put several questions to me to which I
+replied. On my part I requested her to tell me frankly:
+
+(1). If, in her opinion, I had been mistaken in my judgment of the
+sexual psychology of the normal young girl; (2). If my book had done
+her the least harm, moral or otherwise.
+
+I begged her to criticise me without pity, for I wished above all
+things to be clear on the effect produced by my book. This is her
+letter:
+
+    "I must thank you for the deep and unalterable impression which
+    your book has produced on me. I am a young girl of 21 years, and
+    you know how difficult it is for us to see clearly into those
+    natural things which so closely concern us. I cannot, therefore,
+    thank you too much for the calm enlightenment which has been
+    produced in me, and for the just and humane words which you
+    devote to the education of our sex. I hope one day to have the
+    good fortune to apply to my children the ideas on education with
+    which you have inspired me.
+
+    "You ask me for the impression which your book has made on me.
+    It is true that I am still very young, but I have read much. My
+    mother has brought me up very freely, so that I can count myself
+    among the young girls who are free from prejudice. In spite of
+    this, a sort of internal anxiety or false shame has hindered me
+    from speaking of all the things of which you treat. All that I
+    knew I had read in books or derived by instinct. Although I knew
+    very well that my mother would always answer my questions I
+    never asked any.
+
+    "I declare that latterly my mind had been in a state of
+    veritable chaos. I was obsessed and tormented by a fear of
+    everything of which I was ignorant and some day ought to learn.
+    This is why I was anxious to read your book which a friend
+    showed me. I will now express myself more clearly.
+
+    "The first chapters were difficult for me, not because I could
+    not understand them, but owing to the strange and novel
+    experience which the truth made in me when plainly and
+    scientifically expounded. Wishing to read everything I applied
+    myself to the book laboriously. My first impression was that of
+    disgust for all human beings and mistrust of everything. But I
+    was soon glad to find that I was a very normal young girl, so
+    that this impression soon passed away. I was no longer excited
+    over conversations which I heard, but took a real interest in
+    them, and I was happy to have become acquainted with some one
+    who understood us young girls.
+
+    "I am, therefore, a young girl whose sensations are neither cold
+    nor perverse, and I am always rejoiced, in reading your book, to
+    see with what truth you describe our sexual impressions. Those
+    who maintain that we feel in this way the same as men make me
+    smile. In your book ("Hygiene of Marriage," p. 479) you say that
+    the idea of marriage awakens in a normal young girl a kind of
+    anguish and disgust, and that this feeling disappears as soon as
+    she has found some one whom she loves. This is extremely true
+    and well observed. I am in complete agreement with a friend with
+    whom I have often discussed your book; we young girls are very
+    little attracted by the purely sexual side of marriage, and we
+    should prefer to see children come into the world by some other
+    way than that ordained by Nature. This will, perhaps, make you
+    laugh. However, I think you will understand my feelings.
+
+    "When I had finished reading your book I became absolutely
+    tranquil, and my ideas were enlightened. It goes without saying
+    that it is no longer possible for me to be ingenuous, but I
+    should like to know what one gains by such naivety. It is very
+    easy to be innocent when one knows nothing, and this is of no
+    account. I never thought for a moment to find your book immoral,
+    and that is why I do not think you have done me any harm. Excuse
+    me for having written at such length, but I could not abbreviate
+    when dealing with such a serious question."
+
+The author of this letter has, at my request, authorized me to publish
+it anonymously. I think that the candor, the loyalty and the maturity
+of judgment of the sentiments expressed by this young girl are of much
+more value and are much more healthy than all the prudishness and
+false shame of our conventional morality.
+
+                                                    DR. A. FOREL.
+
+Chigny pres Morges (Suisse).
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+                                                                  PAGE
+The reproduction of living beings--History of the germ--
+Cell-division--Parthenogenesis--Conjugation--Mneme--Embryonic
+development--Difference of sexes--Castration--Hermaphrodism--
+Heredity--Blastophthoria                                             6
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+The evolution or descent of living beings                           39
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+Natural conditions of mechanism of human coitus--Pregnancy--
+Correlative sexual characters                                       49
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+The sexual appetite in man and woman--Flirtation                    72
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+Love and other irradiations of the sexual appetite in the
+human mind--Psychic irradiations of love in man: Procreative
+instinct, jealousy, sexual braggardism, pornographic spirit,
+sexual hypocrisy, prudery and modesty, old bachelors--Psychic
+irradiations of love in woman: Old maids, passiveness and
+desire, abandon and exaltation, desire for domination,
+petticoat government, desire of maternity and maternal love,
+routine and infatuation, jealousy, dissimulation, coquetry,
+prudery and modesty--Fetichism and anti-fetichism--
+Psychological relations of love to religion                        104
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+Ethnology and history of the sexual life of man and of
+marriage--Origin of marriage--Antiquity of matrimonial
+institutions--Criticism of the doctrine of promiscuity--
+Marriage and celibacy--Sexual advances and demands of
+marriage--Methods of attraction--Liberty of choice--Sexual
+selection--Law of resemblance--Hybrids--Prohibition of
+consanguineous marriages--Role of sentiment and calculation
+in sexual selection--Marriage by purchase--Decadence of
+marriage by purchase--Dowry--Nuptial ceremonies--Forms of
+marriage--Duration of marriage--History of extra-nuptial
+sexual intercourse                                                 144
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+Sexual evolution--Phylogeny and ontogeny of sexual life            192
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+Sexual pathology--Pathology of the sexual organs--Venereal
+disease--Sexual psychology--Reflex anomalies--Psychic
+impotence--Sexual paradoxy--Sexual anaesthesia--Sexual
+hyperaesthesia--Masturbation and onanism--Perversions
+of the sexual appetite: Sadism, masochism, fetichism,
+exhibitionism, homosexual love, sexual inversion, pederosis,
+sodomy--Sexual anomalies in the insane and psychopathic--
+Effects of alcohol on the sexual appetite--Sexual anomalies
+by suggestion and auto-suggestion--Sexual perversions due to
+habit                                                              208
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+The role of suggestion in sexual life--Amorous intoxication        277
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+The relations of the sexual question to money and property--
+Prostitution, proxenetism and venal concubinage                    293
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+The influence of environment on sexual life--Influence of
+climate--Town and country life--Vagabondage--Americanism--
+Saloons and alcohol--Riches and poverty--Rank and social
+position--Individual life--Boarding schools.                       326
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+Religion and sexual life                                           340
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+Rights in sexual life--Civil law--Penal law--A medico-legal
+case                                                               358
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+Medicine and sexual life--Prostitution--Sexual hygiene--
+Extra-nuptial intercourse--Medical advice--Means of
+regulating or preventing conception--Hygiene of marriage--
+Hygiene of pregnancy--Medical advice as to marriage--Medical
+secrecy--Artificial abortion--Treatment of sexual disorders        418
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+Sexual morality                                                    445
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+The sexual question in politics and in political economy           461
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+The sexual question in pedagogy                                    470
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+The sexual question in art                                         489
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+Conclusions--Utopian ideas on the ideal marriage of the
+future--Bibliographical remarks                                    499
+
+
+
+
+THE SEXUAL QUESTION
+
+
+
+
+THE SEXUAL QUESTION
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+My object is to study the sexual question under all its aspects:
+scientific, ethnological, pathological and social, and to seek the
+best solution of the numerous problems connected with it.
+Unfortunately, in publications dealing with this subject, eroticism
+usually plays a considerable part, and it is difficult for an author
+to abstract himself from this, for it is reflected unconsciously in
+his thoughts. As all sentiment, more or less, warps judgment, it is
+the duty of scientific criticism to eliminate eroticism in order to be
+exact and impartial. We shall, therefore, do all that is possible to
+free ourselves from it in the course of the present study.
+
+The sexual question is of fundamental importance for humanity, whose
+happiness and well-being depend largely on the best solution of this
+important problem. In dealing with such a delicate subject I shall
+endeavor to avoid narrow-mindedness and prejudice; I shall avoid
+tiresome quotations, and shall only employ technical terms when
+necessary, as they rather interfere with the comprehension of the
+subject. I shall take care to explain all those which appear to me
+indispensable.
+
+My opinions on the sexual question are based, on the one hand, on my
+scientific study of the human brain, and on the other hand on the long
+personal experience of an alienist who has devoted himself almost as
+much to normal mentality and questions of social hygiene as to
+pathological mentality. I have, however, been obliged to rely on the
+fundamental work of _Westermark_ with regard to ethnology, this
+subject being strange to me. Concerning sexual psycho-pathology I have
+followed the classification of _Krafft-Ebing_.
+
+The sexual question is extraordinarily complex, and we cannot expect
+to find a simple solution for it as we can for the questions of
+alcoholism, slavery, torture, etc. The latter are solved in one
+word--suppression. Suppression of slavery and torture; suppression of
+the usage of alcoholic drinks. We are concerned here with ulcers
+artificially produced and preserved in human society; ulcers which
+must be simply extirpated. Their suppression is nothing but
+beneficial, since, far from being connected with the normal conditions
+of human existence, they place it in peril. Sexual instinct and
+sentiment, on the contrary, have their roots in life itself; they are
+intimately bound up with humanity, and therefore require quite a
+different treatment. But human society has guided them into false and
+pernicious ways. It is important to turn them from these in order to
+tranquilize and regulate their course by damming them up and
+canalizing them.
+
+The fundamental axiom of the sexual question is as follows:
+
+_With man, as with all living beings, the constant object of all
+sexual function, and consequently of sexual love, is the reproduction
+of the species._ It is therefore necessary to treat the question from
+the point of view of the natural sciences, physiology, psychology and
+sociology. This has already been done more than once, but usually in
+erudite treatises which only look upon one side of the question; or,
+on the other hand, in a superficial and often frivolous manner.
+
+To ensure happiness, humanity should desire to reproduce itself in a
+manner which elevates progressively all the physical and mental
+faculties of man, with regard to health and bodily strength, as much
+as to sentiment, intelligence, will, creative imagination, love of
+work, joy of living, and the sentiment of social solidarity. Every
+attempt made to solve the sexual question should, therefore, be
+directed toward the future and toward the happiness of our
+descendants.
+
+It requires much disinterestedness to attempt seriously any sexual
+reform. But, as the human subject is by nature extremely weak, as his
+views are limited, especially in the matter which concerns us, it is
+absolutely necessary, if we would avoid Utopia, to adapt the
+fundamental aim of sexual union to happiness and joy, even to the
+natural weakness of man.
+
+The fundamental difficulty of the problem lies in the necessity for
+such an adaptation, and this difficulty requires us to make a clean
+sweep of prejudices, traditions and prudery. It is this which we wish
+to attempt.
+
+Considered from an exalted point of view, sexual life is beautiful as
+well as good. What there is in it which is shameful and infamous is
+the obscenity and ignominy caused by the coarse passions of egoism and
+folly, allied with ignorance, erotic curiosity and mystic
+superstition, often combined with social narcotic intoxication and
+cerebral anomalies.
+
+We shall divide our subject into nineteen chapters. Chapters I to VII
+deal with the natural history and psychology of sexual life; Chapter
+VIII with its pathology, and Chapters IX to XVIII with its social
+role, that is to say, its connection with the different domains of
+human social life.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE REPRODUCTION OF LIVING BEINGS
+
+_History of the Germ:--Cell-division--Parthenogenesis--
+    Conjugation--Mneme--Embryological Development--Difference of
+    the Sexes--Castration--Hermaphrodism--Heredity--Blastophthoria._
+
+
+A general law of organic life decrees that every living individual is
+gradually transformed in the course of a cycle which is called
+individual life, and which terminates with death, that is by the
+destruction of the greater part of the organism. It then becomes inert
+matter, and the germinative cells alone of all its parts continue its
+life under certain conditions.
+
+=The Cells: Protoplasm. The Nucleus.=--Since the time of
+_Schwann_ (1830) it is agreed that the cell is the most simple
+morphological element which is capable of living. Among the lower
+organisms this element constitutes the entire individual. There is no
+doubt that the cell is already a thing of high organization. It is
+formed of infinitely small elements of very different value and
+chemical constitution, which form what is called _protoplasm_ or the
+cell-substance. But these infinitely small elements are so far
+absolutely unknown. It is in them that must be sought the change from
+inanimate matter, that is the chemical molecule, to living matter, a
+change which was formerly believed to lie in the protoplasm itself,
+before its complicated structure was known. We need not concern
+ourselves here with this question which remains an open one.
+
+Life being established, the cell remains its only known constant
+element. The cell is composed of protoplasm which contains a rounded
+nucleus formed of _nucleo-plasma_. The nucleus is the most important
+part of the cell, and governs its life.
+
+=Cell-division.=--The lowest unicellular organisms, as each cell of a
+multicellular organism, reproduce themselves by division or
+_fission_. Each cell originates from another cell in the following
+manner: the cell divides in the center as well as its nucleus, and in
+this way forms two cells which grow by absorbing by _endosmosis_
+(filtration) the nutritive juices which surround them. Death or
+destruction of the cell is therefore death of the entire organism when
+this is unicellular. But it has been previously reproduced.
+
+We find here already the special and fundamental act of conjugation,
+that is the fusion of two cells into one, which serves to strengthen
+reproduction. This act, common to all living things including man,
+shows us that continuation of life is only possible when from time to
+time different elements, that is elements which have been exposed to
+different influences, combine together. If this conjugation is
+prevented and life is allowed to continue indefinitely by means of
+fission or by budding (_vide infra_), there results a progressive
+weakening and degeneration which leads to the disappearance of the
+whole group thus reproduced.
+
+It is necessary to explain here the results of recent scientific work
+on the intimate phenomena of cell-division, for they are closely
+allied to those of fecundation.
+
+The nucleus of an ordinary cell presents itself in the form of a
+nearly spherical vesicle. Delicate methods of staining have shown that
+the nucleus encloses several round nucleolar corpuscles, and also a
+reticulum which is attached to its membrane and spreads through its
+whole substance. The liquid part of the nucleus fills the meshes of
+this reticular tissue, which stains easily and for this reason is
+named _chromatin_. The phenomena of cell division in well-developed
+cells with nuclei is termed _mitosis_. Certain lower forms of cells
+exist in which the nucleus is not well differentiated. Mitosis begins
+in the nucleus (Plate I). Figure 1 represents the cell before division
+has commenced. In the protoplasm, by the side of the nucleus, is
+formed a small corpuscle (_c_) which is called the _centrosome_. The
+nucleus itself is marked _b_. When the cell commences to divide, the
+meshes of the network of chromatin contract and the centrosome divides
+into two parts (Fig. 2). Shortly afterward the particles of chromatin
+concentrate in the form of convoluted rods called _chromosomes_
+(Figs. 3 and 4). The number of these varies according to the species
+of organism, but remains constant for each animal or vegetable
+species. At the same time the two centrosomes separate from each other
+on each side of the nucleus. The chromosomes then become shorter and
+thicker while the nucleus is completely dissolved in the protoplasm of
+the cell, and its membrane disappears (Fig. 4).
+
+Directly afterwards the chromosomes arrange themselves regularly in
+line, like soldiers at drill, following one of the larger diameters of
+the cell, and forming a barrier between the two centrosomes (Fig. 5).
+Each of the chromosomes then divides into two parallel halves of equal
+thickness (Fig. 6).
+
+Figures 3 and 4 show that, while these changes are being produced,
+each of the two centrosomes is surrounded by stellate rays. Some of
+these rays extending in the direction of the chromosomes, become
+attached to one of their extremities and draw it toward the
+corresponding centrosome (Fig. 7). Thus around each centrosome are
+grouped as many chromosomes as the mother cell possessed itself (Fig.
+8). Simultaneously, the cell enlarges and its protoplasm commences to
+become indented at each end of the diameter previously formed by the
+chromosomes. From this moment the nuclear liquid concentrates itself
+around each of the groups of chromosomes, the rays disappear and the
+cell divides into two halves, each containing a group of chromosomes
+(Fig. 9); the indentation increases so as to form a partition across
+the protoplasm. The chromosomes then form a new meshwork of nuclear
+chromatin, and we have then two cells each with a nucleus and a
+centrosome like the mother cell (Fig. 10).
+
+This is what takes place in the reproduction of all cells of the
+animal and vegetable kingdoms. In the simplest unicellular organisms
+which are known fission constitutes the only means of reproduction. In
+the complicated organisms of the higher plants and animals each cell
+divides in the manner indicated above, both in the embryonic period
+and later on during the development of each of the organs which forms
+the organism. This fact shows more than any other the intimate
+relationship which connects all living organisms. The most remarkable
+thing, perhaps, is the almost mathematical division of the
+chromosomes into two halves, a division which results in the equal
+distribution of their substance through the whole organism. We shall
+return to this point later on.
+
+=Reproduction by Budding. Parthenogenesis.= In the animal and
+vegetable kingdoms the higher organisms become more and more
+complicated. They are no longer composed of a single cell, but of an
+increasing number of these cells combined in a whole, of which each
+part, adapted for a special purpose, is itself formed of cells,
+differentiated as much by their organic form as by their chemical and
+physical constitution. In this way, in plants, are formed the leaves,
+flowers, buds, branches, trunk, bark, etc.; and in animals the skin,
+intestine, glands, blood, muscles, nerves, brain, sense organs, etc.
+In spite of the great complication of the divers living multicellular
+organisms, one often finds among them the power of reproduction by
+fission or by budding. In certain animals and plants, groups of cells
+vegetate in buds which separate from the body later on and form a new
+individual; this occurs among the polypi and plants with bulbs, etc.
+One can even form a tree by means of a cutting. Ants and bees, which
+have not been fecundated, are capable of laying eggs which develop by
+_parthenogenesis_ (virgin parturition) and become complete
+individuals. But these degenerate and disappear if reproduction by
+parthenogenesis or budding is continued during several generations.
+
+Among the higher animals, the vertebrates and man, there is no
+reproduction without conjugation; no parthenogenesis or budding. So
+far as we have studied the question we see in the animal and vegetable
+kingdoms sexual reproduction, or conjugation, as a _sine qua non_ for
+the indefinite continuation of life.
+
+=The Sexual Glands. The Embryo.= However complicated the organism, it
+always possesses a special organ, the cells of which, all of the same
+form, are reserved for the reproduction of the species and especially
+for conjugation. The cells of these organs, called _sexual glands_,
+have the power of reproducing themselves so that they reconstruct the
+whole individual (the type of the species) from which they arose, in
+an almost identical form, by conjugation (sometimes also, for a
+certain time, by parthenogenesis) under certain fixed conditions as
+soon as they leave its body. We can thus say with _Weismann_, speaking
+philosophically, that these germinal cells continue the life of their
+parents, so that in reality death only destroys part of the
+individual, namely, that which has been specially adapted for certain
+exclusively individual ends. Each individual, therefore, continues to
+live in his descendants.
+
+The germinal cell divides into a number of cells called embryonic,
+which become differentiated into layers or groups which later on form
+the different organs of the body. The embryonic period is the name
+given to the period between the exit of the germinal cell from the
+maternal body and the final complete development which it acquires in
+becoming the adult individual. During this period the organism
+undergoes the most singular metamorphoses. In certain cases it forms a
+free embryo which appears to be complete, having a special form and
+mode of life, but which finally becomes transformed into an entirely
+different sexual individual. Thus from the egg of a butterfly there
+first emerges a caterpillar, which lives and grows for some time, then
+changes to a chrysalis and finally to a butterfly. The caterpillar and
+the chrysalis belong to the embryonic period. During this period every
+animal reproduces in an abbreviated manner certain forms which
+resemble more or less those through which its ancestors have passed.
+The caterpillar, for example, resembles the worm which is the ancestor
+of the insects. _Haeckel_ calls this the _fundamental biogenetic law_.
+We are not concerned here with embryology, and will content ourselves
+with some of the main points.
+
+=Germinal Cells. Hermaphrodites.= We now come to _conjugation_. In
+order to avoid complications we will leave aside plants and speak only
+of animals. Among multicellular animals, sometimes in the same
+individual, sometimes in different individuals, occur two kinds of
+sexual glands, each containing one kind of cells--the male cells and
+the female cells. When both kinds of sexual glands occur in the same
+individual, the animal is said to be _hermaphrodite_. When they
+develop in two different individuals the animals are of distinct
+sexes. Snails, for example, are hermaphrodite. There also exist lower
+multicellular animals which reproduce by budding, but among which
+conjugation takes place from time to time. We shall not consider these
+animals any further, as they are too remote to interest us here.
+
+=Spermatozoa and Ova.=--In all the higher animals, including the
+hermaphrodites, the male germinal cells, or _spermatozoa_ are
+characterized by their mobility. Their protoplasm is contractile and
+their form varies according to the species. In man and vertebrate
+animals they resemble infinitely small tadpoles, and their tails are
+equally mobile. The female germinative cell, on the contrary, is
+immobile and much larger than the male cell. Conjugation consists in
+the movement of the male cell, by means of variable mechanism, toward
+the female cell, or egg, into the protoplasm of which it enters. At
+this moment it produces on the surface of the egg a coagulation, which
+prevents the entrance of a second spermatozoid.
+
+The egg and the spermatozoid both consist of protoplasm containing a
+nucleus. But, while the spermatozoid has only a small nucleus and very
+little protoplasm, the egg has a large nucleus and a large quantity of
+protoplasm. In certain species the protoplasm of the egg grows in the
+maternal organism in a regular manner to form the _vitellus_ (yolk of
+egg) which serves as nourishment for the embryo for a long period of
+its existence. This occurs in birds and reptiles.
+
+=Conjugation.=--The phenomena of conjugation were made clear by _van
+Beneden_ and _Hertwig_. These phenomena, as we have seen, commence
+among unicellular organisms. In these they do not constitute
+reproduction, but the vital reenforcement of certain individuals.
+Conjugation takes place in a different manner in different cases.
+
+For example, a unicellular animal applies itself against one of its
+fellows. The nucleus of each cell divides into two. Then the
+protoplasm of the two cells fuses over the whole surface of contact,
+and half the nucleus of the first cell penetrates the second cell,
+while half the nucleus of the latter enters the first cell. After this
+exchange the cells separate from each other and each exchanged half of
+the nucleus fuses with the primitive half of the nucleus remaining in
+the cell.
+
+From this moment each cell continues to reproduce itself by fission,
+as we have seen above. In another form, two cells meet and fuse
+completely. Their nuclei become applied against each other and each
+exchanges half its substance with the other as in the preceding case,
+so that the final result is the same. In both cases the two conjugated
+cells are identical, and one cannot call them male and female.
+
+=Penetration of the Spermatozoid into the Egg.=--In all the higher
+animals in which the germinal cells are of two kinds, male and female,
+conjugation takes place in rather a different manner. Here, the female
+cell or egg only reproduces itself exceptionally by parthenogenesis.
+It usually contains no chromosomes and often too little chromatin, so
+that it perishes when conjugation does not occur.
+
+The spermatozoid swims by means of its tail to meet the egg. As soon
+as it touches it it penetrates it and the coagulation which we have
+mentioned is produced. This coagulation forms the _vitelline
+membrane_, which prevents the entry of other spermatozoids. If, from
+pathological causes the entry of several spermatozoids takes place,
+there results, according to _Fol_, a double or triple monster.
+
+In Fig. 11 on Plate II, we see the egg with its vitelline membrane and
+nucleus, the chromatin network of which is marked in blue: _b_ shows
+the protoplasm of the egg or _vitellus_; _a_ the vitelline membrane;
+_d_ the spermatozoid which has just entered, and the nucleus of which,
+composed chiefly of chromatin, is colored red, while its tail has
+performed its task and is about to disappear. The letters _e_, _f_,
+and _g_, show a spermatozoid which has arrived too late.
+
+Before the head of the spermatozoid which has entered, appears a
+centrosome (Fig. 12) which it brings to the egg with its small amount
+of protoplasm, and around this centrosome rays form, as in the case of
+cellular fission. At the same time a nuclear liquid arising from the
+protoplasm of the egg becomes concentrated around the chromatin of the
+spermatozoid, while the nucleus of the egg remains in place and does
+not change. The nucleus of the spermatozoid, on the contrary, begins
+to grow rapidly. It forms half the number of chromosomes
+corresponding to the cell of the species to which it belongs, and
+grows at the expense of the vitellus of the egg. During this time the
+centrosome divides into two halves, which progress slowly on each side
+toward the periphery of the egg, as in the case of fission (see Plate
+I), while the chromatin of the chromosomes of the spermatozoid is
+dissolved in the network. The nucleus thus formed by the spermatozoid
+enlarges more and more (Figs. 13 and 14) till it attains the size and
+shape of that of the egg (Fig. 15). The male and female chromatin are
+colored red and blue respectively.
+
+Then only commences activity of the nucleus of the egg, at the same
+time as fresh activity on the part of the nucleus of the spermatozoid.
+Before this, however, the nucleus of the egg has thrown off a part of
+its chromatin called a _polar_ body, and it now possesses only half as
+much chromatin as the other cells of the body of the individual. The
+nucleus of the egg and that of the spermatozoid then begin at the same
+time to concentrate their chromatin in the form of chromosomes (Fig.
+16) which arrange themselves regularly in the middle line exactly as
+shown in Plate I, and divide longitudinally into two halves which are
+then attracted in opposite directions by the rays of each of the
+centrosomes (Fig. 17). Figure 17, of Plate II, thus corresponds
+exactly to Fig. 6, of Plate I.
+
+In fact, the growth of the nucleus of the spermatozoid has given to
+its substance the same power of development as to that of the nucleus
+of the egg. Both enter into conjugation in equal parts, which
+symbolizes the social equality and the rights of the two sexes!
+
+The signification of these facts is as follows: as soon as, in the
+course of development, the conjugated nuclei divide again into two
+cells, as in Figs. 7 to 10, of Plate I, each of these two cells
+contains almost the same quantity of paternal as maternal chromatin.
+We do not say exactly as much, for the paternal and maternal
+influences are not divided equally in the descendants. This phenomenon
+may be explained by what _Semon_ calls alternating ecphoria in mnemic
+dichotomy. (_Vide infra._) As cell division continues in the same way
+during embryonic life, it follows that each cell, or at least each
+nucleus of the future organism, will contain on the average half its
+substance and energy from the paternal and half from the maternal
+side.
+
+=Heredity. The Mneme.=--The secret of heredity lies in the phenomena
+which have been just described. Hereditary influence preserves all its
+primary power and original qualities in the chromosomes, which enlarge
+and divide, while the vitelline substance, absorbed by the chromosomes
+and transformed by the vital chemical processes into the specific
+substance of the chromosomes, loses its specific and plastic vital
+energy, as completely as the food which we swallow loses its energy in
+forming the structure of our living organs. We do not acquire any of
+the characters of the ox by eating beefsteaks; and the spermatozoid,
+after eating much vitelline protoplasm, preserves its own hereditary
+energies, increased and fortified, but without change in their
+qualities.
+
+In this way the nuclear chromatin of our germinal cells becomes the
+carrier of all the hereditary qualities of the species (hereditary
+mneme), and more especially those of our direct ancestors. The
+uniformity of the intracellular phenomena in cell division and
+conjugation proves, however, that, without being capable of
+reproducing the individual, the other non-germinal cells of the body
+may also possess these hereditary energies, and that there exists,
+hidden behind all these facts, an unknown law of life, the explanation
+of which is reserved for the future.
+
+However, a recent work based on an idea of the physiologist, _E.
+Hering_, which looks upon instinct as a kind of memory of the species,
+opens up a new horizon. I refer to the book of _Richard Semon_: "The
+_mneme_ considered as the conservative principle in the transmutations
+of organic life." (_Die Mneme als erhaltendes Prinzip im Wechsel des
+organischen Geschehens_, Leipzig, 1904.)
+
+_Conception of Irritation._[1]--By the aid of the fundamental facts of
+morphological science, biological and psychological, _Semon_ proves
+that _Hering's_ idea is more than an analogy, and that there is a
+fundamental identity in the mechanism of organic life. In order to
+avoid the terminology of psychology which tends to be equivocal,
+_Semon_ employs some new terms to designate his new ideas, based on
+the fundamental conception of _irritation_ in its physiological sense.
+
+_Semon_ defines _irritation_ as an energetic action on the organism
+which determines a series of complicated changes in the irritable
+substance of the living organism. The condition of the organism thus
+modified, which lasts as long as the irritation, is called by _Semon_
+the _state of irritation_. Before the action of irritation, the
+organism is in a condition which _Semon_ calls the _primary state of
+indifference_, and after its action, in the _secondary state of
+indifference_.
+
+_Engram. Ecphoria._--If, when an irritation has entirely ceased, the
+irritable substance of the living organism becomes modified
+permanently during its secondary state of indifference, _Semon_ calls
+the action _engraphic_. To the modification itself he gives the word
+_engram_. The sum of the hereditary and individual engrams thus
+produced in a living organism is designated by the term _mneme_.
+_Semon_ gives the name _ecphoria_ to the revival of the engram by the
+repetition of part only of the original irritation, or by the entire
+but weakened reproduction of the whole state of irritation of the
+organism, which was originally produced in a synchronous manner with
+the primary irritation.
+
+Thus, an engram may be ecphoriated (that is to say, reproduced or
+revived) by the return of one part of the complex of primary
+irritations which produced it. A young dog, for example, is attacked
+by urchins who throw stones at it. It experiences two kinds of
+irritation: (1) the urchins stooping down and throwing stones (optic
+irritation); (2) the pain caused by the stones (tactile irritation).
+
+In its brain are produced two associated series of corresponding
+engrams. Previously, this dog did not react when it saw people stoop
+down. From this moment it will run away and howl at the sight, without
+any stone being thrown at it. Thus the tactile engram will be
+ecphoriated by the repetition of the original associated irritation.
+In the same way, the image of a tree in a known landscape will
+ecphoriate the entire landscape.
+
+Moreover, an engram may be revived by the enfeebled return of the
+primary irritating agent which produced it, or by an analogous
+enfeebled irritation. Thus, the sight of a photograph will revive the
+image of a known person. A certain kind of maize imported for a long
+time into Norway and influenced in that country during many
+generations by the sun of the long summer days, finally accelerated
+its time of maturation. When imported again to the south of Europe it
+first preserved its faculty of accelerated maturation in spite of the
+shortness of the days (_Schuebeler_). _Semon_ gives a series of
+analogous examples which show how engrams repeated during several
+generations accumulate and end by becoming ecphoriated when they have
+acquired enough power.
+
+Engrams may be associated simultaneously in space, such as those of
+sight. But they may also be associated in succession, such as those of
+hearing and of ontogeny. Simultaneous engrams are associated in every
+direction with the same intensity. Successive engrams, on the
+contrary, are associated more strongly forwards than backwards, and
+have only two poles. In the succession _a b_, _a_ acts more strongly
+on _b_ than _b_ on _a_. In the successions of engrams it often happens
+that two or more analogous engrams are associated in a manner more or
+less equivalent to a preceding engram. _Semon_ calls this phenomenon
+dichotomy, trichotomy, etc. But in the successions, two engrams cannot
+be ecphoriated simultaneously. Hence the phenomenon which _Semon_
+names _alternating ecphoria_; that is sometimes one, sometimes the
+other of the constituent engrams, for example, of a dichotomy, which
+arrives at ecphoria. Similarly, the engram of the ecphoriated
+dichotomy is most often that which has been previously most often
+repeated.
+
+In the laws of ontogeny and heredity alternating ecphoria plays an
+important part. The branch less often repeated remains latent and the
+other only is ecphoriated. But certain combinations which reenforce
+the latent branch or paralyze the other may induce ecphoria of the
+first to the second generation.
+
+_Semon_ also shows that the phenomena of regeneration in the embryo,
+as well as those of the adult, obey the law of the mneme.
+
+_Homophony._--The terms engram and ecphoria correspond to the
+well-known introspective phenomena in psychology of memory and the
+association of ideas. Engrams are thus ecphoriated. At the time of
+such phenomena every mnemic irritation of the engrams vibrates
+simultaneously with the state of synchronous irritation produced by a
+new irritation. This simultaneous irritation is named by _Semon_
+_homophony_. When a partial discord is produced between the new
+irritation and the mnemic irritation, the organism always tends to
+reestablish homophony (harmony). This is seen in psychological
+introspection by activity of attention; in embryology by the
+phenomenon of regeneration; and in phylogeny by that of adaptation.
+
+Relying on these convincing facts, _Semon_ shows that irritative
+actions are only localized at first in their zone of entry (primary
+zone); but that afterward they irradiate or vibrate, gradually
+becoming weaker in the whole organism (not only in the nervous system,
+for they also act on plants). By this means, engraphia, although
+infinitely enfeebled, may finally reach the germinal cells. _Semon_
+then shows how the most feeble engraphias may gradually arrive at
+ecphoria, as the result of numerous repetitions (in phylogeny after
+innumerable generations). This is how the mnemic principle allows us
+to conceive the possibility of an infinitely slow heredity of
+characters acquired by individuals, a heredity resulting from
+prolonged repetition.
+
+The facts invoked by _Weismann_ against the heredity of acquired
+characters lose nothing of their weight by this, for the influence of
+crossing (conjugation) and selection transforms the material organic
+forms in an infinitely more rapid and intense manner than individual
+mnemic engraphias. The latter, on the other hand, furnish the
+explanation of the mutations of _de Vries_, which appear to be only
+sudden ecphoria of accumulated long engraphic actions.
+
+The way in which _Semon_ studies and discusses the laws of the mneme
+in morphology, physiology and psychology, is truly magisterial, and
+the perspective which opens out from these new ideas is extensive. The
+mneme, with the aid of the energetic action of the external world,
+acts on organisms by preserving them and combining them by engraphia,
+while selection eliminates all that is ill-adapted, and homophony
+reestablishes the equilibrium. The irritations of the external world,
+therefore, furnish the material for the construction of organisms. I
+confess to having been converted by _Semon_ to this way of conceiving
+the heredity of acquired characters. Instead of several nebulous
+hypotheses, we have only one--the nature of mnemic engraphia. It is
+for the future to discover its origin in physical and chemical laws.
+
+I must refer my readers to _Semon's_ book, for this volume of 343
+pages, filled with facts and proofs, cannot be condensed into a few
+paragraphs.
+
+
+=Each Cell bears in itself Ancestral Energy.= As we have already seen,
+the germinal, cells are not the only ones which possess the energies
+of all the characters of the species. On the contrary it becomes more
+and more certain, from further investigation, that each cell of the
+body bears in itself, so to speak, all the energies of the species, as
+is distinctly seen in plants. But in all the cells which are not
+capable of germinating, these energies remain incapable of
+development. It results that such energies, remaining virtual, have no
+practical importance.
+
+In an analogous sense we may say that all the cells of the body are
+hermaphrodite, as all germinal cells, for each possesses in itself the
+undifferentiated energies of each sex. Each spermatozoid contains all
+the energies of the paternal and maternal ancestry of man, and each
+egg those of the paternal and maternal ancestry of woman. The male and
+the female are only the bearers of each kind of germinal cells
+necessary for conjugation, and each of these bearers only differs from
+the others by its sexual cells and by what is called correlative
+sexual differences. But we must not forget that the germinal cells
+themselves are only differentiated at a certain period in the
+development of the embryo; they are thus hermaphrodite originally and
+only become male and female later.
+
+New experiments made on the eggs of sea urchins and other organisms
+have shown that conjugation may be replaced by an external irritating
+agent; for example, the action of certain chemical substances is
+sufficient to make eggs develop by parthenogenesis which would have
+died without this action. An entire being has been successfully
+produced from an egg divided into two by means of a hair. And even
+from the protoplasm of the egg without its nucleus, with the aid of a
+spermatozoid. We must not, however, base premature hypotheses on these
+facts.
+
+When a female cell, or egg, develops without fecundation
+(parthenogenesis) its nucleus enlarges and divides in the same manner
+as conjugated nuclei (mitosis).
+
+A point of general interest is what is called the _specific
+polyembryony_ of certain parasitic insects (hymenoptera of the genus
+_Encyrtus_). According to _Marchal_, their eggs grow and divide into a
+considerable number of secondary eggs, each of which gives rise to an
+embryo and later on a perfect insect. By shaking the eggs of certain
+marine animals they have been caused to divide into several eggs
+and thus to produce several embryos. All the individuals arising from
+the division of the same egg of _Encyrtus_ are of the same sex.
+
+   [Illustration: PLATE I
+
+   CELL DIVISION
+
+   FIG. 1. Cell before division.
+   FIG. 2. Division of centrosome.
+   FIG. 3. Formation of chromosomes.
+   FIG. 4. Dissolution of nucleus.
+   FIG. 5. Lining up of chromosomes.
+   FIG. 6. Division of chromosomes.
+   FIG. 7. Division of chromosomes.
+   FIG. 8. Attraction of chromosomes by centrosomes.
+   FIG. 9. Concentration of nuclei. Division of cell.
+   FIG. 10. Formation of new chromatin.]
+
+   [Illustration: PLATE II
+
+   FERTILIZATION OF THE OVUM BY THE SPERMATOZOID
+
+   DIAGRAM OF OVUM AND SPERMATOZOID
+
+   FIG. 11. _a_, Vitelline membrane; _b_, protoplasm, or vitellus;
+   _c_, nucleus with chromatin; _d_, spermatozoid penetrating egg;
+   _e_, another spermatozoid arrested by the vitelline membrane.
+   FIG. 12. Formation of centrosome.
+   FIG. 13. Formation of male nucleus by spermatozoid. Division of
+   centrosome.
+   FIG. 14. Development of nucleus of spermatozoid.
+   FIG. 15. Nucleus of spermatozoid attains same size as that of
+   ovum.
+   FIG. 16. Formation of male and female chromosomes.
+   FIG. 17. Lining up of male and female chromosomes.]
+
+=Embryology.=--It is not necessary to describe here in detail the
+different changes which the two conjugated cells pass through to
+become an adult man. This is the object of the science of embryology.
+We shall return to this in Chapter III. A few words are necessary,
+however, to explain the general principles.
+
+=Ovulation. The corpus luteum.=--The ovaries of woman (Fig. 18)
+contain a considerable number of cells or ovules, although infinitely
+less than the number of spermatozoids contained in the testicles. From
+time to time some of these ovules enlarge and are surrounded by a
+vesicle with liquid contents, which is called the Graafian follicle.
+At the time of the monthly periods an egg (sometimes two) is
+discharged from its Graafian follicle, from one or other ovary. This
+phenomenon is called _ovulation_. The empty follicle becomes
+cicatrized in the ovary and is called the _corpus luteum_ (yellow
+body).
+
+The egg after its discharge arrives at the abdominal orifice of the
+Fallopian tube, which communicates directly with the abdominal cavity.
+Some authors state that the end of the tube becomes applied against
+the ovary by the aid of muscular movement and, so to speak, sucks in
+the discharged ovule, while others hold that the movements of the
+vibratile cilia, with which the epithelium of the tubes is furnished,
+suffice to draw the ovule into its cavity. Figure 18 explains this
+phenomenon.
+
+Having arrived in the tube, the ovule moves very slowly in the almost
+capillary tube by means of the vibratile cilia and arrives in the
+cavity of the womb. Fecundation probably takes place most often at the
+entrance to the tube or in its canal; sometimes possibly in the womb.
+On some occasions a squad of spermatozoids advances to meet the
+descending egg, and numerous spermatozoids are often found in the
+tubes, even as far as the abdominal cavity.
+
+=Fixation of the egg. Formation of the Decidua.=--After fecundation,
+the egg becomes attached to the mucous membrane of the cavity of the
+womb. This mucous membrane proliferates and becomes gradually detached
+from the womb to form the _membrana decidua_ which envelops the egg
+or ovule. An egg fecundated and fixed in this way may keep its
+position and grow during the first weeks of pregnancy, by the aid of
+villosities covering its envelope which penetrate the wall of the
+womb.
+
+   [Illustration: FIG. 18. Diagrammatic section in median plane of
+   the female genital organs. It shows the position of an ovule
+   which has just been discharged lying in the opening of the right
+   tube, and that of another ovary fecundated and surrounded by the
+   decidual membrane. In reality this could hardly coexist with the
+   other ovule freely discharged. In the right ovary are seen ovules
+   in various degrees of maturity in their Graafian follicles: also
+   a corpus luteum--an empty Graafian follicle after expulsion of
+   the ovule. The figure also shows the end of the penis in the
+   vagina at the moment of ejaculation of semen, and the position of
+   a preventive to avoid fecundation.]
+
+   [Illustration: FIG. 19. The mouth of the tube applied to the
+   ovary at the moment of expulsion of the ovule.]
+
+=The womb. The placenta.= The womb or uterus is the size of a small
+egg flattened in one direction. It terminates below in the neck or
+_cervix_, which is prolonged into the vagina as a projection, called
+the vaginal portion of the uterus. The cavity of the womb is continued
+into the neck and opens below in the vagina by an aperture which is
+round in virgins and is called the external _os uteri_. The walls of
+the womb consist of a thick layer of unstriped muscle. When childbirth
+takes place it causes tearing which makes the external os uteri
+irregular and fissured. During copulation the aperture of the penis or
+male organ is placed nearly opposite the os uteri, which facilitates
+the entrance of spermatozoa into the uterus. (For the illustration of
+these points see Fig. 18.)
+
+The vitellus and the membrane of the egg enlarge with the embryo and
+absorb by endosmosis the nutritive matter necessary for the latter,
+contained in the maternal blood. The womb itself enlarges at the same
+time as the embryo.
+
+   [Illustration: FIG. 20. Human egg of the second week: magnified
+   eight times. (After _Koelliker_.)
+      _Chor._ Chorion or envelope of the egg.
+      _Vill._ Villi of the chorion.
+      _Emb._  Embryo (near the head are seen the branchial arches).
+      _Umb._  Umbilical vesicle.
+      _Am._   Amnion.]
+
+The fasciculus attached to the embryo is the allantois which becomes
+the umbilical cord. The vertebrae are already easy to recognize in this
+embryo. The embryo is formed from a portion of blastoderm, that is to
+say, from the cellular layer applied to the membranes of the egg and
+arising from the successive divisions of the two primary conjugated
+cells and their daughter cells. The embryo has the form of a spatula
+with the head at one end and the tail at the other. From its walls is
+detached a surrounding vesicle (Fig. 20) called the _amnion_, while
+another vesicle, the _umbilical vesicle_, grows from its ventral
+surface and serves, in birds, for the vitelline circulation of the egg
+which is detached from the mother's body.
+
+In man, the umbilical vesicle is unimportant. In its place the
+circulation of the blood takes place by the aid of another vesicle,
+called the _allantois_, which arises from the intestine of the embryo,
+and which becomes attached to the walls of the womb in the form of a
+thick disk called the placenta.
+
+   [Illustration: FIG. 21. Embryo of four weeks (After _Koelliker_).
+      1. Auditory vesicle.
+      2. Ocular vesicle.
+      3. Olfactory fossa.
+      4. Bud forming upper maxilla.
+      5. Bud of lower maxilla.
+      6. Right ear.
+      7. Liver.
+      8. Upper limb.
+      9. Lower limb.
+      10. Caudal extremity.]
+
+The placenta is formed of dilated blood vessels which meet the
+maternal blood vessels, also dilated, in the uterine wall, allantois
+later on becomes the umbilical cord.
+
+In the placenta the embryonic and maternal vessels without actually
+communicating, are placed in intimate contact, which allows nutritive
+matter and oxygen to pass by endosmosis from the maternal vessels to
+those of the embryo. Figure 21 shows a human embryo at the beginning
+of the fifth week of pregnancy.
+
+   [Illustration: FIG. 22. Sagittal section of a primipara in the
+   last month of pregnancy.]
+
+=Duration of pregnancy. Birth.= Pregnancy lasts from conjugation,
+which is synonymous with conception, till birth, that is about nine
+months (ten lunar months of four weeks). The embryo is then ready to
+separate from the maternal body (Fig. 22). By the act of birth it is
+expelled violently, bringing with it the umbilical cord and the
+placenta (Fig. 23). Immediately afterward the empty womb contracts
+strongly and gradually recovers its former size. The sudden
+interruption of its communications with the maternal circulation
+deprives the embryo, which has suddenly become a child, of its
+nutritive matter and oxygen.
+
+   [Illustration: FIG. 23. Sagittal section of frozen body of a
+   woman in labor: the head of the child is engaged in the neck of
+   the womb; the orifice of the neck of the womb (_os uteri_) is
+   already fully dilated and the bag of waters commences to project
+   from the vulva: it is formed by the former membranes of the egg
+   and the decidua.]
+
+In order to avoid suffocation it is obliged to breathe atmospheric air
+immediately, for its blood becomes dark by saturation with carbonic
+acid, which irritates the respiratory nerve centers. The first
+independent act of the new-born child is, therefore, a nervous reflex
+determined by asphyxia, and is performed with the first cry. Soon
+afterward the infant begins to suck, so as not to die of hunger, while
+the umbilical cord, having become useless, shrivels up, and the
+placenta is destroyed (some animals eat it). The new-born infant is
+only distinguished from the embryo soon after birth by its breathing
+and crying.
+
+We may, therefore, say that infancy, especially early infancy, is only
+a continuation of embryonic life. The transformations which the infant
+undergoes from birth to adult age are known to all. They take place
+more and more slowly, except at the relatively short period of
+puberty.
+
+=Formation of the sexual glands.=--We must remember that at a very
+early embryonic period certain groups of cells are reserved to form
+later on the sexual glands. These cells are at first neither male nor
+female, but are undifferentiated; later on they become differentiated
+to form in certain individuals, called males, the testicles with their
+spermatozoa, and in others, called females, the ovaries with their
+eggs. On this differentiation depends the sex of the individual, and,
+according as it takes place in one way or the other, all the rest of
+the body develops with the correlative sexual characters of the
+corresponding sex (at first the external genital organs peculiar to
+each sex, then the beard in man, the breasts in woman, etc).
+
+=Castration. Correlative sexual characters.=--Castration is the term
+applied to the extirpation of the sexual glands. When it takes place
+in infancy it causes a considerable change in the whole subsequent
+development of the body, especially in man, but also in woman. Man
+becomes more slender, preserves a high and infantile voice, and his
+sexual correlative characters develop incompletely or not at all.
+_Eunuchs_ are men castrated, usually in infancy. To ensure more safety
+in their harems the Orientals not only remove the testicles but also
+the penis. Bullocks and horses are bulls and stallions castrated at an
+early age, and can be distinguished at first sight from normal males.
+Females who have undergone castration become fat and sometimes take on
+certain masculine characters. Male human eunuchs have a high-pitched
+voice, a narrow chest; they remain beardless or nearly so, and have an
+effeminate character, often intriguing. In both sexes there is a
+tendency to neurosis and degeneration. It is a mistake to qualify the
+peculiarities of the male eunuch in the terms of female peculiarities;
+there is only a relative tendency. The eunuch is no more a woman than
+a bullock is a cow.
+
+The characters of castrated individuals are due only to ablation of
+the sexual glands themselves--the testicles in man and the ovary in
+woman; mutilation of other sexual organs, internal or external, such
+as the penis, womb, etc., produces no result of this kind. It would
+even appear to result from recent experiments that reimplantation of a
+sexual gland in any part of the body is sufficient to arrest the
+production of the special peculiarities of the eunuch.
+
+All these facts, almost inexplicable hitherto, become comprehensible
+by the aid of the engraphia of the mnemic energies. (Vide above;
+_Semon_). The sexual glands, being of undifferentiated origin, contain
+the energies of both sexes. The ecphoria of one of them provokes that
+of its correlative characters and excludes that of the characters of
+the other. If ecphoria of the sexual glands is arrested by castration
+before it is finished, this paralyzes the predominance of that of its
+corresponding correlative characters and reestablishes a kind of
+intermediate or undifferentiated equilibrium between the ecphorias of
+the correlative hereditary sexual characters of the two sexes.
+
+On the other hand, if the sexual glands of an adult are removed, his
+body is not sensibly modified. The sexual functions do not cease
+completely, although they cannot lead to fecundation. Men castrated in
+adult age may cohabit with their wives; but the liquid ejaculated is
+not semen but only secretion from the accessory prostatic gland. Adult
+women after castration preserve their sexual appetite, and sometimes
+even their menstruation, for a certain time. They generally become fat
+and often suffer from nervous troubles and change in character. The
+ecphoria of the correlative sexual characters being complete in the
+adult, suppression of the sexual glands can only act on their direct
+functions.
+
+In different species of animals, the correlative sexual characters of
+which we have spoken vary enormously; sometimes the differences are
+insignificant, at other times they are considerable; while we can
+hardly distinguish a male swallow from a female, the cock and hen, the
+peacock and peahen, the stag and hind are very different from each
+other. In man, the correlative sexual characters are very distinct,
+even externally. These characters may extend to all parts of the
+body, even to the brain and mental faculties.
+
+In some of the lower animals, for example the ants, the sexes differ
+remarkably from each other and appear to belong to different
+zoological families. The eyes, the form of the head, the color, and
+the whole body differ so much that, when a case of pathological
+lateral hermaphrodism is produced (that is, when the sexual glands are
+male on the one side and female on the other), we can exactly
+determine the male or female character on each portion of the body. We
+thus see hermaphrodite ants with one half of the body male and the
+other half female--black on one side and red on the other, a large eye
+on one side and a small eye on the other, thirteen joints in one
+antenna and twelve in the other, and so on. In this case the mental
+faculties are sometimes female, sometimes male, according as the
+ecphoria of the brain is influenced by the hereditary mneme of the
+male or female part of the hermaphrodite sexual organs, which results
+in a male or female brain. I have seen hermaphrodite ants in which two
+parts of the thorax formed a crossed hermaphrodism; in front, male on
+the right and female on the left, behind female on the right and male
+on the left. Further; among ants which live in societies, the
+progressive transformation of the species, or phylogeny, has produced
+a third sex derived from the female sex--the worker; sometimes there
+is even a fourth--the warrior. In these two forms the wings are
+absent, but the head and brain are much larger; the sexual organs
+remain female, but are very small. While the large brain (pedunculated
+bodies of the supra-esophageal ganglion) is almost rudimentary in the
+male, it is well developed in the female and very large in the worker
+and the warrior. Among these singular animals exist pathological
+hermaphrodites, not only between males and females, but between males
+and workers, and not only lateral but mixed and crossed in all
+possible ways. I have seen a hermaphrodite, whose abdomen and sexual
+organs were almost entirely male, accomplish all the complex
+instinctive actions of a worker of his species (expeditions, attacks
+on a hostile ant heap, abduction of chrysalids), thanks to its head
+and brain which were of the worker type. The female itself is
+incapable of such complex actions. I cite these facts here as material
+for study, for we are only too prone in this domain to generalize
+prematurely and to draw too hasty conclusions. In reality, there is
+still a wide field for study of the greatest interest.
+
+There are animals which are normally and physiologically
+hermaphrodite, for they possess in the normal state male and female
+sexual glands and fecundate themselves, such as the solitary worms, or
+in pairs such as the snails. In the latter case there is copulation,
+during which each animal plays the parts of both male and female.
+
+In man and other vertebrates, hermaphrodism is always abnormal. In man
+it is extremely rare and nearly always very incomplete, being usually
+limited to the external or correlative characters.
+
+=Heredity.=--It results from what we have said that every living being
+reproduces, more or less identically, in its specific characters, the
+whole life of its parents and less remote ancestors, and constitutes
+the continuation of life from a minute part of their bodies.
+
+Each individual life thus repeats an entire cycle of development
+called _ontogeny_, which is peculiar to all individuals of the
+species. Here we must mention three fundamental points:
+
+(1). In its principal characters, each individual is the copy of its
+parents or direct ancestors, with correlative sexual peculiarities
+which we have mentioned, and with individual variations due to the
+combinations of varieties by conjugation, and the alternating or
+unequal ecphorias of hereditary characters; that is to say paternal or
+maternal hereditary engrams.
+
+(2). No individual is absolutely identical with another.
+
+(3). On the average, each individual resembles more especially its
+direct ancestry and its parents, and differs more markedly from its
+parentage the more this is remote.
+
+We shall see later on that the ancestral relationship of the different
+groups, species and varieties of animals has been fairly well fixed,
+and we may say that the third of the laws stated above is equally true
+in a wider sense. In fact the species and varieties of animals which
+are near related resemble each other, while the _genera_, families
+and classes are more dissimilar as their relationship is more remote.
+We employ here the terms resemblance, homology and difference in their
+profound and general sense. Certain purely external resemblances, due
+to phenomena of convergence, must not be considered as homologies in
+the sense of hereditary relationship. Thus, in the language of natural
+history we do not say that a bat resembles a bird, nor that a whale
+resembles a fish, for here the resemblances are due simply to aerial
+or aquatic life which produces the effects of convergence, while the
+internal structure shows them to be quite dissimilar organisms.
+Although it swims in the sea the whale is a mammal; its fins at first
+sight resemble those of a fish, but they are really the homologues of
+the four limbs of other mammals and contain the corresponding bones.
+
+In man, we see that brothers and sisters resemble each other in a
+general way, but that each one is dissimilar in some respects from the
+others. If we compare different families with many children we find
+that brothers and sisters resemble each other the more their parents
+are alike and come from a uniform ancestry which has undergone little
+crossing, while the crossing of different races and human varieties
+results in the production of individuals which differ from each other
+considerably, even when they come from the same couple.
+
+If we examine things more closely, we find that the characters of each
+of the offspring of the same couple present neither simple repetition
+nor an equal mixture of the peculiarities of the parents, but very
+diverse combinations of the characters of several ancestors. For
+instance, children may bear a striking resemblance to a paternal
+grandfather, a maternal grand-aunt, or a maternal great-grandmother,
+etc. This is called _atavism_. Some children resemble their father,
+others their mother, and others a kind of mixture of father and
+mother.
+
+A closer examination reveals further very curious facts. An infant
+which, in its early years, strongly resembles its father, may later on
+resemble its mother, or inversely. Certain peculiarities of a certain
+ancestor appear suddenly, often at an advanced age. It is needless to
+say that peculiarities concerning the beard cannot appear till this
+has grown, and this simple fact is so characteristic that it has been
+called _hereditary disposition_. Everything may be transmitted by
+heredity, even to the finest shades of sentiment, intelligence and
+will, even to the most insignificant details of the nails, the form of
+the bones, etc. But the combinations of ancestral qualities vary so
+infinitely that it is extremely difficult to recognize them.
+Hereditary dispositions arise from the energy of two conjugated germs
+during the whole of life and till death. Old people sometimes develop
+peculiarities hitherto unknown in them, owing to the fact that one or
+more of their ancestors also presented the same phenomena at an
+advanced age.
+
+_Semon_ has clearly proved that, although forming an infinite number
+of combinations the engrams or hereditary energies never blend in the
+proper sense of the term, and in the light of his exposition the above
+facts are more clearly explained than they had been hitherto. The
+experiments of _Mendel_ have shown in plants a certain alteration in
+the hereditary ecphorias of the products of dissimilar parents.
+
+Certain parental characters, according as they are added or
+subtracted, may disappear during one or two generations, to reappear
+all the more strongly in the following generations. In short, there
+are a number of phenomena, the laws of which may be more clearly
+explained to us in the future.
+
+To sum up, each individual inherits on the average as much from his
+paternal as from his maternal side, although the minute nucleus of the
+spermatozoid is the only agent concerned on the paternal side, while
+the mother provides not only the egg which is much larger, but also
+nutrition during the nine months of embryonic life. We can only
+conclude that in the egg also it is only from the part of the nucleus
+which conjugates with the male nucleus that arise all the inherited
+maternal peculiarities; that all the rest is only utilized as food;
+and that the nutritive blood of the mother in no way influences the
+inherited energies of the offspring.
+
+This shows the capital importance of conjugation and of the substance
+of the conjugated nuclei, especially of their chromatin. The fact
+that, in certain of the lower animals, the protoplasm of the egg
+without nuclei may occasionally produce some phenomena of cell
+division, thanks to its inherited mnemic engrams, in no way alters the
+fundamental principle which alone occurs in man, for this vicarious
+action, which is moreover rudimentary, only happens when the
+protoplasm of the egg is not consumed by the conjugated nuclei.
+
+Parthenogenesis is also a very interesting phenomenon in the history
+of our animal ancestors, but for the same reasons it has no direct
+interest for humanity.
+
+If we take into consideration all the observations of which we have
+just spoken, which are as simple as they are irrefutably demonstrated,
+it is hardly possible to interpret them in any other way than by the
+following hypothesis:
+
+In each sexual gland, male or female, the germinal cells which are
+produced by division of the cells of the embryo, reserved primarily
+for reproduction, differ considerably from each other in quality and
+contain in their infinitely small atoms very diverse and irregularly
+distributed energies, inherited from their different ancestors. Some
+contain more paternal and others more maternal energy, and among the
+former there are some contain, for example, more paternal grandfather
+and others more maternal grandmother, and so on to infinity, till it
+is impossible to discover the ancestral origin of the fully grown
+individual we are examining. The same holds good for the energies of
+the maternal cells.
+
+At the time of conjugation, the qualities of the child which will
+result from it depend therefore on conditions of the ancestral
+qualities of the conjugated egg and spermatozoon. Moreover, although
+of the same size, the nuclei which become conjugated are evidently of
+unequal strength; the energies of one or the other predominate later
+on in the embryo, and still later in man. According to circumstances
+the latter will resemble more or less his paternal or maternal
+progenitors.
+
+Moreover, the different organs of the body may receive their energies
+from different parts of the conjugated nuclei in different degrees. A
+person may have his father's nose and his mother's eyes, the paternal
+grandmother's humor and the maternal grandfather's intelligence, and
+all this with infinite degrees and variations, for it is only a matter
+of more or less accentuated averages. In my own face the two halves
+are distinctly different, one resembling my maternal ancestry and the
+other, in a lesser degree, my paternal ancestry, these points being
+seen distinctly in photographs taken in profile.
+
+Each germinal cell contains the hereditary mneme of its ancestors,
+paternal and maternal, and the two cells united by conjugation (Fig.
+17) that of the ancestors of each of them. We have spoken above of
+ecphorias produced according to _Mendel's_ law and reproducing
+characters which have been latent during one or two generations.
+Darwin was the first to study this interesting fact, which shows how
+atavism often results from the crossing of varieties. There are
+several varieties of fowls which do not brood; if two of these
+varieties, B and C, are crossed excellent brooders are obtained.
+_Semon_ assumes that in each of the non-brooding varieties the
+ancestral energy, A, of the primary species, is weaker than that of
+varieties B and C; we have then A > B, and A < C. But if B is coupled
+with A the product represents the value B + C + A + A. Then B and C
+are in equilibrium; and A being doubled becomes stronger than each of
+them and arrives at ecphoria in their place, which restores the
+faculty of brooding to the product of crossing.
+
+_De Vries_ has shown, in the crossing of varieties with their primary
+species, more or less analogous phenomena which he calls
+"Vicino-variations." Conjugation leads to infinite combinations and
+variations which the law of heredity traverses like a guiding line.
+
+The celebrated zoologist, _Weismann_, considers that the chromatin of
+each germinal cell contains a considerable quantity of particles each
+of which is capable of forming an entire organism similar to the
+parents; these he calls "ides." According to _Weismann_, each ide is
+subdivided into "determinants" from which each part of the body is
+derived, being potentially predetermined in them. According to the
+action of a yet unknown irritation male or female determinants develop
+in each individual of the animal species with separate sexes. But if
+the determinants are disordered, either by abnormal variations or by
+pathological causes, hermaphrodites or monstrosities may be produced.
+In animals which are normally hermaphrodite (snails, etc.), there is
+only one kind of sexual determinant, while in polymorphous animals
+(ants, etc.), there are as many as the polymorphous forms. The
+conception of "ides" and "determinants" is only a hypothesis to which
+we must not attach much value. The mnemic laws established by _Semon_
+give a much better explanation of the facts.
+
+It has often been maintained that the qualities of higher forms of man
+are exhausted in a few generations, while the mass of mediocrities
+continually produce new genius. The fact that the descendants of
+distinguished men are often mediocre and that remarkable men suddenly
+arise from the common people, appears at first sight to support this
+superficial assertion. It is forgotten, however, that in a people
+whose average mass consists of thousands or millions of individuals,
+while men of higher powers are only counted by units or dozens, all
+this arithmetic is reduced to absurdity by the inequality of numbers,
+as soon as the law of heredity is understood. To make a more exact
+calculation, it would be necessary to compare the number of superior
+men who have arisen from some hundreds of the most distinguished
+families of a country with that of distinguished men who have arisen
+from some millions of the rest of the people, and then calculate the
+percentage. It is also necessary to take into account the means
+employed in the education of the individuals. If education is
+obligatory and gratuitous in a country, this factor will have less
+importance.
+
+Another error which is committed in such cases is to neglect the
+influence of the maternal lineage. A common woman will lower the level
+of the offspring of a distinguished husband, and inversely. In his
+"History of Science and Scientists" _Alphonse de Candolle_ has given
+irrefutable proof that the posterity of high-class men furnishes a
+great number proportionally of men high class in their turn, compared
+with that of the average population. This shows the value of the usual
+twaddle concerning this question. It is inconceivable that the laws of
+heredity should make an exception of the mental qualities of man.
+Moreover, the most deceptive point is the contrast of a man of genius
+with his children, who do not rise to his standard because they
+represent a combination of his ancestral energies with those of their
+mother. This contrast makes the children appear unfavorably, while the
+public has a general tendency to exaggerate the value of a great man.
+
+The theory of the mneme throws light on this subject, by introducing a
+new factor in the question, that of ecphoria of the cerebral engrams
+of the ancestors, accumulated in the hereditary mneme.
+
+=Heredity of Acquired Characters.=--While _Darwin_ and _Haeckel_
+affirmed the possibility of the heredity of characters acquired during
+life by different tissues, for instance the brain, _Weismann_ limits
+the possibility to everything that can modify the nucleoplasm of the
+germinal cells. We must first eliminate the question of the phenomena
+of blastophthoria, which we shall consider next, and which _Weismann_
+was, I think, the first to comprehend, without giving them the name.
+
+On one hand we see the singular effects of castration, which we have
+already considered; on the other hand, an extraordinary constancy in
+the hereditary characters of the species. For more than three thousand
+six hundred years, which corresponds to about eight hundred
+generations, the Jews have been circumcised. Nevertheless, if a Jew
+ceases to circumcise his offspring the prepuce of his children grows
+as it did three thousand six hundred years ago, although, during the
+eight hundred generations in question, its absence from birth has
+prevented it reacting on the germinal cells of the individuals. If the
+engraphia of the external world could sensibly modify in a few
+generations the hereditary mneme of the species, it appears evident
+that the Jewish infants of the present day would be born without
+prepuce, or at least with an atrophied one.
+
+It is on such facts, which are innumerable in natural history, that
+_Weismann_ relies to repudiate absolutely the heredity of characters
+acquired by non-germinal organs and to attribute the development of
+organisms to blends and combinations due to conjugation, or crossing,
+as well as to natural selection, which he regards as all-powerful.
+_Darwin_ well recognized the difficulty in question, and being unable
+to explain the facts, had recourse to the hypothesis of _pangenesis_,
+that is of small particles detached from all parts of the body and
+transported by the blood to the germinal cells, to transmit to them,
+for example, the qualities acquired by the brain during life. This
+hypothesis was so improbable that _Darwin_ himself was forced to
+recognize it. Let us examine the facts.
+
+On the one hand a newly born Chinese transported and brought up in
+France will learn French, and will show no inclination to learn or
+understand Chinese. This well-established fact seems in favor of
+_Weismann_ and against the heredity of acquired characters. But, on
+the other hand, we cannot understand how the evolution of the brain
+and its functions takes place, without admitting that in one way or
+another the characters acquired by habits repeated during many
+generations gradually accumulate in the form of hereditary
+dispositions in the germinal protoplasm. It is certain that our brain
+has progressed since the time when our ancestors were similar to the
+gorilla, or even the cave man at the beginning of the quaternary age.
+How can this cerebral progression be explained only by selection which
+can only eliminate, and by crossings which by themselves can hardly
+raise the average? It is here that the intervention of an unknown
+power is necessary, something unexplained, the action of which has
+been lately recorded in the phenomena of mutations of _de Vries_.
+
+_De Vries_ proves that certain variations appear suddenly and without
+any known cause, and have a much greater tendency to be preserved than
+the variations obtained by crossing and selection. In my opinion the
+phenomena of the mneme revealed by _Hering_ and _Semon_ explain the
+apparent contradictions which have hitherto impaired the theories of
+heredity. Mnemic engraphy explains, by its infinitesimal and repeated
+action through numerous generations, how the external world may little
+by little transmit to the germinal cells the characters which it
+impresses on organisms. The eight hundred generations during which the
+prepuce of the Jews has been cut off have not yet sufficed for the
+ecphoria of the corresponding negative mnemic engraphia; while
+conjugation and selection modify rapidly and strongly in a few
+generations; a fact which is more striking and allows of direct
+experiment. Moreover, a positive engraphia must necessarily act more
+powerfully, and it seems to me that mutations must be the ecphoria of
+accumulated former latent engraphias.
+
+_Merrifield_ and _Standfuss_, by exposing caterpillars and chrysalids
+for varying periods to considerable degrees of cold and heat, have
+determined permanent changes in the specific characters of the
+butterflies which have emerged from them.
+
+_Standfuss_ and _Fischer_ have also shown that, after several
+generations, by continuing the action of cold on the caterpillars, the
+variations thus produced can be preserved even after the cold has
+ceased to act. No doubt the cold acts on the germinal cells as on the
+rest of the body, but the heredity of an acquired character is thus
+demonstrated.
+
+The experiments of _Miss de Chauvin_ on salamanders (_Axolotl_) are
+still more conclusive, for we are dealing here with characters
+acquired through aquatic or aerial media, which can hardly act on the
+sexual glands. We cannot continue this subject any further and we
+return to the work of _Semon_. It is needless to say that the nature
+of mnemic engraphia remains itself an unknown quantity. As long as we
+are unable to transform inert matter into a living organism we shall
+remain in ignorance. But, when it is accepted with the laws of the
+phenomena which it produces, this unknown quantity, as _Semon_ has
+shown, alone suffices to explain all the rest, and is already a great
+step toward the comprehension of the laws which govern life.
+
+=Blastophthoria.=--By blastophthoria, or deterioration of the germ, I
+mean what might also be called false heredity, that is to say, the
+results of all direct pathogenic or disturbing action, especially that
+of certain intoxications, on the germinal cells, whose hereditary
+determinants are thus changed. Blastophthoria thus acts on germs not
+yet conjugated, through the medium of their bearers, and creates at
+their origin _hereditary stigmata_ of all kinds, while true heredity
+only combines and reproduces the ancestral energies.
+
+Blastophthoria deranges the mneme or hereditary engrams, and
+consequently a more or less considerable part of their ecphorias
+during the life of the individuals which arise from them. It is not a
+question here of the reproduction of the hereditary ancestral energies
+in the descendants (in different combinations) as is the case in the
+heredity which we have just studied, but, on the contrary, a question
+of their perturbation. However, the store of cells reserved as
+germinal cells in the embryo, the germ of which has been damaged by
+blastophthoric action, being usually also affected by the disturbing
+cause, it follows that the pathological change introduced by
+blastophthoria in the hereditary mneme is transmitted to the
+descendants by ordinary heredity. In this way blastophthoria deposits
+the first germ of most pathological degenerations by causing immediate
+deviation of all the determinants of the germ in the same direction.
+
+The most typical and the commonest example of blastophthoria is that
+of alcoholic intoxication. The spermatozoa of alcoholics suffer like
+the other tissues from the toxic action of alcohol on the protoplasm.
+The result of this intoxication of the germs may be that the children
+resulting from their conjugation become idiots, epileptics, dwarfs or
+feeble minded. Thus it is not alcoholism or the craving for drink
+which is inherited. No doubt the peculiarity of badly supporting
+alcohol is inherited by ordinary heredity as a hereditary disposition,
+but it is not this which produces the alcoholic degenerations of the
+race. These are the result of the single blastophthoria. When, on the
+other hand, a man is found to be imbecile or epileptic as the result
+of the insobriety of his father, he preserves the tendency to transmit
+his mental weakness or his epilepsy to his descendants, even when he
+abstains completely from alcoholic drinks. In fact, the chromosomes of
+the spermatozoid, from which about a half of his organism has issued,
+have preserved the pathological derangement produced by the parental
+alcoholism in their hereditary mneme, and have transmitted it to the
+store of germinal cells of the feeble minded or the epileptic, who in
+his turn transmits it to his descendants. From _Weismann's_ point of
+view his hereditary determinants remain pathologically deviated. All
+intoxications which alter the protoplasm of the germinal cells may
+produce blastophthoric degenerations, which continue to menace several
+successive generations in the form of hereditary taints.
+
+Other deviations in the development of the germs may act in an
+analogous manner to blastophthoria. We have mentioned above the
+experiments of _Merrifield_ and _Standfuss_ on the caterpillars of
+certain butterflies. Without being really of a pathological nature,
+these actions of a physical agent on the hereditary energies resemble
+blastophthoria.
+
+Mechanical action on the embryo may also give rise to pathological
+products or even mutilation. Thus, _Weismann_ demonstrated the
+production of degenerate individuals in ants when certain coleoptera
+were introduced in their nest, the ants being fond of the secretion of
+the large glandular hairs of the coleoptera. The exact cause of the
+degeneration has not yet been found, but the fact is certain. In man,
+certain constitutional affections and congenital anomalies are the
+result of certain diseases in the procreators, which have affected the
+germinal cells or the embryo (for instance syphilis). As soon as the
+blastophthoric actions cease in the procreators, those of their
+descendants who live under a normal regimen have evidently a tendency
+to eliminate the blastophthoric organs at the end of several
+generations and to regenerate themselves little by little. Thanks to
+the power of the ancestral mneme which tends to reestablish homophony.
+However, the data on this subject are insufficient. In this case
+homophony is represented by the normal equilibrium of the different
+typical or normal characters of the species.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] I insert here some passages intended for more advanced readers,
+but this does not imply that they are of less importance. On the
+contrary I strongly advise all my readers to try and understand the
+theories of _Hering_ and _Semon_, which appear to me to throw a new
+light on the question of transformation and heredity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+EVOLUTION OR DESCENT OF LIVING ORGANISMS
+
+
+The theory of evolution is intimately associated with the name of
+_Darwin_, for it was he who established it in the scientific world. In
+reality, the idea of the transformation of organisms was put forward
+by _Lamarck_ more than a century ago, but he did not sufficiently
+support it. The theory of evolution states that the different animal
+and vegetable species are not each of them specially created as such
+from the first, but that they are connected with each other by a real
+and profound relationship, and derived progressively one from another;
+generally from more simple forms, by engraphia and selection. Man
+himself is no exception to this rule, for he is closely related to the
+higher apes.
+
+It is no longer possible to-day to deny the fundamental fact which we
+have just stated. Since _Darwin_, and as the result of the powerful
+impulse which this man of genius gave to natural science, innumerable
+observations and experiments have confirmed the truth of the
+progressive evolution of living beings. Comparative anatomy,
+comparative geography of plants and animals, comparative embryology,
+and the study of the morphology and biology of a number of recently
+discovered plants and animals, have built up more and more the
+genealogical tree, or _phylogeny_, of living beings, that is to say
+their ancestral lineage. The number of varieties and races or
+sub-species increases indefinitely, the more closely they are
+examined.
+
+Researches on the fossil remains of species of animals and plants
+which have been extinct for thousands and millions of years
+(_palaeontology_) have also contributed to determine the trunk of the
+great tree of former life. The numerous gaps which still exist between
+these fragmentary documents of former ages are nevertheless too
+considerable for continuous connections to be established in the past
+by the aid of fossils.
+
+We not only know that the different forms of living beings are
+connected to each other by a real relationship, but we can fathom more
+and more deeply the degrees of this relationship, and can often prove
+from which group of animals a given group is descended. In many cases
+we can determine at which period the fauna and flora of two continents
+have been separated from each other, and in what manner they have been
+transformed, each in its own way, while still preserving the general
+characters which were common before their separation. The specialist
+can soon discover what species belong to the old geographically
+differentiated fauna and flora of the country, and what have been
+ulteriorily imported.
+
+I record these facts for the benefit of those persons who have not yet
+understood that it is absolutely useless at the present day to dispute
+the evolution of living beings. Deceived by the divergent opinions of
+scientists concerning hypotheses which endeavor to explain the details
+of evolution, these persons confound the details with the fundamental
+facts of evolution.
+
+=Ontogeny. Phylogeny.=--In the light of the facts of evolution,
+heredity takes quite a new aspect when removed from the old biblical
+idea of the independent creation of species. _Haeckel_ launched into
+the scientific world, under the name of "fundamental biogenetic law,"
+a theory which, without having the right to the title of an immutable
+dogma, explains the facts in a general way, and gives us a guiding
+line along the phylogenetic history of living beings. "_Ontogeny_,"
+that is the history of the embryological development of each
+individual, always consists in a summary and fragmentary repetition of
+_phylogeny_, or the history of the ancestors of the species to which
+the individual belongs. This signifies that, as embryos, we repeat in
+an abridged form the series of types or morphological stages through
+which has passed the series of our animal ancestors, from the
+primitive cell to man. In reality this is only true in a relative way,
+for a considerable part of the ancestral engraphias of the embryo has
+disappeared without leaving any trace; also many embryos, especially
+those which have special conditions of existence outside the body of
+their mother, have acquired special complex organs and corresponding
+functions. Thus, the caterpillars of butterflies with their specific
+and generic peculiarities, hairs, horns, etc., furnish many examples
+of secondary acquired characters which have nothing in common with the
+worm, which is the ancestral type of the butterfly represented by the
+embryonic period when it is a caterpillar. However, many undoubted
+vestiges of the ancestral history are found in the embryos at
+different periods of their development. It is certain that insects
+descended from worms, and there is no doubt that the larvae of insects,
+which are almost worms, represent the ontogenetic repetition of the
+phylogeny of insects.
+
+It is also certain that whales, although they have whalebone instead
+of teeth, have descended from cetacea provided with teeth, which in
+their turn descended from terrestrial mammals. But we find in the
+embryo whale a complete denture which is of no use to it, and which
+disappears in the course of the embryonic period. This denture is
+nothing else than a phylogenetic incident in the ontogeny of the
+whale.
+
+In the fins of cetacea, as in the four limbs of other mammals, we find
+the same bones, which are derived from the bones of the wings and legs
+of their bird ancestors. In birds, the same bones are the phylogenetic
+derivatives of the limbs of reptiles.
+
+All these facts demonstrate with certainty the descent of animal
+forms, a descent which we can follow in all its details. In certain
+ants whose bodies show their close relationship with a slave-keeping
+group, but which have become the parasitic hosts of other ants, we
+find not only the arched mandibles, shaped for rape, but the undoubted
+rudiments of the slave instinct, although this instinct has, perhaps,
+not been exercised by them for thousands of years.
+
+These examples suffice to show that the form and functions of a living
+organism, as well as its mental faculties, are derived not only from
+the most recent direct ancestors of this organism, but that they
+partly mount much higher in the genealogical tree.
+
+Our coccyx is a vestige of the tail of animals. It is from them also
+that we have inherited anger and jealousy, sexual appetites, fear,
+cunning, etc. As long as they remain in use, the oldest inherited
+characters normally remain the most tenacious and are preserved the
+longest. When they cease to be utilized, or become useless, they still
+remain for a long time as rudiments before finally disappearing; for
+instance the vermiform appendix of the intestine and the pineal gland
+of the brain. These rudiments often persist for still a longer time in
+the embryo, as we have seen in the case of the ancestral teeth of the
+embryo whales. We also meet with the stumps of wings in the chrysalis
+of certain ants (_Anergates_), the males of which have lost their
+wings.
+
+=Natural Selection.=--The artificial selection practiced by gardeners
+and cattle breeders led _Darwin_ to his hypothesis of natural
+selection by the struggle for existence. Confirmed in his idea by the
+observation of tropical nature, _Darwin_ thought he could explain the
+origin of living beings by natural selection. It is this hypothesis
+which is properly called _Darwinism_. But the name Darwinism has also
+been given to evolution as a whole, which has been the cause of
+endless confusion. All the mystic and narrow-minded, full of biblical
+prejudice, naturally profit by this confusion to attack the facts of
+evolution and science itself.
+
+=The Struggle for Existence.=--The struggle for existence and natural
+selection are absolutely positive facts, which can be constantly
+verified by the observation of living nature as it is presented to us.
+All living beings eat one another or at any rate struggle against each
+other, plants as well as animals; and, apart from air and water,
+animals are almost entirely nourished by plants and other animals. It
+is obvious that in this perpetual struggle the less adapted and the
+less armed--and by arms we include the powers of reproduction,
+resistance to diseases and to cold, etc.--disappear, while the better
+adapted and the better armed persist. I confess I cannot understand
+the detractors of _Darwin_ who are blind in face of these facts and
+hypnotized by certain conventional suggestions.
+
+On the other hand, what always has been and still remains hypothetical
+is the explanation of the descent of all plants and animals by natural
+selection alone. We have already spoken of the _mutations_ of _de
+Vries_, and the theory of the _mneme_ elaborated by _Semon_, and need
+not repeat them here. Thanks to the idea of _Hering_, worked out by
+_Semon_, the facts are now explained in a satisfactory manner.
+Engraphia, produced in the organisms by the irritating agents of the
+external world, prepares and builds up little by little their
+increasing complications, while selection, by continually eliminating
+the unfit, directs the elaborating work of the mneme and adapts it to
+the surrounding local circumstances.
+
+_De Vries_ has objected that the variations produced by artificial and
+natural selections are mutable, while sudden mutations have a much
+more stable character. But we have just seen that these mutations
+themselves are evidently only the delayed ecphoria of a long ancestral
+engraphia accumulated.
+
+On the other hand, the variations obtained by selection are themselves
+only due to more rapid ecphorias, derived from repeated conjugations
+in a certain direction. _Plate_ and others have shown that they may
+become more and more fixed, if they are well adapted, and thus become
+more tenacious. There is, therefore, no contradiction between the
+fundamental facts, and all is simply and naturally explained by the
+combination of hereditary mnemic engraphia with selection.
+
+Recent study on the transformations of living beings have shown that
+they do not take place in a regularly progressive manner, as _Darwin_
+at first believed, but that periods of relatively rapid transformation
+alternate with periods of relative arrest, both in a general way and
+for each particular species. We see certain species remaining almost
+stationary for an immense time and tending rather to disappear, while
+others vary enormously, showing actual transformation. The
+transplantation of one species to a new environment, for instance to a
+new continent, provokes, as has been proved, a relatively rapid
+transformation. It is evident that mnemic engraphia transforms
+organisms the more rapidly as it changes in nature itself, which is
+the case in the migrations we have just mentioned, and which also
+changes the factors of selection.
+
+Other facts show clearly that the fauna and flora of the present world
+find themselves in a period of recoil with regard to their
+modification. In the tertiary period the fauna and flora of the world
+were richer than to-day; many more older species have disappeared than
+new ones have arisen. This fundamental fact seems due to the extremely
+slow cooling of the earth, and appears to be indicated by the powerful
+growth in tropical climates, the fauna and flora of which resemble
+those of the tertiary period, and, on the other hand by the relative
+poverty and slowness of growth in cold countries.
+
+=Conclusions.=--What are the principal conclusions to which we are led
+by this short study of the ancestral history or phylogeny of man?
+
+(1). The transformation or evolution of living beings is a
+demonstrated fact.
+
+(2). The factors in evolution appear at first sight to be very
+diverse: selection, mutation, climatological, physical and chemical
+factors, etc.
+
+We have seen that they may all be connected with the fundamental
+principle of mnemic engraphia, aided by natural selection. No doubt
+the nature of the mnemic engraphia of external agents in the living
+substance is still unknown. When we are able to connect the laws of
+life with the laws of inert nature, we shall only have before us a
+single great metaphysical mystery, that of the tendency of mundane
+energy to the differentiation of details and the production of
+complicated forms. What is important here is to know that engraphia
+and selection are capable of considerably modifying species in a
+positive or negative manner, for good or evil, improving them by good
+influence and good conjugations, or deteriorating them by bad
+selection or by blastophthoria, which causes them to degenerate. The
+combination of a bad selection with blastophthoric influences
+constitutes the great danger for humanity, and it is here that a
+rational sexual life should intervene.
+
+(3). The mental faculties of animal species, as well as their physical
+characters, depend on their ancestral hereditary mneme. They simply
+represent the internal or introspective side of central activity, and
+the brain obeys the natural laws of the mneme in the same way as the
+other organs.
+
+(4). It follows from all this that phylogeny and selection, the same
+as heredity properly understood, have the right to a fundamental place
+in the sexual question, for the germs which, after each conception,
+reproduce an individual are, on the one hand, bearers of the inherited
+energy of our ancestors, and on the other hand, that of future
+generations. According to the care or neglect of civilized humanity
+they may be transformed for good or evil, progress or recede.
+Unfortunately, owing to religious and other prejudices, the question
+of evolution is not discussed in schools. Hence, the majority of men
+only hear of these things by hearsay in a rough and inexact manner; so
+that a series of phenomena familiar to naturalists and medical men,
+are still dead letters for the rest of the public. This obliges me to
+speak further on some points of detail.
+
+The so-called historical times, that is the times of the Chinese,
+Egyptians and Assyrians, which appear to us extremely remote, are from
+the point of view of evolution very near to us. These ancient peoples,
+at any rate those who were our direct ancestors, or who were closely
+related to them, are thus, in the language of evolution, which takes
+no count of time or of the number of generations, our very near
+relations. The generations which separate them from us and the few
+hundred generations between them and those of their direct ancestors,
+who were at the same time ours, represent a limited period from the
+point of view of the ethnological history of mankind.
+
+On the other hand, if we examine the savage peoples of America, Asia,
+Africa and Australia, which have been specially studied since the
+discovery of America and some of which are actually living, and
+compare them with ourselves and with our ancestors of four thousand
+years ago, we find that they differ infinitely more from us than we
+differ from our ancestors, as their ethnographical and historical
+remains are sufficient to prove.
+
+Among the savage peoples we find races such as the pigmies of
+_Stanley_ (Akkaas), the Weddas of Ceylon, even Australians and
+negroes, whose whole bodily structure differs profoundly from our
+European race and its varieties. The profoundness and constancy of
+these differences clearly show that the relationship of such races to
+ours must be very remote. We are concerned here with veritable races
+or sub-species, or at least with very constant and accentuated
+varieties. It is true that it is difficult to unravel the almost
+inextricable confusion of human races; but we may be certain that the
+savage races and varieties remote from ours, and even certain
+less-remote races such as the Mongols and Malays, are, phylogenetically
+speaking, infinitely less related to us than the ancient Assyrians.
+This indicates that the ancestors which were common to us and these
+races must probably be looked for several thousands of generations
+back, even when their descendants are still living on other continents
+at the present day.
+
+It is easy to explain that human races so different could develop
+separately in continents and under climates with a very different mode
+of life and conditions of development, if we reflect that at these
+remote periods men only had very limited modes of transport and lived
+in a fashion very little different from that of the anthropoid apes,
+so that the ethnological forms were preserved separated from each
+other by small distances. This fact can still be observed among the
+small hostile Indian or Malay tribes, who live in tropical regions and
+often occupy only a few square leagues. The higher civilizations of
+former times could not develop beyond a comparatively limited circle,
+as their means of transport did not allow them to venture too far. The
+conquest of the whole earth by modern civilization by means of the
+mariner's compass, firearms, steam and electricity is thus an
+absolutely contemporaneous event, unique in the history of the world,
+the origin of which hardly goes back more than four hundred years.
+This event has completely upset the natural internal evolution of
+human races, by the fact that all the lower races attacked by
+civilized races armed with guns and alcohol, are destined to rapid and
+complete destruction.
+
+Geology has discovered in the caves of the quaternary period, human
+remains which are much lower in the scale of evolution and much nearer
+the anthropoid apes than the lowest races still living. Their brain,
+as shown by the cranial cavity, was still smaller. Lastly, _Dubois_
+has discovered in Java the cranium of _Pithecanthropus erectus_ which
+is intermediate between that of the orang-utan and man. If more such
+remains are discovered the chain of transition between the apes and
+man will be almost complete.
+
+=Hybridity. Consanguinity.=--Before concluding this chapter we must
+study the question of _hybrids_. It is important to know to what point
+fecundity and descent are influenced by the degree of relationship
+between the two procreators. Conjugation probably arises from the
+general necessity of organisms to reenforce their race by variety.
+Consanguinity perpetuated is harmful to the species, in the same way
+as parthenogenesis, or indefinite reproduction by fission or budding.
+It produces enfeeblement and degeneration of the race, and leads to
+extinction by causing sterility.
+
+By _consanguinity_ is meant continued sexual union between near
+relatives. It is easy to understand that the conjugation of two germs
+derived from brothers and sisters or from a father and his daughter
+approaches parthenogenesis from the point of view of the mixing of
+hereditary energies. We shall see later on that nearly all peoples
+have a certain repugnance to consanguineous marriages. Among animals,
+natural selection eliminates too consanguineous products.
+
+On the other hand, sexual union between different species, however
+little removed, gives no products. Near species may produce hybrids
+between themselves, but these hybrids are as a rule sterile or nearly
+so, and are incapable of perpetuating their type, which reverts
+rapidly to one of the primitive species.
+
+It has been recently demonstrated that the incapacity of two species
+of animals to produce hybrids is intimately connected with the
+reciprocal toxicity of their blood. When the blood of one species is
+injected into the veins of another the production of hybrids is
+possible between them, at least as far as has been observed. It is
+curious to note that the blood of the anthropoid apes is not toxic for
+man, although these animals are very different from us, and hybrids
+have not yet been produced. This fact helps us to understand how it is
+that the differences which exist between the different human races do
+not prevent the production of hybrids between any two of them. In
+spite of this we may state, without risk of error, that the most
+dissimilar human races give a bad quality of hybrids, which have
+little chance of forming a viable mongrel race. We have not
+sufficient information on this point concerning the lowest human
+races, such as the pigmies and Weddas. On the other hand, mulattoes
+(hybrids between negroes and whites) constitute a race of very bad
+quality and hardly viable, while the hybrids between Indians and
+whites are much more resistant and of relatively better quality.
+
+In this question, the middle course appears without any doubt the true
+one. Unions between near races and varieties, or at least between
+individuals of the same race or variety whose relationship is old, are
+certainly the best. We readily grant that the homogeneity of a race
+has the advantage of fixing its peculiarities in a more durable and
+characteristic fashion; but many inconveniences counterbalance this
+advantage. If we one day, by wise selection and by eliminating all
+sources of blastophthoria obtain a superior quality of human germs, it
+is possible that in the remote future, consanguinity, provided it is
+not exaggerated may lose its dangers.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+NATURAL CONDITIONS AND MECHANISM OF HUMAN
+COITUS--PREGNANCY--CORRELATIVE SEXUAL CHARACTERS
+
+
+It is impossible to comprehend the deep meaning and lofty aim of an
+act like that of sexual union without knowing the details of
+conjugation and the origin of man as we have explained them in the
+preceding chapters.
+
+Conjugation requires the bringing together of two cells, and
+consequently the movement of at least one of them. This cellular
+movement suffices for the lower forms of union and is usually limited
+to the male cell. Owing to its movement it plays the active role,
+while the passive role is reserved for the female cell. Hence we see
+in the higher plants the male cells, or pollen, transported to the
+pistil by the wind or by insects, and thence reach the egg by
+mechanical endosmotic attraction which brings about conjugation.
+
+This takes place in an analogous manner in lower animals, but the male
+cell is generally endowed with special movement. As soon as we deal
+with complicated animals, mobile in themselves and composed of cells
+differentiated to form complex organs, we see a second phenomena of
+reproductive movements appear in the animal phylogeny, namely the
+movement of the whole individual bearing male cells toward the
+individual bearing female cells. This simple fact gives rise to the
+formation of correlative sexual differences between the individuals
+bearing each kind of germinal cells. As the result of the evolution of
+these two phylogenetic systems of motor phenomena tending to establish
+conjugation, we obtain for each sex two categories of sexual
+formations:
+
+(1). The _germinal cells themselves_, the female form of which becomes
+larger, more rich in protoplasm, and remains immobile, while the male
+form, or spermatozoid becomes extremely small and is provided with
+motor apparatus (Fig. 11).
+
+(2). The _individuals_ with their correlative sexual differences
+proper to the male and female, disposed in a way to give the male the
+active role and the female the passive role.
+
+Normal hermaphrodism, complete or reciprocal (snails, etc.)
+constitutes an intermediate stage. Here each individual bears two
+kinds of germinal cells and possesses also male and female copulative
+organs, so that there only exists one form of individuals which
+copulate reciprocally; the male organ of one penetrating the female
+organ of the other and vice versa. It is obvious that this excludes
+the formation of correlative individual sexual characters.
+
+In the second category, the male always differs from the female, at
+least in the sexual organs, and usually in other physical and mental
+characters. The difference in the sexual functions leads to the
+formation of differences in other parts of the body, and in instincts
+and sentiments, which find their material expression in the different
+development of the brain.
+
+Certain specific functions in society may, in social animals like the
+ants, lead to the formation or differentiation of a third or fourth
+kind of individuals. This is what is called _polymorphism_. Here it is
+not the sexual function causes the correlative differences of the
+individuals, but division of social labor. The ecphoria of the
+hereditary mneme which produces the polymorphous, and more or less
+asexual individual forms (workers, warriors,) still proceeds through
+the energies of the reproducing germs. Here the action of selection is
+necessary to explain the phenomena.
+
+In man, sexual differentiation has led to the formation of two kinds
+of individuals, differing little in their correlative attributes, but
+each bearing one kind of germinal cells. In sexual union man plays the
+active part, woman, the passive. When sexual activity, in the animal
+kingdom, is no longer limited to the movement of one of the cells but
+requires the displacement of the whole individual, we can quite
+understand that the organization of these individuals must become much
+more complex, and that it requires a central nervous system as a
+directing apparatus. Sexual individuality thus involves collaboration
+of the other organs of the body, and especially that of the central
+organs for reflex movements, the instincts and the higher mental
+faculties of man, in the accomplishment of the fecundating act those
+which are the consequences of it.
+
+From this simple animal origin is evolved the complex sexual love of
+man. The duty of the active or male individual is to bring the
+spermatozoa to a point where they can easily reach the female cells or
+ovules. When this is done the duty of the male is accomplished. In the
+passive or female individual of the higher animals, pairing and
+conjugation are only the commencement of reproductive activity.
+However, this is not the case in the whole animal kingdom. For
+instance, fish have distinct sexes, but in them the female deposits
+her non-fecundated eggs in the water and is not concerned with them
+any further. The male then arrives and discharges his sperm on the
+eggs. In this case fecundation takes place without copulation. With
+such a system sexual love and maternal love lose their _raison
+d'etre_, for the young fish are capable of providing for themselves as
+soon as they are born. There are, however, a few exceptions, one of
+the most curious being that of certain fish of the Dead Sea, in which
+the male incubates the eggs by taking them into his buccal cavity.
+
+=Reproduction in Vertebrates.=--We should never finish if we were to
+describe even the chief varieties of sexual union among the
+vertebrates. As a rule, the male possesses a copulating organ which
+projects externally, while the female presents an invaginated cavity,
+more or less cylindrical, into which the male organ can penetrate. A
+certain amount of sperm is deposited by the male in the neighborhood
+of the mature ovules (Fig. 18) discharged from the female germinal
+gland or ovary, which renders conjugation possible. By means of their
+mobile tails, the spermatozoa (Fig. 11) are able to reach the ovules
+and fecundate them. The manner in which the egg when fecundated,
+either in the mother's body or after being laid, continues its
+development, varies enormously in different species. The eggs are
+often deposited by the female and the embryo develops outside the
+mother's body. This occurs in insects, mollusks, fish, amphibia,
+reptiles, birds and the lowest mammals or monotremes (ornithorhynchus
+and echidna).
+
+In the lower mammals is developed an organ called the womb which
+allows the embryo to remain longer in the maternal body. This organ is
+very incomplete in them, and a pocket or fold in the skin of the belly
+allows the mother to carry her young, which are extremely embryonic at
+birth, till they have developed sufficiently to live alone. This
+occurs in marsupials (kangaroos and opossums), in which the vagina and
+uterus are double.
+
+In the higher mammals the womb becomes more and more developed,
+opening into a single vagina in the middle line of the abdomen,
+between the two ovaries, and constituting a highly specialized organ
+which allows the mother to preserve the young for a long time in her
+belly. In most mammals the uterus has two elongated diverticula, each
+of which may contain a successive series of embryos. In man it forms a
+single cavity and normally contains a single embryo, occasionally two
+or more. These facts show that the role of the female mammal in
+reproduction is more important than that of the male. But this is not
+all. Whether it still lays eggs, or whether it gives birth to young
+which are more or less developed its sexual role is far from ended.
+The higher oviparous vertebrates, especially the birds, take care of
+their progeniture for some time after laying. The young are still fed
+by the mother, either by milk from the teats, as in mammals, or by
+nourishment obtained from outside, as in birds, or by both methods
+combined or succeeding each other, as in cats.
+
+In many animals the male contributes to the raising of the young; a
+point to which we shall return. Here, we indicate these complicated
+details simply to show that sexual union only contributes one link in
+the long chain of reproduction. Let us study its mechanism in man.
+
+=The Copulatory Organ of Man. The Testicles. The Seminal
+Vesicles.=--Nature is often very sparing even in the highest
+organizations. It has thus combined in the male the urethra with the
+copulatory organ, and the sexual germinal glands, or _testicles_, with
+an accessory gland, the _epididymis_. Hundreds of thousands of
+spermatozoa are contained in the glandular tubes of these organs,
+which, when they are mature can always produce new ones by cell
+division. The spermatozoa accumulate at the extremity of the duct of
+the gland in a reservoir called the _seminal vesicle_, where they
+float in the mucus, thus constituting the seminal fluid or _sperm_.
+This liquid has a special odor. The two seminal vesicles are situated
+in the abdominal cavity underneath the urinary bladder, each having a
+duct which meets that of the other side and opens by the side of it in
+the deep part of the urethra. Here the secretion of several other
+glands, especially of the _prostate_, is added to the sperm and mixes
+with it. The point where the two seminal ducts open into the urethra
+forms a small elevation, the _verumontanum_. From this point the male
+urethra emerges from the abdominal cavity and is continued along the
+special prolongation which forms the penis, or virile member of
+copulation. In the ordinary way the penis only serves for the emission
+of urine. It hangs flaccid and terminates in a rounded swelling called
+the glans, at the end of which opens the urethra (Fig. 18). This
+opening serves also for the emission of the sperm.
+
+=Erection. The Corpus Cavernosum.=--The most curious part of this
+apparatus is the mechanism of _erection_, or the power possessed by
+the penis of swelling under the influence of certain nervous
+irritations, increasing in length and diameter as well as becoming
+rigid. This phenomenon is produced by three organs called the
+_cavernous bodies_ which form the principal bulk of the penis. One of
+them, situated in the middle and underneath and formed by two bodies
+united into one, surrounds the urethra and terminates in front in a
+dilatation which constitutes the glans already mentioned. The two
+others are situated symmetrically on the dorsal part of the penis. All
+three consist of caverns or diverticula formed by blood-vessels, which
+are empty when the penis is flaccid. By a complex nervous mechanism
+based on vascular paralysis due to nervous phenomena called inhibition
+and dynamogeny, the nervous irritations cause an accumulation of blood
+in the spaces of the cavernous bodies which become so gorged with
+blood as to form stiff and hard rods. The size of the penis is thereby
+increased considerably and its stiffness allows it to penetrate the
+vagina of the female. At the same time and by the same mechanism the
+verumontanum swells so as to close the ureter from the bladder, while
+the seminal ducts open toward the urethral orifice. In this way the
+copulatory organ is ready for its function.
+
+Repeated irritations are however necessary to provoke the ejaculation
+of semen. This is finally produced by excitation of a special muscle
+which compresses the seminal vesicles in a spasmodic manner and
+ejaculates the semen by the urethra. After ejaculation, the
+accumulation of blood in the cavernous bodies gradually diminishes and
+the penis again becomes flaccid.
+
+This apparatus is thus very complicated and is put in action by
+several nervous irritations which may be disturbed in many ways in
+affections of the nervous system. We may observe here that the nervous
+centers of erection and ejaculation may be put in action directly by
+the brain, or indirectly by peripheral irritation of the glans.
+
+Those peripheral nerves which provoke sexual excitation are especially
+the nerves of the glans. This possesses a skin or mucous membrane
+which is extremely delicate and is protected against external
+irritation by a fold of skin called the _prepuce_, or foreskin. The
+prepuce is often too narrow so that it cannot be withdrawn behind the
+glans. It then forms a pocket in which sebaceous matter, semen, urine,
+etc., accumulate and decompose. This anomaly, called _phimosis_, does
+not exist among the Jews owing to circumcision, or the removal of the
+prepuce in the newly born, which forms part of their religious rites.
+Hygienic considerations sometimes oblige us to perform this operation
+in others. The bad habit of masturbation, so common in boys, is often
+provoked by phimosis, and shows that simple mechanical irritation of
+the glans, due here to secretions contained in the prepuce, may lead
+to ejaculation of semen as well as to erection.
+
+We have seen above that the male and female germinal glands arise from
+the same primitive organ in the embryo. If the embryo becomes male,
+this organ is transformed into the two testicles which descend
+gradually in the canal of the groin and become placed in the scrotum.
+If it becomes female, the two sexual glands remain in the abdominal
+cavity and are transformed into ovaries.
+
+=The Genital Organs of Woman.=--The organs described in Chapter II
+(Figs. 18 and 19), constitute the internal and more important part of
+the female sexual apparatus. In women, the urethra opens externally on
+its own account. It is much shorter and wider than in men. At its
+external extremity is a small cavernous body called the _clitoris_,
+which corresponds embryologically to the penis in man, and chiefly to
+the glans. Like the latter it is specialized for sexual irritation and
+possesses very sensitive nerves. The opening of the female urethra is
+situated in front of the vulva directly under the pubic bone, at the
+same place as the root of the male penis. From this point, on each
+side of the middle line, extend two longitudinal folds, one external
+covered with skin and called the larger lip of the vulva (Fig. 18,
+_labia majora_), the other internal, hidden under the first, called
+the lesser lip of the vulva (_labia minora_), and covered with thin
+mucous membrane. Between the two lesser lips is the sexual aperture,
+which, with the labia majora and minora is called the _vulva_. This
+opening is distinct from that of the urethra, and leads to the
+internal cavity or _vagina_ (Fig. 18). The vagina is about ten to
+twelve centimeters long (2 to 2-1/2 inches) and terminates in a
+_cul-de-sac_ which surrounds the vaginal portion of the womb, of which
+we have spoken above.
+
+In virgins the entrance to the vagina is more or less closed by a
+delicate transverse membrane called the _hymen_, which is only
+perforated by a narrow opening. At the first coitus the hymen is torn,
+causing a certain amount of pain and bleeding. The walls of the vagina
+are thrown into transverse folds, which render them somewhat rough.
+The remains of the hymen torn by the first coitus afterward form
+behind the vulva small excrescences named _carunculae myrtiformes_.
+
+In the first chapter we have spoken of the changes undergone by the
+fecundated ovule till it becomes the embryo and then the infant. It
+remains to speak of the mechanism of expulsion of the ovule and of its
+fecundation, as well as the changes in the womb which result from
+these phenomena.
+
+=Menstruation.=--About every four weeks, one or two ovules (rarely
+more) mature and are discharged into the Fallopian tubes, down which
+they pass by the movement of the vibratile cilia of the mucous
+membrane, to the uterus, to the walls of which they become attached if
+they have been fecundated on the way (Fig. 18). Fecundation or
+conjugation takes place most often in the Fallopian tube, sometimes in
+the uterus. The maturation and expulsion of the ovule are generally
+accompanied in women by a nervous phenomenon closely related to
+erection in man. The mucous membrane of the cavity of the uterus is
+very rich in blood vessels which become dilated and gorged with blood
+under the inhibitory influence of certain nerve centers. As the mucous
+membrane is very thin, the result is otherwise than in man; the blood
+transudes through the mucous membrane and flows away. This is called
+_menstruation_ ("courses" or monthly periods). The object of this is,
+no doubt, to prepare the mucous membrane of the womb for the fixation
+of the fecundated egg which will become grafted on its surface. The
+courses in women generally last three or four days, but are often very
+irregular. It is necessary to point out that they do not depend on
+ovulation (expulsion of the egg). The two phenomena may take place
+independently of each other, for menstruation in itself depends only
+on nervous irritation, which may be provoked or averted by hypnotic
+suggestion, for example.
+
+Moreover, there are women who never menstruate and who, in spite of
+this, not only regularly discharge ovules but may be fecundated and
+become pregnant. Usually, however, the two phenomena are associated by
+nervous reflexes, so that menstruation takes place first and then the
+ovule commences its migration.
+
+=The Mechanism of Coitus.=--Copulation, or coitus, takes place as
+follows: After a certain degree of excitation, both mental and
+sensory, the male introduces the erect and stiffened penis into the
+vagina. In the case of advanced pregnancy he should place himself
+behind, so as to avoid injuring the unborn child. Rhythmic movements
+of the two individuals, especially of the man, gradually increase the
+excitation of the mucous membrane or skin of the genital organs of
+each party, till voluptuous sensations, arising chiefly in the glans
+penis and clitoris, spread to the whole nervous system and the entire
+body, constituting what is called the _venereal orgasm_, and
+terminating in the man by the ejaculation of semen.
+
+The localizations of irritability in woman are multiple, and to the
+clitoris must be added the nipples, the vulva, and even, it is said,
+the neck of the womb. In man the parts round the anus may also,
+besides the glans penis, form an excitable region. At the acme of
+erection the glans is turgid, and is applied directly against the neck
+of the womb (Fig. 18). In this way the sperm is ejaculated directly
+against the neck of the womb.
+
+In the woman an analogous phenomenon takes place; the clitoris becomes
+turgid and the mild and repeated friction of the mucous membranes,
+together with contact on other sensitive parts, produces a voluptuous
+sensation as in the man. Through nervous association, the repeated
+excitation determines secretion from certain glands of the vagina
+which lubricate the vulva (glands of _Bartholin_). At the maximum
+point of voluptuous feeling the woman experiences something analogous
+to the venereal orgasm of the man. There is thus manifested in the two
+sexes an intense and reciprocal desire of penetration one by the
+other, a desire which powerfully favors fecundation. In the woman as
+in the man the end of the orgasm is followed by an agreeable
+relaxation which invites sleep.
+
+The hereditary or instinctive nervous actions produce after coitus a
+profound effect of contrast. When the sexual appetite commences, the
+odors, especially those of the sexual organs, the contacts, the
+movements, and the sight of the individual of the opposite sex, all
+increase desire, producing a voluptuous excitation stronger than all
+contrary feeling. Hardly is the sexual act consummated than all
+vanishes like a dream. What was a moment before the object of the most
+violent desire becomes indifferent, and sometimes even excites a
+slight feeling of disgust, at least as regards certain odors,
+sometimes even regarding touch and sight. The name sexual appetite
+(libido sexualis) is given to the passionate and purely sexual desire
+of the two sexes for each other. It varies greatly in different
+individuals.
+
+According to _Ferdy_ and other authors, the neck of the womb, during
+the venereal orgasm of the woman, executes movements of suction in the
+glans penis. I do not know if this is a fact, but it is certain that
+the female orgasm is useless for conception. Absolutely cold women,
+incapable of the least voluptuous sensation are as fruitful as those
+who have pronounced venereal orgasms. It proves that the spermatozoa
+arrive at their goal even when the womb is entirely passive. The great
+variation of sexual desire in different individuals renders mutual
+adaptation often very difficult. The venereal orgasm is sometimes more
+rapid in man, sometimes in woman (more rarely in the latter). This
+inequality is rather to the detriment of the woman, for the man can
+still satisfy himself when the orgasm of the woman has terminated,
+while the contrary is not possible without artificial manipulation.
+Moreover, the frequence and intensity of the sexual appetite are often
+much greater in one than in the other, which is detrimental to both.
+Here again it is the woman who suffers the most, for the man can
+always satisfy himself without the woman having voluptuous sensations.
+What is commonly called good manners generally prevents the conjoints
+from speaking of their sexual desires before marriage. This very often
+results in grave deceptions, dissensions, and often even divorce. I
+shall return to this subject in Chapter XIV.
+
+Voluptuous sensations only represent the means employed by nature to
+bring together the sexes with the object of reproducing the species. A
+woman can be fecundated and give birth to a child by the aid of semen
+injected into the uterus by a syringe. Moreover, it is rather
+exceptional for the venereal orgasm to occur in the two sexes at the
+same moment. It is essential for fecundation that the semen should
+enter the womb. When the spermatozoa have reached the neighborhood of
+the neck of the womb they swim by their own movements, not only along
+the whole uterine cavity, but also along the Fallopian tubes and even
+in the abdominal cavity, so that the force of ejaculation is of little
+importance.
+
+=Pregnancy.=--The womb enlarges considerably during pregnancy. It
+exceeds the size of an adult head, and the muscles of its walls are
+greatly increased, so as to be capable of expelling the child later
+on.
+
+The phenomena of pregnancy, birth and suckling are known to all, so
+that I shall be brief. The almost sudden activity of the breasts after
+childbirth is a very interesting correlative phenomenon. It suffices
+to glance at one who has just become a mother and to observe the
+complications which profoundly influence all her organism with regard
+to the life of the infant, to comprehend to what extent the role of
+sexual life is more important, more profound, even more vital, in
+woman than in man. The latter no doubt requires a more violent
+appetite to urge him to copulation because he plays the active part,
+short though it be. But fecundating coitus having been effected, his
+contribution to the reproduction of the species is ended.
+
+While the activity of man is terminated at conception, that of woman
+only begins at this moment. In the first chapter we have indicated in
+a few words the transformations of the human embryo up to its birth.
+During nine months it grows from the size of a pin's head (the ovule)
+to that of the new-born child. Although a woman seldom bears more than
+one embryo at the same time, twins being rare on the whole, she has
+nevertheless more pain and fatigue to bear than any female animal.
+This is due not only to the fact that our artificial and alcoholized
+civilization, with its specialized labor which disturbs vital
+equilibrium, has made women indolent and degenerate, but also to the
+enormous development of the human brain. The head of the human embryo
+is disproportionately large because the brain, as I showed with
+_Schiller_ in 1889, already contains at birth all the nerve elements
+which it will possess during the rest of its life (_Comptes rendus de
+l'Academie des Sciences_). No doubt these elements are small and
+embryonic but the nerve fibers are ready to be covered with myelin and
+to enter upon their functions, and all this requires a cranium of
+considerable size. But it is not everything for the mother to nourish
+with her blood the brain and the cranium of the child; it is also
+necessary for this relatively large head to pass through the pelvis at
+the time of childbirth, and we know that this moment is the most
+dangerous for the life of the pregnant woman. As boys have on the
+average a larger brain and cranium than those of girls, their birth is
+usually more difficult.
+
+=Accouchement.=--The sexual organs of woman undergo great changes in
+order to render childbirth possible. These organs become larger and
+more vascular, especially the womb, the growth of which is
+astonishing. Originally the size of a small egg (a guinea fowl's) it
+exceeds the size of a human head, and there is an enormous increase of
+muscular tissue in its walls. Large blood vessels develop in the
+uterine wall, especially in the placenta (Figs. 22 and 23), where they
+enter into endosmotic relations with the circulation of the embryo.
+
+From the abdomen of the embryo arises an organ, the _allantois_, which
+is destined to carry the blood-vessels of the embryo to the placenta,
+and at the same time to give rise to the formation of the latter. In
+the placenta the blood-vessels of the embryo are separated from those
+of the mother by walls so thin that the nutritive juices of the
+maternal blood transude into the venous blood of the embryo, as well
+as combined oxygen in the blood necessary for its respiration. Up to
+this point the vitellus of the egg, nourished by endosmosis through
+its membranes, had sufficed for the nutrition of the still very small
+embryo. While these phenomena are taking place, and while the
+substance of the two conjugated germs divides into an ever increasing
+number of cells, which become differentiated in layers to form the
+future organs (Fig. 21), while certain groups of cells are prepared
+some to form the intestinal canal, others the muscles and blood
+vessels, others the skin and organs of sense, others arising from the
+last to form the brain, the spinal cord and the nerves, the mother can
+still live her ordinary life. She suffers, however, from different
+disorders connected with what is passing on in her body.
+
+It is a curious fact that these disorders are more accentuated at the
+commencement of pregnancy, when the womb is hardly enlarged, than at
+the end. They consist chiefly of nervous troubles--slight derangement
+of the cerebral functions and sensations, etc. Obstinate vomiting,
+peculiar desires, and changes of temper are some of the most frequent
+troubles of pregnant women, and probably arise more from local nervous
+irritation than from general transformations of the nutrition of the
+body. The mother's body is becoming adapted to the development of the
+infant in the womb. However embarrassed a woman may be in the last
+months of pregnancy by the great swelling of the belly (Fig. 22) the
+disorders are less accentuated than at the beginning of pregnancy.
+
+During pregnancy menstruation ceases. The sexual appetite is very
+variable; in many pregnant women it is diminished, in others there is
+no change, and it is seldom increased. There are other troubles which
+are more or less frequent, such as varicose veins in the legs caused
+by pressure of the uterus on the veins.
+
+But all the sufferings of pregnancy and childbirth are compensated for
+by the ardent desire of the normal woman to have a child, and by the
+happiness of hearing its first cry. Proud and happy to give life to a
+new human being, which she hopes soon to suckle and carry in her arms,
+she cheerfully bears all the inconveniences and pains of pregnancy and
+childbirth. The latter is actually painful, for in spite of all that
+nature does to relax the pelvis and render it elastic, to dilate the
+neck of the womb, the vagina and the vulva, the passage of the
+enormous head of a human infant through all these relatively narrow
+apertures is extremely difficult (Figs. 22 and 23). The passage is
+forced by the powerful contractions of the muscles of the womb.
+However, they do not always succeed by themselves, and in this case
+the accoucheur is obliged to apply the forceps to extract the head of
+the child. Very often the neck of the womb, the vagina or the perineum
+(the part situated between the anus and the vulva) become torn during
+labor, and this may lead later on to disorders such as prolapse of the
+womb, etc.; disorders which may last through life.
+
+When the child is born, the umbilical cord (that is the transformed
+allantois, Fig. 23) cut, and the placenta extracted, the connecting
+nutrition and respiration between the child and its mother are
+suddenly interrupted. Nourished hitherto by its mother's blood through
+the placenta and the vessels of the umbilical cord which supplied the
+necessary oxygen, the infant is suddenly obliged to breathe and feed
+for itself. Its lungs, hitherto inactive, expand instantaneously under
+the nervous influence produced by the blood saturated with carbonic
+acid, and the first cry is produced. Thus commences individual
+respiration. Several hours later the cessation of maternal nutrition
+causes hunger, and this the reflex movements of suction, and the child
+takes the breast. During this time the empty womb contracts strongly
+and retracts enormously in a few days. The increase of blood produced
+by the maternal organism, by its adaptation to the nutrition of the
+embryo, is then employed in the production of milk in the breasts or
+lactiferous glands, which were already well developed during
+pregnancy.
+
+=Suckling. Maternity.=--The mother is instinctively disposed to suckle
+her child as the infant is to suck. At the end of four to six weeks,
+the womb has almost completely regained its former size.
+
+In savage races suckling at the breast lasts for two years or more. It
+is useless to mention here to what point the capacity for suckling and
+the production of milk have diminished among the modern women of
+civilized countries. This sad sign of degeneration is due to a large
+extent, as _Bunge_ has shown by careful statistics, to the habit of
+taking alcoholic drinks, and is combined with other blastophthoric
+degenerations due to hereditary alcoholism. The future will show
+whether the artificial feeding of infants with cows' milk will benefit
+humanity. In any case it allows infants to survive who would die
+without it. On the other hand the development of a degeneration can
+hardly be an advantage for the species and we should hope for a return
+to the natural rule by abstinence from all alcoholic drinks.
+
+The false modesty of women concerning their pregnancy and everything
+that concerns childbirth, the pleasantries often made with regard to
+pregnant women are a sad sign of the degeneration and even corruption
+of our refined civilization. Pregnant women ought not to hide
+themselves, or to be ashamed to carry a child in their womb; on the
+contrary they should be proud. Such pride would certainly be much more
+justified than that of the fine officers parading in their uniforms.
+The external signs of the formation of humanity are more honorable to
+their bearers than the symbols of destruction, and woman should become
+imbued more and more with this truth! They will then cease to hide
+their pregnancy and to be ashamed of it. Conscious of the grandeur of
+their sexual and social duty they will raise aloft the standard of
+our descent, which is that of the true future life of man, at the same
+time striving for the emancipation of their sex. Viewed in this way,
+the sexual role of woman becomes elevated and solemn. Man should less
+and less maintain his indifference towards the social miseries to
+which the slavery of woman has led, which has lasted thousands of
+years and which has dishonored the highest functions of her sex, by
+abuses without number.
+
+The hygiene of pregnancy, labor and its sequels, is of the highest
+importance. It certainly should not consist in exaggerated care and
+precaution, for in spoiling and softening women by inaction more harm
+than good is done. On the other hand, the social cruelty which
+neglects poor women of the people in confinement, often even without
+giving them sufficient nourishment, is revolting, and it is here
+especially that the reform of social hygiene becomes an elementary
+necessity for humanity.
+
+All that we have just spoken of binds the woman for months or years to
+each of her children, and we can understand that her whole soul is
+adapted in consequence to maternity. Even when birth has detached the
+child from the maternal body, it remains attached to its mother by a
+hundred bonds, not only during the period of suckling, but long
+afterward when the conventions do not violate natural laws. Little
+children are deeply attached to their mother, and while the father is
+impatient with their cries and the embarrassment which they cause, the
+mother takes a natural delight in them. When pregnancies succeed each
+other at reasonable intervals of one or two years, the normal woman
+lives with her children for many years in intimacy which never
+entirely ceases in a family animated by human and social sentiments.
+
+In normal circumstances the special bonds which unite the mother to
+her children last for life, while the father, if all goes well,
+becomes simply the best friend of his growing children. It is time
+that fathers began to recognize these natural laws, instead of
+clinging so tenaciously to the historic and artificial prestige of a
+worm-eaten and unnatural patriarchal authority. No doubt there are
+many pathological and degenerate mothers, but such an anomaly only
+proves the rule that we have just laid down.
+
+=Correlative Sexual Characters.=--The correlative sexual characters,
+which we have previously spoken of in animals, are well known in man.
+Man is in the average larger, broader in the shoulders and more
+robust; his skeleton is more solid but his pelvis narrower. At the age
+of puberty, from 16 to 20 years, the beard grows on the face, while in
+the pubic region hair develops in both sexes. At the same time the
+testicles and external genital organs enlarge. The sexual glands as
+well as the external genital organs have remained so far in an
+embryonic state although the mechanism of erection is already
+established in young boys. But this mechanism, in the normal boy, is
+not associated with any voluptuous sensation or any glandular
+secretion.
+
+Man possesses the rudiments of the correlative sexual characters of
+woman, such as nipples without lactiferous glands, etc. In a general
+way each part of the external genital organs of one sex has its
+corresponding embryonic homologue in the other, which is explained by
+the different transformations which were originally the same in the
+embryo. The clitoris of woman corresponds to the penis of man, the
+labia majora to the scrotum, etc. In certain individuals these
+rudiments are more strongly developed, and may by exaggeration and
+transition lead to pathological hermaphrodism (Chapter I); such are
+bearded women, and those possessing a large clitoris, or beardless men
+with effeminate bodies and small sexual organs. Such cases are not
+examples of hermaphrodism, but of incomplete embryological
+differentiation. They consist in certain correlative sexual characters
+which show a tendency toward the other sex, a tendency which we find,
+from the mental point of view, in homosexuals.
+
+There is also to be noticed the "breaking" of the voice which occurs
+in man at the age of puberty, and is connected with the nervous
+system.
+
+In women the body is smaller and more delicate, the bones weaker, the
+pelvis wider and the chest narrower. The normal woman has no beard
+while the pubic hairs are the same as in man. The pubis, covered with
+a layer of fat, is slightly prominent in women and is called the _mons
+Veneris_. There is more fat under the skin in a woman's body, and the
+voice does not break. After puberty breasts develop with their
+lactiferous glands and nipples for suction. Puberty takes place a
+little earlier in women than in men, and corresponds to the growth of
+the internal and external sexual organs, at the same time that the
+ovules commence to mature and menstruation is established.
+
+The mental correlative sexual characters are much more important than
+those of the body. The psychology of man is different from that of
+woman. Many books have been written on this subject, usually with more
+sentimentality than exactitude. Mysogynists, like the philosopher
+_Schopenhauer_, disparage woman from all points of view, while the
+friends of the female sex often exalt her in an exaggerated manner. In
+contemporary literature we see women authors judging man in quite
+different ways according as they are affected with "misandery" or
+"philandery"--that is enemies or friends of men. Quite recently
+_Moebius_ has published a mysogynistic work on the "Physiological
+Imbecility of Woman." (_Der physiologische Schwachsinn des Weibes_).
+One must be a misogynist of very high degree to introduce the
+pathological notion of imbecility into the evolution of the normal
+mentality of woman. In reality, the individual differences are much
+greater in man and woman from the psychological than from the physical
+point of view, so that they render a definition of the average
+extremely difficult.
+
+We are acquainted with bearded women, athletic women, as well as
+beardless men and puny men. From the mental point of view, there are
+also viragos and men with feminine instincts. Imbeciles are not
+wanting in both sexes, but no reasonable person will deny that an
+intelligent woman is superior to a narrow-minded man even from the
+purely intellectual point of view. In spite of these difficulties, I
+shall attempt to bring forward the principal points which distinguish,
+in a general way, the masculine mind from the feminine, relying on my
+own observations and especially on the mental phenomena of both
+sexes.
+
+=The Weight of the Brain.=--According to statistics, the weight of the
+brain in men of our race is on the average 1350 grammes, while that of
+women averages 1200 grammes. The absolute weight is, however, not of
+much importance, because part of the cerebral substance in the larger
+animals is only for the supply of a greater number of cellular
+elements of the rest of the body, which necessitates a greater number
+of nervous elements.
+
+To make the matter clear, it is necessary to separate the weight of
+the cerebral hemispheres from the other nervous centers, such as the
+cerebellum, corpora striata, the optic thalami, the mid-brain, the
+pons Varolii, the medulla oblongata and the spinal cord, for these
+centers constitute parts which are phylogenetically older, that is to
+say, inherited from lower animal ancestors. Compared with the cerebral
+hemispheres, these nerve centers are relatively more important in
+other vertebrates than in man, and are in more constant proportion to
+the size of the body, the muscular, glandular and sensory elements of
+which they supply. When the intelligence is about the same, they are,
+therefore, compared with the cerebral hemispheres, much more developed
+in the larger than in the smaller animals. For example, they are very
+large in the ox, but small in mice. I have weighed a considerable
+number of human brains separated in this way with the following
+results:
+
+  CEREBRAL HEMISPHERES         OTHER CEREBRAL CENTERS
+  Man 1060 grammes,  78.5%   |   290 grammes, 21.5%
+  Woman 955 grammes, 77.9%   |   270 grammes, 22.1%
+
+Thus the cerebellum and basal ganglia are a little smaller in men than
+in women, compared with the cerebral hemispheres.
+
+These figures appear to show that the cerebral hemispheres in woman
+are on the average a little smaller than in man, even proportionately
+to the stature; for, according to a general law in the animal kingdom,
+woman being smaller, her cerebral hemispheres should be, with equal
+mentality, proportionately a little larger. There are, however, female
+brains larger than many male brains, and the absolute and relative
+size of the cerebral hemispheres does not give a complete measure of
+the productive faculties. Remarkable men have been known to possess
+rather small brains and imbeciles heavy ones. We must not forget the
+great importance of the hereditary or engraphic predispositions of the
+nerve element or _neurone_, to certain activities and especially to
+work in general, that is to say, their aptitude to produce energy, or
+if one prefers it, their disposition to "will."
+
+It is also interesting to consider the relationship of the frontal
+lobe to the rest of the cerebral hemispheres, the frontal lobe being
+without doubt the principal seat of intellectual activity. According
+to _Meynert_, the weight of the frontal lobe in man exceeds that of
+woman, not only absolutely, but relatively to the rest of the brain.
+In his _resume_ of the statistical data collected on this subject and
+from the results of my own material (autopsies at the asylum of
+Burgholzli in Zurich), _Mercier_ has confirmed the opinion of
+_Meynert_. The average weight of the hemispheres separated from the
+rest of the brain is 1019 grammes in man (frontal lobe 428, the rest
+591), and 930 in woman (frontal lobe 384, rest 546). Here, atrophied
+brains (except general paralytics) have been weighed with others,
+which lowers the average total weight without altering the proportion.
+Thus, the rest of the cerebral hemispheres exceeds the frontal lobe by
+163 grammes in man and 162 grammes in woman, which means that in man
+the frontal lobe constitutes 42 per cent. of the cerebral hemispheres
+and in woman 41.3 per cent. The difference is not great, but it is
+definite, for it is based on a large number of observations.
+
+=Mental Capacity of the Two Sexes.=--The fundamental difference
+between the psychology of woman and that of man is constituted by the
+irradiations of the sexual sphere in the cerebral hemispheres, which
+constitute what may be called _sexual mentality_. We shall discuss
+this in the following chapters, for it constitutes the foundation of
+our subject. We are only concerned here with the correlative
+differences.
+
+Adhering in a general way to the main definitions of psychology, we
+assert that from the purely intellectual point of view, man
+considerably excels woman in his creative imagination, his faculty for
+combination and discovery, and by his critical mind. For a long time
+this was said to be explained by the statement that women had not the
+opportunity of measuring their intelligence against that of men; but,
+thanks to the modern movement of the emancipation of women, this
+assertion becomes more and more untenable. It is so with regard to
+artistic creations, for women have at all times taken part in works of
+art. When certain people maintain that a few generations of activity
+suffice to elevate the intellectual development of women, they
+confound the results of education with those of heredity and phylogeny
+(vide Chapter II). Education is a purely individual matter and only
+requires one generation to produce its results. But neither mnemic
+engraphia, nor even selection can modify hereditary energies in two or
+three generations. Tied down hitherto partly by servitude, the mental
+faculties of woman will doubtless rise and flourish in all their
+natural power as soon as they are absolutely free to develop in
+society equally with those of men, by the aid of equal rights. But
+what does not exist in the hereditary mneme, that is to say in the
+energies of germs, inherited through thousands or millions of years,
+cannot be created in a few generations. The specific characters and
+consequently the sexual characters have quite another constancy than
+is believed by the superficial prattlers, who deafen us with their
+jargon on a question of which they only grasp the surface. There is no
+excuse, at the present day, for confounding hereditary correlative
+sexual characters with the individual results of education. The latter
+are acquired by habit and can only be inherited as such by an
+infinitesimal engraphia, possibly after hundreds of generations.
+
+On the other hand woman possesses, from the intellectual point of
+view, a faculty of reception and comprehension as well as a facility
+of reproduction which are almost equal to those of man. In higher
+education at the universities the women I have had the opportunity of
+observing at Zurich for many years, show a more equal level than that
+of the men. The most intelligent men reproduce best and the most
+stupid men reproduce worse than the corresponding female extremes. I
+do not think one can say much more concerning the purely intellectual
+domain.
+
+Artistic production confirms this opinion. Woman is here on the
+average much inferior as regards creation or production, properly so
+called, and even her best results are wanting in originality and do
+not open up new paths. On the contrary, as virtuosos, women compare
+well with men in simply reproductive art. There are, however,
+exceptional women whose productions are original, creative and
+independent. The philosopher _Stuart Mill_ points out the intuitive
+gift of woman who, led by her individual observations, rapidly and
+clearly discovers a general truth, and applies it in particular cases,
+without troubling with abstract theories. This may be called the
+intuitive or subconscious judgment of woman.
+
+In the domain of sentiment the two sexes differ very much from each
+other, but we cannot say that one surpasses the other. Both are
+passionate, but in different ways. The passions of man are coarser and
+less durable, and are only more elevated when associated with more
+original and more complex intellectual aims. In woman sentiment is
+more delicate and more finely shaded esthetically and morally; it is
+also more durable, at least on the average, although its objects are
+often of a mean and banal nature.
+
+When man compares himself with woman he usually identifies himself,
+more or less unconsciously, with the highest male intellects, with the
+men of genius in art and science, and complaisantly ignores the crowd
+of idiots of his own sex! In the life of sentiment the two sexes may
+complement each other admirably; while man raises the height of the
+ideal and of objects to be attained, woman has the necessary tact to
+soften and refine the tones, and to adapt their shades to each special
+situation, by the aid of her natural intuition, where man risks
+spoiling everything by the violence of his passions and his efforts.
+This reciprocal influence should conduce to the best and highest
+harmony of sentiments in a happy sexual combination.
+
+As regards will power, woman is, in my opinion, on the average
+superior to man. It is in this psychological domain more than in any
+other, that she will always triumph. This is generally misunderstood,
+because men have so far apparently held the scepter of an unlimited
+omnipotence; because by the abuse of brute force, aided by superiority
+of inventive genius, humanity has been hitherto led by strong
+masculine wills, and because the strongest feminine wills have been
+dominated by the law of the right of the stronger. But the
+unprejudiced observer is soon obliged to recognize that the directive
+will of the family is only, in general, represented externally by the
+master. Man parades his authority much more often than he puts it into
+practice; he lacks the perseverance, tenacity and elasticity which
+constitute the true power of will, and which are peculiar to woman. It
+is needless to say that I am only speaking of the average and that
+there are many women whose will power is feeble. But these easily
+become the prey of prostitution, which causes their disappearance.
+This is perhaps one of the causes which have strengthened by selection
+the will power in women. Man is impulsive and violent as regards his
+will power, but often inconstant and irresolute, yielding as soon as
+he has to strive persistently for a certain object. From these facts
+it naturally results that, on the average, it is the man in the family
+who provides the ideas and impulses, but the woman who, with the
+finesse of her tact and perseverance, instinctively makes the
+distinction between the useful and the harmful, utilizing the former
+and constantly combating the latter; not because she is fundamentally
+superior, but because she is more capable of dominating herself, which
+proves the superiority of her will power.
+
+Nothing is more unjust than to disparage one sex relatively to the
+other. The parthenogenesis of the lower animals having ceased in the
+vertebrates, each sex is indispensable, not only to the preservation
+of species, but also to each conception or reproduction of the
+individual. Both are thus equivalent and belong to each other as the
+two halves of a whole, one being incapable of resisting without the
+other. Everything which benefits one of the halves benefits the other.
+If by the magic wand of a fairy, the male half or the female half of
+our humanity, such as it is to-day, was rendered capable and obliged
+to reproduce alone, men would soon degenerate owing to the weakness of
+their will combined with their sensual passions, and women from their
+incapacity to raise their intellectual level by means of creative
+ideas.
+
+We need not dwell here on the numerous psychological peculiarities of
+woman, inherent in her capacity as mother, nor on those of man
+adapted to his muscular strength and to his capacity as protector of
+the family. These are derived from sexual differences which are
+mentioned in Chapter V. Nor need we describe correlative differences
+of less importance which are well known and which arise from those of
+which we have spoken or from direct sexual differences. They can be
+observed, on the one hand, in purely male reunions in saloons, smoking
+rooms and other similar places; on the other hand, in feminine circles
+of all classes, among the common people, among the fashionable, or
+even in philanthropic associations. On the average, woman is more
+artful and more modest; man coarser and more cynical, etc. After much
+personal experience, gained in societies in which the two sexes
+possess the same rights and are admitted to the same titles, I am
+obliged to declare that I have never found any confirmation (at least
+in the German-Swiss country) of the popular saying that gossip and
+intrigue are the special appanage of woman. I have found these two
+vices quite as often in man.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE SEXUAL APPETITE
+
+
+If we sum up the three preceding chapters we arrive at the
+philosophical conclusion that reproduction depends on the general
+natural tendency of all living beings to multiply indefinitely.
+Fission and sexual reproduction arise from the simple fact that the
+growth of each individual is necessarily limited in space as well as
+time. Reproduction is thus destined to assure the continuation of
+life; the individual dies but is perpetuated in his progeny. We do not
+know why the crossing of individuals is rendered necessary by the
+phenomenon of conjugation. On this subject we can only build
+hypotheses, but the study of nature shows us that where conjugation
+ceases reproduction is etiolated and finally disappears, even when it
+is still possible for a certain time.
+
+From the commencement of life there is thus a powerful law of
+attraction with the object of reproduction. At first there are
+unicellular organisms, in which one cell penetrates the other in the
+act of conjugation. Their substances combine intimately, while the
+molecules of each nucleus become so arranged as to give the new
+individual a more fresh and powerful energy of growth.
+
+In the lower multicellular plants and animals which bud, fresh buds
+live at the expense of the old trunk to give life to new branches, and
+the male cells or pollen fecundate the female cells so as to disperse
+the germs capable of growth and of thus reproducing the species. It is
+also the same in the madrepores and other agglomerated animals (such
+as the solitary worms), composed of parameres or metameres, so long as
+a single central nervous system does not coordinate the metameres, or
+primary agglutinated animals, into a single organism.
+
+In the higher animals, the complex polycellular individuals formed by
+the agglomeration of several primitive animals, are transformed into a
+higher and mobile unity by the aid of the great vital apparatus called
+the nervous system, which becomes the mental director of the living
+organism and invests it with its individual character. However, this
+higher unity of life, which always becomes more psychic, that is to
+say, at the same time intellectual, sentimental and voluntary, by its
+complication and its numerous relations with other individuals, this
+unity called the _central nervous system_ cannot do without the
+necessity for reproduction. In animal phylogeny, as soon as
+hermaphrodism has ceased and each individual has become the sole
+bearer of one of the two kinds of sexual cells, the species will
+eventually disappear if the male cells cannot reach the female cells
+by the active movement of the whole individual. Thus is produced the
+marvelous phenomenon of the desire of increase and reproduction,
+originally peculiar to the male cell, penetrating the nervous system,
+that is to say life and soul in its entirety, the life of the higher
+unity of the individual. An ardent desire, a powerful impulse thus
+arises in the nervous system at the time of puberty and attracts the
+individual toward the opposite sex. The care and the pleasure of self
+preservation, which had hitherto fully occupied his attention, become
+effaced by this new impulse. The desire to procreate dominates
+everything. A single pleasure, a single desire, a single passion lays
+hold of the organism and urges it toward the individual of the
+opposite sex, and to become united with it in intimate contact and
+penetration. It is as if the nervous system or the whole organism felt
+as if it had for the moment become a germinal cell, so powerful is the
+desire to unite with the other sex.
+
+In some beautiful verses the German poet-philosopher _Goethe_
+(West-Oestlicher Divan, book VIII, "Suleika") describes the desire to
+procreate (p. 63):
+
+    Und mit eiligem Bestreben
+    Sucht sich, was sich angehoert,
+    Und zu ungemessnem Leben
+    Ist Gefuehl und Blick gekehrt.
+    Sei's ergreifen, sei es raffen,
+    Wenn es nur sich fasst und haelt!
+    Allah braucht nicht mehr zu schaffen,
+    Wir erschaffen seine Welt!
+
+If we look at nature we see everywhere the same desire and the same
+attraction of the sexes for each other; the bird which warbles, the
+mammal which ruts, the insect which hums while pursuing the female
+with implacable tenacity, at the risk of their own life, employing
+sometimes cunning, sometimes dexterity, and sometimes force to attain
+their object. The ardor of the female is not always much less, but she
+uses coquetry, pretending to resist, and simulates repulsion. The more
+eager the male, the more coquettish is the female. If we observe the
+amorous sport of butterflies and birds, we see what efforts it costs
+the male to attain his object. On the other hand when the male is
+clumsy and slow the female often comes toward him or at any rate does
+not resist him, for instance in certain ants the males of which are
+wingless while the females have wings. The final act always consists
+in intimate union at the moment of copulation.
+
+In some animals Nature is prodigal in the means she employs to pursue
+her great object, reproduction, by aid of the sexual appetite. The
+apiary raises hundreds of male bees. As soon as the single queen-bee
+takes wing for its nuptial flight all the males follow, but a single
+male only, the strongest and most nimble, succeeds in reaching her. In
+the intoxication of copulation he abandons all his genital organs to
+the body of the queen and dies. The other males, now useless, are all
+massacred in autumn by the working bees.
+
+Sexual connection among butterflies of the Bombyx family is no less
+marvelous. They live for months as caterpillars and sometimes for two
+years as chrysalids, hibernating in a cocoon in some corner of the
+earth or in the bark of trees. Finally the butterfly, brilliantly
+colored, emerges from the cocoon and spreads its wings. It only
+possesses, however, a rudimentary intestinal canal for the short life
+which remains, for it does not require much nourishment and is only
+devoted to sexual connection. The female remains quiet and waits. The
+male, furnished with large antennae which perceive the odor of the
+female at a distance of several kilometers, commences an infatuated
+flight through the woods and fields, as soon as his wings are
+sufficiently strong. His sole object is to reach the female. Here
+again there are numerous competitors. The one who arrives first
+possesses the female, but expires shortly afterward. His competitors
+die also, exhausted by their long flight and by starvation, but
+without having attained their object. After copulation, the female
+searches for the green plants which will ensure a long caterpillar
+life for her offspring. There she deposits her fecundated eggs in
+considerable numbers and then expires in her turn, like a faded flower
+which has fulfilled the object of its existence and falls after
+leaving the fruit in its place.
+
+The French naturalist _Fabre_ has described these phenomena, relying
+on conclusive experiments, and my own observations and those of other
+naturalists confirm them fully. Among the ants, all the males die
+also, soon after an aerial nuptial flight, in which copulation is
+generally polyandrous, one male hardly waiting for the preceding one
+to discharge his semen before taking his place. Here the female
+possesses a receptacle for semen which often contains the sperm of
+many males, and which allows it to fecundate the eggs one after
+another for several years as she lays them, and thus to act as the
+mother of an ant's nest during a period which may extend to eleven or
+twelve years, or even more.
+
+In the lower organisms, love consists only in sexual instinct or
+appetite. As soon as the function is accomplished love disappears. It
+is only in the higher animals that we see a more or less durable
+sympathy develop between the two sexes. However, here also and even in
+man the sexual passion intoxicates for the moment all the senses. In
+his sexual rut even man is dominated as by a magic influence, and for
+the time he sees the world only under the aspect inspired by this
+influence. The object loved appears to him under celestial colors,
+which veil all the defects and miseries of reality. Each moment of his
+amorous feeling inspires sentiments which it seems to him should last
+eternally. He swears impossible things and believes in immortal
+happiness. A reciprocal illusion transforms life momentarily into
+mirages of paradise. The most common things, and even certain things
+which usually disgust him, are then the object of the most violent
+desire. But, as soon as the orgasm is ended and the appetite satisfied
+the feeling of satiety appears. A curtain falls on the scene, and, at
+least for the moment, repose and reality reappear.
+
+Such are, in a few words, the general phenomena of the normal sexual
+appetite among sexual organisms in the whole of living nature. I am
+not speaking here of degenerations, such as onanism and prostitution.
+Let us now analyze this appetite further.
+
+The natural appetites are inherited instincts the roots of which lie
+far back in the phylogenetic history of our ancestors. Hunger forms
+the basis for the preservation of the individual, the sexual appetite
+that for the preservation of the species, as soon as reproduction
+takes place by separate sexes. All appetite belongs to the motor side
+of nervous activity; there is something internal which urges us to an
+act, but, on the other hand, one or more sensations may exist at the
+base of this something to put it in action. I have proved, for
+example, that the egg-laying instinct in the corpse fly (_Lucilia
+caesar_) is only produced by the odor of putrefaction. As soon as the
+antennae, which contain the organ of smell, are removed from these
+flies they cease to lay, while other more severe operations, or
+removal of one antenna only does not produce this result.
+
+The mechanism of appetites is thus a lower mechanism and has its seat
+in the primitive nervous centers. As _Yersin_ has proved, a cricket
+deprived of its brain may copulate so long as the sensory irritations
+can reach the sexual nervous centers.
+
+We can thus say that the mechanism of appetites belongs to automatic
+actions deeply inherited by phylogeny. Although complicated and
+composed of coordinated reflex movements which follow one another in
+regular succession, it has no actual power of modifying the so-called
+voluntary acts, which depend entirely on the cerebral hemispheres, and
+of which we men only have a conscious feeling. The appetites are not
+capable of adapting themselves to new circumstances and cease to be
+produced when the chain is interrupted. We are obliged to admit that
+the instincts or appetites are accompanied by a sub-conscious
+introspection which, as such, can hardly enter into direct relation
+with our higher consciousness, that is, with our ordinary
+consciousness in the waking state.
+
+In spite of this, when their intensity increases, the appetites
+overcoming the central nervous resistances, reach the cerebral
+hemispheres, and consequently our introspection or higher
+consciousness, under a _synthetic or unified appearance_, and
+influence in a high degree the cerebral activities, which are
+reflected in association with all the elements of what we call our
+mind in the proper sense of the term, that is to say, our intellect,
+sentiments and will. It is from this point of view that sexual
+appetite must be considered in order to make it comprehensible. Love,
+with all that appertains to it, belongs as such to our mind, that is,
+to the activity of our cerebral hemispheres, but it is produced there
+by a secondary irradiation from the sexual appetite, which alone
+concerns us at present. We may also remark that sexual ideas when once
+awakened in the cerebral hemispheres by sexual appetite, are worked up
+there by the attention, that is to say by concentrated cerebral
+activity, then associated with other ideas, which on their side react
+strongly on the sexual appetite, developing or paralyzing it,
+attracting or repelling it, or finally transforming its attributes and
+objects.
+
+By sexual desire (libido sexualis) we mean the manner in which the
+sexual appetite manifests itself in man. Each term may be employed for
+the other.
+
+=The Sexual Appetite in Man.=--Man represents the active element in
+sexual union, and in him the sexual appetite, or desire for coitus, is
+at first the stronger. This desire develops spontaneously, and the
+role of fecundator represents the principal male activity. This
+appetite powerfully affects the male mind, although sexual life plays
+a less important part in him than in the female.
+
+In boys, the sexual appetite is often prematurely awakened, excited in
+unnatural ways by bad example. Moreover, it varies enormously in
+different individuals, a point to which we shall return when dealing
+with pathology. Leaving aside unnatural appetites and abnormal forms
+of sexual instinct we shall describe here its most spontaneous and
+normal form.
+
+=Puberty. Awakening of the Sexual Instinct in Boys.=--Sooner or later
+in different individuals, the boy pays attention to his erections,
+which are at first produced in a reflex and involuntary manner.
+Mental development and reflection, so precocious in man, are causes
+which draw attention to the differences of the sexes before the sexual
+appetite is developed. It is, however, the first signs of this
+appetite which concentrate the attention on these differences, for in
+their absence, the boy is more indifferent to them than to the
+straight or crooked form of a nose. Man has the habit of passing by
+without notice anything which does not interest him, and this is why
+we find, in individuals whose sexual appetite is developed late or
+feebly, an indifference and ignorance in these matters which appear
+almost incredible to those whose sexual appetite is precocious and
+violent; while, on the contrary, the lively interest which the latter
+show in everything concerning the sexes appears foolish and absurd to
+the sexually indifferent.
+
+The pairing of animals, even of insects, awakens a curious interest in
+those whose sexual dispositions are strong and precocious; they
+comprehend very quickly the reason and are led to draw analogies with
+their own sensations in the same domain. The aspect of the female sex
+has, however, a much stronger action still on the normal man. But here
+is produced a peculiar phenomenon. What especially excites the boy in
+the aspect of the female sex is anything unusual; the sight of certain
+parts of the skin which are normally covered, the clothes or
+ornaments, particular odors, women whom the boy is not accustomed to
+see, etc. It is for this reason that brothers and sisters do not
+excite, or excite very little, their reciprocal sexual appetite, at
+least if there are no anomalies or exceptional exhibitions. The sexual
+appetites of boys among savage peoples who live naked is hardly at all
+excited by naked girls; on the other hand, it is strongly excited by
+those who are clothed or ornamented in a peculiar manner. The sexual
+appetite of a Mahometan is strongly excited by the nudity of the
+feminine face, that of the European by that of a woman's legs, because
+women are accustomed to veil their faces in the first case and their
+legs in the second. These are naturally only relative differences.
+When the sexual appetite of man is violent and unsatisfied woman
+excites it in a general way, if she is not too old or repulsive.
+
+A second important character of the normal sexual appetite is the
+special attraction that appearances of health and strength in woman
+produce in man. Healthy forms, normal odors, a normal voice, a skin
+healthy in appearance and to the touch, constitute attractions which
+charm and excite man, while all that is unhealthy or faded, every
+pathological odor, produce a repulsive effect and hinders or
+diminishes sexual desire.
+
+Everything connected with the sexual organs, their appearance, touch
+and odor, tend to excite the sexual appetite, all the more when they
+are usually covered; it is the same with the breasts.
+
+The first sexual sensations are of a quite indeterminate nature;
+something unconscious and obscure inclines the boy toward the female
+sex and makes it appear desirable. A boy may thus become enamored of
+the portrait of a woman with a swelling bosom and alluring eyes and be
+seized with desire, either at their sight or only on remembrance. This
+desire is not concentrated especially on the sexual act, as with an
+adult who is already experienced in these matters; it is more
+generalized and vague, although sensual.
+
+For a long time, these repeated aspirations, impulses and desires,
+remain unsatisfied. In different individuals the imagination
+associates the most diverse images with such manifestations of the
+sexual appetite. The objects of the latter appear in dreams and
+provoke nocturnal erections. The boy soon remarks a sensory
+localization of his appetites in his sexual organs, especially in the
+glans penis, but also in the surrounding parts, and the known or only
+vaguely defined image of the female sexual organs, which is hardly
+present at the first appearance of his desires, begin to excite him
+more and more.
+
+In natural or savage man, as well as in animals, the boy then makes
+attempts at coitus and soon attains his object, for, in the state of
+nature, man marries as soon as puberty is attained.
+
+=Nocturnal Emissions.=--In civilized man such difficulties are opposed
+to marriage, that he replaces it by prostitution, or by more or less
+unnatural means, as soon as his sexual appetite becomes strong. In
+those who abstain, the images produced by sexual excitation, combined
+with erections, act more strongly during sleep than waking and
+produce ejaculations of semen called nocturnal emissions or
+pollutions. These generally occur during erotic dreams, and as the
+dreams produce the illusion of real perception, in quality as well as
+in intensity, it is not surprising that they are followed by an orgasm
+and ejaculation of semen.
+
+=Masturbation.=--In the waking state the unsatisfied sexual appetite
+may produce such excitation that the boy applies friction to the glans
+penis, which cause voluptuous sensations. As soon as he has made this
+discovery he repeats the act and provokes ejaculation of semen
+artificially. Thus arises the bad habit of masturbation or onanism, a
+habit which is both depressing and exhausting, which takes an
+increasing hold on those who practice it. Although from the purely
+mechanical point of view masturbation causes a more normal ejaculation
+than nocturnal emissions, which are often interrupted by awakening and
+the vanishing of the dream which produced them, it has a much more
+harmful effect, by its frequency and especially by its depressing
+action on sentiment and will. We shall return to this subject in
+Chapter VIII.
+
+The accumulation of semen in the seminal vesicles strongly excites the
+sexual appetite of man, and he is momentarily satisfied by their
+evacuation. But we shall soon see that this purely organic or
+mechanical excitation, which seems at first to be only adapted for
+natural wants, does not in man play the principal role. We can easily
+understand that it cannot be the principal moving power of the sexual
+act. In fact, for any of the animals in which copulation occurs, the
+possibility of accomplishing this is not connected solely with the
+accumulation of semen, for it depends on obtaining a female. It is
+necessary, therefore, for the accumulated semen to wait, and for the
+perception of the female by the aid of the senses to excite the male
+to coitus.
+
+=External Signs of the Sexual Appetite.=--Like every other desire the
+sexual appetite betrays itself by the physionomy. This consists in the
+play of cerebral activity, that is the thoughts, sentiments and
+resolutions, on the muscles by means of motor nerves and nerve
+centers. It is not limited to the face but extends to the whole body.
+The abdomen, the hands and even the feet have their physionomy; that
+of the muscles of the face and eyes is, however, the most active and
+most expressive. Sexual desire betrays itself in looks, by the
+expression of the face and by certain movements in the presence of the
+female sex. Men differ greatly in the way in which they betray or hide
+their sentiments and thoughts by the play of their muscles, so that
+the inner self is not always reflected without. Moreover, the
+expression of sexual desire by the play of the physionomy may be
+confounded with that of other sentiments, so that one who appears
+libidinous is not always so in reality, and inversely.
+
+=Continence in Man.=--Abstinence or sexual continence is by no means
+impracticable for a normal young man of average constitution,
+assiduous in intellectual and physical work, abstaining from all
+artificial excitations, especially from all narcotics and alcohol in
+particular, for these substances paralyze the judgment and will. When
+sexual maturity is complete, that is after about twenty years,
+continence is usually facilitated by nocturnal emissions accompanied
+by corresponding dreams. The health does not suffer from these in any
+way. However, in the long run this state cannot be considered as
+normal, especially when there is no hope of it coming to an end in a
+reasonable time. What is much more abnormal are the numerous
+artificial sexual excitations that civilization brings with it.
+
+=Sexual Power.=--The individual variations in the sexual instinct are
+enormous, and may be said to vary from zero to an intense and
+perpetual excitation called _Satyriasis_. By sexual power is
+understood the faculty of accomplishing coitus. This power in the
+first place requires strong and complete erections, as well as the
+faculty of following them by frequent seminal ejaculations, without
+being precipitate. Impotence or incapacity for coitus belongs to
+pathology and consists usually in the absence or defectiveness of
+erections. Sexual power and appetite generally go together, but not
+always, for it is possible to be powerful with feeble sexual appetite,
+and intense appetite sometimes goes with impotence; the latter
+condition, it is true, is pathological. Sexual power also varies so
+much in individuals that it is hardly possible to fix a limit between
+the normal and the pathological.
+
+The sexual power and appetite in man are strongest on the average
+between 20 and 40 years, especially between 25 and 35. But, while
+young men of 18 to 20 years or more may be still tranquil, without
+having had seminal ejaculations, one often finds, among races who
+mature earlier, boys of 12 or 16 who are fully developed both in
+sexual power and appetite. In our Aryan races, however, when this
+occurs before the age of 14, it is a case of pathological precocity.
+The late appearance of sexual power and appetite is rather a sign of
+strength and health.
+
+After the age of 40, the sexual power slowly diminishes, and after the
+seventieth year, or even before this, becomes extinct. Exceptionally
+one finds old men of 80 who are still capable. Normally the sexual
+appetite diminishes with age; often, however, especially when it is
+artificially excited, it lasts longer than sexual power.
+
+As regards sexual power we must distinguish between that of copulation
+and that of fecundation. The power may exist without the latter, when
+the testicles have ceased to functionate, while the other glands, in
+particular the prostate, second the venereal orgasm by their
+secretion, when the power of erection is still preserved. Inversely,
+the testicles may contain healthy spermatozoa in the impotent. In this
+case artificial fecundation by the syringe is practicable.
+
+=Individual Variations in Sexual Power.=--The fact that there are men
+who for several years can copulate several times a day proves to what
+extent sexual power varies in man. Sexual excitation and desire may
+sometimes attain such a degree that they are repeated a few minutes
+after ejaculation. It is not rare for a man to perform coitus ten or
+fifteen times in a single night, in brothels and elsewhere, although
+such excess borders on the domain of pathology. I know a case in which
+coitus was performed thirty times. I was once consulted by an old
+woman of 65 who complained of the insatiable sexual appetite of her
+husband, aged 73! He awakened her every morning at three o'clock to
+have connection, before going to work. Not content with this, he
+repeated the performance every evening and often also after the
+mid-day meal. Inversely, I have seen healthy looking husbands, at the
+age of greatest sexual power, accuse themselves of excess for having
+cohabited with their wives once a month or less. The reformer,
+_Luther_, who was a practical man, laid down the average rule of two
+or three connections a week in marriage, at the time of highest sexual
+power. I may say that my numerous observations as a physician have
+generally confirmed this rule, which seems to me to conform very well
+to the normal state to which man has become gradually adapted during
+thousands of years.
+
+Husbands who would consider this average as an imprescriptible right
+would, however, make wrong pretensions, for it is quite possible for a
+normal man to contain himself much longer, and it is his duty to do
+so, not only when his wife is ill, but also during menstruation and
+pregnancy.
+
+The question of sexual relations during pregnancy is more difficult,
+on account of its long duration. In this case caution is necessary,
+but total abstinence from sexual connection is, in my opinion,
+superfluous.
+
+=The Desire of Change in Man.=--A peculiarity of the sexual appetite
+in man, which is fatal for society, is his desire for change. This
+desire is not only one of the principal causes of polygamy, but also
+of prostitution and other analogous organizations. It arises from the
+want of sexual attraction in what one is accustomed to and from the
+stronger excitation produced by all that is new; a phenomenon of which
+we have spoken above. On the average, woman has a hereditary
+disposition which is much more monogamous than man. The sexual
+appetite thus loses its intensity from the prolonged habit of
+connection with the same woman, but, becomes much more intense with
+other women, if not in all men at any rate in most. Such desires may
+generally be overcome by the aid of a true and noble love, and by
+sentiments of duty and fidelity toward the family and toward a
+respected wife. We cannot, however, deny that they exist, nor that
+they are the cause of the worst excesses, and the most violent scenes,
+often with a tragic result. We shall return to this subject later.
+
+=Excitation and Cooling of the Sexual Appetite.=--Without touching the
+domain of pathology, I must again dwell on the great individual
+diversity of the objects of the male sexual appetite. It is usually
+young but mature female forms of healthy appearance, and especially
+the sight of the nudity of certain parts of the body which are usually
+covered, particularly the breasts and sexual organs, which most
+strongly excite the sexual appetite in man. It is the same with the
+corresponding odors. The voice, the physionomy, the clothing and many
+other details may also provoke his desires. There are, however, men
+who are more excited by thin and pale women.
+
+Certain attributes excite one and not another; for instance, the hair,
+certain odors, certain forms of face, a certain fashion of clothing,
+the form of the breasts, etc. The peculiarities, which are absent in
+women with whom a man has been on familiar terms in his youth are
+generally those which attract the most. In sexual matters contrasts
+tend to mutual attraction. Thin people often become enamored of fat,
+short ones of long ones, and inversely. One cannot, however, fix any
+rules. One often sees young men excited at the sight of women of older
+age, and old men enamored of very young women, even of children. All
+these discrepancies constitute the more important points of origin of
+sexual pathology. In spite of all, there still exist a great number of
+tranquil men with monogamous instincts and not fond of change. Lastly,
+we must not forget that super-abundant feeding and idleness exalt the
+sexual appetite and tend to polygamy, while hard work, especially
+physical, and frugal diet diminish it.
+
+It is needless to say that the mental qualities react powerfully on
+the sexual appetite. A quarrelsome temper, coldness and repulsion on
+the part of a woman cool the desires of the man, while an ardent
+sexual desire on the part of the woman, her love and tenderness, tend
+to increase and maintain them. We are dealing here with purely animal
+sexual instinct, and we may state that the sexual appetite of woman
+generally excites strongly that of man, and considerably increases his
+pleasure during coitus. There are, however, exceptions in the inverse
+sense, in which coldness and disgust on the part of the woman excite
+the passion of certain men, who have, however, no taste for libidinous
+women. All degrees are found in this domain.
+
+Active in the sexual act the man desires corresponding sentiments in
+the woman. But, on the other hand, all want of natural reserve, and
+delicate sentiment, and all cynical sexual provocation on the part of
+a woman, produce in the normal man a repulsive effect. The normal
+woman possesses an admirable instinct in these matters and knows how
+to betray her feelings in a sufficiently fine and delicate manner, so
+as not to hurt those of the man.
+
+A phenomenon, which we shall meet with in Chapter VIII, under the name
+of _psychic impotence_, shows the powerful and disturbing interference
+of thoughts on the automatic action of instinctive sexual activity. A
+momentary psychic impotence is not necessarily pathological. While
+voluptuous sensations alternate during coitus with desire and
+corresponding erotic representations, a sudden idea of the
+ridiculousness of the situation, signs of pain or of bad temper in the
+woman, the idea of impotence or of the real object of coitus; finally,
+anything which acts as a contrast to the sensations and impulses of
+coitus, may interrupt it, so that the voluptuous sensations and sexual
+appetite disappear and erection subsides. Voluntary efforts are often
+incapable of putting things right again. The charm is broken, and only
+new images and new sentiments associated instinctively with the sexual
+appetite can be reestablished, by making the subconscious state
+preponderate over the reasoning consciousness.
+
+=Influence of Modern Civilization. Pornography.=--Human sexuality has
+been unfortunately perverted and in part grossly altered by
+civilization, which has even developed it artificially in a
+pathological sense. The point has been reached of considering as
+normal, relations which are in reality absolutely abnormal. For
+example, it is maintained that prostitution produces normal coitus in
+man. How can this term be seriously employed in speaking of connection
+with a prostitute who is absolutely indifferent to it, and who seeks
+only to excite her clients artificially and to get their money,
+without mentioning venereal diseases which she so often presents them
+with! Forgetful of the natural aim of the sexual appetite,
+civilization has transformed it into artificial enjoyment, and has
+invented all possible means to increase and diversify it.
+
+As far back as the history of civilization goes we see this state of
+affairs, and in this sense we are neither better nor worse than our
+ancestors. But we possess more diverse and more refined measures than
+barbarian peoples, and than our direct ancestors, to satisfy our
+unwholesome desires. Modern art in particular often serves to excite
+eroticism, and we must frankly admit that it often descends to the
+level of pornography. Hypocritical indignation against those who dare
+to say this often serves only to cover in the name of art the most
+indecent excitants of eroticism.
+
+Photography and all the perfected methods of reproduction of pictures,
+the increasing means of travel which facilitate clandestine sexual
+relations, the industrial art which ornaments our apartments, the
+increasing luxury and comfort of dwellings, beds, etc., are, at the
+present day, so many factors in the science of erotic voluptuousness.
+Prostitution itself has become adapted to all the pathological
+excrescences of vice. In a word, the artificial culture of the human
+sexual appetite has given rise to a veritable high school of
+debauchery. The artistic and realistic representations of erotic
+sexual scenes, so widespread at the present day, are much more capable
+of exciting the sexual appetite than the crude and unnatural pictures
+of former days, when, however, erotic objects of art generally
+belonged to a few rich persons or to museums.
+
+=Influence of Repeated Sexual Excitations.=--The artificial and varied
+repetition of sexual excitation, by means of objects which provoke it,
+increases the sexual appetite. This cannot be doubted, for the law of
+exercise is a general truth in the physiology of the nervous system.
+This law, which is also called the law of training, shows that every
+kind of nervous activity is increased by exercise. A man becomes a
+glutton by accustoming himself to eat too much, a good walker by
+exercising his legs. The habit of wearing fine clothes or of washing
+in cold water causes these things to become a necessity. By
+continually occupying ourselves with a certain thing, we take a liking
+for it and often become virtuosos. By always thinking of a disease we
+are led to imagine that we suffer from it. A melody too often repeated
+often becomes automatic and we whistle or hum it unconsciously.
+
+Inversely, inactivity weakens the effect of irritations which
+correspond to it. By neglecting certain activities or the provocation
+of certain sensations, these diminish in intensity, and we cease more
+and more to be affected by them. We become idle when we are inactive,
+for the cerebral resistance accumulates, and idleness renders the
+renewal of the corresponding activity more difficult. It is not
+surprising, therefore, to find this law in the phenomena of the sexual
+appetite, which diminishes with abstinence and increases with repeated
+excitation and satisfaction. However, another force, that of the
+accumulation of semen in the seminal vesicles, associated with an old
+natural inherited instinct, often counteracts the law of exercise of
+the nervous system, as the empty stomach excites the instinct of
+nutrition. But, however imperious the hunger, and however
+indispensable its satisfaction for the maintenance of life, this does
+not impair the truth of the old saying, "Appetite comes by eating."
+
+The exaggerated desire for sleep experienced by idle people is an
+analogous phenomenon. Although sufficient sleep is a necessity for
+healthy and productive cerebral activity, an exaggerated desire for
+sleep may be artificially developed.
+
+These phenomena are of fundamental importance in the question of the
+sexual appetite. Here, the well-known axiom of moderation which says,
+"Abuse does not exclude use" finds its application. An English
+commentator on _Cicero_ erroneously attributes to him the following:
+"True moderation consists in the absolute domination of the passions
+and appetites, as well as all wrong desires, by reason. It exacts
+total abstinence from all things which are not good and which are not
+of an absolutely innocent character." This definition is excellent,
+although it is not _Cicero's_. It excludes, for example, the use of a
+toxic substance such as alcohol, which is not a natural food, but not
+the moderate satisfaction of the sexual appetite which is normally
+intended for the preservation of the species, for this satisfaction
+may be good or bad, normal or vicious, innocent or criminal, according
+to circumstances. In this connection, the application of the right
+measure, and choice of the appropriate object raise delicate and
+complicated questions. So-called moral sermons lead to nothing in this
+domain.
+
+After numerous personal observations made on very diverse individuals
+who have consulted me with regard to sexual questions, I think I can
+affirm that when a man wishes to be loyal to himself he is generally
+able to distinguish between natural desire and artificial excitation
+of the sexual appetite. To be pursued and tormented by sexual images
+and desires, even when striving against them, and when the legitimate
+and normal occasion to satisfy them is absent, is not the same thing
+as to pass the time in inventing means of artificial excitement to
+pleasure and orgy while leading an idle and egoistic life. I speak
+here of the normal man and not of certain pathological states in which
+the sexual appetite takes the character of a perpetual obsession, even
+against the will of the patient. By serious and persevering work and
+by avoiding all means of excitation, the sexual appetite can usually
+be kept within the bounds of moderation.
+
+We have mentioned above pornographic art as one of the means which
+artificially excite the sexual appetite. Along with the interested
+exploitation of the habit of taking alcoholic drinks, exploitation of
+the sexual appetite constitutes one of the largest fields of what may
+be called _social brigandage_. Besides pornographic pictures, the
+principal means employed to artificially excite the sexual weaknesses
+of man are the following:
+
+_Pornographic novels_ in which sexual desire is excited by all the
+artifice of the novelist, and in which the illustrations often rival
+those we have just spoken of to seduce the purchaser.
+
+_Alcohol_ which, by paralyzing the judgment and will as well as moral
+inhibitory sentiments, excites the sexual appetite and renders it
+grossly impulsive. Its first fumes make man enterprising, and he falls
+an easy prey to proxenetism and prostitution, although it soon weakens
+the sexual power.
+
+But it is the modern arsenal of _prostitution_ which plays the
+principal role. The proxenets (pimps) exploit both the sexual
+appetites of men and the weakness and venality of women. Their chief
+source of gain consisting in the artificial excitation of the male
+sexual appetite by all possible means, their art consists in dressing
+their merchandise, the prostitutes, with attractive refinement,
+especially when dealing with rich clients who pay well. It is on this
+soil that are cultivated the most disgusting artifices, intended to
+excite even the most pathological appetites.
+
+Other causes are added to lucre, or are the consequences of it. A boy
+led to masturbation by pornographic pictures, or by the seduction of a
+corrupted individual, becomes in his turn the seducer of his comrades.
+Certain libidinous and unscrupulous women have often persuaded
+adolescents and schoolboys to sleep with them, thus awakening
+precocious and unhealthy sexual appetites.
+
+Such habits which excite the sexual appetite and cause it to
+degenerate artificially, develop in their turn a mode of sexual
+boasting in men, the effects of which are deplorable. To appear manly,
+the boy thinks he ought to have a cigar in his mouth, even if it makes
+him sick. In the same way the spirit of imitation leads youth to
+prostitution. The fear of not doing as the others and especially the
+terror of ridicule constitute a powerful lever which is abused and
+exploited. Fearing mockery, a youth is the more easily seduced by bad
+example the less he is put on guard by parents or true friends.
+Instead of explaining to him in time, seriously and affectionately,
+the nature of sexual connection, its effects and dangers, he is
+abandoned to the chance of the worst seductions.
+
+In this way the sexual appetite is not only artificially increased and
+often directed into unnatural channels, but also leads to the
+poisoning and ruin of youth by venereal diseases, to say nothing of
+alcoholism.
+
+We have referred especially to educated youth, but the youth of the
+lower classes are perhaps in a still worse condition, owing to the
+promiscuity of their life in miserable dwellings. They often witness
+coitus between their parents, or are themselves trained in evil ways
+for purposes of exploitation.
+
+It is astonishing that the results of such abominable deviation of the
+sexual appetite are not worse. No doubt excesses disturb the ties of
+marriage and of the family, and often provoke impotence and other
+disorders of the sexual functions. It must, however, be admitted that
+their satellites, the venereal diseases, and their most common
+companion, alcoholism, are in reality the greatest destroyers of
+health, and make much more considerable ravages in society than the
+artificial increase and abnormal deviations of the sexual appetite
+itself. However, the latter by themselves very often poison the mind
+and social morality, as we shall have occasion to see.
+
+Immoderate sexual desire, provoked in men by the artificial
+excitations of prostitution, etc., is a bad acquisition. It renders
+difficult the accustomance to marriage, fidelity and ideal and
+life-long love for the same woman. It is true, that many old _roues_
+and _habitues_ of brothels later on become faithful husbands and
+fathers, especially when they have had the luck to escape venereal
+disease.
+
+But whoever looks behind the scenes may soon convince himself that the
+happiness of most unions of this kind is very relative. The
+degradation of the sexual sentiment of a man who has long been
+accustomed to live with prostitutes is never entirely effaced, and
+generally leaves indelible traces in the human brain.
+
+I readily admit that a man with good hereditary dispositions, who has
+only yielded for a short time to seductive influences, may be reformed
+by a true and profound love. But even in him, excesses leave traces
+which later on may easily lead him astray when he becomes tired of the
+monotony of conjugal relations with the same woman. On the other hand,
+we must also recognize that sexual relations in themselves, even in
+marriage, create a habit which often urges a married man to
+extra-nuptial coitus, even when he had remained continent before
+marriage.
+
+The tricks which are played on a man by his sexual appetite,
+especially by his polygamous instincts, must not, however, be
+confounded with the systematic, artificial and abnormal training of
+the same appetite. The physical and psychic attractions of a woman are
+capable of completely diverting the sexual desires of a man from their
+primary object, and of directing them on the siren who captivates his
+senses. The elements of the sexual appetite here form an inextricable
+mixture with those of love, and constitute the inexhaustible theme of
+novels and most true and sensational love stories.
+
+Hereditary pathological dispositions play a considerable role in many
+cases of this kind. Also, marriages of sudden and passionate love (we
+are not dealing here with love marriages concluded after sufficient
+reflection and deep mutual acquaintanceship) are not more stable than
+the so-called "_mariages de convenance_," for passionate natures,
+usually more or less pathological, are apt to fall from one extreme to
+the other. The power exercised by sexual passion in such cases is
+terrible. It produces conditions that may lead to suicide or
+assassination. In men whose power of reason is neither strong nor
+independent, opinions and conceptions are frequently changed; love may
+change to hatred and hatred to love, the sentiment of justice may lead
+to injustice, the loyal man may become a liar, etc. In fact the sexual
+appetite is let loose like a hurricane in the brain and becomes the
+despot of the whole mind. The sexual passion has often been compared
+to drunkenness or to mental disease. Even in its mildest forms it
+often renders the husband incapable of sexual connection with his
+wife.
+
+For example, a man may cherish, respect and even adore his wife, and
+yet her presence and touch may not appeal to his senses, nor excite
+his appetite or erection; while some low-minded woman will produce in
+him an irresistible sensual attraction, even when he experiences
+neither esteem nor love for her. In such cases sexual appetite is in
+more or less radical opposition to love. Such extreme phenomena are
+not rare, but hardly common. Although excited to coitus with the woman
+in question, the husband would not in any case have her for wife, nor
+even have children by her, for after the slightest reflection he
+despises and fears her. Here, the sexual appetite represents the old
+atavistic animal instinct, attracted by libidinous looks, exuberant
+charms, in a word by the sensual aspect of woman.
+
+On the contrary, in a higher domain of the human mind, the sentiments
+of sympathy of true love, deeply associated with fidelity, and with
+intellectual and moral intimacy, unite against the elementary power of
+the animal instinct. Here we see dwelling in the same breast (or, to
+speak more correctly, in the same central nervous system) two souls,
+which struggle with each other.
+
+We are not dealing here with cases in which a new passion arrives to
+turn the man from his old affection. No doubt the extreme cases of
+which we have spoken are not usual, but we see in most men more or
+less considerable mixtures of analogous sentiments in all possible
+degrees, especially when the woman loved loses her physical
+attractions from age or other causes.
+
+=The Procreative Instinct.=--The sexual appetite of man does not
+consist exclusively in the desire for coitus. In many cases it is
+combined, more or less strongly and more or less consciously, with the
+desire to procreate children. Unfortunately, this desire is far from
+being always associated with higher sentiments and with love of
+children or the paternal instinct. In fact, conscious reasoning plays
+a smaller part than the animal instinct of self-expansion. We shall
+see later on that the procreative instinct often plays an important
+role in our present civilization.
+
+=The Sexual Appetite in Woman.=--In the sexual act the role of the
+woman differs from that of the man not only by being passive, but also
+by the absence of seminal ejaculations. In spite of this the analogies
+are considerable. The erection of the clitoris and its voluptuous
+sensations, the secretion from the glands of _Bartholin_ which
+resembles ejaculation in the male, the venereal orgasm itself which
+often exceeds in intensity that of man, are phenomena which establish
+harmony in sexual connection.
+
+Although the organic phenomenon of the accumulation of semen in the
+seminal vesicles is absent in woman, there is produced in the nerve
+centers, after prolonged abstinence, an accumulation of sexual desire
+corresponding to that of man. A married woman confessed to me, when I
+reproached her for being unfaithful to her husband, that she desired
+coitus at least once a fortnight, and that when her husband was not
+there, she took the first comer. No doubt the sentiments of this woman
+were hardly feminine, but her sexual appetite was relatively normal.
+
+=Frequency of the Sexual Appetite in Woman.=--As regards pure sexual
+appetite, extremes are much more common and more considerable in woman
+than in man. In her this appetite is developed much less often
+spontaneously than in him, and where it is so, it is generally later.
+Voluptuous sensations are usually only awakened by coitus.
+
+In a considerable number of women the sexual appetite is completely
+absent. For these, coitus is a disagreeable, often disgusting, or at
+any rate an indifferent act. What is more singular, at least for
+masculine comprehension, and what gives rise to the most frequent
+"quid pro quos," is the fact that such women, absolutely cold as
+regards sexual sensations, are often great coquettes, over-exciting
+the sexual appetites of man, and have often a great desire for love
+and caresses. This is more easy to understand if we reflect that the
+unsatiated desires of the normal woman are less inclined toward coitus
+than toward the assemblage of consequences of this act, which are so
+important for her whole life. When the sight of a certain man awakes
+in a young girl sympathetic desires and transports, she aspires to
+procreate children with this man only, to give herself to him as a
+slave, to receive his caresses, to be loved by him only, that he may
+become both the support and master of her whole life. It is a question
+of general sentiments of indefinite nature, of a powerful desire to
+become a mother and enjoy domestic comfort, to realize a poetic and
+chivalrous ideal in man, to gratify a general sensual need distributed
+over the whole body and in no way concentrated in the sexual organs or
+in the desire for coitus.
+
+=Nature of the Sexual Appetite in Woman.=--The zone of sexual
+excitation is less specially limited to the sexual organs in woman
+than in man. The nipples constitute in her an entire zone and their
+friction excites voluptuousness. If we consider the importance in the
+life of woman, of pregnancy, suckling, and all the maternal functions,
+we can understand why the mixture of her sentiments and sensations is
+so different from that of man. Her smaller stature and strength,
+together with her passive role in coitus, explain why she aspires to a
+strong male support. This is simply a question of natural phylogenetic
+adaptation. This is why a young girl sighs for a courageous, strong
+and enterprising man, who is superior to her, whom she is obliged to
+respect, and in whose arms she feels secure. Strength and skill in man
+are the ideal of the young savage and uncultured girl, his
+intellectual and moral superiority that of the young cultivated girl.
+
+As a rule women are much more the slaves of their instincts and habits
+than men. In primitive peoples, hardiness and boldness in men were
+qualities which made for success. This explains why, even at the
+present day, the boldest and most audacious Don Juans excite most
+strongly the sexual desires of women, and succeed in turning the heads
+of most young girls, in spite of their worst faults in other respects.
+Nothing is more repugnant to the feminine instinct than timidity and
+awkwardness in man. In our time women become more and more
+enthusiastic over the intellectual superiority of man, which excites
+their desire. Without being indifferent to it, simple bodily beauty in
+man excites the appetite of women to a less extent. It is astonishing
+to see to what point women often become enamored of old, ugly or
+deformed men. We shall see later on that the normal woman is much more
+particular than man in giving her love. While the normal man is
+generally attracted to coitus by nearly every more-or-less young and
+healthy woman, this is by no means the case in the normal woman with
+regard to man. She is also much more constant than man from the sexual
+point of view. It is rarely possible for her to experience sexual
+desire for several men at once; her senses are nearly always attracted
+to one lover only.
+
+The instinct of procreation is much stronger in woman than in man, and
+is combined with the desire to give herself passively, to play the
+part of one who devotes herself, who is conquered, mastered and
+subjugated. These negative aspirations form part of the normal sexual
+appetite of woman.
+
+A peculiarity of the sexual sentiments of woman is an ill-defined
+pathological phenomenon with normal sensations, a phenomenon which in
+man, on the contrary, forms a very marked contrast with the latter; I
+refer to the _homosexual_ appetite, in which the object is an
+individual of the same sex. Normally, the adult man produces on
+another man an absolutely repulsive effect from the sexual point of
+view; it is only pathological subjects, or those excited by sexual
+privation who are affected with sensual desires for other men. But in
+woman a certain sensual desire for caresses, connected more or less
+with unconscious and ill-defined sexual sensations, is not limited to
+the male sex but extends to other women, to children, and even to
+animals, apart from pathologically inverted sexual appetites. Young
+normal girls often like to sleep together in the same bed, to caress
+and kiss each other, which is not the case with normal young men. In
+the male sex such sensual caresses are nearly always accompanied and
+provoked by sexual appetite, which is not the case in women. As we
+have already seen, man may separate true love from the sexual appetite
+to such an extent that two minds, each feeling in a different way, may
+inhabit the same brain. A man may be a loving and devoted husband and
+at the same time satisfy his animal appetites with prostitutes. In
+woman, such sexual dualism is much more rare and always unnatural, the
+normal woman being much less capable than man of separating love from
+sexual appetite.
+
+These facts explain the singular caprices of the sexual appetite and
+orgasm in the normal woman, in whom these phenomena are not easily
+produced without love.
+
+The same woman who loves one man and not another is susceptible to
+sexual appetite and voluptuous sensations when she cohabits with the
+first, while she is often absolutely cold and insensible to the most
+passionate embraces of the second. This fact explains the possibility
+of prostitution as it exists among women. The worst prostitutes, who
+have connection with innumerable paying clients without feeling the
+least pleasure, generally have a "protector" with whom they are
+enamored and to whom they devote all their love and sincere orgasms,
+all the time allowing themselves to be plundered and exploited by him.
+
+What the normal woman requires from man is love, tenderness, a firm
+support for life, a certain chivalrous nature, and children. She can
+renounce the voluptuous sensations of coitus infinitely more easily
+than the exigencies I have just indicated, which are for her the
+principal things. Nothing makes a woman more indignant than the
+indifference of her husband, when, for instance, he treats her simply
+as a housekeeper. Some have maintained that the average woman is more
+sensual than man, others that she is less so. Both these statements
+are false: she is sensual _in another manner_.
+
+All the peculiarities of the sexual appetite in woman are thus the
+combined product of: (1) the profound influence of the sexual
+functions on her whole existence; (2) her passive sexual role; (3) her
+special mental faculties. By these, and more especially by her passive
+sexual role, are explained her instinctive coquettishness, her love of
+fiery and personal adornment, in a word her desire to please men by
+her external appearance, by her looks, movements and grace. These
+phenomena betray the instinctive sexual desires of the young girl,
+which as we have just seen, do not normally correspond to a direct
+desire for coitus.
+
+While a virgin experiences in her youth the sensations we have just
+described, things change after marriage, and as a general rule after
+repeated sexual connections. If these do not provoke voluptuous
+sensations in some women, they do in the majority, and this is no
+doubt the normal state of affairs. Habit, then, produces an increasing
+desire for coitus and its sensations, and it is not rare, in the
+course of a long life in common, for the roles to be reversed and the
+woman become more libidinous than the man. This partly explains why so
+many widows are anxious to remarry. They easily attain their object,
+as men quickly succumb to the sexual desire of woman when it is
+expressed in an unequivocal manner.
+
+In widows, two strong sentiments struggle against each other, with
+variable results in different individuals; on the one hand, feminine
+constancy in love, and the memory of the deceased; on the other hand,
+the acquired habit of sexual connection and its voluptuous sensations,
+which leaves a void and appeals for compensation. The sexual appetite
+being equal, the first sentiment prevails generally in religious women
+or those of a deeply moral or sentimental character, while the second
+prevails in women of more material or less-refined nature, or in those
+simply guided by their reason. In these internal struggles, the more
+delicate sentiments and the stronger will of the woman result from the
+fact that when she wishes she can overcome her appetites much better
+than man. But, in spite of this, the power of the sexual appetite
+plays an important part in the inward struggle we have just mentioned.
+When this appetite is absent there is no struggle, and the widow's
+conduct is dictated either by her own convenience, or by the instinct
+which naturally leads a woman to yield to the amorous advances of a
+man.
+
+At the critical age, that is the time when menstruation ceases,
+neither the sexual appetite nor voluptuous sensations disappear,
+although desire diminishes normally as age advances. In this respect
+it is curious to note that old women possess no sexual attraction for
+men, while they often feel libidinous desires almost as strongly as
+young women. This is a kind of natural anomaly.
+
+As we have already stated, individual differences in the sexual
+appetite are much greater in woman than in man. Some women are
+extremely excitable, and from their first youth experience violent
+sexual desire, causing them to masturbate or to throw themselves onto
+men. Such women are usually polyandrous by nature, although the sexual
+appetite in woman is normally much more monogamous than that of man.
+Such excesses in woman take on a more pathological character than in
+man, and go under the name of _nymphomania_. The insatiability of
+these females, who may be met with in all classes of society, may
+become fabulous. Night and day, with short interruptions for sleeping
+and eating, they are, in extreme cases, anxious for coitus. They
+become less exhausted than men, because their orgasm is not
+accompanied by loss of semen.
+
+Although in the normal state woman is naturally full of delicacy and
+sentiments of modesty, nothing is easier than to make these disappear
+completely by training her systematically to sexual immodesty or to
+prostitution. Here we observe the effects of the routine and
+suggestible character of feminine psychology, of the tendency of woman
+to become the slave of habit and custom, as well as of her
+perseverance when her determined will pursues a definite end.
+Prostitution gives us sad proofs of this fact.
+
+The psychology of prostitutes is very peculiar. Attempts to restore
+them to a moral life nearly always fail hopelessly; it is rare to see
+them permanently successful. Most of these women have a heredity of
+bad quality and are of weak character, idle and libidinous. They find
+it much easier to gain their living by prostitution, and forget their
+work, if they have ever learned any. The poverty, drunkenness and
+shame which follow seduction and illegitimate birth have no doubt
+driven more than one prostitute to her sad trade, but the naturally
+evil dispositions of these women constitute without any doubt the
+principal cause. Alcohol, venereal diseases and bad habits, combined
+with continually repeated sexual degradation, afterwards determine
+progressive decadence.
+
+Some of these women, however, of better quality, only surrender
+themselves to prostitution by compulsion; they suffer from this
+existence and strive to escape from it. The grisettes and lorettes[2]
+form a group intermediate between prostitution and natural love; they
+are women who hire themselves for a time to one man in particular, and
+are maintained and paid by him in return for satisfying his sexual
+appetites. Here again, sexual desire only exceptionally plays the
+chief role. The conduct of these women results from their loose
+character and pecuniary interest.
+
+If, therefore, we admit on the one hand that the sexual excesses of
+the female sex are especially grafted on hereditary disposition of
+character, or are primarily due to strong appetites, we are obliged on
+the other hand to recognize that the great role played by sexuality in
+the brain of woman renders it more difficult for her than for man to
+return to better ways when she has once prostituted herself, or when
+she has surrendered in any way to sexual licentiousness, even when her
+original quality was not bad.
+
+In man the sexual appetite is much more easily separated than in woman
+from other instincts, sentiments and intellectual life in general, and
+possesses in him, however powerful it may be, a much more transient
+character, which prevents it dominating the whole mental life.
+
+I have dwelt so much on this point because it is essential to know the
+differences which exist between man and woman in this respect, and to
+take them into account if we wish to give a just and healthy judgment
+on the sexual question from the social point of view. The more it is
+our duty to give the same rights to both sexes, the more absurd it is
+to disregard the profoundness of their differences and to imagine that
+these can ever be effaced.
+
+=Flirtation.=--If we look in an English dictionary for the meaning of
+the word _flirt_, we find it equivalent to coquetry. But this English
+term has become fixed and modernized in another sense which has become
+international, to express the old idea of a series of well-known
+phenomena which must be clearly distinguished from coquetry.
+
+Coquetry, an especially feminine attribute, is not in itself dependent
+on the sexual appetite; it is an indirect irradiation, purely
+psychical, and we shall speak of it later on. Flirtation, as we now
+understand the term, is directly connected with the sexual appetite,
+and constitutes its external impression in all the wealth of its
+forms, as much in man as in woman. In a word, flirtation is a
+polymorphous language which clearly expresses the sexual desires of an
+individual to the one who awakens these desires, actual coitus alone
+excepted.
+
+Flirtation may be practiced in a more or less unconscious manner. It
+is by itself neither a psychic attribute nor sexual appetite, for a
+human being may so hide and overcome his appetites that no one remarks
+them; and on the contrary, he may simulate sexual appetite without
+feeling it, or at any rate behave in such a way as to excite it in his
+partner. Flirtation thus consists in an activity calculated to
+disclose the eroticism of the subject as well as to excite that of
+others. It is needless to say that the nature of coquetry disposes to
+flirtation.
+
+Flirtation comprises all the sport of love, kisses, caresses and all
+kinds of sexual excitation even to orgasm, without reaching the
+consummation of coitus. All degrees may be noted; and, according to
+temperament, flirtation may be limited to slight excitation of the
+sexual appetite or may extend to violent and rapidly increasing
+emissions. The considerable individual differences which exist in
+sexual sensibility result in the same perception or the same act
+having little effect on one individual, while it excites another to a
+high degree. In the latter case, especially in man, flirtation may
+even lead to venereal orgasm without coitus, and even without any
+manipulations which resemble it. A woman of exuberant form, assuming
+sensual and voluptuous attitudes, may thus provoke an ejaculation by
+the slight and repeated friction of her dress against the penis of an
+excitable dancer.
+
+The same thing often occurs when a passionate couple caress and
+embrace each other without the genital organs being touched or even
+exposed. In this respect the woman is better protected than the man,
+but when she is very excitable an orgasm may be produced in her during
+the caresses of a passionate flirtation by the pressure or friction of
+her legs against each other (a variety of masturbation in woman).
+
+As a rule, however, things do not go so far as this in flirtation. The
+sight and touch are used alternately. The eyes play an important part,
+for they may express much and consequently act powerfully. A pressure
+of the hands, an apparently chance movement, touching the dress and
+the skin, etc., are the usual means of flirtation. In situations where
+people are close together or pressed against each other, as in railway
+carriages, or at table, the legs play a well-known part, by pressure
+of the knees and feet.
+
+This dumb conversation of the sexual appetite begins at first in a
+prudent and apparently innocent manner, so that the acting party does
+not risk being taxed with impropriety; but as soon as he who began the
+flirtation perceives that his slight invitations are welcome he grows
+bolder, a tacit mutual agreement is established, and the game
+continues without a single word betraying the reciprocal sensations.
+Many who practice flirtation, both men and women, avoid betraying
+themselves by words, and they take pleasure in this mutual excitation
+of their genital sensibility, however incomplete it may be.
+
+Flirtation may assume very different forms according to education and
+temperament. The action of alcohol on the brain develops the coarsest
+forms of flirtation. Every one knows the clumsy embraces of
+semi-intoxicated persons which can often be seen at night or on
+Sundays and holidays, in the street or in railway carriages, etc. I
+designate these by the term "alcoholic flirtation." Even in the best
+and most refined society flirtation loses its delicacy even under the
+effect of the slightest degree of alcoholic intoxication.
+
+Flirtation assumes a more delicate and more complicated character,
+rendering it gracious and full of charm, in persons of higher
+education, especially when they are highly intellectual or artistic.
+
+We must also mention the intellectual variety of flirtation which is
+not expressed by sight or touch, but only by language. Delicate
+allusions to sexual matters and somewhat lascivious conversation
+excite eroticism as much as looks and touch. According to the
+education of the persons concerned, this talk may be coarse and
+vulgar, or on the contrary refined and full of wit, managed with more
+or less skill, or clumsily. Here the natural finesse of woman plays a
+considerable part. Men wanting in tact are clumsy and offensive in
+their attempts at flirtation, and thus extinguish instead of exciting
+the woman's eroticism. The manner in which alcoholic flirtation
+manifests itself in cynical, dull, obtrusive and stupid conversation,
+corresponds to its other forms of expression. Woman desires
+flirtation; but does not wish it to assume an unbecoming form.
+
+One can say anything to a woman; all depends on the way in which it is
+said. I have seen lady doctors with whom one could discuss the most
+ticklish subjects, profoundly shocked by the misplaced pleasantries of
+a tactless professor. In themselves these pleasantries were quite
+innocent for medical ears, as my lady colleagues were finally obliged
+to admit, when I pointed out to them the specially feminine character
+of their psychic reaction, proving to them that they listened without
+a frown to things ten times worse, when the lecturer gave them a moral
+tone.
+
+Men also generally feel disgusted with the dull, cynical or clumsy
+form of female eroticism, although they are not usually over-refined
+themselves in this respect.
+
+This last phenomenon leads us to distinguish between flirtation in man
+and in woman. For woman it constitutes the only permissible way of
+expressing erotic sentiments, and even then much restraint is imposed
+on her. Circumstances develop in her the art of flirtation and give
+it remarkable finesse. Unless she exposes herself to great danger,
+woman can only leave her sensuality to be guessed. Every audacious and
+tactless provocation fails in its object; it drives away the men and
+destroys a young girl's reputation. Even when possessed by the most
+violent erotic desire woman cannot ostensibly depart from her passive
+role without compromising herself. Nevertheless, she succeeds on the
+whole very easily in exciting the passions of man, by the aid of a few
+artifices. No doubt she does not entirely dominate him by this means.
+She must be very delicate and adroit, at any rate at first, in the
+provocative art of flirtation. These frivolities are greatly
+facilitated by her whole nature and by the character of her habitual
+eroticism. Man, on the other hand, may be more audacious in the
+expression of his passion. This brings us back to what has been said
+concerning the sexual differences.
+
+A whole volume could be written on the forms of flirtation, which is
+the indispensable expression of all sexual desire. Among engaged
+couples it assumes a legal character and even a conventional form. The
+way in which barmaids flirt with their customers is also somewhat
+conventional, although in quite a different way. In society,
+flirtation is generally seasoned with more Attic salt, whether it is
+not allowed to exceed certain limits, or whether it leads to free
+liaisons after the manner of the Greek hetaira. In the country, among
+peasant girls and boys it takes a grosser form, if not more sensual,
+than among the cultivated classes; in the latter, language takes the
+principal part. Among rich idlers in watering places, large hotels,
+and even in some sanatoriums, flirtation takes a dominant place and
+constitutes, in all its degrees, the chief occupation of a great
+number of the visitors. It grows like a weed wherever man has a
+monotonous occupation or suffers from the ennui of idleness.
+
+In certain individuals, flirtation takes the place of coitus from the
+sensual, and love from the sentimental point of view. There are modern
+crazy natures who spend their existence in all kinds of artificial
+excitation of the senses, creatures of both sexes incapable of a
+useful action.
+
+As a momentary and transient expression of all the necessities of
+love, flirtation has a right to existence; but, when cultivated on its
+own account and always remaining as flirtation, it becomes a symptom
+of degeneration or sexual depravity, among idle, crazy and vicious
+persons of all kinds.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[2] The terms _grisette_ and _lorette_ are now obsolete, and the names
+given to this class of women constantly varies. I shall, nevertheless,
+employ them in the course of this work because they clearly define
+certain special varieties of remunerated concubinage.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+LOVE AND OTHER IRRADIATIONS OF THE SEXUAL APPETITE IN THE HUMAN MIND
+
+
+=Generalities. Jealousy.=--We have seen that the mechanism of the
+appetites consists in instincts inherited from our animal ancestors by
+mnemic engraphia and selection, and that it is situated in the
+primordial or lower cerebral centers (basal ganglia, spinal cord,
+etc.). In some of the lower animals we already find other instinctive
+nervous reactions which constitute the indirect effects or derivatives
+of the sexual appetite. The most evident of these is _jealousy_, or
+the feeling of grief and anger produced in an individual when the
+object of his sexual appetite is disputed by another individual of the
+same sex. Jealousy may also arise from other instincts, such as those
+of nutrition, ambition, etc.; but it forms one of the most typical
+complements of the sexual appetite, and leads, as we know, to furious
+combats, especially between males, sometimes also between females.
+
+Owing to its profoundly hereditary origin, this passion has a very
+instinctive character, and might quite as well have been mentioned in
+the preceding chapter. I deal with it here because it is naturally
+associated with other irradiations of the sexual appetite, and because
+it has a peculiarly mental character.
+
+=Relation Between Love and Sexual Appetite. Sympathy.=--Having entered
+the higher brain, or organ of mind, and become modified, complicated,
+and combined with the different branches of psychic activity, the
+sexual appetite takes the name of _love_, properly so-called. In order
+to better understand the relations of love to the sexual appetite we
+must refer to Chapter II. Let us begin with a short exposition of the
+phylogeny of the sentiments of sympathy, or the altruistic and social
+sentiments.
+
+In the lower animals with no separate sexes egoism reigns absolutely.
+Each individual eats as much as it wants, then divides, buds or
+conjugates, thus fulfilling the sole object of its existence. The same
+principle holds in the lower stages of reproduction by separate sexes.
+Spiders give us a good example. In these, copulation is a dangerous
+act for the male, for if he is not extremely careful he is devoured by
+the female, sometimes even before having attained his object, often
+soon afterward, in order that nothing may be lost. However, the female
+shows a certain consideration for her eggs, and sometimes even for the
+young after they are hatched.
+
+In higher stages of the animal kingdom sentiments of sympathy may be
+observed, derived from the sexual union of individuals. These are
+sentiments of attachment of the male for the female, and especially of
+the female (sometimes the male also) for their progeny.
+
+Such sentiments become developed and may be transformed into intense
+love between the sexes, of long duration. Birds, for instance, often
+remain faithful for many years, and even for life. From these simple
+facts is evolved the intimate relationship which exists between sexual
+love and other sentiments of sympathy, that is to say affection, or
+love in the more vague and more extended sense of the term.
+
+To every sentiment of sympathy between two individuals (sympathy forms
+part of the sentiments of pleasure) there is a corresponding contrary
+correlative sentiment of grief, when the object of sympathy dies,
+becomes sick, takes flight or is carried off. This sentiment often
+takes the form of simple sadness, but it may attain a degree of
+incurable melancholy. Among certain monkeys and parrots, we often see
+the death of one of the conjoints lead to the refusal of all food and
+finally to death of the survivor, after increasing sadness and
+depression. Removal of the young produces a profound sadness in the
+female ape. But when an animal discovers the cause of the grief, when,
+for instance, a stranger attempts to take away his mate or his young,
+a mixed reaction of sentiment is produced, that is to say anger or
+even fury against the perpetrator of the deed.
+
+Jealousy is only a special form of this anger. The sentiment of anger
+and its violent and hostile expression constitute the natural reaction
+against one who disturbs a sentiment of pleasure, a reaction which
+tends to reestablish the latter. The power of the sentiment of anger
+increases with the offensive and defensive faculties, while, in weak
+and peaceful beings, terror and sadness to a great extent take their
+place. On the other hand, the sight of defenseless prey suffices to
+provoke, in the rapacious who are strong and well armed, by simple
+reflex association, a cruel sentiment of voluptuous anger, which is
+also observed in man.
+
+=Sentiment of Duty.=--Another derivative of the sentiment of sympathy
+is that of _duty_, that is the moral sense. All sentiment of love or
+sympathy urges the one who loves to certain acts destined to increase
+the welfare of the object loved. This is why the mother nourishes her
+young and plucks feathers and hairs to make them a soft bed; and why
+the father brings food to his wife and young, and defends them against
+their enemies. All these acts, which are not to the advantage of the
+individual but to the object or objects of his sympathy, exact more or
+less laborious efforts, courage in the face of danger, etc. They thus
+provoke an internal struggle between the sentiment of sympathy and
+egoism, or the unpleasantness of undertaking things which are
+troublesome and disagreeable for the individual himself. From this
+struggle between two opposed series of sentiments is derived a third
+group of complex or mixed sentiments, that of duty, or _moral
+conscience_. When the sentiment of sympathy prevails, when the animal
+does his duty toward his young and his conjoint, he feels a sentiment
+of pleasure, of duty accomplished. If, on the contrary, he has been
+negligent, the egoistic instincts having for the moment prevailed, the
+remorse of conscience results, that is the painful uneasiness which
+follows all disobedience to the instinctive sentiments of sympathy.
+This uneasiness accumulates in the brain in the form of
+self-discontent, and may lead to an accentuated sentiment of
+_repentance_.
+
+These phenomena exist both in the male and in the female, and if it
+was not so, the accomplishment of duty would be impossible; the cat
+would run away instead of defending her young; would eat her prey
+instead of giving it to them, etc. We thus see the elements of human
+social sentiment already very marked in many animals. Remorse and
+repentance can only be formed on the basis of preexisting sentiments
+of sympathy.
+
+=Sentiment of Kinship.=--A higher degree of the sentiments of sympathy
+is developed when these do not remain limited to a temporary union,
+but when the union of the sexes is transformed into durable or even
+life-long marriage, as we see in monkeys and in most birds. In another
+manner the sentiments of sympathy are developed by extension of the
+family community to a greater number of individuals, who are grouped
+together for the common defense, as we see in swallows, crows, and to
+a higher degree, in the large organized communities of social animals,
+as the beavers, bees, ants, etc. In the latter, the sentiment of
+sympathy and duty nearly always affects all the individuals of the
+community, while anger and jealousy are extended toward every being
+which does not form part of it.
+
+We must be blinded by prejudice not to comprehend that these same
+general facts, revealed by the study of biology and animal psychology,
+are repeated in the human mind. Some animals are even superior to the
+majority of men in the intensity of their sentiments of sympathy and
+duty, as well as in love and conjugal fidelity--monkeys and parrots,
+for example. In the social insects, such as the ants and bees, with
+their communities so solidly organized and so finely coordinated on
+the basis of instinct, the sentiment of social duty has almost
+entirely replaced the individual sentiments of sympathy. An ant or a
+bee only loves, so to speak, the whole assemblage of his companions.
+It does not sacrifice itself for any one of them in particular, but
+only for the community. In these animals the individual is only
+regarded as a number in the community whose motto is--one for all, but
+never all for one.
+
+In bees especially, the degree of sympathy extended to a member or a
+class of the hive is exactly proportional to the utility of this
+member to the community. The working bees will kill themselves or die
+of hunger in order to nourish their queen, while in the autumn they
+ruthlessly massacre all the males or drones which have become
+useless.
+
+=Sentiments of Patriotism and Humanity.=--The human brain, so powerful
+and so complicated, contains a little of all these things, with
+enormous individual variations. In man, the sentiments of sympathy and
+duty relate especially to the family, that is to say, they are to a
+great extent limited to individuals interested in a sexual community,
+viz., the conjoints and children, as occurs generally in mammals. It
+follows that sentiments of sympathy connected with larger communities
+such as remote relatives, the clan, the community, the country, those
+who speak the same language, etc., are relatively much weaker, and
+result from education and custom rather than from instinct. The
+weakest sentiment is certainly that of _humanity_, which regards each
+man as a brother and companion, and from which is evolved the general
+sentiment of solidarity or social duty. How can it be otherwise in a
+species which has lived for thousands or perhaps millions of years as
+small hostile tribes, separated from each other? Primitive men were so
+destitute of all humanitarian sentiment that they not only killed one
+another and practiced mutual slavery, but also martyred, tortured and
+even devoured one another.
+
+In spite of all this, and as the result of custom and life in common,
+the individual sentiments of sympathy in man are easily extended to
+members of other races, especially as regards different sexes, so much
+so that enemies conquered and taken prisoners often became later on,
+owing to life in common, the friends or mates of their conquerors.
+
+=Antipathy.=--Inversely, individual antipathies and enmity often occur
+not only between members of the same tribe but even between those of
+the same family. The latter may lead to parricide, fratricide,
+infanticide, or assassination of a conjoint.
+
+=Phylogeny of Love.=--The social life of ants offers us some
+instructive analogies. In spite of the intense hostility of different
+colonies of ants among themselves, there may be obtained by habitude,
+often after many desperate combats, alliances between colonies which
+were hitherto enemies, even between colonies of different species.
+These alliances henceforth become permanent. This is very curious to
+observe at the time when the alliance begins to be formed. We then see
+certain individual hatreds persist, to a varying extent, for several
+days. Certain individuals of the weaker party are maltreated by other
+individuals of the conquering party. They cut off their limbs and
+antennae and often martyrize them to death with a rabidness that sadly
+resembles human sentiments! Hatred and dispute between individuals of
+the same colony of ants are, on the other hand, extremely rare. I can
+guarantee the correctness of all these observations, having often
+repeated them myself and having recorded them in my works on the
+habits of ants. Moreover, they have since been confirmed by other
+writers.
+
+After what we have just said, and especially if we take into
+consideration the numerous observations which have been made in
+biology, we can hardly doubt that the sentiment of sexual attraction,
+or the sexual appetite, has been the primary source of nearly all, if
+not all, the sentiments of sympathy and duty which have been developed
+in animals and especially in man. Many of these sentiments are no
+doubt little by little completely differentiated and rendered entirely
+independent of sexual sentiment, forming a series of corresponding
+conceptions adapted to divers social objects in the form of sentiments
+of amity. The latter in their turn have often become the generators of
+social formations and of a more generalized altruism. Many others,
+however, have remained more or less consciously associated with the
+sexual appetite, as is certainly the case in man.
+
+This short sketch which we have given of the phylogenetic history of
+love and its derivatives is sufficient to show the immense influence
+which sexual life has exercised on the whole development of the human
+mind.
+
+On the other hand, we must avoid exaggerating the actual importance of
+this influence. Young children, who possess neither sexual appetite
+nor corresponding sensations, already give evidence not only of
+intense sentiments of sympathy and antipathy, anger and jealousy, but
+also of commiseration, when they see those whom they love suffer; they
+may even show that they already possess the sentiment of duty or
+disinterested devotion. All these phylogenetic derivatives of the
+sentiments of sexual attraction are thus developed in the individual
+long before the sexual instinct itself, from which they have become
+absolutely independent. This does not prevent them being powerfully
+influenced by the sexual instinct when this awakes, or from being
+associated with its direct derivatives when the sexual appetite,
+properly so-called, is absent. Thus we see absolutely cold women
+become loving and devoted wives and mothers, and possessing a highly
+developed sense of kinship. Maternal love is a sentiment of sympathy
+derived from the sexual sentiment, adapted directly to children, who
+are the products of sexual life.
+
+=Constellations.=--From all this results the immense complication of
+the peculiarities of the human mind which are connected with love.
+Individual variations of the disposition to sexual appetite are
+combined with individual dispositions to the higher qualities of
+mind--general sentiments, intelligence and will--to form the most
+diverse individual combinations, which we may call _constellations_.
+Moreover, inherited individual dispositions are combined in man with a
+great number of experiences and remembrances, acquired in all domains
+in the course of his life, accumulating them in his brain by what is
+called education or adaptation to environment. From the immense
+complexity of energies resulting from hereditary dispositions combined
+with acquired factors, the resolutions and acts of man are derived,
+without his being able to account for the infinite multiplicity of
+causes which determine them.
+
+It is thus that a man may be a model of conduct or morality, simply
+from the fact that his sexual appetite is almost nil. Another, on the
+contrary, suffers from an exaggerated sexual appetite, but is devoted,
+conscientious, and even scrupulous; this results in violent internal
+struggles, from which he does not always emerge victorious. A third is
+moderate in his appetites; if his sentiment of duty is strong and he
+possesses a strong will, he will resist his desires, while if his will
+is weak or his moral sense defective, he will succumb to the first
+temptation.
+
+Love and sexual appetite may be intimately connected or completely
+separated in the same individual. In the same way that a cold woman
+may be a good mother, a very sensual woman may be a bad one, but the
+inverse may also be met with.
+
+=Love.=--I speak here of the true love of a higher nature of one sex
+for the other, or _sexual love_, which is not simple friendship, but
+is combined with sexual appetite. To write on love is almost to pour
+water into the ocean, for literature is three parts composed of
+dissertations on love. There can be no doubt that the normal man feels
+a great desire for love. The irradiations of love in the mind
+constitute one of the fundamental conditions of human happiness and
+one of the principal objects of life. Unfortunately, the question is
+too often treated with exaggerated sentiment, or on the other hand,
+with sensual cynicism; it is examined from one side only, or else it
+is misunderstood.
+
+First of all, love appears to be usually kindled by the sexual
+appetite. This is the celebrated story of Cupid's arrow. One falls in
+love with a face, a look, a smile, a white breast, a sweet and
+melodious voice, etc. However, the relations between love and sexual
+appetite are extremely delicate and complex. In man, the second may
+exist without the first and love may often persist without appetite,
+while in woman the two things are difficult to separate, and in any
+case, in her, the original appetite without love is much more rare.
+The two things are thus not identical; even the most materialistic and
+libidinous egoist will agree to this, if he is not too narrow-minded.
+
+It may also happen that love precedes appetite, and this often leads
+to the most happy unions. Two characters may have extreme mutual
+sympathy, and this purely intellectual and sentimental sympathy may at
+first develop without a shadow of sensuality. This is nearly always
+the case when it exists from infancy. In modern society an enormous
+number of sexual unions, or marriages, are consummated without a trace
+of love, and are based on pure speculation, conventionality or
+fortune. Here it is tacitly assumed that the normal sexual appetite
+combined with custom will cement the marriage and render it durable.
+As the normal man has not, as a rule, extreme sentiments, such
+prevision is usually realized on the whole, the conjoints becoming
+gradually adapted to one another, more or less successfully according
+to the discoveries which are made after marriage.
+
+Even when they are relatively true, love stories generally deal with
+exceptional cases, often even pathological; for the average marriage
+does not appear to the novelist sufficiently piquant or interesting to
+captivate his readers. We are not concerned here with extremes, or
+with the tragic situations met with in novels, but with normal and
+ordinary love, as it most often occurs in reality.
+
+After what we have just said, it is clear that love is derived from
+two factors: (1) _momentary sexual passion_; (2) _the hereditary and
+instinctive sentiments of sympathy which are derived from the
+primordial sexual appetite of our animal ancestors, but which have
+become completely independent of this appetite_. Between these two
+terms are placed the sentiments of sympathy experienced by the
+individual in his former life, which have most often been provoked by
+sexual desire for an individual of the opposite sex, and which may be
+evoked by the aid of remembrance, kindled afresh, and contribute
+strongly to maintain constancy of love. These different sentiments
+pass into each other in all possible shades, and continually react on
+each other. Sexual appetite, for example, awakens sympathy, and is
+awakened by the latter in its turn; on the contrary, it is cooled or
+extinguished under the influence of bad conduct on the part of the
+person loved.
+
+Let us here recall a law of the sentiments of sympathy, a law which is
+well known, but generally forgotten in human calculations. Man loves
+best those to whom he devotes himself, and not those from whom he
+receives benefits.[3] It is easy to be convinced of the reality of
+this fact in the relations of parents to their children, as well as in
+marriage. When one of the conjoints in marriage adulates the other,
+the latter may easily find this adulation quite natural, and may love
+the other conjoint much less than a spoilt child, to which is devoted
+all the transports of an unreasonable affection. The spoilt child, the
+object of such blind affection, more often responds to it by
+indifference, or even by ingratitude, disdain and impertinence. We
+find everywhere this play of sentiments, which considerably impedes
+mutuality in love. It may even concern inanimate objects. We like a
+garden, a house or a book over which we have taken much pains, and we
+remain indifferent to the most beautiful and precious gifts which come
+by themselves without our making any effort to obtain them. In the
+same way, the child becomes attached to some toy which he has made
+himself, and disdains the costly presents given by his parents. As a
+poet has said: "Man only enjoys for long and without remorse the goods
+dearly paid for by his efforts." (Sully-Prudhomme: "_Le Bonheur_.")
+
+There is, therefore, a profound psychology in the old and wise saying
+that true love expresses itself as often by refusal as by compliance,
+and should always associate itself with reason. No doubt this is not
+primitive love; it is a love elevated and purified by its combination
+with the elements of intelligence.
+
+In marriage, more than one husband thinks he ought to be separated
+from his wife and children so as not to spoil them. There is no need
+of a long explanation to show the fallacy of this idea. To be
+complete, love should be reciprocal, and to remain mutual it requires
+mutual education in marriage. Every husband should above all be
+separated from himself, and not from his wife. If each one did all in
+his power to promote the happiness of the other, this altruistic
+effort would strengthen his own sentiments of sympathy. This requires
+a constant and loyal effort on each side, but it avoids the illusion
+of a false love, provoked by the senses, vanishing like smoke or
+becoming changed to hatred. Without being blind to the weaknesses of
+his partner he must learn to like them as forming part of the person
+to whom he has devoted his heart, and employ all his skill in
+correcting them by affection, instead of increasing his own weakness
+by leaning on them. It is necessary, therefore, neither to admire nor
+to dislike the defects of the loved one, but to try and attenuate them
+by aid of integral love.
+
+Love has been defined as "dual egoism." The reciprocal adulation of
+two human beings easily degenerates into egoistic enmity toward the
+rest of the human race, and this often reacts harmfully on the quality
+of love. Human solidarity is too great, especially at the present day,
+for such exclusivism in love not to suffer.
+
+I would define ideal love as follows: _After mature consideration, a
+man and a woman are led by sexual attraction, combined with harmony of
+character, to form a union in which they stimulate each other to
+social work, commencing this work with their mutual education and that
+of their children._
+
+Such a conception of love refines this sentiment and purifies it to
+such an extent that it loses all its pettiness, and it is pettiness
+which so often causes it to degenerate, even in its most loyal forms.
+The social work in common of a man and woman united by true affection,
+full of tenderness and devotion for one another, mutually encouraging
+each other to perseverance and to action, will easily triumph over
+petty jealousies and all other instinctive reactions of the
+phylogenetic exclusiveness of natural love. The sentiments of love
+will thus become ever more ideal, and will no longer provide egoism
+with the soil of idleness and comfort on which it grows like a weed.
+
+=Inconvenience of Abstinence from Sexual Connection Between Married
+Couples by Medical Orders.=--It is a matter of common observation that
+in marriage, at least during mature life, sexual connection
+strengthens and maintains love, even when it only constitutes part of
+that which cements tenderness and affection. In many cases I have
+observed that medical orders, given no doubt with good intentions, and
+forbidding sexual connection, on account of certain morbid conditions,
+have had the effect of cooling the sentiments of love and sympathy and
+producing indifference which soon becomes incurable. Physicians should
+always bear this in mind in their prescriptions, of which they too
+often see the immediate object only. The medical prohibition of sexual
+connection in marriage should be reserved for cases of absolute
+necessity. For example: A virtuous and capable man marries for love an
+intelligent but somewhat ill-developed girl. The marriage is happy and
+they have several children. But after a time certain local disorders
+in the woman induce the medical man to forbid sexual connection with
+her husband. They begin to sleep in separate rooms, and little by
+little intimate love becomes so far cooled that the renewal of sexual
+relations later on becomes impossible. The husband's sentiments are so
+much affected as to render him unfaithful to his moral principles,
+and to lead him occasionally to visit prostitutes. Although they have
+become essentially strangers to each other, the husband and wife
+continue to live together an apparently happy life; but this is far
+from always the case.
+
+=Durable Love.=--It may be stated as a principle that true and
+elevated love is durable, and that the sudden passion which lets loose
+the sexual appetite toward an individual of the opposite sex, hitherto
+a stranger, in no way represents the measure of true love. Passion
+warps the judgment, conceals the most evident faults, colors
+everything in celestial purple, renders the lovers blind, and veils
+the true character of each from the other. We are only speaking here
+of cases where each is loyal and where the sexual appetite is not
+associated with the cold calculations of egoism. Reason only returns
+when the first tempest of a passion which seemed insatiable has
+subsided, when the honeymoon of marriage, or of a free union, has
+passed. Then only is it possible to see if what remains is true love,
+indifference, hatred or a mixture of these three sentiments, capable
+or not of becoming more or less adaptable and tolerable. This is why
+sudden amours are always dangerous, and why only long and profound
+mutual acquaintance before marriage can lead to a happy and lasting
+union.
+
+Even in this case the unforseen is not absent, for it is very rarely
+that one knows a man and his ancestry; moreover, acquired diseases or
+mental anomalies may cause his character to degenerate later on.
+
+Let us now examine some psychic phenomena more or less connected with
+love. For reasons which we have mentioned the irradiations of sexual
+love are on the whole less developed in man than in woman.
+
+
+PSYCHIC IRRADIATIONS OF LOVE IN MAN
+
+=Masculine Audacity.=--In the normal male the sentiment of sexual
+power favors self-exaltation, while the contrary sentiment of
+impotence, or even that of mediocre sexual power, depresses this
+sentiment of exaltation. Yet, in reality, the sexual power of man has
+not the capital importance for a normal and virgin woman that men
+imagine, influenced as they are by self-exaltation; what imposes on
+women is especially masculine audacity, and in sexual matters this
+increases with experience and practice. The company of prostitutes
+often renders men incapable of understanding feminine psychology, for
+prostitutes are hardly more than automata trained for the use of male
+sensuality. When men look among these for the sexual psychology of
+woman they only find their own mirror.
+
+Man's flirtation, and his art of paying court to women are naturally
+combined with his audacity, as we have already observed in birds and
+mammals, and some of the lower animals. The male seeks to please the
+female to gain her favors. The brilliant colors of butterflies and
+birds, song, skill and proof of strength, often come to the aid of the
+male sexual instinct. Even in certain animals supplicant and plaintive
+sounds assist the male after his repeated refusal, apparently or in
+reality, by the female. We shall see in Chapter VI that savage men
+have a much greater tendency to tattoo and adorn themselves than have
+the women.
+
+The art which man employs to seduce and conquer woman has been
+described to satiety in romances and novels, as well as in
+ethnographic works; so that we shall not dwell on it here. On the
+contrary, we shall show that in higher civilizations man is in general
+more sought after than woman, so that the latter has surpassed him in
+the art of flirtation or sexual conquest.
+
+It is also important to remark to what extent the increase of man's
+mental complexity transforms his sexual tactics. The simple, natural,
+and at the same time bashful, modest manner, in which a naive young
+man seeks to conquer a heart, usually produces no effect on the
+fashionable young lady, experienced in all refined pleasures and
+saturated with unhealthy novels. These young women are much more
+easily seduced by the art of Don Juan and the old _roues_, who are
+more adequate to deal with them because they have studied practically
+the psychology of the modern woman.
+
+=Instinct of Procreation.=--Another irradiation of the male sexual
+instinct, connected with the preceding, is the instinct of
+procreation. If there were no other difficulties or consequences, man
+would without the least doubt be instinctively inclined to copulate
+with as many women as he could, and procreate as many children as
+possible. The more he is capable of satisfying his procreative
+instinct, the more he becomes self-exalted, as he thus sees himself
+multiplied and feels his power extended by the possession of a great
+number of wives and children. This is one of the principal causes
+which urge rich men and polygamous peoples to possess many women.
+
+Coitus without object, like that of prostitution, can only assuage the
+sexual appetite and does not satisfy any of its higher irradiations.
+It is well known that a happy betrothal, reposing on true love, and
+not on pecuniary interests, often transforms a young man from
+pessimism to optimism, from misogyny to philogyny. Skeptics smile at
+this transformation and regard it as only the transient intoxication
+of love. This may be true in some cases, but, as we have seen above,
+when love is ennobled by deep understanding and mutual education, when
+each knows and respects the other, the transformation remains
+definite, and is strengthened so much that the honeymoon of the silver
+wedding is often happier and more exalted than that which followed
+marriage. We can then say that the optimism created by sexual union
+cemented by true love rests on the normal accomplishment of the object
+of life. I cannot too often repeat that work in common, especially
+social work, on the part of the conjoints, is necessary for their
+happiness to be complete, and to survive in the one who remains after
+the decease of the other.
+
+=Jealousy.=--The worst irradiation, or rather the worst reaction of
+contrast of love, which we have inherited from our animal ancestors,
+and that which is the most deeply rooted, is _jealousy_. Jealousy is a
+heritage of animals and barbarism; that is what I would say to all
+those who, in the name of offended honor, would grant it rights and
+even place it on a pedestal. It is ten times better for a woman to
+marry an unfaithful than a jealous husband. From the phylogenetic
+point of view, jealousy originates in the struggle for the possession
+of woman, at a period when right depended only on brute force. Cunning
+and violence contended with each other, and when the conqueror was in
+possession of a female, he had to guard her jealously to prevent her
+being abducted. Furious combats ensued. As soon as an unaccustomed
+approach, a look or anything else awakened the least suspicion of the
+presence of a rival, the male was tormented with a continual and
+instinctive feeling of defiance and distrust, often increased by the
+remembrance of the sadness of former defeats and the impotent rage
+which followed.
+
+The results of male jealousy in the history of marriage are truly
+incredible. I may mention the iron girdles with locks--the so-called
+girdles of chastity--which we still see in certain museums, which the
+knights of the Middle Ages put on their wives when they set off to the
+wars, in order to appease their jealousy. Many savage peoples do not
+content themselves with severely punishing adultery in woman, even by
+death, but even simple conversations with a strange man. Jealousy
+transforms marriage into a hell. It is often exalted in man to the
+point of a mania for persecution, to which it is analogous. It is also
+a very common symptom of alcoholism. Then the life of the unfortunate
+woman who is the object of it becomes a continual martyrdom. Perpetual
+suspicion accompanied by insults, threats and violent words, and even
+homicide may be the result of this atrocious passion.
+
+Even in its more moderate and normal form, jealousy is a torment, for
+distrust and suspicion poison love. We often hear of justified
+jealousy; I maintain, on the contrary, that jealousy is never
+justified, and that it is only the brutal stupidity of an atavistic
+heritage, or a pathological symptom. A reasonable man who has doubts
+as to the fidelity of his wife has certainly the right to assure
+himself of their correctness. But of what use is it to be jealous? If
+he finds his suspicions false he has, by his manner, made his wife
+unnecessarily unhappy and destroyed conjugal confidence and happiness.
+If, on the contrary, his suspicions are well founded he has only to
+choose between one of two ways. If it is a case of amorous
+intoxication suggested by another man to his wife, who is often very
+unhappy about it, she may then be restored to her husband and
+pardoned, for in this case affection only can cure her, never
+jealousy. If, however, love for her husband is entirely extinguished
+in her, or if she is only a false intriguer without character,
+jealousy is even more absurd, for the game is not worth the candle,
+and immediate divorce is necessary.
+
+Unfortunately, man only possesses very little control over his
+feelings when these are violent. The jealous person by nature, that is
+by heredity, is generally incurable and poisons his own existence at
+the same time as that of his wife. Such individuals should never
+marry.
+
+In lunatic asylums, in law, and in novels jealousy plays an important
+part, for it is one of the most fruitful sources of tragedies and
+human unhappiness. The combined and persevering efforts of education
+and selection are necessary to gradually eliminate it from the human
+brain. We often hear it said of man and woman that they are not
+jealous enough, because they are too indulgent toward the
+extra-nuptial inclinations of their conjoint. When such indulgence
+rests on cynical indifference or on pecuniary interests, it is not the
+want of jealousy but the want of moral sense which is to blame. If it
+arises from real and reasoned love, it should on the contrary be
+highly respected and praised. I would wish all heroes of offended
+honor and all defenders of jealousy to reflect on the following case:
+
+A man of high position, and the father of five children, lived in the
+most happy union. One day he made the acquaintance of a friend of his
+wife, a very intelligent and well-educated lady. Frequent visits and
+long conversations led to intimacy which developed into violent
+reciprocal love. However, the lady refused to abandon herself
+entirely. The husband confessed everything to his wife, even to the
+smallest details, and the lady did the same. Instead of becoming
+jealous, the wife had the good sense and the courage to treat the two
+lovers not only with indulgence, but a true and profound affection.
+The loyalty of each of the parties interested greatly facilitated the
+gradual _denouement_ of a difficult situation, without the family
+affections suffering. But the _denouement_ would have been quite as
+peaceful if the lady had yielded to sexual connection with the
+husband. In fact, the wife herself considered this question very
+seriously and calmly, in case the fire could not be otherwise
+extinguished.
+
+I ask in all sincerity, if such mild and humane treatment of an
+unfortunate love affair, in which the three interested parties each
+strove to avoid all scandal and everything which could damage their
+mutual reputation, I ask if this good and loyal treatment is not, from
+the moral standpoint, far superior to scenes of jealousy, duels,
+divorces and all their consequences, things which are all sanctioned
+and even sanctified by custom?
+
+I also know many cases where the husbands of women who have fallen in
+love with other men have conducted themselves in an equally noble and
+reasonable manner, even when their wives had been completely
+unfaithful, and the results have always been good. It is needless to
+say that I do not wish to maintain that a husband should tolerate
+indefinitely the bad conduct of his wife, nor a woman that of her
+husband; but this is another thing.
+
+=Sexual Braggardism.=--Let us pass on to another irradiation of the
+male sexual appetite--sexual braggardism. This arises from
+self-exaltation evolved from the sexual power of man. Like jealousy,
+this sentiment is no doubt inherited from our animal ancestors, and it
+finds its analogy, or rather its caricature, in the cock, the peacock,
+the turkey, and in general among the richly adorned males of
+polygamous species. Although on the whole more innocent, the results
+of this atavistic instinct are no more elevated than those of
+jealousy. The sentiment of sexual power induces men, especially those
+of lower mental caliber, to boast of their sexual conquests and
+exaggerate them. It is needless to say that success does not go to the
+unskillful boaster, but to the one who relates his audacious exploits
+in a casual way. The Don Juan experienced in the art of seduction
+approaches women with audacity and _aplomb_, and usually imposes on
+them considerably, whatever his ignorance of other things. He has
+instinctively learnt one thing: viz., the weakness of woman in the
+face of the male form, theatrical effect, uniforms, an audacious act,
+a fierce mustache, etc. He has learnt that these fireworks hypnotize
+her and silence her reason, and that she is then capable of enthusiasm
+for the most doubtful cavalier and delivers herself to him bound hand
+and foot, provided his self-assurance does not desert him.
+
+I may say here that it is most often men of low intellect, weak in
+judgment and principles, who think themselves most superior to the
+feminine sex, and who behave as tyrants to their wives.
+
+Sexual braggardism has, moreover, grave consequences for the man
+himself, for it urges him to excesses which far exceed his appetites
+and especially his natural wants. In spite of other advantages, he
+wishes to shine by these excesses among his fellows and even among the
+grisettes whose minds are full of sexual matters.
+
+Male sexual braggardism contributes with sexual appetite to entice
+reserved and high-minded young men toward prostitutes, against their
+better instincts, their reason and their moral sense. Alcohol
+especially facilitates the degeneration of sexual life.
+
+=The Pornographic Spirit.=--The term _eroticism_ is given to the state
+of excitation of the sexual appetite. When a person cultivates it
+artificially and abandons himself to purely animal sensuality, without
+combining it with higher intellectual or moral aspirations, there
+develop in the mind irradiations which may be designated by the term
+_pornographic spirit_. The entire circle of ideas of such individuals
+is so impregnated with eroticism that all their thoughts and
+sentiments are colored by it. They see everywhere, even in the most
+innocent objects, the most lewd allusions. Woman is only regarded by
+them as an object of sexual enjoyment, and her mind only appears to
+such satyrs as an ignoble erotic caricature, which is disgusting to
+every man capable of lofty sentiments.
+
+Owing to its usually sensual and gross nature, male eroticism has
+succeeded in modeling a whole class of women in whom ideal character
+in their desires is wanting. Instead of recognizing his own work and
+the vile image of his own person in these unnatural women, the
+libertine, as we have already seen, imagines them as the normal type
+of woman. From the height of his presumption, he then despises woman
+and does not perceive that it is himself whom he despises; for on the
+whole, from the sexual point of view, the dependent woman of to-day
+conforms herself to man and becomes what he makes her. The number of
+coitus, their details, the size and form of the sexual organs, the
+pleasure of having cut out other men, and especially the pathological
+perversions of the sexual appetite, form the chief object of the
+thoughts and conversations of pornographic minds. Each tries to outdo
+the others in sexual enormities, and the virtuosity of these gentlemen
+in this domain is only surpassed by their ignorance and incapacity in
+all others.
+
+Prostitution and all the modern sexual degeneration which marches
+under the hypocritical flag of Christianity, civilization and
+monogamy, have so far developed the pornographic spirit that men
+living in centers of debauchery, centers which are unfortunately
+extending more and more from town to country, lose all conception of
+the noble qualities natural to the feminine sentiment and to true
+love, or only preserve a few shreds of it which they treat with
+ridicule. Many men have admitted this to me, after being much
+astonished when I was obliged to give them quite another conception of
+love and woman, without introducing the least trace of religion. No
+doubt certain better individuals, fallen by chance into debauchery,
+speak respectfully of a mother or a sister, for whom they profess an
+almost religious worship. They regard these as beings apart, as
+species of a lost race of demigods, and they do not perceive that they
+discredit them and drag them in the mud by their contempt and
+pornographic conception of woman in general, a conception which is
+moreover often altered to profound pessimism.
+
+In the relatively moral circles of society, our description would no
+doubt be taxed with exaggeration, because natures a little more
+refined have the habit of acting like the ostrich who hides his head
+in the sand, that is to say of turning their eyes away from the
+pornographic swamp with disgust so as not to see it, and thus avoid it
+instinctively. But this maneuver serves no purpose: the facts remain
+as they are.
+
+Eroticism is no more a vice than sexual anaesthesia is a virtue. Even
+when they are chaste, men of libidinous nature require a strong will
+to resist all the artificial seductions which excite their sensuality.
+This is why the bog of debauchery engulfs so many men of a naturally
+good nature. In this sense, cold natures are better off; they can
+cover themselves with the glory of a "virtue" the resplendent rays of
+which become lost in a penumbra of defects and weaknesses from which
+these natures suffer in other domains.
+
+=Sexual Hypocrisy.=--Hypocrisy is a peculiarity deeply rooted in the
+human mind. We can affirm that whoever pretends never to have been a
+hypocrite lies, quite as much as one who swears he has never lied. But
+nowhere, save perhaps in the domain of religion, does hypocrisy play a
+greater part than in the sexual domain. Nowhere is there so much
+falsehood, and men who are most honest on other points make no scruple
+of deceiving their wives in this respect. I do not speak here of the
+simulation of sentiments of love, for it is too banal, and there is no
+need to be too exacting over this point, for there are strong
+attenuating circumstances.
+
+First of all, erotic feelings are capable of blinding man for the
+moment, as far as persuading him of the eternal duration of love and
+fidelity which he promises the object of his appetites, as well as of
+the reality of the celestial qualities under which this object appears
+to him, or with which it pleases him to adorn it. Two persons mutually
+excited by sexual passion are fascinated by the illusions of a mirage,
+which often vanishes soon afterward, so that it is not rare to see
+them on the following day hurling the most violent abuse at each
+other.
+
+Those who have not been witnesses of such events may hardly believe
+them. It is sufficient, however, to be a magistrate or to read the
+reports of lawsuits between debased persons as the result of love
+quarrels, broken engagements or marriages, seductions, etc., to study
+the letters that the two parties have written before and after their
+quarrel, in order to be convinced of the correctness of what we have
+said above. In the first letters the lovers adulate each other and
+adorn each other with the most hyperbolic epithets, swearing eternal
+love and fidelity, and deluding each other in the most absurd manner.
+In letters written sometimes only a few days later we are astonished
+to see the same individuals grossly insulting each other and mutually
+covering themselves with ignoble calumnies. This is how passion
+without reason passes through the furnaces of love and hatred,
+dragging after it all the artificial scaffolding of what man imagines
+to be his right based on logic, but which is in reality only a tissue
+of ridiculous contradictions, the automatic and inept product of his
+emotional state. Such contrasts are so frequent that we can easily
+recognize the expression of a psychological law, due to the mirages of
+the amorous passions on the one hand and the inverse reaction on the
+other.
+
+Nevertheless hypocrisy has its good side. It has been said not without
+reason that "hypocrisy is a concession which vice makes to virtue." In
+their nakedness human thoughts are often so sadly vulgar and so
+offensive that a little varnish improves them. In this sense, and when
+it comes from a feeling of shame or good-will, hypocrisy deserves a
+good deal of the eulogy which Mark Twain has heaped on it in his
+charming satire, "The Decadence of the Art of Lying."
+
+In the sexual question hypocrisy is directly provoked by the tyranny
+and barbarism of what are called good manners, often even by the law.
+In this sense it constitutes a response of human nature to the forms
+and customs derived from the right of the stronger or from religious
+superstitions, as well as from the dogmas resulting from them.
+
+By the term _sexual hypocrisy_ I do not mean the repugnant forms of
+hypocrisy pure and simple, in which man only exploits love indirectly
+for an interested end, for instance when he simulates love to obtain a
+rich wife. I only speak of the forms of hypocrisy which are directly
+evolved from the sexual appetite or from love.
+
+It is from this point of view that we must judge sexual hypocrisy, and
+if I have laid special stress on its good points, it is in view of
+marriage, where it assists the education of noble and elevated
+sentiments even in the hypocrite. By praising the virtues of his
+helpmate with a little exaggeration, these are made to appear more
+noble. If the time is spent in saying disagreeable truths, love is
+soon stifled and killed. On the contrary, if each conjoint attributes
+to the other as fine qualities as possible, each is finally persuaded
+that the other really possesses them, and then realizes them himself,
+at any rate in part.
+
+The worst of hypocrisies is that which is the product of base
+pecuniary interests, or of a gross sexual appetite without love, or
+lastly by the pressure of conventional or religious customs. Good
+hypocrisy consists in the repression of all that is base in the
+sentiments, inclinations and passions; in the fact that one strives to
+hide it from others, even from one's self, and to suggest in its place
+as many amiable qualities as possible, so as to strengthen in a
+disinterested manner the object of one's love in noble sentiments.
+This kind of hypocrisy is in reality an indirect product of altruistic
+sentiments. One perceives with pain on reflecting, either the absence
+of spontaneous sentiments of sympathy, or the presence of disgust and
+bad temper, and one strives to hide the thing by sympathetic
+expressions for which one seeks an object, and to which one would wish
+to give a durable character. Loyal efforts made in this direction
+often succeed in correcting the egoistic humor with which one is
+affected, and in giving rise to the sentiments one desires to
+experience. One must not, however, by only looking at one side of the
+question, allow such efforts to degenerate into maladroit blindness,
+which will only have the effect of spoiling the person one loves.
+
+=Egoistic Love.=--It is obvious that the psychic irradiations of the
+sexual sense are strongly influenced by the individuality of the one
+who loves. The egoist loves in a manner naively egoistic. He is not
+wanting in fine words, but in his opinion all sentiment and respect is
+due to his person, while he reduces to a minimum his duties toward the
+object of his love. He exacts much from the other and gives little.
+The good man with altruistic sentiments feels things in an inverse
+way; he exacts little from others, and much from himself.
+
+Love differs in different natures, according as they are calm or
+lively, imbecile or intelligent, well educated or otherwise: the will
+plays a great part here. Weakness and impulsiveness are found in love,
+as well as energy and perseverance. In the last point woman is
+superior, owing to the greater constancy of her love. There is thus no
+domain of the mind which is not influenced by love, and which does not
+react on love in its turn.
+
+Intellectual occupations are facilitated by a happy love, while they
+are usually hindered by the sorrows of love. Even men of science, so
+proud of their calmness, are often more influenced than one would
+think in their scientific opinions by their emotional sentiments.
+Without a man being aware of it, his sentiments insinuate themselves
+into the opinions which he believes to be of a purely intellectual
+nature, and direct them unconsciously with much more power than he
+generally imagines. Such influences act chiefly on individuals
+disposed to sentimentality. In love, these individuals resemble
+two-edged swords; the intensity of their emotional reactions and
+sentiments drives them from one extreme to another, from foolish
+happiness to despair or fury. The situation becomes still more grave
+when such storms burst among impulsive persons of weak will and
+limited intelligence. Under such circumstances ill-assorted alliances
+are formed which lead to violent quarrels, and sometimes even to
+crime. When jealousy comes on the scene the man often kills the woman
+and commits suicide.
+
+It would seem that such crime can only arise from egoism; this is
+often the case, but not always. Despair may often lead to such acts,
+without any motive of vengeance, or even of jealousy. The storm of
+passion drives weak-minded persons to impulsive actions, the motives
+of which are very difficult to analyze. After these tragedies of
+murder preceding suicide, when the murderer survives, he often
+expresses himself as follows: "I was in such a state of despair and
+excitement that I saw no other issue than death for both of us."
+
+=Prudery. Modesty.=--The sentiment of modesty originates in the fear
+of everything which is novel and unusual, and is complicated by
+natural timidity. This sentiment is especially strong in children. The
+sentiment of sexual modesty in man thus rests on timidity and on the
+fear of not doing as others do. It betrays itself toward women by
+awkwardness and bashfulness behind which eroticism is often ill
+concealed. The timid and bashful man carefully endeavors to hide his
+sexual feelings from others. The object of modesty is in itself
+immaterial to the psychology of this sentiment, and shame is sometimes
+inspired not only by very different things but even by opposite
+things. One youth is ashamed of appearing erotic, another of appearing
+too little erotic, according to the opinion of his neighbors.
+
+Modesty depends on the custom of covering or exposing certain parts of
+the body, and people who live in a state of nature are as much ashamed
+of clothes as we are ashamed of nudity. Moreover, man soon becomes
+accustomed to fashion, and the same English girl who blushes at the
+sight of a few inches of bare skin in her own country, finds it quite
+natural to see naked negroes in the tropics.
+
+The artificial and systematic cultivation of an exaggerated sentiment
+of modesty produces _prudery_, the bad results of which are, however,
+less than those of pornography. There are young people so modest that
+the simple thought of sexual matters overexcites them terribly. By
+associating their own erotic feelings, of which they feel ashamed,
+with sexual ideas, they invest these with terrifying attributes, and
+become quite unhappy; in this way they are often led to masturbation.
+They are, however, excessively frightened at this also and imagine its
+effects so terrible that they think themselves lost. Their exaggerated
+feelings of modesty often prevent them confiding in some charitable
+person. However, they rarely find reasonable consolers; some ridicule
+them, while others regard them as iniquitous, which only increases
+their terror and drives them to extremes.
+
+The sexual sentiment of modesty very often becomes unhealthy, and is
+then easily combined with pathological sexual conditions.
+
+Prudery is, so to speak, sexual modesty codified and dogmatized. It is
+indeterminate, because the object of modesty is purely conventional,
+and man has no valid reason to regard any part of his body as
+shameful. Normal man ought only to be ashamed of bad thoughts and
+actions, contrary to his moral conscience. The latter should be based
+on natural human altruism only, and not artificially misled by dogma.
+
+=The Old Bachelor.=--The importance of the psychic irradiations of
+love is shown perhaps more clearly from the results of their presence
+in old bachelors than from any other consideration. In our time, no
+doubt, the state of the old bachelor rarely means the renunciation of
+the satisfaction of sexual appetite, although it generally entails the
+renunciation of love. There are, no doubt, two kinds of old bachelors,
+those who are chaste and those who are not. The old bachelor no doubt
+leads a less empty existence than the old maid, but the void exists
+none the less. Man also needs compensation for the absence of love and
+family, but his brain is more capable than that of woman of finding
+this compensation in hard intellectual work or in some other
+employment.
+
+The old bachelor is generally pessimistic and morose. He easily
+becomes the slave of his fads and hobbies, and the peculiarities of
+his character are proverbial. His egoism knows no bounds, and his
+altruistic impulses usually find too few objects or echoes.
+
+The chastity of some old bachelors conceals sexual anomalies. But even
+apart from this, the old celibate easily becomes shy, affected,
+misanthropic or misogynistic, at least if some energetic friend does
+not induce him to utilize his power of work in some useful sphere. At
+other times he lavishes exaggerated admiration on women and worships
+them in a pompous manner.
+
+In a separate category come those old bachelors who are chaste and
+celibate for high moral reasons, and whose life is spent in social
+work, although they are only men and cannot for this reason free
+themselves from all the peculiarities we have mentioned. In a word,
+the object of life is partly wanting in the best of old bachelors, and
+this void not only affects his sentiments but his whole mental being.
+His general tendency to pessimism and egoism would be sufficient alone
+to provoke an energetic protest against the abandonment of social
+power to celibates.
+
+The old bachelor who is not chaste generally descends to pornography,
+only becoming acquainted with the worst side of woman. He becomes a
+misogynist because he wrongly attributes to all women the character of
+those only with whom he has intimate relations. We have already
+pointed out this phenomenon in speaking of male eroticism. The
+philosopher, Schopenhauer, was an example of this kind.
+
+
+PSYCHIC IRRADIATIONS OF LOVE IN WOMEN
+
+In speaking of love in man we have already touched on many points
+which differentiate it from that of woman. In the latter, the most
+prominent peculiarity is the dominant role which it plays in the
+brain. Without love woman abjures her nature and ceases to be normal.
+
+=The Old Maid.=--What we have said of old bachelors applies in a still
+more marked degree, to old maids. Still more than men they have need
+of compensation for sexual love, to avoid losing their natural
+qualities and becoming dried-up beings or useless egoists. But, if the
+void left by love is greater in her, woman possesses such natural
+energy and perseverance, combined with such great power of devotion,
+that on the whole she is more capable than man of accomplishing the
+work which the void in her existence requires. Unfortunately, many
+women do not understand this. On the other hand, those who devote
+themselves to social philanthropic works, to art or literature, to
+nursing the sick or to other useful occupations, instead of amusing
+themselves with futile things, may greatly distinguish themselves in
+such social pursuits, and thus obtain real compensation for the loss
+of love.
+
+In this respect woman was formerly misunderstood. The modern movement
+of her emancipation shows more and more what she is capable of and
+promises much more in the future.
+
+As to the old maid who lives alone with her egoism, her whims and
+fancies generally exceed those of the old bachelor. She has not the
+faculty of creating anything original by her own intellect, so that,
+having lost love, all her mental power shrinks up. Her cat, her little
+dog, and the daily care of her person and small household occupy her
+whole mind. It is not surprising that such persons generally create a
+pitiable and ridiculous impression.
+
+Between these two extremes there exists a category of unmarried women
+whose sexual love finds compensation in the love they bear for a
+parent or a friend (male or female), which although not sexual is none
+the less ardent. Such occupation for their sentiments improves their
+state of mind and partially fills the void; however, it is not
+sufficient as a rule and only constitutes a last resource. This kind
+of devotion, by its exclusiveness, often produces bad results, for its
+horizon is too limited. If the object of love, which is generally too
+pampered, dies or abandons her, she loses her head; grief, bitterness
+and pessimism never leave her, unless she finds consolation in
+religious exaltation, which is often observed in other women deprived
+of love. This last peculiarity is met with, moreover, in all classes
+of women, even among the married.
+
+=Passiveness of Woman. Sexual Appetite.=--Ideal love should never be
+dual egoism. What happens when two persons live exclusively for each
+other, if one of them dies? The survivor sinks into inconsolable
+despair, all that his heart was attached to is dead, because his love
+did not extend to other human beings, nor to social works. Widows then
+become as pitiable as old maids, although in another way, when they
+have lost the object of their exclusive love. This is why we recommend
+social work, not only for celibates, but also for loving couples.
+
+I again emphasize the fact that in normal women, especially young
+girls, the sexual appetite is subordinate to love. In the young girl
+love is a mixture of exalted admiration for masculine courage and
+grandeur, and an ardent desire for affection and maternity. She wishes
+to be outwardly dominated by a man, but to dominate him by her heart.
+This sentimentalism of the young girl, joined to the passive role of
+her sex, produces in her a state of exaltation which often borders on
+ecstasy and then overcomes all the resistance of will and reason. The
+woman surrenders herself to the man of whom she is enamored, or who
+has conquered or hypnotized her. She is vanquished by his embraces and
+follows him submissively, and in such a state of mind she is capable
+of any folly.
+
+Although more violent and impetuous in his love, man loses his
+_sang-froid_ on the whole much less than woman. We can therefore say
+that the relative power of sentiment is on the average greater in
+woman, in spite of her passive role.
+
+I cannot protest too strongly against the way in which men of the day
+disparage women and misunderstand them. In the way in which a young
+girl abandons herself to their sexual appetites, in caresses, and in
+the ecstasy of her love, they think they see the proof of a purely
+sensual eroticism, identical to their libidinous desire for coitus,
+while in reality she usually does not think of it, at any rate at
+first. The first coitus is usually painful to woman, often repugnant.
+Many are the cases where young girls, even when they knew the terrible
+social and individual dangers of their weakness, even when they have
+perhaps once already experienced the consequences, let the man abuse
+them without a word of complaint, without a trace of sexual pleasure
+or venereal orgasm, simply to please the one who desires them, because
+he is so good and amiable, and because refusal would give him so much
+pain. In his violent passion and in his egoism, man is generally
+incapable of understanding the power of this stoicism of a mind which
+surrenders itself in spite of all dangers and all its interests. He
+confounds his own appetites with the sentiments of the woman, and
+finds in this false interpretation of feminine psychology the excuses
+for the cowardice of which he gives proof when he yields to his
+passions. The psychology of the young girl who surrenders herself has
+been admirably depicted by Goethe in _Gretchen_ ("Faust"), as well as
+by de Maupassant on several occasions.
+
+It is necessary to know all these facts in order to estimate at its
+true value the ignominy of our social institutions and their bearing
+on woman's life. If men did not so misunderstand women, and especially
+if they were aware of the deep injustice of our customs and laws with
+regard to them, the better ones, at least, would think twice before
+seducing young girls, to abandon them afterward with their children. I
+am only speaking now of true love and not of the extortion so often
+practiced by women of low character, or those already educated in
+vice.
+
+I shall say no more concerning eroticism, which really exists in many
+women, especially in those who are already experienced in sexual
+matters. On the other hand there are women who deceive their husbands
+and allow themselves to be seduced by any Don Juan, even when they
+have never had the least sexual appetite, or felt a single venereal
+orgasm. They allow themselves to be dragged in the mud and lose their
+reputation, their fortune and their family; they even let their
+seducer trample them under foot; they become defamed and treated as
+women without character, without honor and without any notion of duty.
+They are simply poor feeble creatures incapable of resisting
+masculine proposals. With good psychological training they would often
+become better women, active, devoted and full of life. It seems hardly
+credible, but it is true, that one sometimes finds in this category
+women who are highly gifted. It is then said that they are wanting in
+moral sense, but this is not always correct. In other respects they
+may be faithful to their duty, devoted, sometimes even energetic and
+heroic; but they submit to masculine influence to such a degree that
+they cannot conceive how to resist it. They find it quite natural to
+give way to it and their mind does not understand that the complete
+abandonment of their body to the man they love should not necessarily
+follow immediately after the abandonment of their heart, or even after
+the first kiss. It is impossible for them to make distinctions or to
+trace limits.
+
+=Idealism in Woman.=--The cases I have just described are extreme,
+although very common; they give the note of a general phenomenon of
+feminine love in its exaltation. It is needless to say that reasonable
+women of high character behave themselves in quite another manner,
+however profound their love. Nevertheless the trait which we have just
+described is nearly always found at the bottom of all true love in
+woman, however much it may be veiled, dissimulated or conquered.
+
+It is not always audacity or heroic deeds like those of the bold
+cavaliers of former days which excite love in woman. The external
+qualities of man, such as beauty and elegance, etc., also play a part,
+although their effect may be less decisive than that of the bodily
+charms of woman in exciting love in man. Intellectual superiority,
+high moral actions, and mental qualities in general, easily affect the
+heart of woman, which becomes exalted under their influence. But every
+man who becomes famous either for good or evil, the fashionable actor,
+the celebrated tenor, etc., has the power of exciting love in women.
+Women without education or those of inferior mental quality are
+naturally more easily affected by the bodily strength of man, and by
+his external appearance in general. Many women are especially liable
+to succumb under the influence of all that is mystic. These become
+infatuated by preachers, and religious enthusiasts, to say nothing of
+hypocrites.
+
+Nothing is sadder than the contrast between the exalted love of a
+virtuous and chaste young girl, and the debauched life, with its
+traits of cynical pornography, of the majority of young men. Guy de
+Maupassant has described this contrast in a most striking manner in
+his romance entitled "_Une Vie_." I know a number of cases in which
+the complete ignorance of young married women with regard to sexual
+relations, combined with the cynical lewdness of their husbands, has
+transformed the exalted love of a young girl into profound disgust,
+and has sometimes even caused mental disorders. Although not very
+common, the psychoses resulting from the deception and shock of the
+nuptial night are not very rare. But what is much worse than this
+douche of cold water which suddenly substitutes the reality of coitus
+for the ideal exaltation of sentiment, are the subsequent discoveries
+made by the young wife, when the cynical mind of her husband on the
+subject of sexual connection and love is unveiled to her in all its
+grossness, resulting from his previous life of debauchery. Torn and
+sullied in its deepest fibers, the feminine mind then becomes the seat
+of a desperate struggle between reality full of deceptions and the
+illusions of a dream of happiness.
+
+If it is only a question of bad habits, or want of tact in the
+husband, behind which there exists perhaps true love, the wounds in
+the woman's sentiment may heal and intimacy may develop; but when the
+cynicism is too marked, when the habits of sexual debauchery are too
+inveterate, the love of a virtuous woman is soon stifled, and is
+changed to resignation and disgust, often to martyrdom or hatred.
+
+In other cases the woman is weak and ill-developed and allows herself
+to sink to the level of her husband's sentiments. Sometimes, the
+crisis is accentuated and leads to divorce. In de Maupassant's "_Une
+Vie_," he describes with profound insight the continuous deceptions of
+a young innocent and sentimental girl who marries an egoistic roue,
+and whose life is transformed into martyrdom and completely ruined. De
+Maupassant's romances contain such true psychology of sexual life and
+love in all their forms, often even in their exceptional aberrations,
+that they furnish an admirable illustration to the present chapter.
+
+=Petticoat Government.=--A series of most important irradiations of
+love in woman results from the need she feels of being, if not
+dominated, at least protected by her husband. To be happy, a woman
+must be able to respect her husband and even regard him with more or
+less veneration; she must see in him the realization of an ideal,
+either of bodily strength, courage, unselfishness or superior
+intellect. If this is not the case, the husband easily falls under the
+petticoat government, or indifference and antipathy may develop in the
+wife, at least if misfortune or illness in the husband does not excite
+her pity and transform her into a resigned nurse.
+
+Petticoat government can hardly make a household truly happy, for here
+the positions are reversed and the wife rules because the husband is
+weak. But the normal instinct of woman is to rule over the heart of
+man, not over his intelligence or on his will. Ruling in these last
+domains may flatter a woman's vanity and render it dominating, but it
+never satisfies her heart, and this is why the woman who rules is so
+often unfaithful to her husband, if not in deed, at least in thought.
+
+In such a union she has not found the true love which she sought, and
+for this reason, if her moral principles are weak, she looks for
+compensation in some Don Juan. If the woman in question has a strong
+character, or if she is sexually cold, she may easily become sour and
+bitter. These women, who are not rare, are to be dreaded; their
+plighted love is transformed into hatred, bad temper or jealousy, and
+only finds satisfaction in the torment of others.
+
+The psychology of this kind of woman is interesting. They are not
+usually conscious of their malice. The chronic bitterness resulting
+from an unfortunate hereditary disposition in their character, as much
+as from their outraged feelings, makes them take a dislike to the
+world and renders them incapable of seeing anything but the worst side
+of people. They become accustomed to disparage everything
+automatically, to take offense at everything and to speak ill of
+everything on every occasion. They are unhappy, but they find a
+diabolical joy in all misfortune where they see the confirmation of
+their somber prophecies, the only satisfaction which is capable of
+exalting them.
+
+We have just said that a certain constitutional disposition is
+necessary for such a deplorable change in feminine sentiments to be
+produced; but this disposition is often only developed under the
+influence of circumstances which we have indicated or analogous ones.
+
+It is impossible for the life in common of two conjoints not to reveal
+their reciprocal failings. But true love generally suffices to
+definitely cement a union, provided that the wife finds a support in
+the steadfast nature of her husband, which then serves as her ideal.
+It is also necessary that the husband, finding sentiments of devoted
+love in his wife, should reciprocate them. These conditions are
+sufficient, if both devote their efforts to the maintenance of their
+family and the social welfare.
+
+=Maternal Love.=--The most profound and most natural irradiation of
+the sexual appetite in woman is _maternal love_. A mother who does not
+love her children is an unnatural being, and a man who does not
+understand the desires of maternity in his wife, and does not respect
+them, is not worthy of her love. Sometimes egoism renders a man
+jealous of the love which his wife bears to his children. At other
+times, the father may show more love for the children than their
+mother; such exceptions only prove the rule.
+
+The most beautiful and most natural of the irradiations of love is the
+joy of parents at the birth of their children, a joy which is one of
+the strongest bonds of conjugal affection, and which helps the couple
+in triumphing over the conflicting elements in their characters, and
+in raising the moral level of their reciprocal sentiments, for it
+realizes the natural object of sexual union.
+
+A true woman rejoices at the progress of her pregnancy. The last pains
+of childbirth have hardly ceased before she laughs with joy, and
+pride, at hearing the first cries of the newly born. The instinctive
+outburst of maternal love toward the new-born child corresponds to a
+natural imprescriptible right of the child, for it needs the continual
+care of its mother. Nothing is so beautiful in the world as the
+radiant joy of a young mother nursing her child, and no sign of
+degeneration is more painful than that of mothers who abandon their
+children without absolute necessity, to strange hands.
+
+On the other hand reason must intervene. The instructive transports of
+maternal love soon require a counterpoise. It is important to prevent
+them from degenerating into unreasonable spoiling, by scientific and
+medical education of the infants. Modern medical art has made great
+progress in this direction, but unfortunately, egoism, negligence,
+routine, the desire of enjoyment, or often the poverty of many mothers
+prevent them from benefiting from this progress and applying it as
+they should. Instead of looking after their children they leave them
+to nurses. The latter may be necessary to help and instruct young
+wives during their first childbirth; but a natural mother will profit
+by these instructions and will herself become an excellent nurse,
+because she will feel her natural ties and will consecrate herself to
+them with the devotion of a maternal love heightened and refined by
+reason and knowledge. Among the lower classes the poverty and
+ignorance of mothers, often also their thoughtlessness and indolence,
+are an obstacle to the rational education of infants.
+
+"=Monkey's Love.="--Maternal love thus constitutes the most important
+irradiation of the sexual instincts in woman. It very easily
+degenerates into weakness, that is to say into unreasonable passion
+and blind compliance with all the faults of the child, which the
+mother excuses and transforms into virtues. The foibles of maternal
+love do much harm to the child and are often the origin of bitter
+deceptions. Hereditary weakness of character here plays a great, or
+even the principal part. Nevertheless, maternal foibles have other
+causes--riches, absence of culture, idleness, too few children, etc.
+
+The best antidote for this unreasonable maternal love, which the
+Germans call "monkey's love" consists in active occupations for the
+mother, combined with a healthy education of her character. Work alone
+is not sufficient, if the mother has limited ideas, and if she is not
+freed from routine, ignorance, superstition and weakness of will.
+
+=Sentiments and Perseverance.=--The power of love in woman does not
+rest alone on the varied harmony of her sentiments of sympathy for her
+husband and children, and on the extraordinary finesse and natural
+tact which she adds to it; such qualities make her, no doubt, the ray
+of sunshine in the family life, but more powerful still are the
+tenacity and perseverance of her love.
+
+In general, it is by will-power that woman is superior to man, and it
+is in the domain of love that this superiority shines in all its
+glory. As a general rule it is the wife who sustains the family. Among
+the common people, it is she who economizes, she who watches carefully
+over all and corrects the failings, the passionate and impulsive acts,
+the discouragements, so frequent with the husband. How often do we see
+the father abandon the children, waste his earnings and leave his
+situation under some futile pretext, while his courageous wife,
+although suffering from hunger and destitution, holds firm and manages
+to save the debris which has escaped the excesses and egoism of the
+husband.
+
+The husband of a feeble or alcoholic wife sometimes becomes the sole
+support of the family, but such exceptions only prove the rule, that
+where the normal love and courage of woman are wanting, the family
+becomes broken up, for man very rarely possesses the necessary
+faculties for its preservation.
+
+It follows from these facts that the modern tendency of women to
+become pleasure-seekers, and to take a dislike to maternity, leads to
+complete degeneration of society. This is a grave social evil, which
+rapidly changes the qualities and power of expansion of a race, and
+which must be cured in time, or the race affected by it will be
+supplanted by others.
+
+If the feminine mind is generally wanting in intellectual imagination
+and power of combination, it is all the more powerful in the practical
+intuition of its judgment and in sentimental imagination. The finesse
+of its moral and aesthetic sentiments, its natural tact, its
+instructive desire to put some element of poetry into all the details
+of life, contribute to form true family happiness, a happiness which
+the husband and children too often enjoy without fully realizing the
+devoted labor, the love and the pains which the mother has given to
+create it.
+
+=Routine.=--The reverse of the irradiations of love in woman is
+constituted by her failings, which we have already partly indicated.
+We may add that her intelligence is usually superficial, that she
+attributes an exaggerated importance to trifles, that she often does
+not understand the object of ideal conceptions, and remains attached
+by routine to all her hobbies. This routine represents in feminine
+psychology the excess of a tenacious will applied only to the
+repetition of what has been taught. In the family, woman constitutes
+the conservative element because sentiment in her much more than in
+man, combined with persevering tenacity, predominates over
+intelligence; but sentiments represent everywhere and always the
+conservative element in the human mind.
+
+This is why woman is the strongest supporter of dogmas, customs,
+fashions, prejudices and mysticism. It is not that she herself is more
+disposed than man to mystic beliefs, but these when once dogmatized
+dazzle the eyes of the suffering with visions of compensation in a
+better world. In this way a number of unhappy or disappointed women
+are affected with religious exaltation and thus cling to the hope of
+happiness after death which they believe will compensate them for the
+vicissitudes of their existence.
+
+The other reverses of the feminine character, such as want of logic,
+obstinacy, love of trinkets, etc., result from the fundamental
+weakness of the feminine mind which we have just analyzed. Moreover,
+the social dependence in which man has placed woman, both from the
+legal and educational points of view, tend to increase her failings.
+Many people fear that women's suffrage would hinder progress, for the
+reasons we have just indicated, but they forget that the actual
+suffrage of men is to a great extent exercised by their wives,
+indirectly and unconsciously. This fact alone shows that the
+education, and legal emancipation of women can only be beneficial to
+progress, especially as they would contribute to the education of men,
+too prone to degenerate on account of their presumptuous and
+tyrannical autocracy.
+
+Woman has an instinctive admiration for men of high intellect and
+lofty sentiments, and strives to imitate those who provoke her
+admiration, and carry out their ideas. Let us therefore give women
+their proper rights, equal to ours, at the same time giving them a
+higher education and the same free instruction as ourselves; we shall
+then see them abandon the obscure paths of mysticism, to devote
+themselves to social progress.
+
+=Jealousy in Woman.=--Other irradiations of love in woman are similar
+to those of man. Jealousy is perhaps not much less developed in woman
+than in man. It is less brutal and violent but more instinctive and
+persevering; it manifests itself by quarrels, needle pricks,
+chicanery, petty tyrannies and all kinds of tricks which poison
+existence as much as man's jealousy, and are quite as inefficient
+against infidelity. In the highest degree of passion the jealous man
+uses violence or resorts to firearms, while the woman scratches,
+poisons or stabs. Among savages, jealous women bite off their rivals'
+noses; in civilized countries they throw sulphuric acid in the face.
+The object is the same in both cases--to disfigure.
+
+Amorous illusions produced in woman by the sexual appetite are
+analogous to those of man, but are modified by feminine attributes. It
+is the same with hypocrisy. The passive role of woman in sexual life
+obliges her only to betray her feelings to the object of her desires
+in a reserved and prudent manner. She cannot make advances toward man
+without contravening the conventions and risking her reputation. She
+therefore has to be more skillful in the art of dissimulation. This
+gives us no right to accuse her of falseness, for this art is natural,
+instinctive and imposed by custom. Her desire for love and maternity
+unconsciously urges her to make herself as desirable as possible to
+man by her grace and allurements. Her stolen glances and sighs, and
+the play of her expression serve to betray her ardor as through a
+veil. Behind this furtive play, especially calculated to excite the
+passions of man, are hidden, in the natural and good woman, a world of
+delicate feelings, ideal aspirations, energy and perseverance, which
+are much more loyal and honest than the motives revealed by the more
+brusque and daring manner in which man expresses his desires. The fine
+phrases by which man's love is expressed generally cover sentiments
+which are much less pure and calculations much more egoistic than the
+relatively innocent play of the young girl. No doubt there are false
+women whose amorous wiles are only a spider's web, but we are speaking
+here of the average, and not of exceptions.
+
+=Coquetry.=--The sexual braggardism of man is only found in some
+prostitutes; it is replaced in woman by coquetry and the desire to
+please. Vain women profit by the natural grace and beauty of their sex
+and person, not only to attract and please men, but also to shine
+among their fellows, to make other women pale before their brilliance
+and their elegance. Coquettes take infinite pains in this art. All
+their efforts and all their thoughts are directed only to increase
+their charm by the brilliancy of their toilette, the refinement of
+their attire, the arrangement of their hair, their perfumes, paint and
+powder, etc. It is here that the narrowness of the mind of woman is
+revealed in all its meanness.
+
+To describe feminine coquetry would oblige me to descend to banality.
+If we go to a ball or a fashionable _soiree_, if we observe women at
+the theater, their toilettes, their looks and expressions, or if we
+read a novel by Guy de Maupassant, "Fort Comme la Mort," or "Notre
+Coeur," for example, we can study all the degrees and all the
+degeneration of this part of the sexual psychology of women. Many of
+them have such bad taste that they transform themselves into
+caricatures; dye their hair, paint their eyebrows and lips to give
+themselves the appearance of what they are not, or to make themselves
+appear young and beautiful.
+
+These artifices of civilized countries resemble the tattooing,
+nose-rings, etc., with which savage women adorn themselves. The latter
+are represented by earrings, bracelets and necklaces. All these
+customs constitute irradiations of the sexual appetite or the desire
+to please men. Male sexual inverts (vide Chap. VIII) also practice
+them, and often also certain dandies with otherwise normal sexual
+instincts.
+
+=The Pornographic Spirit in Woman.=--This is absolutely contrary to
+the normal feminine nature, which cannot be said of eroticism. Among
+prostitutes, as we have seen, the pornographic spirit is only the echo
+of their male companions, and in spite of this, we still find a
+vestige of modesty even in them. No doubt, in very erotic women,
+sexual excitations may lead to indecent acts and expressions, but
+these are rare exceptions and of a pathological nature.
+
+Natural feminine eroticism, not artificially perverted, only shows
+itself openly in complete intimacy, and even here modesty and the
+aesthetic sense of woman correct and attenuate it. Normally, all
+obscenity and cynicism disgusts women and only inspires them with
+contempt for the male sex. On the other hand, they are easily
+stimulated to eroticism by pictures or novels, if they are
+sufficiently aesthetic, or even moral. This is a great danger for both
+sexes, especially for woman--eroticism dissimulated under hypocritical
+forms, and intended to idealize dishonest intentions (vide de
+Maupassant: "_Ce Cochon de Morin_").
+
+=Modesty and Prudery in Woman.=--In woman the sentiments of modesty
+and prudery have a peculiar character, which results from her natural
+disgust for pornography on the one hand, and also from her attachment
+to fashion and prejudice. Many women have a perfect terror of exposing
+certain parts of their body, even to a medical man. This fact depends
+on convention, and sometimes on the absence or perversion of sexual
+feelings. Brought up to prudery, sometimes to an absurd extent as in
+England, these women lose their natural feeling and often suffer from
+the excitation, indignation, and perpetual fright, which result from
+it. The exaggerations of prudery, moreover, easily lead to opposite
+excesses, or else degenerate into hypocrisy. The prude is ashamed of
+the most natural things, and undergoes continual torment.
+
+Prudery can be created or cured by education in childhood. It may be
+created by isolation, by covering all parts of the body, and
+especially by making children regard nudity as shameful. On the other
+hand, it may be cured by mixed bathing, by accustoming the child to
+consider the human body, in all its parts and functions, as something
+natural of which one need not be ashamed, lastly by giving instruction
+on the relations of the sexes, in due time and in a serious manner,
+instead of replying to ingenuous questions by pious falsehoods, by
+equivocation, or by an air of mystery.
+
+The chapter on love is infinite, and its relations to the sexual
+appetite make it still more complex. We shall confine ourselves to
+indicating two more of its irradiations, peculiar to each sex, but
+having for each a physionomy corresponding to its own mentality.
+
+
+FETICHISM AND ANTI-FETICHISM
+
+"We understand by fetiches, objects, portions of objects, or even
+simply the qualities of objects which, from their association with a
+certain person or with the idea of this person, produce a kind of
+charm or at least a profound impression, which in no way corresponds
+to the nature of the object itself."--(Krafft-Ebing.) The fetich thus
+symbolizes a person in whom we have such a profound interest that
+everything connected with her disturbs our feelings. It is we
+ourselves who place in the fetich the charm arising from the person
+whom it symbolizes for us.
+
+In many religions fetichism plays an important part, so much so that
+fetiches such as amulets or relics produce ecstasy in the faithful.
+
+Binet, Krafft-Ebing and others give the name _erotic fetichism_ to the
+charm which certain objects or certain parts of the body exercise in a
+similar way on the sexual desires or even on love, in the sense that
+their simple representation is powerfully associated with the erotic
+image of a person of the other sex, or with a particular variety of
+sexual excitation. In both man and woman certain portions of the
+clothes or the body, the hair, the foot and hand, or certain odors of
+the person desired, may take the character of fetiches. It is the same
+with certain intellectual peculiarities and certain expressions of the
+features. In man, the woman's hair, her hands or feet, her
+handkerchief, perfumes, etc., often play the part of erotic fetiches.
+
+We may call _anti-fetiches_ certain objects or certain qualities
+which, on the contrary, destroy eroticism. Certain odors, the tone of
+a voice, an ugly nose, a garment in bad taste, an awkward manner,
+often suffice to destroy eroticism by causing disgust for a person,
+and their simple representation is enough to make her unbearable.
+Symbolizing disgust, the anti-fetich paralyzes the sexual appetite and
+love.
+
+In normal love, it is especially by association of ideas in calling to
+mind the image of the person loved that the fetich plays the part of
+an exciting agent. It often, however, becomes itself the more special
+object of the sexual appetite, while the anti-fetich produces the
+opposite effect. But, in degenerates (vide Chap. VIII) it is sometimes
+exclusively to the fetich itself that an irresistible sexual appetite
+is addressed, the irradiation of which becomes a ridiculous caricature
+of love.
+
+We thus see that normal love is based on an extremely complex
+synthesis, on a symphony of harmonious sensations, sentiments and
+conceptions, combined in all kinds of tones and shades. The
+pathological aberrations of which we shall speak, demonstrate this by
+forcing one tone or another to the more or less marked exclusion of
+the rest.
+
+
+PSYCHOLOGICAL RELATIONS OF LOVE TO RELIGION
+
+Love and eroticism play a great part in religion, and many derivatives
+of religious sentiment are intimately associated with the sexual
+appetite. As Krafft-Ebing says, _religious ecstasy_ is closely related
+to _amorous ecstasy_, and very often appears in the guise of
+consolation and compensation for an unhappy or disappointed love, or
+even in the absence of sexual love. In the insane, religion and
+eroticism are combined in a very characteristic manner. Among a number
+of peoples certain cruel religious customs are the result of
+transformed erotic conceptions.
+
+As in religion, there is something mystical in love; the ineffable
+dream of eternal ecstasy. This is why the two kinds of mystic and
+erotic exaltation become blended in religions.
+
+Krafft-Ebing attributes the cruelty found in many religions to
+_sadism_ (sexual lust excited by the sufferings of others). (Vide
+Chap. VIII.)
+
+"The relationship so often established between religion, lust and
+cruelty can be reduced almost to the following formula: at the acme of
+their development, the religious and sexual passions show a
+concordance in quality and in quantity of excitation, and may
+consequently replace each other, under certain circumstances. Under
+special pathological influences, both may be transformed into
+cruelty."--(Krafft-Ebing.)
+
+We shall return to this subject in Chapters VIII and XII.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[3] This tendency of man has been analyzed with a very refined
+psychology by _Labiche_, in one of his most celebrated comedies: "_Le
+voyage de M. Perichon._"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+ETHNOLOGY AND HISTORY OF SEXUAL LIFE IN MAN AND IN MARRIAGE
+
+
+In the study of the sexual question it is absolutely necessary to
+guard against subjectiveness and all preconceived theory, and to avoid
+sentimentalism as well as eroticism. These two dangers play a
+considerable part in the study of human sexual life. Presented in a
+conscientious and scientific way the history of marriage furnishes us
+the most trustworthy material for the study of the sexual relations of
+man in social life. It is from this material that we can learn the
+relative importance of the different psychological and
+psycho-pathological factors in social evolution. But, to furnish valid
+material, history must not only be based on trustworthy and veracious
+sources; it must also give a comparative study of the sexual relations
+which exist in most, if not all, of the peoples actually existing. The
+present savage tribes no doubt resemble more closely the primitive
+peoples than our hybrid agglomeration of the civilized world.
+Moreover, the modern study of ethnology gives us more certain
+information than the uncertain, incomplete and often fabulous
+statements of ancient documents. I am speaking here of primitive
+history, and not of the Greek and Roman civilizations. Unfortunately
+the correctness of ethnological observations, and especially their
+interpretation, still leave much to be desired.
+
+Edward Westermark, professor at Helsingfors, in his "History of Human
+Marriage," has given us a monumental work, which is remarkable, not
+only for the richness and exactness of its material, but also for the
+clearness and good sense of its criticism. I shall give a _resume_ of
+Westermark's results, as the subject is beyond the domain of my
+special studies. The author has collected a great number of
+observations in order to avoid erroneous conclusions. He warns the
+reader against a hasty generalization, which attributes without proof
+certain customs of living savage tribes to our primitive ancestors.
+
+
+ORIGIN OF MARRIAGE
+
+In the previous chapter we have considered the phylogeny of love in
+general. We have seen that some of the lower animals, such as the ants
+and bees, give evidence of an instinctive social altruism much greater
+than that of man, while other animals, such as birds, are superior to
+us as regards monogamous conjugal fidelity. But it is a question here
+of analogies due to phenomena of convergence, and these animals are of
+interest to us only as remote objects of comparison.
+
+As regards marriage in primitive man, we can only compare ourselves
+with the living animals most closely allied to us, viz. the
+_anthropoid apes_.
+
+In most mammals, marriage (if we may give this name to their sexual
+union) is only of very short duration, depending on the time necessary
+for the procreation of a single brood of young. After copulation the
+male generally pays little attention to the female, beyond protecting
+her for a certain time. In the anthropoid apes (orang-utan,
+chimpanzee, gorilla and gibbon) however, we find monogamous marriage
+and the institution of family life. The male protects the female and
+the young, and the latter are often of different ages, showing the
+existence of conjugal fidelity extending beyond one birth. While the
+female and the young remain in their nest, perched on a tree, the male
+takes his place at the foot of the tree and watches over the safety of
+the family.
+
+According to Westermark this was probably the same in primitive man.
+Formed by the father, the mother and the children, the family was in
+primitive man a general institution, based on monogamy, polygamy or
+polyandry. The wife looked after the children, and the husband
+protected the family. No doubt, the husband was not particularly
+anxious for the welfare of his wife and children, but concerned
+himself chiefly in the satisfaction of his sexual appetite and his
+pride. He was useful, however, in building the nest, or hut, in
+procuring the necessary food, and in defending his family.
+
+Most legends relate that primitive man lived in promiscuity with
+women, without marriage, and that marriage was instituted by some god
+or by some law. But this opinion, which is still held by most modern
+authors, is quite erroneous, as Westermark has demonstrated in a
+masterly manner, by the aid of documents which are absolutely
+conclusive.
+
+The duty of the husband to provide food for the family is a general
+law among savage peoples. A confirmation of this law is found in the
+fact that most often in polygamous races the man has only the right to
+as many wives as he can support. Every man must give proof that he is
+capable of feeding his family. Even after divorce the husband's duties
+continue, and may even be transmitted to his heirs. For example, among
+certain peoples, his brother is obliged to marry his widow. The
+husband's duties appear to be inherited from the higher apes, among
+whom conjugal fidelity lasts longer than the sexual appetite. This
+fidelity has therefore deep phylogenetic roots in our nature, and we
+shall see later on that we cannot neglect it without compromising our
+social state (Chap. XIII).
+
+The following is the definition of marriage as given by Westermark:
+_Marriage is a sexual union of variable duration between men and
+women, a union which is continued after copulation, at least till the
+birth of the child._
+
+According to this definition, there may be monogamous, polygamous and
+polyandrous marriages, as well as marriage in groups and limited
+marriage. It is evident that permanent monogamous unions, such as
+occur in birds and the higher apes, are, according to this definition,
+true marriages, of better quality even than those of many men.
+
+Among animals which have a definite rutting period, marriage cannot
+depend solely on the sexual appetite, or egoistic eroticism, without
+ceasing with the rut. It follows from this that natural selection and
+the mneme (engraphia) have derived from the sexual appetite certain
+social or altruistic instincts, with the object of preserving the
+species by protection of the young. Although not the only means of
+preserving the species, such instincts are certainly important.
+
+The family is thus the root of marriage. This explains the custom,
+among certain races, of marriage only becoming valid after the birth
+of a child. In many forms of marriage by purchase, the wife is even
+bound to return to her husband the sum paid for her if she remains
+sterile, and among many savages the marriage is only celebrated after
+the birth of the first child. In Borneo, relations between the sexes
+are free till pregnancy occurs, and it is this which determines the
+duties of marriage. In this respect, these savages are more just and
+wiser than us.
+
+In man, a special reason in favor of marriage is the fact that he has
+no rutting period. In animals the rutting period is generally
+regulated so that the young are born exactly at the time of year when
+they will find food most abundant. For example, the muscardin
+copulates in July and brings forth young in August, at the time when
+nuts are ripe, while elephants, whales and certain monkeys, who find
+food at all seasons, do not copulate at any definite period.
+
+The anthropoid apes, however, have a rutting period, and something
+analogous is found among certain human races (Californians, Hindus and
+certain Australians) in the spring, when sexual orgies are indulged
+in. In man there is no particular correlation between eroticism and
+the possibility of easily obtaining food for the children at the time
+of birth. Nevertheless, a recrudescence of the sexual appetite is
+generally observed in the spring and beginning of summer, with a
+corresponding increase in the number of conceptions. This is probably
+explained by the fact that infants born in the autumn or winter are
+more robust. Moreover, natural selection has almost entirely ceased in
+civilized peoples, owing to the artificial means used to rear
+children, and to the diminution which results from their mortality.
+
+We thus see that the institution of marriage in man does not depend on
+the excitation of the sexual appetite, for this is, on the whole,
+continuous.
+
+
+ANTIQUITY OF MATRIMONIAL INSTITUTIONS
+
+The fact that the anthropoid apes produce feeble and dependent young,
+whose infancy is long, has probably been the origin of marriage.
+Kautsky says that in primitive man the child belongs to the clan; but
+this is an error. Originally, human societies were composed of
+families, or rather associations of families. In primitive man, these
+families play the fundamental role and constitute the nucleus of
+society. In the anthropoid ape we already find the family, but not the
+clan. This must also have been the case with the pithecanthropoids and
+other extinct transitory forms. In fact, the lowest savages still live
+as isolated families like the carnivorous mammals, rather than in
+clans or tribes. This is the case, for example, with the Weddas of
+Ceylon, the indigenes of Terra del Fuego, the aboriginal Australians,
+the Esquimaux and certain Indians of Brazil. In this way they have
+better conditions for subsistence.
+
+In primitive times therefore, man lived in families, on the produce of
+the chase. Later on, the spirit of discovery, the more abundant food
+obtained by traps and by the cultivation of plants allowed men to live
+in tribes. Thus, intellectual development was the first cause of
+social life in man, and Lubbock is certainly wrong in considering that
+the establishment of clans dates further back than the first beginning
+of civilization. Westermark's conclusions are as follows:
+
+(1). _At no period of human existence has family life been replaced by
+clan life._
+
+(2). _Conjugal life is a heritage from ancestors who lived in a
+similar way to the anthropoid apes of the present day._
+
+(3). _Although less intimately and less constantly bound to the
+children than to the mother, the father has always been in man the
+protector of the family._
+
+
+CRITICISM OF THE DOCTRINE OF PROMISCUITY
+
+Most sociologists believe with Lubbock, Bachofen, MacLennan, Bastian,
+Giraud-Teulon, Wilkens, and others that primitive man lived in sexual
+promiscuity. If we agree with Westermark that the term marriage
+includes polygamy, polyandry and limited marriage, the opinion of
+these authors is wrong. What they have considered as promiscuity can
+always be included in one of these forms of marriage, even among the
+indigenes of Hayti, whose life is the most debauched. The author who
+has most confused the question is Fison, with his dogmatic theories
+concerning the Australians. Obliged to admit that promiscuity does not
+exist among these people, he still maintains that it existed formerly.
+Curr, who was better acquainted than Fison with the Australians, has
+proved that they are normally monogamous.
+
+Similar statements of Bastian, Wilkens and others concerning the
+Kustchins, the natives of Terra del Fuego, are also incorrect. In none
+of the African tribes is there communion of women, the men, on the
+other hand, are extremely jealous. Promiscuity is not observed among
+savage and primitive races, but among people already civilized, such
+as the Buddhist Butias, in whom man knows neither honor nor jealousy.
+The savage Weddas are monogamous, and one of their proverbs says:
+"Death alone can separate woman from man."
+
+There is in reality only one true form of promiscuity--the
+prostitution of modern civilized races, who have introduced it among
+savages, subjecting them to gratify their own lust. Among many savage
+races there exists, on the contrary, a very severe monogamy, and they
+punish with death every seducer and illegitimate child, as well as the
+mother. Among others, however, considerable sexual freedom is allowed
+before or after marriage. It is impossible to lay down definite rules,
+but one thing may be regarded as universal, viz., that the sexual
+depravity of savage races most often arises from the influence of
+civilized people who immigrate among them and systematically introduce
+immorality and debauchery. It is the white colonists who appropriate
+the women of savage races and train them in the worst forms of
+prostitution. It is the white colonists who introduce alcoholic drink
+which disorganizes the most virtuous and loyal habits, and ends with
+ruin.
+
+Certain Arab clans exploit European habits of prostitution by sending
+their young girls to brothels for purposes of gain. When they have
+accumulated a sufficient fortune they return home and marry one of
+their fellow countrymen. Similar customs are observed among other
+races.
+
+In this connection Westermark points out that the more advanced is
+civilization, the greater is the number of illegitimate births, and
+the more widespread is prostitution. In Europe, the proportion of
+natural children and of prostitutes is nearly double in the towns what
+it is in the country. This shows the absurdity of regarding
+promiscuity as a primitive state; on the contrary, it is a rotten
+fruit of civilization, and especially of semi-civilization. Primitive
+customs are generally chaste, and it is civilization which corrupts
+them. In Europe, prostitution is increasing, while marriage is
+becoming less frequent; it is the latter which constitutes the
+primitive and normal state.
+
+Westermark admits, as we have mentioned above, that sexual liberty
+before or after marriage exists among certain tribes; but in spite of
+this the custom of careful choice always exists among these people,
+and this renders their unions comparatively lasting. He cites as an
+example the Tounghtas of India, who practice sexual connection before
+marriage, but among whom these connections nearly always lead to
+marriage; this race considers prostitution as dishonorable.
+
+We must, however, make one objection to Westermark. Promiscuity in
+itself is not necessarily prostitution, for the latter signifies
+especially the sale of the body, which is not the case in promiscuity.
+The fundamental fact which prevents us admitting the existence of
+primitive promiscuity among savage races is the following: As soon as
+the two sexes are free, the monogamous instinct of the woman and
+jealousy of both sexes combine to reestablish marriage. True
+promiscuity can only exist by means of a sort of legal obligation,
+such as exists in the colony of Oneidas in New York. In this colony
+the members formally agree to mutual and free sexual intercourse. We
+must not forget that prostitution is only kept up in women by the
+thirst for lucre, and ceases immediately this element disappears.
+
+Before the Reformation there existed in Scotland a singular custom
+called "hand-fasting," by which young men had the right to choose a
+companion for a year, at the end of which time they could either
+separate or become married according to their inclination.
+
+On the other hand, Lubbock mentions certain customs in Greece and
+India, the worship of _phallus_, for example, which obliged young
+girls to give themselves to all men. But these customs were not among
+primitive races but resulted from the eroticism of highly civilized
+nations. Thus, Lubbock's argument concerning the existence of
+primitive promiscuity falls to the ground.
+
+Certain savage nations offer their daughters or their servants, rarely
+their wives, to their guests. A _jus primae nocti_ (right to the first
+night) has also existed and will sometimes exist in some tribes, but
+this right is reserved for the chiefs, kings or priests, and allows
+them to have sexual intercourse before the husband with every newly
+married woman during the first night of the nuptials. This is a
+barbarous custom based on the right of the stronger, and analogous to
+the privileges claimed by the European nobles from their serfs or
+peasants. But such abuses do not constitute promiscuity, as Lubbock
+maintains.
+
+In many countries the courtesans and concubines were held in high
+esteem, and are so even at the present day, more than is supposed; but
+this again is not a question of promiscuity.
+
+Morgan has deduced his theories of promiscuity from terms employed in
+certain savage dialects to designate relationship. These conclusions
+are false and Morgan, like others, has been led into error by the
+obscurity of the language of these people. The simple fact that
+paternal parentage is recognised among them proves the absurdity of
+Morgan's reasoning, for promiscuity cannot recognize paternal
+parentage.
+
+In 1860 Bachofen drew attention to the ancient custom of naming the
+children after the maternal side, and it is now certain that this
+custom has existed among many primitive races, while in others
+children were named after the paternal side. The term _matriarchy_ is
+given to denomination after the maternal side. MacLennan maintains the
+existence of matriarchy in promiscuity, but this is inadmissible.
+Maternity is self-evident, while paternity can only be proved
+indirectly by the aid of reasoning. No doubt all nations appear to
+have recognized the real part which the father takes in every
+conception, and from this results the singular custom among certain
+tribes, in which the husband retires to his couch and fasts during the
+accouchement of his wife.
+
+Westermark explains matriarchy in a simpler and more natural way, by
+the intimate relations of the child to the mother. Children,
+especially when they are still young, follow the mother when she
+separates from the father. Matriarchy is quite natural in marriages of
+short duration, with change of wives, and in polygamy; while, in
+monogamous nations, it is _patriarchy_, or denomination after the
+paternal line, which dominates.
+
+Among nations where the denomination of uncles exists, and where the
+married woman lives with her family till she has a child, matriarchy
+results quite naturally from this fact. In Japanese families who have
+only daughters, the husband of the eldest takes his wife's family
+name. Among savages in general, the name has a great importance. When
+rank and property are only inherited in the female line, the children
+are always named after this line. We are thus concerned here with very
+complex questions which have nothing to do with promiscuity.
+
+Maine has proved that prostitution and promiscuity lead to sterility
+and decadence. Among the few tribes in which polyandry is the rule,
+especially in Thibet, several brothers generally have the same wife.
+But they usually alternate, and never dwell together. In the fifteenth
+century, in the Canary Islands, every woman had three husbands, each
+of whom lived with her for a month, and the one who was to possess her
+during the following month had to work both for her and for the other
+two husbands. Polyandry has always originated in scarcity of women.
+
+The jealousy of men, which has never ceased to exist, gives the
+clearest proof of the impossibility of promiscuity. Polyandry is only
+possible among a few feeble and degenerate races who ignore jealousy.
+These tribes are diminishing and tend to disappear. The jealousy of
+savages is generally so terrible that among them a woman who commits
+adultery is usually put to death along with her seducer. Sometimes
+they are content with cutting off her nose or inflicting other
+chastisement. It is from jealousy that results the obligation of
+chastity in the woman.
+
+Religious ideas on the future of man after death are often combined
+with these ideas; this is why chastity, death, or even all kinds of
+torture are, in certain countries, imposed on the woman after death of
+the husband.
+
+It must not be forgotten that among most savages the wife is regarded
+as the property of her husband. If the latter lends his wife to a
+guest, he offers her as part of a feast. This is not, however,
+promiscuity, and we must understand that these people have quite
+different sentiments to ours. In clans or tribes the most powerful men
+have always had the youngest and most beautiful wives.
+
+To sum up, there is not the shadow of proof in support of the doctrine
+of primitive promiscuity, a doctrine which is based on purely
+hypothetical grounds.
+
+
+MARRIAGE AND CELIBACY
+
+Among animals the voluntary celibate exists only among the females of
+certain birds which have become widowed, and even then the case is
+rare. In savage man, nearly every individual marries, and the women
+look upon celibacy or widowhood almost in the same way as death. The
+savage despises celibates as thieves or sorcerers. In his opinion a
+man without a wife is not a man. He therefore marries at a much
+earlier age than civilized man, sometimes even (in Greenland) before
+fecundation is possible. Among certain Indians men sometimes marry at
+the age of nine or ten years, generally between fourteen and eighteen;
+the girls between nine and twelve. In some comparatively civilized
+nations the celibate is so much despised that they go as far as
+marrying the spirits of departed children! Among the Greeks, celibates
+were punished, and among the Romans they were taxed heavily. Celibacy
+becomes more rare the further we go back in the history of the human
+race; celibacy increases with the corruption of morals. It is
+civilization which does most harm to marriage, especially in the large
+towns, and the age at which people marry becomes more and more
+advanced, although in Europe there are more women than men. Want of
+money and insufficient salaries diminish more and more the number of
+marriages in the large centers, while among savages, and also among
+our peasants, the women and children are one of the principal sources
+of wealth, because they work and have few needs. Among the middle
+classes, on the contrary, the wife is a source of expense, as well as
+the education of the children. For men, the length of intellectual and
+professional education (and military service in many countries) cause
+marriage to be postponed and celibacy is obligatory at the time when
+the sexual appetite is most powerful. Thus, the more civilization
+advances, the longer is marriage postponed. The refinement and the
+multiplicity of pleasures also diminish the attractions of marriage.
+
+Lastly, intellectual culture exalts the desire for the ideal, so that
+men and women well suited to each other meet less frequently, as their
+mutual adaptation becomes more complicated.
+
+Nevertheless, I must repeat here what I have already said concerning
+the way in which novelists present us with the extreme passions of
+ill-balanced people and describe them as types, the normal man being
+too prosaic to attract their readers. Rotten as it is with neurotic
+degenerates, our modern society is certainly not wanting in
+pathological models for the novelists, but it is nevertheless false to
+always put these into prominence. The cultured man of well-balanced
+mind, adapts himself to marriage on the whole very well, and is not
+always so difficult to please. However, it must be recognized that
+marriage becomes less easy if a too high ideal is expected from it.
+With characteristic prudence, Westermark does not answer the question
+whether marriage will progressively diminish in the future.
+
+=The Cult of Virgins. Sanctity of the Celibate.=--Among many savages
+the singular idea obtains that there is something impure in sexual
+intercourse. The celibacy ordained by several religions originates
+from ideas of this kind.
+
+Many nations have worshiped virgins, for instance the vestal virgins
+of the Romans. The mother of Buddha was declared to be holy and pure,
+Buddha having been conceived supernaturally, according to the legend.
+A Buddhist monk is forbidden to have sexual intercourse, even with
+animals! Celibacy among certain priests exists also in China.
+
+Among the Hebrews, the idea of the impurity of marriage had got a
+footing, and this no doubt powerfully influenced Christianity. St.
+Paul thus places celibacy higher than marriage, and this is how the
+idea became established among the fathers of the Church that the
+repression of all sensuality was a cardinal virtue, and that God had
+contemplated in paradise an asexual reproduction of the human species,
+which was annulled by the fall of Adam. Men who remained pure were to
+be immortal. "The earth is filled with marriage and the heavens with
+virginity," says Jeremiah. Such are the ideas which have given rise to
+the obligation of celibacy for priests.
+
+Westermark thinks that the idea of impurity attached to sexual
+intercourse is possibly derived from the instinctive repugnance
+experienced by members of the same family to have sexual intercourse
+between themselves. Banished from the family circle this intercourse
+was tainted with a stigma which offended modesty, and by the
+association of ideas so common in man, this stigma was extended to
+legal marriage outside the family. Moreover, religious celibacy is
+complicated by ascetic conceptions, and the idea of the impurity of
+sexual intercourse is by no means general.
+
+For my part, I think rather that the jealousy natural to both sexes
+has gradually compelled them to limit their sexual intercourse to
+intimacy and to conceal it. But man is ashamed of everything which he
+conceals, and we shall soon see that the sentiment of modesty concerns
+all parts of the body which are concealed. This simple fact is
+sufficient to give rise to the idea that coitus is impure, and I do
+not think it necessary to seek any further explanation.
+
+
+ADVANCES MADE BY ONE SEX TO THE OTHER--DEMANDS IN MARRIAGE
+
+A natural law compels the male germinal cell to move toward the egg;
+exceptions to this law are rare, the female germinal cells being
+larger and produced in less number. It follows that in copulation, or
+the union of individual sexual entities, man included, it is the male
+which is the active party and makes the advances. Among certain tribes
+(Paraguayans, Garos, Moquis), however, it is the female who makes the
+advances. Everyone knows the combats for the female which takes place
+between the male of animals, cocks and stags for example. Among
+certain Indians similar struggles are also observed, after which the
+vanquished has to surrender his wife to the conqueror. The same custom
+obtained among the ancient Greeks, as we see in the suitors for
+Penelope. In Ireland similar customs prevailed up to the last few
+centuries.
+
+On the other hand, we often see among savages and among birds the
+favors of the female obtained by assiduous courtship rather than by
+combat. In some savage tribes struggles take place between the females
+for possession of the male. However, it is usually coquetry in all its
+degrees which furnishes woman with the basis for her advances. In many
+nations, if not in most, women have the right to refuse a demand for
+marriage.
+
+
+METHODS OF ATTRACTION
+
+=Adornment in the Two Sexes.=--Vanity is older than man, for it is
+found in many animals. The lowest and most savage peoples adorn
+themselves. Tattooing, staining the skin, rings on the arms and feet,
+in the lips, nose and ears serve to attract one sex toward the other.
+A Santal woman may carry as much as fifteen kilogrammes of ornaments
+on her body. Vanity leads to incredible eccentricities, certain
+tribes, for example, pull out their teeth to increase their
+attractions. Absurdities of this kind are often associated with
+religious ideas, although the latter generally play a secondary part.
+The true origin of these customs lies in vanity, combined with the
+sexual desire to captivate. In hot climates, at any rate, the savages
+only commenced to cover their bodies with clothes with the object of
+pleasing by personal adornment. The religious observances attached to
+the custom of adornment are not primitive. The latter is derived from
+the sexual appetite and from vanity, and has only been incorporated in
+the dogmas of religious mysticism after being first established in the
+habits of the people.
+
+Among savages the men are more inclined to personal adornment and to
+coquetry than the women. This is not due to the inferior social
+position of the women, for those who enjoy the greatest liberty are
+often less extensively tattooed than those who are reduced to slavery.
+The true reason is that the man risks much more than the woman by
+remaining celibate, and this obliges him to take more pains than the
+women to make himself fascinating. As a rule the wives of savages
+attach less importance to their personal appearance than to that of
+their husbands, and the vanity of the latter is guided chiefly by the
+taste of their wives. The objects with which savages adorn themselves
+are generally trophies.
+
+Among civilized people, on the contrary, the men have a much wider
+choice and many women remain celibate. This is one of the reasons
+which compel women to study their personal appearance and the art of
+flirtation. In Europe, earrings represent the last vestige of the
+savage methods of adornment.
+
+=Sentiment of Shame of the Genital Organs. Nudity.=--What is the
+origin of the fact that man is ashamed of his genital organs? Nothing
+of the kind occurs in animals. The psychologist, Wundt, maintains that
+man has always had a sexual sentiment of modesty. This is not correct,
+for many races present no trace of it, and sometimes cover all parts
+of their body except the genital organs. In some, the men, and in
+others the women go absolutely naked. Originally, clothes were only
+worn for adornment or for protection against the cold. The Massais
+would be ashamed to hide their penis, and it is their custom to
+exhibit it. Other savages cover the glans penis only with a small cap;
+they retire to pass water, but regard themselves as fully dressed so
+long as the glans penis is covered. The girdles and other garments of
+savage women are intended for ornament, and as a means of attraction;
+they have nothing to do with modesty. In a society where every one
+goes naked, nudity seems quite natural, and provokes neither shame nor
+eroticism. The custom of adorning the sexual organs then serves as a
+means of attraction, both in men and women. The short transparent
+skirts of a ballet dancer are in reality much more immodest than the
+nudity of the female savages. A great naturalist has said that veiled
+forms provoke the sexual appetite more than nudity. Snow remarks that
+association with naked savages excites much less sensuality than the
+society of fashionably dressed women in our salons. Read also remarks
+"Nothing is more moral or less calculated to excite the passions than
+nudity." It is needless to say that this statement is only correct
+when nudity is a matter of custom, for in sexual matters it is always
+novelty which attracts. Pious persons have tried to make savages
+modest by clothing them, but have only produced the contrary effect.
+Savage women regard it as shameful to cover their sexual organs. The
+naturalist, Wallace, found in one tribe a young girl who possessed a
+dress, but who was quite as much ashamed of clothing herself with it
+as one of our ladies would be of undressing before strangers.
+
+It is only owing to the custom of wearing clothes that nudity provokes
+the sexual appetite. This custom develops artificially a sentiment of
+modesty with regard to nudity, which increases progressively in
+intensity and is especially marked in aged women. It is not so much
+habit, as to the feeling of progressive deterioration of their charms,
+which leads the latter to cover themselves as they grow older, and is
+part of the instinctive aesthetic sentiment of woman.
+
+At the orgies and fetes held among savages the women cover their
+sexual organs with certain objects, as a means to excite the men.
+Complete nudity is found more often in savage women than in the men.
+
+Later on when it became the custom to wear clothes, nudity became
+attractive and was considered shameful. This is why the Chinese feel
+shame at exposing their feet, the Mahometans their faces, and some
+savages even the ends of their fingers.
+
+Certain customs, like circumcision among the Jews, Polynesians and
+Australians; the artificial elongation of the lips of the vulva in
+Hottentots, Malays, and North American Indians, originated, according
+to Westermark, in the intention of exciting the sexual appetite, or of
+introducing variety into its satisfaction. Later on routine, which
+sanctions everything, transferred these customs into religious cult.
+It is possible, however, that among the Jews, who are a practical
+race, the hygienic advantage of circumcision took a part in its
+transformation into a rite.
+
+To resume, everything derogatory to established custom excites the
+sentiment of shame or modesty, not only in sexual matters but in
+others. Most children are ashamed of not behaving exactly as their
+comrades or their brothers and sisters, and are very uncomfortable if
+they are obliged to behave otherwise. All sentiments of morality and
+modesty rest on conventionalities. The savage women burst into
+laughter when the naked companions of Livingstone turned their backs
+from modesty. The sentiment of modesty or shame thus depends only on
+exceptional violation of an old custom. This is why unconventional
+ways in one of the sexes (especially in woman) tend to offend the
+sentiments of modesty, and usually excite the sexual appetite of the
+other sex.
+
+
+LIBERTY OF CHOICE IN MARRIAGE--PATRIARCHISM
+
+Among savages, the women sometimes have the right of giving their hand
+in marriage, sometimes not. The latter case is not surprising in
+countries where women are considered as merchandise. Among the
+Esquimaux every girl is betrothed from birth. Among the Boschimans,
+Ashantis, etc., the unborn girl is even betrothed while she is in her
+mother's womb! These betrothals are generally arranged by the maternal
+parents together with the mother.
+
+Very often, however, the consent of the woman is required; or, the
+marriage may be only valid after the birth of the first child on
+condition of the woman's consent.
+
+Among the American Indians, if the woman is not a consenting party she
+elopes with her lover and thus escapes the would-be-husband. In this
+way elopement has gradually become a recognized institution among
+certain races. I was told by a Bulgarian that the peasants in his
+country buy their wives from the father, generally for two or three
+hundred francs, but if the father demands too much, the women are
+raped. After this marriage becomes indispensable and the father
+receives nothing, for, in Bulgaria, which is not yet spoiled by
+civilization, unions apart from marriage are considered as a terrible
+disgrace.
+
+In certain races, the woman has a free choice among several men and
+her wish becomes law, so that the parents have no voice in the matter;
+this occurs among the natives of the Celebes. The bridegroom is
+nevertheless obliged to pay the dowry demanded. Similar customs
+prevail among other races.
+
+Westermark comes to the conclusion that in the primitive state of
+humanity the women had a much freer choice than afterward. Marriage by
+purchase developed later and constituted an intermediate stage. When
+the first civilizations became more complicated and recognized the
+value of woman's labor, the fathers began to sell their daughters, as
+we now see savage tribes abandon their women to prostitution with the
+white man. But in primitive times, when there was neither
+civilization, money, nor labor, properly so-called, each individual
+fought for his life and the father had no more possibility of selling
+his daughter as a slave than a gorilla or an orang-utan would have
+to-day.
+
+Marriage by rape, which occurred after wars when the women were
+abducted and married against their will, must not be confounded with
+marriage by elopement which takes place with the woman's consent, and
+of which the latest fashion is elopement by automobile.
+
+Among savages, the boys are also most often the property of the
+father, who has the right to sell them and even to put them to death.
+But they become free at the age of puberty and then have the right to
+marry according to their inclination without being forced by their
+parents.
+
+There existed and still exist many patriarchal races (certain Indians
+and Asiatics, for example) among whom the father possesses unlimited
+power. The older he is the more he is honored, and the more his power
+is uncontested. All the children and grandchildren, with their wives
+and children, eat at his table; none of his descendants can marry
+without his consent, etc. The effects of patriarchism are deplorable
+and very immoral. The patriarch abuses his power--gives his old wives
+to his children and takes the young ones, for example. The purest and
+most virtuous Japanese girl is obliged to go to a brothel if her
+father orders it. The patriarch has the power of life and death over
+both sexes, and from this is derived the cult of ancestors. At the
+present day we see immorality of this kind in the Russian patriarchism
+among the peasants; the fathers have the custom of misusing their
+sons' wives. Patriarchism thus degenerates into atrocious tyranny on
+the part of the chief of the family, who becomes looked upon as a
+god.
+
+A law which is common in the Latin races, which forbids marriage
+before the age of thirty, without the consent of the father, is a
+vestige of patriarchism.
+
+We see, therefore, that quite primitive savage races approached our
+most modern ideas in liberty of choice in marriage. Between these two
+periods humanity was under the yoke of a barbarous error--the
+intermediate stage of marriage by purchase and patriarchal autocracy.
+There has existed and still exists more than one aberration of this
+kind in the intermediate stages of civilization; for instance,
+torture, slavery and the use of narcotic substances, such as alcohol.
+
+
+SEXUAL SELECTION
+
+By sexual selection we mean union by choice among males and females.
+In the vertebrates, the female chooses much more commonly than the
+male, the latter being more disposed to pair with all the females than
+the females with all the males. We may certainly admit that this was
+also the case in primitive man, especially when there existed a
+rutting period, for then the sexual appetite was more violent.
+Moreover, even at the present day, women are on the average more
+difficult to please and more strict in their choice than men.
+
+In the case of hybrids it is generally the male which violates the law
+of instinct. Female slaves often flee from their free husbands, but we
+never see male slaves abandon their free wives. Among savage races the
+woman is always more difficult to please than the man. Among
+half-breeds, it is nearly always the father who belongs to a higher
+race. The inverse rarely occurs; it is exceptional for a white woman
+to marry a negro. The same thing is reproduced among ourselves; we
+often see a cultured man marry an uneducated woman, but a cultured
+woman seldom marries a laborer.
+
+It is especially among savages that the woman prefers the man who is
+strongest, most skillful, most ardent, and most audacious. Heroes
+always haunt the minds of women, who love to throw themselves at the
+head of conquerors. The ideal of certain women in Borneo is a husband
+who has killed many enemies and possesses their heads (head-hunters of
+Borneo). This psychological trait responds to natural selection, for
+the women obtain by this custom better protectors and stronger
+children.
+
+On the other hand, man looks instinctively for a young, healthy and
+well-developed woman. It is on this basis that Greek art formed Eros
+and Aphrodite, designating the latter as goddess of both love and
+beauty.
+
+=Conception of Beauty.=--The conception of beauty is very relative.
+The Australians laugh at our long noses and the natives of
+Cochin-China at our white teeth and red cheeks. Certain savage women
+bind their legs below the knees to make them swell, this effect being
+part of their idea of beauty. The Chinese admire the deformed feet of
+their women and their prominent cheek bones. In each nation the
+conception of beauty generally corresponds to the ideal type of the
+race, for both sexes. As a general rule muscle is admired in man and
+fullness of figure in woman. The Hottentots like women's breasts to be
+so pendulous that they can throw them over shoulder, and suckle the
+infants carried on their backs; they also admire the elongated lips of
+the vulva.
+
+There are, therefore, few general typical characters of sexual
+preference; these are especially the ideal type of the race and the
+health of both sexes, voluptuous forms and grace in women, muscular
+strength and dexterity in men. Everything else is relative and
+variable, and depends on the local point of view, customs, race,
+individual taste, etc.
+
+Thus, according to the conception of aesthetics, tattooing, the
+arrangement of the hair and beard, deformations of the nose, cranium,
+or feet, are admired by different peoples. Each race extols its own
+peculiarities; the European compares a woman's breasts to snow, the
+Malay to gold, etc. The natives of Coromandel paint their gods black
+and their devils white, while in Europe it is the reverse.
+
+The association of love with beauty is not based on aesthetic
+sentiments, for the latter are disinterested, while the original
+instinct of love is interested. The association of the two things
+depends on the instinctive necessity of health, combined with the
+sexual appetite, although custom has produced numerous aberrations.
+Everything which differs markedly from the type of the race is more
+or less pathological. This is why instinct, determined by natural
+selection, repels it.
+
+Fashion also rules among savages, but is less changeable among them
+than with us, and their taste for adornment only varies in the narrow
+circle of their customs.
+
+Climate has a powerful action on the types of races, the latter being
+generally adapted to the climate in which they live. Thus, the
+European becomes darker in the tropics while negroes and Indians
+become paler in the north.
+
+
+LAWS OF RESEMBLANCE--HYBRIDS
+
+Every animal species has an instinctive repugnance to pair with
+another. Even where they are possible, natural hybrids are rare, and
+only become a little more frequent in domestic animals and plants. The
+fecundity of hybrids diminishes when they have connection among
+themselves, and this explains why the instinct for such connections
+tends to gradually disappear.
+
+In his book on "The Mneme," Semon explains the infecundity of hybrids
+in a very plausible manner, by the disorder that a too large quantity
+of dissimilar hereditary engrams causes in the hereditary mneme of two
+conjugated cells. When the parents differ from each other only in a
+moderate degree homophony may still be reestablished, and then the
+divergencies have a very favorable effect on the product, by the new
+combinations which they furnish in the course of its development.
+
+Moral ideas follow the course of instincts, and this explains why
+sexual connection with animals is regarded as a horrible crime. This
+is especially produced by pathological aberration, or when one sex is
+completely isolated from the other. There is also a certain degree of
+aversion to copulation between different races, in animals as well as
+man; for example, between sheep and horses of different races, and
+between white men, negroes and Indians. There are, however, many
+hybrids or half-breeds in South America, and in Mexico they even
+constitute two-thirds of the population.
+
+Broca maintained that human hybrids produced by the crossing of remote
+races, for example, between English and negroes or Australians, were
+usually sterile. Westermark disputes this, but agrees that these
+hybrids become enfeebled in a few generations. It has also been
+established that mixed marriage between Jews and Aryans are generally
+less fecund; but this fact is not yet sufficiently explained.
+Mulattoes, or hybrids between negroes and whites, constitute a
+degenerate race and hardly viable, at any rate if their descendants do
+not return entirely to one of the original races. Half-breeds between
+whites and American Indians, also called Ladinos, seem on the contrary
+to form a viable race, but one of little valor.
+
+
+PROHIBITION OF CONSANGUINEOUS MARRIAGES
+
+Sexual union between near relations nearly always causes a feeling of
+repugnance in man, and has been stigmatized by the term _incest_.
+Coitus between mother and son especially excites disgust. Sexual
+connection between parents and children, as well as between brothers
+and sisters is, however, common among certain tribes. Many other races
+allow marriage between brothers and sisters, but this is elsewhere
+generally condemned.
+
+Among the Weddas, marriage between an elder brother and his younger
+sister is considered normal, while that between a younger brother and
+his elder sister, or between a nephew and his aunt, is regarded as
+unnatural. The latter simply shows that unions between young men and
+old women are not natural. Unions between brothers and sisters, and
+especially between half-brothers and half-sisters were licit among the
+Persians, Egyptians, Syrians, Athenians and ancient Jews. Those
+between uncles and nieces (more rarely between aunts and nephews) are
+sometimes permitted, sometimes prohibited. With the exception of Spain
+and Russia marriages between first cousins are allowed in Europe.
+
+=Exogamy and Endogamy.=--Among many savages the prohibition of
+consanguineous marriage may be extended to relationship of the third
+degree. Marriage may even be prohibited among all members of the same
+tribe or clan, even when they are not related. This is called
+_exogamous_ marriage, and reaches its extreme development among the
+Australians, who are only allowed to marry into remote clans.
+
+We thus see that the great majority of savages extend their idea of
+incest much further than we do. The reason of this has been much
+discussed. It was formerly said that consanguineous marriage was
+contrary to the commandments of God; that it offended the natural
+sentiment of modesty; that it obscures relationship, etc. Nowadays, it
+is said to be injurious to posterity. Ethnography teaches us, however,
+that these statements are of little value.
+
+Along with the exogamy of many tribes there is among other savages a
+system of _endogamy_, described by MacLennan; this is the prohibition
+of marriage between different clans. Spencer and MacLennan have
+different explanations of this custom which seem hardly natural.
+Westermark appears to be nearer the truth in remarking as follows: The
+sexual appetite, especially in man, is excited by new impressions and
+cooled by habit. It is not the fact of a man and woman being related,
+but intimate companionship since youth, which produces in them a
+repugnance to sexual union. We find the same repugnance between
+adopted brothers and sisters and between friends who have been
+intimate since childhood. When, on the contrary, brothers and sisters
+or near relatives have been separated from each other since an early
+age, they often fall in love with each other when they meet later on.
+There is, therefore, no innate or instinctive repugnance to incest in
+itself, but only against sexual union between individuals who have
+lived together since childhood. As it is parents and their children
+who are usually in this situation, everything is explained simply and
+clearly.
+
+The causes of exogamy are explained in the same way, by the fact that
+members of the same clan often live together in close intimacy. It is
+the small clans, formed of thirty or fifty individuals of a few
+families living together, which have the most severe laws against
+incest or endogamy. Where the families live in separate homes, such
+prohibitions do not exist. The Maoris, who are endogamous, inhabit
+villages which are widely separated, and marriage between relations is
+allowed. Endogamy generally exists where the clan life is little
+developed, and where relatives know and see little of each other. The
+aversion to marriage between persons living together has thus created
+prohibition of marriage between relations as well as that of marriage
+between members of the same clan. It is the same reason which has led
+to the prohibition of marriage between brothers-and sisters-in-law,
+between brothers and adopted sisters, etc. In people living in small
+communities, endogamy does not appear to have ever existed.
+
+Incest between relatives living together appears to have everywhere
+the same natural cause--the scarcity of women in isolated families
+living in remote districts. There is also a psycho-pathological form
+of incest associated with morbid appetites in the families of
+degenerates. In animals living alone and whose families break up very
+rapidly (cats for example) incestuous unions, between parents and
+young, for instance, are quite common.
+
+Let us now consider the scientific side of the question. We see
+everywhere that sexual union between quite distinct animal species
+gives no result. At the most, certain closely allied species, such as
+the ass and the horse, the rabbit and the hare, give progeny which are
+themselves sterile (mules, etc.). The feebleness and sterility of
+hybrids derived from widely separated races or nearly allied different
+species proves the deficiency in vital force of the offspring of
+fundamentally dissimilar procreators. But, on the other hand, the
+dangers of continuous consanguineous reproduction are no less evident.
+Perpetual unions between brothers and sisters for several generations,
+lead to degeneration of the race. For example, the still-births will
+be 25 per cent. instead of 8 per cent., which is the figure in
+ordinary crossings. The prejudice against consanguineous unions may,
+however, depend on the accumulation of certain pathological defects.
+
+Westermark admits that it is difficult to show clearly that
+consanguineous marriages are prejudicial in man. The consanguinity
+which causes evil effects in animals concerns long-continued unions
+between parents and children or brothers and sisters. But this never
+occurs in man. Animals and plants may be perpetuated for many years in
+the closest consanguinity without degeneration resulting. Among the
+Persians and Egyptians, intimate unions have existed for a long time
+without producing degeneration.
+
+On the other hand, breeders of animals tell us that a single drop of
+new blood (or rather sperm) is enough to counteract all the evil
+effects of consanguinity. In man the most frequent incests are always
+interrupted by some other union. The Ptolemies, who nearly always
+married their sisters, nieces or cousins, lived long and were far from
+being sterile. In Ceylon, the Weddas perpetuate their consanguineous
+unions; insanity is rare among them, but they are small, unfruitful
+and tend to become extinct.
+
+In Europe, the question of marriages between first cousins has been
+much discussed, and it has been constantly attempted to prove that
+they are injurious. Nevertheless, when we examine the question
+impartially, we always find that the prejudices against them do not
+arrive from consanguinity, but from certain pathological defects, such
+as insanity, hemophilia, etc., which are naturally perpetuated by
+consanguineous unions when they are accumulated in one family, as well
+as when two insane persons of different families marry. Therefore it
+is not consanguineous unions in themselves (which are always
+accidental in man and interrupted by others) but the hereditary
+reproduction of pathological defects, often of blastophthoric origin,
+which are the real cause of the evil. Statistics have clearly proved
+that marriage between first cousins plays no part in the causes of
+insanity.
+
+Influenced, no doubt, by general opinion, Westermark tries to believe
+in some instinctive repulsion of man for consanguineous unions. If in
+modern society such unions, perpetuated between parents and children,
+brothers and sisters, were still produced as in animals I should agree
+that they might be injurious to the species; but, considering how
+cosmopolitan and mixed is our modern society, I cannot make the
+concession. On the contrary, I maintain that the isolated unions which
+still take place between relatives in civilized countries are so
+exceptional that they do not present the least danger, excepting among
+the families of degenerates. It is therefore only a question of
+superstition. What we have to guard against are unions between
+pathological individuals and blastophthoric influences. We must not
+forget that many degenerates and idiots have a great pathological
+tendency to incest, and this is no doubt why the effect has been
+confounded with the cause.
+
+Westermark himself gives us a striking example. Since the most remote
+times the inhabitants of the Commune of Bats, composed of 3,300
+persons, have intermarried; yet this population is very healthy and
+vigorous and shows no sign of degeneration. On the other hand, we have
+seen that contrasts produce a mutual attraction in the domain of love,
+while strong resemblances rather repel. Bernardin de St. Pierre has
+said that love is created by contrasts; the greater the contrast the
+greater the love. Schopenhauer remarks as follows: "Every individual
+seeks in the opposite sex peculiarities which contrast with his own;
+the most masculine man seeks the most feminine woman, while small and
+feeble men love large and strong women; people with short noses prefer
+long ones, tall and thin men prefer short and stout women. All this
+increases fecundity." Thus instinct is sufficient to protect humanity
+against consanguinity, each sex instinctively seeking the contrasts
+which consanguinity diminishes.
+
+
+SENTIMENT AND CALCULATION IN SEXUAL SELECTION
+
+Youth, beauty, health, finery and flirtation excite the sexual
+appetite. Many other sentiments are accessory, such as admiration, the
+pleasure of possession, respect, pity, etc. Inclination is an
+important element, but in no way necessary to sexual union.
+
+In the lower stages of human development, tenderness toward children
+is much stronger than sexual love. Among many savage races the love of
+a man for his wife is completely wanting, as well as that of the wife
+for her husband. In this case marriage depends on reciprocal
+convenience, on the desire to have children, and profits by personal
+comfort and the satisfaction of a purely animal sexual appetite.
+However, among these people the parents have a tender regard for their
+children. The husband has the right to beat his wife, but the wife is
+considered as unnatural or even criminal if she beats her children.
+Among the North American Indians, for example, conjugal love is, so to
+speak, unknown. On the other hand, in other savage races, such as the
+Touaregs, the Niam-Niams, the New Caledonians, the Tonganese and
+Australians, the conjoints have a deep affection for each other, and
+the husband often commits suicide on the death of his wife. On the
+whole, the sentiments of affection of the conjoints are the result of
+a long sexual life in common, and they are especially strengthened by
+the love of the parents for their children.
+
+As a rule, the mutual attachment of conjoints for each other among
+cultivated races is developed along with altruism. The tenderness and
+refinement of love as they exist at the present day among highly
+civilized races were unknown to most savages and to the older
+civilizations. In China it is considered good manners to beat the
+wife, and when a poor Chinaman treats his wife with consideration, it
+is to avoid having to buy another. What the Arab understands by love
+is only sexual appetite, and among the ancient Greeks it was nearly
+the same.
+
+In civilized Europe mental culture progresses in the direction of
+equality of rights between the two sexes, so that a man regards his
+wife more as a companion who is his equal and no longer a slave.
+Community of interests, opinions, sentiments and culture constitute a
+primary condition for sentiments of mutual sympathy and favors
+affection. No doubt, excitation of the sexual appetite by contrasts
+acts here as an antagonistic force. Contrast should not be so great as
+to exclude sympathy.
+
+Too great difference in age is dangerous for attachment, for it causes
+too great a divergence in the aims and interests of life. Education
+and social equality also favors love, and this tends to preserve class
+distinction. It is rare for a well-educated man to fall in love with a
+peasant, or a laboring man with an educated woman, except in a sensual
+way. Men generally avoid marriage with individuals of another race, or
+of another religion.
+
+Endogamy and exogamy do not form such an absolute contrast as at first
+sight might appear. Even among exogamous races, there is a limit which
+must not be passed. These races often prohibit marriage with
+individuals of another race. Among the Arabs, for example, the
+instinct of ethnical separation is so strong, that the same Bedouin
+wife who will prostitute herself for money with Turks or Europeans,
+would think it dishonorable to marry one of them. In this way custom
+produces endogamy of caste and class among the same people. The same
+with the nobility; in ancient Rome it was forbidden for a patrician to
+marry a plebeian. Sometimes an endogamy of religious origin is met
+with, among the Jews for example.
+
+Children are treasures for the man of low culture, while they become a
+burden to the cultivated man. In spite of this the natural man
+ardently desires children. In Switzerland, two-fifths of the divorces
+occur in sterile unions, although the latter only form one-fifth of
+all marriages.
+
+Calculation often smothers sentiment when it becomes the basis of
+marriage. We live to-day under the sway of Mammon, with the result
+that the influence of love, strength, beauty, capacity for work,
+intelligence, skill, character and even health, count for little
+compared with money in the question of marriage. This sad sign is
+really a new form of marriage by purchase, hypocritically disguised.
+
+
+MARRIAGE BY RAPE AND MARRIAGE BY PURCHASE
+
+The rape of women is an established custom in some regions. Certain
+marriage ceremonies prove that rape was formerly much more common than
+at the present day. Among certain Indian tribes the simulation of rape
+and abduction of the woman form part of the marriage ceremonies;
+custom requiring that the woman must feign to resist.
+
+According to Spencer, marriage by rape originated in the prudery of
+woman, while MacLennan attributes it to the predominance of exogamy;
+but, in reality, marriage by rape exists in races which are absolutely
+endogamous. Westermark believes it arose from the repugnance to unions
+contracted in a narrow circle. The savage has difficulty in procuring
+a wife without giving the father compensation; besides, his own
+repugnance to the companions of his childhood and the prejudices
+against unions between relations, as well as the enmity of other
+clans, all increase the difficulties to be overcome. This is why he
+often decides on rape. Marriage by rape has not, however, been the
+rule at any period, and on the whole, unions concluded by mutual
+agreement have always predominated.
+
+Marriage by purchase has followed marriage by rape, and forms a
+slightly higher stage of civilization, developed by exchange of money
+or other symbols. It first appears, in Australia, for example, as
+marriage by exchange (exchange of a woman for a sister or a daughter).
+Afterward young men gain their wives by working as servants for the
+father. In marriage by purchase the price is based on the beauty,
+health and social position of the woman. A young girl is generally
+worth more than a widow or a rejected woman. Skill in female manual
+labor also increases the price. Among the Indians of British Columbia
+a wife will cost from twenty to forty pounds sterling, while in Oregon
+they are exchanged for bisons' skins or blankets. Among the Kaffirs
+from three to ten cows is a low price, twenty to thirty a high price
+for a wife. When a wife was given gratis, her parents had a right to
+the children. Marriage by purchase and by exchange still exists among
+the lower races as it formerly ruled among civilized peoples. We still
+possess the rudiments.
+
+Marriage by rape or by purchase has, however, never been in general
+usage. Certain races in India and Africa considered it a disgrace to
+pay a price for a wife.
+
+From the historical point of view it is interesting to note that, in
+the ceremonies of marriage by purchase, a simulated and symbolical
+rape of the betrothed still recalls the old form of marriage by rape;
+also, in races where a higher form has replaced marriage by purchase,
+traces of the latter are still preserved in certain nuptial symbols.
+
+
+DECADENCE OF MARRIAGE BY PURCHASE--THE DOT
+
+The position of woman has undergone steady improvement in higher
+civilization by the progress of altruism. This is why culture, in
+India, China, Greece, Rome and Germany, etc., has gradually
+discredited marriage by purchase. This was at first replaced by the
+custom of giving wedding presents to the bride; afterward the opposite
+custom was introduced of the bride bringing her _dot_ to the
+bridegroom.
+
+A singular transition between these two systems is constituted by
+simulated purchase, in which the bridegroom offers presents to the
+bride's parents, which are afterward returned to him. Among certain
+savages the bride's parents return the purchase money of their
+daughter to the bridegroom in another form. Such restitution was often
+the origin of the _dot_.
+
+Among the Romans the _dot_ became the property of the husband, and
+from this is derived the modern custom which usually gives the husband
+the right to administer his wife's _dot_, which remains the property
+of the wife and her family.
+
+Among the Mexicans, where divorce for conjugal discord is frequent,
+and among certain Mahometans, division of property exists in marriage,
+and the wife's property is returned to her when she is separated or
+divorced.
+
+In Europe at the present time, especially under the influence of
+French customs, there is established a kind of marriage by inverse
+purchase (which already existed among the Greeks), in the sense that
+the parents of young girls obtain husbands for them by means of a
+large _dot_. Westermark concludes this subject with the following
+words: "If she does not possess special personal attractions, a young
+girl without a _dot_, at the present day, runs a great chance of not
+getting married. This state of things is quite naturally developed in
+a society where monogamy is legally enforced; where women are more
+numerous than men; where many men never marry, and where married women
+too often lead a life of idleness." If we add to this: "in a society
+where Mammon rules as absolute master," the picture will not be
+wanting in accuracy.
+
+
+NUPTIAL CUSTOMS AND CEREMONIES
+
+In primitive races where the wife is simply bought like merchandise,
+often after mutual agreement, nuptial ceremonies do not exist. They
+generally originate later from the symbols of a form of marriage since
+abandoned. The ceremony being concluded and the marriage recognized as
+legal, it is followed by feasting. Certain religious ceremonies are
+generally combined with marriage. The customs of our modern marriages
+arise from the same source. At the time of early Christianity there
+were no religious ceremonies and even up till the year 1563, the date
+of the end of the Council of Trent, religious benediction of marriage
+was not obligatory. Luther held that marriage should be purely civil,
+but legal civil marriage was only introduced among us by the French
+Revolution, while it had existed in remote times among the Peruvians,
+Nicaraguans and others. Among certain races, marriages concluded
+without _dot_, without ceremony, or without purchase, and even those
+between different castes, are often regarded as concubinage.
+
+
+FORMS OF MARRIAGE
+
+Leaving aside hermaphrodites, such as the snails, in which each
+individual has both kinds of sexual organs and plays the part of both
+male and female, there are among animals with separate sexes five
+forms of conjugal union:
+
+(1). _Temporary or perpetual monogamy_, or marriage between one
+individual of one sex and one of the other sex. This is the case with
+most birds and mammals and many races of man.
+
+(2). _Polygymy or polygamy_, or the marriage of one male with several
+females. This occurs in ruminants, stags, fowls, and other animals, as
+well as in some human beings; for example, the Islamites, negroes,
+American Indians, Mormons, etc.
+
+(3). _Polyandry_, or the marriage of one female with several males.
+This is met with chiefly in the ants, in which each female is
+generally fecundated successively by several males. In most of the
+higher animals, the jealousy of the males renders polyandry
+impossible. In man it is rare but exists among certain races.
+
+(4). _Marriage in groups_, or marriage between several males and
+several females. This singular custom is rare but exists in the Togas,
+a tribe of savages. I am not aware of its existence among animals.
+
+(5). _Promiscuity_, or free sexual intercourse between males and
+females. This occurs in many animals, especially in the lower animals
+in which the sexual instinct of the male is not associated with any
+regard for the female or the progeny. Promiscuity is still more
+natural when the female does not look after her young after she has
+laid her eggs. Nevertheless, in most animals the female limits herself
+to sexual intercourse before each brood, so that real promiscuity is
+not so frequent as would at first appear. In man, on the contrary, it
+attains its apogee in prostitution, which is the only absolutely
+complete form of promiscuity. But the result of prostitution as
+regards the preservation of the species, which is the proper object of
+all sexual union, is absolutely destructive.
+
+Polygamy or polygymy were licit among most ancient races, and is so
+still among most savages and among many civilized nations; but it has
+several varieties.
+
+In Mexico, Peru, Japan and China a man only possesses one legitimate
+wife, but has several concubines whose children are considered as
+legitimate as those of his wife. Polygamy existed legally among the
+Jews up to the Middle Ages. King Solomon possessed seven hundred wives
+and three hundred concubines. In Islamite countries the Jews are still
+polygamous. The Koran allows them four wives and as many concubines as
+they please. The latter do not enjoy the protection of their father,
+but apart from this they have the same rights as the legitimate wives.
+The Hindus and Persians are polygamous. The Romans were strictly
+monogamous, but they also had concubines.
+
+In Christian Europe, polygamy has occasionally been allowed or
+tolerated: St. Augustus did not condemn it. Luther allowed Philip of
+Hesse to marry two wives; and after the treaty of Westphalia bigamy
+was allowed because of the depopulation of Germany. The mistresses of
+the present princes are a relic of polygamy. Jesus having said nothing
+concerning polygamy, Luther did not prohibit it.
+
+The Mormons have introduced it into their religion. The negro king of
+Loango shows us what degree polygamy may reach among princes and
+chiefs, for he possesses seven thousand wives, while the chiefs of the
+Fiji Islands are content with twenty to one hundred.
+
+Among savage races we find monogamy in the natives of the Andaman
+islands, among the Touaregs, the Weddas, the Iroquois, the Wyandottes,
+and even in some Australian tribes. With others, polygamy is only
+permitted to the chiefs. But most of the population are monogamous
+even among polygamous races, and there are very few peoples in which
+all the men possess several wives. In India, 95 per cent. of the
+Islamites are monogamous, and in Persia even 98 per cent. Polygamy is
+nearly everywhere a privilege of princes, chiefs, and rich men.
+
+The two following facts also show a tendency to monogamy among
+polygamous races:
+
+(1). One of the wives, generally the first, has prerogatives over the
+others.
+
+(2). In reality, the polygamous man nearly always gives sexual
+preference to one only, or to a few of his wives. There are, however,
+some polygamous races in which the husband has sexual intercourse with
+each of his wives according to a regular programme, taking each of
+them in turn for several days, weeks or months. With others, on the
+contrary, a number of married women remain in reality virgins, because
+the husband does not desire them, and they are nothing more than
+domestics. Among these people the husband as a rule only takes a
+second wife when the first has grown old, so that bigamy becomes the
+ordinary form of marriage.
+
+The Cingalese were polyandrous before the English conquest, and so
+many as seven men had one wife in common. Polyandry is especially the
+custom in Thibet. Among polyandrous peoples the husbands are not all
+on the same footing of equality, some hold an inferior position,
+corresponding nearly to that of concubines, another sign of the
+tendency to monogamy.
+
+Among the Togas marriage in groups is constituted as follows: All the
+brothers are husbands of the wife of the elder brother, and all the
+sisters of this wife are at the same time wives of their
+brothers-in-law. If we except prostitution, this is the only case in
+man which approaches promiscuity. Marriage in groups, however, is
+extremely restricted promiscuity.
+
+To resume, monogamy is by far the most widespread form of marriage.
+This is explained by the relative number of men to women. It has often
+been stated that the number of individuals of the two sexes is nearly
+the same, and this has been used as an argument in favor of monogamy.
+But this statement is incorrect; sometimes it is the men, but more
+often the women, who predominate. Among the natives of Oregon there
+are seven hundred men to eleven hundred and eighty-five women. Among
+the Punkas and other races the number of women is two or three times
+greater than that of the men. In Kotcha-Hamba there is only one man to
+five women. Among other races there are, on the contrary, more men
+than women, especially in Australia, Tasmania, and Hayti. In the
+latter island there is only one woman to five men. In Cashmere there
+are three men to one woman. Among the negroes, on the contrary, the
+women predominate, sometimes in the proportion of three to one, but
+more generally as three to two.
+
+In Europe, more boys than girls are born on the average, but from the
+age of fifteen to twenty the numbers become equal, and after twenty
+the women predominate. This is due to the greater mortality among men,
+owing to war, the greater danger of masculine occupations, and also to
+alcoholism. In the fifteen largest towns in Switzerland alcoholism is
+the direct or indirect cause of death in 10.5 per cent. of men above
+the age of twenty.
+
+Among savages the women often take part in war, for instance the
+Amazons of Dahomey. Drinking habits are also the same or absent in
+both sexes, which equalizes matters. When the men predominate in these
+people, this is often due to infanticide committed on young girls, and
+also to overwork of the women. With the Cingalese the natality of boys
+is greater than that of girls, while in Asia Minor two girls, in
+Arabia even four girls, are born to one boy. The Arab says, "Allah has
+given us more women than men; it is, therefore, clear that polygamy is
+a divine commandment."
+
+=Production of Sexes at Will.=--I will say a few words on the question
+of the causes of production of the sexes. There is no want of
+hypotheses, assertions, nor even of experiments on this subject; but,
+we are obliged to admit that up to the present we know nothing
+certain. No one has yet succeeded in producing experimentally in
+animals males or females at will. According to one theory, which has
+created much impression, overfeeding produces females and underfeeding
+males. Although this appears to be true in certain cases among some
+animals, it is in no way proved in a positive manner.
+
+It has also been suggested that selection produces the sex which is
+deficient in numbers; but here again proofs are wanting. It has been
+maintained that crossing tends to breed females, while consanguineous
+marriages produce males; in other words, that mongrel races show an
+excess of female births, while races in which marriages are very
+consanguineous, and polyandrous tribes show an excess of males. It is
+much better to leave this question alone till science has furnished us
+with conclusive proofs. Certain results obtained with the lower
+animals give hope that the future may shed some light on this point.
+
+Again, marriage customs are not always in relation to the excess of
+one of the sexes. Races in which men predominate are not always
+polyandrous, and those in which women are in excess are not always
+polygamous; sometimes even the contrary exists. Polygamy is thus not
+always due to a surplus of female births, or to the death of many men,
+but often to religious prescripts, as among the Islamites and Mormons.
+In polyandry, poverty often plays a greater part than consanguineous
+marriages or surplus of male births. Religious prescription of the
+husband's continence during his wife's menstrual periods, pregnancy,
+and even the period of nursing, a period which often lasts from two to
+four years in savages, is an important cause of polyandry. At Sierra
+Leone, coitus of the husband with his wife before the last-born child
+can walk is regarded as a crime.
+
+Although very advantageous to the wife's health this custom is
+entirely based on religious ideas and superstitions. Many savages
+consider that every woman is impure and bewitched during her monthly
+periods, during pregnancy and suckling. If we add to this the fact
+that, being usually treated as beasts, the women soon grow old, we can
+easily understand that the men are inclined to polygamy. It is
+remarkable with what rapidity the savage woman grows old. She is only
+fresh from thirteen to twenty years; after twenty-five she is old and
+sterile, and a little later she has the aspect of an old sorceress.
+This premature senility is not so much due to early sexual intercourse
+as to the terribly hard work they undergo, and also to the prolonged
+period of suckling.
+
+Another cause of polygamy is man's natural desire for change. The
+negroes of Angola exchange wives. The instinct of procreation, love of
+glory and riches cooperate with the sterility of many women in
+propagating polygamy. Certain races only tolerate it when the woman is
+sterile, or has only daughters, which clearly proves that it is based
+on the fear of remaining without male descendants.
+
+On the whole, savage women are less fecund than civilized, owing to
+their long continence during the two or four years nursing of each
+child. If we add to this the high infant mortality, we can understand
+how polygamy becomes among these people a means of reproduction in the
+struggle for existence, and even in African races a natural law. A
+native of Central Africa may have a hundred wives, who also act as
+servants and retainers. In this case polygamy is the expression of
+pomp and wealth. It is especially developed in agricultural peoples
+owing to the value of the woman's labor. On the other hand it is
+impossible among nomadic tribes. In Dahomey the king had thousands of
+wives, the nobility hundreds, the simple citizen a dozen and the
+soldier none at all.
+
+Jealousy and rivalry among the wives is not always the rule in
+polygamous families. In equatorial Africa the wives themselves incline
+to polygamy and regard a rich man who restricts the number of his
+wives as miserly. Livingstone relates that the women of Makololo
+declared they would not live in monogamous England, for any
+respectable man should prove his wealth by the number of his wives. We
+must not forget that among most savages the moral conception of good
+and evil are confounded with that of riches and poverty. In reality,
+the supernumerary wives bought by a polygamist are simply slaves. His
+power and authority do not easily allow jealousy among them;
+nevertheless suicide sometimes occurs among the old wives who have
+been passed over in favor of younger ones. Sometimes they kill their
+children at the same time. Among the Indians of Terra del Fuego a hut
+containing three or four women often resembles a battlefield. We have
+already pointed out the way in which jealous Fiji women cut off the
+noses of their rivals. Among the Islamites and Hindus intrigue and
+jealousy are common with the women; the same in Abyssinia, among the
+Hovas of Madagascar and the Zulus. The Hova term for polygamy is
+_rafy_, which signifies adversary. To prevent the jealousy of his
+wives the polygamous man often places them in separate houses; this is
+common among the South American Indians.
+
+In Colombia I made the acquaintance of a French explorer, Le Comte de
+Brettes, who has studied closely the Goajires Indians by becoming
+himself a member of the tribe. The country of the Goajires is a
+peninsula of Colombia bordering on Venezuela. Polygamy among these
+people is very interesting. When a young Goajire wishes to marry he
+has to pay the bride's parents a number of cattle, but the consent of
+the bride is necessary. Besides this the husband has to clear a
+certain area of forest, plant vegetables and build a hut. He must then
+make a present of all this to his wife and add to it the necessary
+cattle. The wife thus becomes the legal proprietor of the house and
+land, and it is she who rules over the domain. The husband only has
+authority over the male children; but the wife is strictly enforced to
+be faithful. If he wishes to marry a second wife, he is obliged to buy
+her also and present her with similar property as the first, in
+another district. The two wives can never dwell together in the same
+house nor in the same district; each of them is thus a proprietor on
+her own account. In this manner the different wives of a Goajire are
+not only independent, but separated from each other and have no
+communication; this excludes all jealousy, especially as these women
+have a deep respect for the laws of their country. Under such
+conditions polygamy can hardly extend to more than two women without
+exhausting the forces a man requires to cultivate each of the domains.
+We thus see that certain forms of polygamy, combined with
+matriarchism, are compatible with high social position of the wife,
+for among the Goajires and other Indian tribes the man passes from one
+wife to the other, while it is the wife who is mistress of the house,
+the children and the domain.
+
+However, we may say that on the whole monogamy reigns where there is
+more altruism, respect for women and sentiment for family life; for
+instance, in Nicaragua, among the Dyaks, the Andamanese, etc., in whom
+the wife is highly esteemed and possesses political influence. The
+wife is also proprietor of the house among the Santalese and
+Mounda-Kols.
+
+In the question we are considering the nature of the amorous passions
+also plays a great part. When they are purely sensual they do not last
+long as a rule; but when love arises from mental affinities it may be
+prolonged till old age. Bain remarks that other passions, such as
+maternal love, hatred, the desire of domination may be extended to
+many objects, while love has a tendency to concentrate itself on a
+single one which then takes preeminence over the others and tends to
+monogamy. We have seen that birds and monkeys generally love only one
+female. With some conjugal love is so strong that one of the conjoints
+cannot survive the other; this fact has been observed with certainty,
+even when the survivor was provided with another mate. Thus, the male
+of a certain species of monkey (_Hapale jacchus_) after the death of
+his mate, covers his eyes with his hands, ceases to eat and remains in
+the same position till he dies. Suicide for love is not rare among
+certain savage races; a point to which we shall return later.
+
+Westermark is certainly right in considering this tendency of love to
+concentrate itself on a single object as one of the most powerful
+factors in monogamy. Jealousy is no doubt the reverse of such
+sentiment, but is the profound despair at seeing the sole object of
+love desert or become unfaithful. On the other hand, this
+concentration of love, which may be excellent for isolated families
+living alone after the manner of wild beasts, is in no way adapted to
+a society of which all the members are responsible. This is a point we
+must insist upon. There is certainly a real antinomy which is
+difficult to reconcile between this dual egoism of exclusive and
+concentrated love and social solidarity or human altruism. The problem
+is not insoluble, but we must admit that the solution is not easy.
+
+To resume, we first of all observe an evolution from monogamy toward
+polygamy. The higher apes and the most primitive men are monogamous;
+among these there are no differences of rank, nor class distinctions,
+and they live in very small groups. Wealth, civilization, larger
+communities, agriculture and the domination of castes have gradually
+given rise to polygamy. Thus, the ancient Hindus were at first
+monogamous and later on became polygamous. The prerogative of the
+first wife over the others is only a vestige of monogamy in polygamy.
+
+A higher degree of culture then diminishes warfare, shortens the
+period of nursing, does away with the prejudices against coitus during
+pregnancy, and improves the social position of women. Ageing less
+quickly, and adding to her bodily charms those of her mental
+development woman restores man to monogamy. As the same time wives and
+children gradually cease to constitute riches, and this diminishes the
+instinct of procreation. Finally, machinery replaces the female labor
+of former times. In this way, with a higher degree of human culture,
+all the factors tend to restore monogamy.
+
+The instinctive desires of woman are monogamous. The progress of
+civilization is continually extending her rights, and the more refined
+sentiments of sympathy among civilized people are less and less
+compatible with polygamy. As regards polyandry, Westermark shows that
+it has always been an exception and that it has only been established
+among phlegmatic races, having a certain degree of civilization and
+being unacquainted with jealousy.
+
+Spencer believes that monogamy will prevail in the future, while
+Lubbock inclines to polygamy. Westermark thinks that if the progress
+of civilization continues as hitherto to become more altruistic, and
+that if love tends to become more refined, the conjoints having more
+and more regard for each other, monogamy will always become more
+strict.
+
+For my part, I think it idle to prophesy. If mental culture ever
+succeeds in overcoming brutality and barbarism, and if it continues to
+make real progress, I do not think that any of the old systems of
+marriage will persist in their primary form. Primitive monogamy
+adapted to an unsocial savage condition, is incompatible with the
+social requirements which become more and more imposed upon humanity.
+Marriage by purchase and Islamite polygamy, which regard woman as
+merchandise and place her entirely under the dependence of man, are
+barbarous customs of semi-civilized people, which have already fallen
+into disuse. Polyandry is contrary to human nature and to the
+requirements of reproduction, and its implantation is everywhere a
+sign of decadence. Our present religious monogamy, completed by the
+shameful promiscuity of prostitution, is both hypocritical and
+unhealthy. Till the contrary is proved, I consider the most
+advantageous form of marriage for the future a kind of free monogamy
+(eventually polygamy), accompanied by obligations relative to the
+procreation of children and to the children procreated. Polyandry
+should only have an accessory right to existence in certain
+pathological or exceptional cases. We shall return to this point
+later.
+
+
+DURATION OF MARRIAGE
+
+Among birds, marriage is generally concluded for life; among mammals
+rarely for more than a year, with the exception of the anthropoid apes
+and man.
+
+The duration of marriage varies enormously in man. Among the
+Andamanese, the Weddas, certain Papous, marriage can only cease with
+death. Among the North American Indians, on the contrary, it is only
+concluded for a limited period. Among the Wyandottes the custom exists
+of trial marriages for several days. In Greenland, divorce often takes
+place at the end of six months. Among the Creeks marriage does not
+last more than a year. In this way is constituted a kind of polygamy
+by succession or limited monogamy, which results in the father not
+knowing his children.
+
+Among the Botocudos, marriage is performed without ceremonies and only
+lasts a short time; it can be broken off on the slightest pretext, for
+the pleasure of changing; divorce then becomes as frequent as
+marriage. This is also the case in Queensland, Tasmania and the Samoan
+islands. Among the Dyaks and Cingalese, quite young men and women have
+already had several wives or husbands; a man often marries and deserts
+the same woman several times, to take others during the intervals.
+Among the Mantras there are men who have been married forty or fifty
+times.
+
+In Persia a woman may marry for periods varying from one hour to
+ninety-nine years. In Egypt similar customs are met with; a monthly
+change is allowed, so that a man may marry twenty or thirty times in
+two years. Among the Maues of Sahara the women consider it
+fashionable to marry as often as possible, and a long married life is
+considered by them as vulgar. The Abyssinians, negroes, etc., marry on
+trial or for limited periods. Among the Greeks, Romans and ancient
+Germans, divorce was very frequent.
+
+In nearly all savage tribes, and in a number of civilized people the
+man possesses an unlimited right of rejection. The Hovas compare
+marriage to a loosely tied knot. Among the ancient Jews, Romans,
+Greeks and Germans, discontent of the husband was a sufficient reason
+for rejection. On the contrary, among a number of savage races
+(Westermark mentions about twenty-five) rejection and divorce are
+extremely rare and marriage lasts for life.
+
+It is especially where there are children that divorce is rare. With
+most races, sterility of the wife and adultery constitute the
+principal causes of legal divorce.
+
+Among civilized races marriage for life is much more common than with
+savages. This was the case with the Aztecs, etc. Among the Chinese
+there exist seven reasons for divorce: sterility, unchastity,
+negligence toward parents-in-law, talkativeness, desertion, ill-temper
+and chronic disease. In Japan the laws are similar, but in spite of
+this divorce is rare in China and Japan.
+
+In Christian countries divorce was formerly permitted and was only
+prohibited by the Council of Trent. The modern Catholic says: "Man
+must not separate what God has united." Among many savages, on the
+contrary, divorce is left to the free will of the married couple.
+Elsewhere it is sometimes the man, sometimes both husband and wife who
+have the right to exact divorce for divers reasons, such as
+drunkenness, adultery, prodigality, etc. In Europe, as elsewhere, it
+is the desire for change which is the most common cause of divorce.
+
+Children constitute the surest cement against conjugal separations.
+With most savages the rejected wife regains not only her _dot_, but
+also part of the common property, or even the whole of it. On the
+contrary, the purchase value of the wife is only as a rule returned to
+the husband when sterility, adultery or other grave reasons are the
+causes of divorce. It results from this that divorce is always very
+rare among peoples where the women are very dear.
+
+The right of the children after divorce varies a good deal in
+different races; sometimes they are adjudged to the husband, sometimes
+to the wife. Divorced women often become prostitutes, for example,
+among the Chinese and Arabs. As a rule, marriages for love are more
+lasting than others, especially when the couple were acquainted before
+marriage.
+
+It is extremely probable that in primitive man marriage only lasted
+till the birth of a child, or at the most a few years. With
+civilization the duration of marriage has been prolonged, higher
+motives having become added to bodily charms, sexual appetite and the
+instinct of procreation, and tending toward more lasting unions.
+
+Moral reasons have given rise to laws of protection in marriage, but
+the mania which man possesses of dogmatizing on everything has often
+caused these laws to degenerate into abuse or religious absurdities.
+In this way the modern form of our Christian monogamy has been imposed
+by a tyrannical dogma of the Roman Church; a dogma which no doubt
+started from an ideal point of view, but fell into disuse in practice,
+owing to the fact that it did not take sufficient account of the
+natural conditions and sexual requirements of the race. This explains
+the present tendency to greater legal liberty, even when the moral
+causes which tend to render monogamous unions durable multiply with
+the progress of civilization.
+
+
+HISTORY OF EXTRA-CONJUGAL SEXUAL INTERCOURSE
+
+As monogamous marriage exists among the anthropoid apes, we have every
+reason to believe that it existed with primitive man. In neither case
+has it been the result of artificial laws, but the result of brute
+force and congenital instincts inherited by natural evolution. It
+often happened that one male vanquished another and took possession of
+the female, or wife, of the vanquished. Others abducted the female by
+surprise. Later on, marriage by exchange or by purchase, derived from
+marriage by rape, probably constituted the first stage toward a legal
+monogamous or polygamous union, as an element in the most primitive
+human conventional organizations. In this way we can imagine the main
+points of the prehistoric evolution of marriage.
+
+When the conception of marriage took on a legal character, either that
+of possession by the male, or that of a more or less equitable
+contract between the two sexes, we can easily imagine that sexual
+intercourse apart from marriage resulted as an inevitable complement.
+Every artificial barrier which the human mind opposes to natural
+instincts immediately gives rise to a movement of opposition on the
+part of the latter. The matrimonial laws of primitive or
+semi-civilized races punished adultery in the most barbarous manner by
+torture and death, but were unable to prevent the sexual passions
+pursuing their course in one way or another.
+
+Certain abuses or exceptions had, therefore, to be tolerated, or
+certain complementary institutions had to be organized. However, these
+laws generally branded all forms of sexual intercourse apart from
+marriage, with the stigma of inferiority, or contempt, if not of
+crime. The woman, being the weaker, was naturally the one to suffer
+most from this stigma and its consequences.
+
+The great diversity in the customs of different human tribes, makes it
+necessary, in order to avoid errors, to guard against generalizing
+without strong reasons. We cannot, however, here enter into details
+which would lead us too far. We can, however, affirm that among the
+lower or primitive races brute force played the principal role and was
+the fundamental support of marriage, while in higher civilizations
+legal regulation took the upper hand, however absurd or even immoral
+it might be.
+
+Illegal or extra-conjugal forms of sexual intercourse have always
+formed two principal groups: _prostitution_ and _concubinage_. No
+doubt, these two varieties are insensibly connected by numerous shades
+of transition, but as their development depends on different
+principles we must distinguish these two forms.
+
+Prostitution is a trade in which a human being sells her body for
+money, while concubinage consists in more or less free sexual
+intercourse apart from marriage, the motive of which is simply the
+sexual appetite, convenience or love, although sometimes violence
+plays a part in it. We therefore find in extra-marital sexual
+intercourse the same motives as in legal unions; legal or religious
+sanction only is wanting.
+
+It is needless to say that the motives which lead to concubinage may
+be more or less tainted by interested calculation. In all
+civilizations concubinage and prostitution constitute the complement
+of legal marriage. Their regulation has ever produced the singular
+results of surrounding them with a moral nimbus.
+
+In Babylon, every woman once in her life, had to prostitute herself
+for money to any stranger at the temple of Venus. Solon founded houses
+of prostitution for the people and furnished them with slaves, "in
+order to protect the sanctity of marriage against the passions of
+youth."
+
+The Romans had also their houses of prostitution or lupanari, public
+or private, as well as free prostitutes. In the Middle Ages,
+prostitution developed especially after the Crusades. It is related
+that the Council of Constance attracted fifteen hundred prostitutes to
+this town. Prostitutes followed the armies everywhere.
+
+In India, young girls give themselves to the priests, who are the
+representatives of God and enjoy great honors. Under the name of
+Temple girls, the girls of the flower boats of China are really
+prostitutes. It is the same with the puzes of Java, the girls in the
+Japanese tea-houses, etc. In some civilized states, certain refined
+and intelligent prostitutes have always obtained great honors and high
+favors, only charging high prices, and ending by substituting for
+prostitution the pecuniary exploitation of rich men whom they have
+seduced.
+
+Concubinage may be more or less free. The concubines were formerly
+often slaves, possessed by men in high positions, in addition to their
+wives. At the present day the omnipotence of money produces almost
+analogous results. Free concubinage, in which sexual intercourse
+between the two contracting parties is absolutely free and more or
+less independent of pecuniary questions, is very different and of a
+higher moral character. It has also existed in antiquity in various
+forms. The Greek hetairas were concubines of high position, no doubt
+prostitutes of a kind and giving themselves for money; but they became
+the friends or companions of great men. Living in luxury, especially
+at the time of Pericles and later, several of them became celebrated;
+statues were raised to them and they became the concubines of kings.
+Phryne served as the model for the statue of Venus, and offered to
+restore the halls of the Thebeans at her own expense. Thais was the
+mistress of Alexander and gave heirs to the throne. The neglected
+education of the Greek wives caused the intellectual accomplishments
+of the hetairas to shine by contrast.
+
+The whole question regarding the Greek customs is summed up in a few
+words by Demosthenes: "We marry wives in order to have legitimate
+children and a faithful guardian for our household; we have concubines
+for our daily service, and hetairas for the enjoyment of love."
+
+In some countries, such as Japan, the children of concubines are
+considered by the husbands as legitimate, and have the same rights as
+those of his wife; this gives concubinage the character of marriage of
+the second rank.
+
+In modern times hetairas are not wanting. Under the title of
+courtesans and mistresses, we find them everywhere as the favorites of
+kings and nobles, as mistresses of men in high positions, and often
+playing the part of vampires in all classes of society.
+
+On the other hand, women of high position or wealth have also their
+favorites, whom we may call male hetairas. Certain female members of
+royal families have at all times furnished examples of this kind.
+
+At all periods in the history of civilized races, pathology has also
+led to extra-conjugal sexual intercourse. Here, homosexual love in
+general, and love of boys or pediastry, has always played the
+principal part. We shall speak of this in Chapter VIII. Among the
+Hebrews, Persians, Etruscans, and especially the Greeks, it was held
+in high esteem. The Greek philosophers regarded it as based on an
+ideal homosexual love, and not as a vile form of prostitution. Solon,
+Aristides, Sophocles, Phidias, and Socrates were strongly suspected of
+homosexual practices, and they regarded this form of love as superior
+to the normal love of woman. Lesbian love, and other sexual
+aberrations, such as sadism, have also played a historical role, as we
+shall see.
+
+
+CONCLUSIONS
+
+Primitive human marriage was probably of short duration; when man
+later on became carnivorous, and had to obtain food for his children
+by hunting, sexual unions assumed a more constant character. It is not
+the class or the tribe, but the family which constituted the primitive
+social condition of man, a condition in which marriage was a heritage
+from "pithecomorphous" ancestors, _i.e._, related to monkeys.
+
+Free sexual intercourse before marriage and frequent changes in the
+latter were then no doubt very common, but true promiscuity has never
+been the rule in primitive man.
+
+Patriarchism with its disastrous consequences has been the result of
+the preponderance of male power. In a higher degree of civilization
+this preponderance has produced marriage by purchase and polygamy. The
+barbarous form of the latter is now decreasing.
+
+A true higher culture leads gradually to durable love based on
+altruism and ethics, _i.e._, a relative and free monogamy.
+
+The development of marriage in civilization has gradually increased
+the rights of woman, and marriage contracts tend more and more in
+their modern forms to stipulate for complete equality of rights for
+both sexes. As Westermark says: "The history of human marriage is the
+history of a union in which women have gradually triumphed over the
+passions, prejudices and egoism of men." The term reemancipation of
+women is historically more correct than the simple term emancipation,
+for before the institution of marriage, woman was free. Invented by
+the stronger male when he began to reason, marriage was at first only
+the servitude of woman. To give her complete liberty, it must be
+transformed afresh from top to bottom.
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+=Influence of the Race on Sexual Life.=--If I were an ethnographer I
+should attempt to establish whether, and in what way, racial
+differences affect the sexual life of man; but the question is so
+delicate that it would require a skilled specialist to settle it. With
+the exception of the pages dealing with the history of extra-conjugal
+intercourse, the statements in this chapter are based on the work of
+Westermark. The chief difficulty consists in separating, in the
+customs of each race, that which arises from habit and historical
+tradition from that which depends on more or less specific hereditary
+peculiarities. It is here very easy to fall into error in formulating
+false conclusions.
+
+A good deal has been said concerning the hot blood of warm climates,
+and on the whole it appears true that people who inhabit these
+climates have a more violent and more precocious sexual temperament
+than those who live in cold regions. But this is not a racial
+character. The Jews, who have preserved their race unaltered in all
+climates and under all possible conditions of existence, furnish an
+object lesson which is particularly appropriate to decide the
+question. The traits of their character are reflected in their sexual
+life. Their sexual appetites are generally strong and their love is
+distinguished by great family attachment. Their sexual life is also
+influenced by their mercantile spirit, and we find them everywhere
+connected with the traffic of women and prostitution. They are not
+very jealous and are much addicted to concubinage, at the same time
+remaining affectionate to their wife and family.
+
+The Mongols also lead a very intense sexual life. Among the
+polyandrous people of Thibet jealousy appears to be completely absent:
+this may be the result of custom or may be due to phylogenetic
+instinct. The Mormons, who are descended from monogamous races,
+confirm the idea that polygamy is not a specific racial character. It
+would be interesting to study the mixed races of North America from
+this point of view. At first sight, it seems that the Americanization
+of customs in the mixture of races of the United States is also
+extended to sexual life, and that we cannot discover the fundamental
+differences between the Irish, Scandinavians, French, Germans and
+Italians who constitute this mixture. But it is possible that this is
+only a superficial impression, and that a deeper study of the details
+would lead to another result. One thing appears to be unquestionable
+in the negro race; that is the violence of its sexual passion combined
+with its mental inferiority.
+
+A striking trait is furnished by the French race which has remained
+pure in the eastern provinces of Canada, whose sexual customs are very
+different from those of the present population of France. The French
+Canadian is extremely pure and chaste, leads a regular life and has a
+numerous family. Families of fifteen or twenty are not rare among
+French Canadians. We can here, therefore, observe the effect of
+climate and custom on a single race. For reasons mentioned above, I
+shall content myself with a few remarks, but I am certain that a
+profound study of the question would discover, in the character of the
+individuals, specific peculiarities of their race which are only
+marked externally by customs. It is obvious that such characters will
+be all the more distinct, the more the race differs from its
+congeners, and the purer its ethnical separation. As among animals, it
+is necessary to distinguish between slight variations, and races or
+sub-species which are more constant and more divergent. Hereditary or
+phylogenetic individual differences must also be distinguished from
+those of races or varieties.
+
+=Weight of the Brain in Different Races and Sexes.=--Bebel has stated
+that among savages the difference between the brain of the men and
+women is less than among civilized people. This statement is quite
+wrong. Prof. Rudolph Martin, of Zurich, has given me statistics of the
+cranial capacity of the two sexes in different races, drawn from
+reliable sources. According to Martin the weight of the brain
+represents about 87 per cent. of the cranial capacity. His table of
+statistics is given on the opposite page.
+
+These figures show that the difference between the two sexes is always
+about the same, while the average absolute weight of the brain in the
+two sexes is lower in the lower races. Reckoning it 87 per cent. of
+the cranial capacity, it is in the Weddas 1111 grammes for males and
+991 grammes for females, which corresponds to the weight of the
+brains of idiots or general paralytics with us. Martin assures me that
+in the Malay peninsula he has found as much difference between the men
+and women as in Europeans.
+
+According to Martin, men living at the present day may be divided into
+three classes according to their cranial capacity:
+
+                                         MEN.             WOMEN.
+  Aristencephalous (large brains)     over 1450 gr.    over 1300 gr.
+  Euencephalous (medium brains)       1300 to 1450.    1150 to 1300.
+  Oligencephalous (small brains)      under 1300.      under 1150.
+
+
+AVERAGE CRANIAL CAPACITY IN DIFFERENT RACES
+
+                                             Men   Women  Difference
+               {Badois   { 48 Craniums m. }  1513  1330   183
+               {         { 26     "    f. }
+Civilized      {
+               {Bavarian {100     "    m. }  1503  1335   168 (11.2 %)
+               {         {100     "    f. }
+
+               {Malay    { 26     "    m. }  1414  1223   191
+               {         {  2     "    f. }
+Semi-Civilized {
+               {Aino     { 87     "    m. }  1462  1308   154
+               {         { 64     "    f. }
+
+Lowest Race              { 22     "    m. }  1277  1139   138 (10.8%)
+Weddas                   { 10     "    m. }
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+SEXUAL EVOLUTION
+
+
+The evolution of every living being is twofold. We must distinguish:
+(1) its _ontogeny_, or the entire cycle of development of the
+individual from its conception till natural death at an advanced age;
+(2) its _phylogeny_, or the series of organic forms through which its
+ancestors passed, by successive transformations, from the primitive
+cells of the oldest and most obscure geological periods, up to its
+present organization.
+
+In its chief outlines ontogeny is determined by phylogeny by means of
+the laws of heredity, even when it is only an abridged recapitulation.
+
+Regarded from this point of view the sexual life of man is also based
+on phylogenetic conditions, determined by his ancestral lineage.
+Moreover, it presents an individual or ontogenetic evolution during
+the life of each person, which in its principal traits is
+predetermined in the germ, by the phylogenetic or hereditary energies
+of the species. The phenomena of the hereditary mneme show clearly how
+ontogeny is the result of engraphia combined with selection, in the
+series of ancestors. We have already mentioned these points on several
+occasions, but must now review the whole question.
+
+
+PHYLOGENY OF SEXUAL LIFE
+
+In Chapter II we have briefly described phylogeny in general or
+metamorphosis, and in the first part of Chapter IV we have specially
+considered the phylogeny of the sexual appetite in the phenomenon of
+cell division and conjugation of nuclei in unicellular organisms,
+which we have described in Chapter I. In order for animals to
+reproduce themselves without degenerating, crossing, or the
+combination of different germs, is necessary, and such combinations
+are only possible by the mutual attraction of two kinds of germinal
+cells. But, when the individual becomes multicellular and bears only
+one kind of germinal cells, the attractive energy which was originally
+limited to these cells is transmitted to the whole organism, and this
+necessitates the existence of sensory and motor nerve centers.
+
+The attraction of one kind of germinal cell and its bearer for the
+other must also be more or less mutual. As a rule the bearer of one of
+the germinal cells becomes active and penetrating; that of the other
+passive and receptive. However, the latter, who after copulation (when
+this occurs) becomes the sole bearer of the future individual, is
+obliged to desire union with the active bearer of the other germinal
+cell, so that reproduction may become harmonious. This is the basis on
+which is founded sexual reproduction, and with it the sexual appetite,
+in plants (as regards cellular conjugation only) as well as in
+animals, but especially in the latter, in whom the germinal cells are
+carried by mobile and independent individuals. On the same basis is
+developed the difference between the sexual appetite in man and woman,
+as well as that between love and the other irradiations of this
+appetite in the mental life of both sexes. (Vide Chapters IV and V.)
+
+The immense complication of human sexual life makes us regard animals
+with a certain degree of contempt, and flatter our vanity in
+qualifying the baser part of our sexual appetite by the term _animal
+instinct_. But we are really very unjust toward animals. This
+injustice is partly due to the fact that vocal and written language
+gives us a means of penetrating into the psychology of our fellow
+creatures. By the aid of the common symbolism of our thoughts it is
+easy for us to compare them. Language thus enables us to construct a
+general human psychology. The absence of language, even in the higher
+animals, renders it difficult for us to penetrate their mind. Our
+inductive reasoning in this matter is very uncertain, for we can only
+judge the mental power of animals by their acts. The brain, and
+consequently the mind, of the higher mammals being less highly
+organized than that of man, their sexual psychology is also more
+primitive, and differs from ours in proportion to the cerebral
+development of the species. Comparative anatomy confirms this fact in
+the whole series of organisms which possess a central nervous system.
+The psychology of the higher apes is thus nearer our own than that of
+the dog; the psychology of the dog resembles ours more than that of
+the rabbit, etc.
+
+On the other hand, the highly developed cerebral organization of man,
+although it has complicated the mental irradiations of his sexual
+appetite, has not always ennobled them; on the contrary, it has often
+directed them into pernicious paths. We have seen in Chapter VI
+numerous and striking proofs of the degeneration, brutality and
+cruelty of the manifestations of the human sexual appetite, and we
+shall study them further in Chapter VIII. Comparative biology shows us
+that the sexual appetite is transformed into love in very different
+ways. In order to avoid the immensity of detail of comparative biology
+I shall only give a few examples.
+
+While the female spider often kills and eats the male, monkeys, and
+parrots give proof of such a great mutual attachment that when one of
+the conjoints dies the other sinks into complete despair, ceases to
+eat, and perishes in its turn.
+
+In this domain we find singular adaptations to special conditions of
+existence. Among the bees and ants, a third class of individuals, or
+neuters, formed by differentiation of females, do not copulate, and
+lay at the most a few eggs which are not fecundated and which
+occasionally develop by parthenogenesis.
+
+Among the termites, another species of social ants, a similar state of
+things exists, but the neuters, or workers, are derived from the male
+sex as well as the female and their sexual organs are quite
+rudimentary. The third sex, or worker, not only has a cerebral
+development superior to the sexual individuals, but also inherits the
+social sympathetic irradiations of the sexual appetite, which results
+in his devotion to a brood which is not his own. Among the social
+insects the males are little more than flying sexual organs, which
+after copulation are incapable of leading an independent existence and
+die of hunger and exhaustion in the case of ants or termites, or are
+massacred by the workers in the case of bees.
+
+The fecundated females, on their part, become breeding machines whose
+activity is incessant. Among the ants, however, the females are at
+first capable of nourishing a few larvae by the aid of a portion of
+their eggs and their secretions, till the workers are hatched, who
+henceforth undertake all the work including the maternal care of the
+brood.
+
+Whoever has observed the fidelity of a pair of swallows and the way in
+which the male and female nourish and rear their young, must be struck
+by the analogy to the conjugal and family love of the faithful type of
+human beings. This is especially remarkable when the same couple
+return every year to the old nest. This family life of the swallows
+does not prevent a certain social life, which manifests itself in
+organized attacks on birds of prey, and in combined emigration in the
+autumn and spring.
+
+On the other hand, we are instinctively indignant at the want of
+fidelity in other animals, between conjoints, parents and offspring
+(dogs and rabbits, for instance), because we involuntarily expect to
+find in them our own moral sense, which is not at all just.
+
+From the phylogenetic point of view we can only compare ourselves to
+the higher apes, by their analogies with primitive man. (Vide Chapter
+VI.) The question which concerns us here is as follows: If we consider
+the peculiarities of our sexual customs with those of our direct
+ancestors, what are those which are derived from ancient and profound
+phylogenetic instincts, those which are derived from less profound
+ancestral energies (_i.e._, relatively more recent) and lastly those
+which depend simply on old customs fixed by tradition, prejudice and
+habit? If we are careful we shall immediately recognize that it is not
+only the sexual appetite itself, but also a large part of its
+correlatives and irradiations, in which the phylogenetic roots are
+deep. Jealousy, coquetry, instinctive maternal love, fidelity and
+conjugal love, which are more or less developed in primitive man, are
+also present in monkeys and birds. We have even seen that the conjugal
+fidelity of these often exceeds our own. It is, therefore, not true
+that our animal ancestors are only allied to us by sexual appetite; on
+the contrary, we must admit that they have much more noble sentiments
+and instincts, derived it is true from this appetite, but belonging to
+the domain of a higher social morality. All that we can say in a
+general way concerning the complex entanglement of our sentiments and
+instincts is that, the most deeply rooted characters in human nature
+are at the same time, phylogenetically speaking, the most ancient.
+
+Among the most profound instincts of sexual life, we find moral and
+intellectual incongruities. Along with excitement of the sexual
+appetite in the male by the odor of the female genital organs, or by
+the sight of erotic pictures, we find the most touching conjugal love,
+and life-long devotion of one conjoint for the other and for the
+children. Prostitution, marriage by purchase, religious marriage,
+disgrace attached to illegitimate births, conjugal and family rights
+of one or the other sex, etc., are, on the contrary, things which do
+not depend on recent phylogeny, but only on the customs and traditions
+of certain races. They are partly outgrowths from egoism, the spirit
+of domination, mysticism and hypocrisy, and partly the shifts of an
+overheated social life which is becoming more and more complicated.
+
+Westermark's studies are very instructive in this respect. All the
+absurdities and contradictions, brought to light by the historical and
+ethnographical study of the customs and matrimonial abuses in man,
+allow us to clearly distinguish that which is due to fashion or
+custom, from that which is deeply rooted in our heredity. To avoid
+repetition I refer my readers to Chapter VI, to examine the
+differences between heredity and custom.
+
+Between these two extremes there is, however, one important domain,
+viz., that of _recent phylogeny_, or in other words _variation_. The
+fixed appetites and instincts of the species which are proper to every
+normal man, and are as we have seen fundamentally connected with many
+animal forms, belong to ancient and profound phylogeny. But there is
+another group of very variable peculiarities, strongly developed in
+some men and little in others, sometimes completely absent, which do
+not depend on custom but on what is called individual hereditary
+disposition, or individual character. While some men have monogamous
+instincts others are polygamous. Some men are by instinct and heredity
+very egoistic, others more altruistic. This peculiarity is reflected
+in their sexual life and changes the character of their love (but not
+that of their sexual instinct). The egoist may love his wife, but this
+love is interested and very different from that of the altruist.
+Between the two extremes there is an infinite number of gradations
+according to the nature of the instincts and dispositions. The same
+man may be a good and generous father, and a social exploiter with
+neither shame nor pity. Another will pose as a social benefactor,
+while at home he is an egoist and a tyrant. The individual
+dispositions of recent phylogeny are combined in every way with
+education, customs, habit and social position to produce results which
+are often paradoxical, and the factors of which are ambition, vanity,
+temper, etc. Recent phylogeny is reflected also in many of the
+irradiations of the sexual appetite of which we have spoken in Chapter
+V. Audacity, jealousy, sexual braggardism, hypocrisy, prudery,
+pornography, coquetry, exaltation, etc., depend in each particular
+case, according to their degree of development, on a combination of
+individual sexual hereditary dispositions with individual dispositions
+in the other domains of sentiment, intelligence and will. In this way,
+the sexual individuality of one man is constituted in a very complex
+and very different way to that of other men, owing to the high
+development of the human brain, as well as to the infinite variability
+and adaptability of his aptitudes. It is impossible to give even an
+incomplete explanation of all the symphonic gradations (often
+cacophonic) which represent an individuality, or to fix clearly what
+distinguishes it from others. However, when the principle is
+understood, it is not difficult to estimate the sexual individuality
+of each person more or less correctly.
+
+Strong hereditary dispositions of character may be recognized in early
+infancy. When the ancestry of a man is well known the roots of his
+recent phylogeny may be traced to his ancestors. Here we observe the
+effect of crossing between varieties or different races, or on the
+contrary that of consanguinity. This effect is observed in character
+and in sexual disposition, as much as in the shape of the nose, or the
+color of the skin and hair, etc. It is important that men should learn
+to know themselves, and also study each other from this point of view
+before marrying. On the whole, we may say that the average civilized
+man of our race possesses as his "phylogenetic baggage" a strong
+sexual appetite, very variable sentiments of love, generally somewhat
+mediocre, (we have seen that conjugal love is more strongly developed
+in most monkeys than in man), lastly altruistic or social sentiments
+which are still deplorably weak. The latter, no doubt, form no part of
+the sexual life, but they must be taken into consideration for they
+are its most important derivatives, and it is indispensable for our
+modern social life to develop them in harmony with family and conjugal
+love.
+
+Hereditary instincts can easily be observed in children. When one of
+them is good, it gives evidence at an early age of the sentiments of
+sympathy or altruism, such as pity and affection, as well as an
+instinctive sentiment of duty, the object of which is not yet social.
+All these sentiments are at first only applied to human individuals
+known to the child, domestic animals, or even inanimate objects. On
+the other hand, the ant, from the beginning of its existence, shows an
+inherited instinct or sentiment of complete social duty. In man,
+social sentiments properly so-called, have to be acquired by
+education, but they require for their expansion a considerable degree
+of inherited sentiments of sympathy and duty. A person without morals
+can easily acquire social phraseology but not social sentiment. A few
+more points require to be considered.
+
+Monogamy is no doubt an old and well-established phylogenetic
+heritage, while polygamy is on the whole rather an aberration produced
+by individual power and wealth. But phylogenetic monogamy is by no
+means identical with the religious or other formality of our present
+legal monogamy. It assumes first of all an early marriage immediately
+after puberty, while our civilization has placed between this and
+marriage, which it only allows later as a rule, the unhealthy swamp of
+prostitution, which so often sows in the individual the destructive
+seed for his future legal union, before this has taken place. Again,
+phylogenetic monogamy imposes no legal constraint; on the contrary, it
+assumes a free, natural and instinctive inclination in each of the
+conjoints, when it is not the result of the brute force of the male.
+Lastly, it by no means excludes a change after a certain time. We are
+speaking only of man, and not of birds and monkeys, who are more
+monogamous than ourselves.
+
+Monogamy without children has little reason for its existence and must
+be considered simply as a means to satisfy the sexual appetite or as a
+union for convenience. It is the same with certain marriages between
+individuals of very different ages, especially the marriage of a young
+man with a woman already old and sterile.
+
+As far as we can ascertain, the majority of sexual perversions, of
+which we shall speak in Chapter VIII, are a sad pathological
+acquisition of the human race. We observe, however, especially in the
+higher mammals, acts of pederasty between males when the female is
+wanting.
+
+The sexual repulsion which normally exists between animals of
+different species rests on a selective basis, the hereditary mneme of
+their reciprocal germs being unable to place itself in homophony, and
+their blood also having a mutual toxic action. In speaking of sodomy
+we shall see that this instinctive repulsion may disappear in
+pathological cases, both in man and in animals, owing to bad habits or
+unsatisfied sexual appetite. We cannot absolutely demonstrate the
+phylogenetic existence of an instinctive disgust for consanguineous
+sexual intercourse.
+
+The sexual advances made by women in civilized countries, show how
+easily we may be deceived in attributing to a phylogenetic or
+hereditary origin, certain details which are only due to external
+circumstances. In man, the bearer of the active germ, the instinct of
+sexual advance has deep phylogenetic roots. It is quite natural to him
+and is evident among savage races, where the man risks more by
+remaining single than the woman. Violent combats between rivals to
+obtain the woman, who remains passive like most animals, are evidence
+of this.
+
+Civilization has changed all this, and has developed two castes of
+women, the old maids and the prostitutes. The latter satisfy the
+appetites of men in an artificial and unhealthy manner, while marriage
+and family cares only bring them labor and burdens instead of riches.
+Owing to the promiscuous polyandry of prostitution, man can always
+obtain enough women, while woman can with difficulty obtain a suitable
+husband. These circumstances have more and more developed the art of
+flirtation, coquetry and advances on the part of girls, and we can now
+see, especially in the United States, that advances come more and more
+from the female side, if not in principle, at any rate in fact. This
+is not a question of a phylogenetic or hereditary transformation of
+the sexes among civilized peoples, but an unhealthy effect resulting
+from abnormal circumstances, that is the non-satisfaction of the
+sexual desires of woman, together with the satiety of those of men.
+Woman makes advances from the fear of remaining celibate; she will
+cease to do so when the unnatural causes which have produced this
+state of things have been done away with.
+
+As a rule, a normal and adaptable man will conduct himself in sexual
+matters as in others according to the prevailing fashion. He will most
+often succeed in accommodating his sentiments to those of his
+conjoint. On the other hand, this average representative of normal
+mediocrity easily becomes the slave of routine and incapable of new
+ideas. However normal he may be, he has less faculty of adaptation or
+mental plasticity and less liberty, than a man of higher nature
+independent of prejudices.
+
+
+ONTOGENY OF SEXUAL LIFE
+
+The first striking fact in the ontogeny of sexual life is the
+following: All the sexual organs, both external and internal, remain
+in an embryonic and non-functional state, not only in the embryo but
+for a long time in the child. The organs and their elements exist, but
+they are still small, imperfectly developed, and in a state of rest.
+At the time of puberty, which varies in different individuals, the
+sexual glands and the other copulatory apparatus enlarge and begin to
+functionate. In the European races puberty occurs between the age of
+twelve and seventeen years in girls, and between fourteen and nineteen
+in boys; it is generally earlier in the South and later in the North.
+It is curious to note that the correlative irradiations of the sexual
+appetite in the human mind develop much earlier than the organs, or
+even the sexual appetite. Again, the sexual appetite often appears
+before the normal development of the genital organs. In other rare
+cases the sexual appetite is absent in the adult, even when the
+corresponding organs are well-developed. (Vide Chapter VIII.) Such
+irregularities of the sexual appetite belong to the domain of
+pathology.
+
+On the other hand, it is quite normal for young girls and boys to show
+early signs of mental differences corresponding to those we have
+described in Chapter V. In young girls we observe coquetry and
+jealousy and the desire for finery. Their love of dolls and the care
+they take of them, is very characteristic of the precocious instinct
+of their sex. This is an early sign of instinctive maternal love,
+before the development of any sexual sensation or function. Among boys
+we observe a tendency to brag and to boast of their strength before
+girls, to show their contempt for dolls and the coquetry of little
+girls, and also to pose as protectors, etc.
+
+Sexual jealousy already exists in young children. We see little boys,
+seeking for the favors of little girls, show violent jealousy when
+another is preferred to them. All these phenomena depend either on
+subconscious instincts, or on vague sexual presentiments which play a
+large part in the infantile exaltation of sentiment. Portraits of
+pretty women, the sight of certain parts of the body or feminine
+clothing often provoke exalted sentiments in boys; girls rather admire
+boldness, an imposing presence and often beauty, in the other sex.
+
+Puberty is produced by certain phenomena which occur in the sexual
+organs. In the boy erections occur at an early age when the penis is
+still very small. It is curious to note that certain pathological
+conditions and friction of the glans penis, especially in the case of
+phimosis and as a result of bad example, are often sufficient to
+produce sexual sensations and appetites in very young boys. The same
+thing is produced in little girls by excitation of the clitoris. All
+these phenomena lead to onanism or masturbation, of which we shall
+speak later on. As the testicles of young boys do not secrete semen,
+masturbation only provokes secretion from the accessory glands, but
+this is accompanied by orgasm.
+
+More singular still are cases of coitus between little boys and girls
+whose sexual glands are still undeveloped and produce no germinal
+cells. Although they are pathological, these phenomena are
+characteristic, because they clearly show that the brain has acquired
+by phylogeny a sexual appetite relatively independent of the
+development of the sexual glands. No doubt the sexual appetite does
+not develop, or disappears, in eunuchs when they are castrated quite
+young; but it is preserved together with the secretions and functions
+of the external genitals when castration is performed after puberty is
+established.
+
+The important conclusion which results from these facts is that the
+existence of a sexual excitation or appetite of this nature is not
+sufficient to prove that they are normal. In Chapter VIII we shall
+prove that not only the anomalies of the hereditary sexual
+disposition, but artificial excitations and bad habits may also
+produce all kinds of misconduct and excesses which should be
+energetically combated.
+
+We have described in Chapter IV the great individual variations of the
+sexual appetite in the two sexes, as well as that of the sexual power
+in man. The sexual power and appetite in man are strongest between the
+years of twenty and forty. We may even consider this period as the
+most advantageous for the procreation of strong and healthy offspring
+and that the procreator is at his best before the age of thirty.
+
+The ontogenetic development of the sexual appetite and love generally
+produces in man a peculiar phenomenon. While habitual gratification
+and education of the sexual appetite tends to make it more and more
+calculating and cynical, love, on the contrary, becomes more elevated
+and refined with age and less egoistical than in youth. Owing to
+general mental development, the education of sentiments progresses and
+becomes refined, while the sexual appetite diminishes in intensity and
+becomes more imperious and more coarse. We are only speaking here of
+normal cases.
+
+In youth, the intoxication of love combined with intense sexual
+appetite triumphs; when the appetite is once satisfied the unbridled
+and egoistic passions of this age come to the surface and are often
+antagonistic to love. At a more advanced age, on the contrary, love
+becomes more constant and more tranquil. The mistake that is so often
+made is the confusion of love with sexual appetite. The novelists who
+speculate on the eroticism of the public are no doubt more interested
+in describing sexual passion and amorous intoxication, with all the
+catastrophes and conflicts which arise from them, than the tranquil
+and regular love of a couple more advanced in age, the greatest
+happiness of which consists in harmony of sentiment and thought, as
+well as the mutual regard and devotion of the couple for each other.
+
+Sexual appetite and sexual power in man become extinguished between
+the ages of sixty and eighty; old men of eighty are sometimes still
+capable, but they are no longer fecund. As a rule sexual power
+diminishes before sexual appetite, and this sometimes leads old men to
+use artificial means to revive their power, or to satisfy their sexual
+desires. This explains why the egoists who have never known true love
+often become so base in their sexual manifestations when they grow
+old. Their experience of sexual life makes them experts in the art of
+seduction. If this fact appears to be antagonistic to the law that
+true love is refined with advancing age, we must bear in mind that the
+ontogenetic development of the sexual appetite is not the same as that
+of love; that in some respects it develops in a contrary direction;
+and that the result may consequently become inverted according as one
+or other predominates. It is needless to say that there are a number
+of intermediate gradations, and that inverse phenomena may be produced
+concurrently in the same individual.
+
+According to Westermark elderly men generally fall more easily in love
+with middle-aged women than with young girls. No doubt this is often
+the case when reason and love predominate, but it is necessary to
+avoid generalization, and it is curious to observe how often very old
+men become enamored of quite young girls, as the latter may fall in
+love with old men. It is common knowledge that young girls do not
+marry old graybeards solely for their money or their name. No doubt
+this is not uncommon, but I have often seen girls of eighteen or
+twenty fall in love with old _roues_, when money, name and position
+were theirs and not the man's. However, in such cases it is most often
+the old man who is amorous. Westermark maintains that this condition
+is not normal, and we shall see that very often it is a case of
+commencing _senile dementia_, a pathological cerebral condition in
+which the sexual appetite becomes suddenly revived.
+
+The love of a young girl for an old man may be explained by the
+intellectual superiority of the old man or by the absence of another
+object for love. It is often also due to hysteria and consequently
+pathological.
+
+In old age, when the sexual life of two conjoints is extinguished,
+there remains a purified love which colors the evening of their life
+with autumn tints. The modern detractors of marriage too often forget
+this phenomenon. No doubt the evening of conjugal life is often
+troubled with discord and sorrow, but then it is usually a question of
+"_mariage de convenance_," marriage for money or position, mutual
+misunderstanding, or irreflective amorous intoxication. Quarrels may
+also arise when pathological conditions become introduced into
+marriage.
+
+In woman, sexual ontogeny is not the same as in man. She matures
+earlier and more rapidly. In our race, a woman at eighteen is sexually
+mature; between eighteen and twenty-five she is in the best condition
+for sexual life; toward fifty the menopause occurs, and with it
+cessation of fecundity. Hence the period during which a woman is
+fecund is much shorter than in man and terminates much earlier.
+
+Owing to this, the development of the intellectual and sentimental
+irradiations of the sexual appetite in woman is more rapid than in
+man. A young girl is much more mature and full grown as regards her
+reproductive power than a young man. These phenomena extend to the
+whole mental life of woman, who is less capable of an ulterior
+development in old age than man, because she generally becomes settled
+and automatic much more rapidly than the latter. No doubt these
+phenomena are partly due to the defective mental education of women,
+but this explanation is insufficient. Here again we must distinguish
+the phylogenetic disposition of woman from the effects of education
+during her ontogenetic development.
+
+The sexual appetite of woman manifests itself at first in vague
+desires, in a want of love, and does not as a rule develop locally
+till after coitus. It often follows that in ontogenetic evolution the
+sexual appetite of women increases at a more advanced age (between
+thirty and forty). At this age women often become enamored with young
+boys, whom they seduce easily. Widows are especially disposed to form
+unions with men younger than themselves; these unions are rarely
+happy, for the woman who is older than her husband easily becomes
+jealous, and the husband soon becomes tired of a woman whose charms
+have faded. We can therefore affirm that, as a rule, in order to be
+both normal and lasting, a monogamous union requires that the husband
+should be from six to twelve years older than his wife, and that the
+latter should marry as young as possible.
+
+In the sexual ontogeny of normal woman, pregnancies, childbirth, the
+nursing and education of children play an infinitely greater role than
+the sexual appetite. These important events in woman's life, together
+with affection for her husband occupy a great part of the cerebral
+activity of every woman, and are at the same time the conditions for
+her true happiness.
+
+We should expect the sexual appetite in woman to diminish or cease at
+the menopause; but this is not usually the case, and elderly women are
+sometimes tormented by the sexual appetite, which is all the more
+painful because men are not attracted by them. Such hyperaesthesia
+cannot, however, be considered as normal; most often the sexual
+appetite diminishes with age and is replaced, as in man, by the
+tranquil love of old age, of which we have spoken.
+
+Old women are often spoken of with contempt. No doubt, unsatisfied
+passions and wounded feelings of all kinds, want of intellectual
+culture and high ideals, and especially a pathological condition of
+the brain, make many old women anything but amiable. I am, however,
+convinced that the elevation of woman's social position, and greater
+care in her education, will considerably facilitate the development of
+her faculties. Education should not develop mundane qualities in
+women, but depth of sentiment. There are many aged women who can be
+cited as examples of activity and perseverance, for their sound and
+clear judgment, as well as for their affability and simplicity of
+manners. Although their intellectual productiveness ceases earlier
+than that of man, this in no way excludes an excellent and persevering
+activity of mind, combined with much judgment and sentimental
+qualities. A woman who is growing old and has lost the members of her
+family, especially her husband, requires some object to replace them
+in her affection. To devote herself to social activity will be the
+best antidote against the peevish, querulous or sorrowful moods which
+so easily take possession of the aged woman. It appears that love,
+which is a phylogenetic derivative of the sexual appetite, and which
+in middle life is intimately associated with this appetite, becomes
+afterwards more and more independent of it and then requires more
+compensation. There is here a great adaptation of love to life, an
+adaptation which it is necessary to bear in mind.
+
+In infancy the individual is naturally egoistic; his appetites all
+tend to self-preservation. There are even then, however, great
+individual differences, and we meet with children who are endowed with
+a remarkable sentiment of duty and a great sensibility to the troubles
+of others. After puberty man's sexual desire leads him to love, toward
+dual egoism, and this desire becomes the principal factor in the
+reproduction of the species. In old age the individual has no
+reproductive aims to fulfill; his life is only a burden on society, if
+it is not directed with a view to benefit others and society in
+general. By expansion and purification love, at first sexual, is
+gradually transformed into purely humanitarian love, _i.e._,
+altruistic or social. At least this is what it should be, and then the
+fundamental biogenetic law of Haeckel (ontogeny is an abridged
+repetition of phylogeny) will receive an ultimate confirmation. Our
+primitive unicellular animal ancestor lived for itself alone; later on
+sexual reproduction without love was established; then conjugal and
+family love appeared (birds, monkeys, mammals, etc.), finally social
+love or altruism was produced, _i.e._, the sense of social solidarity
+based on the sentiment of duty.
+
+The last is still very weak in man, while some animal species, such as
+the bees and ants, have developed it in a more complete manner, on the
+basis of instinct. According to this natural law, all social
+organization naturally develops altruism or the sentiment of duty. The
+history of humanity proves that our social union is only developed
+slowly and laboriously through innumerable contests, and that it is
+derived, directly or indirectly, from the family union of individuals.
+Extension of communication on the surface of the earth causes the
+artificial development of social organization to advance much more
+rapidly than the natural phylogenetic development by evolution of the
+sentiments or social instincts. The latter are, however, forced to
+follow the movement, resting first on the deep roots of family and
+friendly altruism, as well as on that of caste or clan (patriotism);
+_i.e._, on sentiments of sympathy and duty toward certain individuals
+who are more closely connected with us, sentiments which are
+hereditary in man. A vague general humanitarian sentiment, a hothouse
+flower which is still feeble, has already commenced to grow on this
+natural basis. Let us hope that it will live.
+
+It would be a fundamental error to try and found social solidarity
+solely on our phylogenetic sentiments of sympathy, or on our ideal
+faculty of devotion and self-sacrifice; but to try and take egoism as
+a basis for this solidarity is a still greater error. We must not make
+an antinomy of egoism and altruism, but regard them as two elements
+inseparable from all human society, as well as the individuals who
+compose it. We cannot deny that the altruist, endowed with strong
+sentiments of sympathy and duty, is an excellent social worker, while
+the pure egoist constitutes an element of decomposition for society.
+It is, therefore, a social duty to proceed by the sexual route to a
+selection which will cause the first to multiply and eliminate the
+second as far as possible by sterilizing his germs.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+SEXUAL PATHOLOGY
+
+
+On this subject we refer the reader to the well-known work of
+Krafft-Ebing, "Psychopathia Sexualis,"[4] in which will be found a
+number of observations, the details of which we cannot enter into
+here. We may first of all say that with the exception of venereal
+diseases the genital organs by themselves only play a very small part
+in sexual pathology. The brain is the true domain of nearly all sexual
+anomalies.
+
+In the second place, we may remark that the disorders of sexual life
+only rarely belong to acute affections which the physician can treat
+with pharmaceutical or other common remedies. They almost exclusively
+originate in the mental constitution, _i.e._, in the hereditary
+dispositions of the brain of the individual. But the pathology of
+mental or cerebral conditions offers an extremely vast field, capable
+of so much extension that no definite limit can be fixed between the
+normal state and morbid states, which are themselves connected by
+numerous transitions. A great number of acts due to mental conditions
+which the public and even learned theologians, jurists and physicians
+not initiated in psychiatry, consider as criminal, sinful, or
+infamous, are only the product of pathological aberrations due to
+hereditary dispositions. I was recently consulted by a patient of this
+kind, otherwise possessed of noble sentiments, who told me that a
+physician in Germany to whom he related his troubles, turned on him
+furiously and said, "These things are filthy; you are a pig; hold your
+tongue and get away from here!" As a matter of fact this unfortunate
+patient was sustaining a heroic struggle against his perverted
+pathological sexual appetites. Knowing little or nothing of these
+matters human society, with few exceptions, is of the same opinion as
+the ignorant doctor mentioned above. For this reason I think it
+necessary at least to give an outline of phenomena which, although
+very repulsive in themselves, throw much light on the sexual question.
+
+
+PATHOLOGY OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS
+
+Every deformity, disease or operation which destroys the sexual glands
+in the child, or prevents them from developing, gives rise to the
+phenomena which we have described when speaking of castration. This is
+the case, for instance, with cryptorchidism in which the testicles
+remain in the inguinal canal and become atrophied, instead of
+descending into the scrotum. The following case is an example, and is
+interesting in other respects:
+
+    A young man was affected with imbecility and congenital
+    cryptorchidism with atrophy of the testicles. A eunuch from
+    birth, he developed no sexual appetite and no correlative
+    masculine character. To make a man of him, his too eager aunts
+    married him to a strong girl, who was anything but innocent. She
+    attempted by all kinds of manipulations to cure the sexual
+    blindness of her husband; but this was a waste of labor, as the
+    unhappy wretch only regarded the performance as disgusting and
+    filthy. He was violently excited and became somnambulistic.
+
+    Soon afterwards the wife consoled herself with a lover of normal
+    sexual power, and they both overwhelmed the poor eunuch with
+    raillery. The latter, becoming furious, offered his wife a cake
+    poisoned with arsenic on her birthday, but she saw through the
+    stratagem. The poor wretch was sent for trial and condemned to a
+    long term of imprisonment for attempted poisoning. I consider
+    this judgment as a legal crime. In spite of my protests,
+    imbecility was not admitted, and the somnambulism was looked
+    upon as simulated.
+
+On the other hand, the same lesions when they occur in the adult
+neither destroy the correlative sexual characters, nor the power of
+coitus, nor the voluptuous sensation of the orgasm.
+
+In man, _aspermia_ sometimes occurs; the testicles appear to be well
+formed, but the semen contains no spermatozoa. In spite of this the
+aspermatic individual generally has erections, a certain amount of
+sexual power and orgasm, and is capable of amorous feelings, although
+his sexual functions are generally feeble. But he is incapable of
+fecundating a woman.
+
+Some women who have never menstruated possess normal ovaries and may
+become pregnant.
+
+Tuberculosis, tumors and inflammations of the testicles and ovaries
+may cause sterility.
+
+The erection of the penis is often rendered impossible by certain
+deformities, such as _hypospadias_ and _epispadias_, in which the
+urethral canal opens respectively below or above the penis.
+
+Involuntary emissions of semen without erection, with or without
+voluptuous sensation, is called _spermatorrhea_. This is often a
+result of onanism, nervousness or constipation. Too much importance
+has been attached to it. In hypochondriacs spermatorrhea becomes a
+bugbear, which often makes them the dupes of charlatans. The less
+attention is paid to it the quicker it disappears; especially when it
+is of purely nervous origin, as is usually the case.
+
+Phimosis, or narrowness of the opening of the prepuce is nearly always
+of embryonic origin. It prevents the glans penis from becoming
+exposed, at least during erection. It is a very common condition and
+very disagreeable. If the prepuce is forcibly drawn back behind the
+glans penis before erection, as is often the case in masturbation, the
+penis is gripped by the prepuce so that it cannot sometimes be drawn
+forward and inflammation with oedema results; this condition is called
+_paraphimosis_, and may become dangerous. Secretions, urine and semen
+accumulate and decompose in a phimosed prepuce, cause irritation and
+lead to masturbation. All cases of phimosis should be operated upon in
+infancy, by complete or partial circumcision.
+
+In women, the number of diseases which prevent conception is much
+greater than in man. The ovary may undergo cystic degeneration or
+become the seat of a tumor; but affections of the uterus and vagina
+cause more sterility than ovarian affections. This results chiefly
+from catarrh and inflammation which destroy the spermatozoa before
+they can reach the egg during its descent. Disorders of menstruation
+have much less influence on fecundity. The womb sometimes remains in
+an _infantile state_, which may also cause sterility. Other diseases
+of the female sexual organs have a more general pathological
+character and hardly influence sexual intercourse.
+
+A method of rendering women sterile without castration (removal of the
+ovaries) consists in interrupting the communication between the
+ovaries and the womb by dislocation of the Fallopian tubes: this
+avoids all the evil effects of castration.
+
+Certain inflammations and displacements of the uterus and ovaries are
+often the origin of pains, indispositions and nervous disorders in
+women. Irregularity and pain in menstruation are a frequent cause of
+neuroticism.
+
+The hymen is seldom so strongly developed as to offer a serious
+obstacle to coitus; but when this occurs it may be removed by a slight
+operation. Young women often suffer from vaginismus, or painful spasms
+occurring when an object, such as the finger or penis, is introduced
+into the vagina.
+
+Hermaphrodism in man is always pathological, extremely rare, and when
+it exists nearly always incomplete. These cases are generally
+incomplete mixtures concerning principally the correlative characters.
+A double function only exists in legends. I have myself seen a
+celebrated hermaphrodite named Catherine Hohmann who had a well-formed
+testicle on the left side enclosed in a fold of skin which resembled
+the larger lip of the vulva, while the penis was very short and
+resembled a clitoris. This individual, who was baptized as a woman,
+was certainly male on one side; on the other hand, the feminine nature
+was more than problematical. Menstruation was alleged to have occurred
+but was not established with certainty, any more than an ovary or
+uterus.
+
+Much more frequent are inverted correlative sexual characters, such as
+bearded women, men with breasts; also mental sexual inversions, of
+which we shall speak later.
+
+
+VENEREAL DISEASES[5]
+
+We cannot give here a complete description of the venereal diseases,
+which constitute a terrible evil for humanity, by bringing a great
+deal of misfortunes and decadence into family and social life. Let us
+first point out the common error which attributes to sexual excess the
+evil effects which are really due to venereal disease. Although it may
+be uncommon, one may be infected by these diseases after an innocent
+kiss, a cut finger, by sitting on a privy contaminated by a person
+suffering from venereal disease, by the use of contaminated linen,
+etc., etc. A pachydermatous Don Juan, on the contrary, may abandon
+himself to the wildest sexual excess without being infected, if he is
+prudent and has good luck. On the other hand, young men may be
+infected after having been with a prostitute only once in their lives,
+and thus ruin their whole existence.
+
+There are three kinds of venereal disease, which we will describe in a
+few words. To these may be added certain parasites, such as crab-lice
+and the itch, which are easily communicated by sexual intercourse with
+infected persons, but also in other ways.
+
+=Gonorrhea or Clap.=--This disease consists in a purulent inflammation
+of the urethra caused by a microbe called the _gonococcus_. When
+treated properly it may be cured in a few weeks, but very often the
+inflammation becomes chronic and attacks the neighboring organs.
+Chronic clap, or "morning-drop," may lead in the male to permanent
+stricture of the urethra, which in turn may produce retention of
+urine, catarrh of the bladder and disease of the kidneys, which may be
+fatal. One attack of gonorrhea in no way protects against a second
+infection, but rather predisposes to it, and when this disease becomes
+chronic exacerbations or relapses of the acute stage often occur
+without fresh infection.
+
+In women the results of gonorrhea are, if possible, still worse than
+in men, because it is more difficult to cure. A prostitute affected
+with gonorrhea may infect an enormous number of men, and in this case
+medical inspection of brothels is no guarantee. The gonococci are
+concealed in all the corners and folds of the internal genital organs
+of woman, where they set up inflammation of the womb, the Fallopian
+tubes and even the ovaries, which may lead to adhesions between the
+abdominal organs. Women affected with chronic gonorrhea generally
+become sterile. When the womb and the ovaries are affected there is
+much suffering and the woman may be confined to bed for some years.
+Stricture of the urethra and inflammation of the bladder are more rare
+in women than in men, as the result of gonorrhea.
+
+But gonorrhea is not confined to the adults of both sexes. The
+innocent child, who at birth has to pass through its mother's vulva,
+when this is affected with gonorrhea, undergoes a baptism of gonococci
+which attack the conjunctiva of the eyes and set up a severe purulent
+inflammation, called ophthalmia of the newly born (_ophthalmia
+neonatorum_). This is one of the chief causes of total blindness, and
+if the child is not entirely blind, there are often large white
+patches left on the cornea which considerably interfere with sight.
+Gonorrheal ophthalmia may also occur in adults by conveying pus from
+the urethra to the eyes by the fingers.
+
+=Syphilis.=--This disease is still more formidable than gonorrhea. It
+is caused by a microbe which has been recently discovered (_Spirochaeta
+pallida_). Syphilis is much more chronic than gonorrhea and commences
+with a small sore indurated at its base and called the hard chancre.
+This is situated on the genital organs or elsewhere; in the mouth, for
+instance, when this has been in contact with the buccal or genital
+organs of a person infected with syphilis. The syphilitic poison
+spreads through the body by means of the blood and lymph. At the end
+of a few weeks eruptions appear on the body and face, and then
+commences a series of disasters the cause of which may be suspended
+over the victim for his whole life, like the sword of Damocles, even
+when he believes himself cured; for the cure of syphilis is often
+uncertain. This disease may remain latent for months and years, to
+reappear later on in different organs and cause fresh lesions.
+
+Syphilis causes ulcers of the skin and mucous membranes; it sometimes
+causes decay of the bones; it may cause disease of the internal
+organs, such as the liver and lungs; it affects the walls of the blood
+vessels, causing them to become hard and brittle (atheroma); it causes
+disease of the eyes, especially of the iris and retina, tumors (or
+gummata) in the brain, paralysis etc. In fact, it spares none of the
+organs of the body.
+
+Among the most terrible results of syphilis we must mention _locomotor
+ataxy_ (sclerosis of the posterior columns of the spinal cord), with
+its lightning pains and paralysis of the legs and arms; also _general
+paralysis of the insane_, which by causing gradual atrophy of the
+brain, destroys one after the other, sensations, movements and all the
+mental faculties. These two diseases, which are so common at the
+present day, only occur in old syphilitics, five to twenty years, or
+more often ten to fifteen years after infection, and as a rule in
+persons who think they have been completely cured. Both these diseases
+are fatal. Before causing death, locomotor ataxy causes intolerable
+pain for several years. General paralysis first gives rise to
+grandiose ideas, and after disintegrating the human personality bit by
+bit, ends by transforming the individual into a being much inferior to
+animals, and of an aspect as miserable as it is repulsive. A general
+paralytic in his last stage is little more than a vegetating ruin, in
+whom the nervous activities are decomposed little by little, after the
+gradual disappearance of all the mental faculties. This is the result
+of slow atrophy of the brain and gradual destruction of its
+microscopic elements, or _neurones_.
+
+The early stages of syphilis may easily pass unnoticed owing to their
+partly latent and completely painless character. Small eruptions may
+be mistaken for other affections, and mercurial treatment generally
+disperses the symptoms of _primary_ and _secondary_ syphilis. But
+syphilitics who are apparently cured are never safe from being
+attacked, after perhaps many years, with locomotor ataxy, general
+paralysis or the _tertiary_ or _quaternary_ manifestations of
+syphilis, such as disease of the bones, internal organs, eyes, brain,
+etc. The sores of the first two or three years of syphilis are
+contagious but painless, and hence do not prevent coitus when they
+occur in the genitals. After three years syphilis becomes less
+contagious, but there is no definite time limit and cases have been
+recorded in which contagious lesions occurred ten or fifteen years
+after the onset of the disease.
+
+A syphilitic man may transmit the disease to his children without
+infecting his wife, and these children may die before birth or may be
+born with congenital syphilis. This is due to the spermatozoa being
+infected with syphilis. However, this is fortunately not always the
+case, for many cured syphilitics have healthy children. A child
+affected with congenital syphilis (from the father) may infect the
+mother during pregnancy; this is called "syphilis by conception."
+Congenital syphilis may also cause locomotor ataxy and general
+paralysis.
+
+It is difficult to enumerate all the infirmities which syphilis in the
+parents may transmit to the children. Syphilis often renders marriage
+sterile. It is more frequent in men than in women, because the number
+of prostitutes is small compared with the number of men who go with
+them; a single prostitute may contaminate a whole regiment. On their
+part, the clients of prostitutes convey gonorrhea and syphilis to
+their wives, thus spreading in society this abominable plague and all
+the evils resulting from it.
+
+=Soft Chancre.=--The third kind of venereal disease is the soft
+chancre, thus called in distinction to hard chancre, which is the
+primary sore of syphilis. Soft chancre is the least dangerous and the
+least common of the three diseases. It consists of an ulcer which
+remains localized to the genital organs (unless it is complicated with
+syphilis, which is frequent). The ulcerated parts are destroyed, but
+the sore heals generally without trouble.
+
+Venereal diseases constitute one of the worst satellites of the sexual
+appetite. If men were not so ignorant and careless, it would be on the
+whole easy to avoid them and cause their gradual disappearance. One of
+the most absurd and infamous organizations which can be imagined is
+that of the State regulation of prostitution which, under the pretext
+of hygiene, compels prostitutes to be registered by the police or to
+live in brothels. They then undergo regular medical examination, the
+object of which is to prevent those who are diseased from practicing
+their trade, and compel them to be treated in hospital. We shall see
+later on that this system absolutely fails in its object, for the
+simple reason that the treatment of venereal diseases is by no means
+the panacea which many people imagine.
+
+The first attack of gonorrhea in man is very often spontaneously
+cured, while unskillful treatment often aggravates it. The relapses of
+this disease, on the other hand, especially in their chronic form,
+often resist all kinds of treatment and sometimes become incurable.
+The gonococci become hidden in the folds of the deep parts of the
+mucous membrane, both in men and women, and cannot all be destroyed.
+With regard to syphilis, mercurial treatment, although remarkable in
+its immediate effect, requires prolonged administration. And it is by
+such means that it is proposed to make prostitutes clean! There is
+only one radical cure for venereal diseases; that is not to contract
+them! However, this does not prevent us from recommending all those
+who are affected with them to seek immediate treatment by a skilled
+specialist.
+
+It is sad to see ladies of high position defending such barbarous
+institutions as proxenetism (the business of keeping brothels) and the
+regulation of prostitution, imagining that they thereby protect their
+daughters against seduction. Such aberration can only be explained by
+suggestive influence on the part of men. Among men, and especially
+among many physicians, the belief in the efficacy of regulation
+depends on a mixture of blind routine, faith in authority and want of
+judgment, combined perhaps with more or less unconscious eroticism. We
+shall consider this point in detail later on.
+
+One of the most tragic effects of venereal disease is the
+contamination of an innocent wife, whose whole life, hitherto chaste
+and pure, becomes brutally deprived of its fruits, and whose dreams of
+the ideal and hopes of happiness become swamped in the mire with which
+prostitution has contaminated her. Is it surprising that love in such
+cases becomes replaced by bitterness and despair? Some modern authors,
+such as Brieux (_Les Avaries_) and Andre Couvreur (_La Graine_), have
+pictured in their dramas and novels the tragic effects of venereal
+disease and heredity in the family, as well as their social
+consequences. What is deplorable, is the enormous proportion of
+persons who are infected with venereal diseases.
+
+
+SEXUAL PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
+
+With the exception of what is called sexual inversion and pathological
+love of the insane, sexual psychopathology (_i.e._, sexual pathology
+of mind) is chiefly limited to the domain of the sexual appetite, and
+originates mainly in fetichism (see Chapter V), to which it is closely
+allied. Let us first examine certain anomalies which partly concern
+the lower nervous functions.
+
+First of all a general question presents itself. Hereditary or
+congenital sexual anomalies have been distinguished from those which
+are said to result from vicious habits. Krafft-Ebing, in his
+celebrated book which we have already quoted, makes a capital
+difference between these two causes, and stigmatizes the acquired
+vices with great indignation. I do not deny that there is reason for
+the distinction, but we must take exception to two fundamental errors
+in the manner in which the facts are presented.
+
+In the first place, the difference between hereditary and acquired
+sexual anomalies is only relative and gradual, so that it is necessary
+to avoid opposing one against the other. When an anomaly arrives
+spontaneously in the first sexual glimmer of the child's mind during
+its development, it is obvious that it is the expression of a profound
+hereditary taint, the result of blastophthoria or of unfortunate
+combinations of ancestral energies which have been associated by the
+conjugation of the two procreative germs. In such a case it is
+comparatively easy to prove that this is a pathological symptom
+independent of the will of the individual. But a continuous series of
+degrees in the intensity of a hereditary predisposition to a certain
+sexual anomaly, or to other anomalies or peculiarities apt to provoke
+this anomaly, insensibly connects the purely hereditary pathological
+appetite with that which is simply the effect of acquired vicious
+habits. In this way a strong hereditary predisposition may exaggerate
+a moderate normal sexual appetite, or may give it a pathological
+direction under influences which would have had no effect in a less
+predisposed individual. Again, a slightly marked tendency to
+homosexuality in a man may increase under the seductive influence of a
+passionate invert, when the same individual would have lost this
+tendency if he had fallen seriously in love with a woman. On the other
+hand, the invert would have no influence on an individual who was not
+predisposed.
+
+If the hereditary disposition is very strong, it is developed
+spontaneously or under the influence of very slight circumstances. If
+it is mediocre, it may remain latent and even become extinct when
+favorable circumstances do not awaken it. When it is entirely absent
+the most powerful seduction and the most evil influence cannot give
+rise to the corresponding anomaly. These facts are sufficient to show
+what abuse is made of the term _acquired vice_. Under this heading are
+designated a number of peculiarities the roots of which are to a great
+extent contained in the germ of heredity.
+
+The power of words on the human mind produces antinomies which do not
+really exist; such is the case with the terms _vice_ and _disease_.
+Vices depend on a hereditary mnemic disposition, of varying strength
+and more or less pathological, or at any rate unilateral (_i.e._,
+developed in one direction only, or connected with a single group of
+objects); according to the good or evil influence of the environment
+they may develop, become limited or even fail to appear. Inversely, we
+may say that many diseases, especially of the brain, are the source of
+vices.
+
+In the second place, it follows from this fundamental principle, that
+the vicious and apparently acquired conduct of certain individuals
+should not be considered as the product of perverted free will, but
+rather as the unfortunate and destructive result of a bad hereditary
+disposition developed under the influence of the bad habits of a
+corrupt environment. This environment being itself composed of men,
+there is a vicious circle of cause and effect which will not escape
+the mind of the thoughtful reader. Bad habits are made by hereditary
+forces, and bad habits develop in their turn by custom, and may even
+create, by blastophthoria, vicious hereditary dispositions. The
+indignation of the moralists who condemn vicious persons are very like
+the temper of a child who strikes the fire which burnt him.
+
+
+REFLEX ANOMALIES
+
+We have already mentioned vaginismus, which is often produced in women
+by the first coitus. Priapism in man is somewhat analogous to
+vaginismus. It is produced by an exaggerated reflex irritability of
+the nerve centers for erection, and results in continual and painful
+erections, which sometimes end in ejaculation without sensation.
+Another anomaly, more or less reflex and very frequent, produces
+voluptuous sensations and premature ejaculation after short and
+incomplete erections. In some nervous women also, the venereal orgasm
+occurs very rapidly and briefly. These anomalies belong to the domain
+of medicine and are of little importance for our subject.
+
+
+PSYCHIC IMPOTENCE
+
+Psychic impotence is a symptom which occurs accidentally in the normal
+state and very frequently in psychopathological conditions.
+
+A representation or idea of any kind, may suddenly paralyze by
+suggestive action the normal reflex mechanism of the center for
+erection. The blood ceases to accumulate in the corpora cavernosa and
+erection is either arrested or not produced at all. For example, a
+very excited lover, who has had strong erections at the moment when he
+prepared to copulate, may be suddenly overcome with the idea that he
+will fail, or by some other thought which paralyzes erection and
+renders coitus impossible. The remembrance of such a failure and the
+distress and shame attached to it, even efforts to produce erection
+indirectly for another attempt, constitute further causes of
+inhibition of the cerebro-spinal activity; they temporarily extinguish
+the sexual appetite, and prevent by their interference the automatic
+mechanism of erection which they strive to produce. The greater the
+fear of failure, the more the psychic impotence increases. This
+phenomenon may be limited to a certain woman, but it is more often
+general. Sometimes an incomplete erection is produced, which is
+insufficient.
+
+This condition, which depends on auto-suggestion, is best treated by
+hypnotic suggestion. The sentiment of impotence powerfully depresses a
+man, and the depression increases his impotence. This condition often,
+however, disappears by itself.
+
+A special variety of psychic impotence is that in which erection takes
+place, but the idea of ejaculation predominates so much that it
+paralyzes the voluptuous sensations, and causes ejaculation to occur
+without pleasure, or even erection to cease.
+
+Impotence may occur at the first coitus, or may come on gradually. It
+is often produced suddenly at the time of marriage in persons who
+have hitherto been very capable, even in Don Juans. Men may have
+normal erections and pollutions, but these may be stopped by
+counter-suggestions at each attempt at coitus. Habitual masturbation
+may in some cases contribute to produce impotence, but we must not
+generalize from such cases, nor construct a dogma from them, for
+continence may also be a cause of impotence.
+
+All these details, which are combined in all kinds of ways with other
+sexual troubles, but which are also produced alone in men who are
+otherwise normal, throw much light on the relation of the momentary
+mental state of man to his sexual appetite and the accomplishment of
+coitus.
+
+I do not know under what heading the following case should be placed:
+
+    A young man of steady habits, and normal sexual appetite, had
+    always abstained from sexual connection and masturbation. He
+    only had emissions during sleep. The latter were accompanied by
+    erotic dreams, but never produced an orgasm, while disagreeable
+    sensations occurred on waking. He married for love a woman in
+    whom the hymen was resistant, and vaginismus occurred on each
+    attempt at coitus. These attempts failed constantly in spite of
+    the most intense love and the most ardent desire for children on
+    both sides. The husband's erections were incomplete, and he
+    never had an ejaculation except when asleep. By the aid of
+    hypnotism I succeeded in strengthening his erections, and an
+    operation on the hymen cured his wife's vaginismus. The first
+    attempts at coitus were not immediately successful, but
+    suggestion acted after a time; finally the attempts were crowned
+    with success, and followed by a first and second pregnancy. The
+    children were healthy.
+
+    In this case, the impotence, which had lasted about eighteen
+    months, did not affect the mutual love and respect of the
+    couple, because the husband's affection combined with his sexual
+    appetite had sufficed for the happiness of a woman who was on
+    the whole normal.
+
+This case is very instructive in several ways, for it gives a good
+example of the nature of the sexual instinct in woman; it also shows
+how the auto-suggestion of emissions occurring only during sleep may
+hinder copulation in the waking state. But such phenomena are
+extremely rare.
+
+It is hardly necessary to say that there is no true impotence in
+woman; but the same mental paralysis may occur as in man, preventing
+orgasm and often causing disgust.
+
+
+SEXUAL PARADOXY
+
+By this term is understood the appearance of the sexual appetite, or
+even of love, at an abnormal age. Infantile paradoxy is, however, very
+different to senile paradoxy.
+
+Infantile paradoxy must not be confounded with certain forms of
+masturbation, to which we shall return. Some races, especially in the
+tropics, have a much earlier sexual development than others; depending
+more on race than climate. In some, sexual maturity occurs in boys
+between the age of twelve and fourteen, and in girls between nine and
+ten years, while in others the former are hardly mature at twenty and
+the latter before seventeen or eighteen. Again, individual variations
+may be very great in the same race. But, owing to hereditary
+satyriasis or nymphomania, we sometimes in our own country see sexual
+appetite appear in children of eight, seven, or even three or four
+years of age, in a spontaneous manner without any external excitation.
+Lombroso mentions the case of a girl three years old who had an
+irresistible tendency to onanism. I have myself observed the two
+following cases:
+
+    (1). A boy of seven years, the son of a brothel keeper, and a
+    kind of satyr who committed great excesses, began spontaneously
+    to attack little girls of his own age or even younger. He was so
+    artful that all means failed in curing him of this habit, and he
+    was sent to an asylum of which I was superintendent. He then
+    tried to renew his exploits with a boy older than himself. He
+    was also idle and disposed to all kinds of folly. He did not,
+    however, attempt to copulate with adult women or men. His sexual
+    organs were absolutely infantile, without any abnormal
+    development. His paradoxy was thus of cerebral origin.
+
+    (2). _A girl of nine years was brought to my office addicted to
+    self-abuse. Upon examination, I found this child highly
+    neurotic, the major part of her life had been under unhygienic
+    atmosphere, case history, father psychopathic, had been in an
+    insane asylum, mother aenemic. The child was sent to a state
+    institution for girls and improved remarkably._
+
+In this case I was told that there was no hereditary taint, but such
+statements prove nothing. Individuals of this kind generally become
+criminals, or else give themselves up to masturbation or prostitution.
+
+Occasionally, the sexual appetite may be preserved for a long time in
+old men, or reappear for a time, with or without sexual power, but as
+a rule, the paradoxy of old men is the initial symptom of _senile
+dementia_. As this disorder is only commencing when sexual excitation
+occurs, it is not noticed, and the patient is regarded as an immoral,
+vicious or criminal individual. I have seen a patient of this kind
+masturbate openly in an asylum, so great was his sexual excitation.
+
+In most old men affected with senile sexual paradoxy, the sexual
+appetite is directed toward very young girls or even children, which
+aggravates their case from the legal point of view. Very often this
+appetite is perverted and assumes one of the forms we shall speak of
+later. Some of these old men are still capable, but others are not,
+and then their excitation only manifests itself in manipulations of
+the genital organs, etc. Such cases play a considerable part in law
+scandals. The patient (for so he must be called) often becomes the
+victim of blackmail on the part of vicious girls or children, incited
+by unnatural parents. One often sees also, at the onset of senile
+dementia, an old man become enamored of some prostitute or adventuress
+who makes him marry her and thus takes possession of his fortune. The
+law generally makes the matter valid, under the pretext that
+individual liberty must be respected. Such sanction consists in
+reality in sacrificing a patient for the profit of a female swindler.
+
+
+SEXUAL ANAESTHESIA OR CONGENITAL ABSENCE OF THE SEXUAL SENSE AND
+APPETITE
+
+Sexual sensations are so intimately connected with the sexual appetite
+that it is difficult to separate them. No doubt in the adult a certain
+degree of sexual appetite may exist without any voluptuous sensation,
+but this is a secondary phenomenon.
+
+Complete sexual anaesthesia is very rare in man; it is not a special
+form of anomaly, but the reduction to zero of a normal sensation and
+the appetite which corresponds to it. The characteristic feature of
+these cases is that, contrary to what occurs in eunuchs and
+cryptorchids, not only the testicles, but all the correlative sexual
+attributes (the beard, voice, character, etc.) are normally developed,
+and are in no way inverted as in homosexual individuals. Sexual
+anaesthesia causes no more suffering than color-blindness, but like the
+latter it occasions individual troubles resulting from misunderstanding.
+The sexual anaesthetic, having a more or less false idea of marriage,
+often marries in complete ignorance, and the results are then
+disastrous, thanks to our laws and customs.
+
+In women, sexual anaesthesia is very common. Krafft-Ebing is wrong in
+maintaining that in all such cases the women are always neurotic. A
+number of absolutely normal and intelligent women remain all their
+life completely cold from the sexual point of view, apart from the
+normally passive character of the female sex in coitus. It is rather
+the very libidinous woman who is pathological.
+
+We have seen that the normal sexual sentiment of woman is developed
+rather in the direction of love, and desire for children. Erotic men
+often complain of the sexual coldness of their wives, which is
+disagreeable to them; for pleasure in one sex excites and completes
+that of the other. Cold women submit to coitus as a duty, or at any
+rate only mentally enjoy their husband's caresses.
+
+Sexual anaesthesia occurs normally in old age. It may occur at an
+earlier age, owing to destruction or atrophy of the sexual glands,
+great excesses, or on the contrary, extreme continence. Certain
+diseases and psychoses may also cause it.
+
+The following are a few examples of sexual anaesthesia:
+
+    (1). A normally built man, of high culture and moral sense, was
+    affected with complete sexual anaesthesia since birth. He
+    occasionally had nocturnal emissions, and also matutinal
+    erections, but no erotic images. When he arrived at mature age
+    he had no idea of sexual intercourse, and was completely
+    indifferent to everything concerning sexuality. He did not even
+    comprehend anything relating to sexual affairs, and his replies
+    reminded me of conversations with color-blind persons on the
+    distinction between red and green! According to his ideas,
+    marriage was an intellectual and sentimental union in which
+    children came by themselves!
+
+    He eventually married a young girl, well educated but extremely
+    prudish. One can imagine the revelations which followed! The
+    wife, who had a strong desire for children, soon perceived the
+    sexual blindness of her husband. She became very unhappy and
+    bitterly reproached him. The husband then became aware that
+    there should be something in marriage which he had not taken
+    into account; but the explanations of coitus by the medical man
+    were useless, and hypnotic suggestion was incapable of producing
+    the least sexual sensation.
+
+    In spite of all this, the husband was full of respect and
+    affection for his wife, but was incapable of simulating the
+    least sexual appetite. As regards the wife, what she required
+    was not coitus, which was simply a means to an end, but
+    children. However, her prudery made her prefer this state of
+    things to a divorce, which would create scandal. We may notice
+    that in such cases erections are only produced mechanically
+    during sleep, which renders coitus impossible.
+
+    (2). A timid but vain young man of retiring habits, sexually
+    cold, had occasional nocturnal emissions sometimes accompanied
+    by slightly erotic dreams. Although better informed than the
+    preceding case on sexual relations, his sexual appetite was
+    almost entirely absent, and he regarded marriage as a purely
+    intellectual alliance. He married an intelligent and passionate
+    young girl whose sexual appetite was strongly developed, and at
+    once began to treat her with great coldness, as a kind of
+    domestic servant.
+
+    The wife's family were in favor of divorce, but having pity on
+    the husband, sent him to me for advice. I explained the matter
+    to him, made him understand that the fault was entirely on his
+    side, and that his first duty was to show affection for his
+    wife, or if not, to accept divorce. The effect was purely
+    psychical, and from this moment he became amiable and
+    affectionate toward his wife. This was sufficient to cause the
+    wife to give up the idea of divorce. I then told her that, on
+    account of her husband's timidity and anomaly, the only thing to
+    do was to reverse their roles, and for her to make the sexual
+    advances. I have not heard anything more from this singular
+    couple.
+
+    (3). A young man who had never had sexual connection before
+    marriage, in spite of a strong sexual appetite, made the
+    acquaintance of an intelligent young girl of excellent
+    character. Marriage followed, and the wife was loyal to her
+    husband, but remained sexually cold. She was insensible to
+    coitus and only regarded it as a disagreeable complement of
+    love. In spite of this she was fond of caresses, devoted to her
+    husband, and had several children.
+
+    (4). An intelligent and cultured man, normal from the sexual
+    point of view, who had frequented prostitutes in his youth, but
+    not excessively, married a rather nervous but apparently very
+    amorous young woman. The marriage night produced on her the
+    effect of a cold douche, and coitus offended and horrified her.
+    The husband in his discomfiture took patience; but his love,
+    which was never very strong, became shattered. To avoid all
+    scandal each of the conjoints practiced dissimulation and
+    adapted themselves more or less to each other. The wife allowed
+    coitus, the husband tolerated her coldness. Several children
+    were born, but the family was unhappy, and after a few years
+    divorce put an end to it.
+
+
+SEXUAL HYPERAESTHESIA, OR EXAGGERATION OF THE SEXUAL APPETITE
+
+This anomaly may be congenital, for example, in the sexual paradoxy of
+children. Every one knows the Don Juans and Messalinas with their
+insatiable appetites. These types of sexual hyperaesthesia are
+certainly less frequent and more abnormal in women than in men, but
+the intensity is as great or greater.
+
+Sexual hyperaesthesia manifests itself by desires excited by every
+sensorial perception relating to the opposite sex, or simply by
+objects which recall it to the imagination; so that fetichism plays a
+great part in this condition. The feeling of satiety is hardly
+experienced at all, or only for a short time after each orgasm.
+Nymphomaniacs and satyrs are possessed by an insatiable sexual desire,
+often associated with certain sensations of anguish. This
+hyperaesthesia, even when it is not hereditary, may be developed up to
+a certain point by continued or repeated artificial excitations.
+
+In women it is during or after menstruation that the sexual appetite
+and consequently sexual hyperaesthesia are generally strongest, but
+there are many individual variations in this respect, and sometimes
+the opposite occurs.
+
+The effect of sexual hyperaesthesia is to direct the appetite toward
+any object capable of satisfying it. When the other sex is wanting,
+masturbation is generally resorted to. All mucous membranes (anus,
+mouth, etc.) and even inanimate objects may serve to satisfy the
+pathologically exalted appetite of such individuals. Men most
+distinguished in other respects may abandon themselves to the most
+foolish or abominable practices.
+
+_Animals are often used to satisfy the hyperaesthetic sexual appetite
+in both sexes. The healthy woman is not prone to such desires, unless
+of psychopathic taint. Men visit prostitutes, and become excited at
+the sight of every woman who is neither too old nor too repulsive.
+Some individuals of this kind are pursued night and day by erotic
+images, which may even become an obsession and a veritable torment._
+
+A further degree of sexual hyperaesthesia is called _Satyriasis_ in
+man, and _nymphomania_ in woman. I have observed in women two very
+different varieties of sexual hyperaesthesia. In one, true nymphomania,
+the subjects are attracted toward man bodily and mentally with an
+elementary force; in these the whole brain follows the appetite in
+quite a feminine manner. Other women, on the contrary, are driven to
+masturbation by a purely peripheral excitation; they have erotic
+dreams with venereal orgasms which torment rather than please them;
+but they do not fall in love easily, and may have difficulty in the
+choice of a husband. Their mind alone remains feminine, full of tact
+and delicacy in its sentiments, while their lower nerve centers react
+in a more masculine and at the same time more pathological manner.
+There are many transitional forms between these two extremes.
+
+Sexual hyperaesthetics are often unhappy, and consult the physician for
+relief from the perpetual excitation which torments them. They attempt
+to master themselves and check their appetite in all ways, and are
+sometimes affected with nervous or mental depression. It is important,
+however, to recognize the fact, that many sexual hyperaesthetics remain
+quite fresh and active, and attain an advanced age, provided they
+escape alcohol and venereal disease.
+
+When sexual hyperaesthesia results chiefly from artificially acquired
+habits it may often be cured by hypnotic suggestion, and establishing
+self-control; but when it is hereditary and very intense, and
+especially when it is connected with infantile paradoxy or other
+anomalies, castration may be the only efficient remedy. When it is
+chiefly acquired, any strong diversion which turns the mind from
+sexual preoccupation to other subjects may have an excellent curative
+effect. The most intense hereditary cases may constitute a plague for
+the individual and for society, and it is then that castration may
+become a blessing by calming the obsessed patient, by giving him the
+opportunity for useful occupation, and by preventing him from abusing
+his fellows and procreating beings similar to himself.
+
+Nymphomaniacs often have polyandrous instincts, and they then become
+more insatiable than men. Several cases of this kind have been
+published in the press, and examples of such women are not rare in
+history. When a woman is possessed by passion she often loses all
+sense of shame, all moral sense and all discretion, as regards the
+object of her desires. She pays no attention to anything which is
+opposed to her passion, but may be full of reserve, tact and
+good-feeling in all other respects. Cases of this kind, however, have
+always a more or less marked pathological character.
+
+In man, satyriasis is very frequent. It often happens that a husband
+continually forces his wife to coitus, even during menstruation. We
+have mentioned already the case of an old peasant of seventy who thus
+abused his poor old wife. In such cases conjugal infidelity very
+commonly occurs. The cynicism of such individuals may go so far that
+they have intercourse with prostitutes or servants in the presence of
+their wives, or even abuse their own children. The wife behaves in
+these cases in different ways according to her character. Many
+tolerate everything and do not complain, for the sake of their
+children; others leave the husband or divorce him; some commit
+suicide.
+
+It would seem quite natural for nymphomaniacs to marry satyrs, but we
+must bear in mind the evil results for posterity from such an
+accumulation of the sexual appetite.
+
+
+MASTURBATION OR ONANISM
+
+The term onanism is derived from the name of Onan, son of Juda and
+Suah and grandson of Israel. According to the Old Testament, Onan's
+father wished him to marry his brother's widow and have children by
+her; but this did not please Onan, and he provoked ejaculation of
+semen by friction, in order to avoid having children by his
+sister-in-law. "This offended God who slew him."
+
+We have already shown that in the child the sexual appetite manifests
+itself in a kind of obscure presentiment and vague sensations in the
+genital organs. If a young man cannot satisfy his sexual appetite
+naturally, the latter when it increases in strength provokes erotic
+dreams and nocturnal emissions; or artificial excitation of the penis
+may be practiced to produce orgasms: the latter phenomenon is called
+_masturbation_.
+
+Masturbation in man is performed by friction of the penis with the
+hand or against some soft body. In the latter case especially erotic
+images of naked women or female sexual organs is associated with
+onanism. This kind of masturbation may be called _compensatory_,
+because it does not depend on an anomaly of the sexual appetite, but
+serves to satisfy a natural want by compensation. There are a whole
+series of manipulations employed for the same object, which constitute
+the psychic equivalent of compensating masturbation. _In remote
+garrisons and in boys' schools the more libidinous individuals,
+usually those mentally tainted, often practice mutual masturbation or
+sodomy. This is the sex complex of the degenerate individual and in an
+effort to exterminate these pathological manifestations, they are
+being penalized by law, throughout the civilized world. It is
+unnecessary to prolong this enumeration. Those we have mentioned are
+the most common and it is agreed that men who are addicted to these
+practices are decidedly psychopathic, whether it may be caused by
+faulty heredity or anomaly in the psychology of the individual, this
+still remains to be proven. In reality they are often normal in other
+respects, but simply affected with sexual hyperaesthesia. Sometimes
+they are feeble-minded individuals who have recourse to such practices
+because they are derided by women. Others are cynics, more or less
+vicious in other respects._
+
+Compensatory masturbation is extremely widespread, but it is as a rule
+neither recognized nor admitted because it is easy to conceal.
+Although depressing for those whose will power is overcome by an
+excitation which they cannot conquer, it is relatively the least
+dangerous form of onanism. At the most it leads to a certain amount of
+nervous and mental exhaustion by abuse of the facility of thus
+procuring a venereal orgasm. The loss of substance from frequent
+seminal ejaculations is also more or less weakening, although the
+secretion from the prostate plays a much greater part than the semen.
+But what especially affects the nervous system, is the repeated loss
+of the will, and the failure of resolutions made many times to
+overcome the desire for orgasm.
+
+Here, as elsewhere, effect is too often confounded with cause. Because
+men of feeble will power are addicted to onanism, it is imagined that
+the latter is the cause of the weakness of will. In itself, a seminal
+ejaculation provoked by masturbation is no more dangerous than a
+nocturnal emission; both are often accompanied by nervous sensations
+which are more disagreeable and exhausting than normal coitus. I must,
+however, point out that the effects of moderate masturbation in the
+adult have been greatly exaggerated, either by confounding the effect
+with its cause, or for mercenary objects, by driving timid persons to
+charlatans or to prostitutes.
+
+The active sexual appetite of man, increased by the accumulation of
+semen, is absent in woman. She does not have nocturnal emissions
+accompanied by voluptuous sensations which spontaneously awaken sexual
+desire. For this reason a pathological sexual excitability is
+necessary to spontaneously provoke in woman voluptuous dreams or
+masturbation. For the same reason we cannot speak of compensatory
+masturbation in woman. Onanism, however, is not uncommon among women,
+although less frequent than in men. It results either from artificial
+and local excitations, from bad example, or from pathological
+hyperaesthesia. When once the habit is acquired, repetition is produced
+by the difficulty of resisting voluptuous desires.
+
+Women perform masturbation by friction of the clitoris with the
+finger, or by introducing various hard and rounded objects into the
+vagina and imitating the movements of coitus; often also by rubbing
+the crossed thighs against each other. In the insane, masturbation is
+sometimes practiced to an excessive extent. Some hysterical women
+introduce objects into the urethra during masturbation and cause
+severe inflammation of the bladder.
+
+Another variety of sexual excitation which is often substituted for
+coitus among women, is the practice of mutual licking of the clitoris
+with the tongue (_cunnilingus_). Although not so dangerous as has been
+maintained, these habits are aberrations of the sexual appetite, and
+it is needless to say that every human being should abstain from them
+out of self-respect.
+
+The man who, for some reason or another, cannot obtain normal coitus
+should content himself with nocturnal emissions, and the woman with
+voluptuous dreams, and should both abstain from active and voluntary
+excitations. For my part, I consider prostitution, or "love" which is
+bought, as a variety of compensatory masturbation, and not as normal
+copulation. Coitus with a prostitute, generally infected with venereal
+disease, who receives new clients continually, has as little affinity
+with love as with the normal object of the sexual appetite--reproduction;
+and its moral value is certainly inferior to that of onanism.
+
+A second form of masturbation occurs in very young children from
+accidental irritation; in boys from phimosis; in girls from itching
+due to worms (oxyuris) about the anus and vulva. Innocent as regards
+its cause, this form of onanism may become dangerous by habit.
+Attention should therefore be paid to phimosis and worms, and the
+former treated by circumcision and the latter by the usual remedies.
+
+A third kind of masturbation is caused by example and imitation. This
+often occurs in schools and among children in general; and in this way
+very precocious sexual excitation may develop and become a habit
+difficult to suppress. The onanism of young children is certainly
+worse than that which begins after puberty; it not only renders the
+child idle and bashful, or increases these faults; but it also
+interferes with nutrition and digestion and develops a tendency to
+sexual perversion and to impotence. It often ceases, however, after
+careful supervision, combined with physical exercise and fresh air,
+and direction of the attention to other things. On the whole, the
+danger of this form of onanism has also been exaggerated. In most
+cases it is cured, when it is not based on abnormal predispositions or
+on an indolent and feeble character. Love and normal sexual
+intercourse are naturally the best remedies for masturbation due to
+seduction and habit, as soon as the subject has reached sexual
+maturity.
+
+We may include as a fourth form of masturbation the cases of paradoxy
+which we have mentioned previously. In this case onanism is produced
+spontaneously as the result of psycho-sexual precocity or hereditary
+pathological satyriasis.
+
+With the exception of the last paradoxical form which is based on
+incurable satyriasis, all the kinds of onanism which we have mentioned
+hitherto can only be successfully treated by kindness and confidence,
+combined with work and direction of the mind to wholesome and
+attractive subjects; not by threats or punishment. The new reformatory
+schools called _Landerziehungsheime_ (Vide Chapter XVII) are an
+excellent remedy for onanism, for they keep the child occupied from
+morning to night and hardly leave him any time for bad habits; when he
+goes to bed he is too tired to do anything but sleep. However, great
+prudence and active supervision is required in these cases.
+
+The fifth class is constituted by the onanism of sexual inverts, and
+may be called _essential onanism_. This concerns men whose sexual
+appetite is directed toward their own sex instead of the other. They
+are called _homosexual_, and mutual onanism is, so to speak, the
+normal satisfaction of their inverted appetite. We shall refer to this
+again later on. While normal sexual intercourse is the best and most
+rational remedy for compensatory masturbation, there is no question of
+it here. Marriage is the worst and most scandalous remedy in such
+cases. It is therefore of the greatest importance in order to judge
+of the nature of the masturbation, to inquire into the kind of erotic
+images with which it is associated. If, in the case of a man, the
+images are those of women, it is simply a case of compensatory
+masturbation; but if the images are masculine, it is a case of sexual
+inversion. If masturbation is not accompanied by any images, the
+question remains doubtful. In young children this is explained by the
+fact that the psycho-sexual irradiations are not yet developed; but
+after puberty the absence of images as an object of eroticism suggests
+a certain anomaly and sometimes depends on a latent tendency to
+inversion.
+
+=Relation of Masturbation to Hypochondriasis.=--Some onanists become
+much distressed, and reproach themselves for having spoilt their lives
+by their bad habit. They give way to lamentations before their doctor
+and their acquaintances, wring their hands with despair, and beg every
+one to come to their aid. They look upon themselves as poor sinners
+whose lives have been ruined, either by their own fault or by others.
+They have read Lamert's "Personal Preservation," or other sensational
+books which excite both the fear and the sexual desire of weak
+characters, whom they are intended to exploit. These poor devils
+believe themselves lost, and are truly pitiable objects. These form
+the types which are paraded as terrible examples in books on onanism
+which make timid persons' hair stand on end.
+
+When these unfortunate onanists are questioned on all the
+circumstances of the act of which they accuse themselves, we generally
+arrive at the following results:
+
+We recognize that we have to deal with psychopathic or neurotic
+subjects more or less tainted by heredity, timid and shunning their
+fellows, easily impressed by imagination, possessed of unhealthy
+sentiments and ideas; in fact, hypochondriacs, predisposed to look
+upon every sensation or slight indisposition as a grave disorder
+threatening their health or life. They thus live in perpetual anxiety.
+This mental anomaly has for a long time preceded the onanism, even if
+they have masturbated, which is often even not the case.
+
+Among the numerous patients of this kind that I have treated, there
+were many who had simply had nocturnal emissions since puberty, but
+they regarded themselves as lost men through masturbation! Many others
+no doubt practice compensatory masturbation, generally because their
+timid nature prevents them from frequenting prostitutes, or committing
+other sexual excesses, while the way in which they analyze their
+sensations easily leads them to onanism. On the other hand, they are
+generally so afraid that they do not give way to excessive
+masturbation, perhaps only once or twice a week or even less often, so
+that the normal frequency of coitus, according to Luther, is often not
+attained and seldom exceeded. Among these persons we find few
+precocious or excessive onanists. I admit, however, that a
+hypochondriacal constitution predisposes somewhat to onanism.
+
+But, what I wish to lay stress upon, is that the onanists who are full
+of lamentation and self-reproach are neither the most numerous nor
+those who commit the greatest excess. The worst onanists, those who
+provoke several ejaculations daily, belong to the category of sexual
+hyperaesthetics. These have not the classical aspect attributed to them
+by tradition; they are not pale and terrified creatures, but rather
+lewd individuals who are early transformed into impudent Don Juans.
+They may be as courageous, as clever and as strong as others and yet
+be disposed to all kinds of evil tricks and follies. It is, therefore,
+not true, as is so often said, that it is possible to recognize a
+masturbator by his face or manner.
+
+These excessive onanists no doubt do themselves harm in various ways,
+but the great error of taking sexual hypochondriasis for the type of
+onanists, is to confound cause with effect. Sexual hypochondriasis is
+in no way the effect of onanism, but precedes it, and onanism is
+rather its effect, or is simply associated with it. It is obvious that
+onanism, by its depressing effect, aggravates a mind beset with
+hypochondriacal anxieties.
+
+It results from these facts, first, that a sexual hypochondriac should
+be treated as a hypochondriac and not as an onanist; secondly, that
+the worst slaves of masturbation are not to be looked for among pale
+and dejected individuals.
+
+Among women, especially young girls, hypochondriasis is not common and
+cases of sexual hypochondriacs who accuse themselves of masturbating
+are rare among them. Women who masturbate generally keep their secret
+and are apparently very little affected by it. However, onanism does
+them nearly as much harm as men; it is true they have no loss of
+semen, but the repetition and intensity of the nervous irritation are
+greater than in man, and it is this which causes most exhaustion. In
+spite of this, it is curious to observe that women who masturbate are
+generally less ashamed than men, and are apparently less depressed by
+it. We must bear in mind that the loss of semen by masturbation has in
+man a peculiarly depressing effect, for it lacks its object and
+represents an absolutely abnormal satisfaction of the sexual appetite.
+
+It may be objected that this difference is due to another cause, that
+women who masturbate have less moral tone and are especially depraved
+individuals. I agree that this is often the case, but far from always.
+The intensity of the sexual excitability in women has nothing in
+common with their character; it may be associated with high
+intelligence, with high moral and aesthetic qualities, and even with a
+strong will. On the other hand, deficiency in moral sense and will may
+occur with sexual frigidity, and, as we have already seen, may lead to
+sexual excess without any voluptuous sensation, in accordance with the
+peculiarities of feminine sentiment. These facts show how complex are
+the causes of a given effect in the sexual domain.
+
+
+PERVERSIONS OF THE SEXUAL APPETITE OR PARAESTHESIA OF THE SEXUAL
+SENSATION
+
+We are here concerned with sexual appetite provoked by inadequate
+objects. Krafft-Ebing having made a profound study of this question we
+shall follow his subdivisions in the main.
+
+=Perverted Sexual Appetite Directed Toward the Opposite Sex.=--(A.)
+_Sadism_ (association of sexual desire with cruelty and violence).
+History shows us a number of celebrated persons who satisfied their
+sexual desire by making martyrs of their victims, up to complete
+butchery. The most atrocious types of this kind are perhaps assassins
+such as "Jack the Ripper," who lie in wait for their victims like
+cats, pounce on them, revel in their terror, assassinate them by
+inches, and wallow voluptuously in their blood.
+
+The term sadism is derived from the celebrated Marquis de Sade, a
+French author, whose obscene romances overflow with cruel
+voluptuousness. Certain reminiscences of sadism are common both in man
+and woman. At the moment of highest excitation in coitus it is not
+uncommon for one or other of the couple to bite or scratch in the
+ecstasy of their amorous embraces. Lombroso remarks on the brutal
+excesses of soldiers when excited after battle. This is so to speak an
+inversion of sadism as regards cause and effect. After the exaltation
+of combat, that of desire possesses the mind, as in the inverse
+direction exaltation of desire gives rise in certain cases to that of
+violence and thirst for blood.
+
+Krafft-Ebing draws attention to the fact that love and anger are the
+two most violent effective conditions, and are at the same time the
+two powers which provoke the most motor discharges. This explains why
+they may be associated in the delirium of unbridled passions. To these
+facts is added an atavistic relic of the instinct of man's ancestors,
+the males of whom fought furiously to conquer the females by violence,
+which provoked desire in them, after the subjection of the object of
+their sexual appetite. True sadism can, however, only become effective
+by the combination of two causes: (1) by an exalted and absolutely
+pathological association of sexual desire with a sanguinary instinct,
+and with the desire to illtreat and overcome a victim; (2) by an
+almost absolute absence of moral sense and sympathy, combined with a
+violent and egoistic sexual passion. It is evident that the slight
+more or less sadic impulses which may involuntarily occur in the
+performance of normal coitus, are quite exempt from the second of
+these causes.
+
+Krafft-Ebing maintains that sadism is usually, if not always,
+congenital and hereditary. Sadism is for a long time restrained by
+fear, education or moral sentiments. It is only gradually, when normal
+coitus cannot procure for the perverted sexual appetite the
+satisfaction it requires, that the sadist gives way to his passion;
+this gives the latter a false appearance of acquired vice.
+
+The highest degree of sadism leads to assassination. In this way human
+tigers entice young girls into a wood and cut them to pieces. Some
+begin by forcing them to coitus, after frightening them, or half
+strangling them; others masturbate in their ripped up entrails. But
+some others have no desire for coitus, nor anything resembling it,
+their desire being satisfied only by the sight of the terror,
+suffering and blood of their victim, whom they torture before killing.
+Others again associate desire with the rage of a wild beast to such a
+point that they swallow parts of their victim's body and drink the
+blood.
+
+Sadists become experts in the art of assassination without discovery.
+The cynicism with which some of them have described their sensations
+shows their cold indifference toward the tragic and the horrible.
+Krafft-Ebing describes a series of atrocious types of this kind, and
+unfortunately the press and the criminal law courts continually give
+us fresh examples. Some sadists assassinate children, others men, when
+their perversion is complicated with pederasty or sexual inversion.
+(The story of Bluebeard is probably based on the successive crimes of
+a sadic.)
+
+Sadists do not always confine their attacks to living people; some of
+them are _necrophiles_, who violate dead bodies and cut them in
+pieces: others again kill animals, whose sufferings and blood serve to
+satisfy their desires.
+
+Some sadists satisfy themselves by flogging prostitutes or pricking
+them till they bleed, while others prefer to martyrize their victims
+slowly, and thus procure the maximum of pleasure. Others again are
+contented with scenes symbolical of servitude, in which women are
+compelled to adore and supplicate them, etc. The humiliation of women
+takes part in the sadist appetite of man and often degenerates into
+fetichism. Simple imagination in which he plays the part of a tyrant,
+and which are complicated with onanism or normal coitus, often suffice
+to satisfy the sadist. Some sadists soil themselves with the
+excrements of the woman they "love!" When sadism assumes the character
+of a symbol or a fetich, seminal ejaculation and sensation generally
+occur without contact with the woman's body.
+
+Sadism is more common in men, but occurs also in women. Messalina and
+Catherine de Medici are historical examples. The latter had her maids
+of honor flogged before her eyes, and said she was bathing in roses
+when she witnessed the massacre of the Huguenots. Women in whom sadism
+takes a milder form are contented with biting a man till he bleeds,
+during coitus.
+
+Sadism appears to be most often an effect of hereditary alcoholic
+blastophthoria.
+
+(B). _Masochism_ (association of sexual desire with submission to
+cruelty and violence). The term masochism is applied by Krafft-Ebing
+to a form of sexual perversion described by Sacher-Masoch in several
+of his romances. Masochism is exactly the converse of sadism. The
+desire of the masochist is excited by humiliation, submission, and
+even blows; the pain he feels when he is flogged gives him intense
+pleasure. Like sadism, this perversion may be incomplete. When it is
+complete the masochist is affected with psychic impotence and is
+incapable of normal coitus. Ill-treatment and humiliation are alone
+capable of causing him erections, seminal ejaculations and pleasure.
+However, comedies representing his humiliation, or corresponding
+efforts of his imagination may succeed in replacing the reality and
+procure the desired effect.
+
+Like sadism, masochism is hereditary and congenital. When the first
+sexual sensations are produced, the masochist child sighs for a
+dominating woman who will illtreat him and make him her slave. His
+imagination is transported by the idea of being on his knees, of being
+trodden under foot, or bound in chains by her, etc. The cruel heroine
+of his heart must ridicule and humiliate him as much as possible.
+Corporal punishment with a beneficial object does not satisfy the true
+masochist. Rousseau, in his "Confessions," reveals the sexual feelings
+of the masochist.
+
+It is remarkable how far poetic conceptions are combined with the
+perversion of sexual sensations in masochists, leading them to dream
+of an imperious and cruel woman to whom they devote a love as humble
+as it is exalted, while normal coitus causes them no pleasure, and can
+sometimes only be accomplished with the aid of masochistic images.
+These images may also be accompanied by onanism. It is very common for
+masochists to become flagellants, and to be flogged or trampled on by
+prostitutes. But it often happens that they only feel pain instead of
+pleasure, when the comedy which they have started appears revealed in
+all its absurdity, showing them a woman paid to illtreat them, and not
+doing it for her own enjoyment. Some masochists take pleasure in
+imagining themselves assassinated by a woman, or even cut in pieces.
+Others organize theatrical performances in which imperious women play
+the part of judges, before whom they appear naked and are flogged and
+condemned to death. Others again are contented with imagining these
+performances, combining them sometimes with coitus or masturbation.
+
+Krafft-Ebing is no doubt right in considering the lucubrations of the
+poet Baudelaire, and his necrophile imagination of his own carrion
+hung on a gibbet and devoured by vultures, as a mixture of sadism and
+masochism. He sought out the most repulsive women of all races,
+Chinese, negresses, dwarfs, giants, or modern women as artificial as
+possible, to satisfy his pathological instinct. The following case
+quoted by Krafft-Ebing from Hammond, is typical:
+
+A married man and father of several children was sometimes subject to
+attacks during which he visited a brothel, where he chose two or three
+of the fattest women. He stripped the upper part of his body, lay on
+the floor, crossed his hands, shut his eyes and ordered the women to
+tread with all their force on his chest, neck and face. Sometimes he
+required a still heavier woman or more cruel manipulations. After two
+or three hours he was satisfied, paid the women liberally and regaled
+them with wine, rubbed his bruises, dressed himself and returned to
+his office, to repeat this singular performance a week later.
+
+Krafft-Ebing describes, as masked masochism, certain cases of
+fetichism in which the nature of the fetich which causes sexual
+excitation and the manner in which it is used prove a desire for
+maltreatment and humiliation by a woman. This is especially the case
+with shoe and foot fetichism. Among those who are affected with this
+pathological specialty, voluptuous sensations are produced when they
+are trodden on by a woman's shoes or feet. They even dream of women's
+shoes and feet. Some of them put nails in their shoes, the pain of
+which gives them voluptuous sensations. Lastly, the shoes alone,
+especially when they touch the penis, are sufficient to excite their
+sexual desire. Other masked masochists are excited by the secretions
+or even excrements of women.
+
+I have been consulted by a typical masochist, who, being very
+religious, was convinced that his perverted sexual appetite was a sin.
+He therefore married, thinking that God and repentance would change
+him. But when married he naturally found himself absolutely impotent
+and incapable of coitus.
+
+If masochism is common in men, it is produced in women rather as an
+exaggeration in the domain of her normal sexual sensations, for it is
+to a great extent in harmony with her passive sexual role. Woman does
+not like the weak man who submits to her. She prefers a master on whom
+she can lean. In fact, normal women do not like their husbands to ask
+advice from them too often, nor to be wanting in decision and
+self-confidence. On the contrary they like them to be firm and even
+somewhat imperious, provided they are not unkind. It is notorious that
+many women like to be beaten by their husbands, and are not content
+unless this is done. This appears to be especially common in Russia.
+Accentuated forms of pathological masochism are, however, rare in
+women.
+
+Masochism presents a certain analogy with the religious ecstasy of
+fakirs and flagellants who flog themselves. These individuals appear
+to become exalted in a kind of ecstatic convulsion with the idea of
+pleasing God or gaining Heaven by their martyrdom. We may add that,
+like sadism, masochism occurs in sexual inverts, but always having the
+same sex for its object. I know an old gentleman whose only pleasure
+consisted in receiving a shower of blows: as a boy, like Rousseau he
+tried by all kinds of ruses to obtain corporal punishment: when he
+grew up this became impossible and he devised tricks to urge
+schoolboys to fight each other, pretending to be angry and exciting
+their spirit of contradiction: the boys then pretended to fight him,
+and this sufficed for the rest of his life to excite erections and
+seminal ejaculations. This gentleman was a lawyer and told me his
+history, hoping that suggestion might cure him.
+
+The eroticism produced by submission to pain and humiliation is often
+blended with that produced by performing acts of cruelty. These
+mixtures of sadism and masochism have been investigated by Schrenk
+Notzing, who concludes that they are intimately related.
+
+_Fetichism_ (production of voluptuous sensations by contact with or by
+the sight of certain portions of the body or clothes of woman). We
+have already mentioned this symptom and have seen the part it plays in
+some forms of masochism. A masked form of fetichism forms part of the
+normal sexual appetite, in the sense that certain parts of the body or
+clothes, certain odors, etc., especially excite the sexual desire of
+many people by recalling the individual to whom they belong.
+Therefore, parts of the body which normally excite sexual desire--the
+breasts, sexual organs, or other parts of the body usually
+covered--cannot be regarded as pathological fetiches.
+
+The true fetichist is a very pathological being, whose entire sexual
+appetite, often with all its irradiations in the higher sphere of
+love, if we can speak of love in such cases, is limited to certain
+objects connected with woman. The most common fetiches are women's
+handkerchiefs, gloves, velvet or shoes; or their hair, hands or feet,
+etc. In these cases the fetich plays the essential part, and is in no
+way associated with the image of a woman. The fetich is the sole
+object of "love." The sight or touch of the fetich, the pleasure of
+pressing it against the heart or the genital organs, are alone capable
+of producing erections and ejaculations. There are even fetichists
+whose sexual desire is only excited by the sight of certain feminine
+deformities, such as clubfoot, squint, etc. Hairdressers, who
+masturbate after dressing women's hair, are well-known examples of
+fetichism.
+
+Certain feminine costumes may serve as fetiches, and these are kept in
+some brothels to satisfy certain customers. Shoe fetichism is more
+common than that of clothes or handkerchiefs. Krafft-Ebing mentions a
+typical case of the psychic irradiation of fetichism; the individual
+in question thought it immoral and scandalous that women's shoes
+should be exposed in shop windows. Others blush when they see such
+things in the windows. Fetichism is essentially a masculine
+perversion. I have been consulted by a fetichist who all his life had
+only felt erotic at the sight of shoes; later on he married, and his
+sexual desire becoming more and more concentrated on pointed and
+fashionable shoes, especially women's, but also men's, he could only
+obtain pleasure with his wife when she put on the shoes he was in love
+with, or when he put them on himself. The sight of shoes in shop
+windows always made him blush, while the female body made no
+impression on him. He could not buy the shoes he desired most, owing
+to a sentiment of shame, and the sight of them was often sufficient to
+produce erection and ejaculation.
+
+_Exhibitionism._ There is a class of individuals, especially men,
+whose sole sexual desire consists in masturbating in the presence of
+women. They lie in wait behind some wall or bush, and masturbate
+openly when women pass that way. In these subjects an orgasm is only
+produced when they are observed by women. As soon as ejaculation has
+occurred they fly to avoid the police. They never attempt to molest
+the women whose presence excites them to this performance.
+
+These cases are not uncommon and naturally cause much scandal, so that
+the poor wretches seldom escape the police. These unfortunate persons
+who sometimes hold high social positions, have often been previously
+convicted, but cannot as a rule overcome their passion, which has much
+worse consequences for them than for the women and children whom they
+frighten or annoy.
+
+Exhibitionism is not rare among insane women and I have myself treated
+two typical cases. I do not know whether it occurs in women of sound
+mind, but at all events they cannot be addicted to it without running
+great risk.
+
+=Sexual Inversion or Homosexual Love.=--However shocking or absurd the
+aberrations of the sexual appetite and its irradiations may be, of
+which we have spoken hitherto, they are at any rate derived from
+originally normal intercourse with adults of the opposite sex. Those
+we have now to deal with are distinguished by the fact that, not only
+the appetite itself, but all its psychic irradiations are directed to
+the same sex as the perverted individual, the latter being horrified
+at the idea of genital contact with the opposite sex, quite as much as
+a normal man is horrified at the idea of homosexual union. This
+horror is, however, confined to sexual matters, and in no way concerns
+those of social life. It is therefore a question of sexual desire of
+man for man, and woman for woman.
+
+What we have to deal with here has no connection with compensation as
+in cases of compensatory masturbation or pederasty, which are
+practiced, for want of anything better, by individuals whose normal
+sexual appetite cannot be satisfied otherwise. When excitation and
+desire become too strong, the purely animal (spinal) irritation of the
+sexual appetite may drive a man or woman to satisfy themselves by
+means which would otherwise disgust them.
+
+A. _Homosexual love in man._ It seems absurd that the whole sexual
+appetite and amorous ideals of a man can be directed all his life to
+persons of his own sex. This pathological phenomenon, however, is as
+common as it is certain, although its psychological and normal import
+has long been misapprehended, as much in judicial circles as by the
+general public. It is the inverts themselves, aided by psychiatrists,
+who have finally thrown light on the subject. An invert, named Ulrich,
+announced himself publicly as the apostle of homosexual love,
+describing inverts under the name of _Urnings_, a name which is still
+used in Germany. Ulrich and his disciples endeavored to prove an
+absurdity by maintaining that homosexuals are a special kind of normal
+men, and by attempting to obtain legal sanction for this kind of love.
+Ulrich gives the name _Dionings_ to men whose sexual appetite is
+normal, _i.e._, directed toward women. Such a pretension appears
+necessarily ridiculous to every man whose sexual sense is normal, and
+it is obviously absurd to apply the term "normal" to a sexual appetite
+absolutely devoid of its natural object, procreation. But this is
+quite characteristic of the sentiments of inverts.
+
+Hirschfeld, of Berlin, has recently attempted to show that homosexuals
+constitute a variety of normal man; but he plays with words and facts,
+invoking the names of celebrated inverts, and wrongly asserts that
+inversion is not hereditary.
+
+From the first dawn of sexual feeling in youth, male inverts have the
+same feelings as girls toward other boys. They feel the need for
+passive submission, they become easily enraptured over novels and
+dress, they like to occupy themselves with feminine pursuits, to dress
+like girls and to frequent women's societies. They regard women as
+friends, as persons with whom they have a fellow-feeling. They
+generally, but not always, have a banal sentimentalism, they are fond
+of religious forms and ceremonies, they admire fine clothes and
+luxurious apartments; they dress their hair and "fake" themselves with
+a coquetry which often exceeds that of women. They are not all like
+this, but one or other of these traits predominates in different
+individuals.
+
+Their sexual appetite, usually very strong and precocious, begins with
+an exalted love for some male friend. I have treated a great number of
+inverts and have always been struck with the intensity of their
+passion. Among other cases, I may mention that of an invert hospital
+attendant, who fell madly in love with one of his comrades and covered
+ten meters of white tape with the name of his beloved. The most
+passionate love letters, vows of fidelity till death, the most
+ferocious jealousy toward other friends of their beloved, and even
+ceremonies symbolical of marriage, are daily events among the
+homosexuals.
+
+The invert does not so easily become enamored of another invert as of
+normal men. These have a special attraction for him, but as they
+generally repulse him with disgust, or threaten to expose or exploit
+him, he is often obliged to content himself with his fellows. These
+gentlemen form among themselves a secret brotherhood, a kind of
+freemasonry which is recognized by signs.
+
+The first appearance of the homosexual appetite with its youthful
+impulses, causes love and happiness to appear to the invert in a
+special aspect, determined by the inverted irradiation of his sexual
+appetite. It represents the aim of his life as an amorous union with
+his beloved, and shapes his idylls, his romance and his ideal to this
+end. But later on, when his sexual desire increases and when he
+discovers that the majority of men feel differently to him, that the
+human race is reproduced by the union of men and women, etc., he
+becomes unhappy. He perceives that it would be both ridiculous and
+dangerous to reveal his inner feelings, and generally gives way to
+masturbation. But all social barriers which oppose his appetite only
+increase his desire, and he becomes less and less able to dominate his
+passion for certain young men. The disgust and indignation of the
+latter, when they discover that they are not the object of simple
+affection but of perverted sexual love, are expressed only too
+clearly, and the poor invert sees himself condemned to perpetual
+torment in trying to hide his most violent desires and his most
+intimate and ideal aspirations, and finally to live in continual dread
+of being betrayed and prosecuted. It is thus easy to understand that
+he is happy in the discovery that his fellows form a secret society,
+and he associates with them immediately, when his moral sense and will
+are not strong enough to be proof against it.
+
+_If the invert succeeds in finding a male to his liking and with a
+similar degenerative state of mind to his own, he will pay him the
+attention that the normal man would to a woman. It is therefore
+reasonable to believe that this mode of inversion is likewise an
+expression of pathological manifestation of the individual; usually
+accompanied by neurosis and a like corresponding deficiency in the
+physical makeup of the individual._
+
+The invert's ideal would be to obtain a legal license for marriage
+between men; but they are not very constant in their love and are much
+inclined to polyandry. Sexual love for women inspires them with
+contempt; they regard it as low and disgusting, at the most only good
+for the production of young inverts!
+
+Homosexual love has played a much greater part in the world's history
+than is generally believed. The Count de Platen and Sapho were
+inverts. The inverts themselves maintain that it was the same with
+Plato, Frederick the Great, Socrates, etc.; but this is not proved. In
+the East and in Brazil, homosexual love is very common.
+
+My experience agrees with that of Krafft-Ebing, that homosexual love
+is pathological in nature, and that nearly all inverts are in a more
+or less marked degree psychopaths or neurotics, whose sexual appetite
+is not only abnormal but usually also exalted. Insane inverts, such as
+King Louis II of Bavaria, a great number of the insane, affected, for
+example, with _Pseudologia phantastica_ (pathological swindlers), and
+who are also homosexual, show the intimate relationship which exists
+between sexual inversion (also called "uranism") and the psychoses.
+
+I agree with Rudin that the psycho-pathological phenomena presented by
+the majority of inverts are primitive and hereditary, and that they
+are hardly ever the effect of their tormented life, as Hirschfeld,
+Ulrich and their disciples maintain. The vexations, anxieties and
+other torments that they suffer may no doubt play a part in developing
+certain nervous conditions previously latent, but they can never
+create hereditary taints. We may admit that sexual inversion
+corresponds to a kind of partial hermaphrodism, in which the sexual
+glands and copulatory organs have the characters of one of the sexes,
+while the brain has, to a great extent, those of the other sex; but
+the phenomenon is none the less pathological.
+
+The inverts with whom we have most to do, especially in public asylums
+and at the courts of justice, are cynics and debauchees in spite of
+the ideal which they parade; but we should be wrong in concluding that
+this is always the case. The cynics make themselves heard because they
+do not restrain themselves. In my private practice I have known many
+very well-conducted inverts, possessing the most delicate sentiments,
+who had become pessimists owing to the shame and grief of a state of
+mind which they hid from the world.
+
+Inverts of this class often commit suicide, after having carried on in
+silence a desperate struggle against their morbid appetite, because
+they prefer death to defeat, which they consider a dishonor. The
+victims of these tragedies deserve all our pity, and sometimes our
+respect. Such individuals generally hold aloof from the brotherhood of
+inverts which they look upon with fear or disgust.
+
+In the picture of homosexuals there are two lamentable shadows, which
+are largely due to the severity with which most legislations track and
+condemn these unfortunate beings.
+
+(1). As soon as an invert realizes his abnormal and dangerous
+situation in society, in which he feels a pariah, he often makes up
+his mind to follow the advice of ignorant friends, and even, alas, of
+ignorant doctors, and try and cure himself by marriage. Sometimes he
+begins by visiting a brothel to see if he is capable of normal coitus
+with a woman. In this he often succeeds, if he is able to picture to
+himself a man in the person of the prostitute. He tries to persuade
+himself that the disgust which he felt at this experimental coitus was
+due to the fact that the "love" was bought; and he then decides to
+enter into conjugal life. This is at the same time the greatest
+absurdity and the worst action possible for him to commit, for his
+wife becomes a martyr and soon feels herself deceived, abandoned and
+despised. The invert treats her as a servant; he rarely has sexual
+intercourse with her, sometimes not at all, and only performs it with
+repugnance with a view to the procreation of young inverts, who will
+rise to his ideal. He invites his male lovers to his house and they
+indulge in orgies, especially when the wife, despised and neglected,
+has separated from him. Such marriages, which are fortunately less
+common since this question has been better understood, generally end
+in divorce, preceded by bitter and mutual deceptions. It is really
+criminal to favor them when we know what they lead to. (_It is against
+such unions, and against sexual indulgence of this nature, that the
+law ought to exert itself._)
+
+(2). A second very grave result of homosexual love is the continual
+blackmail which is levied on inverts by all kinds of scamps. Public
+urinals are common meeting places for inverts. The blackmailers, who
+know this very well, follow them there and offer themselves for money;
+but as soon as they find out the name of their victim and his
+financial position, they begin to extort hush-money, threatening to
+prosecute him if he does not pay what they ask. If the invert is rich
+or of high position he has only to yield to the extortion, emigrate or
+commit suicide. In this way the life of most well-to-do inverts is
+ruined by perpetual anxieties, emotions and torments, because their
+morbid appetite instinctively urges them to abandon themselves to men
+who feel differently to themselves.
+
+_Moll, Krafft-Ebing and Hirschfeld have written at great length on
+sexual inversion. The law takes a just point of view and is generally
+severe as regards this anomaly, especially in Germanic countries. Even
+homosexual love that does not affect minors nor insane persons, is a
+sign of degeneracy, but produces no offspring and consequently dies
+out by means of selection. We hope, therefore, that this type may be
+extinct some day, although it is still decidedly numerous, principally
+in the larger cities of the world. When a normal man is tormented by
+an invert, it is much easier to get rid of him than for a young girl
+to protect herself against the importunities of a man._
+
+It is quite another thing when the invert pays his attentions to
+minors, or when his appetites are complicated with dangerous sexual
+paraesthesias, such as sadism. Not long ago the terrible case of a
+sadist invert, Dippold, startled civilized Europe. By the aid of
+cruelty and intimidation this wretch martyrized two young boys
+confided to him for their education to such a degree that one of them
+died. Legal protection of the two sexes against sexual abuses of all
+kinds should be extended at least to the age of seventeen or eighteen.
+
+Sexual inversion has two curious results which have not received
+sufficient attention. Human society regards it as quite natural and
+without danger for individuals of the same sex to bathe, sleep and
+live together. In lunatic asylums, prisons, reformatories, etc., men
+are attended to by men, and women by women. The vow of chastity of
+Catholic priests and nuns leads in the same way to separation of the
+sexes. In all these customs sexual inversion has not been taken into
+consideration. It is not surprising, therefore, that homosexuals take
+advantage of this state of affairs and seek these situations which
+give them the opportunity for satisfying their perverted passions
+without running much danger. _They willingly choose a career suitable
+for their degenerate purposes, and especially that of attendant in
+lunatic asylums. In the latter case they take advantage of the mental
+condition of the patients and their incapacity to make complaints. In
+public baths inverts can freely enjoy the sight of naked men._
+
+So far we have only spoken of complete inversion; but there are
+transitional stages. Many individuals are neutral, animated by
+sensations floating between the two sexes. Krafft-Ebing even speaks
+of psycho-sexual hermaphrodites, who are equally attracted by either
+sex, and cohabit sometimes with one, sometimes with the other. I knew
+a married man who was very capable with his wife but in spite of this
+was unfaithful to her, both with men and with other women. He was
+convicted several times for pederasty with men and young boys, and
+confessed to me that he had more pleasure from homosexual intercourse
+than from normal connection with women, but could satisfy himself
+either way. An incomplete invert declared to me that his ideal would
+be a man.
+
+Along with these cases there is a series of homosexuals in whom it is
+assumed that inversion has been acquired, because they commenced with
+a normal sexual desire for women. After being seduced by homosexuals,
+who initiate them in mutual onanism or pederasty, they are suddenly or
+gradually disgusted with women and become inverts (vide _Suggestion_).
+In reality, these are only relatively cases of acquired inversion. If
+we except the cases which depend on pure suggestion of which we shall
+speak later, there is a latent hereditary disposition to inversion,
+which is awakened on the first occasion and then develops strongly. It
+is easy to prove that men with normal sexual instincts immediately
+abandon the habits of onanism or pederasty which they have contracted
+through bad example or seduction, or by compensation for the want of
+the normal object, as soon as they can obtain normal sexual
+intercourse with one or more women. It is, therefore, false to regard
+homosexual sensations as depending on vice and depravity: they are a
+pathological product of abnormal hereditary sexual dispositions. At
+any rate, this is a general rule which has few exceptions.
+
+Sexual inversion is so widespread that in certain countries, for
+instance Brazil, and even in some European towns, there are brothels
+with men instead of women.
+
+I will mention here a very curious case of purely psychical but
+complete inversion of the sexual personality, combined with complete
+sexual anaesthesia:
+
+    A man, aged 22, the son of an inebriate, with one imbecile
+    sister. Of delicate constitution, but very intelligent, he was
+    possessed since infancy with the idea that he was a girl,
+    although his genital organs were properly formed and were
+    normally developed at puberty. He had a horror of the society of
+    boys, and of all masculine work, while he was quite happy in
+    performing all the household duties of a woman. An irresistible
+    obsession urged him to dress himself as a woman, and neither
+    contempt, ridicule, nor punishment could cure him of it.
+    Attempts to give him employment as a boy in a small town failed
+    completely. His girlish manners made him suspected by the
+    police, who took him for a girl dressed in boy's clothes, and
+    threatened to arrest him. When he was compelled to put on male
+    attire he consoled himself with wearing a woman's chemise and
+    corset underneath.
+
+    I carefully examined this individual and found him affected with
+    complete sexual anaesthesia. He had a horror of everything
+    connected with the sexual appetite, but the idea of sexual
+    intercourse with men was still more repugnant than that of
+    normal coitus with women. Although the testicles and penis
+    appeared absolutely normal, he never had erections. His voice
+    was high pitched and his whole manner suggested that of a
+    eunuch.
+
+This case is very instructive, for it clearly shows how the
+psycho-sexual personality may be predetermined by heredity in the
+brain alone, independently of the sexual organs, and even act without
+a trace of sexual sensation or appetite. This was undoubtedly a case
+of alcoholic blastophthoria and not ordinary heredity.
+
+Krafft-Ebing describes the following scene, taken from a Berlin
+journal, dated February, 1894, which gives a good idea of the manners
+and customs of the homosexual fraternity:
+
+"_The misogynist's ball._ Almost all the social elements of Berlin
+have their club or meeting place--the fat, the bald, the bachelors,
+the widowers--why not the misogynists? This variety of the human
+species, whose society is hardly edifying, but whose psychology is
+peculiar, held a fancy dress ball a few days ago. The sale, or rather
+the distribution of tickets was kept very private. Their meeting place
+is a well-known dancing hall. We enter the hall about midnight.
+Dancing is going on to the music of a good orchestra. A thick cloud of
+smoke obscures the lamps and prevents us at first from distinguishing
+the details of the scene. It is only during an interval that we can
+make a closer examination. Most of the people are masked, dress coats
+and ball dresses are exceptional.
+
+"But what do I see? This lady in rose tarlatan, who has just
+pirouetted before us has a cigar in her mouth and smokes like a
+trooper. She has also a small beard, half hidden by paint. And she is
+now talking to an "angel" in tights, very _decollete_, with bare arms
+crossed behind her, also smoking. They have men's voices and the
+conversation is also masculine, for it turns on 'this cursed tobacco
+will not draw.' Two men dressed as women!
+
+"A clown in conventional costume leaning against a pillar is speaking
+tender words to a ballet dancer, with his arm round her waist. She has
+a Titian head, a fine profile and good figure. Her brilliant earrings,
+her necklace, her shapely shoulders and arms seem to proclaim her sex,
+when suddenly disengaging herself from the embracing arm she turns
+away with a yawn, saying in a bass voice, 'Emile, why are you so
+tiresome to-day?' The novice hardly believes his eyes: the ballet
+dancer is also a man.
+
+"Becoming suspicious, we continue our investigations, beginning to
+think that the world is here upside down. Here is a man who comes
+tripping along; but no, it cannot be a man, in spite of the small and
+carefully curled mustache. The dressing of the hair, the powder and
+paint on the face, the blackened eyebrows, the gold earrings, the
+bouquet of flowers on the breast and shoulder, the elegant black gown,
+the gold bracelets, the fan held in a white-gloved hand--none of these
+things suggest a man. And with what coquetry he fans himself; how he
+dances and skips about! Nevertheless, Nature has created this doll in
+the form of a man. He is a salesman in one of the large sweet shops,
+and the ballet dancer is his colleague!
+
+"At the table in the corner there is a convivial meeting; several
+elderly gentlemen are gathered round a group of very _decollete_
+'ladies' sitting over a glass of wine and cracking jokes which are
+anything but delicate. 'Who are these three ladies?' 'Ladies! laughs
+my better-informed companion; well, the one on the right with the
+brown hair and short fancy dress is a hair-dresser; the second, the
+blonde with the pearl necklace is known here by the name of Miss
+Ella, and he is a ladies' tailor; the third is the celebrated Lottie.'
+
+"But this cannot be a man? The waist, the bust, the delicate arms, the
+whole appearance is feminine! I am told that Lottie was formerly an
+accountant. To-day she, or rather he, is simply 'Lottie,' and takes
+pleasure in deceiving men as to his sex as long as possible. At this
+moment Lottie is singing a song in a contralto voice acquired by
+prolonged practice, which a female singer might envy. Lottie has also
+taken female parts on the stage. Nowadays the former accountant is so
+imbued with his female role that he seldom appears in the street
+except in woman's attire, and even wears an embroidered nightdress.
+
+"On closer examination of the persons present, I discovered to my
+astonishment several acquaintances. My bootmaker, whom I should never
+have taken for a misogynist, appears to-night as a troubador with
+sword and plumed cap; and his 'Leonora,' in the costume of a bride,
+generally serves me with Havanas in a cigar store. When Leonora
+removed her gloves I recognized her at once by her large chilblained
+hands. Here is my haberdasher promenading in an indelicate costume as
+Bacchus; also a Diana, dressed up atrociously, who is really a waiter
+at a cafe.
+
+"It is impossible to describe the real 'ladies' who are at this ball.
+They only associate with each other and avoid the women-hating men;
+while the latter also keep to themselves and absolutely ignore the
+fair sex."
+
+=B. Feminine Sexual Inversion and Homosexual Love.=--Sexual inversion
+is not rare in women, but manifests itself less publicly than the
+corresponding masculine inversion. It is called Lesbian love or
+_saphism_; and the women inverts are known as _tribades_. They are
+described in history, but may also be observed in modern towns. _They
+satisfy their pathological appetite by degenerate practices heretofore
+mentioned in harmony with their inverted mentality._ The feminine
+invert likes to dress as a man and feels like a man toward other
+women. She goes in for manly games, wears her hair short, and takes to
+men's occupations in general. Her sexual appetite is often much
+exalted and then she becomes a veritable feminine Don Juan. I have
+known several women of this kind, who held veritable orgies and
+induced a whole series of young girls to become their lovers, in the
+way we have just indicated.
+
+Here again, as in masculine inversion, there is a true irradiated
+love. Inverts want to marry and swear eternal fidelity; they celebrate
+their betrothals, even openly, the invert in male attire representing
+the bridegroom; or sometimes they have secret symbols, such as
+exchanging rings, etc. These sexual orgies are often seasoned with
+alcohol.
+
+_The excesses of female inverts exceed those of the male. This is
+their one thought, night and day, almost without interruption.
+Jealousy is also as strong as among male inverts. However, these
+nymphomaniac inverts are not very common._
+
+A characteristic peculiarity of feminine inversion depends on the
+irradiation of the sexual appetite in woman (_vide_ Chapters IV and
+V). We have seen that there is much less distinction in woman between
+love and local sensations of pleasure, and between friendship and
+love, than in man. When a woman invert wishes to seduce a normal girl,
+it is easy for her to do so. She first wins her affection by the aid
+of the caresses of an exalted platonic love, which is not uncommon
+among women; kisses, embraces, and sleeping in the same bed are much
+more common among girls than boys, and little by little the invert
+succeeds in causing voluptuous sensations in her victim. Very often
+the object of these caresses does not recognize that there is anything
+abnormal in all this, or gives way to her sensations without
+reflection, and then becomes amorous in her turn. I will give an
+example:
+
+A female invert, dressed as a young man, succeeded in winning the love
+of a normal girl, and was formally betrothed to her. Soon afterwards
+the woman was unmasked, arrested and sent to an asylum, where she was
+made to put on woman's clothes. But the young girl who had been
+deceived continued to be amorous and visited her "lover," who embraced
+her before every one, in a state of voluptuous ecstasy, which I
+witnessed myself. When this scene was over, I took the young girl
+aside and expressed my astonishment at seeing her continue to have any
+regard for the sham "young man" who had deceived her. Her reply was
+characteristic of a woman: "Ah! you see, doctor, I love him, and I
+cannot help it!"
+
+What can one reply to such logic? A psychic love of this kind is
+hardly possible in man; but if we go to the bottom of the matter and
+study the nature of woman, we can understand how certain feminine
+exaltations may be unconsciously transformed into love, platonic at
+first, afterwards sexual. At first, "they understand each other so
+well," and have so much mutual sympathy; they give each other pet
+names, they kiss and embrace, and perform all kinds of tender actions.
+Finally, a graduated scale of caresses leads almost unconsciously to
+sexual excitation.
+
+_This is how it happens that a normal woman, systematically seduced by
+an invert, may become madly in love with her and commit sexual
+excesses with her for years, becoming herself essentially
+pathological. The case only becomes really pathological when it is
+definitely fixed by long habit; a thing which easily occurs in woman,
+owing to the constant and monogamous nature of her love._
+
+Krafft-Ebing's cases show the same phenomena, (for instance the invert
+called "Count Sandor" and her victims). In these cases also young
+girls, seduced by inverts, fell into despair and even threatened to
+commit suicide when their seducers abandoned them. On the other hand,
+when a normal man, seduced by an invert, practices mutual masturbation
+the affair remains localized and limited to purely animal sensations
+of pleasure which do not irradiate to his psychic life; such
+irradiations only occur in the invert, so that his victims are always
+ready to abandon him without the least regret. If we except children,
+it therefore follows that the so-called male victims are nearly always
+blackmailers, or simply offer themselves for money.
+
+In fact, the normal man entirely separates the sympathy, or even the
+exalted affection, which he feels for another man, from all sexual
+sensations, and has not the least desire to kiss or caress his best
+friend, still less to have sexual intercourse with him. All sensual
+caresses between men are, therefore, suggestive of inversion even in
+places where women are absent.
+
+In the normal woman, on the contrary, as we have already mentioned,
+sentiments of exalted sympathy easily provoke the desire for kisses
+and caresses, and these caresses often cause in women a certain amount
+of vague sensual pleasure. When this pleasure leads to progressive
+tenderness and ends in mutual onanism, etc., it nevertheless remains
+intimately connected with psychic exaltations and sentiments of
+sympathy, from which it cannot be separated as in man.
+
+In a former chapter we have described the difference between the two
+sexes, but nowhere is it more distinctly shown than in the relations
+between a female invert and her victims.
+
+It is therefore much more difficult in woman than in man to
+distinguish in particular cases between the hereditary disposition to
+inversion, and saphism acquired by seduction or habit. The latter is
+common in prostitutes and libidinous women.
+
+As we have already said, the pure female invert feels like a man. The
+idea of coitus with men is repugnant to her. She apes the habits,
+manners and clothes of men. Female inverts have been known to wear
+men's uniforms and perform military service for years, and even behave
+as heroes; their sex sometimes only being discovered after their
+death.
+
+=Sexual Appetite for Children. (Pederosis.)=--It may be questioned
+whether this is a special category, for many sexual assaults committed
+on children are simply the effect of senile dementia, or abuse of
+children to satisfy an otherwise normal sexual appetite. I have,
+however, observed cases where children were so specially, or even
+exclusively, the object of the sexual appetite, that I cannot doubt
+the existence of a special hereditary perversion in this direction.
+
+No doubt, most of those who abuse children are also capable of coitus
+with women, or else they are inverts, sadists, etc.; but with many of
+them sexual passion for children is so marked from their youth upward,
+that it shows a special hereditary disposition. For this pathological
+disposition, thus defined, I propose the term _pederosis_; that of
+_pederasty_ applying to degeneracy between man and man, whatever
+causes lead to it. Krafft-Ebing, who does not believe in the existence
+of a hereditary pederosis, gives the name _erotic pedophilia_ to the
+abuse of children by depraved persons.
+
+The following are cases of exclusive and hereditary pederosis: A
+talented artist, possessing high moral sentiments, was affected from
+his youth with a sexual appetite exclusively directed toward little
+girls of five or six years. At the age of twelve they ceased to
+attract him. He was quite indifferent to adults of both sexes, and
+never accomplished coitus. _Having recognized in good time the anomaly
+of his appetite, he succeeded in mastering it all his life, and
+through education on the subject as well as a general physical
+development, he neutralized these morbid desires, particularly through
+the training of his mind to cleaner and more wholesome topics. A great
+help in this type of condition is work therapy. His moral sentiments
+and principles were always strong enough to prevent him going any
+further, and he eventually obtained relief. But this condition gave
+rise to increasing nervous irritation and melancholic depression._
+
+In another man, the sexual appetite, also perverted since its origin,
+was directed only toward boys of twelve or sixteen. At one time girls
+of the same age excited him, while he was quite indifferent toward
+adult women and men.
+
+In rare cases the sexual appetite of certain women is directed toward
+little boys.
+
+=Sexual Appetite for Animals. (Sodomy or Bestiality.)=[6]--A human
+sexual appetite exclusively directed toward animals is certainly not
+common. Coitus between man and animals usually takes place for want of
+the opportunity for normal satisfaction, or else as the result of
+satyriasis, nymphomania or desire for change. I have observed it
+especially in idiots and imbeciles who are ridiculed by girls. To
+console themselves, they give vent to their feelings with a patient
+cow or goat in the silence of the stable: for this act they get
+several years imprisonment, for the law on this point is severe.
+Certain degraded libertines satisfy their hyperaesthetic and perverted
+appetites with goats or even with large birds or rabbits.
+
+There are, however, cases where a pathological sexual appetite is
+specially directed toward animals, and it is curious to observe the
+frequent preference of certain individuals for small animals which
+they skin (fowls, geese, rabbits), and thus put to death.
+
+_Bestiality is not rare in women who are also subject to this filthy,
+obnoxious and degenerative practice. Even if we put aside cases of
+torture inflicted on small animals and if we avoid all prejudices, we
+can still, in all normality, consider bestiality as a crime,
+manifested by the depraved mind. In fact, considered from the point of
+view of law and humanity, bestiality is one of the most indecent of
+all the pathological aberrations of the sexual appetite. Human
+imagination only has marked it with the stigma of moral depravement
+and has made it a crime. But it is recognized scientifically that it
+is a state of mental inferiority and often a sign of idiotic tendency,
+usually accompanied by a case history, tainted heredity and highly
+neurotic constitution. AEstheticism has reason for complaint, and more
+than one painter or sculptor has represented the union of Leda with
+the Swan. It is certainly much better for society, for an idiot or an
+imbecile to be castrated than for him to make a girl pregnant and
+breed more idiots._
+
+_In cases of this kind which I have known and which were brought to
+justice, I consider that the real sinner, the sodomite, should be
+confined to an insane asylum under medical attention, and not, as at
+present, to be condemned to imprisonment, thus making a martyr of him
+for no reason, and putting the ban of society upon him. It is needless
+to say that cases of sodomy complicated by cruelty or sadism, should
+be judged differently._
+
+There are also other hereditary or constitutional perversions, more or
+less characteristic, of the sexual appetite, but we cannot enumerate
+all of them. We may mention, however, the erotic excitement which some
+men feel at the sight of statues of women, which urges them to
+masturbate against these statues.
+
+
+SEXUAL ANOMALIES IN THE INSANE AND IN PSYCHOPATHS
+
+When one is familiar with the population of a lunatic asylum, one is
+struck by a singular phenomenon, from the sexual point of view. A
+great number of insane women give evidence of intense sexual desire.
+This desire is manifested in some by incessant masturbation; in others
+by obscene conversation; in many others, by imaginary love, sometimes
+sensual, sometimes platonic; often by direct provocation to coitus
+addressed to the medical officers; but especially by perpetual scenes
+of jealousy, and often by reciprocal suspicions regarding their sexual
+life. In fact, a lunatic asylum reveals to us, in the form of
+repulsive caricatures, all gradations and variations of a more or less
+degenerate feminine sexual life, coquetry, wearing all kinds of
+ornaments, jealous anger, erotic excitement, etc.
+
+The sexual excitation of the insane often makes them soil themselves
+with urine and excrements, and heap insults on persons whom their
+diseased imagination suspects of sexual assaults or immodest acts
+toward themselves or others. They have a tendency to believe
+themselves betrothed or married to kings, emperors, Jesus Christ or
+God. Pregnancy and childbirth play a large part in their delirium.
+Some patients imagine themselves pregnant and pretend that they were
+fecundated secretly. Afterwards they believe that some one has taken
+away their child while they were asleep.
+
+One of my former patients once accused me of going to her bed at night
+and fecundating her every week. She also accused me of having hidden
+the hundreds of children which I was supposed to have procreated with
+her, and martyred them. Owing to these hallucinations she heard their
+cries day and night.
+
+Another patient, affected with curable acute mania, was so erotic
+during her attacks that she made advances toward all the doctors who
+visited her. Her mind was full of such erotic images that after her
+cure she was frightened of being pregnant, although she had passed the
+whole of her time of detention under supervision by female attendants.
+Women who in their normal state are most modest or sexually cold may
+be most erotic when they become insane, and may even behave as
+prostitutes. This is especially observed in periodic hypomania. It is
+a well-known fact in the female divisions of lunatic asylums, that the
+doctors are always surrounded by erotic patients, who catch hold of
+their clothes and pinch them, and try and embrace or scratch them
+according as they are amorous or jealous, so that they often have
+trouble in escaping from these signs of violent love or furious
+jealousy.
+
+On the other hand, in the male divisions of asylums, one is astonished
+at the indifference and profound sexual apathy of nearly all insane
+men. Some practice masturbation and others attempt pederasty, but all
+with a philosophical calmness due to their dementia. Young women may
+even go among them without any fear of assaults or indecent language.
+It is only a few of the most violent who are exceptions to this rule.
+
+A young lady doctor, assistant medical officer to the asylum at
+Zurich, made her visits alone among all the males, even the most
+violent, without any inconvenience; while, in the female divisions,
+she was approached by the erotic patients as much as were the male
+assistants. I mention this fact because some people wrongly imagine
+that the sexual excitation of insane women is due to the visits of
+male doctors. These facts are very striking and furnish perhaps the
+best proof that the feminine sexual appetite is especially situated in
+the higher brain, while the masculine appetite is situated more in the
+lower cerebral centers, as we have shown above. Mental alienation is
+due to irritations of the higher brain, and this explains why in women
+it lets loose such violent sexual passions and images, and why there
+is so little of this in men.
+
+The sexual pathological symptoms of the insane are as follows:
+
+(1). _Erotomania_ (satyriasis and nymphomania), or abnormal exaltation
+of the sexual appetite. This is especially seen in acute mania, in the
+early stages of general paralysis and senile dementia, also
+temporarily or permanently in other psychoses. It is manifested by
+sexual excesses, obscene language or excessive masturbation. All these
+symptoms disappear after the attack of insanity.
+
+(2). _Sexual anaesthesia_ or _hypoaesthesia_ or even _impotence_ may
+occur in the later stages of general paralysis and senile dementia. At
+the commencement of general paralysis there is often violent sexual
+desire combined with more or less complete impotence. The same thing
+occurs, as we shall see, in alcoholism.
+
+(3). Subjects affected with systematic delirium of persecution and
+grandeur (paranoia) sometimes commit atrocious sexual excesses, and
+often tyrannize and torment in a terrible way the women who are their
+victims. It is especially in the religious forms of this delirium,
+combined with fanatic ecstasy, that the most repulsive sexual orgies
+occur. I have treated a patient with paranoia who, full of pious
+sayings, regarded himself as a kind of prophet. He made a poor girl
+and her mother sleep in his room and had connection with them
+alternately. Finally, he mixed his semen in coffee with the girl's
+menstrual blood and made her drink the mixture, pretending that this
+was a religious ceremony intended to produce a strong race. In the end
+he set fire to the house of these poor women.
+
+Subjects affected with partial paranoia often turn the heads of
+susceptible women by the aid of ascetic religious phraseology, to
+gratify afterwards their sexual passions. The worst cases are those
+who are able to hide from the public their delirious ideas, and pass
+for normal individuals, misunderstood victims, or even saints. I have
+examined a very orthodox clergyman, highly esteemed by his
+congregation on account of his ascetic and enthusiastic preaching. In
+his own home he illtreated his wife, half strangled her, and exacted
+all kinds of sexual depravity. Unfortunately, the nature of his
+delirium was not very evident, and he dissimulated so well that the
+jurists would not admit his irresponsibility, in spite of my medical
+certificate. His wife was obliged to run away to escape from her
+martyrdom. The community of property in force in this family
+completely ruined this unfortunate woman. The husband was not a
+hypocrite, but simply insane. Volumes could be written on sexual
+atrocities committed by such people.
+
+I will mention briefly the systematic delirium directed toward
+pathological love. This is a very common symptom in insane women who
+combine their amorous sentiments for man with the maddest ideas and
+hallucinations. An insane woman suddenly discovers that the object of
+her love is a king or Jesus Christ, and that she is betrothed to him.
+In her delirium she imagines herself to be queen of the world. In her
+dreams and hallucinations her king or Christ is in bed with her and
+she imagines she has connection with him. Still under the influence
+of hallucinations, she believes herself pregnant and carries an
+imaginary child for nine months in her womb. She may even imagine that
+she has given birth to a child, and that the child has been taken away
+from her by the aid of narcotics, as we have seen above. Although
+there is an infinite variety in the gradations, the pathological
+images of the cerebral sexual sphere of insane women always revolve
+round this eternal theme.
+
+These pathological irradiations of the sexual sphere are associated
+voluntarily with jealous obsessions and ideas of persecution, which
+make the subjects furious, and which are confirmed by their
+paraesthesias and hallucinations. Illusions of memory play a great part
+in these cases, for the subjects have often never felt what they
+complain of, and it is then a question of veritable hallucinational
+memory. We may here observe by the way that, even among healthy
+people, the sexual passions, like the others, always tend to falsify
+memory, making things appear in the exclusive sense of the affective
+state. Once fixed in the memory, such conceptions, the false tendency
+of which was originally based on passion, gradually assume the
+subjective character of certainty. Cool-headed people, or those whose
+affective state directs them to contrary conceptions, then see in such
+individuals a deliberate intention to misrepresent the facts. This is
+the reason why people so often hurl mutual insults at each others
+heads, calling each other liars and calumniators, owing to the
+affective illusion of memory.
+
+(4). One of the worst of the sexual anomalies in the insane is
+_pathological jealousy_, especially in men. Their wives then become
+martyrs, especially in cases of alcoholism and paranoia. It is not
+uncommon for assassination to put an end to their torments. Among
+insane women, jealousy is certainly not less, but they have less legal
+power and less muscular strength. The most violent jealousy is found
+in alcoholics.
+
+Jealous delirium renders the subject furious; a word, a look, or some
+trivial circumstance are enough for him to prove the infidelity of his
+wife. The latter has to avoid the slightest thing which might arouse
+jealousy, but all in vain; reserve and even prudery are regarded by
+the jealous husband as hypocrisy. The unfortunate man watches his
+wife, night and day, like a watchdog: he threatens and insults her
+with no reason, and calumniates her in all ways, even in the presence
+of a third party. He even lays elaborate traps for her. Cases of this
+kind are legion.
+
+(5). It is necessary to say that the _sexual paraesthesias_, of which
+we have spoken, sadism, masochism, fetichism, inversion, etc., often
+occur in the insane.
+
+(6). The most atrocious sexual crimes are very often the work of
+idiots or imbeciles, but especially _moral idiots_, _i.e._, persons
+whose idiocy is limited to the moral sense, who are also called simply
+_amoral_. This is due to hereditary taint, an innate absence of all
+sentiments of sympathy, pity and duty. Rape, violation of children,
+sexual assassination, etc., are usually due to the concomitant action
+of moral idiocy and violent or perverted sexual passions.
+
+(7). _Hypochondria_ also causes singular results in the sexual sphere.
+We have already dealt with the masturbation of certain hypochondriacs,
+which is often wholly or partly imaginary. Others believe they have
+committed terrible sexual excesses, when nothing of the kind has
+occurred. I have seen a hypochondriac married and strongly built, who
+believed his health was ruined because he cohabited with his wife once
+every two or three months. Other hypochondriacs become impotent simply
+because they think they are. Others again imagine they are affected
+with venereal disease, which they have never contracted.
+
+(8). Hysterical men and women have a very peculiar sexuality. Hysteria
+depends on auto-suggestion or on an exalted and morbid dissociability
+of psychic activity. A single idea is sufficient in a hysterical
+subject, to produce the realization of what it represents. The
+passionate imagination may lead to opinions and actions which are
+absolutely contradictory. Love and hatred often alternate by
+transformation. According to the influences to which she is exposed,
+the same hysterical woman may become a good or evil genius.
+
+In the sexual domain the same extremes are produced in a very striking
+manner. Inflamed by love, a hysterical woman may exhibit phenomenal
+eroticism and the most violent sexual excesses, while indifference,
+disgust, or simply distraction by other ideas will render her
+absolutely frigid. Cold as ice toward other men, she may have
+insatiable sexual desire for the man she loves.
+
+The question is often raised whether a woman can love more than once
+in her life. There is no doubt that many women are so monogamous by
+instinct that they cannot love more than once; but it is also certain
+that a hysterical woman is capable of loving several times, and very
+different persons at different periods of her life. The personality of
+certain erotic hysterical women is even so dissociable that they can
+love with all their strength several men at the same time. But the
+hysterical woman is also capable of hating a man with as much ardor as
+she formerly loved him; or, on the contrary, of loving the one she
+formerly hated, according to the suggestion of the moment. The same
+phenomena occur in hysterical men.
+
+For the same reasons the quality of the sexual sensations and
+sentiments may vary in a hysterical subject according to the
+influences it is subjected to, and pass from the normal to the
+perverted state, or inversely. I have observed a case where a highly
+cultured hysterical subject, in her early youth, fell in love with
+another young girl. At this period her sentiments were purely
+homosexual; her love for the young girl was clearly inverted and
+accompanied by intense sexual desire, while she was absolutely
+indifferent to men. Later on, a man fell in love with her, and she
+yielded to him rather from pity and feminine passiveness than from
+love. Still later she fell passionately in love with another man,
+quite as much as she had been with the young girl of her early youth.
+Her latest love was both exalted and libidinous. Her sexual appetite
+had thus taken the normal direction under the influence of a
+hetero-sexual affection.
+
+In hysterical men analogous changes occur less easily, on account of
+the nature of masculine sexuality which distinguishes more clearly
+between the mind and the appetite; but these changes are observed
+sometimes. In woman, the hysterical imagination and dissociation
+facilitate a polyandrous irradiation of the sexual appetite, which is
+otherwise rare in the female sex. In this respect the sexuality of
+hysterical women resembles that of men and differs from that of
+normal women. Hysterical men, on the other hand, become more feminine,
+not by their appetite being less polygamous, but by the more
+dissociated form of their thoughts and sentiments.
+
+(9). A variety of the pathological love of abnormal individuals is
+_imaginary love_, not founded on delirious ideas. Certain psychopaths
+of both sexes are convinced that they love some one, but they suddenly
+perceive during their betrothal, or even only after marriage, that
+they are mistaken and that they have never loved the person in
+question. Such illusions are the cause of numerous broken engagements,
+divorce and conjugal bitterness.
+
+(10). _Amorous tyranny_ constitutes another variety in the pathology
+of love. Lovers of this kind constantly tyrannize and torment the
+object of their passion, by their desires, their observations, their
+sensitive temper, their contradictions, their exigencies and their
+jealousy. This atrocious manner of loving is common in both sexes;
+perhaps more so in women than men.
+
+(11). The _love of psychopaths_ is a subject which has no end. If
+human society was better acquainted with psychopathology a great deal
+of conjugal misunderstanding and misery would be avoided.
+
+I have known a woman who would not allow her husband to shut himself
+in the water-closet, for fear he would take the servant with him!
+Another became madly jealous if a woman sat opposite her husband and
+cast the least glance at him; the unfortunate husband not knowing
+where to look, in the street or in hotels, so as to escape his wife's
+jealousy. It is still worse when the husband is jealous.
+
+Other psychopaths torment the object of their love by the perpetual
+care they take over imaginary dangers or the slightest indispositions.
+Others again are affected with hyperaesthesia, and the least noise, the
+slightest touch, or any sudden sensation, is enough to throw them into
+excitement and make them a nuisance both to themselves and to their
+surroundings.
+
+The pathological exaltation of sentiments, which causes the most
+trifling things to appear as deliberate offenses, and malicious
+intentions, is still more to be feared. The disproportion between
+love and sexual appetite also torments many psychopaths, either when a
+deep love is combined with sexual indifference or disgust at coitus,
+or even pain (vaginismus, in women, for example); or when an intense
+sexual appetite is combined with want of love or ferocious egoism
+(especially in men).
+
+Certain psychopaths appear profoundly amorous but behave like brutes
+to the object of their love. These are the individuals who are always
+ready to strangle their sweetheart, to stab or shoot her, if she does
+not immediately yield to their desires; or else the feeble creatures
+who threaten to commit suicide if their love is not returned.
+
+Others, tormented by a pathological eroticism are continually annoying
+young and virtuous girls with their obsessions and their pathological
+grossness. I have seen a psychopath of this kind write letters and
+even post cards to a young girl, on which he had drawn pictures of the
+female genitals, by way of gallantry. In women, hatred and vengeance,
+aroused by jealousy, are especially blind and tenacious when the
+chronic passions of psychopathia intervene; this being due to the
+perseverance natural to the sex. By the aid of their refined
+intrigues; by their misrepresented statements due to the illusions of
+a memory distorted by passion, but uttered with a consummate dramatic
+art, some women may play a truly diabolical role, and even deceive a
+whole tribunal. When we get to the bottom of the matter, we often find
+that the primary cause of the evil is a sexual passion embellished and
+idealized afterwards by all kinds of noble motives, but in reality
+more or less unconsciously hypocritical. While deceiving others, these
+psychopathic women also deceive themselves. There are also a number of
+male psychopaths quite analogous to the above and generally
+hysterical.
+
+Other morbid symptoms, such as obsessions and pathological impulses,
+have a certain importance as regards sexual appetite and love. Love or
+rejection, as well as other sexual images, may become the objects of
+obsessions, and then cause the subjects much torment, but without
+harming their surroundings; for the obsessed generally remain passive.
+Pathological impulse to actions may, on the contrary, become dangerous
+and lead to violation, whether combined with perversion or not.
+
+(12). We have seen that _senile paradoxy_ often shows itself, as a
+symptom of senile dementia, by a sexual appetite for children. This is
+the initial symptom of the complaint, and may lead to the commission
+of assault. The holy indignation of the public, and often of ignorant
+judges, against these depraved old men often result in the public
+contempt or even the imprisonment of poor patients who have hitherto
+led a blameless life, and who have simply become victims of senile
+degeneration of the arteries of the brain.
+
+(13). I will mention another case which I have observed, which shows
+how complex hereditary cerebral pathology may become, and lead in turn
+to crime, madness and sexual perversion; giving rise to the most
+tragic scenes of human life, and to the degeneration of families.
+
+    A very charming and intelligent, but deceitful man, an amoral
+    person whose heredity was strongly tainted with mental disease,
+    had strong sexual instincts partly inverted. He was attracted
+    rather more by men than by women, but committed excesses with
+    both sexes. He married a virtuous and intelligent midwife. At
+    long intervals he had three attacks of acute mania, but was
+    cured after each attack and procreated two boys and a girl. When
+    he was sane he spent his time in deceitful occupations and
+    speculation and never worked honestly to earn his living. He
+    behaved well toward his wife, but this did not prevent him
+    committing pederasty with men. He was often convicted for
+    pederasty and swindling, and I treated him several times in an
+    asylum. His poor wife complained bitterly, but found consolation
+    in her husband's apparent love, but especially in the careful
+    education of her children. But when the children grew up, her
+    illusions disappeared one after another. The daughter became
+    feeble-minded, and one of the sons became a bad character. The
+    mother consoled herself with the second son who appeared honest
+    and hard-working. The father was then in an asylum, his relapses
+    having led the tribunal to institute an inquiry into his mental
+    condition. One day the mother came to me in despair and showed
+    me a letter written by the son of the father, which she had
+    opened; the contents were as follows: "Miserable father, when
+    you receive this letter I shall be no longer in this world; but
+    before dying I wish to curse you. You have been the disgrace of
+    the family. You have caused misery to our mother and her
+    children by your crimes. Why did you bring me into this world?
+    For a long time I have felt evil instincts developing in me like
+    a cursed heritage. I struggle in vain against them; but the more
+    I struggle the more I feel I must succumb. I am incapable of
+    resisting much longer; but I will not become a criminal like
+    you, so I shall hang myself to-night, and I curse you again
+    before doing it."
+
+    The unfortunate son did in fact commit suicide, and drove his
+    mother to despair. I showed the father his son's letter, but he
+    only smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
+
+The following is another example:
+
+    A man of 50, married, and the father of six children, ranging
+    from 6 to 24 years of age, violated them all, both girls and
+    boys. The whole family were abnormal and perverse. A son of 18
+    had sexual intercourse with his mother and sister. The father
+    also had intercourse with dogs and cats. The jury before whom I
+    brought the case regarded the man as mad, but he was condemned
+    to ten years' imprisonment. An asylum for dangerous and
+    perverted lunatics is urgently required for such cases.
+
+
+EFFECTS OF NARCOTICS, ESPECIALLY ALCOHOL, ON THE SEXUAL APPETITE
+
+The functional cerebral paralyses produced by narcotics closely
+resemble in their psychopathological physiognomy the organic paralyses
+which result from slow atrophy of the cerebral cortex, as in general
+paralysis--exaltation of sentiment, tremor and slowness of movement up
+to total paralysis, disorders of orientation in time and space,
+profound mental dissociation affecting the subconscious automatic
+actions.
+
+At the same time the individual loses the exact appreciation of his
+own personality and of the external world; he regards himself as very
+capable in body and mind while he is becoming more and more powerless;
+and everything appears rose-colored at the time when he is in a most
+critical state. He believes himself possessed of great muscular
+strength when paralysis makes him stagger, and so on.
+
+At the commencement of narcosis the phenomena are somewhat different
+from what they become later; a certain amount of excitement
+predominates, as well as the spirit of enterprise and exaltation of
+the appetites; while later on paralysis, relaxation and somnolence
+play the principal part.
+
+Narcosis acts in a similar way on the genetic sense. It begins by
+exciting sexual desire, but diminishes the power. As Shakespere says:
+"Lechery it provokes and unprovokes; it provokes the desire but it
+takes away the performance." (Macbeth, Act II, Scene iii.) No doubt
+the narcotics are not all equal in action, and each has its specific
+peculiarities; but the words of Shakespere express the essential
+effect of all narcotics on the sexual appetite: First of all
+excitation of the appetite with the disappearance of moral and
+intellectual inhibitory representations, and reenforcement of the
+spirit of enterprise; afterwards, progressive paralysis of sexual
+power, and finally extinction of the initial appetite itself.
+
+These phenomena are of capital importance in alcoholic narcosis, which
+plays the principal part in civilized countries. The initial
+excitation is here very accentuated. If we make a closer examination,
+however, we find from the first a relaxation of sexual activity and a
+weakening of all sensory irritations. In coitus, erections are
+produced more slowly; the voluptuous sensations, it is true, are of
+great subjective intensity, but they are developed more slowly and
+there is more difficulty in producing ejaculation. The subsequent
+relaxation is very great, and a man who is even only slightly
+intoxicated cannot perform coitus as rapidly, nor repeat it so often,
+as when he has taken no alcoholic liquor. When the narcosis increases
+the impotence becomes complete. Owing to the illusion produced by the
+narcosis, however, a drunken man generally imagines himself to be very
+capable.
+
+The gross and clumsy form which flirtation assumes under the action of
+alcohol is only too well known. The gross and persistent obscenity of
+drunken persons in railway carriages and other places toward women is
+an example of alcoholic flirtation. (_Vide_ Chapter IV.)
+
+Another peculiarity of the sexual appetite in alcoholic narcosis is
+its bestiality. The higher irradiations of love are completely
+paralyzed and sensuality becomes unrestrained, even in men who, when
+sober, are full of refined sentiments.
+
+The depraving effect of alcohol on the sexual appetite is therefore
+unlimited. Alcohol does not limit itself to giving free play to a
+bestial appetite, by paralyzing reason and sentiments of sympathy and
+duty; it also has a strong tendency to pervert the appetite itself. In
+a considerable proportion of cases of exhibitionism, inversion,
+pederosis, sodomy, etc., the development of the perversion is greatly
+favored, or even directly produced, by the action of alcohol,
+especially when there is a latent predisposition. I have observed a
+whole series of perversions in persons whose sexual appetite was
+normal when they were sober, but became perverted on the slightest
+intoxication. I am convinced that if more attention was paid to the
+subject the number of cases in which alcohol increases the perversion,
+or is even necessary for its development, would be increased.
+
+But what is of much greater importance is the fact that acute and
+chronic alcoholic intoxication deteriorates the germinal protoplasm of
+the procreators. I refer the reader to what I have said at the end of
+Chapter I on blastophthoria. The recent researches of Bezzola seem to
+prove that the old belief in the bad quality of children conceived
+during drunkenness is not without foundation. Relying on the Swiss
+census of 1900, in which there figure nine thousand idiots, and after
+careful examination of the bulletins concerning them, this author has
+proved that there are two acute annual maximum periods for the
+conception of idiots (calculated from nine months before birth): the
+periods of carnival and vintage, when the people drink most. In the
+wine-growing districts the maximum conception of idiots at the time of
+vintage is enormous, while it is almost _nil_ at other periods.
+Moreover, these two maximum periods come at the time of year when
+conception is at a minimum among the rest of the population; the
+maximum of normal conceptions occurring at the beginning of summer.
+
+If these facts are confirmed by further research, we may conclude that
+even acute alcoholism has a blastophthoric action. We may, therefore,
+assume that when a germinal cell leaves its gland at the moment when
+it is impregnated with alcohol, and achieves conjugation, it is unable
+to return to its normal condition, for want of opportunity to be
+completely and promptly cleansed by nutrition and the circulation.
+This explains how it may transmit to the individual which develops
+from it all kinds of taints and defects.
+
+After what we have said, we can tabulate the destructive effects of
+the narcotic poisons and alcohol in particular, in the sexual domain,
+both from the individual and social points of view, as follows:
+
+(1). Irreflective sexual unions, resulting from exaltation of the
+sexual appetite and temporary paralysis of the sentiments which
+inhibit such unions in persons who are not under the influence of
+alcohol. These include the seduction of girls, orgies with prostitutes
+in brothels, and the procreation of children with low-class women, or
+under unfavorable conditions.
+
+(2). Increase of venereal disease. I have made statistics which show
+that about 75 per cent. of venereal disease is contracted by men under
+the influence of alcohol, chiefly by persons who are slightly
+intoxicated and rendered enterprising thereby.
+
+(3). All kinds of misfortunes and catastrophes, such as illegitimate
+pregnancies, despair, suicide, etc., resulting from irreflective
+sexual unions and venereal disease.
+
+(4). The production of the majority of sexual crimes also resulting
+from the exasperation of eroticism combined with irreflection and
+general motor impulsiveness. Jealousy here plays a great part. The
+most important statistics (for example, those of Baer, in Germany),
+prove that from 50 to 75 per cent. of criminal assaults are committed
+under the influence of alcohol. Indecent exposure, etc., is due to
+alcohol in 75 or 80 per cent.
+
+(5). Exaltation and sometimes development of sexual perversion.
+
+(6). Creation of hereditary alcoholic blastophthoria, either as the
+result of a single drinking bout, or from habitual drunkenness. The
+offspring tainted with alcoholic blastophthoria suffer from various
+bodily and physical anomalies, among which are dwarfism, rickets, a
+predisposition to tuberculosis and epilepsy, moral idiocy and idiocy
+in general, a disposition to crime and mental diseases, sexual
+perversions, loss of suckling in women, and many other misfortunes.
+
+(7). The delirium of jealousy is a specific symptom of chronic
+alcoholism. Its effects are terrible and lead to all kinds of sorts of
+infamies, assaults and even assassination.
+
+(8). Alcohol is also the almost indispensable vehicle of prostitution
+and proxenetism, which could not be maintained without it, at any rate
+in their present disgusting and brutal form.
+
+(9). The coarseness and vulgarity of alcoholic eroticism produce in
+public places, as well as in private, an importunate and obscene form
+of flirtation, which is brutally and cynically opposed to all
+sentiments of propriety and modesty.
+
+The above statements refer chiefly to men. Among women, alcoholism is
+less common, at least in continental Europe; in England, however,
+drunken women are often seen in the streets. Among prostitutes,
+however, alcoholism is almost universal. Proxenetism makes use of
+alcohol to compromise and seduce girls and thus lead them to
+prostitution. When they have once fallen they often drink to forget
+the horror of their situation.
+
+The action of alcohol on the feminine sexual appetite is very
+peculiar. The appetite is generally exalted, while the power is not
+affected, owing to the passive role of woman in coitus. At first,
+paralysis of the psychic inhibitions and their higher irradiations
+(love, duty, modesty, etc.) by alcohol deprives the woman of nearly
+all power of resistance against the sexual desire of the man. It
+results from this that an intoxicated woman becomes the easy prey of a
+man whose sexual appetite is excited. The following case is
+instructive from this point of view:
+
+    A young girl of good position married a man of weak and vulgar
+    character. Both were rather fond of drink. When she became
+    pregnant the wife took large quantities of wine, by the doctor's
+    orders, and this led her to inebriety. The friends and
+    acquaintances of the husband found this amusing, and began to
+    flirt with her to such an extent that she fell a victim to their
+    sexual appetites, in her continual state of semi-intoxication.
+    The husband at first had not the courage to put an end to this
+    and did not wish to divorce her, for pecuniary reasons; for the
+    wife had the money. He finally decided to send her to an asylum
+    which I superintended, to cure her alcoholism.
+
+    From the antecedents of the patient, I expected to see a cynical
+    and erotic woman; but she was nothing of the kind. Although
+    hardly sober, this woman was modest and well-behaved. What
+    struck me most was her extreme of modesty, which at first made
+    it difficult for me to investigate her psychological state. Her
+    conduct was exemplary the whole time, and she eventually
+    confided to me that it was not so much sexual desire as the
+    profound indifference and feebleness developed by inebriety
+    which had caused her to give way. Before leaving the asylum she
+    joined a total abstinence society, returned to her husband and
+    succeeded in converting him also to total abstinence. She kept
+    to her pledge and lived afterwards in conjugal peace and
+    happiness, without ever relapsing into her old infidelity. I saw
+    her several years afterwards with her husband, happy and
+    flourishing.
+
+I have mentioned this case to show that, even in women, sexual excess
+does not necessarily destroy the character, the sentiments of modesty,
+nor the will. It all depends on their cause. If there is congenital
+weakness of character, the evil is irreparable; but if it is only due
+to external forces which can be eliminated in time, its effect may
+often be permanently suppressed. Some female inebriates are sexually
+cold and repulse men; but others are erotic and even nymphomaniacs.
+
+Whosoever has the welfare of humanity at heart, and takes the trouble
+to reflect on the ravages caused by alcohol in human society, should
+have the courage to make a slight effort and renounce all alcoholic
+drink--say for six months at first, as an experiment--in order to
+combat the social alcoholic misery by force of example, instead of
+empty phrases. He will then discover, like all abstainers, that the
+usage of alcohol (including wine, cider and beer) however small the
+quantity consumed, only serves to maintain a habit which is vicious
+and disastrous to society, by giving the contagious example of
+so-called moderation, to which a great number of persons cannot
+restrict themselves. He will then abstain for the rest of his days,
+and it will become more and more incomprehensible to him how humanity
+has been led, first by the spirit of imitation, later by the
+conservation of prejudices, to develop, maintain and defend such a
+social abuse by the aid of a legion of sophisms.
+
+
+SEXUAL ANOMALIES AND PERVERSIONS BY SUGGESTION AND AUTO-SUGGESTION
+
+The role of the phenomena of suggestion in sexual life is much greater
+than is generally supposed. I shall return to this subject in a
+special chapter, but I may state here that there is a category of
+sexual perversions and anomalies of all kinds which are not hereditary
+but acquired, and which Krafft-Ebing, although he cites striking
+examples, wrongly attributes to the effect of sexual excess and
+depravity, or which he compares to ordinary psychopathia, while in
+reality they are only the direct effect of strong suggestion or
+auto-suggestion.
+
+I place in this category the cases where a man, whose sexuality has
+hitherto been normal, suddenly becomes pathological as the result of
+some circumstance which produces on him a profound impression. For
+instance, the sexual appetite of an individual may be strongly
+excited, in a brothel or elsewhere, by an erotic woman whose feet or
+shoes are especially elegant. The sight of this well-fitted foot
+exalts his sexual desire to a high degree. From this moment feminine
+shoes, by subjective association, exercise on him an irresistible
+erotic power, which dominates everything else and transforms him into
+a fetichist; the female body no longer elicits his appetite, the
+latter having become the slave of the image of shoes only. (Shoe
+fetichism.)
+
+Sexual inversion may also be acquired by suggestion, when a normal man
+becomes excited by acts of masturbation or pederasty, or simply by
+some psychic image with a strongly suggestive action. He may thus lose
+his normal sexual appetite for women and become homosexual.
+
+These phenomena occur especially in individuals whose suggestibility
+is pathological or hysterical, or even simply exaggerated. But these
+individuals are numerous, and this fact gives us the explanation of a
+large proportion of acquired sexual anomalies, at the same time
+indicating the means of curing them. In such cases, it is not a
+question of moral depravity, nor necessarily of a latent hereditary
+predisposition, but simply of a single sudden suggestive action,
+sometimes repeated.
+
+Among other cases, I may mention that of a well-educated man of very
+refined sentiments, deeply in love with his wife, but very
+suggestible, who became suddenly impotent and homosexual as the result
+of a simple idea-image which became fixed in his mind and subjected it
+by suggestion. His strong character enabled him to resist intercourse
+with males, but he fell into despair and became very unhappy. I am
+convinced that a careful study would reveal an increasing number of
+cases of psychopathia acquired by suggestion or auto-suggestion.
+
+Cases of this kind may be spontaneously cured. Treatment by suggestion
+is indicated and may act directly or indirectly. Everything which is
+of a functional psychic nature may occur by suggestion, or be, on the
+contrary, eradicated by suggestion. The important point is to
+emphasize the fact that whenever a man, hitherto normal, is affected,
+without apparent cause, with a more or less sudden sexual anomaly, and
+which is consequently not the effect of long habit, suggestion or
+auto-suggestion should be borne in mind.
+
+These two conceptions can, moreover, be hardly distinguished, for the
+things which cause suggestion are usually the sensory perceptions of
+sight, smell, touch and hearing, associated with certain situations,
+or with an intense affective state which fixes them in the brain.
+Sometimes it is a question of simple imaginative ideas. The cases
+where a hypnotizer intentionally suggests sexual perversion probably
+exist only in theory. We are, therefore, concerned with fortuitous
+suggestions, acting through persons, situations, objects or ideas,
+which excite the mind by the impression they produce on the sentiments
+and the sexual appetite.
+
+
+SEXUAL PERVERSIONS DUE TO HABIT
+
+Without being congenital and without depending on a special
+predisposition, all the perversions of the sexual appetite that we
+have just described may be acquired, by means of the artificial and
+continued excitation of a sexual appetite which seeks satisfaction in
+change and unusual situations: Moreover, perverse satisfaction of the
+sexual appetite is often resorted to--onanism, pederasty or oral
+coitus--either to avoid conception, or with the idea of escaping
+venereal disease, or in the case of onanism, to avoid publicity,
+trouble or expense. As we have seen above alcohol favors the
+development of sexual perversions.
+
+It is evident that a commerce in women systematically tolerated by the
+state, as is the proxenetism of regulated prostitution, employs all
+means imaginable to attract and excite its clients. In this way
+prostitution becomes the high-school for all the refinements of sexual
+perversion. It not only offers special objects required by individuals
+tainted by heredity with various perversions, but it artificially
+develops perverse habits in the normal man. The manipulations of
+sadism or masochism are even utilized to revive a sexual appetite
+weakened by abuse. Individuals who have become impotent often try to
+excite themselves by observing the coitus of others. In fact a leaven
+of corruption and ignominy ferments on the dunghill of venal and
+artificial excitation of the sexual appetite.
+
+The apostles of Mammon and Bacchus, the former by interest, the latter
+by the aid of a narcosis which paralyzes the higher sentiments and
+reflection, work in concert to maintain this foul swamp. The same
+individuals very commonly combine the two apostleships and become
+themselves the victims of their false gods, after sacrificing hundreds
+of their fellows.
+
+To make matters more clear I will recapitulate as follows:
+
+(1). _We often meet with pederasty without a trace of inversion of the
+sexual appetite. It is also practiced on women by the psychopathic
+male. But the normal man hardly ever prefers it to normal coitus._
+
+(2). _Compensatory masturbation is very common and ceases with the
+opportunity for normal coitus._
+
+(3). _Sodomy is also often compensatory._
+
+(4). _It is the same with assaults on children, which seldom depend on
+a hereditary disposition._
+
+(5). _Lesbian love, a form of degeneracy, artificial excitation of the
+clitoris by the tongue or otherwise, may have quite a different origin
+than from sexual inversion or other perversions._
+
+All these things take place chiefly in brothels or with prostitutes,
+in barracks, boarding-schools, convents, and other isolated places
+where men and women live alone and separated from the other sex.
+
+Sadism, masochism, fetichism and exhibitionism are much more rarely
+the result of habits, because their object and the images with which
+they are associated do not offer compensation for the normal
+excitation of the sexual appetite, or only do so insufficiently.
+
+I am here obliged to contradict Krafft-Ebing, who regards
+exhibitionism as the effect of the impotence of certain individuals
+depraved by excesses, or as the unconscious act of certain epileptics.
+No doubt the two conditions which he mentions may present themselves,
+but the exhibitionists I have observed have all been psychopaths whose
+perversion was primordial and hereditary, with the exception of some
+females in whom perversion originated in suggestion or alcoholism,
+which had at any rate aroused the disposition.
+
+Lesbian love merits special mention. Owing to the clitoris being more
+or less concealed, women are often not satisfied by coitus, especially
+when the ejaculation of the male takes place too quickly. Consequently
+a number of normal women prefer to procure an orgasm by means of
+lesbian love (_cunnilingus_.) There are clubs of female perverts, many
+of whom are not homosexual by heredity.
+
+Although they differ from hereditary perversions, acquired perversions
+are connected with the former by a series of latent hereditary
+dispositions, more or less marked, and often difficult to distinguish
+in particular cases, especially when suggestion is blended with them.
+
+Among the entirely hereditary and congenital sexual perversions, many
+occur in individuals who are well conducted and often possessed of
+delicate and altruistic sentiments. This point is not sufficiently
+recognized. Such persons are nearly always more or less neurotic in
+other respects. They are disheartened by their perversion and are so
+much ashamed of it that they often prefer to carry their secret to the
+grave rather than confide it to their doctor.
+
+Others sometimes confess to a doctor, and the life of a martyr, who
+is always contemplating suicide, is revealed to him. Individuals of
+feeble, cynical, egoistic or abnormal natures, whose number is legion
+in the corrupt centers of modern civilization, yield to their
+perversion and often come before the tribunals, or else become objects
+of public contempt. As it is this class which generally become known,
+it is assumed by too hasty generalization that sexual perverts are
+necessarily cynical, vicious or weak-minded individuals; but this
+induction is false. It is unfortunately impossible to estimate the
+number of sexual perversions dissimulated by a large number of
+pessimists of both sexes, generally celibate and usually males.
+
+I do not pretend that, when sexual perversion is neither hereditary
+nor favored by a latent hereditary predisposition, nor developed or
+fixed by alcoholism, it is usually possible to cure it by suggestion.
+This often acts even in cases where alcohol has aroused a hereditary
+taint. The incorrigible recidivists among the sexual perverts are, I
+am convinced, either hereditary or strongly predisposed, or
+degenerated by alcoholism. The original will power of the pervert is
+also of great importance. Weak-willed perverts always tend to relapse.
+
+The social sanitation of sexual intercourse would certainly reduce to
+a minimum the compensatory perversions of normal persons who abstain
+from alcohol. The prohibition of alcoholic drink would definitely
+eliminate not only the perversions directly due to alcohol, but
+gradually also those due to alcoholic blastophthoria in the
+descendants. Other hereditary perversions, not of alcoholic origin,
+can only be definitely eliminated by healthy selection.
+
+Perversions acquired by suggestion or auto-suggestion should be
+combated by suppression of the depraved examples which cause them, as
+well as by treatment by suggestion. It is needless to say that sexual
+perverts should always abstain from alcoholic drinks.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[4] English translation by F.J. Rebman: Rebman Co., New York.
+
+[5] For further information on this subject see _Marshall's_
+"Syphilology and Venereal Disease," (London, Balliere, Tindall & Co.);
+also _Marshall's_ translation of _Fournier's_ "Treatment and
+Prophylaxis of Syphilis," (New York: Rebman Co.)
+
+[6] _Krafft-Ebing_ describes bestiality (connection with animals) and
+pederasty under the general term of sodomy, but points out that the
+original meaning of sodomy used in Genesis (Chapter XIX) signified
+pederasty, _i.e._, anal coitus between men.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+SUGGESTION IN SEXUAL LIFE--AMOROUS INTOXICATION
+
+
+=Suggestion. Cerebral Activity. Consciousness. Subconsciousness and
+Amnesia. Auto-suggestion.=--The explanation of the phenomena of
+hypnotism and suggestion by Liebeault and Bernheim has been a
+veritable scientific revelation for human psychology. Unfortunately it
+has remained to a great extent unknown to the public and the majority
+of medical men and jurists. Even at the present day, this subject is
+regarded either in the light of magic and occult phenomena, or as
+being connected with imposture and charlatanism. This results from the
+incapacity of most men to think in a psychological and philosophical
+manner, to observe for themselves and to take into account the
+connection which exists between the mind and cerebral activity.
+
+I must point out the common error of many physicians, who do not
+understand the psychological nature of hypnotism, and who place it,
+like Dubois, in antinomy with psychotherapy. Hypnotism and suggestion
+in the waking state are one and the same thing; but what the
+physicians I have mentioned understand by suggestion in the waking
+state--psychotherapy, action by will power, etc.--is only a chaos of
+misapplied terms and psychological phenomena, only half understood by
+them. Sleep by suggestion is only one of the phenomena of suggestion.
+
+I must refer the reader to Bernheim's book on "_La Suggestion et ses
+Applications a la Therapeutique_," and to my book on hypnotism ("_Der
+Hypnotismus und die Suggestive Psychotherapie._" Stuttgart, 1902), for
+I cannot enter into the details here. I will, however, attempt to make
+clear the action of suggestion in order to explain its connection with
+the sexual sensations and sentiments.
+
+Suggestion consists in the action of ideas or representations on the
+activity of the brain in general, and on some of its activities in
+particular. The terms _idea-force_ and _ideoplasty_ have been
+employed; but all ideas are at the same time forces and are more or
+less ideoplastic according to the nature and intensity of the cerebral
+activity which corresponds to them. Every representation which appears
+in our consciousness is at the same time a cerebral activity. I will
+explain by the aid of an example the relation which exists between the
+play of our _conscious_ ideas and what is incorrectly called our
+_unconscious_ cerebral activity.
+
+For reasons which are too long to explain here, I call _subconscious_
+all which is usually called unconscious, because I maintain that there
+is probably nothing unconscious in our nervous activity, and that what
+appears to be so is in reality accompanied by an introspection,
+subordinated like its corresponding activity to the great and clear
+introspection of the higher brain, which accompanies the concentrated
+and mobile activity of what we call our attention in the waking state.
+No doubt, we do not as a rule perceive our subconscious activities,
+for want of sufficient intensity in their association with the series
+of aperceptions (states subsequent to attentional activity). But we
+possess a number of observations, due especially to hypnotism, which
+allow us to infer by analogy the existence of subordinated
+introspections corresponding to the cerebral activities which appear
+to us unconscious.
+
+For example, I think of my wife. This idea immediately calls to mind
+that of a journey that I intend to take with her, and in its turn the
+idea of the journey recalls that of the trunk I shall use to pack my
+effects. Almost as rapidly as lightning, the three ideas: (1) my wife;
+(2) the journey; (3) the trunk, apparently succeed each other in my
+consciousness. But, according to the old scholasticism, the idea of
+the journey is awakened by that of my wife, and that of my trunk by
+that of the journey, which would, therefore, be its "cause." But a
+little observation soon shows that the succession of our conscious
+ideas is not so easily explained, for at every moment representations
+appear which have no logical relation to those which precede them,
+and cannot be caused by them, nor by immediate sensory perceptions
+coming from without.
+
+At a time when the activity of the brain was not understood, the
+existence of an essential mind and a free will were assumed,
+independent of the law of the conservation of energy and of the law of
+causality, independent therefore of the brain, the activity of which
+they commanded more or less at their pleasure. This conception is
+based on ignorance of the facts.
+
+Let us return to our example: why does the idea of my wife call to
+mind that of the journey? It might quite as well suggest others. In
+reality, a number of ideas, or subconscious cerebral activities, act
+at the same time as that of my wife to give rise to the idea of the
+journey. This journey had already been decided on before thinking of
+it at the moment in question, and the resolution that I had taken to
+make it had left in my brain latent impressions (engrams) which
+slumbered there; such as those of the date of departure, the duration
+of the journey, its termination, precautions to be taken for the house
+during our absence, things to take with us, expenses, etc., etc.
+During the infinitely short time when the idea of journey appears in
+my consciousness, between that of my wife and that of my trunk, I have
+no consciousness of all these things. They are, however, closely
+associated with the idea of journey, and in connection with it by the
+thousand threads of a subconscious and latent cerebral force which
+takes place in my cerebral nerve-elements (neurones); and it is their
+hidden action which awakens the idea of journey and directs my
+attention to it, at the same time weakening by their divers
+interferences the intensity of other associated engrams; in particular
+that of the sentiment of traveling, and thereby preventing a series of
+ideo-motor sensations relating to departure from becoming predominant.
+
+What suddenly appears in my consciousness is the verbal representation
+symbolized by the word _journey_; a general representation of
+synthetic nature, and consequently nebulous. It is the words of
+language only which allow me to synthetize a general idea in a short
+and definite form. Thus, the cerebral flash _journey_ which follows
+the idea of my wife is not caused by the latter idea alone; it has
+been mainly drawn from its obscurity and brought before the mobile
+conscious attention, by the action of the thousand subconscious
+threads, some of which we have just mentioned, and which have at the
+same time determined its quality.
+
+Without my being aware of it, these dynamic threads, or latent
+engrams, have to a great extent determined the kind of idea which will
+follow that of _journey_, and which will seem to me to be caused by
+this last alone, namely the idea of _trunk_. The idea of journey might
+equally well have awakened other images, such as those of the
+acquaintances whom I should meet, or of the town I intended to visit.
+Why that of the trunk? This is simply because the care of the effects
+to be taken, the place they should occupy, etc., revolved
+unconsciously but strongly in my brain, and for the moment
+predominated over other subconscious associations.
+
+This simple example shows us that in reality the three successive
+ideas, _wife_, _journey_, _trunk_, are more under the influence of
+sentiments, representations and former volitions in a latent and
+subconscious state, than dependent on each other. But these latter
+activities are themselves the product of other antecedent activities
+of my brain, extraordinarily diverse and complex. I will attempt to
+make things a little more complete and comprehensible by the aid of a
+comparison.
+
+A man finds himself in the middle of a compact and moving crowd. He
+cries out to attract the attention of the crowd. His voice is heard by
+those immediately around him, but is lost on the moving mass. Against
+his will he is carried away by the crowd in the direction of the
+strongest movement. But if the crowd is immobile and tranquil the same
+man may make himself heard, and may even force his way through the
+crowd and impel it in his turn by the impression that his words have
+made on it.
+
+Something analogous to this occurs in the action of an idea according
+as it is produced in a brain which is awake, active and strongly
+associated, or on the contrary in a brain which rests and sleeps. The
+brain which is active and strongly associated resembles the agitated
+crowd which carries away everything by its activity. In this case a
+single idea, like a single man, cries out in vain, _i.e._, is produced
+strongly; it will not impel, but will be carried away or stifled,
+unless it already possesses, by the former remembrances (engrams)
+which it may revive, a particular power over the brain. It is the same
+with the agitated crowd; if the man who cries out is already known and
+has influence and power, he may arrest it and even bring it toward the
+center of his agitation. The brain which is at rest or sleeping,
+_i.e._, feebly associated and not active, resembles the immobile
+crowd. Even when it is new and has not yet become fixed in the memory,
+an idea may produce a deep impression, and awaken activities in its
+own direction. I repeat, if this idea has already acted more or less
+powerfully on the cerebral activity that it has often carried with it,
+it has accustomed this to follow it (_i.e._, fortified the engrams and
+facilitated their ecphoria), and then the powerful associated engrams
+which it has left in the organ of thought, will often be capable of
+carrying everything with them, even to the center of the agitation.
+
+In this way I succeeded in suddenly calming by hypnotism a woman who
+was mad with despair over the tragic death of half her family in a
+fire, by the simple fact that I had often hypnotized her previously.
+Immediately after the hypnosis she went away quietly to the place of
+the disaster and was the only one to keep her presence of mind and put
+things in order.
+
+I refer the reader to what has been said concerning the mneme (Chapter
+I). Semon's theory throws light on these questions.
+
+The first thing necessary for suggestion or hypnotism is to put the
+brain of the subject in a state of relative repose, so as to prepare a
+soil ready to receive suggestions. These are then made so as to always
+increase the cerebral repose, in order to weaken the action of the
+threads of subconscious association of which we have spoken above.
+Lastly, the suggestion (or idea which symbolizes the effect it is
+desired to obtain) is accentuated as much as possible, and in a form
+which at once excludes all contradiction. For this purpose everything
+should be utilized--sentiments and associations which are easily
+introduced, agreeable or repulsive sensations, volitions, etc. Nothing
+paralyzes a suggestive effect so much as emotions, violent sentiments
+in general, inclinations, or repulsions which act in the opposite
+direction, whether they arise from fear, despair, hatred, sadness,
+joy, love or any kind of affective conditions. The same brain,
+accessible to all kinds of suggestions, will repress some of them as
+soon as it feels a deep sympathy for their contrary. We may suggest in
+vain to an amorous woman, the hatred or disgust of her lover, for the
+sentiment of love is stronger than the effect of a strange suggestion,
+and every suggestion which opposes the strongest aspirations of
+sentiment provokes mistrust and repulsion, which in their turn destroy
+all suggestive power.
+
+As we have indicated in our comparison, every suggestion which has
+succeeded leaves a strong trace, or engram, in the brain. It has
+opened a way by breaking down a barrier or a chasm, and its effect,
+which appeared hitherto difficult or impossible to realize, will
+henceforth be much more easy to obtain. This is why considerable
+cerebral repose is often necessary at first to open a way for a
+suggestion, while later on its effect can often be obtained even
+during the agitation of cerebral activity strongly associated with or
+even led by violent momentary sentiments.
+
+The chief characteristic of suggestive action, is that it traverses
+the paths of subconscious activity, so that its effect occurs
+unexpectedly in our consciousness.
+
+For example, I suggest to a man that his forehead itches. As soon as
+he feels it he is surprised, being unable to understand how my
+prophecy has been transformed into real itching. He then believes in
+my power over his nervous system, _i.e._, that his brain becomes more
+receptive to my words, and offers less resistance after having proved
+the value of my predictions. It matters little whether these are
+directed toward sensations or movements, or vaso-motor actions causing
+blushing and blanching, or suppression or bringing on of menstruation
+(in the case of a woman), etc. My influence over him by suggestion
+will increase; _i.e._, his brain will accustom itself to the
+suggestions which I give it by letting them dissociate its activity.
+This tendency to be influenced by suggestion is very contagious by
+example. When A influences B successfully, and C, D, E, F and G are
+witnesses of the fact, they will be much more easily influenced by A
+in the same direction; and so on. This explains suggestion affecting
+the masses.
+
+It is quite indifferent whether the subjective sentiment of sleep
+occurs more or less in the state of hypnosis or suggestion. This
+sentiment depends chiefly on the presence or absence of a variable
+degree of amnesia (want of memory to awaken). But amnesia only depends
+on the rupture, often fortuitous and unimportant, of the chain of
+remembrances in the series of super-conscious or attentional states of
+cerebral activity.
+
+In somnambulists, who are the most suggestible people, we can produce
+or suppress amnesia at will by a single word, and make them forget or
+remember what has passed. I must dwell on this point, because of the
+current dogma which assumes an essential difference between hypnotism
+and suggestion in the waking state. Such an assumption is based on
+false conception of the psychology of suggestion. The only difference
+consists in the suggestion of amnesia, or the subjective sentiment of
+sleep; or, if one prefers it, the subjective remembrance of sleep
+opposed to the remembrance of having been awakened. But these two
+remembrances may be voluntarily connected with the same past state of
+the brain.
+
+By _auto-suggestion_ is meant the suggestive action of spontaneous
+ideas--that is to say, ideas which are not suggested to the subject by
+any other person, but the effect of which is identical to that of
+external suggestions. An idea, a sentiment, dominates the mind,
+overcomes all its antagonists and produces a strong suggestive effect
+on the whole nervous system in the direction which it symbolizes. The
+idea of being unable to sleep often produces insomnia; the idea of
+sexual impotence may at once inhibit erection and render coitus
+impossible. The idea of yawning makes one yawn; that of coitus
+provokes erections; the idea of shame causes blushing; that of fear
+blanching; that of pity weeping.
+
+But it often happens unconsciously, in yawning for example, that one
+man suggests it to another who begins to yawn; or the sight of certain
+objects, the hearing of certain sounds, provokes suggestions. Thus the
+sight of an object belonging to a certain woman may cause an erection;
+the odor of some article of diet which has caused indigestion is
+sufficient to cause nausea, etc. We thus see that there is a series of
+transitions between external intentional suggestion and
+auto-suggestion, in the form of suggestion of objects and unconscious
+or involuntary suggestion of persons. The conception of true or
+intentional suggestion infers the determined will of one man
+influencing another by suggestion; there is no other criterion.
+
+It is quite another question whether the one who suggests wishes to
+benefit his subject, or wishes on the contrary to abuse him or make
+him ridiculous.
+
+=Sympathy. Love and Suggestion.=--It is of great importance for us to
+know that sympathy and confidence are the fundamental elements of
+success in suggestive action. Even when deceived by the one who
+hypnotizes him, the subject may yield to him while he is not aware of
+it. But there is here a point to be noted. A man may very well see
+clearly with his reason and his logic, he may understand that harm is
+done to him, he may even curse a thing or a person when he reflects,
+and in spite of this be instinctively and subconsciously attracted
+toward this thing or this person, like a moth to a candle, when
+certain sentiments of sympathy or attraction urge him to it. The two
+following examples will make this more clear:
+
+    (1). An actor fell in love with a hysterical married woman. This
+    woman was very polyandrous, and deceived not only her husband
+    but the actor and many others. The actor tried with all the
+    power of his reason to be delivered from the tyrannical charm of
+    this siren; but the power of attraction of the woman was so
+    strong that he could not succeed in resisting her. He came to me
+    in despair and begged me to rid him of his passion by hypnotism.
+    I realized the difficulty of the situation but did my best to
+    help him. Although aided by his reason, all my suggestions were
+    overcome by the violence of the passion that his hysterical
+    seducer had inspired in him, and I obtained absolutely no
+    result.
+
+    (2). A well-educated, unmarried woman became so enamored of a
+    young man, that she was consumed with passion, grew thin, and
+    lost her appetite and sleep. Having exchanged ideas with the
+    young man for some time, she became convinced that their two
+    characters were not suited to each other, and that
+    incompatibility of temper and quarrels would necessarily follow
+    marriage. She therefore resisted with all her power and came to
+    me to be cured of her passion by suggestion. My failure in the
+    preceding case increased my skepticism, but I did my best to
+    succeed; the result, however, was no better than with the actor
+    in the preceding case. Time and separation alone gradually
+    restored equilibrium in this lady's nervous system.
+
+These two cases are very instructive. Suggestion can only successfully
+combat powerful sentiments by arousing other sentiments of sympathy
+which increase little by little and finally become substituted for the
+preceding ones. This brings us to a very difficult question.
+
+In order to influence other persons by suggestion, it is above all
+things necessary to try and associate the ideas which we suggest to
+them with sentiments of sympathy, so as to arouse in them the
+impression that the object to be attained is desirable and agreeable,
+or at any rate that it constitutes a necessity. The woman who
+surrenders to the mercy of her conqueror often experiences a kind of
+pleasure which is associated with the passiveness of her sexual
+sentiments. It is the same in the male masochist.
+
+The physician who hypnotizes is obliged to awaken sentiments of
+sympathy in his subject to combat with their assistance the sentiments
+associated with the morbid state which it is desired to suppress. This
+is usually free from danger when there is no natural sexual attraction
+between the hypnotizer and the hypnotized; when, for example, a normal
+man hypnotizes another man, a normal woman another woman, or an invert
+another invert. Otherwise there is a risk of exciting sexual
+sympathies difficult to eliminate afterwards, when necessary
+precautions have not been taken at first. These attractive sexual
+sensations or sentiments may affect both the hypnotizer and the
+hypnotized and provoke love scenes, which are fatal to success.
+
+For example, a hysterical baroness, whose sexual desire had been
+excited by hypnotism, fell in love with a person named Czinsky, whose
+case was studied and published by Schrenck-Notzing. This baroness
+experienced a kind of suggested love against which her reason resisted
+to a certain extent, while her hypnotizer, himself amorous, lost his
+head. One might say in such a case that suggestion only reenforced the
+very human sentiments which occur in all love stories of everyday
+life. Between normal love and suggested love there is such an infinite
+number of gradations that it is impossible to fix exactly the limits
+which separate them.
+
+A hypnotizer may abuse his suggestive power to exploit the love of the
+hypnotized. I have been consulted in a case where an old woman had
+hypnotized a rich young man and had so powerfully influenced him that
+he abandoned his family and married her. As in the case of Czinsky,
+the abuse was obvious. The case was even more grave, for this old
+woman acted only from mercenary motives; in fact, she procured young
+girls for her husband, so as not to lose her suggestive influence
+after marriage: Czinsky, on the contrary, was truly amorous.
+
+As a general rule we may say that, when amorous intoxication is the
+result of intentional suggestion, the subject obeys a certain
+sentiment of constraint, which he may describe later on when he has
+succeeded in recovering himself. He feels a kind of duplication of his
+personality, and perceives that the excitation of his sexual desire,
+as well as his love, have a somewhat forced nature, against which his
+reason attempts to defend him. This reaction often only appears
+afterwards, when the sympathetic action of suggestion begins to fade.
+
+Here again the gradations are infinite, and no absolute rules can be
+formulated, for if the hypnotizer is very skillful and does not let
+his intentions appear, the subjective sentiment of constraint may be
+absolutely wanting; _i.e._, never become conscious. If, however, the
+hypnotizer is clumsy and the subject a hysterical woman, love is often
+transformed into hatred in the latter soon afterwards, as is so often
+the case in these subjects, and she may afterwards be convinced by
+auto-suggestion that she was the object of artificial constraint or
+even violence, and describe imaginary or unnatural events as if they
+were real; while she was simply amorous after the fashion of
+hysterical subjects.
+
+It is quite otherwise with cases where a hypnotizer produces in a
+hypnotized woman a state of deep somnambulism and does harm to her
+without her knowledge. Here the victim is absolutely without will, and
+incapable of resisting. These last cases are much more easy to decide,
+especially from the legal point of view; but, as far as we are now
+concerned, the first cases are the most important.
+
+The amorous irradiations produced by the sexual appetite react on the
+latter and increase it. They awaken sentiments of reciprocal sympathy,
+from which results a mutual attraction similar to that of animals.
+Suggestive action depends on the mastery we obtain over the associated
+constellations of subconscious engrams, and we have already become
+acquainted with the phylogenetic and actual relationship which exists
+between sexual sensations and sensations of sympathy. The simple
+juxtaposition of these facts clearly shows that powerful affinities
+exist between suggestion and love. I use the word "affinity"
+advisedly, for we must not go further and regard the two things as
+identical. Fortunately, the majority of curable patients may be cured
+by the prudent awakening of a slight degree of sympathy, and by the
+common efforts made by the hypnotizer and the hypnotized to subdue the
+morbid symptoms, without anything but a certain sentiment of
+reciprocal friendship resulting. On the other hand two human beings
+may be united by sexual love, without either being able to hypnotize
+the other. This is especially the case when, for example, two
+conjoints have known each other for many years, or when two persons of
+higher intelligence, who are not too dependent on their sexual
+intercourse, meet each other.
+
+I am obliged to dwell on these facts, so that my ideas may not be
+falsely interpreted, by premature generalization. On the other hand,
+when a strongly associated brain suggests to a weak brain of the
+opposite sex sentiments of sympathy and makes use of them to arouse
+the sexual appetite, it may produce a suggested love which closely
+resembles natural amorous intoxication. If the discovery of an
+imposture or abuse of power on the part of the hypnotizer weakens or
+destroys the effect of suggestion, the hypnotized subject recovers
+herself. Despite and repentance may then transform her love into
+hatred.
+
+In other cases there is a struggle between sexual desire and the
+disillusion of a deceived love, which often serves as the tragic
+motive in romance and the drama. The following is a typical case of
+suggested love without formal hypnotic proceedings:
+
+    An old _roue_ aged sixty, married and the father of a family,
+    persecuted a very suggestible young girl with his attentions,
+    and systematically seduced her by means of erotic readings. He
+    produced such an impression on this young girl that she became
+    hypnotized and fell in love with the old _roue_ She lost all
+    conscience, became deceitful and untruthful by suggestion, and
+    compromised herself and her family. Her seducer was poor, so
+    that it was not his fortune that attracted her. She knew very
+    well that this union could lead to nothing, but could not
+    resist, and eloped with him. Later on she came to her senses and
+    left him.
+
+According to an old proverb, young girls laugh at old men and only
+marry them reluctantly or for their money; but in reality this is by
+no means always true.
+
+=Amorous Intoxication.=--Let us now compare these phenomena with those
+of ordinary life called _amorous intoxication_. The affinities are at
+once apparent. A man and a woman meet and take a fancy for each other.
+The reciprocal action of looks, speech and touch, in fact all the
+apparatus of the senses and the mind, awakens in both of them
+sentiments of sympathy and sexual desire which mutually strengthens
+each other. Sexual desire invests every action and appearance of the
+loved object with an ever-increasing halo of charm and splendor, and
+this halo of sexual origin increases in its turn the sentiments of
+sympathy; and the sentiments of sympathy increase the sexual desire.
+In this way mutual suggestions grow like a snowball, and rapidly
+attain the culminating point of amorous intoxication, or what is
+called being _madly in love_.
+
+All this depends only on reciprocal illusion. The more violent and
+foolish the amorous intoxication, without preparation or reflexion,
+and the less the individuals know each other, the more rapidly these
+illusions collapse, like a castle of cards, as soon as some douche of
+cold water sobers the two lovers. Thus indifference, disgust, and even
+hatred, follow "love."
+
+The suggestive element in love is here apparent. Just as a hypnotized
+person will eagerly swallow a raw potato which he takes for an orange;
+so will a person madly in love regard an ugly or wicked girl as a
+goddess, or an amorous girl find her ideal of chivalry and manliness
+in an egoistic Don Juan.
+
+The affinity is still more evident when the amorous intoxication is
+only on one side, while the other plays the part of seducer. When
+motives of pecuniary interest are not the only cause of seduction, and
+even often when they are, the seducer generally brings into play his
+sexual appetite, but only as a collaborator in his work of seduction
+without allowing himself to be dominated by it. In this case one is
+the seducer and the other the seduced. The seducer plays the part of
+the hypnotizer who suggests, while the seduced plays the part of the
+hypnotized, unless the seduction is due to fear, weakness of mind or
+good nature. The seducer is no doubt more or less under erotic
+influence, but never completely. The seduced, on the contrary, falls
+completely under the power of the seducer. The thoughts, sentiments
+and will are all directed by the impulses of the seducer. The latter
+acquires his ascendancy by means of a kind of suggestive power, often
+assisted by the sexual appetite.
+
+In many cases the seduced gives way by pure suggestion of love without
+sexual desire. These are precisely the cases that the law does not
+foresee, and jurists cannot usually understand. In ordinary life, the
+man most often plays the part of seducer or hypnotizer; but this is
+not always the case. Antony, who threw himself at the feet of
+Cleopatra and obeyed her least gesture, was evidently hypnotized.
+Antonys are not rare even at the present day; but they do not
+constitute the rule, nor the normal state.
+
+As we have just described it, suggestion plays a great role in love,
+and explains to a great extent the phenomena of illusion produced by
+amorous intoxication. In spite of the act which deifies it and the
+ecstatic happiness that accompanies it, we must admit that amorous
+intoxication, with its illusory suggestions uncontrolled by reason,
+brings more poison than true happiness into human life. I will attempt
+to explain the matter more clearly. When two human beings with loyal
+instincts have learned to know each other sufficiently, honestly
+avowing their reciprocal feelings and their past life, at the same
+time subduing their sensual appetites and judging the latter with
+calmness, so as to be convinced that they may reasonably hope to form
+a durable and happy union, then only may they abandon themselves to
+amorous intoxication, but not before. The fact that the latter makes
+each lover appear to the other in the most ideal light only serves to
+strengthen the feelings of sympathy and make them last for life.
+
+On the other hand, two egoists calculating coldly, even if they have
+strong sexual appetites and trouble themselves very little with
+reflections on their intellect, may contract a comparatively happy
+marriage, based simply on reciprocal convenience and interest; a
+marriage in which amorous intoxication only plays a very small part,
+or none at all.
+
+The latter case is of great frequency. The novel which delights in the
+description of admirable or ignoble sentiments, and which shows a
+special preference for bizarre and sensational situations, often of a
+pathological nature, makes us forget that the majority of mediocre and
+normal men are little susceptible to the suggestions of amorous
+intoxication, and that they give vent to their sexual desires in a
+more or less reflective and calculating frame of mind, like a
+_gourmand_. This is not poetical, I admit, but it is much more human.
+Many women also become _gourmands_ in sexual matters.
+
+In all this sexual commerce there are only vestiges or caricatures of
+the poetry of amorous intoxication. It is no longer a question of deep
+love, but of essentially commonplace sexual enjoyment, wisely and
+prudently adapted to other objects of concupiscence, such as money,
+social position, titles, business, etc.
+
+If the poets and the preachers of morality apostrophize me with
+indignation saying that this is the prostitution of love, I shall be
+obliged to protest. So long as sexual enjoyment is not bought, there
+is no prostitution. Man has as much right to a certain agreeable
+satisfaction of his sexual appetite, even without exalted sentiments,
+as he has to satisfy his hunger and thirst, as long as he does no harm
+to anyone. But, I repeat, this question has nothing to do with amorous
+intoxication. The latter is a powerful shock to the whole mind, to the
+principal spheres of cerebral activity, by a suggestive effect,
+usually with the aid of the sexual appetite, but sometimes without
+it.
+
+Amorous intoxication naturally differs in quality and in intensity in
+different individuals. In a person with ideal tendencies it may awaken
+the finest harmonies of the symphony of human sentiments, while brutal
+and debased persons may wallow in the mud.
+
+=Suggestion in Art.=--Suggestion does not act only in the sexual
+sphere, but on the whole mental life. In aesthetics and in art it has
+an immense and irresistible influence, which gives rise to all the
+capricious exaltations of fashion. The average artist is more or less
+the slave of the aesthetic suggestions which are in fashion, but the
+average members of the public are absolutely dominated by them.
+Originating in a correct idea of certain effects of light, the most
+absurd exaggerations may become accepted as beautiful and natural by
+an imitative public devoid of personal judgment, by the aid of
+suggestion. These deplorable effects of suggestion may last a long
+time till their nullity or their absurdity causes them gradually to
+disappear. But they are usually replaced by other absurdities.
+
+=Suggestive Action in Sexual Anomalies.=--In very suggestible persons
+the sexual appetite may be easily led astray by sensory impressions
+created by perverse images. In this way the erotic imagination of a
+very suggestible boy, excited indirectly by another boy, may even make
+the latter the object of his sexual desire. This is how homosexual
+inclinations may be formed by suggestion and maintained by mutual
+masturbation, pederasty, etc. The duration of a perversion of this
+kind often depends on the power of the erotic image which suggested
+sexual desire. This is also the case with onanism, sodomy, etc.; and
+in the inverse direction with impotence.
+
+These facts explain at the same time why and how suggestion may cure
+or ameliorate the anomalies of sexual life. Just as suggestion may
+excite or pervert the sexual appetite, so may it calm it and put it in
+the right direction, unless there is a deeply rooted hereditary
+perversion. We can nearly always considerably attenuate too-frequent
+emissions, masturbation and perversions by suggestion, and often
+entirely cure their acquired forms.
+
+I must here point out that when we have succeeded in removing by
+suggestion a perversion based in whole or in part on organic or
+hereditary causes, this result is always more or less precarious, and
+does not give the physician the right to give his sanction to
+marriage. The following case shows us what prudence on the part of the
+hypnotizer can do with patients of this kind:
+
+    A young girl, of good education, was troubled with intense
+    sexual desire. She was incapable of resisting masturbation and
+    dreamed at night that men and animals were in contact with her
+    vulva. These dreams caused intense excitement and were
+    accompanied by orgasms. The treatment of a patient of this kind
+    by suggestion was no easy matter. However, with the aid of a
+    local sedative, the action of which it is needless to say was
+    purely suggestive and was combined with appropriate verbal
+    suggestions, I succeeded not only in suppressing the onanism,
+    but also in almost completely curing the nervous exhaustion of
+    this young girl, so that she was afterwards able to resume work.
+
+I may add that the patient was hypnotized in the presence of others,
+which can always be done in such cases with a little tact. This is a
+rule from which the physician should never depart.
+
+I cannot enter into more details on this subject, but what I have said
+will suffice to draw the attention of my readers to the action of
+suggestion in the sexual appetite and in love.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE SEXUAL QUESTION IN RELATION TO MONEY AND PROPERTY PROSTITUTION,
+PROXENETISM AND VENAL CONCUBINAGE
+
+
+GENERAL REMARKS
+
+In Chapter VI we have studied the historical development of human
+marriage as a continuation of the phylogeny of our species, and we
+have shown that marriage by purchase and different forms of polygamy
+constitute a kind of intermediate stage and at the same time an
+aberration of civilization, which has resulted from the association of
+men, combined with the birth of individual property.
+
+When we consider a being of high mentality and deeply rooted
+individualism such as man, in whom the instinct of love and family are
+so strong, led by the inevitable force of circumstances to live in the
+society of his fellows, we can easily understand that certain
+individuals of a higher mentality than the others will endeavor to
+dominate the weaker and less intelligent, and exploit them for their
+own profit and that of their family.
+
+Analogous tendencies are seen in certain animals. Among the bees the
+old workers appropriate the produce of the work of others. Certain
+ants practice a form of slavery, based, it is true on instinct, in
+stealing the pupae of weaker species which, after hatching, become the
+servants of the idle robbers.
+
+In incomplete animal societies, such as those of the ruminants,
+certain monkeys, etc., the old males, sometimes also the more
+courageous females (cows, for example) direct the herd and become
+recognized as chiefs by the others. But in these cases the personal
+property of objects or even living beings takes no part, because the
+animals have not yet learned its value.
+
+Other animals living isolated show the first tendencies toward
+personal property; for example, the nest where they hoard their
+provisions, while others, such as the ants, bees, wasps, etc., have
+the sentiment of collective property well developed. For instance, a
+swarm of ants regards plants with grubs as its property, and defends
+them in consequence.
+
+As soon as he has attained a primitive degree of culture, man
+comprehends that the possession, not only of land and the produce of
+work, but also the persons of other men, may profit him; and this
+leads to slavery. The male being the stronger soon combines the
+satisfaction of his sexual appetite with the advantage of property, by
+placing the woman more and more under his dependence and exploiting
+her. In this way woman becomes an object for sale and exchange, which
+will procure the purchaser, besides satisfaction for his sexual
+appetite, a docile slave and worker and a procreator of children, a
+source of other workers.
+
+This motive, so clearly revealed by ethnography and history,
+sufficiently explains the ignoble traffic that man has made of love,
+or rather of sexual appetite. We have seen in Chapter VI the profit
+made by polygamous barbarians by the possession of many wives and
+children, which led more and more to the buying and selling of the
+latter. These customs are instinctively related to the traffic of
+slaves. Our modern civilization has happily abolished these taints,
+but money still influences our sexual life by measures which are
+hardly any better. The complication and refinement of civilized life
+have made women and children objects of luxury, and not a source of
+wealth as in former times. This is due to two causes. On the one hand,
+a wider and more humane conception of the social position of women and
+children has extended their rights. Man cannot now exploit them to the
+same extent as in the time of patriarchism, while the father of the
+family has, on the contrary, the duty of maintaining his wife and
+family, and of giving the latter a proper education. Among the poor,
+the exploitation of the wife and children still exists; but in the
+case of the rich and cultured the inverse phenomenon is produced. With
+the intention of making his family happy and distinguished, the father
+brings it up in luxury and idleness, and this produces a very harmful
+result. The increasing refinement of modern life and its pleasures
+leads to effeminacy. It bears upon the whole of society and
+degenerates into an artificial desire for brilliancy and show, which
+makes it increasingly difficult to obtain a simple and sober education
+for the family. Men and women, especially the latter, do their best to
+eclipse each other in their table, their toilet, the comfort and
+luxury of their apartments, their pleasures and distractions, their
+banquets and _fetes_. An enormous mass of the produce of human labor
+is thus dissipated in futilities, for the benefit of unbridled
+frivolity and luxury. It is owing to this that a civilization which,
+thanks to science and progress, far surpasses all those which have
+preceded it in the richness of its means of production for the wants
+of humanity, not only shows more and more rich with superfluous
+wealth, but also more and more poor who vegetate from the want of it.
+
+What is still more grave is that, for reasons of economy, the
+intelligent, educated and cultured marry less often and procreate
+fewer children. Again, our descendants degenerate more and more, owing
+to the consumption of alcohol or other narcotics, and the unhealthy
+life they lead. This degeneration is dissimulated by their
+well-nourished appearance, but is revealed in their increasing
+neuropathic tendency. They become accustomed to a number of artificial
+wants, which make them increasingly difficult to satisfy. This results
+in their exacting from society much more than they give to it by their
+work; whereas each ought to give to society more than he receives from
+it. As evil omens, I must mention the idleness of many women with
+regard to household and manual work. What are the effects of this
+state of things on the sexual life of modern society? They are of
+three kinds:
+
+(1) _Marriage for money_; (2) _prostitution_, exploited by
+proxenetism, and between the two (3) _venal concubinage_.
+
+
+MARRIAGE FOR MONEY
+
+Marriage for money is the modern form or derivative of marriage by
+purchase. Formerly one bought a wife and sold a daughter; to-day one
+is sold to a wife and buys a son-in-law. The improvement consists in
+the fact that the buyer and the bought are no longer in the positions
+of proprietor and object possessed, respectively. Nevertheless,
+marriage at the present day gives rise to much traffic, speculation
+and exploitation of an evil nature.
+
+These things are so well known that I need not dwell upon them. In
+place of love, force of character, capacity, harmony of sentiments,
+intellectual and bodily health, money is the _alpha et omega_ of
+marriage. Money dazzles most men so that they are blind to everything
+else. They no longer understand that the health and the physical and
+moral worth of a woman constitute a capital which is far preferable to
+all the title-deeds deposited in the coffers of the future
+father-in-law, which are rapidly squandered by children tainted with
+bad physical or mental heredity. In this way ignorance of the laws of
+heredity and the rapacity of pecuniary interests perpetually tend
+toward the antisocial procreation of a degenerate posterity.
+
+Inversely, a number of capable and healthy men and women remain
+celibate and sterile for want of money. Capital exploits them as
+workers and prevents them from reproducing their race; or else their
+own foresight induces them to avoid procreation.
+
+A characteristic sign is observed in military circles, especially in
+the German army where officers who are not well-to-do are forbidden to
+marry a woman unless she has a certain income. The officer must bring
+up his family in accordance with his position. This system, which it
+is sought to justify by all kinds of reasons, shows how the worship of
+the golden calf and class prejudices may degenerate our manners and
+customs. Without fortune one cannot serve the country as an officer,
+or marry, except by selling oneself to a rich woman. In other terms,
+an officer cannot marry according to his own inclination unless he
+possesses a certain fortune. No doubt there are officers who marry for
+love; nevertheless, they are not only obliged to have a certain
+fortune, but the woman they marry must have a certain social position
+and have been well educated. The wife of an officer has to take part
+in balls and official gatherings. She is forbidden to carry on openly
+any business, and her parents must not even be shopkeepers! In a
+German town, one of my relatives heard a rich mother say to her
+daughter, who could not make up her mind to marry a gentleman who
+proposed to her: "If you do not want him, let him go; we do not wish
+to persuade you. We have plenty of money, and if you want to marry
+later on we can easily buy you an officer!"
+
+In the tyranny of class marriages, it is money which almost always
+decides the question. Formerly birth and nobility were everything, and
+it was these which brought power and fortune; nowadays money has
+replaced them, and has monopolized universal power. If an energetic
+and intelligent man revolts, by returning to modest and primitive
+customs, if he dresses simply, performs manual labor, takes his meals
+at the same table as his servants, etc., he is despised and is not
+received into what is called good society.
+
+It is only up to a certain point, and with the exercise of great
+prudence, that any attempt can be made to react against the whirlwind
+of our unbridled luxury, and it is in marriage that this becomes most
+delicate and most difficult. A well-brought-up and well-educated man
+with no money, who wishes to marry while he is a student, so as to
+avoid prostitution or other evils; who is content to live in humble
+quarters with his wife, each doing their own work, will have great
+difficulty in finding a well-nurtured girl to consent to such an
+arrangement. Everything has to be regulated according to the fashion,
+customs and prejudices of the class in which he lives, and this
+usually renders marriage impossible, as long as he has not what is
+called a position. But no one will blame the same student for living
+in concubinage with a grisette. Why cannot the same means of existence
+which allow concubinage suffice for marriage? With this question I
+only touch on a problem to which we shall return, at the same time
+pointing out the canker which corrupts our modern sexual life.
+
+By marriage for money we understand marriage which is based on
+interest and not on love. It is not always a question of money; for
+position, name, titles and convenience often complicate the question.
+Sometimes a ruined aristocrat marries a rich tradesman's daughter, in
+order to repair his fortune, while the vanity of his _fiancee_ makes a
+title a desirable acquisition. Sometimes a coquette, by clever
+flirtation, will simulate a love which she does not feel, to catch a
+rich man in her net. But more commonly there is calculation on both
+sides and both are duped.
+
+Marriage for money is not confined to the rich but also occurs among
+peasants and working people. Everywhere it constitutes one of the
+principal corrupting elements of sexual intercourse and procreation.
+Hard-working servants who have succeeded in saving a few hundred
+dollars are often married for the sake of this small sum, and then
+abandoned as soon as the husband has squandered it. I do not pretend
+that a marriage for money can never be happy; it may happen that the
+contract is an honest one and that love follows it more or less
+haltingly, especially when the calculators have taken into account
+character and health, etc., as well as money.
+
+There is no need for me to continue this theme any further, and I
+shall conclude by stating that this system opens the door to
+hypocrisy, deceit and abuse of all kinds. It is not without reason
+that marriage for money has been branded with the name of _fashionable
+prostitution_.
+
+
+PROSTITUTION AND PROXENETISM
+
+Prostitution is a very ancient institution and a sign of degeneration
+which is found more or less among all nations. When woman is an
+article for sale it is not surprising that those whose moral worth is
+weak take the traffic into their own hands when they can, and sell
+themselves to men to satisfy their sexual appetites, instead of
+allowing themselves to be passively exploited as articles of commerce.
+Man being the stronger finds it advantageous in the lower and
+barbarous states of civilization to monopolize this traffic for his
+own profit, and deliver the women under his domination to
+prostitution. We have seen that fathers give their daughters, and
+husbands their wives to prostitution.
+
+For the same reason, the woman who prostitutes herself in our modern
+civilization, always runs the risk of being abused without payment;
+which is not to be wondered at considering the doubtful quality of the
+usual clients of the prostitute. It is therefore natural that she
+should seek for a means of protection. She thus takes a male
+protector, or "bully," whom she pays; or else she joins the service
+of those who make a business of prostitution--or _proxenetism_.
+Proxenetism and protectors are thus the parasites of prostitution.
+
+Prostitution flourished amongst the ancients and also in the Middle
+Ages, especially after the Crusades (Chapter VI). I do not propose to
+write the history of prostitution; it is sufficient to be acquainted
+with that of the present day. I may, however, remark that among a
+number of primitive races, and in young and progressive nations, whose
+sexual life is still comparatively pure, prostitution is only feebly
+developed. It is especially to Napoleon I that we owe the present form
+of regulation and organization of prostitutes. Like all his
+legislation on marriage and sexual intercourse, this regulation is the
+living expression of his sentiments toward woman; oppression of the
+female sex, contempt of its rights, and degradation of its individuals
+to the state of articles of pleasure for men, and machines for
+reproduction.
+
+=Organization and Regulation of Prostitution.=--We have just seen the
+social conditions under which prostitution becomes quite naturally
+organized, with its protectors and its proxenetism. There is another
+factor to be added--that of venereal disease. The infectious germs of
+syphilis and gonorrhea are usually met with in the genital organs of
+man and woman; so that every coitus between a healthy and an infected
+individual may infect the former. Hence the danger of the spread of
+infection increases with the number of mutations in sexual
+intercourse. If a woman offers herself systematically to all the men
+who wish for her, the probability that she will be infected by one of
+them increases in proportion to the number of clients.
+
+In the second place, as soon as she is infected, the danger is
+increased by the number of men who have connection with her, for she
+will probably infect a large proportion of them.
+
+While paying much attention to venereal diseases and their
+consequences, medicine has shown itself inconceivably blind in not
+comprehending the bearing of this elementary arithmetic. We must take
+into account the fact that the complete cure of syphilis is very
+difficult, if not impossible, to prove; that this disease is extremely
+infectious, at least during the first two years of its course; and
+that it extends to the blood and the whole organism, so that it may be
+communicated, not only by large visible sores, but by small
+excoriations hidden in the mucous membrane of the vagina or the mouth,
+etc.
+
+We must also remember that gonorrhea is less painful in woman than in
+man, and that, even in the latter, it ceases to be painful when it
+becomes chronic. We may add that the microbes (the gonococci) are very
+difficult to reach in all the recesses of the mucous membrane of the
+sexual organs in which they are hidden, and that in women they
+penetrate as far as the womb, when a cure becomes almost impossible.
+
+If we consider that the sexual organs of woman form deep and hidden
+cavities which it is very difficult to examine thoroughly, in spite of
+all the apparatus of modern surgery, and that the mouth in prostitutes
+is also frequently contaminated by unnatural manipulations; lastly,
+that no part of their body is absolutely indemnified, it is easy to
+understand the great danger of infection in public prostitution.
+
+Recognizing the danger of venereal disease, the regulation of
+prostitution was instituted by medical men with the good intention of
+eliminating or of diminishing its danger, since they regarded its
+suppression as impossible. This system consists in the official
+supervision and inscription of every woman who prostitutes herself.
+She is given an official form which obliges her to submit to medical
+examination once a week or once a fortnight, under the penalty of
+being arrested and punished.
+
+To facilitate medical control, regulation generally endeavors to lodge
+prostitutes in brothels or _lupanars_, under the direction of a
+proxenet. In theory, the brothel is not exactly considered as a State
+institution of public health; the word _toleration_ being used in this
+connection, signifying that it is regarded as a tolerated evil.
+Nevertheless, this distinction only rests on uncertain and subtle
+characters. To tolerate, to license, to organize, to recognize and
+favor, to protect and recommend are notions which merge into one
+another insensibly. As soon as the State tolerates prostitution and
+brothels, it is obliged to enter into official contracts with
+prostitutes and proxenetism; therefore, it recognizes them. Moreover,
+the services which it renders must be paid for. It is therefore
+necessary that prostitutes and proxenets should pay their tribute to
+the State and to the doctors: but "the one who pays commands."
+
+No doubt this proverb must not be taken to the letter, nevertheless
+the one who pays always exerts a certain pressure on the one who
+receives, and for this reason proxenets and inscribed prostitutes have
+some idea that they form part of an official institution, which raises
+their position not only in their own eyes but in those of the
+irreflective masses. I will cite two examples which show how
+effectively the public organization of a vicious social anomaly
+confuses ideas in persons of limited intelligence.
+
+One of my friends was engaged in combating the official regulation of
+prostitution. A woman, who misunderstood his object, came to him
+complaining bitterly of the loose life her daughter was leading, and
+asked him if he could not help her by placing her in a brothel
+licensed by the State; she would then be under the care of a paternal
+government!
+
+An old proxenet in Paris requested the authorities to transfer the
+management of her brothel to her daughter, aged nineteen. Her house,
+she said, was honest and managed in a loyal and religious spirit; her
+daughter was capable and initiated into the business and would carry
+it on in the same irreproachable manner as hitherto.
+
+These two examples of ingenuousness are sufficiently characteristic of
+the morality of the system. In _La Maison Tellier_ Guy de Maupassant
+has depicted with his masterly pen the psychology of the prostitute,
+the proxenet, and their clients.
+
+For reasons previously mentioned no real confidence can be placed in
+periodical medical examination of prostitutes; on the contrary it
+gives the male public a false security. The object of these medical
+visits is to eliminate diseased women from circulation and compel them
+to submit to hospital treatment. But any one acquainted with the facts
+knows that the treatment is illusory. In a short time every woman in a
+brothel is infected, with very few exceptions. But, on the one hand,
+the proxenets and the prostitutes have every interest in shortening
+the time in hospital; and, on the other hand, the visiting doctor,
+who often lives partly by their fees, is obliged to treat them with
+respect. [In Paris, the doctors in charge of the inspection of
+prostitutes are paid by the State, and do not depend on fees from the
+women.] The treatment of venereal disease being of long duration and
+very uncertain in its effects, a vicious circle is formed.
+
+A conscientious Dutch doctor, Chanfleury van Issjelstein, who
+attempted to eliminate all infected prostitutes from the brothels,
+succeeded in almost emptying them, by subjecting the infected women to
+prolonged treatment in hospital. This led to a revolt which endangered
+his life, and he had to abandon his scheme.
+
+In ordinary hospital practice only visible sores are treated, and
+gonorrheal discharges as long as they are apparent; the prostitutes
+are then allowed to return to their brothels. Moreover, inspection is
+made too rapidly; for, if every woman was examined carefully from head
+to foot every week, neither the brothels, the prostitutes nor the
+doctors could exist.
+
+Certain persons have made the proposition, as ridiculous as it is
+radical, of submitting every man who visits a prostitute to medical
+inspection! This would indeed be the only means of preventing the
+infection of prostitutes. But I ask my readers to imagine such a
+measure put in practice. Is it likely that the _habitues_ of brothels,
+some of whom visit prostitutes nearly every day or oftener, would make
+this known to a doctor in their town, and submit, before each coitus,
+to a medical examination which would cost them more time and money
+than their pleasure! Can one imagine doctors examining whole _queues_
+of clients waiting their turn in brothels when business is brisk!
+
+Whilst an independent prostitute still possesses some human sentiment
+and a vestige of modesty which cause her to choose as far as possible
+a limited number of clients, the police certificate of regulation
+officially places the woman who receives it in the class of the
+pariahs of society, and this leads to her losing the little that
+remains of her womanly nature. In brothels, the last vestige of her
+human nature is trampled under foot.
+
+=Degrees of Prostitution. Protectors.=--Several degrees can be
+recognized in private prostitution. A variety of prostitute rather
+less low than others, looks for clients at public balls, certain cafes
+and other doubtful localities, and hires herself to a certain number
+of temporary acquaintances. The lowest and most common form of private
+prostitution is that of the streets. Generally at night, but sometimes
+in the daytime, these prostitutes, dressed so as to attract attention,
+promenade in certain well-known and frequented streets, and solicit
+passers-by. This is the common method employed in nearly all towns.
+This solicitation is supervised by the police in countries where
+prostitution is regulated, and is only permitted to women who possess
+their certificate of inscription.
+
+Here the "protector" (bully) intervenes, and keeps an eye on the
+clients at the prostitute's house, or sometimes in the street. If they
+do not pay up, or pay too little, or if they threaten or ill-treat the
+woman, the protector administers a drubbing, and sometimes relieves
+them of their purse or clothes.
+
+At the same time the protector spies on the police for the benefit of
+the prostitute. Sometimes he assumes the position of legitimate
+husband, so as to facilitate taking rooms. A "husband" of this kind,
+with a citizen's rights, is very useful to foreign prostitutes, for
+without him they would risk expulsion. The protector is generally a
+scamp of the worst kind, an absolutely depraved and idle vagabond who
+is entirely maintained by his "wife."
+
+Some protectors shine by their sexual power, and are at the same time
+the real lovers of the prostitutes, who keep them, and are plundered
+by them. While they submit to coitus with their clients without any
+pleasure, and only simulate voluptuous sensations, they abandon
+themselves to their protectors or lovers with ardor. It is needless to
+add that the protectors are often criminals, or of the criminal type.
+Those who are well acquainted with prostitution declare that it would
+be impossible without the protector, who is at the same time the
+friend, protector and exploiter of the prostitute, while the brothel
+keeper is only concerned with her wholesale systematic exploitation.
+
+=Brothels and Proxenets.=--Under the pretext of avoiding the dangers
+of prostitution in the streets, brothels were organized. These are
+generally managed by an elderly female profligate, often in
+partnership with a "husband," who is only a superior kind of
+protector. Officially, the prostitutes are free lodgers in the
+brothel, but in reality they are often prisoners or slaves. They are
+well fed and dressed in a way to attract the clients as much as
+possible. Clothes, food, etc., are placed to their account and the
+crafty brothel keeper generally manages to get them into debt so as to
+always remain their creditor. In this way these miserable outcasts of
+society, who are generally incapable of claiming their legal rights,
+are more or less reduced to slavery. Apparently they are free, but in
+reality they can hardly leave the house without paying their debts,
+and the brothel keeper who wishes to keep them arranges so that they
+cannot pay it.
+
+It is not always easy to distinguish between the different classes of
+prostitutes: the prostitute of the brothel, the street prostitute
+under inscription or not, the private prostitute and lorette or
+grisette. Sometimes a woman may rise from one class to another; but
+more often she falls lower and lower.
+
+We may mention here one of the dangers of brothels. Their good
+organization, their medical supervision, etc., are extolled; but the
+great danger of the arithmetical progression of mutations in sexual
+intercourse is ignored. While a private prostitute rarely receives
+more than one client in an evening, and is not absolutely obliged to
+receive more, every prostitute in a brothel is forced to receive as
+many as present themselves. A girl may thus have connection with men
+twenty or thirty times in the same night.
+
+Under certain circumstances, for instance at the time of conscription
+for recruits at Brussels, the brothels are besieged to such a point
+that one man has hardly time to finish coitus before another comes to
+take his place. It is obvious that such "file firing" greatly
+increases the danger of venereal infection, since a single infected
+person is sufficient to contaminate innumerable clients (even without
+the woman herself becoming infected).
+
+It is often denied that the brothel is a prison, yet this fact has
+been often demonstrated. When, as in France, the police can arrest a
+prostitute at pleasure--often a virtuous young girl who is taken for
+such--and put her on the inscription list, the thing is obvious. I
+have treated a girl who became the mistress of a police agent in Paris
+under the threat of being inscribed as a prostitute.
+
+Again, besides the debts we have spoken of, the proxenets have many
+other ways of keeping prostitutes under their dependence. It is very
+difficult for ignorant girls, placed under the ban of society, to
+return to a free and virtuous life. But if a girl shows signs of
+wishing to leave a brothel, heroic measures are adopted, in the form
+of international exchange. A girl who is unacquainted with the
+language of the country is naturally more incapable of gaining her
+freedom than one who does. This is one of the reasons why the brothels
+of different countries exchange their women.
+
+This expedient, which also satisfies clients who desire a change,
+leads to the exportation of women from one country to another, under
+false pretenses, such as the promise of lucrative and easy situations.
+In this way young Swiss girls are exported to Hungary, Hungarians to
+Switzerland, Germans to France, French to England, Europeans to
+Buenos-Ayres, creoles to Europe, etc. For example, if a young French
+girl has been exported to Buda-Pest or Buenos-Ayres, we may be certain
+that she will lose all inclination to run away; for what can she do--a
+stranger without a cent, with her ignorance and want of character,
+alone in the streets, when she does not understand a word of the
+language?
+
+=White Slavery.=--The modern commerce in female slaves of civilized
+Europe destined for prostitution is closely connected with the facts
+we have just described. The manner in which brothels exchange their
+merchandise only concerns one side of the question. The principal art
+consists in obtaining young girls, of twelve to seventeen years of
+age, for the brothels. This traffic is formally prohibited by most
+laws; but what are laws made for, if not to be broken? There are so
+many means of training children under some pretext or other, before
+they are independent enough to escape this life of infamy. There are
+so many depraved or hungry parents who are ready to sell their
+children if, in hypocritical but transparent language, a good
+situation is promised them with payment in advance.
+
+During a railway journey, I was myself a witness of the manner in
+which a young girl of twelve was sold in this way and sent to
+Pressburg. I was also simple enough to try and appeal for the
+intervention of a consul and an ambassador to prevent the perpetration
+of the crime. They only replied by shrugging their shoulders. How
+could I prove the matter before a tribunal? The child was accompanied
+by a woman who admitted to me that there could hardly be any other
+question than the sale of the child for prostitution. She had only
+been ordered to take the child to Vienna, where they would come and
+take her. This shows the impotence of any person who tries to prevent
+such infamies.
+
+During the last few years an international organization has at last
+been formed to combat white slavery; but so far it has not obtained
+much result. By the aid of depraved parents and all their criminal
+system of seduction, the proxenets always find a way of attaining
+their object. Moreover, it is difficult to see how the State can
+prevent proxenetism from obtaining its merchandise, so long as it
+tolerates and licenses it. We must remember that very young girls,
+almost children, are the most easy to seduce and the most sought
+after.
+
+=The Training of Prostitutes.=--The most repugnant aspect of
+proxenetism is the seduction and systematic training of the girls. The
+desire for money and fine dresses, the promise of good situations, and
+especially alcoholic intoxication, all play their part in the
+diabolical art of proxenetism. Many young girls, frivolous and fond of
+pleasure, but not wishing to go any further, are easily seduced under
+the influence of wine. As soon as some protector has succeeded in
+seducing a girl, he trades on her shame and fear of discovery, adding
+threats and blackmail. When she has become sufficiently accustomed to
+sexual intercourse, she is initiated into the high-school of vice, and
+systematically instructed in exciting the sexual appetites of men by
+all possible means, natural or otherwise. She is first of all taught
+how to simulate the venereal orgasm by her movements, breathing, etc.;
+to practice _coitus ab ore_, etc.; to conform to the pathological
+requirements of masochists, sadists, etc., (Chapter VIII). Girls who
+have been seduced and abandoned, and those who have had illegitimate
+children, are the most suitable objects for exploitation by the
+jackals of proxenetism. If it is objected that the majority of
+prostitutes have a bad hereditary taint, and that their frivolity and
+idleness incline them from the first to their trade, I reply that
+frivolity and love of pleasure are not at all the same thing as the
+ignoble slavery and disgusting life of a prostitute in a brothel.
+
+The part played by alcohol in prostitution has not been estimated at
+its true value. The coarser and more degraded forms of prostitution
+would not be possible without it. It is by the aid of alcoholic orgies
+that most girls are seduced, and by chronic drunkenness that they
+sustain themselves in their degradation.
+
+=Localized Prostitution.=--In certain towns, Hamburg for instance, an
+attempt has been made to establish an organization intermediate
+between the brothel and private prostitution, by compelling all
+prostitutes to inhabit certain special streets which are reserved for
+them, at the same time being inscribed by the police. The result has
+been deplorable, and these streets have become uninhabitable. It must
+be borne in mind that the owners or managers of these houses become
+from this fact more or less analogous to proxenets. Whoever lets his
+house for such an object must possess very little sentiment of modesty
+and duty, for he lives indirectly on the produce of prostitution.
+
+=Clandestine Brothels.=--Besides the official brothels, of which we
+have spoken, there are a number of secret organizations of all kinds,
+which the State is the less able to prevent as it organizes and
+tolerates prostitution and proxenetism on its own account. A number of
+taverns possess secret chambers which are only small brothels, in
+which the servants act at the same time as prostitutes.
+
+It is the same with many small shops (gloves, perfumes, etc.), whose
+innocent appearance only serves as a blind. A number of _cafes
+chantants_ are also connected with prostitution and proxenetism.
+Certain tobacco shops, etc., sell obscene objects such as pornographic
+pictures. All these things act especially on youth and become
+disseminated in colleges.
+
+=The Number of Prostitutes.=--The number of prostitutes has been
+estimated at 30,000 in Berlin, 40,000 in Paris, and 60,000 in London.
+It can hardly be assumed that all these women have a pathological
+heredity. As soon as the State recognizes the right of existence of
+this dung-heap, by its toleration and organization, corruption
+hitherto hidden and ashamed raises its head and becomes more and more
+bold, even dragging public organs into its sink. It is the public
+especially, but also the authorities and the doctors who become
+corrupted by contact with official proxenetism, which confuses the
+ideas of morality in every one's head (vide _La Maison Tellier_, de
+Maupassant). They shut their eyes to the haunts of vice. The proxenets
+feel that they are important personages, and the more enterprising of
+them very often enjoy secret favors and receive visits from State
+officials, and even married persons of high position. It is not
+difficult for any one who reflects a little to see what this state of
+things leads to.
+
+=Prostitution and the Police.=--The police know very well that in
+certain brothels prostitution is not only associated with alcoholic
+excess, but that certain houses become the haunts of criminals. They
+even regard certain low-class brothels and taverns frequented by
+prostitutes as very useful for the discovery of criminals. Spies of
+all kinds are met with in these places, from the secret agent who
+tracks a criminal and flirts at the same time with the prostitutes, to
+the counter-spy employed by the proxenets to watch the secret agent.
+It is here that the criminal world acquires its rakish manners, but
+its weakness for women and alcohol cause it to fall early into the
+traps of the secret police. It is here also, as well as in the salons
+of high-class proxenetism, that we meet with those indefinable
+individuals who are to-day secret agents of the government, to-morrow
+false noblemen or criminals, and the day after proxenets, and whom a
+former minister of the German Empire designated by the euphemistic
+term of "non-gentleman."
+
+=The Psychology of Prostitutes and the Cause of Prostitution.=--The
+psychology of prostitutes is a difficult and complicated subject.
+According to the point of view of those who judge them, they are
+considered as women of evil and incorrigible instincts, or as the
+victims of our bad social organizations. These two assertions are by
+their exclusiveness equally false. Urged by Christian charity, many
+societies for the improvement of morality have attempted to rescue
+fallen women; but, as might be expected, the results have not been
+satisfactory. In fact, the mind of woman is quite differently
+dominated by sexual ideas and their irradiations than that of man. It
+is also less plastic, and becomes more easily the slave of habit and
+routine. If, therefore, a woman has been systematically trained in
+sexual aberrations from her youth upward, all her ideas are
+concentrated on debauch and sexual intercourse, so that it becomes
+impossible later on to restore her to a life of serious social duty.
+Rare exceptions confirm this rule. Moreover, sexual excitation in
+women awakens sexual desire, which becomes exalted by repetition and
+habit.
+
+On the other hand, it is necessary to recognize that girls who are
+idle, of weak character, hysterical, easily suggestible, coquettes or
+nymphomaniacs, are subjects specially disposed to become seduced.
+Lastly, poverty is one of the most powerful auxiliaries of
+prostitution. I do not wish to be sentimental, nor to give too much
+weight to the well-known statement that a poor woman prostitutes
+herself to appease her children's hunger, or her own. No doubt this
+happens among the oriental Jews and among the proletariat of large
+towns, but it is, on the whole, exceptional.
+
+Poverty acts indirectly in a much more intense and efficacious manner.
+First of all it compels the proletariat to live in the most disgusting
+promiscuity. Not only do the father, the mother and the children
+occupy the same room, but they sleep there, often in the same bed. The
+children are witnesses of their parents' coitus and become initiated
+in sexual intercourse, often in its most bestial form, under the
+influence of alcohol, for example. Neglected and herded together with
+other children, most of them as badly brought up as themselves, from
+their early youth they become acquainted not only with the most gross
+and filthy things, but also with the most pathological and deformed
+excrescences of the unhealthy life of towns. In the proletariat of
+certain towns there are few girls of fourteen years of age who are
+still virgins.
+
+Again, poverty urges parents to exploit their children, for it is easy
+to deliver them into the hands of proxenetism. But this is not
+confined to the poorest classes; among small tradespeople, poverty is
+also an indirect agent of prostitution. Here again the effect of
+pitiless exploitation is seen; in certain occupations which leave the
+girls free evenings, and also in certain shops, the proprietor only
+pays his employes an absurdly small salary, because they can add to it
+by prostitution. For this reason, many saleswomen, dressmakers, etc.,
+are obliged to content themselves with a minimum wage. When they
+complain, and especially when they are good looking, they are often
+given to understand that with their attractive appearance it is very
+easy for them to increase their income, for many a young man would be
+glad to "befriend them," to say nothing of other insinuations of the
+same kind. I have already pointed out how waitresses are utilized as
+bait in certain taverns, etc. Let us cite a few figures:
+
+About 80 per cent. of the prostitutes in Paris have some occupation
+besides prostitution.
+
+In factories, shops, etc., the average wage of men is 4 francs 20. per
+day; that of women 2 francs 20.; but in domestic service it is only 2
+francs 10. for men and 1 franc 10., or even 90 centimes for women,
+even where the latter do the same work! Is it to be wondered that they
+have recourse to prostitution?
+
+=High-class Brothels.=--In these establishments the life of the
+prostitute is much more agreeable: the goods of superior quality
+demanded by rich and fastidious clients requires better treatment and
+special care. I will cite a case published in the annual report of the
+Societe de Pestalozzi (for cruelty to children) at Vienna:
+
+    "In October, 1904, the Tyrolean Society for Abandoned Infancy
+    sent us the papers of a young Tyrolean girl of eighteen, who was
+    found at Venice under police control. Our attention was drawn to
+    the youth of this girl and the incapacity of the father to
+    induce her to reform. We were requested to restore her, if
+    possible, to an honest life.
+
+    We made the usual inquiries. Having many brothers and sisters,
+    this girl, at the age of fourteen, obtained a situation at
+    Innsbruck, where she was badly treated. She went away and gave
+    herself gradually to prostitution, latterly at Vienna.
+
+    We had an interview with her at our office and ascertained that
+    she had experienced ill-treatment at Innsbruck. She had a modest
+    demeanor and made a good impression. She regarded her future
+    with equanimity, admitting that she was excluded from society,
+    but speaking of her trade as seriously as if it was licit and
+    officially recognized.
+
+    She assured us that her parents, having great difficulty in
+    gaining a livelihood, agreed with her in her choice of a
+    "business." She was on very good terms with them and sent them
+    money.
+
+    To obtain a certificate from the police, the consent of her
+    parents was necessary. Her mother had told her that if she
+    remained pious and honest no one could reproach her. She held
+    "Madame" (the proprietress of the brothel) in high esteem, on
+    account of her kind treatment of her "boarders." The house in
+    which she was located was first-class, both as regards clients
+    and treatment. There were about a dozen young girls there, most
+    of them younger than herself, all with their parents' consent;
+    and many of them sent home what they earned.
+
+    She said that her companions were very happy, being well fed and
+    clothed, and earning from 120 to 240 crowns a month. With much
+    ingenuousness she told us how Madame, whom she greatly
+    respected, had looked after two old "boarders," who no longer
+    had any clients. She also had a protector.
+
+    We tried to induce her to commence another life, promising her a
+    situation, but she refused, saying that even if she wished to do
+    so Madame would not let her go; besides, she would always be
+    reproached for her past life, and she did not wish to live with
+    people who would always despise her. She had already suffered
+    enough trouble and did not wish to launch on the unknown.
+    Moreover, she had lost her former habits and had never learnt
+    anything seriously. In short, she did not wish to give up her
+    pleasant and comfortable life!
+
+    This conversation led us to the conclusion that the case in
+    question was not of a nature to justify any action on the part
+    of our society for the rescue of young women.
+
+    In spite of her tender age, this girl gave us the impression of
+    mature judgment. It appeared already much too late to attempt to
+    recommence her education. She also showed signs of great anxiety
+    when we spoke to her of leaving her brothel.
+
+This case requires no comment; it gives a good idea of our social
+condition. The religious piety of this girl, and her profound
+veneration for "Madame," are typical of the deviation of moral sense
+by the suggestion of environment.
+
+=Varieties in Prostitutes.=--We thus see that prostitutes constitute a
+collection of very different individuals. Although it may be true
+that, on the average, their ranks are recruited from girls who are
+coarse, shameless, depraved and alcoholic, it is no less false to
+conclude that all are of bad heredity. A considerable number are
+pathological individuals, including hysterical subjects, nymphomaniacs
+and other psychopaths. Others again are naturally amoral, stupid, idle
+and deceitful, or have been accustomed to vicious surroundings from
+infancy; or else they are of an absolutely indifferent and apathetic
+nature, or very suggestible and yielding to every seduction and
+external impulse. The latter perhaps form the largest contingent,
+because they most easily become the prey of proxenetism.
+
+Many of them have fallen by seduction. Ashamed of their first error,
+and not having the courage to bear the consequences, they gradually
+sink into the swamp of prostitution. Illegitimate births play a great
+part here.
+
+A certain class of prostitutes ply their trade simply from poverty and
+want, being ashamed of it but profiting by it to maintain their
+family. But poverty acts chiefly in combination with other causes.
+
+There still remains a very limited group formed by individuals who
+give themselves up to prostitution for love of it. These are generally
+women with a morbid and violent sexual appetite, joined to want of
+moral sense. Rich women, even countesses and princesses have been
+known to become prostitutes.
+
+This diversity among prostitutes explains why there are different
+degrees in prostitution. Although its depravity is often more or less
+masked by fine clothes and good cheer, the lowest level is represented
+by the girl of the brothels, who is little more than an instrument for
+coitus in the hands of proxenetism (with the exception of certain
+high-class brothels). It is the prostitutes of low-class brothels for
+soldiers who lead the most miserable life. Such houses only keep
+refuse merchandise, _i.e._, old prostitutes who are no good for
+anything else. There is no sadder sight than a soldiers' brothel.
+
+The prostitution in _cafes_, scent shops, glove shops, etc.,
+constitutes a slightly higher grade. As regards danger of venereal
+infection this is as great as anywhere, but the girls are rather more
+independent and lead a more natural life. It is precisely because
+these places are not under legal protection, that the patrons or
+protectors of prostitutes cannot employ the terrorism of licensed
+proxenets.
+
+The free prostitutes of the streets are about on the same level. They
+are not dependent on proxenetism, but only on their protector and
+proprietor, which is a trifle less degrading. What degrades them most
+of all is police inscription, obligatory medical inspection, and the
+miserable system of solicitation on the pavement. It is necessary to
+have lost all feeling of modesty, and to possess a cynical audacity to
+become a street prostitute.
+
+Prostitutes who only practice occasionally and have not the courage to
+solicit, nor to be inscribed by the police, belong to a higher level.
+But in countries where regulation is in force they always run the risk
+of being arrested by the police and put on the inscription list. These
+private prostitutes constitute the intermediate stage between
+prostitution properly so-called, and venal concubinage, which we shall
+speak of later.
+
+The army of prostitutes is partly composed of pathological
+individuals. Alcohol and vicious habits increase their abnormal
+tendencies, so that their behavior leaves nothing wanting in the way
+of temper, impulsiveness, cynicism and insolence. This is seen every
+day in hospitals for venereal disease. As soon as a prostitute finds
+her physical condition improve after a few days in hospital, sexual
+abstinence arouses her appetite to such an extent that she indulges in
+lesbian love with her companions, or shows herself naked at the
+windows, etc. Some prostitutes of better quality suffer at first from
+the scandalous tone of the brothel, but they generally become used to
+it, and end with adopting it themselves. Honest women, infected
+accidentally or by their husbands, suffer martyrdom when they are sent
+to the venereal divisions of hospitals.
+
+=The Fate of Prostitutes.=--What becomes of prostitutes in the course
+of time? They cannot remain very long in the brothels for they only
+accept young and fine-looking girls. It would be interesting to follow
+the fate of all these women. At all events nothing is more absurd than
+the common saying that the suppression of brothels increases
+prostitution in the streets, and that their introduction suppresses
+it. It is obvious that, as the women in brothels have to be
+continually renewed, they must be continually thrown onto the streets.
+No doubt many prostitutes die at an early age from the results of
+alcohol and syphilis. The only resource left to many, when they are
+ejected from the brothels, is to solicit in the streets or to join
+clandestine brothels or taverns of the same nature.
+
+The most profligate, those who look upon their profession from the
+artistic or the commercial points of view, know how to advance
+themselves and become "Madames"; but these are comparatively few in
+number. Some end in suicide or lunatic asylums.
+
+As a last resource, when no man will have anything to do with them,
+many of them take to the lowest occupations, such as cleaning
+lavatories, etc. At Munich it used to be proverbial that the class of
+"Radiweiber" and "Nussweiber" (old women selling nuts etc., at the
+street corners) were mostly recruited from old prostitutes.
+Occasionally a better class prostitute succeeds in getting married.
+
+If we consider without prejudice the miserable life of a prostitute,
+we cannot hear the term "_fille de joie_" without a feeling of sadness
+and indignation, for it conveys such bitter and tragic irony. If we
+could ourselves experience the true state of mind which is hidden
+behind the smiles and songs of so many miserable singers at cafe
+concerts, and behind the brazen artifices of many prostitutes; if we
+could learn their past life and the cause of their fall, no man with a
+spark of pity or sympathy for his fellows could relish with a light
+heart a "joy" bought at such a price. For those who read German, I
+recommend on this subject: _Tagebuch einer Verlornen_, by Marguerite
+Boehme. (Berlin: Fontane, 1905.)
+
+=Prostitution and Sexual Perversion.=--If it is true that many
+prostitutes have a pathological heredity, it is still more sure that
+they often have to submit to the fancies of pathological clients. The
+numerous sexual anomalies, of which we have spoken in Chapter VIII,
+are closely connected with prostitution. The refinement of modern
+civilization is so complete that it supplies localities and women for
+the special use of each pathological form of the sexual appetite.
+
+So far we have only spoken of female prostitutes, and we have seen how
+they conform to the customs of sadists, masochists, etc. They allow
+themselves to be maltreated by the former, and maltreat the latter; or
+else they play at exhibitions symbolical of cruelty or humiliation.
+
+For male inverts, on the other hand, there exist male brothels, in
+which young boys practice pederasty for money. For certain rich
+_roues_, or for those affected with pederosis, children are kept. This
+last class of goods is very dear, for there is always a risk of the
+law intervening. Young virgins also fetch a high price; and they even
+try to sew up the hymen after their defloration, so as to offer them
+several times as virgins!
+
+With what we have said in Chapter VIII, these indications will suffice
+to show that modern prostitution and proxenetism constitute a public
+disgrace, intended to exploit the unbridled desires of men for profit.
+This system has been defended on the grounds of hygiene and the
+protection of virtuous women against the assaults of men, etc. In
+reality, it has resulted in corrupting and effeminating men; in
+restricting the normal sexual intercourse of youth in its natural
+association with an inconsiderate love; in degrading love itself; in
+debarring a great number of capable and virtuous women from marriage,
+from love, and from sexual intercourse in general; lastly, in causing
+complete aberration of the whole sexual life of modern society.
+
+Contemporary literature has begun to consider the psychology of
+prostitution. We have already mentioned _La Maison Tellier_ by de
+Maupassant; Zola's _Nana_ is the history of a high-class prostitute
+related in the well-known realistic manner of the celebrated novelist,
+in which he describes the sexual depravity existing in certain
+Parisian circles of the Second Empire.
+
+I will now make a few remarks concerning a social movement organized
+against the regulation of prostitution, called abolitionism.
+
+=Abolitionism and Regulation.=--An Englishwoman, Mrs. Josephine
+Butler, undertook, in the name of liberty, a campaign against
+proxenetism, white slavery and the State regulation of prostitution.
+She also attacked the injustice of the Code Napoleon toward women,
+especially the prohibition of inquiry into paternity, which throws
+girls who have been seduced into the arms of prostitution. The
+abolitionists contest the right of police inscription of prostitutes
+under the pretext of hygiene, of submitting them against their will to
+medical inspection, and of keeping them in brothels. They claim severe
+laws against proxenetism and oppose toleration.
+
+In medical circles the system of regulation has generally been
+defended. It is urged that society has the right to protect itself
+against dangerous infection, and that, with this object, it has as
+much right to treat infected prostitutes compulsorily, as those
+affected with smallpox or cholera. Owing to their shameful trade, they
+maintain that these women have lost all claim to special
+consideration.
+
+This argument appears very reasonable at first sight, but it takes
+quite a different aspect when the facts are examined more thoroughly.
+
+First of all the comparison with smallpox and cholera is illogical,
+for these diseases endanger the innocent public, while the man who
+makes use of prostitution is quite aware of the danger he runs.
+Society is under no obligation to provide healthy prostitutes for the
+use of Don Juan.
+
+Against this it is stated that innocent wives are often infected and
+made to suffer for the sins of their husbands. But such an extensive
+blending of the State with family life does not appear to be
+admissible, and would lead to crying abuses. Society has neither the
+right nor the duty to facilitate the dangerous or injurious acts of
+certain individuals at the expense of others, by rendering them less
+dangerous, so that certain third parties may be less liable to suffer.
+This is an absurd sophism. The duty of society is to make responsible
+the one who has committed the dangerous or injurious act, and to
+punish him if he has done harm. Here, on the contrary, one only of
+the culprits (the prostitute) is compelled to keep to her vile trade,
+while the man who makes use of her, and often infects her, is free
+from any responsibility. Moreover, the State has no right to act
+against responsible persons under the pretext that their future
+sentiments or actions would have dangerous consequences for others;
+this would lead to arbitrary abuse of power. The insane, and habitual
+criminals make the only exceptions, for their abnormal and
+irresponsible cerebral organization is a perpetual danger to society.
+
+There is one question, however, which arises: Can prostitution in
+itself be regarded as a misdemeanor punishable by law? If this were
+the case, the client would have to be punished as well as the
+prostitute; or both of them be sent to reformatories. This is the only
+logical consequence, for in such cases the two contractors are equally
+guilty, and also equally dangerous as regards infection.
+
+How, therefore, can the system be justified which brands and inscribes
+the prostitute only; which is not content with tolerating her vile
+trade instead of punishing it, but gives it official sanction, causing
+her to fall lower and lower; which finally, to crown the work,
+licenses the proxenetism which exploits her vice? It is difficult to
+imagine more complete hypocrisy, or a more contradictory system.
+
+In former times when slavery was allowed, men's will and pleasure were
+sufficient to justify such measures, which created for their profit a
+class of female pariahs; and this was frankly and openly admitted.
+Nowadays, the equal rights of women which are officially recognized in
+civilized countries no longer allow it, and hygienic arguments only
+can give such modern barbarity the hypocritical appearance of
+justification. Lunatics and criminals are only locked up as a measure
+of safety, and to attempt to improve them; but their bodies are not
+allowed to become an object of commerce for the pleasure of other
+members of society.
+
+But the results of honestly interpreted statistics contradict the
+apparent justification of the regulation of prostitution, in the name
+of hygiene. It is intended to furnish men with a means of coitus free
+from danger; but the facts prove that venereal disease has not been
+diminished by this means. The false security given to men officially
+by regulation makes them all the more careless. The multiplication of
+the sexual connections of each prostitute increases the danger of
+infection at least as much as the elimination of a few diseased
+persons diminishes it.
+
+The corruption of the State and its officials, especially the police
+and the medical inspectors of brothels, the general depravity which
+results from official toleration, and the perversion of ideas of
+morality among the public, increase habits of prostitution, and with
+it the danger of infection. Assured of impunity the pimps and their
+acolytes become more and more audacious and extend their business,
+while the prostitutes, whose number is increased by this system, seek
+to escape the police and practice their trade clandestinely. It is no
+wonder that the swamp to be purified becomes more and more infectious.
+Can it be conscientiously said that hygiene has benefited? This is
+well seen in Geneva and in France. It is enough to compare the number
+of cases of venereal disease and of prostitutes in countries where
+regulation is in force, with those which do not employ it, to show the
+complete fiasco of the system from the hygienic point of view. On the
+average, the number of infectious cases is nearly the same with or
+without regulation and depends on many other causes. I cannot enter
+into the details here and must refer to the statistics and to the
+works published by the Abolitionist Federation (6 Rue St. Leger,
+Geneva).
+
+Of all that has been published, nothing appears to me more conclusive
+than the masterly statistics of Mounier, for Holland, in 1889. Even
+among medical men, the originators of regulation, the abolitionist
+point of view is steadily gaining ground. It is beginning to be
+understood that the toleration of proxenetism, and even the
+inscription and medical inspection of prostitutes, are vicious methods
+of social sanitation against venereal infection.
+
+But by the suppression of official toleration and regulation, the
+question of prostitution is in no way settled. This has only a
+negative action, important for the tactics of those who wish to upset
+a scandalous abuse, but which does not respond to the higher task of
+extirpating the root of the evil. The positive work will only begin
+when the State is relieved of its shameful compact with proxenetism
+and prostitution.
+
+In the following chapters we shall examine the remedies which must be
+applied to our sexual anarchy, the result of masculine autocracy, as
+Russian anarchy is the result of Tsarism. I will first make a few
+observations from the medical and hygienic point of view, to the
+partisans of regulation. They exclaim that the abolitionists are
+fanatics, who, from their absence of scientific spirit, will deluge
+society with venereal disease. This bogy has no sound foundation. The
+State regulation of prostitution applied to certain women has not
+diminished the amount of venereal disease, because it does not reach
+it. The State concession of an unnatural vice cannot be hygienic.
+Moreover, it is impossible to completely disinfect prostitutes, this
+disinfection is quite illusory, unless it is also applied to their
+clients, which is impracticable.
+
+In France, where the system of regulation has existed for a long time
+in its strictest form, venereal diseases are extremely prevalent;
+while in Switzerland, where it only exists at Geneva, having been
+suppressed for some years in the Canton of Zurich, they are less
+frequent. Geneva is not less contaminated than other towns in
+Switzerland, in spite of its model brothels, and Zurich has lately, by
+popular vote, confirmed abolition by a crushing majority, in
+opposition to a few interested persons who wished to reestablish the
+brothels under futile and fallacious pretexts. Some clandestine
+brothels still exist in towns where the authorities shut their eyes.
+
+It has also been maintained that the number of sexual misdemeanors
+would increase with the suppression of brothels. This is another
+illusion. The majority of sexual misdemeanors are due to psychic
+anomalies (Chapter VIII) or to the effects of alcoholic intoxication.
+If they have any relation to prostitution, it is rather that of being
+favored by its orgies.
+
+=Remedies for the Evil.=--What is wanted first of all are severe laws
+against proxenetism. It is indisputable that commerce made with the
+body of one's neighbor is illegal, even when the latter gives
+consent. It is a crime or misdemeanor which should be prosecuted like
+negro slavery or usury. We should not wait for a complaint to be
+lodged, but prosecute proxenetism officially, for the victims are
+hindered by shame from coming forward. The pimps of proxenetism are
+recruited from the dregs of society. In this domain, as in the others,
+penal law should not be put in force; the object should be the
+protection of society and the improvement of the criminal.
+
+As regards prostitution itself, it cannot be made a misdemeanor
+without opening the door too widely to complete arbitrariness. The
+State cannot prevent a responsible adult from disposing of his own
+body, without introducing religion and metaphysics into legislation;
+but the State can require those who practice prostitution not to
+molest the public. It has, therefore, the right to punish solicitation
+in the streets by fine or imprisonment, especially in often repeated
+offenses. It can also give persons of both sexes, who are victims of
+venereal disease, the right of claiming damages by civil law. The
+legality of this right of indemnity has been much contested. In my
+opinion it is legitimate when the State no longer tolerates or
+regulates prostitution; but so long as it does this, and submits
+prostitutes to obligatory medical treatment, the States takes the
+responsibility of their health. Under the regime of regulation, an
+infected person could logically claim damages from the State, or, at
+any rate from the pimps of licensed proxenetism.
+
+The question of responsibility is quite different when prostitution is
+free. The sexual intercourse of a free prostitute with a man may be
+regarded as a private contract in which each party has the same rights
+and obligations. If one of the two contractors deceives the other by
+concealing venereal disease, the latter has the right to claim
+damages, if there is sufficient proof of infection from this source.
+
+The right of indemnity does not, however, constitute the principal
+point. In order to successfully combat prostitution and venereal
+disease, fundamental social reforms are necessary.
+
+(1). First of all the system of exploitation of the poor by the rich
+should be put an end to, the work of the poor being remunerated at
+its true value. This requires a social transformation of the relations
+between capital and labor.
+
+(2). The use of narcotics, and especially alcohol, should be
+suppressed.
+
+(3). The false modesty concerning sexual intercourse should be done
+away with.
+
+(4). The public should be instructed in the dangers of venereal
+disease and in the means of preventing contamination. The only certain
+means of curing them consists in not contracting them.
+
+(5). Cleanliness should be universally encouraged, especially in
+sexual intercourse.
+
+(6). Preventive measures should be employed in every coitus, the
+object of which is not procreation.
+
+(7). The treatment of venereal diseases in hospitals should be carried
+out in a decent and humane manner, so as not to shock the modesty of
+either sex, especially women, and so that patients need not be ashamed
+of submitting to medical treatment. Nowadays the venereal divisions of
+hospitals often more resemble brothels. This state of things makes it
+impossible for any woman with a particle of modesty to stay in these
+places. It is evident that women who are more or less virtuous, and
+even the better class of prostitutes, will avoid such hospital
+treatment as much as possible, and will thereby become the worst
+sources of infection.
+
+By treating venereal disease in hospital with more regard for decency
+and modesty, by abolishing the brand of shame, and by separating
+patients according to their behavior, we might succeed in improving a
+state of things which is often unbearable. Patients with venereal
+diseases would then more willingly submit to hospital treatment and
+would be more easily cured. In Italy much progress has already been
+made in this direction.
+
+In conclusion, I am convinced that if we should be contented for the
+present with damming up prostitution and suppressing the causes which
+render prostitutes more and more abject, without yet being able to
+abolish the whole evil, a transformation of our social life, and
+especially the suppression of the reign of capital as a means of
+exploitation of the work of others, and suppression of the use of
+alcoholic drinks, would eventually succeed in the gradual extinction
+of prostitution and the substitution of concubinage, which has much
+less evil results.
+
+
+VENAL CONCUBINAGE
+
+Venal concubinage occupies an intermediate position between
+prostitution and concubinage. It is distinguished from the latter by
+the fact that it is remunerated; but the distinction is very fine.
+
+=Lorettes.=--This is an old term which may be applied to paid women
+who are not regular prostitutes. It is hardly possible to distinguish
+them from clandestine prostitutes (not on the police inscription).
+They are women who do not practice solicitation or sell themselves to
+the first comer, but generally keep to one man for a time.
+
+=Grisettes.=--The Parisian grisette, whose type has become classic, is
+a higher class of woman who, at any rate in her primitive simplicity,
+was not wanting in romance. Relations with a grisette may be compared
+to limited and free marriage, in which there is comparative fidelity.
+
+Like some of the free prostitutes, the grisette does not live only on
+the support of her lover. She is often a dressmaker or a shop-girl,
+and makes arrangements with a lover so as to live more comfortably.
+
+When the grisette acts as her lover's housekeeper and lives with him
+on terms of the closest intimacy, the _liaison_ takes a more serious
+character and there is a certain degree of affection or even love.
+However, all these concubinages are generally limited to a few weeks
+or months, so that the natural love of the woman becomes blunted by
+successive polyandry. It is always more or less a question of "an
+accessory business."
+
+There are all kinds of lorettes and grisettes, but as a rule they are
+generally attached to small tradesmen, students, workingmen, etc.,
+rather than to rich men. It is a kind of contract for a limited
+period. This system is very widespread in large towns, where the
+inhabitants do not interfere with each other's affairs; but is
+difficult to manage in small towns, where every one knows everybody.
+
+=Mistresses.=--These may be called the aristocrats of the species.
+Here we see more distinctly the transition from venal love to free
+concubinage based on mutual love. The _hetaira_ of the ancient Greeks
+(vide Chapter VI) corresponded more or less to the modern mistresses,
+especially to the intelligent mistresses of men in high positions. In
+certain respects we may say that George Sand, for example, was a
+_hetaira_ from pure love, while among the Greek _hetaira_ money played
+a great part. Some mistresses are paid; others live on terms of
+equality with their lovers; others again maintain their lovers. We
+must also distinguish between mistresses who live with married men,
+and those who live with bachelors.
+
+The most typical case is that where a bachelor who wishes to remain
+free takes a mistress, whom he also makes mistress of his house, and
+who thus becomes an illegitimate wife who may separate from him when
+it pleases her. Some women contract this kind of union without being
+actually paid, simply for their maintenance, in return for which they
+do the housework. Here there is no actual sale of the body. The
+contract may be indefinite or limited. In such cases the effect of
+money on the attitude of the man toward his mistress is evident; his
+tone is generally less respectful toward paid mistresses than toward
+those who are not paid. The love of the paid mistress is little more
+durable or more intense than that of the grisette, the situation being
+almost the same.
+
+Zola's _Nana_ prostituted herself regularly with rich men: secondly,
+she was the mistress of Fontan, who plays the part of a high-class
+protector; thirdly, she fell in love with Georges in quite an idyllic
+fashion. Bordenave, the manager, had good reason in wishing his
+theater to be called a brothel, as he was more of a pimp than a
+theatrical manager. This example, a little far-fetched, shows how
+ideas pass from one to another in this elastic domain.
+
+There are also married mistresses. The position of mistress to a
+married man is, on the whole, more delicate than that of mistress to a
+bachelor. We are only concerned here with paid mistresses. They seldom
+give themselves to married men except when the home life of the latter
+is more or less disorganized; when the husband is separated from the
+wife, or when he lives in open warfare with her. A married man, on the
+contrary, may secretly visit brothels or private prostitutes, often
+even with his wife's knowledge, because the prostitute can have no
+influence in family affairs. This reason has even been used for the
+defense of prostitution. It is true that married men often have
+connection with other women, and the term mistress has been applied to
+the women who take part in this intercourse, whether they or their
+lover, or both of them, are already married. But in this case money is
+usually only a secondary consideration, when the households concerned
+are not broken up. It is often only the maneuver of an intriguer who
+tries to separate a husband from his wife to marry him herself and
+monopolize his fortune. It is sufficient to show how difficult it
+often is to distinguish the paid mistress from the woman who does not
+give herself from interest but from passion, or from the intriguing
+adventuress who tries to make a good catch.
+
+Lorettes, grisettes and paid mistresses seldom have children. These
+women are more rarely infected with venereal diseases than
+prostitutes, but they are better acquainted with the methods of
+preventing conception.
+
+The fate of the children of venal concubines is generally very sad.
+They are not the fruits of love but of a sexual union based on
+idleness and lewdness. If conception occurs in spite of all
+precautions, artificial abortion is attempted, or if this fails the
+child is sent to the "baby farmer," who gets rid of it. The women who
+dispose of their children in this way are often of the better class;
+common prostitutes often love and take care of their children, while
+the young ladies of society generally try and get rid of their
+illegitimate children, because they are much more compromised. Some
+married women even do not hesitate to perform abortion when a child
+inconveniences them.
+
+We have only mentioned the fourth group of women with which we are
+concerned, because of its mercantile nature. Every union in which a
+human being gives love for money is unnatural. Venal love is not true
+love, but an improper contract between man and woman, with the object
+of satisfying the sexual appetite, without any regard to the higher
+object intended by nature. It sometimes happens that similar
+contracts are made in the inverse direction, when a nymphomaniacal
+woman purchases a fine young man, under some pretext or other. Inverts
+also pay boys to satisfy their perverted appetites.
+
+However unsavory may be the contents of the present chapter, it was
+necessary to write it in order to give a clear idea of the subject.
+Under the pretense of virtue venal love has too long been covered with
+a veil of hypocrisy. Prostitution, marriage for money and venal
+concubinage are, each in its way, elements of corruption and decadence
+which, combined with alcohol, gambling, speculation, the greed for
+money and pleasure in general, threaten our modern culture with ruin.
+Among these anomalies, the State organization of prostitution being
+the most monstrous, it is necessary to begin with its suppression.
+
+Among the ancients, the goddess Venus or Aphrodite was the symbol of
+beauty and love. Although somewhat sly, she was fecund, full of desire
+and charm, and embodied not only the natural aspirations of man, but
+also his artistic ideal. Nowadays, she is dragged in the mire by two
+false gods--Bacchus, who makes a gross and vulgar brute of her, and
+Mammon, who transforms her into a venal prostitute--while a
+hypocritical religious asceticism, endeavors in vain to confine her in
+a strait-waistcoat. May the progress of science and culture find the
+power to deliver her from the tyranny of her two infamous companions,
+deified by human ignorance and bestiality. Then only will the goddess
+of love appear in all her glory!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT ON SEXUAL LIFE
+
+
+However strong may be the hereditary sexual instincts which an
+individual has inherited by phylogeny from his ancestors, and however
+violent their internal outbreaks in his ontogeny, it is necessary to
+recognize that an organism so complicated as that of man is capable of
+adapting itself to its environment to a remarkable and varied degree,
+and that consequently external influences react strongly on the sexual
+appetite. We will now examine these influences, so far as they are not
+dealt with in other chapters.
+
+=Influence of Climate.=--Warm climates appear to excite the intensity
+of sexual life; man matures more quickly and is more disposed to
+sexual excess. I am not aware of other influences that can be
+attributed to climate. It is, moreover, possible that the direct
+influence of heat has been confounded with the indirect action it
+exerts in the conditions of human existence. In cold countries life is
+more laborious, and this diminishes the intensity of the sexual
+appetite. In warm countries man has not so much concern with
+dwellings, clothes and heating; life is greatly simplified, and this
+freedom from anxiety inclines him to greater sexual activity.
+
+=Town and Country. Isolation. Sociability. Life in Factories.=--The
+social relations of man exert a great influence on sexual life.
+Hermits and those who live on isolated farms are interesting in this
+respect. Solitude generally leads man to chronic melancholia and to
+abnormal peculiarities, unless he has a library in his hermitage, when
+he may live in the spirit of the intellectual sociability derived from
+the study of books.
+
+It is quite otherwise with one who has no intellectual occupation, or
+one who has lived in solitude from infancy. In this case the hermit
+becomes a kind of savage, without any intellectual development, and
+reverts more or less to the state of primitive man.
+
+An adult who establishes himself in solitude without providing himself
+with intellectual capital becomes strongly inclined to depressing
+psychoses. This is observed among the isolated farmers, according to
+Professor Seguin, of New York. The man who lives alone, or surrounded
+only by the members of his family becomes disposed to certain sexual
+anomalies, such as incest, sodomy and masturbation.
+
+It is among the agricultural population that we meet with the most
+normal sexual relations and the best hygiene. The French Canadians
+form a good example, and it is the same generally where agriculture is
+practiced by independent peasants, not alcoholized, and having divided
+property. Agricultural families generally procreate more children and
+healthier ones than urban families. No doubt modern medical hygiene,
+both public and private, has made so much progress in towns that there
+may be, at a certain age, proportionally more living children than in
+the country; but the country children are of stronger constitution and
+more healthy in every way.
+
+I had the opportunity of confirming this opinion while I was
+superintendent of a lunatic asylum for many years. I found it was
+impossible to recruit from the town a good staff of nurses of either
+sex.
+
+The inhabitant of towns, it is true, learns his work more quickly, but
+he lacks patience, perseverance and character, and soon shows himself
+wanting in the accomplishment of his physical and moral duties. The
+countryman, on the contrary, is at first slow and clumsy, but soon
+becomes more capable and careful, and more amenable to education. This
+shows that, on the average, the hereditary dispositions of the
+country-bred child are better than those of the town-bred child. The
+latter develops more rapidly and more completely his natural
+dispositions, owing to social intercourse, while the country-bred
+child, although he appears at first sight less intelligent, is really
+better endowed on the average than the town child. The superficial
+observer is easily deceived, but country life accumulates more reserve
+force in the organism than urban life.
+
+Sexual excesses in the country are more conformable to nature. Apart
+from marriage, we meet with concubinage, infidelity, and sometimes
+prostitution, but these excesses are never widely spread in small
+places where every one knows each other. An extensive study of the
+alcohol question has shown me that hereditary degenerations and sexual
+evils in the country are principally due to alcoholism and its
+blastophthoria (vide Chapter I). But when factories, mining
+industries, etc., create unhealthy conditions in the country, the evil
+influences of urban life are implanted there, often in a still higher
+degree.
+
+The society of large towns is made up of many different circles, who
+have little or no relations with each other, do not know each other,
+and seldom concern themselves about each other. The individual is only
+known in his own circle. This circumstance favors the increase of vice
+and depravity. In addition to this, the insanitary dwellings, the life
+of excitement and innumerable pleasures, all tend to produce a
+restless and unnatural existence. The best conditions of existence for
+man are contact with nature, air and light, sufficient physical
+exercise combined with steady work for the brain, which requires
+exercise as much as the other organs; this is just what is wanting
+among the poor, in the town and in the factory. Instead of this they
+are offered unhealthy nocturnal pleasures and a prostitution which
+spreads itself everywhere with all the dangerous effects we have
+described. The result is that they become incapable of nourishing and
+raising their children properly, often even of procreating them in
+healthy and natural love.
+
+Such are the conditions of the lower classes in large towns. Along
+with prostitution, venereal disease and alcohol, the wretched
+dwellings in many places lead to infamous promiscuity. In factories
+and mines things are still worse. In these places there is a swarm of
+people continually engaged in most unhealthy occupations, and only
+leaving their work to indulge in the most repugnant sexual excesses.
+The rapacity, frivolity and luxury of society lead to alcoholism,
+poverty, promiscuity and prostitution among the lower classes and
+cause complete degeneration of entire industrial populations.
+
+In the Canton of Zurich I have had the opportunity of closely
+observing the physical and moral effects of this degeneration. The
+individuals most incapable as hospital attendants were always factory
+hands. These wretched beings were generally so atrophied in body and
+mind that they were no use for anything except the weaving of silk and
+cotton. In the large English towns, such as Liverpool, and among the
+population of certain mining districts in Belgium, I have met with
+even worse degeneration of the human species. Modesty, morality and
+health are destroyed in this swarming human mass--dirty, anaemic,
+tuberculous, rickety, imbecile, or hysterical--and there is no
+distinction between the factory girl and the prostitute. In certain
+Belgian districts which are a prey to alcoholism, one sometimes sees
+human beings copulating in the streets like animals, or like the
+drunken Kaffirs in South Africa. What can we expect from the
+descendants of a population so completely degenerate? Marriage and
+even concubinage among peasants is golden in comparison!
+
+I will now draw attention to a contemporary phenomenon of the greatest
+interest. The immense development of means of transport, combined with
+progress in the sanitation of dwellings, favors the transportation of
+town to country and country to town. This brings together the two
+modes of human life, and in this I see the dawn of salvation in the
+future. The modern towns of North America, thanks to the great
+extension of their territory, already resemble the country to a great
+extent, each house being surrounded by a garden. The electric tramways
+shorten distances and facilitate this manner of building towns. As
+means of communication become still more simplified and cheapened, the
+advantages of country life will be joined to those of the town without
+suffering from the promiscuity of the latter. The disadvantages of
+country life consist in atrophy of the intellectual dispositions from
+want of contact; improvement in means of transport will bring this
+contact to the country. The result of such distribution of the
+territory of a civilized state, such as I have in view, might be
+called an _Agropolis_--an urbanized country or a countrified town. It
+would then be possible to live a life more ideal in human sentiments,
+and healthier as regards material and sexual matters.
+
+The state of the countryman or peasant is advantageous for marriage,
+not only because it does not offer such a suitable soil for
+prostitution, but because the danger of venereal disease is
+diminished, and the procreation of healthy offspring favors conjugal
+happiness and constancy in sexual union. From the religious point of
+view, the freedom in sexual intercourse which prevails among country
+people before marriage is looked upon as immoral; but this is a
+natural phenomenon similar to the "marriage by trial" of certain
+savage races, or the "hand-fasting" of the Scotch people, of which we
+have spoken in Chapter VI. People who tolerate and defend prostitution
+should be ashamed of their hypocrisy and of the manner in which they
+distort morality, when in the same breath they reproach peasants with
+their natural but illegitimate unions.
+
+It is needless to say that other causes of degeneration may exist in
+the country as well as in towns; for instance, certain endemic
+diseases, such as myxoedema and malaria, the brutish life of certain
+tribes, perpetuation of degeneracy by consanguineous unions, etc.
+
+The worst state is certainly that of the proletariat of large towns,
+which is generally associated with crime. In the community of pimps,
+criminals and decadents in general, is constituted a special social
+outlook, which regards the greatest scamp in the light of a hero. When
+a child shows a precocious criminal disposition it is looked upon in
+these circles as a child of much promise. Honest and virtuous children
+are considered in this society as imbeciles, or even as traitors and
+spies, and are consequently despised, hated and ill-treated. The
+deleterious influences we have mentioned do not act alone, but are
+often associated with other factors in causing degeneration of the
+sexual life. When other influences preponderate, we may sometimes
+observe depravity in the country, and on the contrary, healthy and
+normal conditions in certain towns. We must always avoid exaggerating
+the importance of a single factor in making generalizations. Certain
+country villages, the inhabitants of which have become alcoholized and
+degraded, may present a much more unhealthy sexual life than certain
+sober and well-governed towns.
+
+=Vagabondage.=--In the _Archiv fuer Rassen und Gesellschafts biologie_
+of 1905 (Archives of the biology of races and of society), Doctor
+Joerger relates the history of the descendants of a couple of
+vagabonds, which he carefully studied for several generations. Nearly
+all the members of this family became vagabonds, thieves, prostitutes,
+and other society pests. Vain attempts were made to give a good
+education to some of them, but they ran away from school to lead the
+lives of vagabonds or criminals. In a few of them only, education gave
+some results, but not at all brilliant. In this family, alcoholism and
+its blastophthoria played a considerable part.
+
+We can hardly admit that the mnemic phenomena explained in Chapter I
+could have acted appreciably in two or three hundred years, a period
+much too short for the human species. No doubt the common ancestor of
+the above family of vagabonds descended from a family of vagabonds. I
+do not, however, think I am wrong in attributing to blastophthoria,
+superposed on the disastrous combinations of germs which is inevitable
+in the life of vagabonds, the principal cause of this typical
+degeneration of the family, a degeneration in which sexual degradation
+strongly predominates. I recommend Doctor Joerger's work to any one
+interested in this question. It would be useful to draw up
+genealogical tables, with the medical and psychological descriptions
+of the whole population of a small town.
+
+=Americanism.=--By this term I designate an unhealthy feature of
+sexual life, common among the educated classes of the United States,
+and apparently originating in the greed for dollars, which is more
+prevalent in North America than anywhere else. I refer to the
+unnatural life which Americans lead, and more especially to its sexual
+aspect.
+
+The true American citizen despises agricultural work and manual labor
+in general, especially for women. His aim is to centralize labor by
+means of machinery and commerce, so as to concern himself only with
+business, intellectual occupations and sport. American women consider
+muscular work and labor in the country as degrading to their sex. This
+is a relic of the days of slavery, when all manual labor was left to
+negroes, and is so to a great extent at the present day.
+
+Desirous of remaining young and fresh as long as possible, fearing the
+dangers and troubles of childbirth and the bringing-up of children,
+the American woman has an increasing aversion to pregnancy,
+childbirth, suckling and the rearing of large families.
+
+Since the emancipation of negroes has caused domestic servants in the
+United States to become expensive luxuries, family life has been to a
+great extent replaced by life in hotels and boarding-houses, and this
+has furnished another reason for avoiding conception and large
+families.
+
+It is evident that this form of emancipation of women is absolutely
+deleterious and that it leads to degeneration, if not to extinction of
+the race. The mixed Aryan (European) race of North America will
+diminish and become gradually extinguished, even without emigration,
+and will soon be replaced by Chinese or negroes. It is necessary for
+woman to labor as well as man, and she ought not to avoid the
+fulfillment of her natural position. Every race which does not
+understand this necessity ends in extinction. A woman's ideal ought
+not to consist in reading novels and lolling in rocking chairs, nor in
+working only in offices and shops, so as to preserve her delicate skin
+and graceful figure. She ought to develop herself strongly and
+healthily by working along with man in body and mind, and by
+procreating numerous children, when she is strong, robust and
+intelligent. But this does not nullify the advantage that may accrue
+from limiting the number of conceptions, when the bodily and mental
+qualities are wanting in the procreators.
+
+=Saloons and Alcohol.=--I desire to draw attention once more to the
+evil influence of saloons and bars. The drink habit corrupts the whole
+of sexual life. It is the origin of the most hideous forms of
+prostitution and proxenetism, and leads to the seduction of girls. I
+must mention again the barmaids whose business it is to attract
+customers by exciting their sexual desire, at the same time exploiting
+themselves by prostitution. These saloons are dens of iniquity in
+which alcohol and prostitution are inextricably confounded. In Germany
+they have become a veritable social plague.
+
+Drink makes men and women not only gross and sensual, but also
+negligent, imprudent and irreflective. The saloon takes men from their
+homes, and drink directly diminishes the population. This is seen in
+Russia by comparing the abstainers with the drinkers, the former being
+much more fecund. The statistics of Doctor Bezzola show that a single
+drinking bout may have a blastophthoric effect. From this and from
+other causes result the deplorable consequences of coitus which takes
+place during drunkenness.[7]
+
+=Wealth and Poverty.=--While in former civilizations the rich man
+regarded a multiplicity of wives and children as a condition or cause
+of his wealth and also as its result, in our modern civilization the
+number of children diminishes with the increase of prosperity.
+Children have ceased to be as formerly a source of wealth; on the
+contrary, they occasion much expense for their education. Again, the
+higher the social position of woman the more she fears pregnancy. Her
+life of ease makes her weaker and more delicate, so that she becomes
+less fit for the procreation of children. This phenomenon is an
+unhealthy product of culture and reaches a truly pathological degree
+in America.
+
+We have mentioned marriage for money, which is the prostitution of the
+rich, and poverty, which is one of the causes of common prostitution,
+and we have seen how money influences sexual intercourse. We may now
+state the general principle that a mediocrity living in comfortable
+circumstances without immediate daily wants, under good hygienic
+conditions, but requiring a man to work for his living, constitutes
+the best condition both for a healthy sexual life and for health and
+happiness in general. This is the _aurea mediocritas_, or modest
+competence, the excellence of which was recognized by the ancients.
+
+The sexuality of the rich man degenerates by luxury, comfort, excess
+and idleness, and by the fact that he is already satiated in his
+youth. That of the poor man is no less degenerate, owing to bad food,
+unhealthy dwellings, neglected education, and by vicious example which
+at the opposite extreme, resembles in many points that of the rich
+man; the exploiter and the exploited meeting in the dens of vice. Such
+is the case with gambling hells, with dens for prostitution and
+sexual anomalies, where the poor blackmail the rich, while the latter
+in their capacity as social exploiters help to maintain poverty and
+prostitution.
+
+Money makes sexual intercourse unnatural; in place of letting coitus
+take its natural course, it makes it an object of amusement and
+pleasure, and also of speculation, and it debases the bodies of
+wretched girls by making them objects of commerce.
+
+Unfortunately, the increasing facility of obtaining money without
+working for it, due to civilization, not only corrupts the sexual life
+of the wealthy and the poverty stricken, but has the same effect on
+the middle classes. A healthy and normal sexual life must be
+associated with honest and arduous work. We have already remarked that
+the solution of the sexual question depends partly on the suppression
+of alcoholic drink. We may add that another side of the question
+depends on the extirpation of the greed for money. If human beings
+could work for the social welfare without private interest, sexual
+relations would soon take their natural course. But it must be
+admitted that it is difficult to find a practical solution for the
+problem of social economy.
+
+=Rank and Social Position.=--Class distinction and social position
+have always played a part in sexual life. This is especially the case
+where certain class customs and prejudices prescribe a special code
+for marriage. The consanguinity of the nobility and of royal families,
+who can only marry among themselves, has resulted in obvious
+degeneration. Originally there was the desire to preserve the purity
+of noble blood, and rules formulated with this object at first had
+some success; but in the long run the exclusiveness of such selection
+produces degeneration of the group which puts it into practice.
+
+On the other hand, the severe rules which govern marriages among the
+nobility have resulted in driving the latter to extra-nuptial sexual
+intercourse. In their sexual excesses, the nobility, and even crowned
+heads, seldom amuse themselves with honest and virtuous girls of the
+working classes, but more generally with actresses of loose morals,
+dancing girls, and hysterical sirens and adventuresses of all kinds,
+so long as they are pretty. Since the time of the feudal system, the
+nobility, having lost its real reason for existence, only lives on its
+traditions. It remains in general in a state of idle depravity,
+faithful to its old traditions, except when it has succeeded in
+adapting itself to the work of modern life. It has, in fact, preserved
+the vices of its ancestors rather than their virtues.
+
+The more than doubtful offspring of extra-nuptial intercourse among
+the nobility have often been adopted or raised to the nobility.
+Moreover, kings and princes have often ennobled unworthy persons who
+had succeeded in pandering to their follies or exciting their sexual
+passions. It is, therefore, not to be wondered at if in the offspring
+of such unions, the blood of the highest nobility is tainted with that
+of the worst kinds of heredity.
+
+Another sign or effect of the degeneration of the nobility is found in
+the marriages they so often contract with wealthy heiresses, often of
+mediocre quality, in order to repair their escutcheon. In the Middle
+Ages, the nobility regarded it as degrading to work for their living,
+and this prejudice accelerated their degeneration; for nowadays the
+heroic and chivalrous deeds of the Middle Ages have little opportunity
+for their performance.
+
+Other social classes present certain sexual peculiarities; for example
+the disastrous consequences of celibacy among the Catholic priests.
+This excludes an important and intelligent portion of the species from
+reproduction, and also favors clandestine debauchery.
+
+The army and navy also exert a detrimental action on sexual life.
+First of all they foster one of the lowest forms of prostitution;
+soldiers' women are proverbial, and one of them alone may infect a
+whole regiment. In the second place, the absence of normal sexual
+intercourse favors all kinds of perversion, such as pederasty,
+masturbation, etc. The abominable sexual life of soldiers and sailors
+corrupts them to such an extent that when they marry later on they
+come to their wives with filthy habits, to say nothing of syphilis and
+gonorrhea. The result is the procreation of offspring who are more or
+less tainted in body and mind by the effects of venereal disease
+combined with alcohol. We have already mentioned the rules which
+forbid German officers to marry a woman unless she possesses a certain
+fortune.
+
+In the Norwegian mercantile marine the customs contrast happily with
+those we have just mentioned, and permit officers to live on board
+with their wives. In all respects the Norwegian serves as a model in
+the sexual question; does he not favor conjugal life by only charging
+half-price on the boats for women who travel with their husbands!
+
+Other classes have a less obvious influence on sexual life. On the
+whole, however, all sexual isolation of castes has an unfavorable
+influence. Wherever the prejudices of a caste compel its members to
+intermarry, certain special degenerations are produced. Good quality
+in man is not derived from class or position, but from true innate or
+hereditary nobility of character, and this alone should be the object
+of positive selection, without any distinction of classes.
+
+=Individual Life.=--There is no doubt that the mode of life of the
+individual exerts an influence on his sexual life. High living
+combined with little bodily exercise generally increases the sexual
+appetite, while insufficient food combined with severe muscular work
+diminishes it.
+
+Intellectual work acts in a variable manner. A distinguished
+psychologist assured me that intense intellectual work excited his
+sexual appetite; others have said the opposite. As a rule, a sedentary
+life increases the sexual appetite; a life full of occupation and
+muscular activity diminishes it. But the question is complicated by
+other influences.
+
+Alcohol diminishes sexual power, while exalting desire or even
+perverting it. The artificial excitants of the sexual appetite,
+cultivated by modern civilization by interested speculation, act in
+rather a different way. Erotic pictures, obscene novels and dramas,
+etc., constitute an unhealthy medium in our centers of civilization,
+which overexcites and corrupts the sexual appetite. The more delicate
+and poisonous the perfume of this atmosphere and the more aesthetic the
+refinement by which it titillates the senses, the greater is its
+destructive action.
+
+The question of the reunion or separation of the sexes plays an
+important part. Life in common among girls and boys from infancy
+usually diminishes sexual excitation, in the same way as among
+brothers and sisters. We find something analogous in different
+branches of human activity where the two sexes live together; for
+instance, at college, in the fields, and in general where work and
+play is common to both sexes.
+
+There are, however, certain exceptions to this rule, which must not be
+taken too generally. Under certain circumstances, life in common of
+the two sexes leads to unfavorable and even perverted sexual
+excitation. This is especially the case when alcohol adds its
+influence; also among nervous or ill-balanced individuals. In my
+opinion it is absolutely unreasonable for the superintendent of a
+lunatic asylum to organize balls at which the insane of both sexes are
+provided with beer or wine. I have only seen bad results from this,
+while I have obtained excellent effects from a temporary reunion of
+the insane of both sexes, by avoiding all alcoholic drinks as well as
+everything which could excite the sexual appetite, such as dancing, or
+the bringing together of erotic or perverted individuals. A young
+female onanist who suffered from sexual excitement complicated with a
+nervous condition, complained to me of being obliged to work as a
+telegraphist among young men, as this continually excited her
+eroticism without the possibility of satisfying it.
+
+This situation, which is a common one in both sexes, gives us a
+valuable indication. No doubt life in common for the two sexes is
+normal and natural, but only on the condition that it leads eventually
+to normal sexual intercourse as the result of love. It is neither
+healthy nor normal to excite an appetite continually without
+satisfying it. Any one who wishes to live a continent life, for
+religious or other reasons, ought not to expose himself to continual
+excitement by too great intimacy with the opposite sex; he should, on
+the contrary, avoid everything which tends to excite his sexual
+appetite and seek everything which tends to pacify it. I am not
+referring here to individuals of a naturally cold and indifferent
+nature, who run little or no risk under such circumstances.
+
+Certain occupations, such as those of employees in stores, telegraph
+offices, etc., in which the two sexes are closely associated in their
+work, constitute from this point of view a double-edged sword. Other
+unhealthy and monotonous occupations, combined with bad conditions of
+food and lodging, and with all kinds of seduction--factory hands for
+example--have a positively deleterious effect on sexual life, which
+becomes absolutely depraved when the two sexes work together. The
+situation is hardly any better when they are only separated during
+working hours.
+
+=Internats.=--All internats, _i.e._, all establishments where
+individuals of the same sex live in the same dwelling for a long time,
+exert a peculiar influence on sexual life--schools and convents, for
+example.
+
+The great inconvenience of all these establishments lies in the danger
+of contamination from habits of onanism or pederasty. Inverts are
+strongly attracted towards internats, where they find their heart's
+desire where they can easily indulge their perverted passions; the
+dormitory of such an institution having the same effect on them as
+that of a girl's school would have on a young man. (Vide Chapter
+VIII.)
+
+This is a matter which has not received sufficient attention in
+organizing boarding-schools for boys and girls, because it was not
+known that homosexual instincts are hereditary and innate. Such cases
+were regarded only as acquired bad habits.
+
+Lunatic asylums are especially attractive to sexual inverts, who apply
+for the positions of attendants or nurse so as to be able to indulge
+their passions on the insane patients, who are incapable of betraying
+them.
+
+Without being homosexual, nor even seduced by inverts, many normal but
+erotic individuals try to satisfy their sexual appetite on their
+companions--boys by pederasty, girls by lesbian love, and both sexes
+by mutual onanism.
+
+The chief danger is that of some sexually perverted individual gaining
+entry to a boarding-school and contaminating numbers of normal
+individuals, without anything being discovered; because it is much
+more difficult to supervise a school than a family. This could be
+remedied better by confidence between masters and pupils than by
+supervision.
+
+=Varia.=--I should never finish if I attempted to describe all the
+influences of environment. The examples mentioned will suffice to
+show that, in a natural appetite such as the sexual, the two extremes
+of asceticism and excess lead to evil and unnatural aberrations, and
+that the important point is to find or create a healthy environment
+for a healthy sexual life.
+
+We hear a good deal about good or bad luck or chance in the matter of
+love. I do not deny that fortuitous circumstances often determine the
+happiness of an individual in his love affairs. But it is all the more
+deplorable that what is called the good manners of society make it so
+difficult to correct Cupid's blunders. There is room for improvement
+in this direction, and many spoilt lives and much unhappiness might be
+avoided. The unfavorable influence of environment might often be
+corrected by separation or change, if this could be done in time.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[7] Vide "Alkoholvergiftung und Degeneration" by Bunge: Leipzig 1904;
+and "Hygiene of the Nerves and Mind" by Forel: Stuttgart 1905.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+RELIGION AND SEXUAL LIFE
+
+
+=Transformation of Profane Customs into Religious
+Dogmas.=--Ethnography has taught us that in the course of time human
+tribes often unconsciously transform profane customs into integral
+parts of their religion, either by attributing them to a divine
+origin, or by elevating them to the rank of commandments of the gods,
+or by connecting them with other dogmas, combining them with worship,
+etc.
+
+Sexual connection plays an important part in this matter. A great
+number of religious rites and customs are nothing else than the
+customs of sexual life (taken in its widest sense) which have been
+symbolized; inversely, a number of dogmas have for their only motive
+the application of a religious basis to sexual customs, which gives
+them more authority.
+
+The religious rites react powerfully on the sexual life and on the way
+in which the members of the tribe or people understand it. We will
+give a few striking examples.
+
+We have seen in Chapter VI that polygamy depends first on the idea of
+ownership, and secondly on marriage by purchase, to which it owes its
+historic origin. But the fact that Islamism and Mormonism, for
+example, have made polygamy an integral part of their religious
+dogmas, has given to the whole organization of the Mahometans and
+Mormons, as well as to their point of view of existence, a particular
+direction which cannot be ignored. In reality, we are just as
+polygamous as they are, but our theoretical and religious sexual
+morality is monogamous while theirs is polygamous, each based on
+contradictory "divine commandments."
+
+Among certain Buddhists, the wife is compelled to follow her husband
+to the grave, which naturally influences sexual life profoundly.
+
+Among many savage races there exists matriarchism, which gives the
+woman a high social position. This has even been made a religious
+dogma, while it simply originates from the natural and just idea that
+the mother is much more intimately connected with the children than
+the father.
+
+The duty imposed on men to marry the widow of their brother originated
+from a profane command intended to regulate unions; eventually this
+was made a religious dogma. In the same way circumcision among the
+Jews had its origin in a hygienic custom having no relation to
+religious faith. This did not prevent it becoming later on as
+important a custom as baptism in Christianity. For the Jewish people
+it has the advantage of protecting them to a great extent from
+venereal infection, and against one of the chief causes of
+masturbation.
+
+=Catholicism.=--We have already spoken of the celibacy of the Catholic
+priests and of its lay origin. The Catholic religion also contains a
+series of detailed precepts concerning sexual connection in general
+and marriage in particular; precepts which were only gradually
+transformed into religious dogmas. As they determine to a great extent
+opinions and manners in the sexual domain, they exert a considerable
+social influence.
+
+The absolute interdiction of divorce among the Catholics (man has not
+the right to separate those whom God has joined together) seals
+forever the most unfortunate unions and leads to misfortunes of all
+kinds, separation of the married couple, _liaisons_ apart from
+marriage, etc. According to Liguori, the Catholic Church prescribes a
+number of details concerning sexual relations in marriage. The woman
+who, during coitus places herself upon the man instead of under him,
+commits a sin. The position and manner of performing coitus are
+prescribed in the most minute details, and the holy fathers make the
+woman play a part unworthy of her position as wife, while according
+the man the widest liberty.
+
+In truly Catholic marriage it is prescribed to procreate as many
+children as possible, and all preventive measures in coitus are
+severely condemned. Hence, if the woman is very fruitful, the husband
+has only the choice between complete abstention from coitus (when both
+conjoints are in agreement) and pregnancies following without
+interruption. The woman never has the right to refuse coitus to her
+husband, nor the latter to refuse it to his wife, so long as he is
+capable of accomplishing it.
+
+It is easy to understand what powerful effects such precepts have had
+and still have on the conjugal life of the Catholics, particularly on
+the quantity and quality of their descendants.
+
+=Aural Confession.=--Confession requires special mention. In his book,
+"Fifty Years in the Roman Church" (Jeheber, Geneva), on page 151,
+Father Chiniqui, the celebrated Canadian reformer, who later on became
+a Protestant, and for many years played an important part in the
+Canadian Catholic clergy, mentions the points on which the confessor
+interrogates the penitents of both sexes. One cannot reproach him with
+being incompetent.
+
+No doubt the Church of to-day would reply that the confessor is not
+obliged to put all these questions and that the details are left to
+his tact. We will agree that there is a difference between the Canada
+of the last century, a new and primitive country, and the Europe of
+the present day. But I maintain: First, that the confessor does not
+content himself with listening to what the penitents of both sexes
+tell him, but that it is his duty to interrogate them; secondly, that
+a celibate Catholic person, extremely serious and virtuous, to whom I
+put the question unawares, informed me that not only are sexual
+matters dealt with at the confessional, but that they play the
+principal role. And, as it is a question of warning the penitents
+against so-called sins, mortal or not, or of absolving them, I fail to
+see how the priest can avoid speaking of them, when the detailed
+precepts of which we have spoken exist.
+
+I reproduce here the original Latin text. It deals with questions
+which have been treated in Chapter VIII, so that I shall dispense with
+giving a translation.
+
+The confessor puts the following questions to his penitents:
+
+1. _Peccant uxores, quae susceptum viri semen ejiciunt, vel ejicere
+conantur_ (Dens, vol. VII, p. 147).
+
+2. _Peccant conjuges mortaliter, si, copula incepta, prohibeant
+seminationem._
+
+3. _Si vir jam seminaverit, dubium fit an femina lethaliter peccat,
+si se retrahat a seminando; aut peccat lethaliter vir non expectando
+seminationem uxoris_ (p. 153).
+
+4. _Peccant conjuges inter se circa actum conjugalem. Debet servari
+modus, sive situs; uno ut non servetur debitum vas, sed copula
+habeatur in vase praepostero, aliquoque non naturali. Si fiat
+accedendo a postero, a latere, stando, sedendo, vel si vir sit
+succumbus_ (p. 166).
+
+5. _Impotentia. Est incapacitas perficiendi copulam carnalem perfectam
+cum seminatione viri in vase se debito, seu, de se, aptam generationi.
+Vel, ut si mulier sit nimis arcta respectu unius non respectu
+alterius_ (p. 273).
+
+6. _Notatur quod pollutio, in mulieribus possit perfici, ita ut semen
+earum non effluat extra membrum genitale. Indicium istius allegat
+Billuart, si scilicet mulier sensiat seminis resolutionem cum magno
+voluptatis sensu, qua completa, passio satiatur_ (vol. IV, p. 168).
+
+7. _Uxor se accusans, in confessione, quod negaverit debitum,
+interrogatur an ex pleno rigore juris sui id petiverit_ (vol. VII, p.
+168).
+
+8. _Confessarius poenitentem, qui confitetur se peccasse cum
+sacerdote, vel solicitatem ab eo ad turpia, potest interrogare utrum
+ille sacerdos sit ejus confessarius, an in confessione sollicitaverit_
+(vol. VI, p. 297).
+
+In volumes V and VII of Dens may be found many such precepts,
+impossible to reproduce, on which the pious casuist desires his
+penitents to be examined.
+
+Let us now pass on to the celebrated Liguori. Among numerous other
+obscene questions of a refined erotic nature, every confessor is bound
+to put the two following to his penitents:
+
+1. _Quaerat an sit semper mortale, si vir immitat pudenda in os
+uxoris...?_
+
+_Verius affirmo, quia in hoc actu, ob calorem oris, adest proximum
+periculum pollutionis, et videtur nova species luxuriae contra
+naturam, dicta irruminatio._
+
+2. _Eodem modo, Sanchez damnat virum de mortali qui, in actu copulae,
+immite ret digitum in vas praeposterum uxoris; quia, ut ait, in hoc
+actu, adest affectus ad-Sodomiam_ (Liguori, t. VI, p. 935).
+
+Let us now leave the celebrated Liguori and pass on to Burchard, the
+bishop of Worms. He has written a book on the questions which the
+priest should put at the confessional. Although this book no longer
+exists it has been for ages the guide of the Roman Catholic priests at
+the confessional. Dens, Liguori, Debreyne, etc., have taken from it
+their most savory passages, to recommend them as a study for our
+present confessors. We will give a few examples:
+
+(_a_) To young men:
+
+1. _Fecisti solus tecum fornicationem ut quidam facere solent; ita
+dico ut ipse tuum membrum virile in manum tuam acciperes, et sic
+duceres praeputium tuum, et manu propria commoveres, ut sic per illam
+delectationem semen projiceres?_
+
+2. _Fornicationem fecisti cum masculo intra coxas; ita dico ut tuum
+virile membrum intra coxas alterius mitteres, et sic agitando semen
+funderes?_
+
+3. _Fecisti fornicationem, ut quidam facere solent, ut tuum virile
+membrum in lignum perforatum aut in aliquod hujus modi mitteres et sic
+per illam commotionem et delectationem semen projiceres?_
+
+4. _Fecisti fornicationem contra naturam, id est, cum masculis vel
+animalibus coire, id est, cum equo, cum vacca vel asina, vel aliquo
+animali?_ (vol. I, p. 136).
+
+(_b_) To young girls or women (same collection, p. 115):
+
+1. _Fecisti quod quaedam mulieres solent, quoddam molimen, aut
+machinamentum in modum virilis membri ad mensuram tuae voluptatis, et
+illud loco verendorum tuorum aut alterius cum aliquibus ligaturis ut
+fornicationem faceres cum aliis mulieribus, vel alio eodem
+instrumento, sive alio tecum?_
+
+2. _Fecisti quod quaedam mulieres facere solent, ut jam supra dicto
+molimine vel alio aliquo machinamento, tu ipsa in te solam faceres
+fornicationem?_
+
+3. _Fecisti quod quaedam mulieres facere solent, quando libidinem se
+vexantem extinguere volunt, quae se conjugunt quasi coire debeant et
+possint, et conjungunt invicem puerperio sua, et si fricando pruritum
+illarum extinguere desiderant?_
+
+4. _Fecisti quod quaedam mulieres facere solent, ut cum filio tuo
+parvulo fornicationem faceres, ita dico ut filium tuum supra
+turpidinem tuam poneres ut sic imitaberis fornicationem?_
+
+5. _Fecisti quod quaedam mulieres facere solent, ut succumberes aliquo
+jumento et illud jumentum ad coitum qualicumque posses ingenio ut sic
+coiret tecum?_
+
+The celebrated Debreyne has written a whole book on the same subject
+for the instruction of young confessors, and in it he has enumerated
+all kinds of debauchery and sexual perversion which he could imagine,
+"Maechiology," or _Treatise on all the Sins against the Sixth_
+(seventh in the Decalogue) _and the Ninth_ (tenth) _Commandments_, as
+well as on all questions of married life connected with them.
+
+This book is very celebrated and is widely studied in the Roman
+Church. We only quote from it the two following questions:
+
+To men:
+
+_Ad cognoscendum an usque ad pollutionem se tetigerint, quando tempore
+et quo fine se tetigerint; an tunc quoddam motus in corpore experti
+fuerint, et per quantum temporis spatium; an cessantibus tactibus
+nihil insolitum et turpe acciderit; ad non longe majorem in corpore
+voluptatem perciperint in fine inactum quam in eorum principio; an tum
+in fine quando magnam delectationem carnalem senserunt, omnes motus
+corporis cessaverint; an non malefacti fuerint?_ etc., etc.
+
+To girls:
+
+_Quae sese tetigisse fatentur, an non aliquem pruritum extinguere
+tentaverit, et utrum pruritus ille cessaverit cum magnam senserint
+voluptatem; an tunc ipsimet tactus cessaverint?_
+
+Among a thousand other analogous precepts the reverend Kenrick, bishop
+of Boston, in the United States, gives the following to his
+confessors:
+
+_Uxor quae, in usu matrimonii, se vertit, ut non recipiat semen, vel
+statim post illud acceptum surgit, ut expellatur, lethaliter peccat;
+sed opus non est ut diu resuspina jaceat, quum matrix, brevi semen
+attrahat, et mox, arctissime claudatur._
+
+_Puellae patienti licet se vertere et conari ut non recipiat semen,
+quod injuria et emittitur; sed, acceptum non licet expellere, quia jam
+possessionem pacificam habet et haud absque injuria naturae
+ejiceretur._
+
+_Conjuges senes plerumque coeunt absque culpa, licet contingat semen
+extra vas effundi; id enim per accidens fit ex infirmitati naturae._
+
+_Quod si vires adeo sint fractae ut nulla sit seminandi intra vas
+spes, jam nequeunt jure conjugi uti_ (vol. III, p. 317).
+
+Such is the teaching of Chiniqui, the man whose courage and powerful
+individuality succeeded in introducing abstinence from alcohol in
+Canada. His long life was that of a pioneer and an inflexible champion
+of social and moral reform in that country, based on Christianity. He
+died at the age of ninety.
+
+I have quoted the erotic precepts of the confessional from him, as I
+was anxious to quote from an absolutely reliable source. It was not
+with a light heart that Chiniqui abandoned the Catholic Church, but
+only after violent and bitter struggles with conscience, struggles of
+which he relates the tragic episodes, and which lasted for many years.
+
+He commences the chapter from which we have quoted with the following
+words: "Let legislators, fathers and husbands read this chapter and
+ask themselves the question whether the respect which they owe to
+their mothers, their wives and their daughters does not impose upon
+them the duty of forbidding auricular confession. How is it possible
+for a young girl to remain pure in mind after such conversations with
+an unmarried man? Is she not more prepared for the depths of vice than
+for conjugal life?" The author of these lines is a man who was obliged
+for many years to be a confessor himself, and who understood to what
+extent confession corrupted the sexual life of women and priests. It
+is true that persons, priests or women, of strong character, and
+especially those with a cold nature from the sexual point of view, may
+resist such sexual excitation. But has confession been specially
+instituted for this type of character? Every one who is not a
+hypocrite will own that it is exactly the contrary.
+
+=Religious Prudery.=--The results of such a combination of sexual life
+with religious prescriptions are a mixture of ridiculous prudery and
+continual eroticism. In certain convents (those of the nuns of
+Galicia, for example) the nuns forbid their pupils to wash the sexual
+organs, because it is improper! In Austria the nuns often cover the
+crucifix in their bedroom with a handkerchief, "so that Christ cannot
+see their nakedness"! But the convents of nuns, in the Middle Ages,
+were often transformed into brothels; and it is not uncommon to see
+hypocrites or the subjects of erotic hysteria (both men and women)
+perform sexual orgies of the worst kind under the cloak of religious
+ecstasy.
+
+=Hottentots. Eunuchs.=--Among the Hottentots, the lips of the vulva
+(_labia minora_) in women are artificially elongated, and among the
+Orientals eunuchs are made. In themselves these two operations have
+certainly nothing to do with religion and only originated in profane
+customs. In the course of time they were made religious precepts,
+which has deeply rooted them in the customs of the people.
+
+=Religious Eroticism.=--The examples which we have cited show to what
+extent man is disposed to clothe his eroticism with the cloak of
+religion. He then attributes a divine origin to his desires and lays
+the precepts which he attaches to them on the commandments of his God
+or gods, so as to sanctify them. Hence, the unnatural influence of a
+mysticism, which is nothing else than the crystallized product of the
+fantastic imagination of men, raised to a dogma, imposes itself
+indirectly on natural sexual life, by entering at the back door under
+the cloak of religion. It is obvious that grave abuses or even vices
+often acquire the seal and power of religious precepts; while in the
+same domain a number of other customs or precepts are based on good
+hygienic or moral principles, for example, circumcision and conjugal
+fidelity.
+
+It is perhaps in the domain of pathology that the relations of
+religion to sexual life are the most striking (see Chapter VIII). We
+must not forget that the facts of reproduction seem to ignorant people
+and especially to barbarians, to be of a very mysterious nature. These
+people have no idea of germinal cells or their conjugation. They see
+in conception, embryogeny, pregnancy and birth, the miraculous effects
+of a divine and occult higher power--of the divinity, often even of
+the devil.
+
+The violent excitement which is associated with the sexual appetite
+and with love urges man to ecstasy; hence it is not to be wondered at
+that eroticism is so often complicated by ecstatic religious
+sentiments.
+
+In his book on Psychopathia sexualis, Krafft-Ebing remarks how easily
+religion, poetry and eroticism are combined and mingled in the obscure
+feelings and presentiments of maturing youth. In the life of saints
+there is always the question of sexual temptations, in which the most
+elevated and ideal sentiments are mixed with the most repugnant erotic
+images. On the same basis are developed the sexual orgies of different
+religious fetes in the ancient world, as well as in certain modern
+sects.
+
+Mysticism, religious ecstasy and sexual voluptuousness are often
+combined in a real trinity, and one often sees unsatisfied sensuality
+seek compensation in religious exaltation. Krafft-Ebing cites the
+following cases from Friedreich's "Legal Psychology" (p. 389):
+
+    In this way the nun Blaubekin was perpetually tormented by the
+    thought of what happened to the part of Jesus' body removed by
+    circumcision.
+
+    In order to make his devotions to the lamb of God, Veronique
+    Juliani, who was canonized by Pope Pius II, took into his
+    chamber a terrestrial lamb, embraced it and sucked its breasts.
+
+    Saint Catherine of Genes often suffered from such internal heat,
+    that, to cool herself, she laid on the ground, crying: "Love,
+    love, I can do no more!" In doing this she felt a peculiar
+    inclination for her confessor. One day, putting his hand to her
+    nose, she perceived an odor which penetrated her heart, "a
+    celestial odor the voluptuousness of which could wake the dead."
+
+=The Role of Mental Pathology in Religious Eroticism.=--Among the
+insane, and especially in women, but also in men afflicted with
+_paranoia_ (a mental disease) we often find a strange and repugnant
+mixture of eroticism and religious images. Such are the everlasting
+betrothals with Christ, the Virgin Mary, with God or with the Holy
+Spirit, betrothals in which the venereal orgasm is combined with
+imaginary coitus and masturbation, followed by imaginary pregnancy and
+childbirth. These symptoms give us a clear indication of the relation
+which exists between eroticism and religious exaltation. The French
+alienists have even designated them by the characteristic term of
+"erotico-religious delirium." A single visit to the female division of
+a lunatic asylum is often sufficient to satisfy the visitor.
+
+A point which has received less attention is the immense historical
+influence which certain psychopathological personalities, chiefly
+hysterical subjects, but also some crazy persons or hereditary
+visionaries, have exercised at all times on human destiny, usually by
+the aid of the suggestive effects of sexual and religious ideas
+(erotico-religious), the connections of which have not always been
+clear.
+
+Every psychiatrist knows the insane whose delirium is combined with
+religious or mystic exaltation, and who by the mysticism of their
+delirium have exercised and continue to exercise a profound influence
+on the mass of humanity which surround them--"Panurge's Sheep," if I
+may use the expression. These people are themselves so dominated by
+the pathological influence of their auto-suggestions or their delirium
+that they behave with the fanaticism of fakirs, and exhibit an
+extraordinary energy and perseverance in the pursuit of the object of
+their morbid ideas. By their assurance, the sentiment of
+infallibility, and the fire of faith which is manifested in their
+prophetical manner, they fascinate the feeble brains of the people who
+surround them and attract them by their suggestive action.
+
+A very human and often powerful eroticism is usually associated with
+their delirium; but it is covered by a cloak of religious ecstasy,
+which imposes on natures disposed to exaltation, and renders them
+blind to the ignominy which often lies under this ecstasy.
+
+What makes these patients so persuasive is the fact that they are
+themselves persuaded. Even the normal man, we must admit, is guided
+less by reason than by sentiment, and the persons we have just
+described exert a powerful action on sentiment, and this more by their
+piercing glance, their prophetic and dominating tone, their manner and
+appearance, than by the extremely confused text of their discourses
+and doctrines.
+
+In this way there are always arising small epidemics of attraction in
+which a group of individuals allows itself to be infatuated by
+so-called prophets, messiahs, holy virgins and other visionaries, who
+are only lunatics or crazy persons. Under their influence are produced
+certain forms of insanity by contagion, which have been called double,
+triple or quadruple madness, and which may sometimes take the form of
+an epidemic.
+
+When the "prophet" is more consistent in his words and actions, or
+when his environment is still very ignorant and superstitious, the
+crowd of believers increases still more rapidly, and thus one sees
+even at the present day in less-civilized countries new sects or
+religious guilds, more or less ephemeral, in which the spirit of the
+prophet sometimes stirs up grave sexual orgies.
+
+Among more cultured people the prophet is generally exposed or sent to
+a lunatic asylum, much to the indignation of his disciples, who often
+consist of his wife and children and a few feeble-minded
+acquaintances.
+
+Thanks to the cheapness of printing, these prophets often publish
+their new religious system and sell it among their dupes. I possess a
+small library of works of this kind which have been sent me by their
+authors; probably with the idea that they might one day be taken for
+fools, and to prove to me in advance that they were not.
+
+According to them, God has personally revealed to them the new truth
+in which they believe, and has appointed them as prophets. Erotic
+images are generally associated with their system. One of them, whose
+system is astronomical, divides the planets into males and females.
+Another, a lunatic, describes the pathological sexual sensations by
+the term of "psycho-sexual contact by action at a distance." These are
+phenomena which we meet with at each step in psychiatry, and which
+give the clue to what follows.
+
+=The Historical Role of Mental Anomalies which are Not Very Apparent
+and Border on Genius. Their Influence on Religious Eroticism.=--These
+persons are not always afflicted with paranoia or other grave
+psychoses, but often hereditary and constitutional psychopaths who are
+only half-crazy or simply hysterical, and who may, in spite of this
+defect, possess a certain degree of intellectual power, an energetic
+will and the fire of enthusiasm. Things then take an essentially
+different course, even when they rest on an analogous basis.
+
+The prophet combines with his exaltation a logic which is often very
+concise in its details, although applied on a morbid basis. Moreover,
+he clothes his utterances in fine and poetical language, and in this
+way succeeds in rallying round him, not a flock of Panurge's ignorant
+sheep, but more elevated people and even a considerable proportion of
+the surrounding society. In this case pathological exaltation may be
+united to a high moral and intellectual ideal, which is very apt to
+veil the bizarre fancies of the prophet. We thus meet with the
+astonishing but undeniable fact that certain great historical
+personalities who have exercised a powerful influence on humanity were
+of more or less pathological nature. We discover among them
+erotico-religious traits, more or less marked, often even as the
+leading threads of their arguments.
+
+This important category of individuals constitutes a whole series of
+transitions between the insane prophets of whom we have spoken and
+well-balanced men of genius. It is often very difficult to understand
+and interpret the series of intermediate forms, so graduating and so
+variable, which exist between insanity and genius. It is necessary to
+guard against any exclusive generalization in one way or the other.
+
+In any case, the fact that many men of genius are of pathological
+nature does not authorize us to regard every person of genius or
+originality as insane, whether he attacks the routine and prejudices
+of his contemporaries, or whether he opens up new horizons and goes
+out of the beaten track. Let me cite a few examples.
+
+Joan of Arc was, in my opinion, a hysterical genius whose
+hallucinations were auto-suggestive. The distress of France had
+profoundly agitated her, and, fired with the desire to save her
+country, her brain was affected by auto-suggestion with hallucinations
+of the voices of saints and visions, which pointed out her mission and
+which she regarded as coming from real saints in heaven. At that
+period such things were common enough and need not surprise us. In
+spite of her good sense and modesty, Joan of Arc was urged by an
+exaltation unconscious of self. By a destiny as astonishing as
+providential, this young girl of genius, and at the same time
+pathological, exalted by ecstatic hallucinations, led France to a
+victorious war of freedom. The most conscientious historical sources
+show that the morality of Joan of Arc was pure and above reproach. Her
+replies to the invidious questions of the Inquisition are admirable
+and bear witness both to her high intelligence and the moral elevation
+of her sentiments. It is evident that the sentiments of love were
+transformed in her into religious ecstasy and enthusiasm for the ideal
+of her mission, a frequent occurrence among women.
+
+Another remarkable example is that of Thomas a Becket. The sudden
+transformation of this man of the world into an ascetic priest (it is
+true, on the occasion of his nomination as archbishop), from this
+devoted friend and servitor of the king of England into his most
+violent adversary, and into a champion of the Church against the
+State, evidently represents the auto-suggestive transformation of a
+hysterical subject, for this is the only way of explaining such a
+sudden and complete contradiction which caused him to change suddenly
+from one fanaticism to a contrary one.
+
+The religious exaltation of the Mormon prophet, Smith, was no doubt
+combined with eroticism, which made him organize his sect on the basis
+of polygamy.
+
+Mahomet also had visions, and sexual connection plays an important
+part in his teaching and prophesies. The apostle St. Paul was also a
+visionary who passed suddenly from one extreme to another as the
+result of hallucination. Pascal, Napoleon, and Rousseau presented very
+marked pathological traits.
+
+Although some of these cases have no direct connection with the sexual
+question, I have mentioned them to show how such personalities exert
+their influence on the masses, and through them on history. As soon as
+they acquire authority, their peculiar ideas and sexual conceptions,
+however exclusive or even absurd they may be, react strongly on their
+contemporaries, as we see to-day the ascetic ideas of Tolstoi
+influence his numerous disciples.
+
+Sudden conversions, whatever may be their nature, especially when the
+convert goes from one extreme to another, are not the fruit of reason,
+but depend on suggestion or auto-suggestion and especially on
+pathological suggestibility. (Vide Chapter IX).
+
+In other respects sexual anomalies often govern the acts of hysterical
+persons and other psychopaths. The Roman emperors, Nero, Tiberius and
+Caligula were almost certainly sadists and enjoyed sexual pleasure at
+the sight of the sufferings of their victims. Valerie, Messalina and
+Catherine de Medici were also female sadists. Under the hypocritical
+veil of religion, Catherine de Medici was the principal instigator of
+the Massacre of St. Bartholomew at Paris, and wallowed in pleasure at
+the sight of the massacre of the Huguenots.
+
+On the other hand, masochism may give tone to the thoughts and sexual
+feelings of certain persons of great influence, such as Rousseau, and
+to sects of ascetics, such as the fakirs, etc.
+
+Involuntarily, therefore, the sexual feelings of every prophet and
+founder of religion, even during a short period of his life only,
+influence more or less his religious system and consequently the laws
+of morality based on it, which remain after his death.
+
+Hence it is that sentiments, as variable in different individuals as
+sexual sentiments, are obliged to submit to the constraint of fixed
+and tyrannical dogmas which martyrize for centuries, or even thousands
+of years, men who have other opinions than the founder of the religion
+or its interpreters who succeed him.
+
+In religion we see everywhere idealized eroticism, and often idealism
+perfumed with eroticism. The Songs of Solomon, the original sense of
+which was very lay, like that of most religious matters, has been made
+allegorical and applied to the Christian Church, but it was and will
+always remain an erotic poem.
+
+It is hardly necessary to add that natural eroticism very often leads
+the severe and ascetic preachers of morality to the grossest
+hypocrisy. Priests and other pious persons often preach an idealized
+asceticism, while in secret they commit the most disgusting sexual
+excesses.
+
+We must not, however, judge such crying inconsistencies too severely;
+they are to a great extent unconscious and are the result of the shock
+of passion against the tyranny of dogma, prejudice, and public
+opinion. They are often also the result of mental anomalies. When
+science is allowed to enlighten sexual life freely and openly, the
+hypocrisy of normal people will cease, and that of the abnormal will
+be recognized in time and prevented from doing harm.
+
+=Transformation of Eroticism into Religious Sentiment.=--In ordinary
+life we find everywhere traces of the mixture of religion with sexual
+sensations and images. The religious ceremonies of marriage among all
+peoples constitute a significant remnant thereof.
+
+When we look for the causes of sudden and progressive religious
+exaltation we often discover that it is nothing else than compensation
+for disappointed love. I refer here to true and fervid exaltation,
+identified with the whole inner consciousness, and not to the religion
+of habit which the average man scarcely remembers in his daily life,
+and only observes on Sunday in the form of a conventional promenade,
+or a contribution to the church. This religion of habit is only an
+empty form, which awakes no sentiment, and consequently is associated
+with no sensation, even erotic, in its followers.
+
+In other individuals it may be otherwise, and certainly was so
+formerly. Everything goes to prove that the exalted sentiments of
+sympathy from which our religion is to a great extent derived, such as
+the holy fervor, the devotional ardor and the delights of ecstasy
+which it has so often procured for its followers and still procures
+for some of them, whether their object be God, Allah, Jehovah, Jesus
+Christ, Buddha, Vishnu, the Virgin Mary, or the Saints, that these
+sentiments have to a great extent their roots in primary erotic
+sensations and sentiments, or represent the direct transformation of
+them.
+
+It is needless to say that all this may take place quite unconsciously
+and with the purest intentions. I hasten to add that the majority of
+true religious sentiments come from quite a different source.
+
+When we study the religious sentiment profoundly, especially in the
+Christian religion, and Catholicism in particular, we find at each
+step its astonishing connection with eroticism. We find it in the
+exalted adoration of holy women, such as Mary Magdalene, Marie de
+Bethany, for Jesus, in the holy legends, in the worship of the Virgin
+Mary in the Middle Ages, and especially in art. The ecstatic Madonnas
+in our art galleries cast their fervent regards on Jesus or on the
+heavens. The expression in Murillo's "Immaculate Conception" may be
+interpreted by the highest voluptuous exaltation of love as well as by
+holy transfiguration. The "Saints" of Correggio regard the Holy Virgin
+with an amorous ardor which may be celestial, but appears in reality
+extremely terrestrial and human.
+
+Numerous sects, both ancient and modern, have entered on the scene in
+a hardly less libidinous manner; for example, the sexual excesses of
+the anabaptists in former times and the sexual ecstasies of certain
+modern sects in America.
+
+If the objection is raised that these sects are the pathological
+excrescences of religion, I reply with their disciples as follows: "We
+have come into the world because your State religions are sunk in
+indifference, hypocrisy and hollow formality, offering nothing to the
+human heart but empty phrases. It behooves us to awaken from this
+sleep. We want enthusiasm and fervor to transform the inner life of
+man and convert him." These words, which we can see and hear
+everywhere by opening our eyes and ears, constitute a formal avowal of
+the suggestive factor in religion. (See Chapter IX.)
+
+In the Canton of Zurich I have myself often had occasion to observe,
+especially among women, the followers of the singular sect of the
+Pastor Zeller, of Maennedorf. He is a kind of visionary prophet who
+heals people after the manner of Christ and John the Baptist, by
+placing his hands on them and anointing them with oil. The cures which
+he obtains are due naturally to suggestion, like those of Lourdes, but
+he attributes them to divine miracles. He even told me naively that he
+heard a grinding (crepitation) in a broken bone, which he regarded as
+a miraculous cure! A crowd of women, mostly hysterical, collected
+around this man with an ardor which was unconsciously directed much
+more to his person than to that of God or Christ whom he was supposed
+to symbolize. I have treated patients who had been to him, and who
+associated with his person both the mildest and the most carnal erotic
+images--of course, in the innocence of their hearts.
+
+It is far from me to reproach this sincere man and many others of the
+same kind, especially the priests who are surrounded by a halo of
+sanctity pushed to ecstasy. I only maintain that when a human being
+exalts himself in the search for pure-mindedness and sanctity, thus
+denying his true nature, he is always in danger of falling
+unconsciously into the most gross sensuality, and at the same time of
+sanctifying this sensuality.
+
+=Description of Religious Eroticism by the Poets.=--The Swiss poet,
+Gottfried Keller, with his peculiar genius has described religious
+eroticism in an admirable way, especially in his seven legends. Read,
+for example, _Dorothea's Blumenkoerbchen_ (Dorothea's little
+flower-basket), in which the terrestial lover of Dorothea ends by
+becoming jealous of her celestial lover, of whom she always speaks in
+the most exalted sentiments. Wherever she went she spoke in the most
+tender terms and expressed the most ardent desire for a celestial
+lover that she had found, who waited in immortal beauty to press her
+against his shining breast. When the wicked prefect had bound Dorothea
+on the gridiron under which was placed a slow fire, this hurt her
+delicate body, and she uttered smothered cries. Then her terrestrial
+lover, Theophilus, forcing his way through the crowd, burst her bonds
+and said with a sad smile, "Does it hurt you, Dorothea?" But when
+suddenly freed from all pain she immediately replied: "How could it
+hurt me, Theophilus? I lay on the roses of the lover I adore! This is
+my wedding day!" Keller shows us here, along with eroticism, the
+suggestive effect of ecstasy, which among martyrs, may reach the most
+complete anaesthesia.
+
+Goethe has also described erotico-religious ecstasy; for example, at
+the end of the second part of Faust, in the prayers addressed by
+certain anchorites to the queen of heaven.
+
+=Distinction Between Religion and the Ecstasy Derived from
+Eroticism.=--It would be quite false to maintain that religion in
+itself arises from sexual sensations. The terror of death and the
+enigmas of existence, the sentiments of human weakness and
+insufficiency of life, the want of consolation for all miseries, the
+hope of a future life, all play an important part in the origin of
+religions. On the other hand, it is necessary to recognize the
+considerable role of the erotic sexual factor in religious sentiments
+and dogmas, where on the one hand it leads to ardent fervor, while on
+the other hand it tyrannizes, especially by the exclusiveness of its
+residues transformed into dogmas, the natural expansion of the erotic
+sentiments which are so variable in individuals.
+
+One of the most difficult and important future tasks of social science
+toward humanity is, therefore, to set free sexual relations from the
+tyranny of religious dogmas, by placing them in harmony with the true
+and purely human laws of natural ethics.
+
+=Compensations.=--In the animal series we have seen that sentiments of
+sympathy are derived, in a general way, by phylogeny, from the
+sentiments of sexual attraction, and we often see in man a sexual
+love, deceived, despised or transfigured, seek compensation or
+idealization in the fervor or religious exaltation. The question
+naturally presents itself whether this compensation or this ideal is
+indispensable, and if other objects of a human and not mystical nature
+cannot take its place.
+
+There are, in my opinion, purely human ideals, which are capable of
+transfiguring erotic love "religiously" quite as well as the mysticism
+of so-called divine revelations. Christianity is called the religion
+of love, and the apostle Paul even places charity higher than faith.
+But what is charity but the synthesis of the social sentiments of
+sympathy, devotion and self-denial, for the benefit of humanity?
+Cannot it, therefore, be established on another basis than that of
+cheques to be drawn on paradise? Cannot exaltation and fervor apply
+their powerful faith, the beauty of their form and the elevation of
+their sentiments to the social ideal and the future welfare of our
+children? Cannot we replace the cult of religious legends, the
+adoration of the works of Jehovah and Christ, as they are given in the
+Bible, by the religion of our descendants and their welfare?
+
+In my opinion, the suggestion of religious ecstasy and love might well
+be directed toward the benefit of society. Its fanaticism is admirably
+adapted to shake the indifference and indolence of men; but this
+source of energy should not be wasted in the adoration of legendary
+mirages, but used for the efficacious culture of a true human religion
+of love on earth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+RIGHTS IN SEXUAL LIFE--GENERALITIES
+
+
+=Rights and Liberty.=--Human ideas of right are very curious. Every
+one appeals to right and liberty, and naturally thinks of himself
+first, without perceiving that in continually claiming his proper
+rights, he tramples under foot those of others. How beautiful are
+these words Rights and Liberty! But in everyday life in what an
+uncompromising way they oppose each other! To give satisfaction to my
+rights and liberty, the right of complete development, according to my
+natural sentiments, is a thing which is perfectly impossible; or, is
+only practicable by constantly infringing the right and liberty of my
+fellow beings.
+
+Nevertheless people keep harping on this theme; with the exalted tone
+of intimate conviction they inveigh against our social organization,
+cursing the malice of others, but show themselves perfectly incapable
+of resolving the contradictions which gave rise to their thirst for
+liberty and justice.
+
+The cry of despair addressed to right and liberty by modern society is
+nothing else than the expression of the instinctive sentiment of anger
+and revolt produced by the natural evolution of our phylogeny. The
+savage instincts, still considerable in the hereditary foundation of
+human nature (the mneme), revolt against the straight-jacket placed on
+them by social life, and against the want of liberty on the earth,
+which is already too small for humanity.
+
+The natural man is eager for expansion and liberty, and accustoms
+himself with difficulty to the severe restrictions which social
+necessities impose upon him. His nature is still that of a
+semi-nomadic animal, living as an autocrat with his family, possessed
+of a number of egoistic wants, and, wherever he goes, opposing the
+rights, liberties and desires of other men, who generally compel him
+to subordinate his desires to theirs. This is the true reason of this
+impotent cry of vexation and anger against the malice of others and
+the defectiveness of social organization. And yet this cry is
+absolutely necessary, in order that we may find and put in practice a
+social formula as tolerable as possible for the future. But, if we
+except the question of capital and labor, there is no domain in which
+social hindrance is so cruelly felt as in the sexual.
+
+What is human right? Apart from formally admitted distinctions we
+shall divide what is called right from the psychological and human
+point of view into two categories of ideas; _natural rights_ and
+_conventional rights_.
+
+=Natural Rights. Right of the Stronger.=--Natural right is quite a
+relative idea: the right to life and its conditions. But, as in this
+world, which is said to be created by a personal and perfect God,
+things are so amicably arranged that living creatures can only exist
+by devouring one another, the oldest effective natural right of every
+living being is precisely that of devouring others weaker than itself.
+This is the right of the stronger. Therefore, the absolute natural
+right is the right of the stronger.
+
+=Rights of Groups. Ants.=--These notions become altered, however, if
+we regard them from the point of view of _relative_ natural right.
+This does not concern all living beings, but only certain groups. The
+rights of groups are relative from a double point of view. On the one
+hand they give the group of individuals concerned the right of
+interfering with the right to life of other groups, even to
+extinction. On the other hand--and this is the better aspect of the
+rights of groups--they are completed by what are called the duties of
+each individual toward others of the same group, that is to say, the
+obligation to have regard for and even protect their rights equally as
+his own. The rights of a group include the social rights and duties in
+the limits of that group.
+
+It is among animals, especially the ants, that we find the most ideal
+organization of the rights of a group. Each individual of the ant
+colony acts in the interests of the community, which are the same as
+its own. It has the right to be nourished and housed and to satisfy
+all its immediate wants, but at the same time it is its duty to labor
+unceasingly in building and repairing the common dwelling, to nourish
+its fellows, to aid in the reproduction and bringing-up of the brood,
+to defend the community and even to take the offensive against every
+living being who does not belong to the community, in order to
+increase its resources.
+
+The rights and duties have here become completely _instinctive by
+adaptation_, that is to say, they are performed without commands or
+instruction. They result spontaneously from the natural organization
+of ants without the least external obligation intervening. Here, the
+cry of distress of the ferocious human beast, of whom we have just
+spoken, is completely absent, for duty is replaced by instinct or by
+appetite, and its accomplishment is accompanied by a natural sentiment
+of pleasure. Every ant could be idle without being punished by its
+comrades, if it were capable of wishing to be so, but this is
+impossible. Communities of ants can only exist on the basis of the
+social instinct of labor and mutual support, without which they would
+immediately disappear.
+
+=Egoism and the Rights of Groups in Man. Human Rights.=--The notions
+of the rights of groups in man are infinitely more complicated and
+more difficult to understand. As we have already seen, the most
+primordial instinctive sentiment in man is limited to his family and
+his immediate surroundings. But here even it leaves much to be
+desired. Family disputes, quarrels between brothers and sisters are
+frequent enough; parricide, fratricide and infanticide are not rare.
+In addition to this, beyond the narrow circle of the family, disputes,
+hatred between individuals, deception, robbery and many worse things
+are always the order of the day. In struggles between parties and
+classes, in the abuse of privileges of caste and fortune, in war, in
+commerce, in a word in everything, private interests of egoism take
+precedence of the general interests of humanity.
+
+These facts, and a thousand other pitiable phenomena of the same kind
+in human society, bear witness to the egoistic and rapacious nature of
+man, which proves how little the social instinct is developed in his
+brain. Human society is founded much more on custom and tradition,
+imposed by the force of circumstances, than on nature. Human infants
+resemble kittens at first much more than young social beings. In
+primitive times, when the earth appeared large to man, the rights of
+groups were limited to small communities which looked upon other men,
+the same as animals and plants, as legitimate prey. Cannibalism and
+even the chase show clearly that man began by becoming more rapacious
+and more carnivorous than his pithecanthropoid ancestor, and his
+cousin the ape of the present day.
+
+It is only later, after the progressive enlargement of stronger
+communities at the expense of weaker; still later, when man commenced
+to comprehend the sufferings for the community which result from the
+autocracy and passion for unlimited pleasure of a few persons;
+finally, when he discovered the narrow limits of the earth, that
+notions of humanity and humanitarianism, that is to say the sentiment
+of human solidarity, were able to develop in the general conscience.
+It was, however, one of the ancients who said "I am a man and nothing
+human can be strange to me." But in his time, as in that of Jesus
+Christ, civilization was already far advanced and influenced by the
+wide humanitarian ideas, more ancient still, of the Assyrians and the
+Buddhists.
+
+Every one who reflects will understand that the relativity of the
+rights of groups in man and that of the duties which correspond to
+them, must in time expand and be applied, little by little, to all the
+human inhabitants of the earth. What is more difficult is the
+definition of what should be understood under the term of humanity,
+capable of being socialized and cultivated.
+
+No doubt, the gap which exists between the lowest living human race
+and the highest ape is considerable and without direct transition.
+However, we gradually begin to recognize, on the one hand, that we
+have certain duties toward animals, at least toward those which serve
+us, and, on the other hand, we know that certain of the lower human
+races, such as the pigmies, the Veddas and even the Negroes, are
+inaccessible to a higher civilization, and especially incapable by
+themselves of maintaining what a number of their individuals learn by
+training when they live among us. We shall, therefore, have to choose
+finally between the gradual extinction of these races or that of our
+own.
+
+It is not my business to deal with this question here, to trace the
+limits of civilizable humanity, or to examine the rights and duties of
+civilized men to each other relatively to the rest of the living
+world; or, in other words, to what extent civilized man should have
+the relative right of subjecting other living beings, exploiting them
+in his own interests, nourishing them, or eventually exterminating
+them for the safety of his own existence.
+
+As regards the animal and vegetable kingdoms, from the amoeba to the
+orang-utan, the question is simple enough and settled. It is much more
+difficult to decide for men and for peoples separated from us by great
+racial differences. I must emphasize the profoundness of this
+difference. It is evident that the higher cultivated races, or rather
+blends of races, which live to-day will do better to live in peace
+than to mutually exterminate each other.
+
+It is necessary to discuss these questions at the risk of hurting the
+feelings of sentimental persons. But what is the use of being blind to
+such patent facts? It is not too soon to look closely into the future,
+and it is only thus that we can arrive at any useful result. The
+natural rights of man should evolve more and more from a complex of
+social rights and duties toward a single great group, which we may
+call _civilized humanity_, the relative limits of which can only be
+traced by repeated trials and by practical experience. The instincts
+of the wild beast are still so deeply rooted, even in civilized men,
+that they can only be adapted gradually and even painfully to a
+natural right thus understood and limited. We must honestly admit that
+such a right only merits very relatively the denomination of _natural
+rights_. In fact, social rights are necessarily artificial in man. A
+few elementary rights and duties only are quite natural, especially in
+the sexual domain. We are concerned here with adaptations in the form
+of instincts which serve for the support and development of the
+family, as well as for the protection of the individual. Among these
+we may mention the right to life, the duty of labor and the right to
+labor, the right of the infant to be nourished by its mother and to be
+cared for and protected by its parents, the duty of parents to nourish
+their children, the duty of the husband to protect his wife, the right
+to obtain nourishment from the animal and vegetable kingdoms, the
+right to satisfy the sexual appetite, etc.
+
+There exists, however, a series of other rights and duties, which are
+so necessary that they may be termed natural. Such are the right to
+possess a dwelling place; to defend one's life against attack; to
+think and believe what one wishes so long as one does not impose one's
+ideas and faith on others; the duty to respect the life and property
+of one's neighbor; the duty to give a healthy and sufficient education
+to youth, both in body and mind, etc.
+
+If we regard the matter without prejudice, certain rights and duties
+which have been hitherto considered as natural and self-evident,
+become very doubtful. Such are ecclesiastical and religious rights and
+duties, patriotic and national duties, the rights and duties of war,
+the rights of privileged classes, the rights of property, etc. It is
+clear, from an unprejudiced examination of the development of
+humanity, that these so-called rights and duties are only the historic
+legacies of mysticism or of limited human groupings, and in great part
+artificial. The rights and duties of members of the groups in question
+consisted in mutually protecting their opinions and their national and
+religious interests, etc., and in subjecting or even trampling under
+foot those of other human groups. These lead us quite naturally to the
+second category of general notions of rights.
+
+=Conventional Rights.=--To speak correctly, conventional rights are
+not rights. They are simply a dogmatic sanction applied to all kinds
+of customs and abuses that men have appropriated, according to local
+circumstances and their fortuitous conquests or acquisitions. Here,
+the consequences of the natural rights of the stronger, religious
+mysticisms and all sorts of human passions, the sexual appetite
+especially, play a very varied and complex role.
+
+The absurdity and injustice of conventional rights is shown by the
+difference, often even the absolute contrast, of the corresponding
+conception of rights among different peoples. In one, polygamy is a
+right and even a divine institution; in another, it is a crime.
+Individual murder is generally considered as criminal, but in warfare
+the slaughter of masses becomes a duty and even a virtue. Theft and
+rapine are regarded in times of peace as crimes, but in time of war,
+under the form of annexation and plunder they are the uncontested
+rights of the victor. In a kingdom, the monarch is looked upon as a
+holy person and offense to his majesty as a crime; in a democracy, it
+is individual domination which is regarded as criminal.
+
+Falsehood and mental restriction are, in certain cases at least, the
+rights or even the duty of the Catholic, who is only forbidden to
+swear falsely in the name of God and religion, while others consider
+all falsehood more or less unjustifiable; others again regard every
+oath as sinful.
+
+The contradictions, inconsistencies, unnatural prescripts and
+tyrannies of what is called conventional rights in different peoples
+are innumerable, and the notions of our rights which we have inherited
+from the Romans are not much better.
+
+=Retaliation.=--In historical epochs, we see the rights of the
+stronger succeeded by certain notions of rights which may still be
+considered as primordial; such is the law of retaliation or lynch law,
+based on the natural sentiment of vengeance, which is itself derived
+from anger, jealousy and pride, and says "An eye for an eye and a
+tooth for a tooth." The law of retaliation is very natural and very
+human. Although of savage origin, it has at least the merit of
+recognizing in men an equal right in retaliation for injury caused in
+a brutal fashion, without considering inner motives.
+
+=Expiation.=--We also find in the old law another notion derived
+partly from the preceding, but chiefly from religious mysticism--the
+notion of expiation. After constructing in his own image a divinity
+blinded by human passions, man attributed to him, from fear of
+vengeance, sentiments of anger and indignation regarding his baseness
+and malice toward his neighbor. He then conciliated the divinity and
+appeased his wrath by making sacrifices, human or otherwise.
+
+At first, sacrifices were not made of criminals or guilty persons, but
+of innocent lambs, men or beasts, sometimes with all kinds of torture,
+to appease the supposed wrath of the gods. Gradually, however, these
+customs became more humane and were changed to the notions of
+expiation which we still have. Whosoever has committed a crime should
+expiate it by some kind of pain, eventually by death. In our modern
+penal law, notions of expiation and retaliation are blended, and when
+we study its roots in ethnology we are not surprised to see the
+expiation and punishment of so-called crimes against God or religion.
+We find in this fact a singular mixture of religious and judicial
+notions. A curious way of appeasing the divinity is the sacrifice of
+animals and other offerings which ancient and savage peoples made and
+still make, in returning thanks for victory or some other good
+fortune, or to appease supposed wrath.
+
+=Themis.=--In spite of all these errors, ancient civilization
+represented as the ideal of right a goddess of justice, _Themis_, with
+eyes blindfolded and holding scales in her hands. The scales signified
+that right and wrong should be carefully weighed against each other;
+the bandage, that the judge should pronounce his verdict without
+regard to persons, and be inaccessible to all outside influence. For
+the limited ideas of that period, little removed from retaliation and
+expiation, this blind woman with her scales was a sufficient
+representation of justice. She had no need to trouble about the
+psychology of human nature, mental disorders, diminished
+responsibility or ideal social improvement.
+
+=Themis Unblindfolded. Fallacy of Free-will.=--Nowadays the task of
+our goddess is not so simple, for the progress of humanity and
+science, especially of psychology and psychiatry, oblige her whether
+she wishes or not, to completely remove her bandage, so as to see
+clearly into the human brain.
+
+It is not simply a question of knowing whether an accused person has
+or has not committed the act which he is accused of, but also whether
+he knew what he was doing, what were the motives which urged him, and
+who is the real instigator of the misdeed. Alcohol, mental anomalies
+and diseases, suggestions, passions, etc., concur in influencing the
+human brain so that it is hardly responsible for its acts.
+
+Again, on further examination, we find that the accepted and
+historical notion of free-will, that is to say the absolute liberty of
+man's will, which constitutes the very existence of our old penal law,
+becomes not only more problematical, but may even be considered as a
+purely human illusion, resting on the fact that the indirect and
+remote motives of our actions are mainly subconscious.
+
+The great philosopher, Spinoza, has already demonstrated this truth in
+a masterly manner, and modern science confirms it in all respects.
+Every effect has its cause, and all our resolutions are the result of
+the activities of our brain, in their turn determined or influenced by
+hereditary engrams (instincts and dispositions) or acquired
+(memories), which are their internal causes, and combine with causes
+acting from without. Let us admit freely the fallacy of the old axiom
+of human free-will and endeavor to understand that what we consider as
+free will is nothing else than the very variable faculty of our brain,
+more or less developed in different individuals, of adapting its
+activity to that of its environment, and especially to that of other
+men. Also let us endeavor to take into account that our will and all
+our actions are, consciously or unconsciously, determined by a complex
+of energies or hereditary engrams (character), combined with those
+which have acted upon us from without during our life, as well as with
+emotional or intellectual sensory impressions.
+
+Our whole conception of rights, and especially of penal law, should
+then change. We should entirely do away with _retaliation_, a
+barbarous relic of a more or less animal sentiment of our ancestors,
+and _expiation_, the relic of a superannuated and superstitious
+mysticism. Modern and truly scientific reformers of penal law have
+already taken account of this necessity. But, in spite of the complete
+inefficacy of the old penal system as regards the diminution of crime,
+they have so far only put into practice few of their ideas.
+
+=Justification of Rights and Laws.=--After what we have just said,
+there only remain, two reasons to justify the existence of rights and
+laws:
+
+(1). To protect human society against criminals, and in general to
+institute ideas and laws with a view to regulate the mutual interests
+of men, in such a way as to result in natural conditions of existence
+as advantageous as possible, both for the individual and for society:
+
+(2). To study the causes of crimes, social conflicts, imperfections
+and inequalities, so as to obtain, by contending against these causes,
+an improvement in men and their social condition. It is true that what
+we demand here means a complete transformation of the notions of
+conventional right, not only in our old penal law, but also to a great
+extent in civil law; but this transformation is inevitable and has
+even already commenced. Its object is to liberate right from the grasp
+of an old metaphysico-religious dogmatism, and from crystalized
+doctrines derived from superannuated custom and abuse, and to found
+itself on the applied and social natural history of man, who then only
+will merit the name of _homo sapiens_ which was given to him by
+Linnaeus, the great nomenclator of living beings.
+
+Jurists have already too long based metaphysics on old barbarous
+customs and superstitious mysticism, transformed into dogmas. It is
+time that Themis removed her bandage, studied psychology,
+psychopathology and science, and submitted the impartial handling of
+her scales to the influence of truer and juster human factors, even if
+her work thereby becomes more difficult and more complicated.
+
+=Sexual Rights.=--While sexual sentiments form part of the most sacred
+and intimate conditions of individual happiness, they are also closely
+and indissolubly connected with the social welfare of humanity. In no
+domain is it more difficult to combine harmoniously the welfare of the
+community with that of the individual, and this is why questions of
+right in sexual matters are among the most difficult to solve.
+
+The satisfaction of the sexual appetite in man is part of his natural
+rights. Natural science compels us to formulate this principle; yet it
+is a dogma the consequences of which may become very grave and even
+fatal; for the satisfaction of a man's sexual appetite implies, not
+only the direct participation of one or more human beings in a common
+act, but also that of a much greater number in its indirect effects;
+and it may occasion, according to circumstances, more harm than good.
+
+If the question of reproduction did not exist, it would be more easy
+to put individualism in more or less harmonious accord with
+socialism. It is thus the sexual relations which present the greatest
+difficulties in the social domain.
+
+In spite of the considerable progress which has been accomplished, our
+modern law is still based to a great extent on the barbarous principle
+of the legal inequality of the sexes. The mind of man and that of
+woman are no doubt of different quality; nevertheless, in a society
+which does not possess asexual individuals like that of the ants and
+bees, and in which the two sexes are compelled to work together
+harmoniously for the social welfare, there is no reason to subordinate
+one sex to the other. Man may have 130 or 150 grammes more brain
+tissue than woman and be superior to her in his faculty of combination
+and invention, but this is no reason why we should only accord his
+wife and mother inferior social rights to his own. His bodily strength
+will always protect him against the possible encroachments of woman.
+
+A first postulate is, therefore, the equality of the two sexes before
+the law. A second postulate consists in the emancipation of infancy,
+in the sense that it should never be considered as an object of
+possession or of exploitation, as was and is still so often the case.
+
+These are the fundamental principles of a normal sexual law. In no
+animal do we find the abuses which man is permitted to practice toward
+his wife and children. Let us now pass on to special questions.
+
+
+CIVIL LAW
+
+The object of civil law is to regulate the relations of men to each
+ether. Properly speaking it does not punish, that is to say, it
+requires no expiation and is not concerned with crime. It seeks to
+improve the social basis for mutual obligations and contracts.
+Nevertheless, it borders on penal law as regards the question of
+damages which one individual must pay another whom he has injured even
+involuntarily, as well as by the coercive measures, both
+administrative and operative, which it employs.
+
+Although resting on a natural basis better adapted to the social
+welfare than penal law, civil law still contains the traditions of
+religious mysticism and the abuse of conventional right.
+
+I shall here analyze in a few words what concerns our subject in
+actual civil law, and shall point out the modifications which appear
+to me desirable. It is, however, impossible for me to enter into the
+details of codes, owing to absence of special knowledge. Moreover,
+this would lead us too far from our subject.
+
+=Marriage and Sexual Relations in General.=--The coitus of two
+individuals, performed with mutual deliberation and causing no harm to
+a third person, should be considered as a private affair, and should
+have no connection with either civil or penal law.
+
+However great may be the necessary restrictions of this general axiom,
+it must be recognized as valid in principle. Society has no right to
+restrict the liberty of individuals so long as it, or one of its
+members, is not injured by these individuals. So long as coitus is
+freely performed by adult and responsible persons, has no indirect
+consequences, and does not cause fecundation, neither society nor any
+one is injured.
+
+In the practice of law this axiom is not yet generally accepted. Many
+laws, especially among the Germanic peoples, punish concubinage, or
+extra-nuptial coitus. Even when concubinage is tolerated, it is
+considered illegitimate, so that the woman who gives herself to it and
+the children who result from it, have much to suffer. Although they
+constitute simple religious precepts, the ordinances of Liguori and
+others concerning coitus influence in a high degree sexual relations
+in Catholic countries.
+
+As a rule, coitus is only legally recognized as licit in marriage. But
+we have seen in Chapter VI how elastic is the term marriage, which
+varies from polygamy and monogamy to polyandry, and from marriage for
+short periods to indissoluble marriage, to say nothing of the cases
+where women are sacrificed on their husbands' tombs. We have seen that
+religious traditions, arising themselves from barbarous customs, play
+a great part in conjugal law. It is only by infinite trouble that the
+principle of civil marriage has made its way in modern civilized
+states. Even to-day, religious marriage is in some countries only form
+of union which is legally recognized. These simple facts show to what
+extent we are still hidebound by tradition.
+
+The idea that marriage is a divine institution and that man has the
+right to contract, but not to dissolve it, is still a widespread
+belief, however bizarre it may be. We shall not enter here into the
+detail of the religious forms of marriage, which is referred to in
+Chapters VI and XII.
+
+It is evident, from our modern and scientific point of view, which is
+purely human and social, that civil law only can be recognized as
+valid. Religious forms and ceremonies must be considered as belonging
+to a private domain. For this reason they concern neither the State
+nor society, and should be refused all legal character; for it is our
+duty to strive and liberate humanity from the tyranny of all imposed
+creeds, as we should combat all so-called State religion.
+
+=Civil Marriage.=--What then is civil marriage, and what ought it to
+be? Our actual civil marriage is the result of trials and compromises
+which require improvement. It is a contract between two persons of
+opposite sex whose mutual object is the reproduction of the human
+species. In this contract the law is unfortunately too much concerned
+with the personal relations of the two contracting parties, and too
+little with the interests of their eventual posterity, which
+necessitates care and attention on the part of the social legislator.
+Moreover, the traditional conception of the dependence of woman
+disturbs the purity and justice of civil marriage.
+
+In my opinion, the first fundamental principles of civil marriage
+should be absolute legal equality of the two conjoints and complete
+separation of property. The momentary amorous intoxication of a woman
+should not allow a man to appropriate her property in whole or in
+part; only truly barbarous laws could permit such iniquity, and they
+should be banished from all the codes of civilized countries.
+Moreover, in countries where woman enjoys important rights, the
+community of property furnishes those who are unscrupulous with the
+means of completely despoiling their husbands.
+
+Further, in common conjugal life, the domestic work of the wife should
+not be considered as obligatory and requiring no special
+remuneration. Her work has as much right to be considered as that of
+the husband, and should be entered to the wife as an asset.
+
+Community of property is so immoral that it should be considered
+invalid in case of ulterior dispute, when it has been instituted by
+private contract. It is the business of the conjoints to put it in
+practice if they wish, so long as they are of one mind. But when
+dissensions or divorce take place, it only injures the one who has
+remained honest, and at the same time the children.
+
+This is why such contracts ought never be definitely binding to the
+conjoints. Even if the marriage is not unhappy, the extravagances or
+blunders of one of the conjoints may ruin the whole family, in the
+case of common property.
+
+The _duration_ of marriage is very important. If a marriage contract
+exacts sexual fidelity till death, divorce is nonsense. Yet, in
+practice, it is obvious cruelty to keep two individuals legally bound
+together who can no longer live with each other. Thus, the provision
+and license of divorce are necessities of civil law which are
+certainly not ideal, but which cannot be passed over without favoring
+family disturbance and without sanctioning illegality and evil.
+
+Among the most frequent causes of divorce are desire for change in the
+husband, venereal diseases, disputes, incompatibility of temper,
+mental disorders, immorality, ill-treatment and crime. The sterility
+of one of the conjoints and incapacity for coitus may also be
+mentioned as reasons for divorce, although in certain circumstances,
+as we shall see, limited polyandry or polygyny may be much more humane
+than divorce.
+
+As soon as divorce is admitted, important and complicated questions of
+law arise when there are children. We shall refer to these later. The
+legal license of complete divorce thus transforms marriage into a
+temporary contract, which is not so far removed as one would think
+from the ideal relations of free love.
+
+We will examine the circumstances which, apart from the procreation of
+children, may attribute legal importance to the sexual relations of
+two persons. I must first of all observe that, if it wishes, civil
+legislation can very well create a state of things which gives to
+children born outside marriage the same rights and the same social
+position as legitimate children, and I will even add that such social
+equality would respond to the most elementary sentiments of human
+rights, if these were not already influenced in advance by prejudice
+and mysticism.
+
+=Minors.=--Civil law should stipulate that minors have not the right
+to marry. This may appear cruel in certain cases, but society has the
+right and the duty to intervene. Minors should be protected against
+all sexual abuse. A young girl under the age of seventeen and a boy
+under eighteen or twenty should be prevented from all sexual
+relations. This is a postulate of individual and social hygiene and
+consequently of all healthy matrimonial law.
+
+=Lunatics.=--The same applies to lunatics, who are legally comparable
+to minors. Have we the right to forcibly separate a married couple, or
+a couple living in concubinage, because one of the conjoints has
+become insane, when the other does not wish for separation? In Germany
+the procedure of nullity of marriage has been invented for these
+cases, but without gaining much. I shall return to this point in
+connection with another subject, but I may remark here that it is not
+the continuation of marriage nor that of sexual connection which
+injures society, but only the procreation of children. Therefore it is
+only the procreation of children, which should be legally prohibited,
+and sexual connection only when the healthy conjoint agrees to its
+suppression, or when the interests of the afflicted one necessitate
+it.
+
+In the future these particular cases may be regulated in the most
+convenient and humane way possible.
+
+Certain bodily infirmities which one of the conjoints has concealed
+from the other, or of which he was not himself aware, should also
+impair the validity of the marriage contract. Such are chronic
+infectious diseases, especially venereal, impotence in the man and
+sterility in the woman, when the cause was previously known. But here
+again, the law should only intervene at the request of the person
+injured, and to take certain measures to prevent the procreation of
+abortions, without interfering with sexual connection.
+
+=Adultery.=--An important question is that of adultery. Here again, we
+are of opinion that the law has not performed its duty. Proved
+adultery, when fidelity has been promised by contract should give the
+injured party the right of immediate and absolute divorce.
+
+Certain forms of adultery, which take place with the assent of the two
+conjoints, have in reality the character of bigamy and should neither
+be recognized by civil nor penal law. I will cite as an example, the
+case where two conjoints wish to live together for various reasons,
+while the impotence, disease or sterility of one of them induces him
+to concede to the other liberty of sexual connection with a third
+person, apart from marriage. In such a case neither society nor any
+one else is injured and all motive for legal intervention is wanting
+(vide Andre Couvreur: _La Graine_).
+
+=Divorce.=--The question of divorce becomes extremely difficult when
+one of the conjoints wishes for it and the other does not, and when no
+other reason exists for determining the marriage. We are here
+concerned with the malicious caprices of the god of love, from which
+the world will never be free.
+
+In my opinion, the law in such cases can only do one thing, and that
+is to protect the rights of the children, if there are any, and to
+compel the inconstant conjoint to provide for their nourishment.
+
+The law should also protect the pecuniary and other civil rights of
+the conjoint who wishes to continue life in common. Here especially we
+can recognize the necessity for the separation of property. On the
+other hand, I am convinced that it is useless to maintain at any price
+a union which one party does not wish for. In practice no good results
+from it; it is rather a moral question than a question of law.
+
+In such cases we may observe the despair of the conjoint who has
+remained faithful, both in the marital and legal relations of
+marriage. The law cannot do everything, and here it is powerless; all
+that it can do is to exact delay and attempt at reconciliation, which
+sometimes succeeds.
+
+=The Right to Satisfaction of the Sexual Appetite.=--We now come to a
+delicate question. The right to satisfy the sexual appetite must
+necessarily be restricted in more than one respect if injury to third
+parties is to be avoided. If we except certain pathological cases, the
+chief difficulty lies in the fact that the normal sexual appetite can
+only be satisfied by the cohabitation of two persons, and that what
+satisfies the one may often injure or deeply wound the other, and even
+the children. The matter may go so far as to concern penal law, and we
+shall refer to it again in this connection. But, even from the point
+of view of civil law, permission to satisfy the sexual appetite must
+necessarily depend on the consent of both parties. In my opinion no
+exception to this rule can be tolerated.
+
+It is not enough to protect minors; it is also necessary to prevent
+the abuse of the persons of adults against their will. The institution
+of so-called Christian marriage still contains barbarous dispositions
+in this respect, the wife being generally obliged to surrender herself
+to her lord and master as often as he pleases. This is the dark side
+of the picture which exacts sexual fidelity in man.
+
+Inversely, for physiological reasons, a very erotic and sexually
+exacting woman cannot obtain satisfaction, man being incapable of
+commanding erections voluntarily. She can only bring an action for
+divorce if she can prove that her husband is completely impotent.
+
+It is sufficient to reflect on these facts to see how difficult is the
+regulation of sexual connection by law. The legislation of details in
+this domain becomes of necessity an injustice.
+
+We have already considered the great individual variability of the
+sexual appetite. Attempts to regulate it by the rules of a monogamous
+matrimonial code are absurd and impracticable. With all the respect
+due to the moral sentiments of Tolstoi, we are obliged to declare that
+his ascetic opinions on sexual relations are only the dreams of an
+enthusiast.
+
+When a libidinous man marries a young girl who is sexually frigid, and
+when coitus continues to be a horror to his wife, it is quite as cruel
+to demand continence in the husband as submission in his wife. In such
+cases, the conditions can only be made tolerable by divorce, consent
+to concubinage, or bigamy, when a relative adaptation cannot be
+obtained by mutual concessions. At present our prejudices only allow
+divorce in such cases.
+
+When a man and woman are already tied by pregnancy or by a child, and
+when, apart from the differences in their sexual appetites, love and
+concord reign between them, separation would be cruel.
+
+I readily agree that such extreme circumstances should not be the
+rule, and that in many cases the one who is the more erotic can
+restrain himself, and the one who is cold become accustomed to coitus.
+Nevertheless, in the present chapter we are not concerned with morals
+but with rights, and we have only to reply to the question of knowing
+what should be done when, in sexual connection between two conjoints,
+one desires it and the other does not.
+
+The concentration of sexual passion on a single individual, which is
+generally good from the social point of view, is fatal in these
+special cases. A man falls passionately in love with a woman, or a
+woman with a man, but instead of being reciprocal this love is
+despised by the other. Such a misfortune, which often leads to the
+most tragic consequences, not only in novels but also in real life, is
+only reparable by the renunciation of the one who loves. It is surely
+less cruel to renounce a proposed union than to become the sexual prey
+of a person one does not love. It is, therefore, inhuman and immoral,
+as much in religion as in poetry, to preach in any form, the
+exclusiveness of sentiments, the indissolubility of monogamous
+marriage, and the immutability of love.
+
+It has often been stated that a woman can only love once in her life.
+Such a false and cruel generalization must be energetically opposed.
+It is the business of sentimental poets to delude themselves with such
+sentiments, but those who think it a duty to adhere to dogmas of this
+kind are to be pitied. It is not only death or illness of one of the
+conjoints, dissensions and infidelity, which may cause separation of a
+sexual union, but as is frequently the case, rejected love may
+transform into perpetual martyrdom the life of a person imbued with
+such ideas. The ascetic sentimentalism which results from this has a
+strong element of suggestion which is bad to cultivate.
+
+If we would give the one who does not love the absolute right of
+repelling the sexual advances of the other, not only the law but
+morality should in return allow the rejected lover to make another
+choice, where his desire for love will find an echo.
+
+At the present day many people, especially women, prefer to endure
+their unhappiness and even that of their children to the opprobrium to
+which they are often exposed by public opinion in divorce or
+remarriage, or even in becoming engaged to another person, when their
+love has been rejected. It is, therefore, the duty of the legislator
+to banish from the law everything which may appear to sanction such
+opprobrium.
+
+Most laws recognize not only impotence, but also assault, cruelty,
+venereal disease, adultery, etc., as grounds for divorce, but the
+pressure of public opinion causes the existing laws to be too little
+used. We must remember that such violations of conjugal duties give
+the injured party the right of claiming damages.
+
+Nevertheless, we may say that the simplest civil action by one
+conjoint against the other is veritably monstrous when it is not
+accompanied by an action for divorce. When once the couple have come
+to legal disputes, their marriage is in reality dissolved and its
+continuation is an absurdity.
+
+=Venereal Diseases.=--A very important question from the humanitarian
+and hygienic point of view is that of venereal disease. A man (or
+woman) who knows himself (or herself) to be affected with a venereal
+disease in an infectious state, and who in spite of this has
+connection with a woman, should be regarded as a criminal, at least if
+the woman with whom he has connection is not affected with the same
+disease.
+
+Here the law should intervene by awarding heavy damages to the party
+who has been infected; eventually it may be treated as a criminal
+offense. In such cases claim should be made by the injured party, but
+unfortunately this is seldom done owing to feelings of shame. In the
+future, however, we may hope that the law may be improved for the
+benefit of humanity, for this would be one of the most efficacious
+means of combating venereal disease, and hence avoiding much
+misfortune for families and children.
+
+It would also be desirable to prevent the procreation of syphilitic
+infants, for instance, by the use of preventatives (vide Chapter XIV).
+
+=Prostitution.=--Another difficult question is that of the relation of
+civil law to prostitution. All State regulation of prostitution is to
+be absolutely condemned; but what position should civil law take up
+with regard to free prostitution? We have already seen what an
+abominable social evil is this commerce in human bodies, as regards
+social morality. But it is absolutely useless to try and abolish this
+commerce without attacking its lord and master--_money_. The venality
+of man implies the commerce of his body, and as long as everything can
+be got for money, coitus can be bought. It is, therefore, this
+venality which must be attacked, not only by condemning it in words
+but by cutting its roots. If the State will not withdraw its
+protecting hand from prostitution, it might at least combat
+proxenetism and the public manifestations of prostitution, by all the
+legal and administrative measures at its disposal. It would thus
+reduce the matter to intimate personal relations.
+
+Let us hope that, little by little, a social organization more just to
+labor and wages, combined with the prohibition of alcoholic drinks,
+will, in the future, annihilate the causes of commerce in human
+bodies.
+
+=Children as a Reason for Civil Marriage.=--To resume; we find that
+civil marriage should, by progressive reforms, become a much more free
+contract than it is at present, having for its object a common sexual
+life. The law should abandon its useless and often harmful chicanery
+concerning the questions of sexual relations and love, and regulate
+more carefully the duties of parents toward their children, and thus
+protect future generations against the abuse of the present
+generation.
+
+The difference which exists between marriage and free love should
+gradually disappear, by instituting natural intimate relations on the
+basis of sentiments of social morality, instead of maintaining the
+pretended divine origin of a social institution. It is difficult to
+avoid a smile when we hear the term "divine institution" applied to
+the marriage of a rich girl with a man who has been bought for her.
+(Vide Chapter X.)
+
+Various propositions have been made to give more dignity to the unions
+of free love, which now exist and which always have existed. Modern
+women have remarked that the absurd custom of naming the celibate
+woman differently to the married stigmatizes in society a number of
+poor women and innocent children, and that it would be quite as just
+to apply the term "damoiseau" to celibate men as "mademoiselle" to
+non-married girls. An unmarried woman who has a child, and who has
+only committed the sin of obeying nature, is branded with the stamp of
+shame.
+
+It is the children who constitute the true bond of marriage and give
+it a legal character. When there are no children all legal and State
+interference with conjugal affairs loses its sense so long as no one
+is injured, and civil marriage can then be greatly simplified. I
+maintain that so long as a sterile union, of whatever kind, between
+responsible persons is voluntary, provokes no conflict between those
+who have contracted it, and causes no injury to a third party, the law
+has no right to meddle with it; because this union does not concern
+society nor any of its members, excepting the two parties interested,
+who are in accord.
+
+At the present time, in many countries, the existing laws can be
+utilized to form marriage contracts stipulating separation of
+property, the right of each of the conjoints to the produce of his or
+her work, as well as certain reciprocal rights and duties between the
+parents and children. Matters can thus be arranged so as to correct
+more or less the defects of the law.
+
+=Marriage of Inverts.=--A peculiar and characteristic phenomenon is
+the ardent desire of many sexual perverts, especially inverts, to
+become secretly engaged or married to the abnormal homosexual object
+of their love. It is needless to say that there can be no question of
+legal regulation of such pathological marriages. But the law may
+ignore them when they do no harm to any one, and regard them as
+private affairs, especially when they prevent much worse evils, such
+as the marriage of an invert to a normal individual.
+
+=Civil Rights of Children. Matriarchism.=--As we have already said, it
+is the children who constitute the real phylogenetic and
+psychological bonds in marriage and the family, bonds which are deeply
+rooted in human nature. This is so true that among many savage
+peoples, if not in most, marriage is not considered legal as long as
+it is sterile. Even among civilized people sterile women are generally
+regarded as of less value. We may, therefore, regard the article in
+the Code Napoleon which forbids inquiry into paternity as an unnatural
+measure, or as a monstrosity of civil law.
+
+Two human beings who procreate others contract common duties and
+responsibility of the highest importance. They are, perhaps, the
+highest social duties that man can assume. Is it not then infamous and
+unnatural to legally liberate one only of the procreators, the man,
+from all his responsibilities, simply because certain religious or
+civil formalities were omitted before procreation?
+
+Is the man less guilty than the woman in procreation apart from
+marriage, if we can use the term guilt in such cases? Is it not a
+ridiculous and cruel irony to call _natural children_ those born apart
+from marriage? Perhaps legitimate children are supernatural, or
+unnatural! Is it not infamous to brand with the seal of shame, even
+before their birth, poor illegitimate children, and to confirm this
+indignity by making them bear their mother's name instead of their
+father's?
+
+The most elementary natural law exacts that all children, whether
+"legitimate" or "illegitimate," should have the same social rights,
+and that they should bear either the name of their real father or that
+of their mother; the latter denomination would be the more natural and
+logical. Denomination by the maternal line corresponds to the system
+of matriarchism (Chapters VI and XIX), which is often met with among
+savage races, and which is more just and leads to less abuse than
+patriarchism. Moreover, when women shall have obtained their proper
+rights, there will be an end of the exclusive authority of one of the
+conjoints in marriage.
+
+Equality in the rights of the two sexes will naturally lead to
+denomination in the maternal line, for reasons of simplicity, the
+mother being more closely related to the child than the father.
+Maternity may, no doubt, be sometimes uncertain, as in the case of
+foundlings or changelings, but on the whole it is infinitely more easy
+to establish than paternity. It is sufficient for the mother to have
+sexual connection with two men at the time of conception to render
+paternity doubtful. Again, the mother has a number of pains, cares and
+dangers to undergo in the course of the procreation and education of
+children, which the father escapes. Nature thus gives the mother the
+right to give her name to the family. Our legislation is unfortunately
+far from recognizing such natural right. We may nevertheless form a
+primary proposition, because in my opinion its recognition would avoid
+much complicated litigation:
+
+_In nature, whenever the offspring of an animal have a protracted and
+dependent infancy, it is the duty of the parents to nourish them and
+bring them up. To allow human parents to dispense with this duty, on
+the grounds of badly constructed and unnatural social theories, is to
+encourage promiscuity, and consequently degeneration of society. It is
+easy to change social customs which are only based on artificial
+dogmas sanctioned by tradition, fashion and habit, whether they are of
+a religious nature or otherwise. But a social organization can never
+violate with impunity the true laws of human nature which are deeply
+rooted in our phylogenetic instincts, without disastrous effects._
+
+In Chapters VI and VII we have given irrefutable proof that family
+life and the sentiments of sympathy between husband and wife, parents
+and children, constitute the phylogenetic basis of the sexual
+relations of humanity. Whatever may be the egoistic polygamous
+instincts of man, we can affirm that a natural and true monogamy
+constitutes the highest and best form of his sexual relations and of
+his love. No doubt there are many exceptions which must be taken into
+account. It is absurd to shut our eyes to the fact that our degenerate
+social customs have created unnatural circumstances in which parents
+behave shamefully toward their children, exploiting them, training
+them systematically to mendacity, prostitution and crime, or else
+ill-treating them. We even see unnatural parents, to save legal
+consequences, get rid of children who inconvenience them by the aid of
+slow and coldly calculated martyrdom, which leads them to certain
+death. It is, therefore, necessary to establish special legal
+provision for all these exceptional cases, to protect children against
+the power of unworthy parents and all forms of abuse.
+
+I must here draw attention to the impulse which has recently been
+given to Austrian legislation on the protection of children, by Lydia
+von Wolfring. The State brings up, in philanthropic institutions,
+children who have been maltreated, neglected or abandoned, after
+removal from their unworthy parents, but without relieving the latter
+of their duty in providing nourishment. According to Miss Wolfring's
+system, they are cared for by honest couples without children who wish
+for them, under the supervision of the aforesaid institutions. In this
+way the children enjoy family life.
+
+For educational reasons, the natural family may be imitated in these
+artificial ones, by giving to each couple children of both sexes and
+different ages. The result is perfect: I have seen in Vienna
+artificial families of ten children formed in this way. This shows
+again the rule confirmed by the exception; it would be better for the
+good seed to be more fruitful and the bad sterile.
+
+The normal condition must, however, always be for parents to bring up
+their own children. But here the State and the school should come to
+their aid, and even intervene with authority; for society is under the
+obligation of educating its children to a certain degree of culture,
+and maternal or paternal authority should not have the right to
+prevent or even attenuate this social work. Obligatory and gratuitous
+education is thus a duty of the State which is becoming more and more
+recognized everywhere, although it is still very incomplete and often
+badly carried out.
+
+The State should, moreover, protect the children by restricting the
+power of parents more than is done at present. The child should not be
+allowed to become an object for exploitation by its parents. It has
+also the right to be protected against all unmerited punishment and
+ill-treatment. Corporal punishment, which is still practiced in some
+schools, is a relic of barbarism which ought to disappear.
+
+The State should severely enforce the duty of the procreators of
+children to nourish their offspring. Rich or poor, no father or mother
+should escape this duty, whether the child is legitimate or
+illegitimate. In our imperfect social condition, it is still much too
+easy for the man to escape and abandon his child to the mother, or to
+public charity. He should be compelled to provide for the life and
+education of his children, whether legitimate or illegitimate, if he
+does not bring them up himself. If unable to provide money, he should
+do the equivalent in labor. Such measures, strictly enforced, would be
+more efficacious than all the complicated laws on sexual relations, in
+maintaining monogamy and fidelity.
+
+I repeat, that these measures should apply to all unworthy parents
+from whom we are obliged to remove the children. These parents are not
+always of the poorer class.
+
+It may be objected that I am unjust in charging such duties to poor
+people who can often hardly keep themselves. I agree that in the
+present state of society it is quite impossible for many parents to
+undertake such important duties. But duty means right, and it is
+evident that we must place rights by the side of the duties which we
+impose on parents.
+
+True justice in this question can only be attained by the essential
+progress of socialism. By socialism, I do not mean certain vague
+communistic doctrines, nor the Utopias of anarchists who imagine that
+"man was born good," but simply an essential social progress in the
+struggle against the domination of individual capital, that is to say,
+usury applied to the labor of others owing to the possession of means
+of production, which is now left to speculators. Men should be enabled
+to enjoy the product of their labor, so that they can lead a human
+life worthy of the name, in sexual matters as in others. But this is
+not all.
+
+From the social point of view, it is absolutely unjust that men who
+procreate children should alone bear the burden of the future
+generation. We know the egoistic proverb of the celibates, who say: "I
+have the right to take life easily, to enjoy myself and be idle, if I
+renounce the happiness of having children, either of my own accord or
+from necessity." This proverb, which may be transposed into "after me
+the deluge," cannot be recognized by any healthy social legislation.
+It is the duty of the State to relieve large families, to facilitate
+the procreation of healthy children, and to impose more work and taxes
+(for instance, artificial families) on sterile individuals. The old
+laws were better than ours in this respect.
+
+I have mentioned above the excellent custom, which exists at the
+present day in Norway, of only charging half-price on the boats to
+married women and other female members of the same family. I cannot
+here enter into the details of this question, but if such reforms are
+some day realized, if universal compulsory education, pensions for old
+age, orphans and invalids, etc., are introduced, then no man will have
+valid motives for escaping the duty of feeding his children and
+bringing them up decently in family life. This will be left only to
+the idle and vicious.
+
+Moreover, I can support my propositions by facts. If we compare the
+nature of delinquents, abandoned children, vagabonds, etc., in a
+country where little or nothing has been done for the people (Russia,
+Galicia, Vienna, etc.), with that of the same individuals in
+Switzerland, for example, where much has already been done for the
+poor, we find this result: In Switzerland, these individuals are
+nearly all tainted with alcoholism or pathological heredity; they
+consist of alcoholics, incorrigibles, and congenital decadents, and
+education can do little for them, because nearly all those who have a
+better hereditary foundation have been able to earn their living by
+honest work. In Russia, Galicia, and even in Vienna, we are, on the
+contrary, astonished to see how many honest natures there are among
+the disinherited, when they are provided with work and education.
+
+This fact speaks more than the contradictory statements which the
+fanatics of party politics hurl at each other's heads.
+
+=Inquiry into Paternity.=--It will be objected that inquiry into
+paternity is often very difficult and dangerous. I do not deny this;
+but, when women have obtained their natural rights, and when the
+education of young girls is guided by the principles which we have
+enunciated in Chapter XVII, the matter will become much easier.
+Moreover, even now, we can with energy and good will determine
+paternity in most cases. Although the great improvement in means of
+transport assists fugitives, it also favors the discovery and arrest
+of individuals all over the world. International relations between all
+civilized states are improving from day to day. When the world is more
+completely conquered by civilization, we may hope that it will become
+increasingly difficult for evildoers to escape their duties.
+
+Regarding this question from all points of view it is impossible for
+us to give up this primordial condition for the preservation of human
+society, which consists in making parents responsible for the
+nourishment and education of their children.
+
+The famous ideas of phalanstery and promiscuity, so often advanced,
+originated in theoretical and dogmatic minds which had lost their
+instinctive sense of human nature, and ignored what natural science
+and ethnology have revealed to us.
+
+But the responsibility of parents extends to another domain--the duty
+of not procreating children who are unhealthy in body and mind. We
+shall return to this question later on.
+
+=Guardianship.=--An excellent institution of our present legislation
+is that of the guardianship of orphans, lunatics, etc. It requires to
+be developed extensively and with care. On the contrary, an evil
+custom is the right accorded by certain countries to parishes charged
+with poor and abandoned orphans, of delivering them by public tender
+to the man who offers the lowest pension--and only requires them for
+work. This system results in odious abuse, such as neglect, mendicity
+and ill-treatment.
+
+The fate of illegitimate children who are "farmed out" is still worse.
+A tacit alliance is established between rapacity on the one hand and
+social sexual hypocrisy on the other. A number of infanticides and
+abortions result, either from poverty, or from sentiments of shame due
+to our moral customs. Here, civil law and penal law should combine and
+take energetic humanitarian measures to put a stop to this sad abuse.
+An excellent institution is that of homes in the country established
+for unmarried mothers and their children, and for abandoned mothers in
+general.
+
+=Free Love and Civil Marriage.=--When all the propositions we have
+drawn up have been realized by social legislation, the difference
+which now exists between marriage and free love will be little more
+than a form. The consequences of these two kinds of union will become
+the same, both for parents and children; the only distinction will
+consist in the existence or non-existence of official control. True
+monogamy will lose nothing, but will gain much.
+
+We shall not then have obligatory monogamy as at present, absolute in
+form, artificially maintained by the aid of prostitution, that is by
+the most disgusting form of promiscuity which renders monogamy
+illusory; but we shall have in its place a relative monogamy much more
+solidly built on the natural rights of the two sexes, it is true more
+free in form, but fundamentally much stronger in the natural and
+instinctive duties dictated by a truly free and reasoned union, as
+well as by the duties by which parents will be bound to their
+children.
+
+=Form and Duration of Civil Marriage.=--Although it may be true that
+monogamy constitutes the most normal and natural form of family union,
+and offers the best conditions for lasting happiness, both for parents
+and children, we must be blindly prejudiced not to admit that it is
+unnatural to consider it as the only sheet anchor in sexual
+relationship, the only admissible form of marriage, and to make it a
+straight-jacket. History and ethnography show us that polygamous races
+are strongly developed and are still developing; on the other hand, it
+is true that polyandrous races degenerate.
+
+Again, impartial observation of our Christian monogamy shows us that
+it depends to a great extent on appearances, that it is full of
+trickery and hypocrisy, and that to legally enforce it for life must
+be considered as absolutely impossible.
+
+In Catholic countries which prohibit divorce, the latter has been
+replaced by separation, and this becomes the most constant source of
+adultery. The more the laws of a country impede divorce, the more one
+must close one's eyes to promiscuity or prostitution, which has even
+been regulated by the State by the aid of proxenetism, all the while
+preaching monogamy in a loud voice.
+
+These bitter lessons which practice has given to the partisan, of
+obligatory monogamy, prove the absurdity of attempting to restrain the
+natural appetites of man by force and by artificial obstacles. That
+which succeeds, not without difficulty, with some strong characters,
+and more easily with naturally cold temperaments, is impossible to
+realize in the masses.
+
+Polyandry is usually the result of poverty, and the polyandrous races
+are little fecund and tend to disappear. The normal man is
+instinctively more polygynous than the normal woman is polyandrous.
+There are, however, cases where polyandry is justifiable. There are
+women whose sexual appetite, more or less pathological, is so
+insatiable that a normal man is incapable of satisfying it.
+
+If such women were served by several Don Juans by means of a free
+contract, this would be better than giving themselves in despair to
+prostitution (there are some prostitutes created by nymphomania). This
+system would also be better than the seduction of normal young girls
+by the Don Juans in question.
+
+Polygyny is still more indicated when the sterility of the woman or
+her repugnance to sexual intercourse cause family disturbances.
+
+In speaking of polygamy in Chapter VI, we have shown that it exists in
+several forms, and that these are not all so humiliating for the women
+as people think, who only know of the shameful abuses of the
+Mussulman's harem. What lowers the moral level of polygyny is
+especially the barbarous system of marriage by purchase, by which the
+women become slaves burdened with heavy labor, and are in a state of
+legal dependence. We have seen that polygyny has a higher moral
+character among certain Indian tribes where matriarchism rules, and
+where the wife is mistress of the house and family. The danger of
+degradation of the woman ceases when she is equal to the man as
+regards rights and property. In fact, in such a social state, polygyny
+can only constitute an exception. It is here entirely free and becomes
+all the more innocent because divorce is facilitated and strict laws
+on the feeding and education of the children limit the male sexual
+appetite.
+
+I even venture to maintain that the stability of monogamous marriage,
+which should be based on mutual sentiments of respect and love, would
+be much better guaranteed than hitherto by legal liberty of conjugal
+ties, and by duty to children such as I have proposed. If this became
+recognized as conventional, men and women fit to understand each
+other and love in a lasting manner, would find suitable mates more
+easily, and would become united more permanently when their chains
+were voluntary.
+
+If marriages on trial became more frequent in the form of short
+unions, ending with separation, this would not be a great evil, for
+similar unions occur every day in a much baser form. Moreover, the
+effect of legislation with regard to children would put a curb on
+immorality and passion, which cause their worst effects.
+
+If the objection is raised that this would lead immoral people to
+avoid the procreation of children so as to enjoy more varied sexual
+pleasures, I reply that this would be beneficial, for this anti-social
+class of individuals would be eliminated by sterility, by a kind of
+negative selection. We thus place two natural appetites in antagonism;
+that of procreation on the one hand, and sexual enjoyment on the
+other. Whoever inclines to the first, which is the higher and tends to
+preserve the species, is obliged to restrain himself in the second,
+without, however, falling into unnatural asceticism.
+
+=Consanguineous Marriages.=--To avoid injurious consanguinity, it is
+sufficient, in my opinion, to prohibit the procreation of children
+between direct and collateral relations, especially between parents
+and children and between brothers and sisters. Anything more than this
+is only useless chicanery. Laws which prohibit marriage between
+relations by alliance are absurd, for instance those which forbid a
+widower to marry his sister-in-law (deceased wife's sister), etc.
+Among some peoples such unions are ordained by law!
+
+There is also no valid reason to prohibit unions between first cousins
+or between uncles and aunts, with nephews and nieces. There is nothing
+to prove that such marriages are injurious to the offspring. What is
+harmful is the accumulation of hereditary taints, whether they occur
+in relations or persons who are strangers to each other. Nevertheless,
+the _perpetuation_ of consanguineous unions in the same family is not
+as a rule advisable.
+
+=Restriction of Personal Liberty in Sexual Life Among Harmful or
+Dangerous Individuals.=--The inability of men to distinguish, among
+the motives of the acts of their fellows, what is abnormal, unhealthy,
+impulsive or obsessional, from what is healthy and normal is one of
+the most deplorable phenomena in social life, and greatly hinders the
+action of reformatory civil legislation and rational administrative
+measures.
+
+The passionate, confused and unreasonable sentiments of the masses
+give expression, according to the impulse of the moment, to two
+contradictory absurdities and injustices. On the one hand, they cry
+out against arbitrary constraint of individual liberty, against
+illegal restriction or detention, when competent judges or experts try
+to limit the movements of dangerous individuals affected with mental
+disorders, but who appear sane to the incompetent public; or when, to
+insure social safety, they send these individuals to a lunatic asylum,
+or limit their dangerous liberty in some other way. On the other hand,
+when such an individual goes free, thanks to the intervention of
+incompetent meddlers, and commits assassination, violation,
+incendiarism, or all kinds of sadic atrocities, or even only
+terrorizes his own family, these same people, suddenly animated by
+contrary sentiments of vengeance, imperiously demand an exemplary
+expiation and all possible reprisals. This sometimes goes as far as
+torture of the culprit or burning at the stake, as with the lynchers
+in America.
+
+It is very difficult for the psychiatrist, who is the competent expert
+in these matters, to make truth and impartiality prevail. He is nearly
+always suspected of seeing madness everywhere, and of being afflicted
+with a mania for sending sane persons to asylums! In reality, he
+desires to take measures which are at the same time humane for the
+insane and protective for society, so as to treat as equitably and
+reasonably as possible the unfortunates who are more or less
+irresponsible for their acts; he wishes to see established laws and
+organizations which will efficiently protect the insane against
+themselves and against the exploitation and abuse of others, at the
+same time preventing them from doing injury to society.
+
+On the other hand, society and with it the old style of jurist, in
+their ignorant dread of psychopathological matters, endeavor to take
+all possible measures to protect the sane public against the
+alienists, thus completely neglecting the true interests of the insane
+as well as those of society, while fighting against a phantom! The
+anxiety and mistrust of the public in this matter are continually kept
+up by "brigand stories" related by certain insane or semi-insane
+persons, which are spread by the press, always eager for scandal, or
+by pamphlets which the cheapness of printing places within the reach
+of the poorest!
+
+These phenomena of public psychology greatly hinder the most urgent
+reforms. The public regard asylums with horror, and the path of the
+alienist is thorny, for he is exposed to continual accusations and
+threats whatever he may do, a situation which does not encourage him
+to suggest bold innovations.
+
+Ignorant of psychology and especially of psychopathology, the public
+and with it the formal jurist, the slave of codes (I am only speaking
+of honest lawyers, and not of the number who abuse the situation to
+obtain oratorical and other success and crown themselves with
+laurels), regard themselves as the champions of individual liberty,
+and are unable to perceive that the net result of their efforts is, on
+the one hand, to condemn a considerable number of insane and crazy
+persons to prison, and on the other hand to assure liberty and
+impunity to the most dangerous individuals, always ready to commit the
+most atrocious crimes, or at any rate to make martyrs of a number of
+patient and innocent beings, hard-working and healthy in mind,
+especially women and children.
+
+The alienists, who see clearly into all this misery, easily become
+pessimistic in their impotence against the want of sense, ignorance
+and unconscious passion of the masses, and even competent authorities.
+The natural cowardice of men often makes them shut their eyes to avoid
+nuisances, and causes them to take no action against the most
+dangerous monsters, and especially against those who are most
+mischievous by their pens. This is why the martyrdom of unfortunate
+women and children illtreated by chronic alcoholics, sadists and other
+neuropaths or psychopaths, never comes to an end, owing to the stupid
+outcry against so-called violation of individual liberty.
+
+On this soil, sexual atrocities and crimes, largely increased by
+drink, play an important part. Without troubling myself about
+prejudice and indignation I shall say in a few words what appears to
+me to be urgent:
+
+So long as jurists and legislators will not study either psychology or
+psychiatry, and will not submit all habitual criminals and all
+dangerous men to an expert examination, all serious reform in this
+domain will remain impossible. To improve the present state of affairs
+a common understanding between jurists and alienists is urgent; but
+this can only be attained by jurists making a study of psychology, and
+a kind of practical clinic among imprisoned criminals. How can one
+judge and condemn one's neighbor without having the least idea of the
+state of mind of these pariahs of society? All the jurists who have
+the welfare of humanity at heart, should support the _international
+union of penal law_, and the efforts of men like Professor Franz von
+Liszt, Gaukler of Caen, and many other courageous reformers.[8]
+
+It is needless to say that it is not sufficient to combat the excesses
+of criminal and dangerous individuals, such as sadists, for example,
+by placing them under supervision and preventing them doing harm. It
+is also necessary to attack the cause of the evil by preventing their
+germs from being reproduced, degenerated as they usually are by the
+blastophthoria of their alcoholic parents (vide Chapter I). The first
+question, which is purely legal and administrative, does not concern
+us here; but I may be allowed to say a few words on the second.
+
+Zealous and advanced reformers have proposed castration in such cases,
+which has provoked a general cry of indignation. This has been
+discussed in certain American states. The hyperaesthetic sentiment of
+our modern civilization cannot tolerate such ideas, while ancient
+races such as the Islamites provided, and still provide eunuchs as
+servants, who are free from danger for their wives, and think little
+of hanging or decapitating men who cause them any trouble. In the
+same way, we are dumb and impassive before the butcheries of war,
+because they are fashionable, especially when we do not come in
+contact with them. The Pope himself formerly procured eunuchs in order
+to have soprano voices in his church, and did not hesitate to castrate
+young boys for this purpose. The times change and we change with them!
+
+For some years, however, castration has been employed as a remedy for
+certain disorders both in men and women, especially for hysteria in
+women. I admit here that, in an asylum which I superintend, I have
+castrated a veritable monster afflicted with constitutional mental
+disorders, taking advantage of the fact that he himself requested this
+operation to relieve him of pain in his seminal vesicles, but with the
+chief object of preventing the production of unfortunate children
+tainted with his hereditary complaint.
+
+Many years ago I also castrated a young hysterical girl of fourteen,
+whose mother and grandmother were both prostitutes, and who had
+already begun to have intercourse with all the urchins in the street.
+Here again, I frankly admit that the hysterical troubles of the
+patient served me as an excuse to prevent this unfortunate girl from
+reproducing beings who would probably resemble her. I am of opinion
+that castration, or some more benign operation, such as dislocation of
+the Fallopian tubes in women (which renders them sterile without
+destroying the ovaries, or even attenuating the sexual appetite)
+should be performed in order to prevent the reproduction of the most
+deplorable and most dangerous beings.
+
+Among certain individuals, such as sadists, whose sexual appetite is
+dangerous in itself, castration would be necessary. In my opinion, the
+more benign operations are indicated in all individuals whose
+psychopathological condition in this domain is such that they are
+absolutely incapable of resisting their impulses, or of understanding
+the dictates of reason. By this means they could go free instead of
+being incarcerated in asylums.
+
+On the other hand, I must emphasize the fact that such measures, the
+personal consequences of which are so serious, should only be taken
+in the case of absolutely dangerous, incurable individuals, concerning
+whose pathological state there can be no doubt. I also believe that
+these individuals, especially those with sexual abnormalities, would
+very often consent to the operation, as was the case with my two
+patients.
+
+It would be a great advance if civil legislation would in such cases
+accord official recognition to castration or dislocation of the tubes,
+with the consent of the criminal or patient concerned. At present, our
+laws and regulations are such that a psychopathological monster cannot
+even be castrated when he wishes it, because medical men refuse to
+undertake such an operation without a positive medical indication of
+the usual kind, and because there is no legal protection; yet, when
+done in time, castration would often save sadists and other dangerous
+perverts from a criminal life, and society from their crimes and those
+of their offspring.
+
+When it is only a question of avoiding the procreation of tainted
+children, it would be sufficient to instruct reasonable people in the
+methods of avoiding conception (vide Chapter XIV).
+
+It is important to bear in mind that modern legislation on marriage
+often flavors the reproduction of criminals, lunatics and invalids,
+while it hinders the production of healthy children by men who are
+intelligent, honest and robust. When an abnormal or unhealthy man is
+married, his wife is obliged to submit to the conception of tainted
+children. On the other hand, when a strong, healthy and intelligent
+girl is in a situation, it often happens that everything is done to
+prevent her marrying, so as not to lose her services; the more
+conscientious she is and the more attached to her masters, the more
+often is this likely to occur.
+
+Girls who have illegitimate children often lose their situations and
+their honor. The consideration of cases of everyday occurrence is
+sufficient to grasp the difficulty of the question. What we require is
+more personal liberty for healthy, normal and adaptable individuals,
+and more restrictions for the abnormal, unhealthy and dangerous. The
+civil law of the future will have to take these facts into
+consideration, if it wishes to keep level with scientific progress,
+and prevent the instinct of the people having recourse to lynch law,
+or retaliation.
+
+Meanwhile, attempts have been made to get out of the difficulty by
+prohibiting the marriage of insane persons or by declaring their
+marriage null when it has already been consummated; or again, by
+admitting insanity as a cause for divorce. Such measures are good as
+makeshifts in a period of transition. They assume that conceptions
+only occur in marriage, and that marriage necessarily means
+procreation. But these two suppositions are false, for it is only the
+pressure of custom and legislation which realizes them in part,
+especially in Catholic countries.
+
+The civil code, in the present state of society, has at least the
+advantage of making possible the dissolution of monstrous unions, such
+as those of the absolutely insane or certain psychopaths of the worst
+kind. Unfortunately, divorce is as a rule only accorded in cases of
+well-marked mental disorders, while in reality the most atrocious
+unions are those which are contracted by crazy persons with only
+diminished responsibility, in whom the public and the law are unable
+to recognize or understand the existence of a definite mental anomaly.
+These people most often marry at a time when no one has yet recognized
+their true mental condition, or foreseen the consequences of their
+marriage. The unfortunate who finds herself (or himself) bound by such
+a union is then an object of endless martyrdom. The frequency of
+mental anomalies causes them to play an immense, and too often
+unrecognized role, in unhappy marriages.
+
+At the request of the mother the tribunal of Bale recently prohibited
+the marriage of a young man affected with a slight degree of mental
+weakness. This judgment was upheld by the Swiss tribunal for the
+following reasons: "Although capable of work, of earning his living,
+and of performing his military service, an individual may be an
+unsuitable subject for marriage. In the interests of family life and
+the future generation, it is the duty of the State to prevent the
+marriage of the feeble-minded, in order to avoid the perpetuation of a
+race of degenerates." I quote this from a journal. We can only
+congratulate tribunals which have the courage to consider the vital
+interests of the nation in their judgments.
+
+=Right of Succession.=--Although right of succession has no direct
+bearing on the sexual question, it is indirectly connected with it
+through its influence on the procreation of children.
+
+At the present day the poor have more children than the well-to-do.
+This is because they have nothing to lose, because coitus is one of
+their few pleasures, because they are ignorant of the means of
+preventing conception, and because they hope to profit by their
+children's labor. People who have some property are, on the contrary,
+afraid of falling into poverty through the procreation of too many
+children, and those who possess more are afraid of poverty for their
+offspring. The latter only desire a few heirs, so that after their
+death they can leave each a fortune suitable to their social position.
+
+In France, especially, well-to-do people often limit their families to
+two. The parents have the unhappy idea that a certain fortune must be
+assured to their children to enable them to live in comfort. They do
+not understand that the necessity for a man to earn his living by work
+is the chief condition for a healthy existence.
+
+Again, among very rich people there is often the fear that a large
+fortune may lose its power when divided, and thus diminish the
+influence of the family.
+
+It is obvious that great poverty and great wealth constitute two
+extreme social evils. It is deplorable for a child to grow up with the
+idea that he will inherit a large fortune, enjoy life without working,
+and regard poor people more or less as subordinates. But it is still
+worse for a man to remain all his life an object for exploitation, in
+spite of the most repugnant and most arduous work, unless his superior
+faculties and good luck give him the chance of rising. It is also
+discouraging for a man to be unable by arduous work to obtain anything
+for himself or his wife and children, and only to work for society,
+and especially for the interests of capitalists.
+
+Human instinct is not sufficiently social to allow of assiduous and
+hearty work solely in the interests of the community. The egoistic
+sentiments and family instincts of man are still much too strong.
+
+If we take all these facts into consideration, the right of
+succession becomes very important. It has been attempted to deal with
+the question by progressive taxes on succession to large fortunes: but
+this is not enough. I have not the presumption to give a positive
+opinion on these matters which are not in my province, but I venture
+to suggest the possibility of greatly restricting the right of
+succession by postponing the right to the enjoyment of their heritage
+till the children are of an age when they could earn their own living;
+say, from twenty-five to twenty-six, so as not to interfere with their
+higher education. In this way a man would not be deprived of the
+pleasure of working for himself and his family; and every young man
+and young woman, being obliged to work at some special subject, would
+know that they could earn their living after twenty-five or
+twenty-six, without counting on their heritage.
+
+I do not pretend to build a new social system on this idea, for many
+propositions of the kind have already been made. I only wish to draw
+attention to one element of the problem, which consists in diminishing
+the possibility of the exploitation of man by man, without destroying
+the pleasure for work, at the same time favoring the procreation and
+education of healthy and capable offspring. This naturally presupposes
+a new moral and social state, in which family right would be changed
+and good education organized for all. Even then intelligent men would
+have the desire to rise above the average and bring up their children
+with the same object. This is an instinct in mental development which
+should be carefully cultivated, and not extinguished, by every social
+organization.
+
+In all social systems it must be recognized that certain branches of
+culture, such as scientific research and art, involve great expense
+and bring little or no material reward to the scientist or the artist.
+A richer State ought to provide for these important branches of
+civilization, which always tend to higher culture.
+
+I have already mentioned separation of property and an equable
+division of the fruits of labor between conjoints as the only just
+basis in marriage contracts. I repeat here, that true justice can only
+be established by the recognition of equal legal rights for men and
+women.
+
+
+PENAL LAW
+
+Penal law is the right of punishment. It is based on the ideas of
+_culpability_ and _expiation_, and these are based on the idea of
+free-will, which is itself founded on a pure illusion, as we have
+shown above.
+
+This simple reflection is sufficient to show the precarious position
+of our present penal law. The science of penal law has too long
+ignored the progress of humanity and of the other sciences. It is
+affected with incurable marasmus, because its foundations are laid in
+error. The idea of expiation was naturally developed on the basis of
+mysticism combined with the right of the stronger, and associated with
+the sentiment of vengeance natural to the low mentality of our animal
+ancestors. Among the latter the weaker was punished because he was the
+weaker: "_Vae victis!_" and order was obtained by force. But the
+visions of human imagination having urged man to create a god or gods
+in his own image, he attributed to the divinity the sentiments of
+anger experienced by man, and pretended that expiation was required
+for offenses against this or that majesty or human idea, transformed
+into an offense to the divine majesty.
+
+This offense to the divinity was therefore only the nebulous
+expression of a developing social conscience in man, an obscure
+mixture of sentiments of wounded sympathy, adulation of the strong and
+great, and desire for vengeance and expiation. Till then man was
+accustomed to judge other men according to the right of the stronger,
+more or less mitigated by sentiments of family and friendship. His
+terror of natural mysteries--the forest, night, thunder, hurricanes,
+stars, etc., led him to imagine the intervention of occult powers, and
+later on of higher powers capable of judging good and evil actions,
+the ideas of good and evil being formerly very different from what
+they are at present. The functions of advocates or executors of the
+divine will were always, however, reserved for privileged men, who
+gave judgment in His name, either as priests, kings, or later on as
+judges. We may also note by the way that judgment can be given without
+belief in free arbitration, as is shown by the Mahometan fatalists and
+the judgments of Haroun-al-Raschid, for example. In fact, fatalism
+logically excludes the idea of free-will, for if everything is
+absolutely predetermined, the thoughts, resolutions and acts of man
+are also predetermined, which excludes all liberty.
+
+=Responsibility.=--I have attempted to show in another work[9] that a
+rational penal law should in no way concern itself with the question
+of free arbitration. The fact that we feel free and responsible is not
+at all sufficient to justify the doctrine of Kant.
+
+The question of knowing whether an absolute predestination (fatalism,
+regulating the universe in advance in all its details) exists or not,
+is a question of pure metaphysics, the solution of which is quite
+beyond human comprehension, and need not occupy us here. We must
+simply depend on the scientific postulate of determinism, _i.e._, on
+the law of causality applied to the motives of our actions, a law
+which is very much like that of the conservation of energy, and which
+admits of divers possibilities for the future, for it does not assume
+a knowledge of the first cause of the universe nor the will of a
+divinity.
+
+We shall then understand that the complication of our cerebral
+activities, mnemic and actual, combined with the fact that a great
+part of them (and consequently of the motives for our actions) remain
+subconscious, must produce in us the illusion of free-will.
+
+On the other hand, we shall find the measure of what we are to
+understand by relative liberty, in the plastic faculties of the
+activity of the human brain, which allow it to adapt itself as
+adequately as possible to the numerous and diverse complications of
+existence, and especially to social relations between mankind.
+
+The most adaptable man is the most free, especially in the sense of
+active and conscious adaptation. There are also men who adapt
+themselves passively and are easily molded. This passive plasticity at
+any rate renders them capable of submitting to everything and only
+provoking conflict as a last resource. These individuals are no doubt
+less free, since they obey the impulses of others; nevertheless, their
+elasticity gives them a certain relative liberty, because they do not
+feel constraint and easily adapt themselves to laws and other social
+requirements. But the highest form of liberty, the moral faculty of
+higher adaptation, is not that of the human fox who exploits others
+for his own profit, but that of true higher intellects, capable of
+adapting their activity to the social requirements of humanity. On the
+contrary, the man who is least free is the one who, dominated by his
+passions and baser appetites, or by insufficiency of intelligence or
+will power, is thereby incapable of conducting himself reasonably,
+gives way to all temptations and impulses, falls into all kinds of
+snares, cannot keep to any resolution, and is in perpetual conflict
+with society.
+
+What is the use of the theoretical belief in free-will in this case?
+This man feels subjectively as free, or often more free, than one who
+is more reasonable and more master of himself, and yet he is a slave!
+When, dominated by his psychic bonds, he violates the law, he is
+punished, but he himself resents the punishment as an injustice. The
+judge who condemns him and imagines he holds the scales of justice in
+equilibrium, only carries out the principles of an unjust law, a kind
+of mild retaliation, exacting moderate expiation. Or again, by
+exercising a right derived from old traditions based on religious
+ideas, he plays the part of proxy for the Deity and judges in His
+place. We might even say that a mail is in reality all the more free
+the better he realizes that he is not so, _i.e._, that his actions
+depend on the activity of his brain! At any rate he will then be less
+often deceived and will react in a more plastic manner.
+
+=The True Task of Penal Law; Its Traditional Errors in the Sexual
+Question.=--Penal law has only one thing to do, that is to cut itself
+free from its roots and transplant itself on a social and scientific
+soil. There would then be no longer a penal law, but a _law protecting
+society against dangerous individuals, and a law of administration for
+persons incapable of conducting themselves_. Its task would be the
+complement of that of civil law. Henceforth the judge would cease to
+pass judgment on his neighbor and his neighbor's motives, acting as a
+proxy for God. He would no longer punish, but would content himself
+with protecting, restraining and ameliorating.
+
+The history of psychiatry and sorcery proves that we are not
+exaggerating. It is not very long since the insane were regarded, not
+as persons suffering from disease, but as criminals and sorcerers, and
+were treated by punishment and exorcism. The ancients, on the
+contrary, especially certain Greek and Roman physicians (notably
+_Caelius Aurelianus_) had already recognized that insanity was a
+disease of the brain, and had distinguished its different forms.
+
+Even at the present day, we find among the Catholics and among certain
+Protestant sects, as among savages, a belief in sorcery, and if this
+belief got the upper hand, prosecution for sorcery--exorcism and other
+forms of cruelty--would soon become the fashion.
+
+Before the sixteenth century prosecutions for sorcery were universal,
+and remained very common for a long time afterwards. It is only since
+the time of the French Revolution that insanity has been recognized as
+a mental disease. Even in the nineteenth century a German alienist,
+Heinroth, punished the insane like criminals. The atrocious prejudice
+of the people against the insane dates from the time of prosecution
+for sorcery.
+
+Even now we are the slaves of a prejudice which holds a legal
+conviction sufficient to dishonor the prisoner and stain his character
+for the rest of his days. Hans Leuss' book, _Aus dem Zuchthause_ (From
+the prison), 1904, is very instructive on this point. Condemned to
+prison himself, the author makes some wise and dispassionate
+observations which give food for reflection. I may also quote the
+words of Doctor Guillaume, who was for a long time superintendent of
+the penitentiary at Neuchatel, and who is now director of the Swiss
+federal bureau of statistics at Berne. The question we are dealing
+with had been treated in a discussion in which I took part, and to
+which Doctor Guillaume had listened silently. At the conclusion, he
+said to us: "Gentlemen, in the course of my life I have become
+acquainted with a large number of convicts, but I have never been able
+to discover among them more than two classes of individuals; the one
+class were diseased, and the others ... ah! the others; the more I
+study their cases and their personality, I ask myself if I should not
+have done as they did under the same circumstances!" It is unnecessary
+to say that Doctor Guillaume did not mean to establish two clearly
+marked classes, for most criminals represent a mixture of both; but
+his main idea gives a good idea of the question of penal law.
+
+How sexual questions lead to conflicts with penal law, how penal law
+judges them, and how it ought to judge them after what we have just
+said, I can only refer to what I have said concerning civil law. Our
+present penal law is aware of singular sexual crimes and often
+punishes them from curious motives.
+
+When a poor imbecile, ridiculed by women and overcome by his sexual
+appetite, copulates with a cow, the latter is not injured in any way;
+neither is the owner. Moreover, the question of property does not
+trouble the judge, for he punishes sodomy even when the culprit owns
+the animal. How does the law obtain the right to punish an act which
+does no harm to any one, nor to society, nor even to an animal? It is
+evidently a vestige of religious mysticism, something like punishment
+for sinning against the Holy Ghost. The sins of Sodom and Gomorrah,
+they say, caused the wrath of God, who destroyed these towns for this
+reason. According to the legend, sodomy was a vice of the inhabitants;
+is this why it is punished at the present day? But the masturbation of
+Onan, according to the Bible, also caused the wrath of God; why then
+do not our present laws institute punishment for those who practice
+it?
+
+In many of the Swiss cantons and in Germany, sexual connection between
+men is prosecuted by law. The German legislators have even recently
+discussed the question whether punishment should be enforced only when
+the penis of one man is introduced into the anus of the other
+(pederasty), or whether indecent contact and mutual onanism are
+sufficient to justify punishment.
+
+Our penal law is thus concerned with the question whether it should
+punish or not, according as this or that mucous membrane or part of
+the skin is used for the satisfaction of a morbid sexual appetite!
+These are truly singular points for a legislator to decide, compelled,
+in spite of his incompetence, to play the part of physiologist,
+anatomist and psychologist!
+
+If I am correctly informed, the German legislation is inconsistent in
+punishing sexual intercourse between two men, but not between two
+women. These examples suffice to show what blind-alleys a penal law
+leads to, the basis of which is vicious and which is guided by the
+traditions of mysticism.
+
+Quite recently, in the Swiss journal of penal law, a jurist seriously
+upheld the necessity for the conception of a crime against religion!
+Ideas of this kind would lead us to punish suicide, like the English.
+
+We will now proceed to analyze the facts from the point of view of
+their true social value.
+
+=Limits of Penal Law in the Sexual Domain.=--If we would avoid
+injustice and ridiculous contradictions, we should keep to the
+principle that penal justice has only the right to intervene in cases
+where individuals or society are injured, or run the risk of being
+injured. It is also necessary to examine, in each case, whether the
+person who has committed the offense was not irresponsible and
+affected with mental disease at the time; or whether his
+responsibility was not diminished, _i.e._, whether he was not
+seriously abnormal without being quite insane. The conception of
+responsibility, necessarily relative, should be understood in the
+sense of relative liberty, which we have defined above.
+
+According to the result of the inquiry (culpability being proved) the
+judge will have to decide how society can be best protected against
+the repetition of such acts, and how the culprit may be most easily
+improved, provided he is capable of improvement.
+
+If, for example, the culprit is an inebriate, his detention in a home
+for inebriates will protect society and benefit the individual much
+better than all the fines and imprisonments at present in force.
+
+If he is an incorrigible recidivist, incapable of resisting his
+criminal impulses, the law should keep him under observation in a safe
+place, or deprive him only of certain dangerous liberties. It is not
+so difficult to decide these questions as the public imagines. The
+antecedents of the criminal, his previous convictions, and a careful
+study of his psychology will nearly always lead to a clear diagnosis
+and prognosis. In this case a mutual understanding between
+psychiatrists and jurists will produce excellent results. It is
+needless to say that if it is only a case of transient cerebral
+obnubilation, such as sunstroke or somnambulism, etc., the culprit
+should be acquitted.
+
+=Rape, etc.=--Normal coitus may render a penal action legitimate when
+it is obtained by force or stratagem (rape, abuse of a feeble-minded
+or hypnotized person, etc.). It is evident that measures of protection
+against such acts are urgent, and that persons abused in this way
+should have the right to heavy indemnities. What we require is not so
+much extenuation of penalty for the culprit as greater protection for
+his victims.
+
+In cases of rape, when the woman becomes pregnant against her will, I
+am of opinion that artificial abortion should be allowed by law as an
+exceptional measure. We cannot expect a woman to have a child imposed
+upon her by a man's violence, especially when she is unmarried, and
+oblige her to bring it up, from the simple fact that she conceived it.
+It should be the same in cases of abduction of female minors.
+
+When, on the contrary, a male minor seduced by an adult woman, makes
+her pregnant, it is the woman only who is responsible for the
+maintenance of her child, and there are no reasons to accord her the
+right of abortion, for it is she who desired the sexual act. The close
+bonds which exist between the child and its mother justify such legal
+dispositions.
+
+With regard to civil laws, we have mentioned the case of venereal
+infection after coitus. In this case civil indemnity would be most
+equitable. A penal action could only be based on prosecution by the
+injured party, unless it was a question of directly criminal
+intent--infection for vengeance, for example.
+
+=Incest.=--Under the heading of _consanguineous marriages_, we have
+seen to what extent the conception of incest should be limited, in
+respect to civil law. The grave cases of incest are those between
+parents and children. Their normal causes are mental anomalies,
+alcoholism, proletarian promiscuity, or isolation of a family in some
+remote place. Incest is common, in Switzerland especially, among the
+inhabitants of isolated mountain chalets. I will give a few typical
+and genuine examples of incest giving rise to penal actions:
+
+(1). A drunken and brutal husband persecuted his wife with excessive
+coitus. The latter then gave him her own daughter to satisfy his
+violence.
+
+(2). An inebriate woman induced her own son, aged seventeen, to have
+intercourse with her. Infuriated at the idea that his mother had made
+him her lover, he murdered her one day when he was drunk. Condemned as
+a parricide, this young man conducted himself in prison in a model
+manner. Alcohol, combined with his incestuous seduction, had made him
+the murderer of his mother.
+
+(3). In a family composed exclusively of imbeciles and psychopaths,
+some of whom were put under my care for treatment, incest was
+practiced among nearly all of them; between father and daughters;
+between mother and sons; and between brothers and sisters.
+
+The last case, and many others, show that incest is not the cause but
+the effect of mental disorders. This does not mean that the offspring
+of such unions are not slightly tainted by the mere fact of such
+concentrated incest, but these cases are comparatively so rare that
+they do not contribute to any appreciable extent, as incest, in
+causing degeneration of the race; the factor which causes degeneration
+is here mental disease, which arises from other hereditary causes,
+chiefly of blastophthoric origin.
+
+From what we have said it results that a penal action for incest
+should only take place in the case of minors or insane persons, abuse
+of strength or power, or rape. The measures of civil law should
+suffice to reduce other cases of incest to a minimum.
+
+The disgust which the generality of men feel for sexual union between
+brothers and sisters, and especially between parents and children, is
+the best protection against incest. The elimination of alcoholism, the
+superintendence of the insane, and the improvement of our social
+organization are much more likely than penal laws to lead to the
+gradual disappearance of incest.
+
+=Assaults on Minors.=--All assaults on minors should naturally be
+prosecuted. But prosecution should take a different form according as
+the culprit is affected with a pathological perverse disposition, or
+whether it is simply a question of abuse of confidence committed by a
+normal man. A master who, having no sexual anomaly, commits assaults
+on young girls, his pupils, should be deprived of the right of
+teaching in girls' schools, for it is only there that he is dangerous.
+If, on the other hand, he is affected with perversion (pederasty,
+etc.), further measures for protection should be taken against him;
+according to the circumstances.
+
+=Sexual Perversions.=--When we pass, on to sexual perversions, the
+inconsequences and mysticism of our present penal law become still
+more apparent. This code often prosecutes and punishes sexual actions
+which do no harm to any one, or which two persons practice of their
+own accord. Such cases may be suitable for moral or medical treatment,
+but should never justify a penal prosecution. This applies to all the
+manipulations of onanism, pederasty, masochism, fetichism, etc., which
+take place between adults by mutual agreement.
+
+What is the use of prosecuting inverts? It is a fortunate thing for
+society that these psyhcopaths are contented with their mutual sexual
+intercourse, the result of which is sterile and therefore does no harm
+to posterity. The real crime is the marriage of an invert to an
+individual of the opposite sex, and yet this crime is sanctioned by
+the law! It is a crime against the normal conjoint and against the
+children who may result from such an unhappy union. By severely
+punishing homosexual intercourse, the penal laws of many countries
+provoke the lowest form of blackmail, as Krafft-Ebing, Moll,
+Hirschfeld and others have proved by numerous examples, and as I have
+myself confirmed among many of my patients.
+
+It is quite another thing with abnormal or perverse forms of the
+sexual appetite, which can only be satisfied against the will of their
+object, or by injuring it more or less severely. Here it is the duty
+of the law to organize energetic measures of protection; not with a
+view to punish the pervert, who is a diseased person, but to protect
+his victims in time.
+
+We will first deal with _sadism_; secondly with the violation of
+children. Here a very delicate question arises. In the case of such
+terrible sexual appetites we should not wait for victims before taking
+action. On the other hand, we cannot punish a man, nor even take
+administrative measures against him, simply from the fact that he
+possesses a dangerous appetite, especially if he is in other respects
+well-behaved and conscientious, and strives with all his might against
+his perversion. I have treated a patient who suffered from a terrible
+pathological appetite of this kind. He was a highly moral man who
+never harmed any one, but was in a state of despair over his
+affliction, which he resisted with all his power, seeking relief in
+masturbation when his passion became too violent.
+
+In such cases, the moral sentiments of an individual offer sufficient
+social protection, and it is neither the right nor the duty of the
+physician to denounce him. But he should advise the patient to retire
+to an asylum to avoid committing a crime, if he feels that he cannot
+restrain his passions. It is very rare for such cases to come to the
+knowledge of the public, for these patients prefer to suffer in
+silence or to commit suicide; but they are none the less instructive
+and characteristic.
+
+At other times dangerous perversions are discovered by chance, the
+pervert, instead of resisting his passion, seeking opportunities to
+satisfy it without discovery. In such cases strong measures should be
+enforced. Unfortunately, sadists are very well aware of the dangers
+they run, and know better than any other criminals how to commit their
+crimes without being discovered. As soon as the perpetrator of a sadic
+crime is discovered, or simply an attempt at sadism, he should be
+arrested and placed where he can do no harm. The question of
+castration arises here: but we do not know yet how far this protects
+the sadist and his victim against recurrence. If this operation proves
+efficacious it should never be neglected.
+
+The _exhibitionists_ present great difficulty. They are not dangerous,
+since they touch nobody. Their "victims," if they can be called so,
+are girls or women before whom they expose their genital organs and
+masturbate. No doubt modesty may be much offended by such acts,
+especially in young girls and children; disgust and fear may also harm
+them; but I think the law is too severe in these cases, for there is
+no question of an injury which is dangerous in itself. I have known
+little girls who have been frightened several times by exhibitionists,
+but I have never known them injured by the disgust which they
+experienced. The affair is too ridiculous and too ugly. It would be
+sufficient to send exhibitionists to an asylum for short periods,
+unless extreme weakness on their part necessitated prolonged
+detention.
+
+Simple _necrophilia_ should be treated in the same way by penal law.
+But this perversion is more dangerous on account of its relationship
+with sadism. There are some sadists who are only necrophiliacs for
+fear of becoming assassins. Such individuals are very dangerous and
+should be kept in confinement.
+
+The _fetichists_ are, on the contrary, generally very innocent. At the
+most they might be prosecuted for theft when they take away their
+fetiches. One of their worst misdemeanors is that of cutting off the
+hair of young girls.
+
+=Concubinage. Prostitution. Proxenetism. White Slavery.=--We have
+already seen that concubinage should never be punishable in itself,
+although it is so in some countries. We shall not again return to the
+question whether prostitution should be the object of judicial and
+penal actions. Proxenetism and white slavery, on the contrary, cause
+grave injury to the rights of many individuals and should be made
+criminal offenses; for they are crimes against society and the
+individual, and committed for lucre. It cannot be legal to do commerce
+with the body of one's neighbor: this is a crime which is closely
+related to slavery and similar abuses. (Vide Chapter X.)
+
+The law should punish all public solicitation, obscenity or sexual
+brutality, but the punishment should take a milder form. The sexual
+act and everything connected with it should be absolutely free, but a
+man has no right to provoke or annoy his neighbor by indecent sexual
+invitations if the latter does not wish to respond to them.
+
+It is, however, extremely difficult to fix the limits of what is
+licit, for prudery may also go too far and regard the most innocent
+allusions as provocations. It is absolutely necessary to leave a
+margin for normal sexual invitations. All that is required is that
+they should not overstep the limits of recognized propriety, so long
+as there is not mutual agreement between the two parties. (Vide
+_Flirtation_, Chapter IV.)
+
+=Lewdness. Pornography.=--The question naturally presents itself of
+knowing how far it is permitted to proceed publicly with a mutual
+agreement without causing offense or injury to other parties. On the
+whole, our customs are free enough in this respect, and a greater
+liberty in public flirtation would be inconvenient. For instance, lewd
+exhibitions, coitus, etc., could not be allowed in public places.
+Children especially should be protected against such excitations of
+the sexual appetite, and it is necessary to fix a legal distinction
+between what is offensive and what is not offensive to public
+propriety or modesty.
+
+Simple police regulations are sufficient for this purpose, but they
+are very necessary to protect women and children, and occasionally
+young men, against importunities or sexual obsessions, against sexual
+solicitation, or even against assault or other offenses, such as
+incitement to masturbation, obscene words and gestures, etc.
+
+It is, no doubt, very difficult to define the limits. Our modern
+customs have left a large margin for pornography, which they treat
+like a spoiled child. The most dangerous form, however, is not that
+which flaunts itself in shop windows, by advertisements and placards,
+in public kiosks and dancing rooms; but the refined and aesthetic
+pornography which appears in the form of elegant engravings, erotic
+novels and dramas, under the cloak of art and even under that of
+morality.
+
+Unfortunately, the public is a very bad judge of these things. Certain
+books have openly and fearlessly described the sexual vices of our
+time--for example, Zola's novels and the dramas of Brieux--and these
+have been stigmatized as pornographic. As a matter of fact their
+authors in no way merit such a reproach. Such works in no way
+encourage immorality; on the contrary, they inspire disgust and a
+healthy and holy terror at the perversity of our sexual customs. No
+doubt such works may have an erotic action on ignorant and low-minded
+persons. The Tyrolean peasants, in their moral indignation, have been
+known to destroy the marble statues of women erected in public places.
+Such acts serve no purpose, for prudery will never rid the world of
+eroticism; it will only increase it by leading to hypocrisy. We have
+something better to do than persecute and insult true art and men of
+talent or genius who expose our social perversions.
+
+Pornography is quite another thing. It is not contented with
+representing the aesthetic, licit, and normal side of natural
+eroticism. It does not depict sexual vice so as to emphasize its
+ugliness and its tragic consequences, but to glorify it. Whether it is
+represented as brazen nudity unadorned, or enveloped in a transparent
+veil which reveals everything it pretends to hide; whether it reels in
+bacchanalian orgies; whether it appears in brilliant fancy dress
+illuminated by electric lights, or in the discreet light of a
+fashionable boudoir; whether it is clearly revealed or equivocal,
+perverted in one way or depraved in another; in all its forms its aim
+is to tickle, to excite, to seduce, to allure, by arousing lewdness
+and inflaming its lowest passions.
+
+The pornographic dishes are often served up with a sentimental and
+moral sauce which naturally does not tend to hide the flavor of the
+meat--for then all its charm would be gone--on the contrary it
+increases its spicy quality by means of contrast, at the same time
+making the product more marketable; this hypocritical disguise giving
+it a certain varnish of propriety. The trick of clothing pornographic
+articles with the mantle of virtue may deceive the artless, and give
+the less artless excuse for buying them without putting themselves to
+any inconvenience. In such cases it is extremely difficult to act
+without injustice and without doing injury to art and science by
+vexatious measures. This requires much tact and rare perspicacity.
+
+=Other Sexual Misdemeanors.=--Many sexual assaults are committed on
+the insane and feeble-minded, in the hope that they will not defend
+themselves and denounce the criminal. We have mentioned the case of
+inverts who become attendants in lunatic asylums in order to satisfy
+their appetites. Such crimes should be classed with those committed
+against minors. In the first place it is necessary to take into
+account the special dangers they present, and in the second place, the
+personality of the criminal, his capacity for repentance, improvement,
+and self-control.
+
+=Artificial Abortion.=--It is a difficult question to decide whether a
+woman should have the right to dispose of the embryo she carries in
+her womb, and the duties of society with regard to this question. It
+is certainly the duty of society to protect the child as soon as it
+is born. In this case the laws cannot be too severe in protecting the
+child from unnatural parents, or from the "baby farmers," whose
+business is to get rid of the infants by starving them or exposing
+them to disease.
+
+It is the same with analogous abuses which we have mentioned with
+regard to civil law. These crimes or misdemeanors very often result as
+much from the economic organization of our society, as from want of
+protection for infancy and girl-mothers, as well as from the shame
+with which the latter are branded by our hypocritical customs.
+
+The question becomes more difficult with regard to the embryo _before
+birth_. Should the law punish artificial abortion? Opinions on this
+question vary. I have already said that in cases of rape, and forced
+pregnancy in general, the right to artificial abortion should be
+conceded to the woman. On the other hand, I think it should be
+prohibited on principle when the fecundating coitus has been voluntary
+on both sides, and when there is no medical reason for such a measure.
+In principle, the human embryo, when once conceived, should have the
+right to live. Birth is only an episode in its life. This generally
+takes place at the end of the ninth lunar month of pregnancy, but a
+child born at the seventh month is often viable. It is, therefore,
+arbitrary not to recognize the right of the embryo to live. On the
+contrary, the right that a woman has to dispose of her body would seem
+to outweigh this, when conception has been imposed on her by stratagem
+or violence. In fact, the right of the embryo to life should depend on
+the wish of the bearers of each of the two germs by which it is
+formed, at the moment of conception.
+
+On the other hand, numerous exceptions to the above rule should be
+allowed, and doctors should not be too severe, for it would be for
+them to decide in most cases whether artificial abortion was licit or
+not. Some pregnancies are a veritable misfortune for the parents and
+offspring, when the bodily and mental health of the mother or child,
+or both of them, is in danger. When a lunatic or an idiot, married or
+not, makes a woman pregnant, artificial abortion should be allowed;
+also in all cases when an insane or epileptic woman becomes pregnant.
+
+An analogous case is that where a drunkard renders his wife pregnant
+against her will, especially when he is intoxicated at the moment; for
+the offspring runs a great risk of blastophthoria.
+
+It is needless to say that abortion should be permitted whenever
+pregnancy seriously endangers the life or health of the mother, or
+when a grave disease in the mother condemns the child to become an
+invalid. On the other hand, such indications should not be acted on
+too lightly; a rational limit is here a matter of practice and common
+sense, combined with medical science.
+
+=The Right to Live of Monsters, Idiots, or the Deformed.=--The
+preceding remarks naturally lead us to the question whether children
+who are born invalids, deformed, or idiots, etc., should be
+necessarily condemned to live by the law, and whether special
+dispositions should not be made for such cases.
+
+The obligation to preserve, often by means of all the resources of
+medical science, miserable creatures, born as cretins or idiots;
+children with hydrocephalus or microcephalus, without eyes or ears, or
+with atrophied genital organs, etc., is an atrocity sanctioned by the
+law. Would it not be better to allow these miserable beings to be
+suppressed by means of a painless narcosis, with the consent of the
+parents and after an expert medical opinion, instead of condemning
+them by law to a life of misery? Science has proved that every
+congenital malformation of the brain is as incurable as that of any
+other organ.
+
+Here again our legislation is fettered by ignorance and religious
+dogma. On one hand, immense armies are organized to kill the most
+healthy men by thousands and tens of thousands, and many more
+thousands are abandoned to famine, prostitution, alcoholism and
+exploitation; on the other hand, medicine is expected to employ its
+whole art and efforts in prolonging life as long as possible and thus
+martyrizing miserable human wretches, degenerate in body and mind or
+both, often when they cry out for death!
+
+Large asylums are built for idiots, and there is much joy when after
+many years of persevering effort some devoted person succeeds in
+teaching these beings, whose mentality is far inferior to that of a
+monkey, to repeat a few words like a parrot, to scribble some words
+on paper, or to repeat a prayer mechanically with their eyes turned
+toward heaven!
+
+It is difficult to compare these two facts without feeling the bitter
+irony of what are euphemistically called our hereditary customs. In
+truth, the nurses and teachers who devote themselves to the education
+of cretins and idiots would do better to occupy themselves in some
+manual work; or even leave the idiots to die, and themselves procreate
+healthy and capable children in their place! But this question does
+not properly belong to our subject.
+
+=The Rights of the Embryo.=--A distinction is generally made between
+artificial abortion practiced in the first months of pregnancy and
+that induced in the later months. When the child is born viable, the
+term premature labor is used. When this is induced with the object of
+getting rid of the child the penalty is much more severe than for
+abortion, for it is regarded almost as infanticide.
+
+For this reason, and owing to the difficulty of the whole question, a
+mother should never be given the right to destroy the embryo or child
+in her womb, excepting in cases where pregnancy has been forced upon
+her. Each case should be submitted to a medical examination, and a
+doctor's certificate should be required. This is all the more
+indicated since our present knowledge makes it easy to prevent
+pregnancy by anticonceptional measures. Society is, therefore,
+entitled to demand that a mother who has voluntarily conceived a child
+has no right to interrupt its development, _i.e._, to kill it. If, as
+we hope, we shall eventually obtain more extended rights for women and
+greater sexual liberty in general, even in marriage, the reasons
+justifying artificial abortion, apart from medical or hygienic
+measures, will become more and more rare.
+
+The stigma of shame which is branded on illegitimate maternity
+unfortunately justifies many cases of abortion and even infanticide.
+Things ought to change in this respect, and in the future no pregnancy
+ought to be a source of shame for any healthy woman whatever, nor
+furnish the least motive for dissimulation.
+
+If the objection is raised that I am inconsistent; that every man,
+and consequently every woman, should have the power to dispose of
+their own body on every occasion, and that penal law should therefore
+take no cognizance of artificial abortion, I reply that this does not
+apply to the case in point; for it is here a question, not of one
+body, but of two or more (in the case of twins). From the moment of
+conception the embryo acquires a social right which merits all the
+more protection, the more its possessor is incapable of looking after
+it.
+
+=Adultery.=--Adultery, which even at the present day is often
+considered as a crime or misdemeanor, should be simply regarded as a
+reason for divorce. We have already treated the question with regard
+to civil law, and have shown the futility of trying to obtain fidelity
+by law. In my opinion, the misdemeanor of adultery should be entirely
+abolished from penal law. When it is complicated by fraud or other
+crimes, it is the latter only which are concerned.
+
+=Human Selection.=--The indirect danger to which children of bad
+heredity are exposed constitutes a grave social evil. At present,
+penal law is absolutely impotent in this matter. We have seen what
+civil law might perhaps effect, and what is already done in some
+countries. In another chapter we shall discuss much more appropriate
+measures for improvement in this domain.
+
+We have already mentioned castration and certain cases in which it
+might be practiced. These cases will always be very limited, and it is
+on the basis of social morality and hygiene of the race that the
+question of conception should be regulated in a rational and voluntary
+manner. We shall obtain much more in this way than by legal measures,
+which are always lame because they interfere with individual liberty.
+We must never forget that the law is only a necessary evil, and often
+a superfluous one.
+
+In conclusion, I may remark that penal law should be combined, like
+civil law, with administrative measures, to protect both the
+individual and society in sexual matters, at the same time watching
+over the interests of future generations. But it should only do this
+as far as the weakness and eroticism of men hinder a similar or better
+result from being obtained by moral education, combined with rational
+intellectual instruction.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[8] Vide DELBRUeCK, _Gerichtliche Psychopathologie_ (Job. Ambr. Barth,
+Leipzig, 1897).--DELBRUeCK, _Die Pathologische Luege und der pyschisch
+abnorme Schwindler_ (Ferdinand Enke, Stuttgart, 1891).--FOREL, _Crime et
+anomalies mentales constitutionnelles_ (GENEVE, 1902, H.
+Kuendig,).--KOeLLE, _Gerichtlich psychiatrische Gutachten_ (from the
+clinic of Professor Forel at Zurich), Stuttgart, 1894, Ferdinande
+Enke.--VON LISZT, Schutz der Gesellschaft gegen Gemeingefaehrliche
+(_Monatsschrift fuer Kriminalpsychologie und Strafrechtsreform_).--FOREL,
+Die verminderte Zurechnungsfaehigkeit (_die Zukunft_, 1899, no 15), etc.
+
+[9] "Die Zwiechungsfaehigkeit des normalen Menschen," Munich.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XIII
+
+A MEDICO-LEGAL CASE
+
+
+The following case occurred in 1904 in the Canton of St. Gall, in
+Switzerland, and confirms my opinion:
+
+Frieda Keller, born in 1879, was the daughter of honest parents. Her
+mother was mild-mannered and sensible, her father loyal, but harsh and
+sometimes violent. Frieda was the fifth of eleven brothers and
+sisters. She was a model scholar. At the age of four years she had
+meningitis which left her with frequent headaches. In 1896-97 she
+learnt dressmaking and helped at home in the household work. When she
+was free, she did embroidery to help her family. Afterwards she
+obtained a situation in a dressmaker's shop at St. Gall, where she got
+sixty francs a month.
+
+To increase her income she worked on Sundays as a waitress at the Cafe
+de la Poste. The proprietor, a married man, began to persecute her
+with his affections, which she had great difficulty in avoiding. She
+then entered another shop where she got eighty francs a month. One
+day, in 1898, when she was then nineteen, the proprietor of the cafe
+succeeded in seducing her, and on May 27, 1899, she gave birth to a
+boy at the Maternity of St. Gall. She had confessed her misfortune to
+her parents, and her mother had pity on her. Her mother had also been
+seduced and rendered pregnant at the age of fifteen; abandoned by her
+seducer she committed infanticide, and was sentenced to six years'
+imprisonment; as she had always been well-behaved, the tribunal had
+recognized that she acted "less by moral depravity than by false
+sentiment of honor." Frieda, who was fond of her mother, knew nothing
+of this history. The father was very hard toward his daughter and
+refused her all help and pity. Twelve days after her confinement she
+took her child to the Foundling Hospital at St. Gall.
+
+Her seducer then promised to maintain the child, but never paid more
+than eighty francs. After a time he left the town and was seen no
+more. The circumstances under which Frieda became pregnant were not
+fully inquired into and her seducer was ignored. It was not absolutely
+a case of rape, but of taking a poor, weak and timid girl by surprise.
+
+Frieda Keller felt nothing but disgust for her seducer. Later on the
+latter would no doubt deny the fact of his paternity; but he had
+tacitly admitted this by the payment of eighty francs.
+
+Frieda had to pay five francs a week to the Foundling Hospital and
+also thirty-four francs to her married sister. In 1901 her father
+died, and in 1903 her mother. Frieda inherited 2,471 francs from her
+father, but this sum was tied up in her brother's business and he
+never sent her the interest. It is characteristic of her mentality
+that she never attempted to exact it.
+
+Then began for this unfortunate young girl a life of struggle and
+despair. She was possessed of two ideas. On the one hand she could no
+longer maintain her child, and on the other hand would not admit
+anything from shame. They would not keep the child in the hospital
+after Easter, 1904, when it would reach the maximum age of five years.
+What was she to do?
+
+Frieda Keller was then evidently in a pathological state of mind,
+which was upheld by her defender, Doctor Janggen. She wished to keep
+her secret and provide for the maintenance of the child; but she took
+no steps in this direction. She did not seek for cheap lodgings, not
+for a rise of salary, nor even for the money illegally detained by her
+brother for his own profit. She never spoke to her married sister, nor
+to any one, of her desperate position. The father of her child had
+disappeared and she never gave information against him for fear of
+divulging her secret. Moreover, the law at St. Gall only admitted the
+charge of paternity against unmarried men! She found no practical way
+of disposing of her child. After Easter, 1904, when the child was
+discharged from the hospital, she was haunted by a single idea--to get
+rid of the child. She struggled for a long time against this
+obsession, but in vain, and it finally became a resolution.
+
+Although she was fond of her sister's children, she did not love her
+own. She rarely visited her child and appeared to take no notice of
+it. This woman who was well-disposed toward every other creature, who
+was of exemplary conduct and would not hurt a fly, never even spoke of
+her own child. On April 9th she wrote to the hospital that she would
+come and fetch the child.
+
+A few days before this she took a long walk in the woods; the next day
+she wept at home, while looking for some string. Alone with her
+despair, she had definitely made her terrible resolution. She said
+afterwards, at the assizes:
+
+"I could not free myself from the feeling that I must get rid of the
+child."
+
+She then went to the hospital, after having bought new clothes for the
+child, and told the authorities that an aunt of hers at Munich would
+take care of the child. She then took the child to the woods. Having
+found a lonely spot she sat down for a long time while the child
+played in the wood. For some time she had not the courage to do the
+deed, but at last an irresistible force, as she said, urged her to do
+it. With her hands and shoes she dug a grave, then strangled the child
+with string, with such force that it was difficult to untie the knot
+on the dead body afterwards. She knelt for some time by the child till
+it ceased to give any signs of life, then buried it, and returned home
+restraining her tears with difficulty.
+
+On the 1st of June she wrote to the hospital that the child had
+arrived at Munich. On the 7th of June the body was exposed by rain and
+was discovered by some Italians. On the 14th of June she was arrested.
+During the trial she declared that her action had been the result of
+her inability to maintain the child, and the necessity of keeping her
+secret. This secret was the shame and dishonor of involuntary
+maternity and illegitimate birth.
+
+All the witnesses spoke in favor of Frieda Keller and gave evidence
+that she was well-mannered, intelligent, hard-working, economical, of
+exemplary conduct and loving her sister's children. She did not deny
+the premeditation of her crime, and in no way sought to diminish her
+responsibility.
+
+According to the law of St. Gall, such cases are punishable with
+death; but Frieda Keller's sentence was commuted to penal servitude
+for life.
+
+Such are the facts of this case taken from the official report, and
+from an extract published by M. de Morsier in the _Signal de Geneve_.
+
+We are compelled to exclaim with M. de Morsier that a legislation
+which, in such a case, condemns to death one who can justly be called
+a victim, while leaving unpunished the real culprit, is calculated to
+destroy all belief in justice in a democracy which calls itself
+Christian. It is a justice of barbarians, a disgrace to the twentieth
+century. The tribunal and the juries have enforced to the letter an
+article in the Code, and this is called justice! We may well say:
+_Fiat justitia, pereat mundus._
+
+Frieda Keller was no doubt in an abnormal condition of mind; she
+probably suffered from the influence of auto-suggestion which became
+an obsession. Such cases are not uncommon. This is clearly shown by
+the absurdity of her manner of acting, which was both useless and
+pernicious, while she might easily have got out of her difficulty in
+other ways. If our judges and juries had a little more knowledge of
+human psychology and a little less of the Code in their heads, they
+would have had some doubts on the mental integrity of the accused, and
+would have ordered an expert examination by a mental specialist. But,
+apart from this point, I put the question--can we expect from a woman,
+maternal sentiments for a child resulting from sexual surprise
+bordering on rape?
+
+In the preceding chapter I have demanded the right of artificial
+abortion to women rendered pregnant by rape or against their will, and
+I think the case of Frieda Keller supports my contention. I do not
+intend to justify the assassination of a child already five years of
+age; but I wish to point out that the absence of maternal love is
+quite natural in such a case. It is precisely the instinctive aversion
+of Frieda Keller for her child, otherwise inexplicable, which shows
+most clearly that it was a case of imposed maternity, or sexual
+satisfaction on the part of the father alone.
+
+The tragic case of this unfortunate woman well illustrates the
+brutality and hypocrisy of our customs regarding the sexual question,
+and shows what terror, shame, torment and despair may be caused by the
+point of view of the so-called rules of morality. In the presence of
+these facts I do not think I can be accused of exaggeration: it is
+only parchment-hearted jurists and government officials who can remain
+indifferent in such cases.
+
+Penal servitude for life for the poor victim of such cruelty is a kind
+of "mercy" which rather resembles bitter irony. The law of St. Gall
+can do only one thing to repair the evil; that is to change its laws
+and liberate the victim as soon as possible.
+
+In ordinary infanticide the true assassin is not usually the mother
+who kills her child, but rather the father who abandons the woman he
+has made pregnant, and disowns the result of his temporary passion. In
+the case of Frieda Keller, maternal heredity, the results of
+meningitis, stupidity, irreflection, want, shame, fear, a pathological
+obsession, and finally the unworthy conduct of the father, all
+combined in making this unfortunate girl a victim rather than a
+criminal. Her child was not only a source of great anxiety but also an
+object of instinctive repulsion.
+
+How is it that such a brave and industrious woman can feel repulsion
+toward her own child? If the judges had asked themselves this question
+and had replied to it without prejudice, forgetting for the moment
+their Code and prejudices, they would not have had the courage to
+condemn the woman to death, nor even to condemn her at all; for their
+conscience would have clearly shown them the true culprits--masculine
+brutality, our hypocritical sexual customs, and the unjust laws
+inspiring terror in a feeble brain.
+
+When every pregnancy and every birth are looked upon by human society
+with honor and respect, when every mother is protected by law and
+assisted in the education of her children, then only will society have
+the right to judge severely of infanticide.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+MEDICINE AND SEXUAL LIFE
+
+
+=General Remarks.=--Theology teaches belief in God and a future life;
+law represents the application of codified laws and customs, old and
+new; medicine is said to be an art--the art of curing sick people.
+
+At the origin of each of these three branches of human activity we
+find an acquired idea. Man has been led to the religious idea and to
+the worship of one or more gods by his terror of certain unknown and
+occult powers superior to his own, and by the idea that his faculty of
+knowledge, his power, and the duration of his life were limited.
+
+The origin of law is in moral conscience, a phylogenetic derivative of
+the sentiments of sympathy, _i.e._, sentiments of duty and justice,
+combined with the idea of the necessity for men to live in societies.
+
+As regards medicine, this owes its existence to the fear of disease,
+pain and death, which is modified by the acquired experience that
+certain substances may sometimes ease suffering.
+
+Theology, if separated from morality whose domain it has usurped,
+lives on mysticism, and endeavors to give it a natural and human
+appearance by adorning it with sonorous phraseology. Law, losing sight
+of its origin and object of existence, only concerns itself with
+comments on the text of laws, and in discussing the application of the
+articles of the Code. Medicine has concerned itself too much with the
+life of the patient, instead of the improvement of human life in
+general.
+
+In order to cure a physical malady, to reestablish abnormal or damaged
+functions as far as this is possible, the physician must be acquainted
+with the vital manifestations of the body in its normal state. For
+this reason the art of medicine depends on the accessory sciences,
+chiefly anatomy and physiology. These accessory sciences have
+considerably developed in the evolution of medicine, and the art of
+medicine has become the chief motive power which urges men to research
+and discovery in the biological sciences, such as histology,
+embryology, comparative anatomy and physiology, anatomy and physiology
+of the brain, bacteriology, etc. Pure science now occupies such a
+position in medical studies that the "healing art" often remains in
+the background; although it must later on take the chief part, and is
+regarded by the public as of the greatest importance.
+
+The value of the art of medicine is subject to great variations. It is
+only of real value when, free from all charlatanism, it rests on a
+sufficiently scientific basis; for the art of an ignoramus falls into
+error and employs inappropriate methods; on the other hand, the art of
+a charlatan has for its object the purse of the patient. It is common
+to meet with physicians who have a good practical experience of art
+without possessing scientific knowledge, others who have both
+practical experience and science but are charlatans, others again who
+are very scientific but incapable in practice. The ideal is a
+combination of art, science and disinterested honesty; but it is not
+very uncommon to meet with a combination of ignorance, incapacity and
+charlatanism. Lastly, too many doctors, otherwise capable and
+intelligent, are too much influenced by authority, text-books and
+prejudices, instead of observing and judging each case for themselves
+in the true scientific spirit. Many dogmas of medical education rest
+on hypotheses, theories or statements which have no solid foundation,
+and do not represent the fruits of a true personal experience of human
+life. Many doctors only see through other people's glasses, without
+reflecting for themselves; the worst of these are those with
+"systems," homoeopaths, the disciples of natural medicine, etc. It
+is especially in the sexual question that these human weaknesses of
+medical practitioners often lead to the most pitiable results.
+
+We must first of all take to heart the fundamental principle of
+hygiene, which is at the same time that of all honest and sound
+medicine--_prevention is better than cure._
+
+The modern opinions of medical men on the sexual question are still
+unfortunately greatly obscured by prejudice, authority, and the
+indirect influence of the doctrines of religious morality. The same
+applies to the question of alcohol. However, it is to medicine and its
+accessory sciences that we owe the knowledge which now renders it
+possible to judge of the sexual relations of man from the true and
+healthy point of view of social and moral science.
+
+We cannot describe here all the relations of medicine to sexual life.
+Chapters I, II, III, IV and VIII are entirely based on its results and
+on those of natural science. What we have still to consider relates
+especially to sexual hygiene, for we have already treated of pathology
+in Chapter VIII. I shall reserve the general and social part of
+hygiene for the last chapter of the book, and shall confine myself
+here to certain special points, and the criticism of current, but
+erroneous, medical opinions on the sexual question.
+
+=Prostitution. Sexual Hygiene. Sexual Connection Apart from
+Marriage.=--All regulation and medical supervision of prostitution
+should be rejected, not only from the moral point of view, but also
+from that of hygiene, as a deplorable error, incapable even of
+fulfilling its avowed object--protection against venereal disease.
+
+Faith in the dogmas and authority of an existing institution has led
+medical men to take a false view of the question. They demand from the
+adversaries of regulation proof of a diminution in venereal disease
+when regulation was not in force. This is both unjust and absurd. It
+is for the supporters of regulation to prove that State regulation of
+prostitution has led to any appreciable improvement of the social
+evil. Then only can it be asked if the maintenance of such vexatious
+measures is still justifiable. But medicine has not furnished the
+proof demanded from it; on the contrary, its attempts in this
+direction have entirely failed. After all, the system is kept up, not
+because it diminishes venereal infection, but because it gives
+satisfaction to the sexual appetite of men and their desire for
+change. Society, however, has no right to organize such a monstrosity
+as regulated prostitution and licensed proxenetism, for the special
+pleasure of debauchees.
+
+In virtue of the false dogma of regulation, many doctors, even at the
+present day, recommend young men to visit brothels, for alleged
+hygienic reasons. This deplorable custom perverts youth and gives it
+false ideas. It is a remedy much worse and much more dangerous than
+the evil it is supposed to cure, worse than masturbation, much worse
+than nocturnal emissions. Sexual anomalies and perversions are not
+cured in brothels; on the contrary they develop there.
+
+Moreover, it is absurd to exaggerate the effects of onanism and sexual
+excesses in themselves, and thus increase the anxiety of a number of
+unfortunates. In Chapter IV, we have already spoken of great
+variations which the sexual appetite presents without ceasing to be
+normal, and we have mentioned the rule given by Luther. In my opinion
+the advice given by the doctor should be as follows:
+
+As long as he does not wish to marry, a young man should remove as far
+as possible all sexual ideas from his thoughts. He should be contented
+with nocturnal emissions, which are produced spontaneously, and should
+avoid all the manipulations of onanism. A young girl should do the
+same all the more easily, because her sexual appetite is normally
+weaker, and is not accompanied by glandular secretions which more or
+less demand ejaculation.
+
+Persons unable to resist their sexual appetite should be extremely
+prudent in their extra-nuptial intercourse. Moreover, there is no need
+for this to assume the character of prostitution.
+
+=Medical Advice.=--It is the doctor's duty to give friendly advice to
+every one who consults him on sexual questions, without posing as a
+judge or a moralist. He should never frighten or reprimand the poor
+hypochondriac who blames himself for masturbation, nor sexual perverts
+of any kind, unless, of course, they are absolutely dangerous, such as
+sadists. He should, on the contrary, calm their fears and give them
+encouragement; and in this way he may do much good.
+
+Hypnotic suggestion gives him a means of directly combating many cases
+of sexual excitation, or at least of attenuating them, by directing
+the cerebral activity of the patient to other subjects. Each case
+should be judged by itself and attention should be paid to the
+different points we have studied in this book. Even between husband
+and wife, and especially as a consequence of monogamy, certain
+unfortunate or delicate circumstances may raise difficulties; for
+example, the periods during which conception should be avoided, a
+certain time after accouchement and during certain morbid conditions.
+
+In this case unskillful medical advice may have unfortunate results.
+When a doctor forbids a husband to have sexual intercourse with his
+wife he exposes him to two dangers. If the husband remains continent
+and sleeps in a separate room for too long a time, conjugal love may
+become so cooled that a permanent barrier is established between man
+and wife; if, on the other hand, he abandons himself to prostitution,
+he may contract venereal disease and infect his wife. Again, the
+husband may become enamored of another woman and wreck the happiness
+of his family. The doctor who prohibits conjugal coitus thus takes a
+great responsibility. For this and other reasons we have now an
+important question to consider.
+
+Opinions differ considerably as to the effects of sexual continence.
+All extreme assertions are erroneous. It is quite certain that the
+harmful effects of continence have been greatly exaggerated. Normal
+persons of both sexes may remain continent, although not without some
+trouble and discomfort. In a general way, we may accept the statement
+that many morbid conditions are known to result from sexual excess,
+but few from continence. This, however, goes a little too far, for
+certain psychopaths and sexual hyperaesthetics often lapse into a state
+of mental and nervous excitement from forced continence, so that their
+neurosis becomes accentuated and may even end in insanity. I have seen
+this occur both in men and women, but such cases are very rare.
+
+Continence is not an easy matter for erotic individuals, and requires
+a heroic internal struggle, especially in men. The Canadian reformer,
+Chiniqui, whom we have previously quoted, relates the history of a
+monk who tore off his testicles in despair at being unable to conquer
+his violent sexual appetite.
+
+The fine preachers of morality, endowed with a cold temperament, or
+simply senile, who hold forth on the "immorality" of the consequences
+of the sexual appetite, would do well to take such facts to heart.
+
+We must not forget that among our brutal, yet human ancestors the
+struggle for life demanded the cruel and wanton exposure or slaughter
+of all weak and decrepit individuals, and that epidemic diseases,
+plagues, and pests ravaged the peoples without mercy. Of course our
+present civilization has put up a barrier against all this. Yet, for
+that very reason the blind and thoughtless propagation of degenerate,
+tainted, and enfeebled individuals is another atrocious danger to
+society. But then the sexual appetite cannot be legislated out of
+existence or killed by repressive measures.
+
+Quite recently it has been scientifically demonstrated that absolute
+sterilization can be produced by the application of the Roentgen Ray,
+but at what period of treatment this result may be obtained still
+remains an unsettled question, thus leaving the possibility of
+incurring the risk of effecting only a doubtful degeneration of the
+germs.
+
+We can but consider all legislation and all police measures which are
+intended to regulate the sexual intercourse in the human family, as
+absolute failures, as inhuman, in fact as down-right detrimental to
+the race. Exacting laws have never improved the morals of any race or
+nation; hypocrisy and secret evasion are the only results obtained. It
+would be better by far if steps were taken to enlighten the masses on
+the questions of sexual heredity and degeneration. Wisdom of this kind
+does not corrupt. It is rather the unrestricted power of capital and
+wealth that brings the rot into the community. Healthy people should
+be made to know that a large number of sound, industrious children is
+a blessing, in fact, riches to the family, but on the one condition
+only, viz.: that they are not relegated to detestable slavery through
+the overbearing suppression of capital.
+
+When the dignity of labor shall once have been raised on the pedestal
+of worship now occupied by Mammon, there will no longer be need for
+complaint about small families and decreasing birth-rates, such as we
+hear so much at the present day in France and in the United States.
+
+A few examples might throw some light on this subject.
+
+(1) Dr. Pelman of Bonn, assisted by the local authorities, made an
+inquiry into the progeny of a certain Ada Jurke (born in 1740, died in
+the beginning of the nineteenth century), who was hereditarily
+tainted, a drunkard and a degenerate. Her descendants down to the
+present time number 834 persons. The lives of 709 of these individuals
+have been officially recorded as follows: 106 were illegitimate
+children; 142 were mendicants and tramps; 64 were unable to perform
+any kind of work towards their own support and became a charge to the
+community; 181 of the women were prostitutes; 7 persons were convicted
+of murder and 69 of other crimes. All this within a period of 75 years
+at a cost to the state, according to the public records, of five
+millions of marks (about $1,250,000) in the shape of monetary support,
+jail and law expenses, claims for damages, etc., etc.
+
+(2) Dr. Joerger, Director of the Insane Asylum at Waldhaus, by Chur, in
+Switzerland, followed up in a similar fashion the history of a family
+of vagrants. The full report may be found under the title of "The Zero
+Family," in the _Archiv fuer Gesellschaft's-u. Rassenbiologie_, 1905,
+Heft 4, page 494 et seq. It is sad to read of the untold misery,
+profligacy, and distress spread broadcast by this family, not to speak
+of the many crimes committed by its members.
+
+It is depressing to witness how sheer ignorance and callousness to the
+interests of the human race at large allow such people to multiply
+without let or hindrance. The unfortunate part about it all is that
+this species of humanity is on the steady increase. They really form
+the principal hearths whence emanate our criminal classes, that fill
+our jails, our Charity Homes, our Hospitals, our Sanatoria, our Insane
+Asylums. They breed and multiply not because it affords them a special
+pleasure to procreate crime, insanity, and degeneracy, but because no
+one takes the trouble to instruct them in the perniciousness of
+bringing into this world offspring that can only find and themselves
+again disseminate misery, want, and wretchedness; or to teach them how
+to prevent this calamity.
+
+(3) Still another category of dangerous elements is becoming more
+numerous every day. I refer to the _neurasthenics_. Heredity is an
+important factor here, too, as every neurologist is able to attest
+from his own daily observations. The worst feature about this peril is
+the fact that neurotics as a rule suffer from excess of sexual
+appetite, whilst they are sorely lacking the power of self-control,
+circumstances which often enough lead to crime, insanity, and suicide.
+Untold thousands of them, unaware of the fearful consequences of
+hereditary impairment, go on bringing into this world children
+destined to unhappiness and suffering. It is noteworthy too that these
+nervous wrecks generally intermarry. Does not this account to a large
+extent for the great number of unhappy marriages recorded nowadays?
+
+Of course, it is quite evident that under such pitiable conditions,
+the hereditary taints become increasingly aggravated. If the patients
+have money, which is very often the case, they prove profitable
+customers of the "nerve-specialist," and likewise of the endless chain
+of private sanatoria for nervous diseases. It is a sad spectacle
+indeed. My own experience has taught me that nine out of ten of these
+unfortunate beings have families, because they are ignorant of the
+dangers of heredity, and unfamiliar with the safe and proper means for
+preventing conception. Why not teach them? A few cases may suffice.
+
+(_a_) An hysterical woman, whose father was a lascivious, egotistical
+crank, married a man absolutely devoid of will power and energy. She
+was gifted; the marriage a failure. Of the two children, one was an
+indolent, thoroughly useless, good-for-nothing boy, whose only thought
+was of wasting money on pretty neckties and the like and of flirting
+with the girls, of which art he was a past-master. The other one, a
+girl, betrayed the same characteristics and disposition. The mother
+was in despair and inconsolable, cursing her offspring and the
+marriage alike. Too late, alas!
+
+(_b_) The son of a neurasthenic father and an hysterical mother,
+although of a good-natured disposition, had the vilest, uncontrolable
+temper, which would suddenly carry him away to acts of violence only
+to be bitterly regretted immediately afterwards. Whilst drunk he
+became excited and drawing a revolver wounded several innocent
+bystanders. As an officer in the army he was insulted by a tipsy
+student, whom he shot down on the spot, although he was sober himself
+at the time. On another occasion he shot himself in the breast, but
+recovered. Presently he fell in love most desperately with an
+hysterical woman and married her. The mother-in-law, who was an
+eccentric, mischievous person, started a bitter feud between the two
+families. He became greatly wrought up over the affair and demanded of
+his wife to stop the quarrel at once. As she demurred, he ended her
+life with a bullet from a pistol. Of course, he was arrested and
+languished in jail in utter agony and despair. What a future for those
+two unfortunate children that sprang from this union! I may point out
+here that at the time when he killed his wife, whom he loved
+passionately, he was not under the influence of strong drink, for he
+had given up the use of alcohol altogether for quite a number of
+years.
+
+(_c_) A very religious lady had married a man who became insane. He,
+too, was a devout churchman. There were 8 children. Under treatment
+the father improved and was dismissed from the asylum. I urged them
+both to prevent further conception, having in view the dangers of
+hereditary taint in the possible offspring. The wife indignantly told
+me that her church demanded of her to bear as many children as she
+could. They had several more, all of them candidates for the insane
+asylum or the institute for nervous patients. And that is called
+religion and morality!
+
+(_d_) A heavily tainted couple, desperately enamored of each other,
+came to me in great distress to ask: "May we get married?" I answered:
+"It does not strike me as being the wisest thing for you to do. But if
+you cannot exist without each other, by all means get married; but
+think what a calamity it would be, if two beings tainted as you both
+are, were to beget offspring." "But we are so fond of children."
+"Well, that is easily mended. There are plenty of healthy orphans
+whose parents were strong and sound both in body and in mind, but who
+are strangers to a father's and mother's love, and are craving for a
+good education. Make your own choice, but take only the very best.
+Then you will have a family and enjoy all the pleasures of parenthood.
+As for the rest, heed my advice. Avoid pregnancy."
+
+The law of heredity winds like a red thread through the family history
+of every criminal, of every epileptic, eccentric and insane person.
+And we should sit still and witness our civilization go into decay and
+fall to pieces without raising the cry of warning and applying the
+remedy?
+
+However, this is by no means all. Tuberculosis is the white plague of
+to-day. It is considered an established fact that every living human
+being inhales and swallows tubercle bacilli by the millions every day,
+and it is even claimed that every one of us harbors somewhere in the
+economy this dreadful poison to a larger or smaller degree. Whilst the
+pure, immune blood in a sound, robust constitution is able to resist
+the inroads of, and even to kill, sterilize, and eliminate these
+bacilli, the weaker and hereditarily tainted individual falls a prey
+to the attacks of this dire disease by the thousands. True, serum
+therapy and open-air treatment are accomplishing many cures, but the
+hereditary disposition remains in the system all the same, and may be
+transmitted to the coming generation, or at any rate may impair the
+power of resistance in the offspring.
+
+Moreover, the sexual appetite is very pronounced in phthisical
+patients. They marry and beget children in the most wanton fashion.
+The law cannot and does not prevent them, and the carnal instinct is
+not to be killed. What is to be done when law and religion forbid the
+application of preventive measures and even prosecute the person that
+recommends them?
+
+Local disease and pathological conditions in the woman (at times in
+man also), within wedlock, may render parturition an immediate danger
+to the life of the mother or of the child or of both together, for
+instance, cancer of the womb or other affections of the uterus, kidney
+disease, a deformed pelvis. Surely in such cases it is the bounden
+duty of the physician to intervene and council against, nay,
+absolutely forbid impregnation. Well, how is it to be done? Must
+husband and wife, who love and esteem each other, be separated? It
+would be unnatural, in fact it is quite impossible. Or should they
+abandon sexual intercourse all together and live like brother and
+sister? Well, a few exceptionally cold natures may have will power
+enough to carry into effect such a pact. But in 99 out of 100 cases
+the interdict of the sexual act sends the husband to satisfy his
+cravings elsewhere and contract disease, or he falls in love with
+another woman and wrecks home and family.
+
+Similar conditions may be brought about by other causes as well. Take,
+for instance, the poor workingman or mechanic who has already six or
+seven children and whose wife is unusually fertile, giving birth to
+children year after year. The wages of the father do not suffice to
+properly support them all. The food that can be purchased with the
+slender means is not at all adequate. Rent and other bills fall behind
+and the man gets in debt. They are both young yet. What is to be done?
+If they follow the natural law there will be an increase in the family
+every year. Moreover, these ever-recurring labors weaken the
+constitution of the woman and sap away her strength. Starvation?
+Sexual continence in wedlock? It is strange, indeed, to hear rich men,
+well-fed clergymen, pious zealots and reformers, leaning back in their
+comfortable chairs after a sumptuous meal and smoking an expensive
+Havana cigar, discuss this burning question and bewail the immorality
+of the common people.
+
+Statistics prove that these very people, who extol to the poor all the
+blessing of a big family, never live up to their teachings either in
+theory or in practice. The majority of these apostles of morality have
+no children at all, or at the utmost two or three. Why should that be
+so? What interesting reading it would make if the sexual history of
+these persons were followed up and printed.
+
+Money, hygiene, reason, and the most elementary laws of humanity
+demand that the wife, who is fertile above the average, should have a
+rest of at least 18 months between each succeeding pregnancy. But this
+cannot be achieved in the natural course of events, except in very
+rare cases, without wrecking the marriage.
+
+If we crystallize this sexual, social question, we arrive at the
+following conclusions:
+
+There are a great many cases, especially of a pathological character,
+but none the less also in normal and sound individuals, in which
+procreation, within wedlock or without, is dangerous either definitely
+or temporarily, either for the mother or the child, or for both, and
+for that reason should be interdicted. Very few men and a very small
+proportion of women--no matter how firmly they may be resolved--are
+capable of effectually suppressing their sexual needs. And even if
+they succeed, the consequences are generally of a disastrous nature,
+loss of marital love, secret illicit relations with others and
+subsequent infidelity, nervous disorders, impotence, etc.
+
+In all these cases we are confronted with the following dilemma:
+
+(1) In the unmarried person: onanism or prostitution, or both. Is that
+morality? Such people must either forever forego love, marriage, and
+normal, lawful sexual intercourse, or face sterility in wedded life.
+(I do not recognize prostitution--see chapter X--as normal
+intercourse.)
+
+(2) Within marriage: onanism, prostitution, and infidelity, or the
+adoption of rational preventive measures.
+
+I leave it to the reader and to the lawmakers to pick out the correct
+alternative and to arrive at the one possible, decent, and ethical
+solution of these conflicting questions.
+
+I do not admit that constitutionally frigid natures or those who find
+it easy to control their sexual appetite, have any right whatsoever to
+pose as normal samples of the human race and to simply ignore the
+existence of temperaments, characters, and constitutions so widely
+differing from their own. This world's history teaches us that nothing
+good has ever come from such vain assumptions, unless it be empty
+phrases and dead letters. These righteous, frigid, and strong natures
+ought, indeed, to be grateful to their ancestors for having handed
+down to them that happy disposition, and to prove their gratitude by
+making particular efforts to help those that are yet to come, in
+obtaining and sharing the same benign blessing.
+
+It seems almost incredible that in some countries medical men who are
+not ashamed to throw young men into the arms of prostitution, blush
+when mention is made of anticonceptional methods. This false modesty,
+created by custom and prejudice, waxes indignant at innocent things,
+whilst it encourages the greatest infamies.
+
+=Hygiene of Marriage.=--When marriage is consummated on the basis of
+free reciprocal consent, when both parties know exactly to what they
+have pledged themselves, when the corrupting influence of money is
+eliminated, when all unnatural regulation is suppressed, when the
+superfluous blending of religion and legislation have been abolished
+from the bonds of matrimony, when woman has finally obtained equal
+rights with man--then love and mutual respect, combined with the
+sexual appetite, will constitute the intimate and personal ties of
+marriage. At the same time, instinctive sentiments and legal duties
+toward the offspring will furnish it with a complementary and lasting
+cement. Among men whose nature is true, the instructive sentiment of
+altruism or conscience urges them to the performance of social duties
+without the necessity of any legal obligation.
+
+A few medical points now require our attention. The husband should be
+older than the wife, on the average from six to twelve years. This
+point is very important if a monogamous union is to be lasting. Woman
+matures earlier than man, both mentally and sexually; her personality
+becomes more rapidly adult than his; she ages more quickly and loses
+her faculty of procreation sooner than man. Certain savage races solve
+the problem by marrying as boys and girls, casting off their wives
+when they grow old, to marry younger ones. Among civilized races, man
+manages his affairs by making use of prostitution. From his youth he
+succumbs to physical and moral corruption, often complicated with
+venereal infection, and then often regards marriage as a kind of
+hospital for incurables, where the wife plays the parts of housekeeper
+and nurse combined!
+
+It is not easy to steer clear of these rocks, nor to formulate a rule
+for lasting monogamy. The old style of polygamy is brutal, and
+prostitution is still more disgusting. The sentiments of the egoist
+are summed up in the maxim, "After me the deluge!" To this the
+preacher of morals replies that "man should curb his passions." But
+this eternal dialogue does not help us in the least.
+
+I propose a middle course, as follows: The young man who possesses
+sufficient strength to overcome his sexual appetite, or whose sexual
+appetite is so moderate that he can remain continent till the age of
+about twenty-five years, so as to enable him to avoid prostitution,
+promiscuous sexual intercourse or masturbation--this young man, I
+maintain, has the best chance of gaining the first prize in life. If
+he is free from prejudice and is not afraid of using anticonceptional
+measures for a certain time, he may then marry a young girl, to whom
+he may become permanently attached, if their two characters suit each
+other.
+
+A young girl may very well marry at seventeen or eighteen, or at any
+rate between eighteen and nineteen. She is then sexually mature and
+her mentality is sufficiently developed, so that the difference in age
+we have required may be obtained. Young people thus united may
+continue their studies before procreating children, and their marriage
+will stimulate them to work.
+
+When the intoxication of the honeymoon is over, the continuance of
+conjugal happiness depends on an intimate adaptation of the two
+conjoints in sentiments, intelligence and sexual appetite; an
+adaptation which purifies love on both sides. Work in common, a common
+ideal, mutual respect full of affection but free from flattery, and a
+reciprocal education which does not degenerate into pedantry nor
+tyranny, are the principal conditions for conjugal happiness.
+
+It is absolutely necessary to avoid everything which causes reparation
+or exclusion, even in appearance. At the risk of appearing ridiculous
+in the eyes of certain superior persons, I repeat that separation of
+beds and bedrooms is a dangerous experiment to make in marriage, and
+that it may easily lead to estrangement, even when based on the
+highest motives.
+
+It is the same, in a still higher degree, with sexual continence in
+marriage, even when it does not last for years, excepting in cases of
+grave disease or senile impotence.
+
+It is often stated that a woman should avoid coitus for long periods,
+because among certain savage races the husband does not cohabit with
+her during pregnancy and the two years of nursing which follow it; the
+woman being considered by religion as "impure" during this period. But
+this proves nothing, for this custom only concerns polygamists, who
+make up for it with other women. If our monogamous marriage is to be
+natural, and not satisfied with words and illusions, it is necessary
+for sexual intercourse to be intimate and constant, and it should only
+be interrupted for short intervals, corresponding to the natural
+wants of the two conjoints, adapted to each other by mutual
+concessions.
+
+Apart from this, menstruation and accouchement constitute the only
+exceptions based on physiology. According to Grueber (_Hygiene des
+Geschlechtslebens_) accouchement requires an interruption of at least
+four weeks; I should say at least six weeks. Every husband, with the
+possible exception of the most horrible satyrs, can submit to this
+without much discomfort. Pregnancy, on the contrary, does not require
+continence, provided the husband takes account of his wife's condition
+and treats her with care.
+
+During the last months of pregnancy all violent movements and pressure
+on the abdomen should be avoided during coitus, so as not to injure
+the embryo. This may be effected by coitus in the lateral position.
+
+Professor Pinard of Paris advises the prohibition of coitus during the
+latter part of pregnancy, because it may lead to premature birth. As
+regards accouchement at the seventh, eighth or even at the beginning
+of the ninth month, this might, it is true, be proved by figures, but
+at this time the embryo is sufficiently protected, and with the
+precautions indicated above, I consider the danger as nil. As regards
+the end of the ninth month, the margin of errors as to the movement of
+conception and the signs of birth at term hardly allow of statistics
+which exclude subjectivism, and the danger becomes less and less. In
+any case a conscientious husband would run no risks under these
+circumstances if he was aware of the danger.
+
+What is more important for the wife is that she should have sufficient
+rest between her pregnancies. A year at least should elapse between
+parturition and the next conception; this gives approximately two
+years between the confinements. This is easily managed by the aid of
+the preventive animal membranes we have mentioned. In this way the
+wife keeps in good health and can bear healthy children at pleasure.
+It is certainly better to procreate seven healthy children, than to
+procreate fourteen of which seven die, to say nothing of the mother
+who rapidly becomes exhausted by uninterrupted confinements.
+
+No rule can be given for the frequency of sexual connection in
+marriage; this is a matter for reciprocal arrangement. Luther's rule
+of two or three times a week may be considered a normal average for
+virile persons of good constitution.
+
+Women who are sexually cold and fond of children, but who have a
+horror of coitus, cannot, in my opinion, be regarded as types of the
+normal wife, nor can they expect their husbands to abstain from all
+coitus except that intended for procreation. On the other hand, the
+wife should certainly be made acquainted with the nature of sexual
+intercourse and its consequences before marriage. Further, before
+engaging in a life-long union, a man and woman ought to explain to
+each other their sexual feelings so as to avoid deception and
+incompatibility later on.
+
+Without having ever experienced a sexual orgasm, either by coitus or
+by masturbation, a normal young girl, when she is sufficiently
+instructed in sexual matters, may easily decide whether the idea of
+coitus with a man for whom she feels affection is repugnant or
+attractive to her. In the case of young men it is still easier.
+
+A woman who had received a complete medical education and had remained
+a virgin, but who was well-informed on sexual life, gave me very
+precise information on this subject. For a long time the idea of
+coitus with men was repugnant to her, till she made the acquaintance
+of the one who gained her affections. Repugnance was then replaced by
+desire. This case also gives a good example of the monogamous sexual
+feeling of the normal woman.
+
+In Chapter XVII we shall discuss the manner in which youth should be
+initiated into the sexual question. Our present formality, combined
+with general ignorance of girls on sexual matters, renders a mutual
+understanding prior to definite betrothal generally impossible.
+Moreover, there is a sort of hysterical and pathological love, the
+product of the imagination, which is associated with sentimental words
+and sighs as well as coquetry, but transformed into disgust or hatred
+by the first coitus. Although more common in women this false love is
+met with in hysterical men. Sometimes the illusion disappears while
+there is yet time to break off the betrothal. Marriage by trial and
+has been attempted by some, but with varied success.
+
+For a number of reasons, both parties should be medically examined
+before marriage. This precaution may reveal the presence of a narrow
+pelvis or vaginismus in the woman, or aspermia, venereal disease,
+etc., in the man.
+
+When a woman will only support coitus with a view to procreation, she
+would do well if she informed her _fiance_, who can then consider
+whether he can submit to such restriction. If the wife will not allow
+her husband a concubine it generally results in clandestine
+extra-nuptial relations and subsequent divorce proceedings.
+
+My opinion on this subject will no doubt appear very immoral to many
+people, but it is natural and rational. It is needless to say that I
+do not intend that a man has the right to compel his wife to have
+intercourse whenever he pleases. The question is a very delicate one;
+but, by the aid of goodwill a satisfactory solution of the problem can
+be obtained in most cases, in the manner indicated above. Love and
+mutual respect will always find a way out of the difficulty. It is
+necessary to avoid extreme asceticism and unnatural idealism on the
+one hand and excessive sexual indulgence on the other hand. In the
+sexual question above all others it is the wisest course to strike a
+happy medium.
+
+An extremely important question is that of the procreation of
+children. We have just explained how this can be regulated at will; we
+have now to consider how children of the best quality can be
+procreated.
+
+The first condition is the good quality of the parents. Their heredity
+or the intellectual and physical value of their ancestry is of
+paramount importance. We must take into consideration, not only the
+intelligence and physical health, but also good sentiments, a
+conscientious character and energy of will. What is the use of
+procreating healthy and robust children if they are vain, egoistic,
+impulsive, crafty, wanting in will power, or perhaps criminal? Such
+individuals constitute a social plague.
+
+At the time of conception the parents should not be in a condition of
+acute or chronic alcoholism, nor affected with any disease; otherwise
+the progeny may be tainted by _blastophthoria_ (Chapter I).
+
+The age of the procreators should also be taken into account. Children
+born of parents advanced in years are generally feeble.
+
+The fatal error which causes the procreation of children to depend on
+pecuniary reasons and interests is a social misfortune. Healthy men
+and women ought never to avoid reproduction, even when they are poor.
+Progeny of good quality grow up, so to speak, by themselves. Progeny
+with evil instincts, or decadent, have a pre-existing hereditary
+taint, or have been affected by blastophthoria in some other way.
+
+No doubt acquired diseases or accidents may make an invalid of a child
+or a man, but these are exceptions which prove the rule, for here
+again the descendant of healthy parents is more resistant than others,
+if he has not artificially altered his state of health and power of
+resistance by alcohol or venereal disease.
+
+Among savages, and at the present day among many peasants, children
+are rather an advantage than a burden, because these people have
+simple and healthy habits and few wants. It is our artificial and
+unhealthy desire for luxury, frivolity, comfort and enjoyment, our
+muscular weakness resulting from want of exercise, our exaggerated
+terror of diseases and microbes, in a word our effeminacy, which makes
+us so incapable of rearing large families simply and cheaply. No doubt
+it becomes more and more necessary to give children a good education,
+and this necessity complicates the question. But, in my opinion this
+education will in the future be conducted by the State.
+
+=Hygiene of Pregnancy.=--This subject is too special to be fully dealt
+with here. We may, however, mention that idleness and overwork are
+equally detrimental to the pregnant woman and her child. It is
+needless to say that every pregnant woman requires care and good food.
+Violent efforts, especially in the upright position, should be avoided
+(vide Bachimont: _La Puericulture intra-uterine_, 1898, Paris). But
+domestic work and moderate exercise of the body are beneficial.
+Precautions are especially necessary during the last months of
+pregnancy for the general health of the mother and child, but
+imprudence during the early months may cause abortion in many women.
+The progressive enervation of women in easy circumstances has no doubt
+rendered them less adapted to procreation. This failing should be
+corrected by progressive but prudent training.
+
+=Medical Advice as to Marriage.=--The permission or prohibition of
+marriage is a delicate question at the present day, but will be less
+so in the future, if our propositions are realized. If one of the two
+candidates for matrimony has been or is still insane, or seriously
+affected with tuberculosis, or with active syphilis or chronic
+gonorrhea, it is clearly our duty to prohibit marriage.
+
+If the situation is not so grave, and if it is only a question of
+hereditary taint, especially when there is a probability of the
+offspring being deformed in body or mind, we may content ourselves
+with prohibiting the procreation of children, while giving permission
+for marriage, provided anticonceptional measures are used. The
+importance of these measures is obvious in such cases. We should
+explain to the young people in question that the procreation of
+unhealthy or backward children is bad and even criminal, and warn them
+against such an unpardonable act of thoughtlessness. If they are very
+fond of children they can be recommended to adopt poor orphans.
+
+There is no need, however, to be too severe. Medical men are often
+pessimists, and have a tendency to see disease everywhere and to give
+a grave prognosis. The procreation of children should not be
+prohibited simply because there is insanity in some member of the
+family, but the probabilities of hereditary transmission should be
+calculated in the way we have explained in the first chapter of this
+book.
+
+Taking into consideration the bodily and mental health and the
+character of the two candidates for marriage, as well as that of their
+ancestry, the physician should consider what is likely to be the
+average quality of children from such a marriage. According as his
+calculation leads to a probability above or below the average of the
+population, from all the points of view of the social value of man, he
+will advise the parties concerned as to freedom or limitation in
+procreation.
+
+The average of humanity must not be placed too high, and the physician
+should always keep in mind the great mental mediocrity, weakness of
+will, the low moral level and physical defects of the bulk of the
+population.
+
+When persons who are intelligent and educated, but more or less
+psychopathic or hereditarily tainted, put questions of this kind to
+the doctor, because they are very conscientious and prudent, they
+should be recommended to lead a healthy life and avoid alcohol, but
+need not remain sterile, for their offspring may be morally and
+intellectually above the average, and if all blastophthoric influences
+are avoided there is a possibility or even probability of gradual
+regeneration. In short, the doctor must treat each case on its own
+merits, carefully weigh both sides of the question, and avoid being
+influenced by exclusive dogmas of any kind. Thus only can he give wise
+and useful advice.
+
+What is of especial importance for us, is the knowledge that it is not
+necessary, from the point of view of social hygiene, to prohibit
+marriage for the sole reason that the offspring may be of bad quality.
+We can allow psychopaths with hereditary taints, or even invalids of
+both sexes, to contract sterile marriages, by requiring them to avoid
+conception by some means or other, in the name of social hygiene and
+morality. In such cases dislocation of the tubes has a definite
+effect, and if we consider the negligence and weakness of mind of such
+individuals, we should do well to recommend this proceeding whenever
+there is a clear indication for inducing sterility. In this way we
+avoid cruel measures, which, by the way, are almost impracticable,
+which take away all hope of love and happiness from these
+unfortunates, throw them into the arms of prostitution or bitter
+pessimism, and make them disgusted with their own existence.
+
+=Medical Secrecy.=--Medical secrecy and its limitation is a very
+delicate question, especially in sexual matters. Opinions vary in
+different countries and among different individuals. In France medical
+secrecy is almost made an idol; the medical man may refuse to give
+evidence in a court of law and even conceal a crime. In Germanic
+countries, on the contrary, especially in German Switzerland, too
+little importance is attached to medical secrecy. In short, medical
+secrecy is an elastic idea which is open to different interpretations.
+
+Although certain particular cases may present great difficulties,
+there is a middle course of moral conduct which will serve the purpose
+of every conscientious doctor. As a general rule the doctor's duty is
+to keep secret everything confided to him by his patients, except when
+the patients themselves speak openly of it, or authorize their doctor
+to do so. There are, however, exceptions to this rule.
+
+First of all it assumes normal responsibility in the patient, and is
+only conditional among irresponsibles. When a lunatic, for example,
+relates to a doctor, under the seal of secrecy, certain things which
+depend on delirious ideas and which threaten the safety of others, or
+which render certain measures necessary in the patients' own interest,
+the doctor's duty is to make known the state of affairs, but only to
+responsible persons. It is the same as regards children. It is
+needless to say that the doctor should use all possible measures in
+the interest of the patient or child.
+
+But even with responsible persons medical secrecy has its limits. The
+doctor is here only bound to secrecy so far as it does not injure the
+rights of other individuals, or those of society.
+
+It is the duty of a medical man to report all cases of smallpox or
+cholera, etc., even against the consent of the patient, and to isolate
+the latter to avoid an epidemic, which is contradictory to medical
+secrecy. In short, he must not, under the pretext of medical secrecy,
+become an accomplice of harmful acts or crimes. I will mention a few
+examples bearing on the sexual question:
+
+A sadist or a sexual pervert addicted to assaults on children consults
+a doctor and confides to him his morbid appetite. It is obvious that
+the doctor has to do with a dangerous individual and is at the same
+time in a difficult position. In this case extreme measures are bad.
+The doctor who simply treats the patient without concerning himself
+about the possible victims, contravenes his duties. The one who
+replies to the patient, "you are a beast; go away or I shall denounce
+you," acts in a still worse manner. The one who simply denounces the
+patient also puts himself in the wrong. In my opinion, the doctor
+should first of all make a thorough examination of the mental and
+sexual condition of the patient, so as to establish the degree of
+perversion and satisfy himself whether he has to do with an honest
+individual worthy of pity, who strives to overcome his morbid
+appetite; or, with a crafty egoist with no conscience, who only
+consults the doctor to escape from temporary difficulties into which
+his perversion has led him, and who indulges his morbid appetite
+without scruple, constituting a perpetual danger to society.
+Unfortunately, the latter cases are very common, and the doctor is
+usually consulted from interested motives only. Under these
+circumstances medical secrecy renders the doctor the accomplice of the
+criminal.
+
+Between the honest patient and one who is absolutely perverse, there
+are many transitional stages. In these cases the doctor should always
+make a careful examination before forming an opinion. If he feels
+uncertain, he should call in a specialist in mental disease, and then
+act accordingly. If he is convinced that the patient has made the
+resolution to overcome his morbid appetite, and has so far resisted
+the temptation to injure any one, he should strengthen the patient's
+resistance by doing everything possible (except marriage) to rid him
+of his malady; he should make him aware how dangerous his condition is
+to himself and to others; he may even recommend either castration or
+masturbation in case of urgency, in order to avoid crime; he should
+make him promise to come immediately for internment in an asylum, as
+soon as he can no longer resist. Under these conditions he may respect
+medical secrecy and at the same time save the existence of the
+unfortunate patient, while protecting society.
+
+In more severe cases, when the doctor is convinced that the patient is
+incapable of controlling himself or does not wish to, or that he has
+already committed crimes, he should act as follows: He must explain to
+the patient that it is impossible for him to take the responsibility
+and that he must be immediately sent to an asylum, in default of which
+information will be given against him. We must make him understand
+that he is a danger to society and goes beyond the limits of what is
+licit, but that if he voluntarily submits to rational treatment,
+offering all requisite guarantees on both sides, he (the doctor) is
+disposed to avoid any legal action.
+
+The duty of medical secrecy ought never to go so far as to render the
+medical man an accomplice of dangerous individuals or criminals. The
+lunatic asylum in such cases is the natural refuge for the patient, as
+the lazaret is for cases of smallpox or cholera. These cases, however,
+require public asylums which are not too large, well organized, with
+divisions for different cases, and provided with a sufficient medical
+staff.
+
+I have chosen as the first example one of the worst kind of cases
+which endanger the public safety. But there are other cases such as
+that depicted by Brieux in "_Les Avaries_." A syphilitic subject
+wishes to marry before he is cured, and consults his doctor. Does the
+whole duty of the doctor consist in dissuading the patient from
+marriage? Has he actually the right to be silent when the patient will
+not listen to him, and thus allow an innocent young woman to be
+contaminated, through respect--or rather idolatry--for medical
+secrecy? Is it not rather his duty to say to the patient: "Beware! If
+you do not promise to obey me, I will immediately denounce you to your
+_fiancee_ and her parents, and will tell them the state of affairs."
+It seems to me that this is his duty. In this case the doctor does not
+denounce the patient without his knowledge; he threatens him face to
+face, and may speak to him as follows: "You have confided in me. I am,
+it is true, under the obligation of medical secrecy toward you, so
+long as you do no harm to any one. But if, in spite of all my
+explanations and warnings, you attempt to marry in your present state,
+rendering yourself guilty of infamous deceit toward a family and an
+unfortunate young woman whose health you will ruin, trusting in the
+obligation of secrecy which ties my tongue, I must inform you that I
+have a much higher duty than that of a doctor toward his patient--my
+duty toward society, which I shall fulfill, and so prevent an innocent
+person from becoming your victim."
+
+This is my view of the duty of a conscientious doctor who upholds the
+dignity of his profession. An analogous case came under my
+observation: A young tuberculous subject affected with several "white
+swellings" wished to marry. He refused to listen when I declared that
+he would be guilty of a crime toward his _fiancee_. Thereupon I told
+him that I should tell everything to the young girl. I did this at
+once and so prevented the marriage. This egoist succeeded later on in
+capturing the heart of another young girl, whom I also warned, but who
+married him out of pity. At any rate I consider that I did my duty.
+
+In my opinion, this is also our duty in cases of chronic gonorrhea,
+insanity, and hereditary or constitutional sexual perversions, etc.
+Formerly, when sexual inversion was regarded as an acquired vice, it
+was attempted to cure it by marriage. Such a social monstrosity is
+even seen at the present day, and certain ignorant doctors recommend
+it. We sometimes meet with inverts who desire to procreate homosexual
+beings like themselves. As sexual intercourse with the objects of
+their perverted passion cannot give them this pleasure, they marry in
+order to procreate children by some poor woman whom they have
+victimized, without in the least renouncing their homosexual orgies.
+Their wives play the part of housekeeper or servant, whose accessory
+function is to breed young inverts! Is it necessary to say that any
+self-respecting doctor who is aware of this state of affairs should
+never countenance such marriages? Here again, his duty is to threaten
+the invert with immediate denunciation to his _fiancee_, when he
+appears determined to accomplish his crime.
+
+Again, the doctor may be consulted with regard to certain hereditary
+taints, or possibly only a bad ancestral history, and whether marriage
+is advisable under the circumstances. In some cases there may be some
+doubt and it is necessary to know the opinion of the other party
+concerned, and whether this party is also affected in a similar way,
+etc. The first duty of the doctor is to demand absolute frankness and
+to say, "under this or that condition and in such and such
+circumstances, you may perhaps marry, but under no pretext have you
+the right to conceal the truth from your betrothed. It is to your own
+interest to be frank, for no marriage founded on deceit can be happy.
+Give me permission to discuss the matter with your _fiancee_ (or
+_fiance_). We shall then see what is best to be done."
+
+In my experience, the person who consults a doctor usually accepts
+this proposal, and we can thus avoid many misfortunes and do much
+good.
+
+It is impossible to fix a general rule. According to the degree of
+hereditary taint or the nature of the infirmity, we allow marriage
+with or without children, or do not allow it. In such cases it is
+rarely necessary to have recourse to the threat of denunciation, but
+this may be required in the case of egoistic or vicious individuals.
+On several occasions a betrothed couple have come to me for advice as
+to their proposed marriage, and have freely disclosed their most
+intimate relations and antecedents. This is as it always should be, if
+men were more loyal in sexual matters and understood better their true
+interests. In this way the doctor's task is greatly facilitated. When
+the public is more enlightened on the whole question it will become
+more and more easy to arrive at a just conclusion, even without the
+doctor's help.
+
+=Artificial Abortion.=--We have already spoken of another question
+which is often put to doctors--that of artificial abortion. (Vide
+Chapter XIII.) In every case of this kind all the circumstances must
+be carefully weighed. I repeat here, that in the future more attention
+should be paid to social interests, instead of always requiring the
+preservation of an embryo for the sole reason that the state of the
+mother does not contra-indicate pregnancy or accouchement. The
+question is whether a miserable abortion or an idiot should be allowed
+to come into the world. If we allow children who are born monsters,
+idiots or invalids to live, we should at least do what we can to
+prevent them being born. It will no doubt be objected that it is much
+easier to recognize the quality of a child after birth than before,
+and this objection is quite legitimate. But so long as the laws
+protect the lives of the most miserable monsters we must get out of
+the difficulty as best we can.
+
+=Treatment of Sexual Disorders.=--We cannot enter here into all the
+details of a purely medical question, and shall only touch on certain
+special points. Patients with venereal disease are often treated in a
+very defective manner, because many of them are ashamed to submit to
+rational treatment. The treatment of venereal diseases should be
+carried out with more regard for the feelings of the patients; there
+should be special hospitals for each sex, with separate divisions, so
+that patients can be treated without betraying their identity. The
+fear of being recognized prevents many better-class women from
+applying for treatment. The idea of being placed in the venereal
+divisions of a hospital along with common prostitutes is unbearable to
+them. For this reason I maintain that anonymous treatment should be
+instituted at hospitals in all the chief localities. This humanitarian
+work would benefit not only the patients, but society in general, by
+diminishing the number of venereal infections. Treatment by private
+practitioners is too costly for poor people and does not easily remain
+anonymous. Therefore, the creation of hospitals for venereal disease
+is very necessary in the public interest, and would benefit public
+health much more than the regulation of prostitution.
+
+The treatment of sexual perversions is also very important. These
+disorders are either hereditary, or acquired by auto-suggestion or
+evil example. By provoking suggestion and good habits in the opposite
+direction, hypnotic suggestion is alone capable of acting directly
+against the evil. Other remedies, such as distraction of the mind by
+work or fatigue, by marriage, electricity, etc., have only an indirect
+suggestive action. When a perversion has been acquired by
+auto-suggestion or by habit, especially in the case of onanism,
+hypnotic suggestion should always be employed. In compensatory
+masturbation, where normal sexual appetite exists, and where it is
+only the opportunity of satisfying it that is wanting, marriage or
+normal sexual intercourse are sufficient to cure the bad habit.
+
+We must not, however, too easily admit the existence of acquired
+perversions. Apart from compensatory masturbation, which is not a
+perversion, but only an outlet to a pent-up natural want, true
+acquired perversions are rather rare, and as we have seen generally
+auto-suggestive. Pederasts, sodomists, and others, whose perverse
+habits are truly acquired, have usually taken to them for want of
+something better, and prefer normal coitus if they have the
+opportunity and the means of procuring it. It is true, however, that
+some debauchees contract these perverse habits from desire for change,
+or from fear of infection or conception, but these individuals seldom
+consult the doctor.
+
+Thus the individuals who consult a doctor are nearly always more or
+less pathological, and belong to the domain of hereditary or
+auto-suggestive perversions. For the first, at least, we avoid
+recommending marriage. Von Schrenck-Notzing has sometimes succeeded in
+transforming hereditary inversion into normal sexual appetite for
+women, by hypnotic suggestion. I have also succeeded myself, two or
+three times. After a cure of long duration, confirmed by frequent
+visits to prostitutes, Von Schrenck-Notzing has ventured to recommend
+marriage; but I have never done this, as I do not consider a cure
+sufficient to guarantee definite success, in the case of disorders so
+deeply rooted in the constitution. In such cases I have endeavored, as
+far as possible, to weaken the sexual appetite and induce the patient
+to be contented with nocturnal emissions. I have always debarred
+inverts from marriage, impressing them with the fact that to marry
+would be a crime, and that they had a hundred times better masturbate;
+or, if they wish to attempt intercourse with women, to be contented
+with a mistress, avoiding the procreation of children.
+
+Unfortunately, our present laws and customs prevent us from
+recommending or even allowing inverts to "marry" their fellows, as
+they so strongly desire to do. This would be very innocent from the
+social point of view, and the poor wretches would be content, and
+would cease to be a menace to normal individuals.
+
+I am, therefore, of the same opinion as those who demand the
+suppression of all laws which punish or prosecute sexual inversion and
+pederasty committed between adults and in common agreement. So long as
+pederasts do not harm normal individuals, and so long as they do not
+seduce minors, they should be left alone, the same as all other
+sexually perverted individuals who are not dangerous. But when a
+patient of this kind wishes to be treated, through shame or nervous
+excitement, the doctor should hypnotize him and suggest distraction of
+mind by useful occupations. Psychic treatment is always the most
+efficacious. It is only in cases where it is certain that the
+perversion is purely acquired and easily curable that marriage can be
+allowed, or the procreation of children. I am not referring here to
+sterile marriages between perverts or psychopaths, which we have
+mentioned above, and which can always be allowed when the two parties
+are fully enlightened on the subject.
+
+Frequent emissions, masturbation, sexual hyperaesthesia and impotence
+may often be improved or even cured by suggestion. In such cases, if
+the sexual appetite is otherwise normal, marriage need not always be
+prohibited. Each case must be judged on its merits.
+
+In sexual anaesthesia marriage is an error based on a grave
+misconception. Even in partial anaesthesia it may have deplorable
+effects. We are now only speaking of anaesthesia in man. Most young
+virgins are anaesthetic in the sense that they are not acquainted with
+the venereal orgasm and cannot tell how far their hitherto dormant
+sexual appetite will develop. The sexual instruction which we have
+recommended for young girls would have the advantage of making those
+who are absolutely sexually frigid disgusted with marriage and coitus,
+as soon as they know all about it.
+
+The consequences of sexual anaesthesia are much more innocent in woman
+than in man, because this anaesthesia neither prevents coitus nor
+fecundation. A woman who is sexually anaesthetic may marry a man who is
+affected with the same condition, when both parties are aware of the
+fact and desire to contract a union which is hardly sexual, but rather
+a union of minds with a common ideal. This is the true platonic love
+which is admitted in theory. It is not very common and must not be
+confounded with homosexual inclinations. It has its object of
+existence, for those affected with anaesthesia may feel the want of
+affection and of home, as well as sentimental communion. If they
+desire children they can adopt them.
+
+Unfortunately for themselves, the subjects of sexual anaesthesia have
+as little idea of sexual sensations as a blind man has of colours;
+this causes them to commit great blunders, because they do not
+comprehend the nature of the sexual appetite in others, and often
+marry an erotic individual without knowing what they are doing.
+
+The special treatment of diseases of the male and female sexual
+organs is beyond the scope of this book. I may, however, remark that
+specialists are often wrong in treating the genital organs locally for
+pathological symptoms which depend on cerebral disorder, which can
+only yield to psychic treatment and suggestion. This is the case with
+many disorders of menstruation in women, psychic impotence and
+frequent seminal emissions in men, masturbation, etc., (except cases
+due to phimosis, or local irritation caused by worms, etc.) I hasten
+to add that this remark in no way excuses errors in the opposite
+direction, viz, neglect of local treatment, when this is indicated
+after careful examination.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+SEXUAL MORALITY
+
+
+=Law and Morality.=--The limits of morality and law are difficult to
+fix. With the old conception of law and the expiation of crime it was
+otherwise. Yet it is precisely the old law, based on dogma and
+religious metaphysics, which has most usurped the domain of morality,
+by considering as crimes all kinds of acts which, without hurting men
+in the least degree, were opposed to the ruling ideas and prejudices
+concerning religion and morality.
+
+=Human and Religious Morality.=--What then constitutes ethics or true
+human morality? A dogmatic system, of ethics has been built on a
+collection of commandments supposed to be inspired by God. Religions
+have established different duties toward God, and these duties or
+commandments are in part very inhuman. This has often resulted in
+direct contradictions between ethics attributed to divine revelation,
+and pure human ethics. Moreover, the divine commandments vary in
+different religions.
+
+The god of certain Malays commands them to eat the heart of their
+enemies; Jehovah was vindictive and jealous, ordering Abraham to
+sacrifice his own son to prove his faith, causing whole tribes to be
+annihilated, even drowning the whole of humanity by the flood, while
+the God of the Christians is milder and more conciliating; Allah rules
+as a fatalist and orders the massacre of the Christians and abstinence
+from alcohol, while Jesus Christ tells men to love their enemies and
+allows wine; the god of the Hindus orders the widow to follow her
+husband to the grave; a number of other gods exact human sacrifice;
+Buddha taught oblivion in the future, others a more or less eternal
+paradise, hell and purgatory, according to the conduct of men.
+
+It will be agreed that it is difficult to obtain anything logical or
+coherent from the total of different religious moralities. As regards
+the sexual question, so-called divine commandments, such as those of
+monogamy and polygamy, directly contradict each other.
+
+For this reason, we will leave the so-called revealed morality to the
+priests of diverse religions who pretend to have received them
+directly from God, and will confine ourselves to the study of purely
+human morality. This should never be based on any dogmatic formula,
+like the above on their religious dogmas; it must be evolved from the
+natural conditions of human life.
+
+=Morality and Hygiene.=--Morality is intimately connected with
+hygiene, and wherever there appears to be a contradiction between
+hygiene and ethics this is due to the fact that individual hygiene has
+only been considered, and not public or social hygiene--that is the
+hygiene of the race. It is the duty of the medical profession to place
+social above individual hygiene, to subordinate the hygienic welfare
+of the individual to that of society. A contradiction may exist
+between individual morality and hygiene, never between social morality
+and hygiene.
+
+=Definition of Morality.=--How can we define morality or ethics?
+Liberated as far as possible from all hypothesis, ethics is
+theoretically the study of what is good or bad in human actions, and
+practically, as regards morality, the duty of doing good and avoiding
+evil. But this is hardly explicit, for what do we understand by good
+and evil? Not only do some consider good what others consider evil,
+but the words which Goethe puts into the mouth of the devil (in
+"_Faust_")--that while wishing evil he often did good--will always be
+true. This gives a faithful representation of the deplorable want of
+adaptation which exists between the good and evil effects of our
+actions on the one hand, and the goodness or wickedness of our motives
+on the other hand. The inverse is also true, for good intentions often
+have evil results. We must, therefore, carefully distinguish between
+the ethical motives of the good and bad effects of an action.
+
+If we continue our analysis we shall discover that the same action may
+be good for one and bad for another. When a wolf devours a lamb, it is
+good for the wolf but bad for the lamb. We cannot live without
+destroying other lives, animal or vegetable. The money we earn comes
+out of the pockets of others without their always obtaining a
+corresponding profit, and so on. Morality is thus _relative_, and we
+have not the faculty of discovering anything which is absolutely good
+or absolutely bad in itself.
+
+All that men can expect by mutual exchange of their wisdom and good
+will is to do as little evil and as much good as possible, that is to
+say, to diminish the amount of their physical and psychic ills by
+improving their mutual conditions of existence, and thus increasing
+the amount of good. Even this is only possible by limiting the ideas
+of good and evil almost exclusively to humanity, trampling on the
+conditions of existence and the development of other beings, or at
+least concerning ourselves with them only as far as they are useful to
+us.
+
+Further, we have seen that it is very difficult to extend the
+conception of social welfare to all the living races of humanity, for
+some of them are at the same time so fecund and so inferior in
+quality, that if they were allowed to multiply around us without any
+precaution they would soon starve and supplant us. Then the barbarity
+of their lower instincts (vide weight of brain in different races at
+end of Chapter VI) would soon take the upper hand and become general,
+as the negroes of Hayti have shown us by a lesson which is worthy of
+our attention.
+
+Therefore, an exaggeration of moral sentiments, resting on a false
+basis, would have the positive result of striking a fatal blow at our
+social morality, slowly built up during hundreds or thousands of
+years.
+
+Lastly, the same action may first of all do evil and afterwards good,
+for example, a painful lesson; or _vice versa_, as in the satisfaction
+of a gluttonous appetite.
+
+=Morality can only be Relative.=--It follows from these considerations
+that our moral duties can only be relative, and cannot bind us in the
+same way nor in the same degree to all living beings, not even to all
+men, if we would avoid sacrificing what is lofty to what is vile. In
+theory, the definition of human morality will consist in a just and
+scientific definition of social welfare and the exigencies which it
+imposes on individuals, in order that the latter do not do evil in
+attempting to do good. In practice, it will be the general effort made
+to develop successfully this social welfare by the aid of individual
+will. This presupposes in the first place education of the will, the
+dispositions to useful work, and the altruistic sentiments of each
+individual. It is neither theoretical dogma nor preaching, but action
+and example which make for the education of man.
+
+The noblest task of moral action is to strive for the welfare of
+future generations.
+
+=Altruism and Egoism.=--Properly understood, altruism and egoism do
+not form an antinomy, or only quite a relative antinomy. It is
+absolutely wrong to found social order by letting loose all our
+egoistic appetites without restriction. But it is quite as wrong to
+oppose them with an exaggerated and unnatural asceticism, which
+reflects in our eyes an erroneous ideal of altruism.
+
+When a bee or an ant disgorges the honey from its stomach for the
+benefit of its companions, it enjoys it. By sacrificing its life for
+the hive or the nest, it satisfies an altruistic or social instinct.
+Cannot man also be more happy in giving than receiving? How can we
+explain the great sacrifices, the martyrs who suffer and die for their
+country, for their family, for science, for an idea, if enthusiasm--an
+expanded sentiment of pleasure--did not lead man to disinterested
+sacrifice, or if an inner obsession did not find its satisfaction in
+the welfare of humanity?
+
+Let us seek all measures which by social adaptation can ennoble our
+human egoism, reduce it to its indispensable and just measure, and
+maintain it in proper equilibrium, by the aid of an active altruism;
+that is to say, by social habits of self-sacrifice for the benefit of
+the community. We shall then obtain a paradise on earth, no doubt very
+relative, but far preferable to our present anarchy based on the
+strife of personal interests.
+
+The chief thing wanting is a good hereditary quality among human
+individuals, a quality which is still entirely left to chance, by the
+most deplorable selection; the second requisite is the education of
+character and will in our children. Our religion and our schools have
+shown themselves incapable of raising the bulk of the people above
+barbarism, that is to say from apathy, vulgarity of sentiment,
+routine, ignorance and prejudice. No doubt intellectual culture and
+religious ethics have accomplished a certain amount of moral progress,
+but the methods employed in our churches and schools have not advanced
+with science. They are in no sense adapted to our present moral wants
+and still less to the exigencies of the future.
+
+It is on the basis of a natural human morality, such as we have just
+described, that we must found sexual morality or ethics, and it is not
+difficult to form clear ideas on this subject, if we take the trouble
+to examine the facts explained in the first fourteen chapters of this
+book.
+
+From the social and moral point of view we may consider an action as
+_positive_ or useful, _neutral_ or indifferent, and _negative_ or
+harmful. But the same action may be at the same time positive,
+negative or indifferent, relatively to one or more groups of
+individuals. But in ethics it is not only a question of the action in
+itself, but especially the inner motives which lead to it; for, to
+leave the good and ill of society to chance and ignorance, is to deny
+the possibility of progress. It is difficult for a man to accomplish
+positive social actions, when the moral sentiments of conscience and
+duty are wanting. On the other hand, a narrow-minded individual, with
+false judgment, will accomplish negative social actions through moral
+motives, while in certain cases an individual may accomplish positive
+social acts fortuitously through perverse motives. Through vengeance,
+a generous legacy may be left which injures an individual, while
+profiting the public. Without being perverse, motives may be simply
+egoistic and lead to good by calculated egoism.
+
+By altruist, we understand a man animated by powerful moral sentiments
+which preside over social humanitarian volitions. By the term pure
+egoist, we designate one in whom self forms the exclusive object of
+sentiments of sympathy. In himself, the egoist is indifferent from the
+moral point of view, so long as he injures no one, and the altruist
+himself cannot live without a certain amount of egoism. The ideal of
+social sentiment therefore consists in the combined action of
+egoistic and altruistic sentiments, adapted to the wants of society
+and its members. As among certain ants, there should exist a complete
+compensatory regulation between the egoistic sentiments and appetites
+on the other hand. The antagonist of altruism is not the egoist, but
+the perverse individual whose acts are by instinct almost constantly
+negative from the moral point of view. Egoism urges a man in such an
+irresistible way to abuse and harm others in order to satisfy himself,
+that a pure egoist can rarely remain indifferent from the moral point
+of view. These considerations suffice to show the impossibility of
+basing social order on pure egoism, as so many people desire.
+
+=Sexual Morality.=--Sexual morality depends upon what we have just
+said. By itself, the sexual appetite is indifferent from the moral
+point of view. A great confusion of ideas, based on religious
+misunderstanding, has led to the term morality being more and more
+identified with that of moral conduct in the sexual domain. In short,
+ethics has been more or less confounded with sexuality. From this
+point of view, a sexually anaesthetic individual is regarded as
+extremely "moral," while he is perhaps in other respects a knave. In
+reality his sexual indifference has not the least moral value. For the
+same reason an invert is not virtuous because he does not seduce
+girls.
+
+From the Protestant point of view it is immoral to burden one's wife
+with continual pregnancies, while from the Catholic point of view it
+is immoral to interfere with these pregnancies by preventive measures.
+
+Nevertheless, the sexual appetite gives rise to much conflict with
+human morality, for the simple reason that it looks upon human beings
+as objects of pleasure. Fetichism, in which the sexual appetite is
+directed toward inanimate objects, and sodomy, directed to animals,
+are by themselves almost incapable of entering into conflict with
+morality as we understand it.
+
+The opinion of many people who consider the employment of
+anticonceptional measures as immoral, while defending prostitution,
+shows how much ideas vary on the subject of sexual ethics. Preachers
+of morality, and even priests, sometimes blame a young man who wishes
+to marry his mistress, and urge him to get rid of her and the child
+by paying a sum of money. The inconsistency of men in the way they
+introduce their so-called moral ideas into sexual questions is simply
+incredible. Their heads are full of a jumble of hypocrisy, mysticism,
+prejudice, pecuniary interests, veneration for old traditional customs
+called good manners, a jumble which absolutely confuses all ideas of a
+healthy sexual morality. Look at the indignation of parents when their
+children become betrothed to persons whom they consider to be beneath
+them in social position, or who possess too little money! And all
+these people are unconscious of their immorality, which sails under
+the flag of morality!
+
+What standpoint are we to take in the sexual domain, which is free
+from prejudice, with regard to true human morality? This is the
+question which an honest and truly moral man has to put to himself.
+
+The first principle is the old medical adage: _Above all things do no
+harm_; the second is: _Be as useful as possible, both individually and
+socially._
+
+The commandment of sexual morality will thus be: _Thou shalt do no
+harm willingly to any person, nor to humanity, by thy sexual appetite
+or acts, and thou shalt do thy utmost to promote the happiness of thy
+neighbor and the welfare of society._
+
+Endowed with sexual appetite and the faculty of love, the social man
+will utilize both for the benefit of the community as well as his own.
+If he acts honorably his task will not be easy, but he will experience
+all the more satisfaction, for his good deeds will bring their own
+reward. He should bear in mind the following examples:
+
+(1). A man of bad disposition, excited by momentary sexual passion,
+seduces a girl, makes her pregnant, and then disappears. He injures
+his victim and himself without deriving any advantage. His action is
+therefore negative, and is to be condemned both from the ethical and
+the egoistic point of view.
+
+(2). Through motives of religious morality, a virtuous girl marries a
+depraved drunkard in order to save him. This rarely succeeds, and if
+it does it is generally incomplete. From the egoistic point of view
+this experiment is exclusively negative. From the altruistic point of
+view the motives are, it is true, very positive, but the social
+effects are still more negative. If all goes well, our virtuous and
+exalted girl will succeed in improving the drunkard, but if she
+procreates children, she will have unconsciously sinned against them,
+and her good action will result in the sins of the father being
+visited on the children.
+
+(3). A man with marked hereditary taints, impulsive, psychopathic and
+possessed of a strong sexual appetite, marries an honest girl of good
+family, and has several children by her. Such an action is positive
+from the egoistic point of view, for the individual in question
+benefits himself. From the ethical point of view, it is negative, for
+it makes an honest woman unhappy, and probably leads to the
+procreation of children of bad quality.
+
+(4). A man, healthy in body and mind, capable, hardworking and full of
+ideals, finds a suitable companion. Instead of leading an easy life,
+they both undertake as much work as possible, especially social
+duties, and procreate at sufficient intervals as many children as they
+can without injury to the health of the wife. This is an ideal
+combination of positive altruism with positive egoism.
+
+It is not every one who has the good fortune to fulfill the conditions
+necessary for this combination. A positive sexual morality is,
+however, by no means excluded in less favorable conditions. Certain
+psychopathic or feeble individuals may contract sterile marriages in
+the manner previously indicated, and may recompense themselves for the
+absence of children by devoting themselves all the more to social
+duties, or to the education of abandoned orphans.
+
+When a union is concluded between a person who is capable in all
+respects, and another who is not, the latter should give the other
+permission to procreate children by a third party, more adapted to
+give rise to healthy offspring. Although this is immoral according to
+current conventional opinion, it seems to me that such a proceeding
+could become reconciled with positive morality in the future.
+
+In short, whoever understands the true nature of sexual ethics will
+always find a means of accomplishing good actions and avoiding bad
+ones, at the same time satisfying his normal appetites, provided these
+injure no one.
+
+The truly moral man will never become the accomplice of such a social
+iniquity as proxenetism with prostitution and all its satellites, but
+will oppose them with all his power. He will always avoid doing wrong
+to any one by his sexual appetite; and if his passion drives him to a
+thoughtless act, he will do his utmost to redress the bad effects
+which may result from it.
+
+The psychological action produced by conjugal infidelity merits
+special attention. It depends on the more or less egoistic or
+altruistic qualities of the one who becomes enamored of a third
+person. I have observed the two chief varieties of cases. If the
+guilty husband has naturally moral and social sentiments, his
+extra-nuptial love renders him still more affectionate toward his
+legitimate wife. He eases his conscience by becoming more indulgent to
+his wife. When his amorous intoxication is over, he will try to avoid
+everything which may damage the reputation of the other woman, and
+will provide for her future. If there are children by this adultery,
+he will provide for them.
+
+It is the same with a married woman who is in love with another man.
+In this case the whole personality is more powerfully involved than in
+man. But on the other hand, the natural energy of the woman will lead
+her to try and arrange a marriage between her lover and some other
+good woman, and to resist coitus with him.
+
+If the matter goes as far as complete infidelity, and even without it,
+various reactions may be observed. When her sentiments are monogamous,
+as is the case with most women, the love of a woman for her husband
+disappears and is replaced by pity. She easily becomes peevish in her
+resignation. She often seeks divorce, even when adultery has not taken
+place. When she is polyandrous, as is the case with many hysterical
+women, she is quite capable of lavishing her caresses on her husband
+as well as her lover, a thing which is impossible for normal women.
+
+What induces want of respect for his wife in the unfaithful egoist, is
+not so much the monogamous sentiment, which is somewhat exceptional in
+man, but intoxication of his senses by another woman. He then becomes
+miserly and disagreeable toward his wife, finding fault with her in
+every way, but the innocent and deceived victim finally discovers the
+true cause of this change of manner. Some women who are ill-treated in
+this way, preserve their love for their husbands, while others never
+pardon the slightest infidelity, not even an innocent platonic
+affection, in their husbands.
+
+The brutality of a husband toward his wife, when he is in love with
+another, often knows no limits. From bad temper, chicanery, contempt
+and hatred, he often goes on to blows and even murder, as the annals
+of criminology prove too well. Egoistic women who have a lover, also
+treat their husbands badly. Owing to their legal subordination and
+comparative physical weakness, they reveal their sentiments in a less
+brutal form, but malice and bad temper are not wanting. In such cases,
+the woman's principal weapon is cunning, which may go as far as
+poisoning the husband. More commonly she simply abandons him, to force
+him to divorce.
+
+There are many transitions and varieties, but the reactions we have
+mentioned are the most common. It is quite natural, when one of the
+conjoints falls in love with a third person, for the sexual appetite
+to become cold toward the conjoint, and for this frigidity to make her
+appear less desirable and show up her defects.
+
+Sexual morality is twice mentioned in the ten commandments of Moses:
+
+Seventh commandment: _Thou shall not commit adultery._
+
+Tenth commandment: _Thy shall not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his
+man servant, nor his maid servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor
+anything that is thy neighbor's._
+
+In the eleventh commandment of Jesus Christ the words: _Thou shall
+love thy neighbor as thyself_, represent approximately the point of
+view of modern ethics. Nevertheless contemporary social progress
+requires more and better. It is not so exalted as to say "Love those
+who persecute you," but it demands a more rational and better
+formulated ethics, somewhat as follows: _Thou shall love humanity more
+than thyself, and thou shalt seek thy happiness in the welfare of its
+future._ Such a formula expresses the commandment of sexual ethics as
+we have defined it.
+
+In the commandments of Moses the wife is regarded as property, and the
+desire for the wife of one's neighbor is threatened with divine
+punishment inasmuch as it covets the property of one's neighbor. When
+woman is treated as a free subject and as the equal and companion of
+man, it is evident that a fundamental revision of such ideas is
+requisite. Certain forms of adultery with voluntary consent on both
+sides may even become positive from the moral point of view.
+
+_In spite of this, one of the principal tasks of man's sexual morality
+will always be to restrain his erotic polygamous desires, for the
+simple reason that they are especially apt to injure the rights and
+the welfare of others._ We must make exception for certain special
+cases in which no one is injured. (Vide Couvreur's "_La Graine_," and
+de Maupassant's "_Mouche_.")
+
+The novelist loves to treat of tragic situations, often giving them a
+fatal ending to excite the feelings of his readers. We must avoid
+basing sexual ethics on such ideas. The average man, or even one whose
+nature is a little above the average, is rarely as passionate as the
+heroes in novels. He does not commit suicide for rejected love, but
+finds compensation in time. He can even overcome jealousy.
+
+It is thus an exaggeration, depending partly on the suggestion and
+auto-suggestion of amorous intoxication, to require in the ethics of
+love the absolute fusion of the personality of two human beings, a
+mutual fusion of sentiments and ideas destined to last till death.
+This kind of morality reverts to dual egoism, and in no way represents
+the ideal of human happiness. However beautiful conjugal fidelity, its
+exaggeration is deplorable, when it only results in the idolatrous
+worship of a single being, living or dead, and regards the rest of the
+world with indifference, if not with hostility.
+
+We have already shown that the altruistic sentiments of man are the
+direct or indirect[10] derivatives of the sexual appetite, and
+especially of sexual love. The true secret of sexual ethics consists,
+therefore, in a cult of altruism in the sexual domain. This cult
+should not waste itself in moral phrases, but show its strength by
+social deeds.
+
+A sad proof of human weakness is given daily by certain forms of
+modern ethics which waste themselves in public conferences or in
+declamations in the press. This kind of morality is in accordance with
+pure egoism. Without social work, it is not true morality, whether
+this work be public or modestly hidden.
+
+The struggle for existence was formerly carried on by man against
+nature, against animals, and especially against other men. Nature and
+animals (excepting the cosmic forces and microbes) are nowadays
+conquered by the human brain, and wars are seldom waged except between
+great empires, a fact which will sooner or later reduce them to
+absurdity. For this reason the morality of the god of war and of
+patriotic chauvinism has had his day and loses more and more his
+reason for existence. Modern ethics has already become a social and
+international human ethics, and will become more so in the future.
+
+As in olden times a true hero knew how to combine love of his wife
+with love for his country, to obtain in his conjugal union the
+strength to fight for his ideal, so our modern love will serve to
+stimulate us in the pursuit of an ideal, in our fight for social
+welfare. Man and woman must fight side by side, as this struggle
+requires from both an intense and lifelong effort. But it is precisely
+in this effort, in this work, that they will obtain their highest
+enjoyment. This effort supports and strengthens not only the muscles,
+but especially the mind, the cerebral energy.
+
+The struggle for social welfare prepares for us the highest and most
+ideal joy. It teaches man to master himself, to overcome his natural
+idleness, his desire for pleasure, his dependence on all kinds of
+futile habits and base appetites. It educates his will, curbs his weak
+and egoistic sentiments, while exercising his faculty for creating
+good and useful works. Thanks to this incessant strife, a brain of
+even mediocre quality may become a useful social instrument.
+
+I ask in all sincerity if, living in the way we have just described, a
+man will find the time and inclination to indulge in the love stories
+which the novels of our libraries offer to readers of both sexes for
+their daily consumption? I reply: if the man is normal, no. It is only
+pathological natures, with their exaggerated sentiment and morbid
+passions, which remain incapable of mastering their passionate
+emotionalism and reducing it to silence. Other individuals, normal or
+semi-normal, are artificially urged to exaggerated exaltation in the
+sexual domain by idleness, by reading pernicious novels which excite
+their sexual appetite and their sentimentality, also by the artificial
+life and feverish activity of life in cities.
+
+Work in itself is not sufficient, and every one ought to add social
+work to his ordinary occupation. In fact, the monotony of any special
+occupation, and even the exclusive work of a scientific speciality,
+ends by giving the cerebral energy itself an exclusive character. The
+moral sentiments become atrophied. Exclusiveness in a speciality,
+practiced without any complement, easily leads to exclusiveness in
+love (not in the sexual appetite!). We often see two egoists, or
+several in a family, working together to exploit the rest of society.
+As long as they keep in good health and their business prospers, as
+long as the egoistic plans of a third party do not upset their
+calculations, they may remain faithful to each other and live in
+comparative happiness. But what else?
+
+Whoever, on the contrary, has known how to combine with his conjugal
+love, a lively interest in humanity, will always find in the latter a
+consoling compensation for the greatest misfortunes and the most cruel
+losses. He will not fall into a state of despair, but will survive his
+trouble, and will become reconciled to men and society without
+expecting anything from them, for he will have been accustomed all his
+life to work in an impersonal manner.
+
+If I am accused of being enthusiastic over an ideal which is
+impossible to attain, I protest strongly. Good habits may always be
+acquired, and true altruists are found among the most modest of men,
+among simple workingmen or peasants who comprehend and realize the
+ideal I have just depicted.
+
+In Chapter XVII we shall see in what way the dispositions of the child
+can be and ought to be developed in the direction indicated. It is
+needless to say that pure egoists and perverse individuals, who are
+negative from the moral point of view, in other words natures which
+are evil and harmful by heredity, can never be educated so as to
+become altruists. But these perverse natures do not form the majority.
+The great majority of men, although idle and indifferent, may still
+become habituated to social work by suitable education, as soon as the
+external forces which urge them to evil, such as drink and the greed
+for money, have been removed and replaced by beneficial forces.
+
+Lastly, the whole attention of humanity should be directed toward its
+proper selection, so as to increase the number of useful individuals,
+and diminish or gradually eliminate the bad and incapable. But this is
+the work of many centuries of enlightenment and education, a work
+which we can only begin at present. We find ourselves here in face of
+one of the weakest points in human nature, a weakness which consists
+in only becoming enthusiastic over progress which will enable self to
+attain its object, and not help others. When self does not quickly
+obtain a palpable result, it is paralyzed and discouraged, and turns
+its back on reform under the most futile pretexts. I will give an
+example:
+
+A young bachelor became enthusiastic over the social reform of
+abstinence from alcohol. For some years he worked with zeal, took part
+in numerous public demonstrations, and became an apostle of total
+abstinence. One day, after some failure, he turned his back on
+abstinence, declaring that the movement had no future. Nevertheless,
+the social movement of abstinence progressed without him. After some
+years, he was asked the reason why he had abandoned the movement.
+After having first of all repeated his pretext, he confessed that he
+did not wish to appear eccentric. He admitted that he had never felt
+so well as when he was an abstainer, appeared somewhat astonished to
+learn that the movement had made so much progress without him, was
+finally convinced of his error, and promised to return to the camp of
+the faithful.
+
+In common daily events of this kind lies the secret of the slow
+progress of every social reform. Men who are momentarily enthusiastic
+nearly always expect everything to progress according to their
+imagination, and when they see that it will be some time before any
+obvious result is attained, they become discouraged, because they have
+neither the personal courage nor the perseverance to remain in a
+minority and wait. The same want of perseverance, courage and judgment
+is found in the education of children, and it will take a long time to
+enlighten people on this subject.
+
+It would seem that we have lost sight of our subject in occupying
+ourselves with the irradiation of love, which forms the object of
+social sentiments or ethics (vide Chapter V). But it is by exactly
+understanding and realizing this irradiation of love that we shall
+gradually suppress the unhealthy social aberrations of the sexual
+appetite, and prevent them doing harm, by guiding them in the path of
+a healthy morality. It is not the severe external constraint of
+so-called moral laws, it is not by the threats or punishments of hell,
+nor the promise of paradise, nor the moral preachings of the priests,
+parents or pedagogues, nor an exalted asceticism, which can ever
+construct a healthy, just and lasting sexual ethics. It is not by
+words that we recognize the value of moral precepts, but by their
+results. It is quite certain that the sexual life of man can never
+rise above its present state without being freed from the bonds of
+mysticism and religious dogma, and based on a loyal and unequivocal
+human morality which will recognize the normal wants of humanity,
+always having as its principal object the welfare of posterity.
+
+Marriage should be considered as a means of satisfying the sexual
+appetite, and at the same time a moral and social school of life; not
+as a refuge for egoism. Division of duties, absolute equality of
+rights and social work in common, will solidify more and more the
+sexual bonds of two conjoints. By the aid of a better understanding of
+the wants of human society, the conjoints will learn how to overcome
+their egoistic sentiments, their polygamous inclinations, and their
+jealousy, etc.
+
+In striving for happiness, and especially for the sexual happiness of
+others, such conjoints will learn better how to excuse and pardon the
+sexual failings of other men. They will cease to despise the poor
+man's household, the girl-mother, the divorced wife, the concubine,
+even the poor invert, and other failings in their fellow beings. On
+the contrary, they will do their utmost to make their lot a happier
+one, by helping all those for whom help may be efficacious. They will
+find their greatest pleasure in this work, and if one of them becomes
+himself the victim of some sexual failing, he will be pardoned all the
+more easily, and will master it all the more quickly.
+
+There will then be no time to make life bitter by bad temper, slander,
+acrimony, sulking and other conjugal disputes. The husband will no
+longer behave with the despotism of a lord and master, and the wife
+will no longer think it her duty to humble herself. Religious dogmas
+will no longer separate man from woman. Priests will no longer be
+required in marriage. Lastly, there will be no more fear of death;
+this will be regarded as a welcome rest after the long labor and duty
+fulfilled of a well-spent life.
+
+I cannot help taxing with narrow-mindedness, and even unintelligence,
+persons who consider such an ideal of life as a fantasy impossible to
+realize, or as the product of exalted dreamers who do not know the
+world. No doubt this ideal cannot be attained by ill-constructed,
+unnatural beings, tainted by a morbid heredity, or depraved by
+idleness, vice and passion for pleasure, who have lost their
+elasticity and plasticity of brain or have never possessed them. It
+has, however, been often realized already by men and women of better
+quality. It is, therefore, necessary to act on the children, both by
+education and selection, in order to obtain a youth of superior
+quality.
+
+Let us not abandon the future of our race to the fatalism of Allah;
+let us create it ourselves!
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[10] It is true that the friendly union of individuals of the same sex
+is often fundamentally derived from the phylogenetic development of
+animal or human societies. But the sentiments of sympathy, on the sole
+basis of which such friendly unions may be developed, are only
+themselves the derivatives of the more primitive sentiments of
+sympathy of one individual for another, and these latter have
+originated in sexual attraction.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE SEXUAL QUESTION IN POLITICS AND IN POLITICAL ECONOMY
+
+
+Power and money have always been the principal aims of politics.
+Political economy is a science which deals with the great family of
+nations and their conditions of existence. Based on history,
+statistics and observation, it seeks for the laws which govern the
+production, consumption and division of goods, labor and its products,
+the social organization of nations, their health, the increase or
+decrease of the population, the death-rate, birth-rate, etc.
+
+I cannot here enter into the details of the domestic economy of the
+nation, as this is beyond my province. I may, however, point out that
+this science has too much neglected the natural sciences, owing to its
+traditional connection with politics.
+
+In 1881 Cognetti de Martiis[11] had already attempted to apply the
+ideas of evolution to political economy. Recently, Prof. Eugene
+Schwiedland of Vienna treated the same subject in an interesting study
+of the ideas of want and desire in human psychology.[12] So far, it is
+only the quantity and not the quality of men which has been taken into
+account, originating from the false idea that man made in God's image
+can only come into the world in a perfect state. If he was often
+malformed in body and mind, this was the fault of his sins. Even
+hereditary degeneration to the third and fourth generation was
+considered as divine punishment for the sins of the fathers on the
+children.
+
+=War.=--The despots of olden times, like those of to-day, have always
+regarded men as instruments of their ambition or even as food for
+cannon. When Napoleon I established a bounty for large families, he
+was no doubt thinking of the number of soldiers he could make for the
+use of his son. He had good reason to provide for the replenishment of
+the ranks of his army. The mental quality of the individuals mattered
+little to him. Wars are a harmful factor in human selection, for they
+destroy or mutilate the fittest in the prime of life, while leaving
+the unfit and the aged.
+
+Moreover, we have already seen to what an extent the quality and even
+the quantity of soldiers suffer from venereal disease and alcohol.
+After certain long wars the male population has been decimated to such
+a point that polygamy had to be resorted to to reconstitute the
+nation. It is, therefore, obvious that wars have a bad influence on
+the sexual relations of men, and hence on the quantity, or what is
+still worse, the quality of a nation.
+
+=Statistics.=--Political economy is still more important. I do not
+doubt the correctness of the figures which tell us that under this or
+that economic system the population increases, while under another
+system it diminishes, etc. But these are only summary data whose true
+causes remain in the dark. It is necessary to carefully study the
+factors which produce these figures. Emigration and immigration with
+their causes, the intimate habits of individuals and families, their
+willingness and aptitude for work, etc. One fact which follows another
+is not always the direct consequence of it and if we examine things
+more closely, we arrive at curious results.
+
+=Alcohol.=--Things being otherwise equal, it is found that nations who
+abstain from alcohol and those who are moderate consumers are more
+prolific than nations who are addicted to drink. In Russia, for
+instance, the abstainers, although of the same race and living under
+the same conditions, are more prolific than their neighbors who drink.
+
+As we have already pointed out, alcohol greatly deteriorates the
+quality of man by blastophthoria, and we must agree with men such as
+Darwin, Gladstone, Cobden, Comte, etc., that alcohol (even in
+so-called moderation) does more harm to a nation than war, plague and
+famine together.
+
+We find here an economic factor of the first order, to which the
+majority of economists (with the exception of Cobden) are blind. It
+is a very short-sighted policy to regard the alcohol industry as a
+source of wealth and welfare for nations. What an amount of labor,
+human power and valuable land is employed to produce this mischievous
+substance which, although useful in pharmacy and other industries,
+neither nourishes nor strengthens, but deteriorates the organism and
+leads to degeneration of the race! If it were not so sad, it would be
+ridiculous to observe the serious way in which high officials, or even
+scientists, calculate the product of taxes on distilled and fermented
+liquors, the laws for their import and export, the monopoly of their
+manufacture, etc. It is remarkable how the budget is balanced by the
+aid of the alcoholic intoxication of the people, and how people are
+made to believe that a masterpiece of political economy is thereby
+achieved. In reality, the health and strength of the nation are
+sacrificed. This kind of political economy can only be qualified as
+false and deceitful. We cannot too often nor too strongly stigmatize
+its destructive influence on sexual matters and on the hereditary
+energies of humanity.
+
+=Density of Population.=--As regards the most desirable figures for
+population, opinions are diametrically opposed. Some authors look for
+the happiness of humanity in prolific reproduction, and imagine that
+by utilizing all parts of the globe an unlimited number of people
+could be supported by its produce.
+
+We cannot regard with favor this singular Chinese-like ideal, which
+would tend to transform the whole world into a huge cornfield for the
+raising of men like rabbits. Moreover, it is greatly to be feared that
+the real Chinese, when they have become sufficiently armed and
+re-civilized, will transform the surface of the earth into a human
+stable, if we do not take sufficient precautions.
+
+=Neo-malthusianism.=--On the other hand, a certain group of idealists,
+the neo-malthusianists, have declared a war of extermination against
+all increase of the population. I have myself been accused by one of
+them of committing a crime by procreating more than four children!
+Neo-malthusianists of this kind only deal with quantity and do not
+concern themselves with quality.
+
+They recommend, as we do, the employment of anticonceptional
+measures, but they do so without any discrimination. They address
+themselves to the altruistic and intelligent portion of the public,
+and induce the most useful members of society to procreate as little
+as possible, without recognizing that with their system, not only the
+Chinese and negroes, but, among European races, the most incapable and
+amoral classes of the population are those who trouble the least about
+their maximum number of children. Hence, the result they obtain is
+exactly the opposite of what they intend.
+
+Among the North Americans and New Zealanders, with whom
+neo-malthusianism is very prevalent, the number of births among the
+intelligent classes is diminishing to an alarming extent, while the
+Chinese and negroes multiply exceedingly. In France, the practice of
+neo-malthusianism is chiefly due to reasons of economy.
+
+=Rational Selection.=--These two extremes, which are equally absurd,
+should be replaced by rational selection. Neo-malthusianism should be
+confined to the unfit of all kinds, and to the lower races. On the
+contrary, the fit should be urged to multiply as much as possible. By
+this means we obtain an indirect factor of the first order for a
+rational political economy; I even maintain that it is the most
+important of all. No doubt its action is extremely slow, and it would
+take centuries to obtain a definite result. But if the principle of
+proper human selection ever prevails, we may confidently hope for a
+good future for our descendants.
+
+A time will come when the human population of the earth will become
+more or less stationary. If, in the meantime, human nature has
+succeeded in appreciably improving its quality, and in gradually
+suppressing the physical and mental proletariat with its poverty,
+hunger and brutality, which now infests the world--then only will the
+dogmas of our modern neo-malthusianists acquire a certain object for
+the whole world.
+
+If humanity does not soon begin to degenerate by brutish accumulation,
+but finds in time the means to gradually elevate its quality, our
+future descendants will take care not to abandon rational selection. A
+capable and active man gives to society much more than he receives,
+and thus forms an economic asset. A person who is unfit in body or
+mind, receives more than he gives, and thus constitutes an economic
+deficit.
+
+=Contrary Selection.=--We have seen in Chapter VI how certain customs
+of essentially human origin ended by becoming part of religion.
+Unfortunately for humanity, religion and politics have at all times
+generally combined to do wrong. The celibacy of priests (to say
+nothing of the Inquisition, religious wars, and the fatalism of Islam)
+which is based on a kind of religious politics, has largely resulted
+in sterilizing the more intelligent among Catholic races.
+
+The prohibition of inquiry into paternity is another abominable custom
+of the same kind introduced by Napoleon. Laws of this nature lead to
+artificial abortion and encourage promiscuous intercourse. The safety
+of families and sexual intercourse lies in the duties of parents
+toward their children.
+
+The principal task of a political economy which has the true happiness
+of men at heart, should be to encourage the procreation of happy,
+useful, healthy and hard-working individuals. To build an
+ever-increasing number of hospitals, asylums for lunatics, idiots and
+incurables, reformatories, etc.; to provide them with every comfort,
+and manage them scientifically, is no doubt a very fine thing, and
+speaks well of the progress and development of human sympathy. But,
+what is forgotten, is that by concerning ourselves almost exclusively
+with human ruins, the results of our social abuses, we gradually
+weaken the forces of the healthy portion of the population.
+
+By attacking the roots of the evil and limiting the procreation of the
+unfit, we shall be performing a work which is much more humanitarian,
+if less striking in its effect.
+
+Formerly, our economists and politicians hardly ever considered this
+question, and even now very few are interested in it, because it
+brings neither honors nor money, as we do not ourselves see the fruits
+of such efforts. Any one who aims at serious reforms and puts his hand
+to the work is looked upon as eccentric, or even mad. This is why we
+are contented with the kind of humanitarianism which makes a show and
+panders to the sentimentality of the masses, by holding out a
+charitable hand to the visible and audible evils which make women
+weep. In short, we amuse ourselves with repairing the ruins, but are
+afraid of attacking what makes these ruins!
+
+=The Laws of Lycurgus.=--There was once in Sparta a great legislator
+named Lycurgus, who attempted to introduce a kind of human selection
+into the laws. He wished to make the Spartans a strong nation, because
+at that time bodily strength was almost the only ideal of the people.
+He understood the value of hardness but not that of work. The
+importance of selective elimination of the diseased and weak was
+apparent to his pre-Darwinian intuition, but in his time natural laws
+were not understood. However, in spite of their failings, the laws of
+Lycurgus succeeded up to a certain point in making the Spartans a
+strong nation.
+
+According to the laws of Lycurgus, the Spartan inherited no property,
+and was forbidden all luxury. He had to eat his simple black broth
+with his fellows, and to exercise himself continually in trials of
+strength and skill. Every Spartan had to marry, and the bonds of
+matrimony were strictly observed. Every weak child was eliminated. But
+there were two fundamental errors in the Spartan organization.
+
+First of all, the Spartan was a warrior, but not a worker, and
+although hardened, was an aristocrat. He left all labor to his slaves,
+and in this way strengthened his slaves and enfeebled himself in many
+respects. The value of work in strengthening and developing the brain
+and the whole body was not then understood.
+
+In the second place, all the efforts of the Spartans were directed
+toward muscular strength, bodily skill, courage, and simple wants, but
+not at all toward a life of higher intelligence or ideal sentiments.
+The exclusiveness with which they only promoted man's bodily
+development, while neglecting his intellect, their negligence of the
+laws of organic evolution due to ignorance of natural science, would
+sooner or later have led to the decay of the Spartans.
+
+However, it was not the laws of Lycurgus in themselves, but their
+abandonment, which was the direct cause of the decadence of Sparta.
+The Spartans only sought for power, and this led to envy and jealousy,
+a deplorable although indirect result of the exclusiveness of their
+laws. These laws, however, will always constitute a unique historical
+document, a remarkable attempt at human selection.
+
+We are at the present day incomparably better armed intellectually
+than Lycurgus to deal with the question of selection. What is chiefly
+wanting is initiative on the part of the men who are charged with the
+government of their fellows. They are so deeply absorbed in economic
+interests and rival influences, that all desire of aspiring to a
+higher social ideal is paralyzed and etiolated in them. We require a
+powerful social shaking if we are to make steady progress.
+
+=Politics and the Sexual Question.=--"_Cherchez la femme_" is the
+common expression when anything unusual occurs in society. It would be
+more correct to say "Look for the sexual motive!" The actions of men
+are determined much more by their passions and sentiments than by
+purely intellectual reflection, _i.e._, by reason and logic.
+
+But no sentiment is stronger than the direct sexual sentiment, or its
+derivatives--love, jealousy and hatred. From this results a fact which
+social systems have too much neglected, namely: that in all the
+domains of human social activity, the sexual passions and their
+psychic irradiations often interact directly or indirectly in a
+mischievous way. Mistresses and courtesans have always played a
+considerable part in political intrigue.
+
+It is not necessary to have such a tragic scandal as that which caused
+the assassination of the king and queen of Servia. Everyday
+influences, even the smallest and most dissimulated, are often the
+most efficacious. Sexual intrigues have at all times influenced and
+directed the fate of nations. History relates a number of cases of
+this kind, but there are many more which have never been revealed to
+the public. It is sufficient to mention this fact. Every one who
+reflects will find an illustration of it, in the history of the past
+as well as in the politics of the present, in the courts of monarchs
+and in small democracies, in the local history of provinces, in his
+own parish, and lastly among his own relatives, friends and
+acquaintances.
+
+=Sexual Life in Social Action.=--The socialist who said that the
+social question was exclusively a question of stomach mistook its
+scope as well as human psychology. However admirably the economic
+relations of men and their work may be regulated, the introduction of
+sexual passions into social life will never be eliminated. All that
+can be done is to give both sexes an education which will elevate
+their social conscience and attenuate the evil influences exercised by
+personal sexual sentiments on social actions.
+
+The sexual question, therefore, intervenes in politics and in the
+whole of social life. Moreover, if the deplorable social influence of
+money and the attraction it exerts could be eliminated, antisocial
+acts, which only depend indirectly on the sexual passions, would lose
+much of their danger and infamy.
+
+=The Role of Women.=--Here again, much may be expected from the free
+emancipation of woman, and from her work in social questions in
+conjunction with man. This work in common will make them more clearly
+understand the high importance of their social task. Then sexual life
+will encourage social development instead of hindering it; it will
+cease to be considered as an egoistic pleasure but as a means of
+procreation, and will become the acme of an existence founded on the
+joy of work.
+
+We can already see, in countries where women have a vote, that they
+know very well how to benefit by social progress. If it is objected
+that woman is more conservative and more routine than man, I reply
+that this inconvenience is compensated by the fact that she is on the
+whole more inclined to enthusiasm, and to be led by noble masculine
+natures, who have the sense of the ideal, than by others (vide Chapter
+V). Her great perseverance and courage are also inestimable qualities
+for social work which aims at true progress.
+
+=Necessity and Desire.=--In the work which I have already quoted,
+Schwiedland points out the need for distinguishing between necessity
+and desire, in political economy. In practice it is no doubt difficult
+to always make an exact distinction between necessity and luxury. What
+our ancestors considered as luxuries we now regard as necessities. Man
+knows no limits in his desires; he is insatiable in his passion for
+pleasure and change. Certain socialists, especially anarchists, make a
+great mistake in proclaiming the right of man to satisfy all his
+desires. This is a proclamation of corruption and degeneration. As it
+is just to exact the right to satisfaction of the natural wants of
+each, so is it unjust to sanction every desire and every appetite.
+
+It is a question of distinguishing between good and useful wants and
+evil desires. All wants which promote a healthy life, all instincts
+which lead to social work, are good. All desires, which damage the
+health and life of the individual or injure the rights and welfare of
+society, are bad, and are the procreators of luxury, excessive
+concupiscence, and often corruption. Between these two extremes there
+are desires which are more or less indifferent, for example, that of
+possessing objects of beauty.
+
+Certain objects of human desire are harmful in themselves, such as the
+use of alcoholic liquor and narcotics. Others are only harmful when
+pushed to excess, such as good living, sexual pleasures, personal
+adornment, etc. Among the things desired by man, sexual pleasure plays
+a great part. Thus, when a pasha or a sultan provides himself with a
+large number of women, this excess is harmful from the social point of
+view, as it injures the rights of others. I have sufficiently dwelt on
+this fact elsewhere. I wish only to indicate here, with Schwiedland,
+how necessary it is to fix the limits between necessities and desires
+from the point of view of political economy, however relative and
+subjective these limits may be.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[11] "Le forme primitive nella evoluzione economia."
+
+[12] "Die psychologischen Grundlagen der Wirtschaft." _Zeitschrift fuer
+Sozialwissenschaft_, 1905.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE SEXUAL QUESTION IN PEDAGOGY
+
+
+=Heredity and Education.=--If we review the facts contained in
+Chapters IV, VI, VII and VIII, we must conclude that the sexual
+appetite, sensations and sentiments of every human being consist of
+two groups of elements: (1) _phylogenetic_ or hereditary (hereditary
+mneme); and (2) elements _acquired_ during life by the combined action
+of external agents and habit or custom.
+
+The first lie dormant in the organism for a time, in the form of
+latent energies or dispositions, and form part of what is called
+_character_. Most of them do not disclose themselves till the age of
+puberty, and their development afterwards takes place under the
+influence of external stimuli, which are modified by the will of the
+individual, _i.e._, by his brain.
+
+The second are the result of the influence excited by erotic
+excitations and habit on the first.
+
+Pedagogy can in no way change the first, for they are predetermined,
+and constitute the soil to be cultivated by education. The task of the
+latter can, therefore, only be to guide the hereditary sexual
+dispositions into paths as healthy and useful as possible. In the case
+of perverse dispositions, such as homosexual appetites, sadism, etc.,
+moral education can only act in a general way on the character, and
+combat that which excites the appetites. It cannot change the
+character of the latter; there must be no illusion on this point.
+Wherever hereditary dispositions present a normal average, education
+can do much to avoid pathological errors and habits, by guiding the
+sexual appetite in a healthy direction and by avoiding excess.
+
+=Sexual Education of Children.=--Habit always diminishes the erotic
+effect of certain perceptions of the senses; and inversely, eroticism
+or sexual desire is especially excited by unaccustomed perceptions
+and images relating to the other sex. The adult, unfortunately, nearly
+always makes the same error in pedagogy; he unconsciously attributes
+his own adult sentiments to the child. What excites the sexual desire
+of an adult is quite indifferent to a child. It is, therefore,
+possible to speak plainly to children to a certain extent on sexual
+questions, without exciting them in the least; on the contrary, if the
+child becomes accustomed to consider sexual intercourse as something
+quite natural, this will excite his curiosity to a much less degree
+later on, because it has lost the spice of novelty.
+
+If the child is accustomed to the sight of nudity in adults of his own
+sex, he will see nothing peculiar in his own sexual organs and pubic
+hairs when these develop. On the other hand, children brought up with
+strict prudery and in complete ignorance of sexual matters, often
+become greatly excited when their pubic hairs develop; they feel
+ashamed and at the same time erotic. When they are not prepared, girls
+become still more excited at the first appearance of menstruation, and
+boys at their first seminal emission. The mystery which is made of
+everything relating to sexual matters is not only a source of anxiety
+to children, but also excites their curiosity and the first signs of
+eroticism, so that they generally end by being instructed on the
+subject by other depraved children, by observing copulation among
+animals, or by obscene books, in a manner which is certainly not
+favorable to healthy development. What is still worse is that the
+child is generally instructed at the same time in masturbation,
+prostitution, and sometimes even sexual perversion.
+
+The so-called innocence, or naive ignorance, of an adolescent
+possesses quite a peculiar charm of attraction for libertines of both
+sexes, who find a refined erotic pleasure, a unique relish, in the
+seduction of the innocent, in the role of "initiator in the sexual
+art." Parents, unfortunately, seldom realize the evil consequences of
+their passiveness, I will even say cowardice, in making use of
+subterfuge, pretext and falsehood, to elude the naive questions of
+their children concerning sexual matters. I will here quote the
+opinion of an enlightened mother of a family, Madame Schmid-Jager, an
+opinion with which I entirely agree:
+
+    "All mothers, or nearly all, bring up their daughters with a
+    view to matrimony. Can we pretend that they are properly
+    prepared for it? Alas! no; the most elementary knowledge which
+    should be possessed by the future wife and mother is neglected,
+    and for centuries our young girls have been married in more or
+    less complete ignorance of their natural functions and duties.
+    The slaves of routine will reply that it has always been so,
+    that the world has been none the worse for it, and that women
+    when once married have always learnt by personal experience all
+    that was necessary. No doubt they are sometimes taught to cook
+    and sew and to do household work, but they are told nothing
+    concerning their sexual functions, nor of the consequences of
+    these. At Zurich a school has been instituted for nurses and
+    midwives which will soon give good results. This school is also
+    open to young girls who, without becoming professional nurses,
+    desire to learn how to take care of the sick in their own
+    families, and especially the newly born. This is an experiment
+    worthy of encouragement which should be extended universally.
+
+    "The awkwardness, incapacity and ignorance of a young wife, when
+    she starts housekeeping and has a baby, are astonishing. She
+    often pays dearly for it, in spite of the instinct which is so
+    much talked about. It is not the same as with animals, whose
+    instincts are sufficient for the care of the young.
+
+    "A lady doctor of Zurich, Madame Hilfiker, has lately developed
+    a scheme of much greater importance, which will require a great
+    effort on the part of women and the intervention of legislation,
+    if it is to be realized. Men, she says, maintain their muscular
+    strength by military service. Every young woman, who is not
+    prevented by her occupation, should perform the equivalent of
+    military service, from the age of eighteen, in obligatory
+    service for a year, in hospitals, asylums, maternities,
+    _creches_ (public nurseries) or public kitchens. Such training
+    would be extremely useful for future wives, and would at the
+    same time provide the institutions in question with useful
+    workers. Why should men be the only ones to perform obligatory
+    social service? I expect," says Madame Schmid, "many adverse
+    criticisms on this proposal, one of which I will refute at
+    once. The ladies of the middle classes will strongly object
+    because their daughters will see and hear so many things which
+    ought to be hidden till they marry! But why should they be
+    hidden? In order to prepare our daughters for marriage, is it
+    not logical to begin by telling them what it is, what it
+    involves and what it exacts?" ("_L'Education sociale de nos
+    filles_," 1904.)
+
+In neglecting this duty our parents and teachers commit a veritable
+crime. Does a normal man ever marry without knowing what he is doing?
+Yet our young girls are kept by their mothers in insensate and often
+dangerous ignorance of their whole future. Whoever invented this
+absurd and mischievous idea that a young girl should remain ignorant
+of her natural functions till the moment when she has bound herself
+for life to fulfill them? The law punishes persons who cause others to
+enter into contracts, while intentionally concealing the true
+conditions. This might almost equally well apply to parents who allow
+their daughters to marry in ignorance. Some women reply to this that
+marriage would be too sad and would have little attraction if it were
+not preceded by any illusion. Certain illusions which are natural to
+youth may be healthy, but the fantastic dreams which are in evident
+contradiction with reality, and nearly always followed by disillusion,
+are bad. A young woman who has always lived in a state of
+transcendental idealism till her marriage, infallibly courts
+disappointment, deception and heart-break. A wiser education would
+often succeed in sparing young women from this sudden and cruel
+disillusion. The moral level of men would also be raised if their
+future wives were better instructed in sexual matters, and exacted
+that the past life of their future husbands should give a better
+guarantee for the future.
+
+It must, moreover, be understood that blind and obstinate resistance
+to new ideas serves no purpose. Our manners and customs change in
+spite of us; our girls will no longer allow themselves to be led
+blindly, but will seek more and more freedom. Would it not be wiser to
+take things in time and warn them of the dangers ahead? With
+incredible carelessness parents send their daughters into service
+abroad, without considering that they may be at the mercy of the
+first Don Juan who comes across them, or even fall into the meshes of
+"white slavery," if they are left to go in ignorance of sexual
+affairs, as is often the case (vide Chapter X). Moreover, by no longer
+taking a false and artificial view of life, girls will be more capable
+of understanding and sympathizing with the misery which surrounds
+them--the troubles of unfortunate marriages, seduced and abandoned
+girls, etc. What they lose in illusion they will gain in more useful
+knowledge.
+
+How are we to begin? We should certainly not wait till the eve of
+marriage, but begin in childhood. In theory, it is wrong to lie to
+children, if they are to maintain unshaken confidence in their
+parents, and remain truthful themselves. No doubt we cannot explain
+everything to a child at the age when it begins to ask its mother
+certain embarrassing questions, but we should endeavor as far as
+possible to tell it the truth in a manner suitable to its age. When
+this is impossible, every child who knows that no reasonable
+explanation is ever refused it will be satisfied with the answer: "You
+are too young now to understand that; I will tell you when you are
+older." Every child who speaks openly to its mother asks sooner or
+later how children come into the world. It is easier to reply to this
+when the child has had the opportunity of observing the same thing in
+animals. Why should the mother conceal the fact that it is nearly the
+same in man as in animals? The child never thinks of blushing or
+laughing at natural phenomena.
+
+The initiation of children into the mechanism of reproduction is best
+obtained by the study of botany and zoology. If no mystery is made of
+these things in the case of plants and animals, why should not
+instruction be given in human reproduction? On this point Madame
+Schmid remarks as follows:
+
+"The father or the master should instruct the boys in this subject,
+and the mother or mistress the girls. Parents will then be able more
+easily to abandon their old and absurd prejudices, which they
+preserve, not so much because they attach any great importance to
+them, but because they shrink from the difficulty of explaining
+themselves to their children. We often see mothers, who would never
+have touched on the question with a child still ignorant of sexual
+matters, abandon the reserve hitherto observed in their language in
+the presence of the child, as soon as they perceive that it has become
+more or less acquainted with sexual phenomena. This is quite
+characteristic, and what is more so is that these mothers, and often
+also the fathers, frequently make equivocal jokes on the subject with
+their children instead of seriously discussing it.
+
+"It is regrettable that so few pedagogues take up these questions, and
+that the instruction of children on the sexual question is left to the
+most impure sources--domestic servants, depraved companions,
+pornographic books, etc. This results in a deplorable estrangement
+between the children and their parents or masters, which destroys
+mutual confidence.
+
+"If we wish to contend with sexual perversions acquired at an early
+age, or the precocious development of an unhealthy sexual appetite,
+this is not to be effected by prudery or vague moral preaching, but by
+affection and frankness. In this case, evasive replies, combined with
+so-called strict morals, only lead to estrangement, dissimulation and
+hypocrisy, and the result is often irreparable."
+
+Madame Schmid also insists on the necessity of making young girls work
+and learn some business, so as to render them capable of surviving in
+the struggle for existence without being obliged to throw themselves
+at the head of the first man who presents himself, or becoming the
+prey of prostitution. She also emphasizes the necessity of
+remunerating the wife for her work as mother and housekeeper, as the
+husband is remunerated for his work.
+
+It is needless to add that it is quite as necessary to instruct boys
+as girls in sexual questions. They do not run the risk, like girls, of
+falling through ignorance into the abject dependence of a forced
+marriage, and have no pregnancies to fear; but they are more exposed
+to temptation. When their sexual appetite has been once excited by
+masturbation or in some other way, it becomes very difficult to put
+them on the right path; to say nothing of the danger of venereal
+disease.
+
+I therefore appeal to all fathers and masters in the same way that
+Madame Schmid appeals to mothers and mistresses Take measures in time
+and do not wait till the boys are instructed by evil persons of either
+sex, or till they have already been seduced, thanks to their erotic
+curiosity. It is generally evil companions who seduce them, but
+sometimes erotic women.
+
+=Exclusiveness in Education. Punishment. Automatism of Parents. Wants
+of Children.=--In the human brain, intelligence and sentiment are
+intimately connected with one another, and from their combination
+arise volitions, which in their turn, react more or less strongly on
+cerebral activity, according to their solidity and duration. It is
+thus a great mistake to think that we can treat separately, by the aid
+of theoretical dogmas, the three great domains of the human
+mind--intelligence, sentiment and will. It is a fundamental error to
+imagine that the intelligence can be educated only at school, leaving
+sentiment and will to the parents. But it is still more absurd to
+attempt to act on sentiment, especially on ethical sentiment, and on
+the conscience, which is derived directly from sympathy, by moral
+preaching and punishment. What false conceptions of the human mind lie
+in these moral sermons, in this theoretical moral teaching, in these
+punishments and anger! Is it credible that, by the aid of abstract and
+arid dogmas supported by punishment, conscience and altruistic
+sentiments can be impressed on the brain of a child, which is only
+accessible to concrete ideas, to sympathy, affection and amusement? We
+may see daily, in nearly every family, parents finding fault with
+their children, in a vexatious, irritated or sorrowful tone of voice,
+to which the children reply by inattention, or tears, or more often by
+a repetition of the same tone of irritation. These scoldings pass
+through the child's mind without leaving any trace of an effect. Such
+stereotyped scenes produce in the intelligent observer the painful
+impression of two barrel-organs whose tunes are automatic. If this is
+the kind of moral teaching which is supposed to act on the child's
+mind, it is not astonishing that it has futile and even harmful
+effects. The parents do not appreciate the fact that when scolding
+their children they are only giving vent to their own bad temper. But
+the children are well aware of this fact, consciously or not, and
+react accordingly. The most deplorable thing is that they copy all
+these bad habits, like monkeys.
+
+True moral teaching, the true way of influencing children for good,
+lies in the manner of speaking to them, treating them and living with
+them. Affection, truth, persuasion and perseverance should be manifest
+in the acts and manners of parents, for these qualities only can
+awaken sympathy and confidence in the breasts of children. It is not
+cold moral speech, but warm altruistic feeling, which alone can act as
+a moral educator of children.
+
+A savant who delivers excellent and erudite lectures to his pupils in
+a dry and wearisome manner teaches them nothing, or at any rate very
+little. The students yawn, and are quite right in saying they could
+learn these things just as well out of a book. A teacher, however, who
+speaks with animation and knows how to hold the attention of his
+audience impresses his remarks on their brain. In the former case
+there is intelligence without feeling, while in the latter case the
+audience is held by the suggestive and contagious power of enthusiasm.
+Dry science, at the most, fills the memory, but it leaves "the heart"
+empty. What does not come from the heart has difficulty in entering
+the head.
+
+It is precisely in this way that the will must be exercised by
+perseverance. The child must be made eager for social work; he must be
+urged to all noble and disinterested actions, without stimulating his
+emulation by promises of reward, or by punishment.
+
+=New Schools.=--The object we desire may be attained by a system of
+education such as that of the new schools (_Landerziehungsheime_),
+which were first founded by Reddie in England, afterwards by Lietz in
+Germany, by Frey and Zuberuuebler in Switzerland, and by Contou in
+France. These institutes have finally realized the ideas of Rousseau,
+Pestalozzi, Owen and Froebel.
+
+For the teacher who understands the psychology of children, it is a
+true pleasure to witness the teaching at these Landerziehungsheime.
+The children take a delight in their school and become the comrades of
+their master. Physical exercise, the development of the powers of
+reason and judgment, the education of the sentiments and will, are all
+harmoniously combined. The children are not given the dry text-books
+of our schools, but made familiar with the works of the great authors
+and men of genius. Instead of their existence becoming etiolated under
+the weight of domestic duties, and under the sword of Damocles of
+examinations, they thrive by living as far as possible among the
+things they ought to learn. They thus assimilate the object of
+instruction, which becomes a living and useful part of their
+personality, instead of becoming encysted in the brain in the form of
+dead erudition like a foreign body, and filling it with formulae learnt
+by heart. Such formulae are ill-understood by children, and later on it
+is difficult for them to clear their brains of this indigestible
+rubbish to make room for the realities of observation and induction.
+The only punishments at the Landerziehungsheime are those which
+naturally result from the fault committed.
+
+The pupils and their masters bathe together in a state of nature. The
+sexual question is treated openly in these schools in a proper,
+natural and logical way. The open confidence which obtains between
+masters and pupils, combined with free intellectual and physical work
+and the absolute exclusion of alcoholic drinks, constitute the best
+preventive and curative remedy for masturbation, sexual precocity and
+all perversions which are not hereditary.
+
+It is needless to say that such schools cannot cure a pathological
+sexual hereditary mneme, whether it consists in perversion, precocity
+or some other vice. Every boarding school has its drawbacks, on
+account of the possible influence of mischievous individuals.
+Nevertheless, no boarding school offers such excellent conditions as
+the Landerziehungsheime, for as soon as a boy gives evidence of any
+sexual perversion, this perversion soon becomes well known, thanks to
+the good sense which prevails in the whole school.[13]
+
+=Standard of Human Value in the Child.=--Our pedagogy has hitherto not
+understood the true standard of human value. The social value of a
+man is composed of two groups of factors; mental and bodily hereditary
+dispositions, and faculties acquired by education and instruction.
+Without sufficient hereditary dispositions, all efforts expended in
+learning a certain subject will generally fail more or less. Without
+instruction and without exercise, the best hereditary dispositions
+will become atrophied, or will give indifferent results. But
+hereditary dispositions not only influence the different domains of
+knowledge, as the traditional pedagogues of our public schools seem to
+admit, they also act on all the domains of human life, especially on
+the mind. Good dispositions in the domains of will, sentiment,
+judgment, imagination, perseverance, duty, accuracy, self-control, the
+faculty of thinking logically and distinguishing the true from the
+false, the faculty of combining aesthetic thoughts and sensations, all
+constitute human values which are much superior to the faculty of
+rapid assimilation or receptivity, and a good memory for words and
+phrases.
+
+Nevertheless these last faculties are almost the only ones which are
+taken into consideration in our examinations, which decide nearly
+everything in our schools and universities. Is it to be wondered at
+that, by the aid of such a false standard, mediocrities whose brains
+are only the echoes of their masters and those who bow to authority,
+climb to the highest official positions, and even to most of those
+positions which are not official?
+
+With a good memory and the gift of rapid comprehension, one can obtain
+everything, even without the protection of the clergy, freemasonry or
+any other powerful association or personality (male or female)! If
+they do not possess these natural secondary gifts, the most capable
+men, even men of genius, are passed over or only obtain a situation by
+circuitous routes and great efforts, after much loss of time.
+
+In the Landerziehungsheime, Dr. Hermann-Lietz uses a scale intended to
+estimate the psychological and social value of the pupils. First of
+all the results obtained from two standards are measured:
+
+(_a_) _Individual_: Does the actual value of work performed by the
+pupil always correspond to his faculties?
+
+(_b_) _Objective_: Is the work very good, good, mediocre or bad,
+compared with the normal human average?
+
+After this the different domains of psychology and human activity are
+passed in review, a thing which is quite possible in a school of this
+kind whose object is to carry out the integral education of man.
+
+1. _Bodily results_: Health, disease, weight of body, activity,
+walking, running, swimming, cycling, games, ski, gymnastics.
+
+2. _Conduct_: Order, cleanliness, punctuality. Conduct outside, etc.
+
+3. _Moral and religious results_: Conduct toward parents, masters,
+companions, self and others. Veracity, zeal and sentiment of duty;
+honesty in the administration of his personal property and that
+entrusted to him; sentiment of solidarity and disinterestedness. Is
+the pupil worthy of trust? Is he conscientious? Strength of moral
+sentiments, moral comprehension and moral will.
+
+4. _Intellectual results_: Practical work; gardening, agriculture,
+carpentry, turning, locksmith's work, work in forge. Drawing, writing,
+elocution, music. Knowledge of literature and human nature, physics,
+mathematics and natural science.
+
+5. _General results_: Strength of character, physique and
+intelligence; faculty of observation, imagination and judgment. Real
+value of practical work, artistic and scientific.
+
+Measured by such a standard, the human value of a pupil takes quite
+another character to that judged by the results of examinations. By
+means of this standard, it is possible to predict with much more
+certainty what kind of man the child will become. There is no need to
+add that there are no examinations in these schools, for the whole
+life is a perpetual examination.
+
+Samuel Smiles, in "_Self Help_" relates that Swift failed in his
+examinations, that James Watt (the discoverer of the motive power of
+steam), Stephenson and Newton were bad pupils, that an Edinburgh
+professor regarded Walter Scott as a dunce. [The same with Darwin, who
+says in his autobiography, "When I left the school I was, for my age,
+neither high nor low in it, and I believe that I was considered by all
+my masters and by my father as a very ordinary boy, rather below the
+common standard in intellect."] These examples of the way in which the
+school of tradition judges human mental value might be multiplied a
+hundredfold, but they will suffice, especially if we compare them with
+the future of the distinguished pupils of colleges in practical life.
+These facts are not due so much to later development, as to the
+disgust inspired by our system of education in reflective minds which
+refuse to be overloaded with a heap of dry things learnt by heart,
+undigested, often hardly comprehensible, or open to contradiction.
+
+It is only on the basis of a just evaluation of man, from all points
+of view, that we can found a proper human selection.
+
+=Coeducation.=--It is now beginning to be understood that the
+coeducation of the two sexes in schools, not only does no harm, but is
+very advantageous, both from the sexual and the moral points of view.
+In the universities it is already established. In children's schools
+and many primary schools it has always existed. It is especially the
+authorities of secondary schools who have raised opposition.
+
+In the secondary schools in Holland and Italy, as well as in some
+Swiss gymnasiums, coeducation has been introduced without the least
+inconvenience; on the contrary, it has led to the best results.
+
+A native of Finland, Miss Maikki Friberg, has lately made an appeal in
+favor of coeducation based on the excellent results obtained in her
+country. Some feared that sexual excitement would result; but this is
+an error, for the custom of daily co-existence of the sexes diminishes
+the sexual appetite. The forbidden fruit loses its charm as soon as it
+appears no longer to be forbidden!
+
+It is unnecessary to say that it is not intended that girls and boys
+should sleep in the same dormitories, nor bathe together in the
+costume of Adam and Eve! Our remarks do not apply to boarding-schools,
+but to coeducation in public schools.
+
+When we speak of coeducation, we generally meet with the argument that
+the nature and vocation of women differ from those of men, and that
+consequently their education ought to differ. To this I reply as
+follows: The external objects of the world, the branches of human
+knowledge, in fact the subjects for study and instruction, are the
+same for both sexes. It is, therefore, both a useless waste of forces
+and an injustice to organize an inferior education for women.
+
+=Instruction in Coeducation.=--A course of instruction as interesting
+as possible should be organized for each subject, without distinction
+of sex. This rule should also apply to things which are generally
+considered as the special province of women; such as sewing,
+dressmaking, cooking, household work, etc. It will then be the
+business of each sex to choose the subject most suited to its
+abilities.
+
+Part of the course of instruction should be obligatory for all, while
+another part intended for ulterior individual development should be
+optional, according to individual taste and talent. In the obligatory
+part of instruction certain subjects might be made obligatory for one
+sex and optional for the other; sewing and algebra, for instance. In
+this way each sex could choose the most suitable subjects, as is the
+case now in universities only.
+
+=Danger of Sexual Perversions.=--A very important point, unfortunately
+little understood in sexual pedagogy, is that of congenital sexual
+perversions. Tradition regards every sexual anomaly as an acquired
+vice, which should be treated by indignation and punishment. The
+effects of this manner of looking at the question are disastrous. It
+gives entirely wrong ideas to youth, and shuts the eyes of parents and
+teachers to the truth.
+
+It is not without a serious motive that I have described at length the
+repugnant phenomena of sexual pathology (Chapter VIII). Teachers and
+parents should be thoroughly acquainted with this subject. But this is
+not enough, for these phenomena commence in infancy. It is a long time
+before the child whose sexual appetite is perverted has the least idea
+that his inclinations and desires are considered by others as
+abnormal. The psychic irradiations of his abnormal appetite usually
+constitute the sanctuary of his ideal aspirations and sentiments, the
+object of obscure hopes and struggles which are opposed to nature and
+the inclinations of his comrades. This is why he neither understands
+the world nor himself in this respect. His amorous exaltations are
+ridiculed, or else they inspire disgust. Anxiety and shame alternate
+more and more with the perverse aspirations of his mind, which slowly
+increase. It is only when he arrives at the age of puberty that the
+pervert understands his exceptional position; he then feels that he is
+exiled from society, abandoned and without a future. He sees his ideal
+aspirations mocked by men and regarded as a ridiculous caricature or
+even as a culpable monstrosity. He is obliged to hide his passions
+like a criminal. As his character is often weak and impulsive, and is
+combined with a strong and precocious sexual appetite, he is very
+easily led astray, especially if he discovers suitable objects for his
+appetite, or perverted companions like himself.
+
+In this way, in secondary schools, we often find groups of young
+inverts who succeed by cunning in seducing their friends. The mention
+of these phenomena, which from time to time give rise to school
+scandals, should be enough to make any one who is unprejudiced
+understand the urgency for instructing children betimes in sexual
+questions. This is a duty which is necessary in the name of hygiene
+and morality.
+
+It is evident that if parents and masters exchange ideas on this
+subject with children, freely but decently, they will soon bring to
+light the sexual nature of the latter. They will discover which girls
+are cold and indifferent, and which are precociously erotic.
+
+It is needless to say that one should speak and act differently in the
+two cases. There is no risk in instructing the first on the whole
+sexual question, but prudence is required with the latter, who should
+be guarded against anything which stimulates their appetite, by
+warning them of the dangers of venereal disease, illegitimate children
+and seduction.
+
+We sometimes meet with young girls of hysterical nature with inverted
+inclinations, who become enamored of other girls and have a sexual
+repugnance for men. Occasionally a sadist is discovered.
+
+Among boys we observe analogous differences in the intensity and
+precocity of the sexual appetite. An attentive observer will
+frequently discover homosexual appetites in boys, for these are
+comparatively common. Other perversions, such as sadism, masochism,
+fetichism and exhibitionism, etc., are more rarely met with.
+Masturbation is common in both sexes.
+
+The great advantage of such discoveries is that children affected with
+sexual perversions can be put under special supervision, and above all
+things kept away from boarding schools, where they are subject to
+great temptations. An invert in a boarding-school is in reality almost
+in the same position as a young man who sleeps in the same room as
+young girls, and no one thinks of the danger.
+
+When perversion is recognized, the subject should not be treated as a
+criminal, nor even as a vicious individual, but as a patient afflicted
+with a nervous affection who is thereby dangerous to himself and
+others. He should be treated and prevented from becoming a center of
+infection for his surroundings. Inverts should be specially supervised
+and taken care of till adult age. When they come of age, in my
+opinion, it would be an innocent idea to allow them to marry persons
+of their own sex, as they so much desire to do. Normal adults can very
+well protect themselves against their attentions, when they are warned
+by sufficient instruction in sexual questions.
+
+The child, on the other hand, has the right to be protected against
+all contamination by perversion, as against all sexual assault of
+whatever nature, and it is the duty of society to organize its
+protection. But this cannot be done unless society is itself
+instructed on the question, and in a position to give a rational
+education to youth such as we have sketched above.
+
+If dangerous congenital perversions are discovered, such as sadism and
+pederosis, energetic measures of protection should be taken; in grave
+cases, the operations we have spoken of, or permanent internment.
+
+Apart from suggestion, there is no better remedy against masturbation
+than a system of education such as that in force in the
+Landerziehungsheime, especially continuous physical labor combined
+with useful and attractive intellectual occupation. When such a system
+of education is put in force at an early age, the sexual appetite
+develops more slowly and more moderately, and has the most favorable
+influence on the whole sexual life of man.
+
+In speaking of masturbation in Chapter VIII we have seen that it may
+be the expression of very different conditions, and we should act
+accordingly.
+
+=Eroticism in Childhood.=--By giving children betimes the requisite
+instruction on the sexual question, they are tranquilized. Many boys
+and girls give themselves up to despair because of the erroneous and
+terrifying ideas they have of sexual affairs. On the one hand, they
+hear pornographic remarks which disgust them, while their parents
+envelop the subject in mystery; on the other hand, their sexual
+appetites evoke desire and call for satisfaction. When a young man in
+this state of mind has an emission, either spontaneously or as the
+result of artificial excitation, he is seized with anxiety and shame,
+often also with phantoms of disease and moral depravity. He then
+requires almost heroic resolution to unburden his mind to a doctor or
+to his father. With nervous subjects, inclined to be melancholic or
+hypochondriacal, such a state of mind sometimes leads to suicide.
+
+Another advantage in the instruction of children in sexual matters is
+that the questions of heredity, alcohol and venereal disease can be
+explained to them at the same time. In giving these explanations it is
+important not to awaken eroticism in the child by dwelling more than
+necessary on sexual topics. Instruction in this subject should not be
+given too frequently; on the contrary, the attention of youth should,
+as far as possible, be drawn away from sexual questions to other
+subjects, till the age of maturity.
+
+With the same object, erotic and pornographic literature should be
+condemned. Unfortunately, many novels and dramas which meet with the
+approbation of society, thanks to their fashionable or even decent
+form of presentation, are often full of half-veiled eroticism, which
+is much more exciting to the sexual appetite than the brutal and
+realistic descriptions of Zola or Brieux, or even the erotic art of de
+Maupassant.
+
+A doctor once told me that in his country the country children, who
+observed copulation among animals, often made similar attempts
+themselves, while bathing or otherwise. Yet these country-people are
+no more corrupt or degenerate than the townspeople. Here again,
+proper instruction and warnings would be the best remedy, especially
+in the case of girls.
+
+What is to be said, on the contrary, of certain Austrian judges who
+punish by imprisonment urchins of fourteen, who have copulated with
+girls of the same age or made them pregnant? Have they punished the
+real culprit? Do they imagine that they have done anything that will
+improve these children?
+
+The confession of Catholics plays a deplorable pedagogic part in the
+sexual domain. We may admit that some high-minded priests may be
+capable of modifying their interpretation of the prescriptions of
+Liguori and others which we have cited, and do little or no harm to
+young people of either sex. It must, however, be recognized--and the
+most devout Catholic cannot deny it--that priests are only human, and
+have not all the noble spirit nor the tact to fulfill the ideal
+required of them in their behavior toward women. This is enough to
+make the confessional, in many cases, a depraved institution from the
+sexual point of view. On this subject, I refer the reader to what has
+already been said in Chapter XII on the experiences of the Canadian
+reformer, father Chiniqui.
+
+The following instance is very characteristic. A very prudish man,
+observing children of both sexes bathing together, exclaimed to them
+indignantly, that this was improper. Thereupon a little boy replied
+naively: "We do not know which is a boy nor which is a girl, because
+we have no clothes." This charming reply shows how certain moral
+intentions are more likely to attract the attention of young people to
+erotic subjects.
+
+=Corporal Punishment and Sadism.=--An important fact has recently
+attracted the attention of the whole world, concerning certain
+terrible crimes. There is no longer any doubt that in some cases
+perverted masters and teachers find satisfaction for their sadist
+sexual appetite in the corporal punishment of children. This was the
+case with the German teacher, Dippold, who, to satisfy his perverted
+appetite flogged two children confided to him by their parents, till
+one of them died.
+
+The _Arbeiter Zeitung_, of Vienna, a very conscientious journal,
+published the case of a prince of a small German state, who, whenever
+a schoolmaster ordered corporal punishment to a pupil, offered to
+execute it himself. The journal in question attributes with good
+reason this fantasy to sadism.
+
+Again, many children were at one time belabored with blows for several
+years by a person who pretended to be a police agent, and who
+threatened them with prosecution if they complained. One boy more
+courageous than the others finally gave information, and the affair
+then ended.
+
+We thus see that sadism does not always manifest itself by
+assassination. Its less dangerous forms in which pleasure is obtained
+by blows or some other form of bodily or mental ill-treatment, are no
+doubt much more common. They constitute a kind of complement to sexual
+desire in pathological individuals whose appetite is only partly
+perverted. This fact, which has hitherto not received sufficient
+attention, gives one more reason for the abolition of corporal
+punishment in schools, for the art of dissimulation and refinement of
+torture are unlimited in the sexually perverted. A thousand
+hypocritical pretexts serve to conceal their morbid appetite, and it
+has been proved by experience that they can succeed for a long time in
+deceiving even experts in this subject. This was the case with Dippold
+and many others.
+
+Corporal punishment of schoolboys is only useless and harmful
+brutality. It is a disgrace to civilization that it is still
+maintained at a time when the bastinado has been suppressed among
+convicts.
+
+=Protection of Childhood. Child Martyrs.=--Children, especially when
+illegitimate or of another marriage, are often exposed to atrocious
+treatment in which alcohol and sexual passion, inconvenienced by the
+presence of the child, play a great part.
+
+I here refer the reader to the last work of Lydia von Wolfring.[14]
+This author, who has made a special study of the judicial protection
+of children, makes the following propositions directed against parents
+and tutors who commit misdemeanors against children or pupils confided
+to them, or who incite the latter to commit misdemeanors, or who show
+themselves incapable of protecting them against others who abuse them
+in the manner indicated (this last condition applies especially to
+concubines, widows, etc.).
+
+(1). Withdrawal of paternal, maternal or tutelary authority and
+nomination of another tutor.
+
+(2). Complete withdrawal of children in grave cases.
+
+(3). Nomination of a "co-tutor" in all cases where a husband who
+survives his wife and has children who are minors, contracts a second
+marriage or lives in concubinage.
+
+(4). Withdrawal of paternal and sometimes maternal authority from all
+parents who leave the education of their children to public or private
+charity, unless compelled to do so by poverty.
+
+Without having a direct bearing on our subject the above propositions
+contain the elements of an efficacious, though indirect, protection
+against the abuses committed toward children; for example, when
+parents urge their children to prostitution. As regards proposition 4,
+I refer to what I have said in Chapter XIII. While authority over
+their children is withdrawn, unnatural parents of this kind should be
+obliged to work for their children's maintenance.
+
+=Future Possibilities.=--Unfortunately we must admit that the programme
+of a sexual pedagogy for the future, such as we have sketched here, is
+very far from being realized. The Landerziehungsheime, which should
+serve as examples for future state schools are still sparsely
+distributed, and it seems impossible to carry out universally a
+rational sexual education, till the state and the public are better
+informed on the subject and have got rid of their prejudices. This hope
+appears to be only the reflection of a distant future. In the meantime
+every one must do his best. Parents, and some masters, can do much by
+free initiative. It is above all things necessary that young people who
+are interested in social reforms should not be satisfied with empty
+phrases, nor "play to the gallery." They should set the example in
+their own sexual relations, in condemning old customs which are opposed
+to true natural human ethics; they should show their adherence to
+sexual reforms by action and example, by raising objections to marriage
+for money, to the tyranny and formality of marriage, to prostitution,
+etc.; and they should attempt to put in force a healthy selection and a
+rational education such as we have indicated above.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[13] Vide.--Ernest Contou: _Ecoles nouvelles et Landerziehungsheime_,
+Paris, 1905; Wilhelm Frey: _Landerziehungsheime_, Leipzig, 1902;
+Forel: _Hygiene des nerfs et de l'esprit_, Stuttgart, 1905.
+
+[14] "Das Recht des Kindes: Vorschlaege fuer eine gesetzliche Regelung."
+_Allgemeine oesterreichische Gerichtszeitung_, 1904.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+SEXUAL LIFE IN ART
+
+
+=The Genesis of Art.=--Art represents in a harmonious form the
+movements of our sentimental life. The phylogeny of art is still very
+obscure; Darwin attributes it to sexual attraction, through the
+efforts made by one sex to attract the other; but his arguments have
+never convinced me.[15]
+
+Aristotle recognized in art the principles of representation of the
+beautiful and of imitation. Karl Groos, of Giessen, refutes Darwin's
+hypothesis, and upholds the principle of the representation of self by
+sensations which relate to the subject, thus giving a tangible object
+to corresponding internal emotions (among animals, for example, the
+pleasure of hearing their own voice).[16]
+
+The motor instinct and the movements executed in play seem to be among
+the most primitive autonomous creators of art. Similar play is
+observed in ants. In man, Groos attributes a considerable role to
+religious ecstasy and ecstasy in general, in the genesis of art.
+"Since its object is to excite the sentiments, it is obvious that art
+utilizes from the first the domain which is richest in emotional
+sensations, that is the sexual domain." He shows at the same time that
+erotic subjects have a much more general and definite importance in
+highly developed art than in what we know of primitive art.
+
+Groos is certainly right, for primitive eroticism was too coarse and
+sensual, too exclusively tactile to affect the mind as deeply and with
+such gradations of symphony as is the case with civilized man. This
+reason alone seems to me sufficient to support Groos' view, which is
+also confirmed by the fact that primitive works of art contain very
+few erotic subjects.
+
+The more delicate art becomes the better it acts. The intensity of its
+action depends, however, more especially on the power with which it
+moves our feelings. Art requires discord, not only in music, but
+elsewhere, in order to act more strongly on the human emotions by the
+effect of contrast. In describing the ugly it awakens desire for the
+beautiful. Art should be spontaneous and exuberant with the truth of
+conviction; it should be free from mannerism and all dogmatism,
+intellectual or moral. The positive aesthetic sentiment, or sentiment
+of beauty is very relative, and depends essentially on the
+phylogenetic adaptation of the human sentiments, as well as on
+individual habits and popular customs. The odor of manure is no doubt
+pleasant to a farm laborer, but it is unpleasant to us. The male
+invert finds man more beautiful than woman. A savage or a peasant
+regards as beautiful what a cultured man considers ugly. The music of
+Wagner or Chopin is tiresome to a person with no musical education or
+ear, while a melomaniac goes into raptures over it.
+
+=Erotic Art.=--It is quite natural that the chord whose vibrations
+influence the most powerful human emotion--sexual love--has an
+infinite variety of vibrations in all forms of art. Music gives
+expression to the sexual sensations and their psychic irradiations by
+tones representing desire, passion, joy, sadness, deception, despair,
+sacrifice, ecstasy, etc.
+
+In sculpture and painting it is love in all its shades which furnishes
+the inexhaustible theme; but it is in the domain of literature that
+love celebrates its triumphs, and often also its orgies. The novels
+and dramas in which it plays no part could be easily counted. I am not
+referring only to common novelettes, nor to those pot-house dramas
+which, in spite of repeating continually the same sentimental motives,
+always succeed in arousing the uncultivated sentiments of the masses.
+The greatest art aims at representing tragic, refined and complex
+conflicts of the human sexual sentiments and their irradiations, so as
+to awaken emotion by causing vibrations in the deepest chords of the
+human mind. Among poets and authors I may mention Shakespere,
+Schiller, Goethe, de Musset, Heine, Gotthelf, and de Maupassant; among
+musicians, Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, Schumann, Loewe; among
+painters, Titian, Murillo, Boecklin; and sculptors such as those of
+the ancient Greeks or the modern French school.
+
+Art and pure intellect do not form an antinomy; they are associated
+together in the human mind as thought and sentiment, each preserving
+its own, though relative, independence. Every artistic representation
+requires an intellectual foundation, in the same way as every
+sentiment is connected with ideas. The artist takes his subjects from
+the external world, from life, and from the events of all ages. He
+also utilizes the progress of science for the mechanism of his art.
+But, to transform the material into a complete picture, with a unity
+of action, where the different sentiments harmonize; to transform the
+work of art into a symbol of something human; to make the whole work
+speak to every mind capable of comprehending it, all this can only be
+the work of a great artist with creative genius.
+
+=Art and Morality.=--True art is in itself neither moral nor immoral.
+Here we can well say--to the pure everything is pure. In the mirror of
+an impure mind, every work of art may appear as a pornographic
+caricature, while to the high-minded it is the incarnation of the
+noblest ideal. The fault is not with art and its products, but with
+nature and the peculiarities of many human brains, which deform
+everything they perceive, so that the most beautiful works of art only
+awaken in their pornographic minds cynical sexual images.
+
+=Art and Pornography.=--After having enunciated the preceding
+fundamental principles, we must examine the following facts, which
+have a special importance for the question with which we are dealing.
+Under the banner of art are grouped a number of human enterprises
+which are far from deserving this honor. There are few great artists,
+but thousands of charlatans and plagiarists. Many of those who have
+never had the least idea of the dignity of art, pander to the lower
+instincts of the masses and not to their best sentiments. In this
+connection, erotic subjects play a sad and powerful part. Nothing is
+too filthy to be used to stimulate the base sensuality of the public.
+Frivolous songs, licentious novels and plays, obscene dances,
+pornographic pictures, all without any trace of artistic merit,
+speculate on the erotic instinct of the masses in order to obtain
+their money.
+
+In these brothels of art, the most obscene vice is glorified, even
+pathological. Unfortunately, this obscenity spoils the taste of the
+public and destroys all sense of true and noble art. At the bottom of
+all this degeneration of the sentiment of art and its products in the
+sexual domain, we always find on close examination, corruption by
+money and brutalism by alcohol. I say advisedly, the sentiment of art
+and the products of art, for it is not sufficient for true artists to
+create their masterpieces, it is also necessary for them to find an
+echo in the public, and be understood by them. The two phenomena go
+hand in hand, as supply and demand. When the sentiment of art is low
+among the public, the quality of the artistic production is also low,
+and inversely. Professor Behrens, director of the Industrial School of
+Art at Dusseldorf, is in complete accord with me in the debasing
+effect of alcohol on the artistic sentiment. (_Alkohol und Kunst._)
+
+After establishing these facts, we return to the fundamental but
+delicate question: How is true erotic art to be distinguished from the
+pornographic? While certain ascetic and fanatical preachers of
+morality would burn and destroy all the erotic creations of art under
+the pretext that they are pornographic, other disciples of decadence
+defend the most ignoble pornography under the shield of art.
+
+I will cite two examples which have already been mentioned previously
+(Chapter XIII). In a very primitive and bigoted region of the Tyrol,
+certain undraped, but very innocent, statues of women were erected in
+the streets. Feeling their modesty deeply wounded, and regarding the
+representation of the natural human body as a great inducement to
+misconduct, the peasants of the district broke up these statues. The
+same with the captain of police at Zurich, who made himself notorious
+by ordering the removal of the picture by Boecklin, entitled "The
+Sport of the Waves," regarding the two mermaids in the picture as a
+danger to the morality and virtue of the citizens of Zurich!
+
+I designate by the term charlatanism, everything which consists in
+decorating or covering by the term art, all possible perversions of
+pornography, often pathological. Persons of artistic nature, dominated
+by emotional sentiments, will no doubt be excused for being often
+overexcited to a more or less pathological degree, for executing all
+kinds of fantastic vagaries in their sexual life, and for being
+capricious and excessive in love. These things are almost inseparable
+from the artistic temperament. But the systematic education of
+pornography, and the sexual orgies which are cynically made public, go
+decidedly beyond what is licit, and cannot be included in the scope of
+art without degrading it. The individual and pathological failings of
+artists and the eccentricities to which they often become victims,
+must not be confounded with art and its products.
+
+On the other hand, we often find eroticism hidden where we should
+least expect it, for instance in certain books for the edification of
+the pious. Here also it does not fail to produce its effect, although
+old maids and pious families place these books in their libraries and
+recommend them as proper reading. It has been said with reason, that
+"what is improper in the nudity of a statue is the fig-leaf and not
+what is underneath." It is, in fact, these fig-leaves--sculptured,
+painted, written or spoken--which awaken lewdness rather than deaden
+it. By drawing attention to what they conceal, they excite sensuality
+much more than simple nudity. In short, the eroticism which plays at
+hide and seek is that which acts with greatest intensity. The
+directors of ballets and other similar spectacles know this only too
+well, and arrange accordingly.
+
+I have seen at the Paris Exposition an Arab woman perform the erotic
+dance called the "danse du ventre," in which the various movements of
+coitus are imitated by movements of the hips and loins. I do not
+think, however, that this pantomime, as cynical as it is coarse,
+produces on the spectators such an erotic effect as the _decollete_
+costumes of society ladies, or even certain amorous scenes of
+religious ecstasy in words or pictures (vide Chapter XII). As the
+"danse du ventre" was produced under the head of _ethnology_, it was
+witnessed by society ladies without their being in the least degree
+wounded in their sentiments of modesty! It is extremely difficult, if
+not impossible, to define the limit between art and pornography. I
+will attempt to give an example.
+
+In his novels and romances, Guy de Maupassant has given perhaps the
+finest and most true descriptions which exist of the psychology of
+love and the sexual appetite. Although he has depicted the most
+ticklish sexual situations, often most _recherche_, we can say that
+with few exceptions he has not written in a pornographic spirit. His
+descriptions are profound and true, and he does not attempt to make
+attractive what is ugly and immoral, although he cannot be blamed for
+moralizing.
+
+We have seen that the old hypocritical eroticism consisted essentially
+in the art of describing sexual forbidden fruit and making it as
+desirable as possible, at the same time covering it with pious phrases
+which were only a transparent mask. Vice was condemned, but described
+in such a way as to make the reader's mouth water. There is nothing of
+this in Guy de Maupassant, nor in Zola. By their tragic descriptions,
+they provoke disgust and sadness in the reader, rather than
+sensuality. It is otherwise with the illustrations which de
+Maupassant's publisher has added to his works and which are frankly
+pornographic. These are not fair to the author.
+
+Another comparison shows, perhaps, still better the uncertainty of the
+line of demarcation between pornography and art. If we compare Heine
+with de Maupassant, I think we must admit that, in spite of the
+refinement of his art, the pornographic trait is incomparably stronger
+in the former, because Heine continually loses the thread of moral
+sense which impregnates most of the works of de Maupassant. The latter
+author emphasizes evil and injustice in the sexual question.
+
+The refined art of the Greeks contains much eroticism and much nudity,
+but there is nothing whatever immoral in either. Innocence and beauty
+are so apparent that no one can think of evil. When we look at the
+antique statues of the Greek sculptors; when we read Homer, especially
+the story of Ares and Aphrodite; when we read the bucolic idyll of
+Daphnis and Chloe, we can no longer have any doubt on the point. It is
+not nudity, it is not the natural description of sexual life, but the
+obscene intention of the artist, his improper and often venal object,
+which has a demoralizing effect.
+
+Finally, I repeat that the purest artistic creation may serve as a
+pornographic theme for every individual who is accustomed to introduce
+into his parodies his own depravity, immorality and obscene
+sentiments. I do not deny that in antiquity, especially at the time of
+the decadence of Rome, pornography and cynical coarseness often ruled
+in the sexual domain. History and the ruins of Pompeii give abundant
+evidence of it. But such phenomena occurred at the periods of
+decadence. Who then can decide where art ends and pornography begins,
+or how far eroticism may without danger be expressed in art? This
+question is so difficult and delicate that I am unable to answer it
+with sufficient competence. I think that when the reign of capitalism
+and alcohol has come to an end, the danger of pornography will be
+reduced enormously. I believe we ought to avoid extremes in both
+directions. Wherever pornography manifests itself in a purely cynical
+way, denuded of all art, society can and should suppress it. When it
+appears under an artistic mantle, it should be possible in each
+particular case to weigh the artistic merit of the work against its
+immoral tendencies, taking all other accessory circumstances into
+account, in order to decide the real weight of each of these elements.
+The corrupting action should also be carefully considered, which
+experience proves to have been exerted on the public by certain
+so-called works of art, or artistic exhibitions, as for example
+certain _cafes chantants_, etc.
+
+=Pathological Art.=--The progressively pathological nature of certain
+productions of modern art constitute without any doubt a vicious
+feature; a fact of special importance in the sexual question. Witness
+what I have said concerning the poet Baudelaire. Erotic art ought not
+to become a hospital for perverts and sexual patients, and should not
+lead these individuals to regard themselves as interesting specimens
+of the human race. It should not make heroes of them, for in acting
+thus, it only confirms their morbid state, and often contaminates
+healthy-minded people.
+
+A great number of novels, and even modern pictures, deserve the
+reproach of being pornographic works. In these are described, or
+painted, beings that we meet in hospitals for nervous diseases, or
+even in lunatic asylums, but more often phantoms which only exist in
+the pathological mind of the author. No doubt, art should not allow
+itself to be instructed in morality by pedagogues and ascetics; but,
+on the other hand, artists ought not to forget the high social mission
+of their art, a mission which consists in elevating man to the ideal,
+not in letting him sink into a bog.
+
+=The Moral Effect of Healthy Art.=--Art has great power, for man is
+directed by sentiment much more than by reason. Art should be healthy;
+it should rise toward the heavens and show the public the road to
+Olympus--not the Olympus of superstition, but that of a better
+humanity. It is not necessary for this that it should diminish the
+energy of its eternal theme--love. No truly moral man would wish to
+eliminate the seasoning of eroticism whenever artistic necessity
+requires it, but art should never prostitute itself in the service of
+venal obscenity and degeneration.
+
+As to the manner in which it attains its object, while holding to its
+fundamental principles, that is its own affair, the business of the
+true artist. I cannot, however, in my capacity as a naturalist,
+refrain from giving a little modest advice to certain modern artists;
+that when they wish to take for the subject of their works the themes
+of social morality, medicine or science, they should avoid previous
+study of their subject in scientific books; that they should follow
+the example of de Maupassant and begin by living themselves the
+situations which they wish to depict, before beginning to model their
+work. Without this they will completely fail in artistic effect, and
+will become bad theorists, bad scientists, bad moralists and bad
+social politicians, at the same time ceasing to be good artists. If
+Maeterlinck's "Life of Bees" is a fine work of art, it is not only
+because the author is a distinguished writer, but because he was
+himself acquainted with bees, being an apicultor, and did not make his
+book a mere compilation of other scientific works.
+
+Along with the struggle against the debasing influence of money and
+alcohol, the elevation of the artistic sentiment among the public
+will contribute strongly to condemn pornographic "aesthetics." The
+false and unnatural sentimentalism, spiced with erotic lewdness, which
+is displayed in the trash offered to the public under the title of
+"art," fills every man who possesses the least artistic sense with
+disgust. Disgust evidently constitutes a beneficial mental medicine in
+the domain of art, and we cannot agree with the severe and ascetic
+minds who think that true morality has nothing to do with art, or even
+that everything moral should be destitute of art. These people are
+completely deceived and unwittingly promote pornography, by repelling
+humanity with their austerity and driving it to the opposite extreme.
+The aesthetic and moral sentiments should be harmoniously combined with
+intelligence and will, each of these departments of the mind
+participating by its special energies in the elevation of man.
+
+=Anticonceptional Measures from the AEsthetic Point of View.=--In
+conclusion, I will refer to a subject which is perhaps not quite in
+its place in this chapter. The anticonceptional measures recommended
+for reasons of social hygiene, which tend to regulate conceptions and
+improve their quality, have been often condemned, sometimes as
+immoral, sometimes as contrary to aesthetics. To interfere in this way
+with the action of nature is said to injure the poetry of love and the
+moral feeling, and at the same time to disturb natural selection.
+
+There are several replies to these objections: In the first place, it
+is wrong to maintain that man cannot encroach on the life of nature.
+If this were the case, the earth would now be a virgin forest and a
+great many animals and plants would not have been adapted to the use
+of man. Our fields, our gardens and our domestic animals would die,
+instead of bearing fruit and multiplying as they do at present. The
+naturalist has much more fear of seeing rare and interesting wild
+plants and animals exterminated from the face of the earth by the
+egoistic and pitiless hand of man. He seeks in vain the means of
+checking this work of destruction.
+
+We have proved without the least deference, often with a brutal hand,
+to the misfortune of art and poetry, that we are capable of
+successfully intermeddling with the machinery of nature, even in what
+concerns our own persons. I shall not return here to the subject of
+ethics. In Chapter XV, I have sufficiently shown how false is our
+present sexual morality, and I have proved in Chapter XIV the absolute
+necessity of measures to regulate conception in order to realize an
+efficacious social sexual morality.
+
+The aesthetic argument appears at first sight more valid; it is
+unnecessary, however, to discuss matters of taste. Spectacles are
+certainly not particularly aesthetic; nevertheless the poetry of love
+does not suffer much from their use, and when one is shortsighted or
+longsighted one cannot do without them. Great artists wear spectacles.
+It is the same with false teeth, with clothes, with bicycles and a
+hundred other artificial things which man makes use of to make his
+life more easy. So long as they are novel and unusual they wound the
+aesthetic sentiment; but when we become accustomed to them we no longer
+take notice of them. Man has even come to regard as aesthetic, women's
+corsets which deform their chests, and pointed shoes which deform the
+feet. I am certain that the first man who mounted a horse was accused
+by his contemporaries of committing an act contrary to aesthetics!
+
+From all points of view, the details of coitus leave much to be
+desired from the aesthetic point of view, and such a slight addition as
+a membranous protective does not appear to make any serious
+difference. It is impossible for me to recognize the validity of such
+an objection, which I attribute to the prejudice against anything
+which disturbs our habits.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[15] See also Lameere "_L'Evolution des ornements sexuels_," 1904.
+
+[16] "Die Anfaenge der Kunst und die Theorie Darwins." _Hessiche
+Blaetter fuer Volkskunde_, Vol. III, Part 2.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+CONCLUSIONS
+
+
+=Utopia and the Realizable Ideal.=--The term Utopia may be applied to
+every ideal project elaborated by human imagination for the future
+welfare of society, which has no healthy and real foundation, is
+contrary to human nature and the results of experience, and has
+consequently no chance of success. Persons of conservative minds who
+live in prejudice and in the faith of authority apply the term Utopia
+to every ideal which has not been legalized and sanctioned by time,
+custom, or authority. This is a grave error, which, if it always
+prevailed, would bar the way to all social progress.
+
+As regards the ideal, the future may realize much progress that the
+past has not known, and on this point Ben Akiba was wrong in saying
+that "there is nothing new under the sun." International
+communication, universal postage, the suppression of slavery in
+civilized countries, the artificial feeding of new-born infants, the
+telephone, wireless telegraphy, etc., are realized advances which had
+formerly never appeared on the horizon of humanity, and which would
+have been regarded as impossible fantasies, or Utopias.
+
+Why should the common use of an international language and the
+suppression of war between civilized countries be Utopias? The most
+diverse races already speak English, and all might learn Esperanto. In
+the interior of countries such as France and Germany, etc., the old
+feudal wars ceased long ago. Why should a more and more international
+union between men be impossible?
+
+Why should the suppression of the use of narcotic substances such as
+alcohol, opium, hashish, etc., which poison entire nations, be
+Utopian? Why should it be the same with the economic reform desired by
+socialists, that is the equitable division of wages; for example, by
+the aid of a cooperative system or by the reduction of capital to a
+minimum?
+
+These things are all possible, and even necessary for the natural and
+progressive development of humanity. It is only the prejudice of old
+customs, based on the conservative tendency of sentiments, which
+opposes these projects and tries to ridicule them by calling them
+Utopian. In its shortsightedness, it does not see the change which
+occurs all over the world in the social relations of men, or does not
+estimate them at their true value, and it cannot abandon its old
+idols.
+
+Lastly, why should rational reforms in the sexual domain be more
+difficult to realize than the artificial feeding of infants, than the
+actual triumphs of surgical operations, than sero-therapy, than
+vaccination, etc.? In the same way that shortsighted and longsighted
+persons wear spectacles, or those who have no teeth use artificial
+ones, so may men who are tainted by hereditary disease employ
+preventatives in coitus to avoid the procreation of a tainted progeny;
+and the same means may be employed to give women time to recover their
+strength after each confinement.
+
+=Resume.=--Let us briefly recapitulate the matter contained in the
+chapters of this book:
+
+(1). In the first five chapters I have given an account of the natural
+history, anatomy and functions of the reproductive organs, and the
+psychology of sexual life.
+
+(2). In Chapter VI, I have given (chiefly according to Westermarck) a
+_resume_ of ethnography and the history of sexual relations in the
+different human races.
+
+(3). In Chapter VII, I have attempted to trace the zoological
+evolution of sexual life along the line of our animal ancestors, and
+to briefly describe the evolution of sexual life in the individual,
+from birth till death. I have thus endeavored to acquaint the reader
+with the two sources of our sexual sensations and sentiments--the
+hereditary or phylogenetic source, and the source acquired and adapted
+by the individual.
+
+(4). In Chapter VIII, I have described the pathology of sexual life,
+because this concerns social life much more than is generally
+supposed.
+
+(5). In Chapters IX to XVIII, I have explained the relations of sexual
+life to the most important spheres of human sentiments and interests,
+to suggestion, money and property, to the external conditions of life,
+to religion, law, medicine, morality, politics, political economy,
+pedagogy and art. Incidentally, I have glanced at the social
+organizations and customs which depend on these relations.
+
+If we sum up the results obtained, we can draw from them a series of
+conclusions which we will divide into two groups:
+
+
+NEGATIVE TASKS
+
+_Suppression of the Direct or Indirect Causes of Sexual Evils and
+Abuses, and the Social Vices which Correspond to Them_
+
+The corruption into which a semi-civilization has plunged humanity, by
+facilitating the means of obtaining satisfaction for its unbridled
+passion for pleasure, is maintained by the latter itself. But in the
+long run, the unlimited abandonment of the individual to pleasure
+cannot be in accord with the welfare and progress of society. This is
+the knotty point. It is necessary for a better social organization to
+artificially restrain the passion for pleasure, at the same time
+raising the social quality of men; that is to say, their altruism or
+instinct (social ethics). We can only expect immediately the first of
+these two objects; but we have seen that it is possible to prepare the
+second for the future, by neglecting none of the factors of social
+salvation.
+
+We have become acquainted with the most important roots of sexual
+degeneration, due to semi-civilization. I use the word
+"semi-civilization" because our present culture is still very
+incomplete and has hardly done more than skim over the surface of the
+masses.
+
+Men of higher culture have overcome the maladies of infancy of
+civilization much better than the uneducated masses, and it is
+precisely this fact which should give us courage and confidence in a
+future in which a true higher culture will be the appanage of all. The
+roots of degeneration are either directly or indirectly associated
+with sexual life. It is our duty to declare war of extermination
+against all of them, and not to cease this contest before reducing
+them to their natural primitive minimum. The following are the chief
+evils to be contended against.
+
+=1. The Cult of Money.=--We have recognized the primary sources of
+degeneration in the historical development of humanity and its sexual
+life (Chapters VI and X). They consist in the exploitation of man by
+man, in the desire of possessing riches and power, which become the
+source of marriage by purchase and by abduction, of prostitution and
+all the modern requirements by the aid of which is cultivated the
+passion for sexual pleasures, thanks to the power of money.
+
+The priests and disciples of Mammon lie when they say that their
+god--the golden calf--is the most powerful stimulus to work and the
+principal promoter of culture. If we look closer we see the contrary.
+Men of genius, thinkers, inventors and artists are urged to work by
+their hereditary instinct, by true love of the ideal and thirst for
+knowledge. The disciples of Mammon, on the watch for the discoveries
+and creations of these men, rob them not only of the fruit of their
+work, but often of the honors which belong to them. Intellectual
+robbery is added to pecuniary robbery.
+
+These are the methods of "Mammonism," which must be seen to be
+appreciated; and we are told that this kind of industry should be the
+only stimulus to human work and culture! No doubt, the unbridled lust
+for gain urges men to feverish activity; but this kind of zeal, which
+is nearly always associated with the passion for pleasure, and only
+works to obtain the means of satisfying it, is unhealthy. It is
+necessary for other factors to act in stimulating human work.
+Fortunately these forces exist, and can be found, for without work
+there can be no culture, social progress nor happiness.
+
+The worship of the golden calf, the utilization of accumulated wealth
+as a means of exploiting the work of others for individual interest,
+is therefore the primary and principal root of social degeneration,
+marriage for money, prostitution and all their corrupt associations.
+If this root is not torn out, humanity will never succeed in the
+sanitation of sexual matters. The struggle against the exaggerated
+modern legal rights of capital, and the abuses which result from it,
+is therefore one of the most important tasks to be accomplished in
+order to lead indirectly to the sanitation of sexual intercourse.
+
+=2. The Use of Narcotics.=--The habit of using narcotic poisons,
+especially alcohol, leads to the physical and moral degeneration of
+men, a degeneration which not only affects the individuals concerned,
+but also their germinal cells and consequently their offspring. I have
+designated this degeneration by the term _blastophthoria_.
+Blastophthoria is intimately connected with sexual phenomena, and
+thanks to it, the individual influence of these poisons may extend to
+many generations.
+
+A single radical remedy would be easy to apply, if men were not so
+much the slaves of their habits and prejudices, of capital and the
+passion for pleasure. All narcotic substances, especially distilled
+and fermented drinks, should be abolished as a means of pleasure and
+relegated to pharmacy, in which they may still be used as remedies,
+with special precautions. Alcohol may also be used for industrial
+purposes.
+
+Science has proved that even the most moderate indulgence in alcohol
+disturbs the association of ideas, and renders them more superficial,
+without the subject being aware of it. This slight degree of alcoholic
+narcosis causes in man a temporary feeling of pleasure and gayety to
+which he soon becomes accustomed. In this way there is created in him
+a desire for more, too often with increasing doses.
+
+Most narcotics, especially alcohol (either fermented or distilled),
+have the peculiarity of exciting the sexual appetite in a bestial
+manner, thereby leading to the most absurd and disgusting excesses,
+although at the same time they weaken the sexual power. The transient
+pleasure produced by these substances is, therefore, of no real and
+lasting advantage, while it results in the most terrible individual
+and social miseries.
+
+Societies for total abstinence from all alcoholic drinks have
+undertaken a war of extermination against the use of all poisons used
+for purposes of pleasure, when experience has proved their social
+danger. Let us hope that they will succeed; then a second fundamental
+root of degeneration of sexual life will be destroyed.
+
+=3. The Emancipation of Woman.=--A third source of sexual anomalies is
+due to the inequality of the rights of the two sexes. This can only be
+attacked by the complete emancipation of women. In no kind of animal
+is the female an object possessed by the male. Nowhere in nature do we
+find the slave-law which subordinates one sex to the other. Even among
+ants, where the male, on account of his great physical inferiority, is
+very dependent on the workers, the latter do not impose on him any
+constraint. We have already refuted the argument which is based on the
+intellectual inferiority of woman.
+
+The emancipation of women is not intended to transform them into men,
+but simply to give them their human rights, I might even say their
+natural animal rights. It in no way wishes to impose work on women nor
+to make them unaccustomed to it. It is as absurd to bring them up as
+spoilt children as it is cruel to brutalize them as beasts of burden.
+It is our duty to give them the independent position in society which
+corresponds to their normal attributes.
+
+Their sexual role is so important that it gives them the right to the
+highest social considerations in this domain. I will not repeat what I
+have said in Chapter XIII, but simply state categorically that, when
+women have acquired in society rights and duties equal to those of men
+(in accordance with sexual differences), when they can react freely
+according to their feminine genius, in a manner as decisive as men, on
+the destinies of the community, a third fundamental root of present
+sexual abuses will be suppressed. The complete emancipation of woman
+thus constitutes our third principal postulate, and in this I am in
+accord with Westermarck, Secretan and many other eminent persons.
+
+The difference which exists between the two sexes does not give any
+reasonable excuse to man for monopolizing all social and political
+rights. The external world and our fellow beings, by whom and for whom
+we live in body and mind, are the same for woman as for man, so that
+even when the mentality of one sex is on the average a little higher
+than that of the other, the first cannot claim the right of refusing
+the second the liberty of living and acting from the social point of
+view according to her own genius. The two sexes differ in many
+respects it is true; on the other hand, all legal and consequently
+artificial constraint of one by the other has the effect of hindering
+the free development of both. Each sex has the right to look upon the
+world and assimilate it according to its nature. It can thus develop
+its personality so that it does not become etiolated and atrophied
+like a domestic animal. It is only the right of the stronger,
+cultivated by narrow-minded prejudice, that can deny or misunderstand
+these facts. The legal restrictions which we impose on woman, on her
+mentality and her whole life, especially her conjugal life, have
+nothing in common with the just restrictions which the law should
+provide against the encroachments of individual egoism, which injure
+the rights of others or those of society.
+
+=4. Prejudice and Tradition.=--There is still another enemy opposed to
+reform, which is so deeply rooted in human nature that we can only
+hope for a slow improvement in the quality of men, by its progressive
+weakening. I refer to the host of prejudices, traditional customs,
+mystic superstitions, religious dogmas, fashions, etc. I should
+require many pages of moral preaching to deal with all the vices which
+are perpetually created and supported by the wretched tendency of the
+human mind to sanctify every ancient tradition and consider it as
+unalterable.
+
+Prejudice, faith in authority, mysticism, etc., with conscious or
+unconscious hypocrisy, and by the aid of more or less transparent
+sophisms, place themselves at the service of the basest human
+passions--envy, hatred, vanity, avarice, lewdness, scandal, desire of
+domination and idleness--and clothe them all with the sacred mantle of
+ancient customs, the better to sanction their ignominy by relying on
+the authority of tradition. There is no infamy which has not been
+justified, glorified or even deified in this way.
+
+I am convinced that it is only by the introduction of the scientific
+spirit, of an inductive and philosophical manner of thinking, into
+schools and among the masses, that we shall be able to contend
+efficaciously with the routine and parrot-like repetitions which are
+rooted in the worship of authoritative doctrines and prejudices based
+on the sanctity of what is old.
+
+We have already sufficiently dealt with the superannuated prejudices
+and customs to be contended with in the sexual domain, and need not
+return to them. The whole of this category of causes of evil, a
+category which also plays a great part in all other domains of human
+life, can only, therefore, be contended with by true science combined
+with an integral and free education of the character of youth.
+
+I must once again insist on the necessity of a fight to a finish on
+this ground. It is necessary for this that scientists should from time
+to time emerge from their sanctums, and let their lights shine in the
+whirlpool of human society. They must take part in social conflicts
+and avoid losing touch with what is and always will be human.
+
+The following postulates relate to aberrations and dangers which are
+more partial or more local.
+
+=5. Pornography.=--In Chapters V, X and XVIII, I have spoken of
+pornography, and in Chapter XVII, of its great danger to the
+development of a normal sexual life in youth. Although pornography
+owes much of its origin and development to the greed for gain, it must
+not be forgotten that, on the other hand, masculine eroticism tends to
+promote its mercantile interests. It is the duty of society to oppose
+the pornographic products of morbid eroticism, without imposing the
+least constraint on true art. The sexual appetite of man is on the
+average rather strong; we may even say that it is much too strong,
+compared with the social necessities of procreation. It is, therefore,
+quite superfluous to artificially stimulate it. The struggle against
+pornography must, therefore, be raised to the rank of a postulate.
+
+We must not forget, however, that we shall contend with it much more
+successfully by fulfilling our first four postulates, and in raising
+the artistic ideal and feeling in man, than by direct measures of
+suppression. The latter should be limited to the most coarse and
+corrupt productions of pornography.
+
+=6. Politics and Sexual Life.=--I need only remind the reader of the
+encroachments of politics on sexual life, and especially of the abuse
+of sexual influence in the domain of politics. It is needless to point
+out the necessity of opposing all useless intermeddling of the State
+in the sexual life of individuals by the aid of unjustifiable
+regulations, as well as all intervention in the natural sexual
+requirements of man (in marriage, etc.), when no individual or social
+interest is injured. What is much more difficult, is to prevent the
+pressure of sexual sympathies and antipathies, and especially of
+amorous passions in politics.
+
+=7. Venereal Disease.=--There is need for a great combat with venereal
+disease and pathological corruptions of the sexual appetite. (Vide
+Chapters VIII, XIII and XIV.) Sexual criminals should be treated
+conjointly with the pathology of the sexual appetite, and in the same
+manner; for it is nearly always a question of anomalies of the human
+brain, which are impossible to improve or eliminate by punishment or
+other penal measures.
+
+For the present, medical and administrative measures of restriction,
+undertaken by society against dangerous and degenerate individuals in
+the sexual domain, are the only possible remedy. We should also
+endeavor in the future to prevent such individuals from breeding and
+suppress the causes of blastophthoria, by the aid of our second
+postulate.
+
+=8. The Conflict of Human Races.=--There remains a last postulate,
+extremely arduous and serious, which we have already mentioned. How is
+our Aryan race and its civilization to guard against the danger of
+being passively invaded and exterminated by the alarming fecundity of
+other human races? One must be blind not to recognize this danger. To
+estimate it at its proper value, it is not enough to put all "savages"
+and "barbarians" into one basket and all "civilized" into the other.
+The question is far more complicated than this. Many savage and
+semi-savage races become rapidly extinct on account of their
+comparative sterility. Europeans have introduced among them so much
+alcohol, venereal disease and other plagues, that they promptly perish
+from want of the power of resistance. This is the case with the
+Weddas, the Todas, the Redskins of North America, the Australian
+aboriginees, Malays and many others.
+
+The question presents itself in another aspect with regard to negroes,
+who are very resistant and extremely prolific, and everywhere adapt
+themselves to civilized customs. But those who believe that negroes
+are capable of _acquiring_ a higher civilization without undergoing a
+phylogenetic cerebral transformation for a hundred thousand years, are
+Utopians. I cannot here enter into the details of this question. It
+seems obvious to me, however, that in the already considerable time
+during which the American negroes have been under the influence of
+European culture, they ought to have often demonstrated their power of
+assimilating it and of developing it independently, according to their
+own genius, if their brains were capable of so doing. Instead of this,
+we find that negroes in the interior of the island of Haiti, formerly
+civilized by France, then abandoned to themselves, have, with the
+exception of a few mulattoes, reverted to the most complete barbarism,
+and have even barbarized the French language and Christianity, with
+which they had been endowed.
+
+Compare with this the rapidity with which a civilized or civilizable
+race, depending on its innate energy, assimilates our culture with or
+without Christianity! We need only look at what has happened in Japan
+during the last thirty years, and what the Christian races of the
+Balkan countries have been doing after delivery from the yoke of the
+Turks--for example, the Roumanians, Bulgarians and Greeks.
+
+It is by its fruits that we judge the value of the tree. The Japanese
+are a civilizable and civilized race, and must be treated as such. The
+negroes, on the contrary, are not so; that is to say, they are only by
+themselves capable of quite an inferior civilization, and only become
+adapted to our customs by a superficial veneer of civilization.
+
+Up to what point can the Mongolian, and even the Jewish race, become
+mixed with our Aryan or Indo-Germanic races, without gradually
+supplanting them and causing them to disappear? This is a question I
+am incapable of answering. If it were only a question of the Japanese
+there would be no serious difficulty and the assimilation would be
+beneficial. But the Chinese and some other Mongolian races constitute
+an imminent danger for the very existence of the white races. These
+people eat much less than ourselves, are contented with much smaller
+dwellings, and in spite of this produce twice as many children and do
+twice as much work. The connection of this with the sexual question is
+not difficult to understand.
+
+Possibly we might make a compact with the Mongols, and the Chinese in
+particular, which would allow both races to live on the earth without
+annihilating each other. I am quite convinced that we have more to
+fear from their blood and their work than from their arms. Some time
+ago experts in Far-Eastern questions predicted that the world would
+end by becoming Chinese.
+
+
+POSITIVE TASKS
+
+The elimination of the abuses and dangers, pointed out under the
+heading of negative tasks, would prepare the soil for a healthier and
+more ideal development of the sexual relations of humanity in the
+future. These require the prevention of blastophthoric deterioration
+of germ cells, as well as all pathological degeneration of sexual
+intercourse. They also require true and natural affection, free from
+the influences of prejudice and money, and capable of surviving
+amorous intoxication. Lastly, they require a natural human
+organization, adapted to the social welfare, the duties of parents
+toward their children, and the rights they have over them.
+
+=Human Selection.=--This is impossible to attain without recourse to
+artificial means, which have hitherto been generally condemned, or
+employed with an unhealthy and corrupt object. I refer to the
+distinction between satisfaction of the sexual appetite and the
+procreation of children.
+
+Although it is true that the two things are inseparably connected in
+plants and animals, it is equally true that the culture and social
+development of humanity all over the world have given rise to
+conditions and necessities other than those which formerly existed,
+conditions which at the present day are so clearly evident that they
+cannot be disregarded.
+
+The struggle for existence, as it obtains between the different animal
+species, hardly exists any longer in man. The latter has now to fight
+with microbes, and other infinitely small things of the same nature.
+The combat between man and man, in the form of international warfare,
+is approaching its end. The wars of the present day, as foolish as
+they are formidable, are rapidly becoming absurd. We may even hope
+that the supreme struggle which is impending between the Aryan and
+Mongolian races will end in peaceful agreement.
+
+Is it, therefore, rational to abandon the quantitative and qualitative
+regulation of the procreation of children to natural selection--that
+is to say to brutal chance, disease, famine or infanticide--at a time
+of human evolution when science contends with the greatest success
+against accident, disease, infant mortality and famine?
+
+Our strong sexual appetite is no longer in proportion to the
+exigencies of procreation, nor to the means of providing food for our
+descendants, nor to the right of the latter to better or even
+tolerable existence, for the simple reason that the weak, the diseased
+and the children are no longer eliminated as in former times among
+primitive races by infanticide, epidemics, wild-beasts, neglect or war
+(it is now the strong and courageous who are eliminated by the
+latter). But it is not in our power to modify our instinctive and
+hereditary sexual appetite, while we have always at hand the necessary
+means to regulate and improve procreation.
+
+No prejudice, no dogma, no repetition of old maxims, based on
+so-called immutable natural laws, can stand against such simple and
+elementary truths. We like to call "natural laws" what to our limited
+knowledge appears regular in nature. We formulate a law, and too often
+make an idol, instead of always making further examinations, in the
+light of new truths, to see if these so-called laws hold good. But the
+new truths are there, crying for recognition. The sheet-anchor is in
+our hands, in the form of measures to prevent or regulate conception.
+
+We must, therefore, have recourse to these measures, with prudence,
+employing them only at first where they are most necessary, and
+especially insisting on the procreation of numerous children wherever
+mental and moral strength is combined with bodily health. In this
+connection I am strongly opposed to the neo-Malthusians, who simply
+propose to diminish the number of births indiscriminately, as well as
+to the religious dogmas, especially Catholic, which, under the
+fallacious pretext of so-called divine inspiration, would hinder the
+progress of the social sciences.
+
+Human selection is the principle which should lead us to the object to
+be attained in the remote future. It is not by legal constraint, but
+by universal instruction, that we shall obtain general recognition and
+acceptance of this principle. We have proved in Chapter VI, with
+regard to sexual selection, that women are much more exclusive in
+their choice than men, and that among savages they prefer courage and
+bodily strength. At the present day, owing to change of customs,
+cultured and intelligent women are, on the contrary, much less
+attracted by man's physical strength than by his intellectual
+superiority or genius. This gives us a very important indication of
+the selection we desire, and confirms the necessity of instructing
+women in sexual matters. I foresee that the enlightened and
+intelligent women are those who will support human selection with the
+greatest energy and success.
+
+I repeat here that it is not our object to create a new human race of
+superior beings, but simply to cause gradual elimination of the unfit,
+by suppressing the causes of blastophthoria, and sterilizing those who
+have hereditary taints by means of a voluntary act; at the same time
+urging healthier, happier and more social men to multiply more and
+more.
+
+A profound study of blastophthoria and all the phenomena of the mneme
+and normal heredity leaves no doubt on the possibility of attaining
+this object. Is not the quality of dogs improved by breeding from the
+good and eliminating the bad? Are not certain families distinguished
+in their character, work and intelligence, because for many
+generations their ancestors have preserved these qualities and
+maintained the family type by means of careful marriages? On the other
+hand, are not cowardice, falseness and meanness, etc., reproduced with
+quite as much certainty in other families? I refer the reader to the
+description given by Joerger of the disastrous effects of alcoholic
+blastophthoria and bad heredity produced during nearly two centuries
+in the numerous members of a family of vagabonds (vide Chapter XI).
+
+One must be blinded by religious prejudice to deny such striking
+truths. No doubt, our pathological degenerations and our
+cross-breeding are so infinitely complex that at any time atavism may
+produce ecphoria of better children derived from bad parents, and that
+of inferior children derived from better parents. We have seen in the
+first chapter the complex relations which exist between these
+phenomena. We must not allow ourselves to be deceived by the
+appearances of certain particular cases.
+
+What then are the types of men which we should endeavor to produce?
+
+=Types to Eliminate.=--First of all we must understand that negative
+action is much easier than positive. It is more easy to mention the
+types which should not be allowed to multiply than those which should.
+These are, in the first place, all criminals, lunatics, and imbeciles,
+and all individuals who are irresponsible, mischievous, quarrelsome or
+amoral. These are the persons who do the most harm in society, and
+introduce into it the most harmful taints. It is the same with
+alcoholics, opium-eaters, etc., who, although often capable in other
+respects, are dangerous by their blastophthoric influence. Here the
+only remedy consists in the suppression of the use of narcotics, for
+it is no use eliminating a few narcotized individuals as long as a
+greater number is always being produced.
+
+Persons predisposed to tuberculosis by heredity, chronic invalids, the
+subjects of rickets, hemophilia, and other persons incapable of
+procreating a healthy race owing to inherited diseases or bad
+constitution, form a second category of individuals who ought to avoid
+propagation, or do so as little as possible.
+
+=Types to Perpetuate.=--On the other hand, men who are useful from the
+social point of view--those who take a pleasure in work and those who
+are good tempered, peaceful and amiable should be induced to multiply.
+If they are endowed with clear intelligence and an active mind, or
+with an intellectual or artistic creative imagination, they constitute
+excellent subjects for reproduction. In such cases certain taints
+which are not too pronounced may be passed over.
+
+True will-power, _i.e._, perseverance in the accomplishment of
+rational resolutions, and not the tyrannical and obstinate spirit of
+domination, is also one of the most desirable qualities which ought to
+be reproduced. Will-power must not be confounded with impulsiveness,
+which is rather the antinomy of it, but often deceives superficial
+observers, and makes them believe in the existence of a strong will,
+because of the violent manner in which it tries to realize momentary
+impulsive resolutions.
+
+=Human Social Value.=--We have seen that, owing to traditional
+routine, the intellectual merit of a young man is unfortunately judged
+by the results of examinations. To succeed in these, a good memory and
+strong mental receptivity are all that is necessary. It follows from
+this that nonentities often attain the highest social positions, while
+originality, creative power, perseverance, honesty, responsibility and
+duty take a back place. I refer the reader to what I have said on the
+estimation of human value, especially in the Landerziehungsheime
+(Chapter XVI). They should be estimated according to their utility in
+practical social life, where the qualities of will and creative
+imagination play a more considerable part than memory and rapidity in
+assimilating the ideas of others.
+
+But we have seen that the standard of ordinary examinations is false,
+even as regards pure intelligence. Critical judgment and imaginative
+power of combination have a much greater intellectual value than
+memory or the power of assimilation. It is, therefore, not to be
+wondered at that the boy who is at the top of his class so often turns
+out a failure, while the dunce who failed in his examinations
+sometimes becomes a genius or at any rate a very useful and capable
+man. From such facts, which are extremely common, it is falsely
+concluded, by a kind of fatalism, that "one never knows what will
+become of a man, for personalities change so much." This false
+conclusion is simply due to the erroneous criterion which is used in
+the evaluation of childhood, combined with the disgust inspired in
+strong and original minds by our schools.
+
+Diseases and other accidents may sometimes hinder the development of
+good dispositions, or even cause them to abort completely.
+Nevertheless, we shall rarely make false prophecies if we begin by
+avoiding the gross errors that we have pointed out in the mental
+evaluation of youth. It is also necessary to institute extensive
+psychological observations on the development of individuals, and in
+the value of their work at adult age compared with their peculiarities
+observed in childhood. I am certain that in this way the social value
+of a young man, or even a child, and in general all members of human
+society, could be calculated in advance in a more exact way.
+
+=Domestic Animals and Plants.=--The weak constitution of the domestic
+varieties of plants and animals has been used as an argument against
+human selection. If the animal and vegetable varieties which we raise
+by artificial selection have not enough strength when left to
+themselves, this is due to the fact that in creating them we have not
+consulted their interests in the struggle for existence, but only our
+own. For example, we raise for our own use fat pigs which can scarcely
+walk, pear trees with succulent fruit which has very few seeds, etc.
+It is obvious that these monstrosities cannot be expected to maintain
+themselves in the struggle for existence. Human selection, on the
+contrary, is only concerned with what is advantageous for man,
+individually as well as socially. It is, therefore, not a question of
+a Utopian hypothesis, but of facts, the daily consequences of which we
+can observe in society, if we only look at them without prejudice.
+
+=Calculation of Averages.=--Francis Galton has studied this question
+by the aid of the law of variations and by the calculation of
+probabilities. This law only deals with so-called fortuitous elements,
+due to thousands of minute causes which act to a great extent against
+each other and become mutually compensated in their general effect, so
+that the two extremes are always represented by small numbers and the
+average by large numbers. But, when certain special and greater forces
+come into play, the general resultant is deviated in one direction or
+the other.
+
+Galton shows that this law applies to social relations and mental
+values as well as to the stature of the body. In a given society there
+are always some individuals who are very good, some very bad, and many
+mediocrities. When a powerful general factor, such as alcohol or
+corruption by money, lowers all the individual values, the total value
+of the whole scale of capacities is lowered. Galton shows that the
+average values can be appreciably raised by inducing the class of
+higher values to reproduce themselves, and by preventing the lower
+values from doing so.
+
+Prof. Jules Amann has shown how the immigration of the Huguenots into
+Switzerland and Germany after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes by
+Louis XIV (1685) contributed to raise the mental level in these
+countries and continues to do so at the present day.
+
+=Visions of the Past and Future.=--It is always sad to see capable,
+hard-working men and women, very useful from the social point of view,
+remaining sterile, simply on account of our social or religious
+prejudices; whereas, for the benefit of the community, they ought to
+marry as young as possible and procreate numerous children.
+
+I have already said (the idea is found in Andre Couvreur's _La
+Graine_) that, if the sterility of one of the conjoints in marriage
+unfortunately leads to sterility in the other conjoint, the law, to
+make good the loss, should allow bigamy or concubinage in favor of the
+second, when the latter is very capable. I cannot dwell too strongly
+on the necessity of compensating for the sterilization which is so
+necessary with ill-formed or incapable beings, as well as for the
+period of rest which is due to women between their confinements, by an
+energetic multiplication of all useful and capable individuals.
+
+In the same way, it is a real pity to see so many healthy, active and
+intelligent girls become old maids, simply because they have no money
+and do not wish to throw themselves at the first scamp who comes. It
+would be far better to allow a little free polygamy, with complete
+equality of the two sexes and certain legal precautions, than to lose
+so much good seed and grow so many weeds. I refer the reader to what I
+have said on the duties of parents toward their children, and on the
+duties of society toward the procreators of healthy children. (Chapter
+XIII.)
+
+It would certainly take a century to obtain any appreciable
+improvement in the quality of a race by this procedure, even if it
+were carried out in a methodical and general way. At the end of a few
+centuries our descendants might recognize the happiness that they owe
+to our efforts. They would also no doubt be astonished at being
+descended from such a race of barbarians, and at having so many
+drunkards, criminals and imbeciles among their ancestors. The mingling
+of mysticism in sexual life, which now exists under the name of
+religion, would appear to them almost the same as idolatry and the
+practice of "magicians" among savage races appears to us.
+
+As to the effects of alcoholic drinks and prostitution, these would
+give them almost the same impression as the instruments of torture of
+the Middle Ages which we see exhibited in museums, or the horrors of
+the Inquisition, or burning at the stake for witchcraft.
+
+Many of my readers will no doubt regard my comparisons as exaggerated
+or fanatical, because, imbued as we are with contemporary thought, we
+cannot, without a great effort of imagination and having at our
+disposal much experience and many objects of comparison, identify
+ourselves with the thought of the past or that of the future. I
+recommend persons who cannot appreciate this fact to read the "Key to
+Uncle Tom's Cabin," by Harriet Beecher-Stowe (not the novel itself).
+This book contains numerous documents relating to the time of negro
+slavery before the American war of secession. When they read what
+happened at that time, for example, advertisements in the public
+journals of dogs trained to track escaped slaves, they will perhaps
+agree with me. Pious pastors then gave their support to slavery, as
+they often do now to alcohol. What now appears to us as monstrous
+seemed then quite natural.
+
+=Reform in Education.=--After human selection, I consider pedagogic
+reform in the sexual and other domains as the most important of
+positive reforms. (Vide Chapters XVII and XIII.) Although good quality
+in the germ is one of the fundamental conditions for man's happiness,
+it is not sufficient. Just as we can obtain by education comparatively
+useful individuals from comparatively defective germs, so can we more
+easily damage phylogenetically good germs, by evil influences during
+their ontogeny.
+
+Society should devote all its care to the good general education of
+the body and mind of children. It should do everything possible to
+develop harmoniously the intelligence, sentiments, will, character,
+altruism and aesthetics, after the manner of the Landerziehungsheime,
+which we have described in Chapter XVII. Every good hereditary type
+should be given the opportunity for free expansion, by means of
+rational education and work.
+
+With regard to individuals who are defective by heredity, their better
+dispositions might be developed up to a certain point and made to
+antagonize the bad dispositions, so that the latter should not
+predominate in the brain. (Vide Chapter XVII.)
+
+In spite of the great importance of rational pedagogy, we must not
+forget that it is incapable of replacing selection. It serves for the
+immediate object, which is to utilize in the best possible way human
+material as it exists at present; but by itself it cannot in any way
+improve the quality of the future germ. It can, however, by
+instructing youth on the social value of selection, prepare it to put
+the latter in action.
+
+
+UTOPIAN IDEAS ON THE IDEAL MARRIAGE OF THE FUTURE
+
+The outward life of man is largely influenced by events of the moment;
+but his inner life is determined by memories of the past combined with
+heredity, and thus gives rise to efforts toward the future. The past
+should never be allowed to dominate the present or the future, but
+should combine past experience with new impressions, and constitute a
+prolific source of ideas and resolutions.
+
+The marriage of the future pre-supposes people to be completely
+instructed from their childhood in natural sexual intercourse and its
+eventual dangers. It pre-supposes man brought up without alcohol or
+other narcotics, possessing the right to utilize the produce of his
+work for life and the maintenance of his own person, but not that of
+capitalizing for himself or his children, nor of making legacies to
+others, _i.e._, of founding by the aid of money a power for the
+exploitation of others. Everyone will know from his childhood that
+work is a necessary condition for the existence of all.
+
+Brought up in common with absolutely equal rights, girls and boys will
+be aware of the differences in their life tasks, such as differences
+of sex and individuality indicate them. Till the age of sixteen, or
+perhaps longer, they will have been instructed in the schools by
+simultaneous development of intelligence, bodily and technical
+exercises, aesthetics, moral and social sentiments and will. Without
+frightening them with the specter of eternal punishment, and without
+alluring them by the promise of paradise after death, they will have
+been taught that the object of our transient individual existence is
+continual effort to attain a pure human ideal. They will have learnt
+to find the truest satisfaction in the accomplishment of their
+different duties, and in work in common for the benefit of society.
+They will also have learnt to despise frivolity and luxury, to attach
+no importance to personal property and to put all their ambition into
+the quantity and quality of their work.
+
+The sexual appetite will manifest itself in different individuals at
+different ages. Trained from childhood not to yield to every desire,
+but to subordinate their appetites to the welfare of the community,
+they will not yield immediately. Moreover, they will know the
+signification of this appetite. They will also know that their
+patience will not be tried too long, and that they may speak openly on
+sexual subjects to their masters and parents and even to their
+companions of the opposite sex.
+
+What will be the consequences of such a state of things? Attachments
+will be formed early. But, instead of making all kinds of calculations
+concerning money, social position, etc.; instead of concealing their
+thoughts in the form of conventional politeness; instead of avoiding
+an honest explanation of the knotty point, or, at the most passing
+over this explanation like a cat on hot cinders; instead of trying to
+dazzle by their charms the one they wish to capture, the lovers of the
+future will be much more frank because they will have less reason to
+dissimulate. They will exchange plans for the future, and will
+mutually test each other's constancy and loyalty without fear of
+scandal and slander.
+
+The two sexes will be able to enter into free relations with each
+other, first of all because they will both be instructed in sexual
+life, and secondly, because manners and customs will be more free.
+Without actual sexual intercourse, two lovers will thus be able to see
+whether their temperaments are well adapted to each other.
+
+Then, thanks to its liberty, the period of betrothal will allow a free
+interchange of ideas on life between the parties concerned, so that
+they will soon find out whether they are likely or not to live
+harmoniously in conjugal union. Questions of heredity, procreation and
+education will be dealt with calmly and freely. This will be certainly
+more moral than the present conversations between betrothed couples,
+"well-brought up," who, apart from certain conventional degrees of
+flirtation, hardly dare mention anything but commonplaces.
+
+A young man of talent, who wishes to continue his studies, will not be
+prevented from marrying. He may, for example, marry at twenty-four a
+young girl of eighteen and continue his studies till he is twenty-six.
+The inconvenience will be slight, for the habits of life will be
+simpler, and he can easily, by anticonceptional measures, avoid having
+children for a year or two.
+
+What will marriage be like? First of all, all useless luxury and
+conventional formality will be reduced to a minimum. The husband and
+wife will both work, either together, or each on their own account,
+according to circumstances. Part of the work will naturally be devoted
+to the children. As at present, the husband will be able to
+participate in the personal education of the children, if he is more
+disposed than the wife.
+
+Equality in the rights of the two sexes and matriarchy (vide Chapter
+XIII) will not render conjugal relations less intimate, but will, on
+the contrary, deepen their roots by raising their moral value. There
+will be less time to shine in society; dinner-parties and society
+functions of all kinds will be unknown; these things are for the idle
+rich, who have time to kill and money to spend. If a friend comes, and
+there is time to receive him and something for him to eat, he will be
+invited to take "potluck" with his family.
+
+Clothes will be simple, comfortable and hygienic. Dwellings will be
+artistic, aesthetic and scrupulously clean. Pomp and luxury are not
+art, and are sometimes so overdone that they wound the most elementary
+sense of aesthetics.
+
+If the occupation of the married couple or the number of their
+children render domestic servants necessary, the latter will not have
+the same position in the family as our present servants. Their
+education and social position being the same as those of the members
+of the family, they will take the position of companions rather than
+servants. No domestic work will be considered as degrading.
+
+If the marriage is sterile, the conjoints will adopt orphans or
+children from other large families. In certain cases, of which we have
+spoken, concubinage may be preferred which, with such a change in
+social organization, will amount to bigamy; but here everything will
+be done openly and by mutual agreement. In such cases any one who
+cannot overcome jealousy will be divorced.
+
+If, in spite of everything, a marriage is not happy, owing to
+incompatibility of character, the marriage (or sexual contract) will
+be dissolved, after legal provision for the children and their
+education. After this each of the conjoints will be free to marry
+again. This last contingency will probably not be more frequent than
+it is as present, possibly less, especially when there are children,
+for divorce is always painful when there are children to be brought
+up.
+
+Work, and the effort of striving toward the ideal of social life, are
+the best and most healthy distractions for the sexual appetite. It is
+the idleness, luxury and corruption of large cities which cause it to
+degenerate. Moreover, work revives love and leaves little time for
+family disputes.
+
+With a little independence of character, and abandonment of old
+prejudices, we can even now realize our scheme to a great extent.
+
+=The Art of Loving Long.=--The ideal true love often only shows itself
+after the first amorous intoxication has subsided. In order to remain
+harmonious, love requires above all things the higher psychic
+irradiation of intimate sympathetic sentiments associated with the
+sexual appetite, with which they should always remain intimately
+connected, or at any rate as long as the duration of the active sexual
+life of man. Later on, in the evening of life, the first are
+sufficient.
+
+The great error into which most men fall who marry is to rely on the
+civil and religious bonds of matrimony. As soon as the union is
+sealed, they return to their usual habits and mode of life. Each
+expects much from the other and gives as little as possible. When
+amorous sexual intoxication is over, the husband no longer finds any
+charm in his wife, he becomes enamored of other women to whom he
+devotes his attention, reserving his bad temper for his wife, while
+the latter takes no more trouble to please him.
+
+I agree that a man cannot for long conceal his true nature; we are
+what we are by heredity. Nevertheless, the art of being amiable may be
+acquired by habit and education, an art which the poorest may employ.
+Education should never cease during life. Along with the higher
+sentiments of love and mutual respect, lasting sexual attraction is a
+link of inestimable value in maintaining a long and happy union
+between man and woman in marriage.
+
+The married couple should, therefore, avoid everything which may
+rupture this link. The wife should devote herself to making the home
+attractive to her husband. The latter, on his part, should neither
+regard his wife as a mere housekeeper, nor only as an object for the
+satisfaction of his sexual appetite. Such a conception of woman and
+marriage is unfortunately very common and is incompatible with true
+conjugal happiness.
+
+On the other hand, it is not enough for the husband to esteem and
+respect his wife as a faithful companion, to whom he is united in a
+purely intellectual way. For the couple to find lasting and complete
+happiness in marriage, love, however ideal it may be, should be
+accompanied by sexual enjoyment. In short, intellectual and
+sentimental harmony should be combined with sensual harmony in a
+single and sublime symphony. The husband should not only regard his
+wife as the incarnation of all the domestic virtues, but should also
+continue to imagine her as the Venus of his early love.
+
+This condition may be realized even when youth has passed away,
+provided the deep sympathetic sentiments of an ideal love have truly
+existed and are maintained. The wife will then continue to be for her
+husband the goddess she has always been. But if this condition is not
+realized it is not always easy for the husband, with his polygamous
+disposition, to remain insensible to the charms of other women.
+However, habit and imagination may do much to correct this tendency.
+
+I think the following advice may be useful to the husband (and
+occasionally also to the wife). When his sexual passion is excited by
+another woman and he is in danger of succumbing, he should endeavor,
+by the aid of his imagination, to clothe his own wife with the charms
+of his would-be seducer. With a little determination this measure will
+often succeed; he will thus strengthen his sexual desire toward his
+own wife, and perhaps increase hers also. In this way, a flame which
+threatened to destroy conjugal happiness may sometimes serve to
+strengthen it, by reviving afresh the mutual feelings of love and
+desire. In the first part of his "Wahlverwandtschaften" (elective
+affinities), Goethe designates this phenomenon by the term _mental
+adultery_; but I am of the opinion that it is rather the expression of
+a _mental conjugal fidelity_ which is strengthened by sensual
+substitution.
+
+When there is true love and good-will on both sides, such experiences
+may often help toward the gradual consolidation of conjugal relations.
+Not only may a deviated passion be brought back to the conjugal bed,
+but certain discords may be restored to harmony, and the couple may
+find new desire and mutual affection which have been put to the test.
+
+=Matriarchism.=--With regard to family relations there is an important
+point to consider, which we have already touched upon in Chapter XIII.
+The power of man and of patriarchism has had the result of giving the
+father's name to the family. This system is not only unnatural, but
+also has deplorable effects. If it is true that the germ of the
+individual (_Chromosomes_, Chapter I) inherits on the average as much
+from the father as from the mother, the latter is more closely
+connected with it from all other points of view. Races in which the
+maternal influence predominates in the family, not only in name but
+also in other respects, have better understood the voice of nature.
+
+The fact that the mother carries the child for nine months in her
+womb, and for many years after birth is more intimately associated
+with it than the father, gives her a natural right which the father
+cannot claim. Children ought, therefore, to be named after the mother.
+Moreover, in case of divorce, it should be the rule for children to be
+restored to the mother, unless there are special reasons for another
+decision.
+
+It is evident that in the conditions of modern civilization we cannot
+return to matriarchism in its primitive sense. An old patriarch cannot
+become the sole sovereign of all his descendants without the
+occurrence of grave abuses, no more can this power devolve on a
+grandmother. Apart from denomination in the maternal line, I mean by
+matriarchism, the legal privilege of the management of the family
+conferred on the wife, who is in reality the center of the family.
+
+I will sum up what appears to me to be required, in the following
+propositions:
+
+1. Denomination in the maternal line.
+
+2. With the exception of cases in which the wife loses her maternal
+rights owing to incapacity, bad conduct or insanity, etc., or when the
+law is obliged to deprive her of them, she alone will possess the
+guardianship and the management of her children during their minority.
+
+3. The wife will be proprietor and housekeeper of the house and
+household. Her work of housekeeping and her maternal duties will be
+estimated at their just value, and will have the right to
+compensation, equivalent to the husband's work in his business.
+
+4. As long as conjugal union exists, the husband has the right to live
+in his wife's house, for the protection he gives to the family, for
+the work he gives toward the house and the education of the children,
+as well as for his pecuniary contributions toward the expenses of
+both.
+
+5. With the exception of contributions to the house and education, and
+to the feeding and clothing of the children, the product of the
+husband's work and private fortune belong to him, just as the product
+and fortune of his wife are her own property. In the case of divorce
+there will then be no difficulty in separating the two properties.
+Excepting in cases mentioned in the second proposition, which will be
+decided by law, the children will belong to the mother only. But as
+long as he lives and is able to work, the divorced father must
+continue to contribute to the maintenance and education of the
+children he has procreated, till they come of age.
+
+These propositions have only a legal value, and will only be required
+when the conjoints cannot come to a mutual understanding. They in no
+way concern those who are able to live together in mutual concord. A
+weak and passive woman will continue as before to subordinate herself
+to the advice and opinions of a husband stronger and wiser than
+herself.
+
+It is needless to say that, after divorce or separation, things will
+not always go smoothly, although more so than at present. The husband
+will always have the right to have certain claims decided by law. When
+the law is not exclusively in the hands of men, it will be more
+capable of protecting the rights of women. Cases in which a mother is
+incapable of bringing up her own children, or where the father is
+capable of great devotion and sacrifice are not now so rare, but they
+are nevertheless exceptional.
+
+=The Present Day.=--It is not to be expected that the above
+propositions will find much support at the present day among the
+majority of people, still less that they will soon be realized by the
+governing bodies, considering their conservative and idle tendencies
+and their inertia. It may be asked, on the other hand, whether the
+present laws do not already provide us with the ways and means of
+attaining the ideal that we propose. I already see two:
+
+First of all, as pointed out in Chapter XIII, we may enter into
+contracts which make the properties entirely separate, and according
+to the local legislation in force, fulfill other of the above
+propositions. For instance, in some countries, the wife can preserve
+by contract the property and management of the house, etc.
+
+In the second place, illegitimate children now bear the family name
+of their mother; this is exactly what we desire. When concubinage is
+not prosecuted and punished by law, a free marriage could be arranged
+by private contract which would fulfill the above conditions. Some
+persons, I admit, would require much courage to do this, for it is not
+every one who can brave public opinion when he has a good reputation
+to lose. Moreover, such unions would not enjoy the protection of the
+State. By a little perseverance, however, the public might be induced
+to call the woman "Mrs." instead of "Miss."
+
+It is not impossible for unions of this kind between honorable persons
+to become more frequent, and gradually compel society to recognize
+free unions as the equivalent of traditional, or so-called legal,
+marriage, to accord them the same rights and recognize the children
+born of them. The conjoints could be named by combining both family
+names; for example, if Miss Martin enters into a free union with Mr.
+Durand, she might be called Mrs. Martin-Durand, and her husband Mr.
+Durand-Martin.
+
+=Conclusion.=--It may perhaps be thought that I am imagining the
+existence of the purest ideal and the happiness of paradise in a world
+in which the hereditary quality of men will be no better than it is
+to-day. I hope that no reader who has followed me carefully will
+regard me as so ingenuous. Then as now there will be intrigues and
+disputes, hatred, envy, jealousy, idleness, impropriety, falsehood,
+negligence, temper, etc., but their power will be less. There will be
+less excuse for these bad qualities and those who possess them will be
+regarded as pathological individuals who should be eliminated as much
+as possible by means of proper selection, combined with good hygiene
+and thorough education.
+
+On the other hand, men of originality and high ideals will be able to
+develop much more freely and naturally than at present. They will no
+longer be the slaves of power, money, prejudice and routine. They will
+not be obliged to conform to religious hypocrisy, but will be able to
+speak and act according to their convictions. Marriage, and sexual
+relations in general, will no longer be a perpetual conventional
+falsehood. The sentiments no longer fettered, will not be led astray
+into mischievous ways by artificial excitement, so long as they do
+not depend on unhealthy dispositions, for the pretexts and especially
+the pecuniary inducement to commit evil actions and contract bad
+habits will have been removed as far as possible.
+
+For the same reason prostitution will become almost impossible, for it
+will cease to have any reason for existence. Immoderate sexual
+intercourse, like other excesses, will not cease to exist, but will be
+kept in certain limits by the work which no one will be able to
+escape.
+
+At the end of his history of materialism (1874) F.A. Lange wrote as
+follows:
+
+"We lay down our pen and terminate our criticism at a time when Europe
+is agitated by the social question. In the vast social domain, all the
+revolutionary elements of science, religion and politics meet together
+and seem prepared for a decisive battle. Whether this battle remains a
+simple contest of minds or whether it takes the form of a cataclysm
+which will bury thousands of unfortunates in the ruins of a
+disappearing period, one thing is certain:--the new epoch will only
+succeed by abolishing egoism, and placing the work of improvement of
+the human race in the hands of a human cooperative society, in place
+of our feverish work which has only personal interest at heart.
+
+"The contests which are impending will be mitigated if the minds which
+are to direct the people are imbued with the knowledge of human
+evolution and historical phenomena.
+
+"We must not abandon the hope that in the remote future great changes
+may take place without defiling humanity with fire and bloodshed. It
+would certainly be the finest reward for strenuous work of the human
+mind, if it could from this time prepare an easy way to that which a
+certain future reserves for us, avoiding atrocious sacrifices and
+saving the treasures of our civilization to be transmitted to the new
+epoch.
+
+"Unfortunately, this prospect has little chance of realization, and we
+cannot disguise the fact that blind party passion goes on increasing,
+and that the brutal struggle of interests becomes more and more
+removed from the influence of theoretical research. However, our
+efforts will not all be in vain, and truth will prevail in the end.
+In any case the observer who thinks has no right to be silent, simply
+because at the present moment he has only a small number of
+listeners."
+
+Thirty years ago Lange's pessimism would be comprehensible; but ideas
+have progressed since then, and the prospects of to-day give us more
+courage for social work.
+
+The Utopian ideas which I have expressed have in no way the pretension
+to be new. Analyzing the facts in the most diverse domains, I have
+simply attempted to find those which seem to me suited to solve the
+sexual problem of the human race most advantageously under the present
+social conditions. Every one to-day admits that our sexual life leaves
+much to be desired, but is afraid of touching the crumbling edifice.
+
+I leave it to my readers to decide whether my ideas are nothing more
+than Utopian, or whether they do not rather represent a realizable
+ideal, begging them to reflect as calmly and independently as possible
+before giving their judgment.
+
+After all, we have to choose between pessimistic acceptance of the
+fatal decay of our race for the benefit of the Mongols, and an
+immediate and energetic effort toward selective and educational
+improvement, an effort which will alone be capable of reviving our
+hereditary vital energy. Whoever decides in favor of the latter
+alternative should occupy himself with the sexual question, and boldly
+declare war against the domination of private capital, the abuse of
+alcohol, and all the prejudices by which we are hampered. He should
+abandon the luxury and effeminate comfort of our time and return to
+the principles of Lycurgus and the Japanese--to the education of
+character and self-control by methodical training in continuous social
+work combined with voluntary fatigue and privation.
+
+
+
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REMARKS
+
+
+I shall no doubt be reproached for not having taken sufficient notice
+of other works on the subject of this book. I have, however, desired
+to express my own opinion without allowing myself to be unduly
+influenced by others. I will nevertheless make a few remarks on the
+bibliography of this subject.
+
+I may mention the celebrated work of the Italian physician,
+Mantigazza, on the _Physiology of Love_. It is a curious fact that
+this author, after his poetic descriptions of love, is in favor of
+prostitution. The German socialist, Bebel, has written a very
+remarkable book on woman in the past, the present and the future. In
+spite of scientific errors, which are easily excused in a self-made
+man who became one of the leaders of the German Reichstag, this book
+remains a veritable social monument on the sexual question. With the
+exception of his strong political bias, and the errors I have just
+mentioned I am, on the whole, in accord with the ideas of Bebel.
+
+Another German author, Boelsche, (_Das Liebesleben in der Natur_) has
+recently described love among all organized beings, including man,
+with a tone of forced pleasantry which spoils the profound knowledge
+of the author on the zoological and other subjects which he treats.
+
+With regard to German literature, I recommend the _Archiv fuer Rassen
+und Gesellschafts' Biologie_, edited by Doctor Plotz of Berlin. This
+publication has for its object the study of the causes of degeneration
+in our race and the remedies for it. Among other articles which have
+appeared in this publication I may specially mention those of
+Shallmayer on _Heredity and Selection in the Life of Races_, and
+Thurnwald, _Town and Country in the Life of the Race_. I may also
+mention Plotz: _Die Tuechtigkeit unserer Rasse und der Schutz der
+Schwachen_, 1895, and _Mutterschutz_, a journal for the reform of
+sexual ethics, 1905.
+
+France has always shone in the domain of the poetry of love and the
+art connected with it. Apart from the ancient classics I may refer to
+George Sand, Alfred de Musset, Lamartine, and Madame de Stael. In the
+practical conception of free love, George Sand was in advance of her
+time. Among modern authors there are Paul Bourget; Andre Couvreur, who
+in _La Graine_ deals with the problem of human selection; Brieux, who
+in _Les Avaries_, attacks the social tragedies of venereal disease.
+The book of Vacher de Lapouge on social selection is full of
+interesting ideas, although too much influenced by the unstable
+hypothesis of Gobineau. To make distinct zoological species of
+dolichocephalics and brachycephalics, as Vacher de Lapouge attempts,
+is a grave error in zoology. Charles Albert: _L'Amour Libre_, and
+Queyrat: _La Demoralization de l'idee sexuelle_, give the note of
+contemporary change in ideas on the sexual question.
+
+In _Le Mariage et les Theories Malthusiennes_ (Paris, 1906) Dr.
+Georges Guibert recommends early marriage, but does not take account
+of human selection. Remy de Gourmont, _Physique de l'amour; Essai sur
+l'instinct sexuel_, Paris, 1903, describes, very pessimistically, love
+in the animal kingdom. Jeanne Deflou (_Le Sexualisme_, Paris, 1905)
+has written a virulent feminine complaint against the injustice of the
+stronger sex.
+
+But the French author who has given the most profound, the truest
+descriptions of the psychology of love and the sexual appetite is
+undoubtedly Guy de Maupassant. No doubt his last illness caused him to
+produce certain more or less regrettable works in which certain
+pornographic traits appeared. He may, perhaps, be accused of having
+too often described the pathology of love, which, by the way, he
+admirably understood. Perhaps also, he has too often dealt with
+exceptional situations and irresponsible passions. But these are only
+details, and we must admit that by drawing attention to the unhealthy
+features of our modern sexual life, he compels the reader to reflect,
+and inspires him not only with disgust for evil but with profound
+sadness and a feeling of revulsion. He often reveals his predilection
+for the refined, hypersensitive love of the boudoir which we have
+regarded here as a symptom of social degeneration. But this does not
+prevent his clear insight into the love of the proletariat, the
+peasant or the healthy man. He knows man as well as woman, and if he
+has presented them most often under their least moral aspect it is
+because he has observed them closely. But occasionally he rises to the
+greatest heights of the truest, purest and most profound love.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+Abolitionism, 316
+
+Abortion, artificial, 408, 440
+
+Abstinence, sexual, 114
+
+Accouchement, 60
+
+Adornment, 156
+
+Adultery, 373, 412
+
+Alcohol, effect on embryo, 37, 268, 462
+  effect on sexual appetite, 88, 100, 266, 332, 503
+
+Altruism and Egoism, 448
+
+Amorous Intoxication, 277, 288
+
+Americanism, 331
+
+Anaesthesia, sexual, 222
+
+Anthropoid apes, 145, 195
+
+Anticonceptional measures, 423, 497
+
+Antipathy, 108
+
+_Antony and Cleopatra_, 289
+
+Ants, 194, 359
+
+Art, moral effect of, 496
+  in sexual life, 489
+  of loving long, 520
+  and pornography, 491
+
+Aspermia, 209
+
+Assaults on minors, 403
+
+Atavism, 29
+
+Attraction, methods of, 156
+
+Audacity, masculine, 115
+
+
+Bachelors, old, 127
+
+Bartholin's glands, 57
+
+Beauty, 162
+
+_Becket_, 352
+
+Bees, 194
+
+_Bernheim_, 277
+
+Bestiality, 255
+
+_Bezzola_, 268
+
+Birth, 23
+
+Blastophthoria, 36, 268
+
+Braggardism, sexual, 120
+
+Brain, weight of, 66, 190
+
+_Brieux_, 407, 438
+
+Brothels, 303
+  clandestine, 307
+  high class, 310
+
+Budding, 9
+
+Bullies, 303
+
+Butterflies, 74
+
+
+_Caelius Aurelianus_, 399
+
+_Caligula_, 353
+
+Castration, 25
+
+_Catherine de Medici_, 353
+
+Catholicism, Roman, 341
+
+Cell division, 6
+
+Celibacy, 153
+
+Children and marriage, 377
+  civil rights of, 378
+  education of, 471
+  protection of, 487
+
+_Chiniqui_, 342
+
+_Chauvin, de_, 36
+
+Civil law, 368
+
+Civil marriage, 370
+
+Climate and sexual life, 327
+
+Clitoris, 55
+
+Coeducation, 481
+
+Coitus, 56
+
+Commandments, 454
+
+Conception, regulation of, 423
+
+Concubinage, 322, 406
+
+Confession, Roman Catholic, 342
+
+Conjugation, 11
+
+Consanguinity, 47
+
+Constellations, 110
+
+Continence, 81, 220, 422
+
+Coquetry, 139
+
+Corpus cavernosum, 53
+  luteum, 19
+
+_Correggio_, 355
+
+Correlative sexual characters, 25, 64
+
+Council of Trent, 172
+
+Cunnilingus, 230, 275
+
+
+_Darwin_, 32, 34, 39, 480
+
+_Debreyne_, 345
+
+Decidua, 19
+
+_Demosthenes_, 187
+
+Divorce, 373
+
+Domestic animals and plants, 514
+
+_Dubois_, 46
+
+Duty, 106
+
+
+Ecphoria, 15
+
+Ecstasy, 143
+  ecstasy and religion, 356
+
+Education, 470, 516
+
+Egoism, 361
+  dual, 113
+
+Egoistic love, 125
+
+Embryo, formation of, 9
+  rights of, 411
+
+Embryology, 19
+
+Endogamy, 164
+
+Engram, 15
+
+Environment and sexual life, 326
+
+Epididymis, 52
+
+Epispadias, 210
+
+Erection, 53
+
+Eroticism, 121, 485
+  and religion, 354
+
+Erotomania, 258
+
+Ethnology of sexual life, 144
+
+Eunuchs, 25, 347
+
+Evolution, 39
+  sexual, 192
+
+Exhibitionism, 241, 405
+
+Exogamy, 164
+
+Expiation, 364
+
+
+Factory life, 326
+
+Fakirs, 239
+
+Fertilization of eggs, 12
+
+Fetichism, 142, 240
+
+_Fischer_, 36
+
+Flirtation, 99
+
+Free love, 384
+
+Free will, 365
+
+
+Genital organs, female, 55
+  organs, male, 52
+
+Germinal cells, 10
+
+_Goethe_, 73, 131
+
+Gonorrhea, 212
+
+Grisettes, 98, 322
+
+Guardianship, 384
+
+_Guillaume_, 399
+
+
+_Haeckel_, 10, 34, 40
+
+"Hand-fasting," 150
+
+Heredity, 14, 28
+  of acquired characters, 34
+
+_Hering_, 14, 35
+
+Hermaphrodites, 10
+
+_Hertwig_, 11
+
+Hetaira, 187, 323
+
+_Hirschfeld_, 242
+
+History, mental anomalies in, 350
+
+Homophony, 16
+
+Homosexual love, 241, 251
+
+Hottentots, 347
+
+Human selection, 412, 509
+
+Hybridity, 47, 163
+
+Hymen, 55
+
+Hyperaesthesia, sexual, 225
+
+Hypnotism, 277
+
+Hypochondriasis, 232, 261
+
+Hypocrisy, sexual, 123
+
+Hypospadias, 210
+
+
+Ideal Marriage, 517
+
+Idealism, 132
+
+Idiots, 410
+  moral, 261
+
+Imaginary love, 263
+
+Impotence, 85, 219
+
+Incest, 402
+
+Insane, sexual anomalies in, 256
+
+Internats, 338
+
+Inversion, sexual, 241, 251
+
+Inverts, marriage of, 378
+
+Irradiations of love, 115, 128
+
+
+"Jack the Ripper," 234
+
+Jealousy, 104, 117, 139, 260
+
+_Joan of Arc_, 351
+
+_Joerger_, 331
+
+Jus primae noctis, 151
+
+
+_Keller_, 356
+
+Kinship, 107
+
+_Krafft-Ebing_, 142, 208, 234, 404
+
+
+_Lamarck_, 39
+
+Landerziehungsheime, 477
+
+Lesbian love, 275
+
+_Liguori_, 341
+
+Lorettes, 322
+
+Love, 111
+
+Love and sexual appetite, 104
+  maternal, 135
+  and religion, 143
+
+_Lubbock_, 181
+
+Lycurgus, laws of, 466
+
+
+_Marchal_, 18
+
+Mariage de convenance, 91
+
+Marriage by purchase, 170
+  by rape, 170
+  consanguineous, 164, 387
+  duration of, 182
+  for money, 295
+  forms of, 173
+  hygiene of, 427
+  ideal, 517
+
+Masochism, 237
+
+Masturbation, 80, 220, 228
+
+Maternal love, 135
+
+Maternity, 62
+
+Matriarchism, 378, 522
+
+_Maupassant, Guy de_, 133, 140, 301, 308
+
+Medical advice, 421, 434
+  secrecy, 435
+
+Medicine and sexual life, 418
+
+Medico-legal case, 413
+
+_Mendel_, 30
+
+Menstruation, 56
+
+Mental Capacity, 67
+
+_Mercier_, 67
+
+_Merrifield_, 36
+
+_Messalina_, 353
+
+_Meynert_, 67
+
+_Mill, Stuart_, 69
+
+Mistresses, 323
+
+Mitosis, 7
+
+Mneme, 14
+
+Modesty, 126, 141
+
+_Moebius_, 65
+
+Money, cult of, 502
+
+"Monkey's love," 136
+
+Monogamy, 173
+
+Morality, 445
+
+Mormons, 174
+
+_Moses_, 454
+
+_Murillo_, 355
+
+Mysogynists' ball, 249
+
+
+_Napoleon_, 352
+
+Narcotics and sexual life, 503
+
+Natural selection, 42
+
+Neo-malthusianism, 463
+
+_Nero_, 353
+
+Nocturnal emissions, 79
+
+Nudity, 157
+
+Nymphomania, 97, 268
+
+
+Old maids, 129
+
+Onanism, 228
+
+Ontogeny, 40
+  of sexual life, 200
+
+Orgasm, veneral, 57
+
+Ovulation, 19
+
+
+Palaeontology, 39
+
+Pangenesis, 34
+
+Paradoxy, sexual, 221
+
+Parthenogenesis, 9
+
+Passiveness in woman, 130
+
+Paternity, inquiry into, 383
+
+Pathology of sexual organs, 209
+
+Patriarchism, 159
+
+Patriotism, 108
+
+_Paul, St_, 352
+
+Pedagogy and the sexual question, 470
+
+Pederasty, 244
+
+Pederosis, 254
+
+Penal law in sexual matters, 396
+
+Penis, 53
+
+Phallus, 150
+
+Phylogeny, 40
+  of love, 108
+  sexual life, 193
+
+Pimps, 88
+
+Pithecanthropus, 46
+
+Placenta, 21
+
+Police and prostitution, 308
+
+Polities and sexual question, 461, 467, 506
+
+Polyandry, 173
+
+Polygamy, 173
+
+Pornography, 85, 121, 140, 406, 506
+
+Pregnancy, 23, 58, 433
+
+Prejudice and tradition, 505
+
+Preventive membranes, 425
+
+Procreative instinct, 92, 116
+
+Promiscuity, 148, 173
+
+Prostate, 53
+
+Prostitutes, fate of, 314
+  number of, 308
+  psychology of, 97, 308
+  training of, 306
+  varieties of, 312
+
+Prostitution, 88, 97, 185, 298, 308, 377
+  regulation of, 316
+  and sexual perversion, 314
+
+Protectors, 303
+
+Protoplasm, 6
+
+Proxenetism, 88, 298, 406
+
+Prudery, 126, 141
+
+Psychic impotence, 85, 219
+
+Psychic irradiations of love, 115, 128
+
+Psychopathology, sexual, 216
+
+Puberty, 77
+
+
+Race and sexual life, 189
+
+Rape, 402
+
+Rational selection, 464
+
+Religion and love, 143
+
+Religion and sexual life, 340
+
+Religious eroticism, 347
+  prudery, 346
+
+Reproduction in vertebrates, 51
+
+Restriction in sexual life, 387
+
+Retaliation, 364
+
+Rights in sexual life, 358
+
+Right to satisfaction of the sexual appetite, 373
+
+_Rousseau_, 237, 352
+
+
+_Sade, Marquis de_, 235
+
+Sadism, 234, 404, 486
+
+Satyriasis, 258
+
+_Schiller_, 59
+
+_Schopenhauer_, 65
+
+_Schwann_, 6
+
+_Seguin_, 327
+
+Selection, contrary, 465
+  human, 412, 509
+  natural, 42
+  rational, 464
+
+Semen, 53
+
+_Semon_, 14, 32
+
+Seminal vesicles, 52
+
+Senile paradoxy, 265
+
+Sexual appetite in man, 72
+  appetite in woman, 92, 130
+  disorders, 440
+  excitation, 86
+  hygiene, 420
+  morality, 445, 450
+  pathology, 208
+  perversion, 234, 273, 404, 482
+  power, 81, 203
+  selection, 161
+
+Sexes, production of, 176
+
+_Shakespere_, 267
+
+Shame, sense of, 157
+
+Social position, 334
+
+Sodomy, 255
+
+Soft chancre, 215
+
+_Solomon_, 353
+
+Spermatorrhea, 210
+
+Spermatozoa, 11
+
+_Spinoza_, 366
+
+Standard of human value, 478, 513
+
+Struggle for existence, 42
+
+Succession, right of, 394
+
+Suckling, 62
+
+Suggestion in art, 291
+  in love, 284
+  in sexual life, 277
+  in sexual anomalies, 272, 291
+
+Sympathy, 284
+
+Syphilis, 213
+
+
+Testicles, 52
+
+_Themis_, 353
+
+_Tiberius_, 365
+
+_Tolstoi_, 352
+
+Types to eliminate and perpetuate, 512
+
+
+Urnings, 242
+
+Uterus, 21
+
+Utopia, 499
+
+
+Vagabondage, 331
+
+Vagina, 55
+
+_Van Beneden_, 11
+
+Venereal diseases, 211, 376, 507
+
+Virgins, cult of, 154
+
+Vitellus, 11
+
+_Vries, de_, 17, 32, 43
+
+
+War, 461
+
+_Weismann_, 10, 17, 32, 34
+
+_Westermark_, 145, 181, 196
+
+Wealth and poverty, 333
+
+White slavery, 305
+
+Woman, emancipation of, 504
+
+Womb, 21
+
+
+Yolk, 11
+
+
+_Zeller_, 355
+
+_Zola_, 323, 407
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+    | Typographical errors corrected in text:                   |
+    |                                                           |
+    | Page  22: Kulliker replaced with Koelliker                 |
+    | Page  52: Vericles replaced with Vesicles                 |
+    | Page 256: exidence replaced with evidence                 |
+    | Page 273: 'sexual perversion proflably exist'             |
+    |           replaced with                                   |
+    |           'sexual perversion probably exist'              |
+    | Page 353: Medici replaced with Medici                     |
+    | Page 404: psycopaths replaced with psyhcopaths            |
+    | Page 426: heriditary replaced with hereditary             |
+    | Page 442: Schrenk-Notzing replaced with Schrenck-Notzing  |
+    | Page 459: perseverence replaced with perseverance         |
+    | Page 490: Shakspere replaced with Shakespere              |
+    | Page 514: necesssary replaced with necessary              |
+    | Page 528: recommned replaced with recommend               |
+    | Page 529: Les Avaries replaced with Les Avaries           |
+    | Page 535: veneral replaced with venereal                  |
+    |                                                           |
+    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Sexual Question, by August Forel
+
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