RATIONAL SEX ETHICS 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
A MORE INTENSIVE STUDY OF SEX HIS- 
TORIES, CASE HISTORIES, AND DREAMS, 
WITH THERAPEUTIC SUGGESTIONS, 
AND PHILOSOPHICAL DEDUCTIONS 
By W. F. ROBIE, M.D., M.R.C. 
Superintendent Pine Terrace, Baldwinville, Mats. 
Author of "Rational Sex Ethics" 
BOSTON 
RICHARD G. BADGER 
THE GORHAM PRESS Copyright, 1919, by Richard G. Badgeb 
All Rights Reserved 
Made in the United States of America 
The Gorham Press, Boston, U.S.A. PREFACE 
One year ago, ten years after most of Rational Sex 
Ethics was written, the book was placed in the hands 
of the professions. This wras done with mingled feel- 
ings on the part of the author. His facts were beyond 
cavil and, if his reasoning was as logical as he had tried 
to make it, his conclusions were inevitable. Yet these 
conclusions were in some respects so much at variance 
with ideas long accepted both by the medical profes- 
sion and by the laity that their brusque dismissal was 
possible, without due consideration of the facts pre- 
sented and without weighing the accumulation of evi- 
dence recently brought forward, which corroborated or 
possibly antedated the author's conclusions. It is 
with surprise and wdth feelings akin to chagrin rather 
than with those of self-felicitation that he now states 
that, save one, he neither has seen nor heard of a sin- 
gle unkind or severe criticism. He was told that a 
sharp and rather derogatory review appeared in a not 
over prominent medical journal, but the reader had 
forgotten the name of the journal, and the author has 
sought for it in vain. This lack of criticism has not 
been from neglect, for there has been a steady and in- 
creasing demand for the book. Scores of physicians, 
whose attainment and judgment have been most highly 
respected, but whom the writer formerly would have 
classed as ultra-conservative, have personally com- 
mended his work in no uncertain terms. An increas- 
ing number of correspondents among college, univer- 
3 4 
PREFACE 
sity, legal, and medical men have shown approval far 
beyond what he considers his due for this little piece 
of work. 
Perhaps he may be pardoned for misjudging the pro- 
fession and the public. Possibly it should minimize his 
chagrin at so doing, and render his apology less abject 
when it is considered how hide-bound and conservative 
society was twenty years ago, when he was making his 
first investigations in these subjects; and that com- 
paratively recently a scientific authority of interna- 
tional repute, though agreeing largely with the author's 
views, advised against publication on these very 
grounds. Again, a publishing house of wide experience 
along these lines declined publication for the present, 
though approving the work. They stated that the 
work was in advance of public sentiment and named a 
date several years ahead when they would gladly un- 
dertake its publication. So the author had good com- 
pany in thinking that the profession and the public 
had not thought in a modern, biologic, sociologic, com- 
monsense way about this subject. Nevertheless, his 
apology is no less sincere for his misjudgment. Many 
have urged him to continue the observations which long 
have been in progress, and to contribute something 
further on the subject. Continued observations are, it 
seems, inevitable; for, aside from facts constantly ac- 
cumulating in the course of professional work, some 
who have written their impressions of the book have 
contributed histories based on the questionnaire therein 
incorporated, and have expressed the hope that they 
might be of use in future studies of this kind. Many 
histories of neurotics and normals, studied by the au- 
thor later than those incorporated in Rational Sex 
Ethics, have been so illuminating and so corroborative PREFACE 
5 
in their evidence that, had there been the slightest 
scruple or uncertainty, it would have been entirely 
overcome; or had the author faced a storm of criticism 
he could now but take issue with it. The evidence, 
though so far one-sided, and rapidly accumulating ap- 
parently beyond any contradiction, may not be definite, 
so, should anything opposed to these conclusions be 
discovered, it will be entered faithfully and given due 
consideration. 
As there were originally no preconceived opinions on 
the part of the writer, he hopes that no state of mind 
may ever be produced which is not open to conviction 
when circumstances warrant. That old ideas are be- 
ing slowly dislodged is evident from the character of 
several recent books on sex. Where formerly the posi- 
tion against auto-erotism at any time and of any fre- 
quency was unequivocal, there are now many writers, 
who, while clinging to ancient dogma in a measure 
(throwing a sop to it, as it were), also state on the 
other side of the account, recent findings which go to 
show that they believe and would have their readers 
think that the tales of death and destruction from this 
practice have been tremendously exaggerated. While 
this shows a healthy change in educated opinion, some- 
thing more than a balancing of accounts is necessary 
for the relief of those who are suffering from an ab- 
sorption of the old pre-scientific ideas. Flat contra- 
dictions of old-fogy notions must be made over and 
over again before they can be eradicated. Robinson 
says, and truly, " The evil results of exaggerating the 
influence of masturbation have been so great in the 
past that, if now the pendulum were to swing to the 
other extreme, I am sure it would not be a bad thing 
at all." 6 
PREFACE 
The intention is to continue with the physiology and 
psychology of sex in this volume somewhat as was 
done in Rational Sex Ethics, but also to go far more 
deeply into the matter; and to that end a long and 
intensive study of some of the cases here presented 
has been made. My endeavor first in these further 
studies is to bring the study of sex nearer to that of the 
exact sciences, without minimizing in the least the 
often emphasized importance of romance and idealism. 
To do this it is necessary to popularize the subject 
somewhat, or at least to lift the veil which has so long 
shrouded everything pertaining to sex. My critics may 
say that a good deal of this matter is not science at all. 
To them I would answer that I belong to a class, rap- 
idly increasing, who believe in science and are devoted 
to it but have not always the patience, perhaps not the 
opportunity nor ability, to pursue abstract studies in- 
definitely when the human value is remote or not at all 
evident, studies, for instance, like those now being pur- 
sued on the obliteration of the epidermic ridges of the 
soles and palms. No doubt everyone knows that the 
pads on the feet of primitive mammals are the ante- 
cedents of the whorl-like patterns on the hands and 
feet of the monkey, which in turn are antecedents of 
the pictures or patterns on our hands and feet, known 
specifically as apical, interdigital, thenar, hypothenar 
and calcanar. Studies like the above, tracing such 
characters back through the intermediate stages to their 
sources require a long time, peculiar adaptability and 
an accuracy impossible to any but the laboratory 
worker. Still they give hope of further light as to the 
heredity of acquired characters, which knowledge may 
not only settle some disputes between the followers of 
Lamark and Weissman, but may be, like any studies PREFACE 
7 
in heredity, of value to us and future generations. The 
recent discovery of the sex link characters is undoubt- 
edly valuable, but some of us, who deal extensively with 
human life as it is ever before us, see so many injurious 
effects of ignorance that, however much we may desire 
the pursuit of pure science, which may be remotely or 
never utilitarian, we can but give our allegiance to a 
science which is immediately useful. It is no less sci- 
ence to explore the inner lives of people, to tabulate 
the results and pass on immediately any useful dis- 
coveries for humanity's betterment than to follow out 
some phase of science for the sake of knowledge itself, 
with only a possibility of future usefulness. In order 
that people may take kindly to a subject long tabu, it 
is necessary for them to see results of knowledge soon 
after the knowledge is acquired. Therefore, I weave 
in much of the practical, which may by some scientists 
be considered popular, common, or irrelevant. With 
this explanation, I hope some of my super-scientific 
readers, if I have any such, may bear more patiently 
with my apparent digressions. 
There is also the timid ambition to go a step farther 
and to take a comprehensive view of sex beyond the 
domain of the individual sciences. In short, philosophy 
has been not only a diversion and comfort, but of 
vast service to us. Unification helps us to see clearly 
what we may have but glimpsed before. 
While a philosophy of sex is in its incipiency, not 
too much must be expected of such a crude philosopher 
as the present one, who is ready to admit a not too great 
familiarity with the philosophies of life in its totality 
which the ancients and moderns have given us. 
From the Alpha of Anaximines to the Omega of Ber- 
nard Shaw and other moderns (this may be perceived 8 
PREFACE 
as an anti-climax) is a long way. Short stretches only 
of this road may be traveled by us in common, but let 
us hope that such journeys may be of mutual interest 
and profit. # 
It will be remembered that I stated in the earlier 
studies that my wife was my amanuensis, though her 
Puritanical inheritance influenced her more largely than 
did mine toward hesitancy, conservatism and silence in 
these matters. My courage and enthusiasm for fur- 
ther work is not a little enhanced by the admitted fact 
that, though her early ideas and beliefs still hold all 
legitimate dominion, the inexorable logic of results 
which she has inevitably observed has converted her 
from a hesitating accomplice to a willing, possibly 
ardent, co-worker. 
The author of Rational Sex Ethics desires to express 
his personal gratitude that so just an interpretation 
of his motives should have been given by a public whom 
he himself seriously misjudged. He is also greatly 
heartened in his hopes for social betterment by the evi- 
dent desire of all educated people to free sex from 
prudery and to find for it its legitimate place in all our 
lives. 
W. F. R. 
June 18, 1918. CONTENTS 
CHAPTER PAGE 
Introduction . 11 
I Psycho-analysis and Society 27 
Part I. An Appreciation and a Criticism, with Report of Cases 
II Psycho-analysis and Society 46 
III The Case of N ...... 57 
Part I. History and Therapy 
IV The Case of N 82 
Part II. Interpretation of Dreams, by Prof. L. C. Day, A.M. 
V A Case of Hysteria 98 
VI Introduction to Sex and Case Histories .... 139 
VII Case Histories 144 
VIII Sex Histories 162 
IX Birth Control 187 
X Mistakes of a Physician 198 
XI Incidental Observations 205 
XII An Incipient Philosophy 228 
APPENDIX 
i. Criticisms and Answers 265 
ii. Rational Sex Ethics for Men in the Army and 
Navy 279 
ni. Advice for the Newly Married 292 
iv. Questions and Answers 302 
v. Is Continence Necessary to the Highest Achieve- 
ment? .... 315 
vi. Regeneration 819 
vn. The Old Idealism in Sex Teaching 322 
9 INTRODUCTION 
Certain parts of this book, while yet in manuscript 
form, were read by a man who is a scientific authority 
and for whose opinion I have the highest regard. From 
him I received the following letter of frank and friendly 
criticism, criticism which I consider perfectly just when 
the manuscripts which he had, and which dealt entirely 
with neurotics were isolated from the other parts of my 
work. The letter follows : 
My Dear Dr. Robie: 
I am returning herewith your papers, all of which I 
have read with great interest. I like your abbreviated and 
common-sense way of getting psychoanalytic results. Very 
likely the current psychoanalysis has magnified both the 
power and dimensions of the unconscious and also has a too 
elaborate technique. I have always been much in sym- 
pathy with the Burrows point of view, although I think per- 
haps he is regarded as very theoretical. 
As to your main point of permitting or encouraging auto- 
erotism in certain conditions, I am of course not compe- 
tent to give any medical opinion, but there is one fact that 
has great weight with me and that is that for many years 
students, with whom I often get in very confidential rela- 
tions, have assured me with an emphasis I cannot doubt that 
they get on normally and with no discomfort with spon- 
taneous experiences in their sleep. My personal experience 
and knowledge as a boy and young man points in the same 
direction. Animals of course get on thus with no abnor- 
malities. Therefore, I cannot help feeling that you make 
a great concession to the abnormals, who of course are the 
ones that come under a physician's care, and that you judge 
11 12 
INTRODUCTION 
the normals who do not by them. I think the Freudians 
may be right even in their wildest symbolism because ab- 
normals may associate anything and everything with sex, 
but their great mistake is that they assume that normal 
people do this, and so with your view I believe that one 
reading your work would say that you judged the great 
body of normal people too much by the abnormal that come 
to you for treatment. 
My chief fear, however, is that in all this discussion there 
is too much of a tendency to fatalism. If one magnifies the 
strength of this instinct as something so imperious and domi- 
nant that it must be yielded to, I fear that would tend to 
moral degeneration. Even if a neurotic cannot practice 
self-control, that is nevertheless one of the noblest of human 
virtues, one of the best tests of the strength of character, 
and it seems to me that a normal young man reading your 
work might receive very great injury. 
You wanted me to write you frankly my own impressions. 
They are of course not professional like yours, and they 
are not based upon such detailed personal study, but they 
represent a different and I would believe more representa- 
tive class of young men. Thanking you for allowing me to 
see your papers, I am 
Very sincerely yours. 
The above letter is the most critical opinion that 
I have seen concerning my work. This critic read and 
commended Rational Sex Ethics, and the above criti- 
cism applies to certain portions of the present work, 
which he saw in manuscript form. Nevertheless, this 
criticism might apply to the former book, since the 
position there taken, while perhaps not so strong, is 
similar to that taken in the present study. This is a 
natural criticism, one to be expected, and a most just 
one, provided the premises of the critic are correct. 
I propose to answer the main points of this criticism 
in the spirit in which they were given. First let me 
quote from page 29 of Rational Sex Ethics: INTRODUCTION 
13 
This material then has been all obtained from what is 
considered the better part of the middle class. Clergy- 
men, physicians, educators, philanthropists, a few business 
men and superior artisans, with the wives, sisters, and 
daughters of many of these have been the people princi- 
pally consulted. A few histories of people otherwise nor- 
mal, who have suffered and recovered from attacks of 
functional nervous diseases, are included. All are people 
generally accredited as of the very best social value from 
educational, religious, moral, and business standpoints. 
While the assumption of the critic that a physician 
would naturally give great weight to his medical cases 
and extend his arguments and conclusions from them 
to normal people in general is perfectly natural and 
legitimate, I think that consideration of the above quo- 
tation, but if this is not enough, a careful reading of the 
volume it was taken from, and the present one, will 
show that in the present instance, at least, the work 
of the author as an investigator of normal lives, rather 
than his medical experience with neurotics, W'as the 
chief basis of his conclusions. While experience with 
neurotics first called attention to the great divergence 
between the public conscience and the universal practice 
in sex matters, it was at once perceived that it would 
not do to apply to normal people any conclusions de- 
rived from such then thought-to-be abnormal cases. It 
will be seen that the author repeatedly has stated that 
it was his purpose from the outset to make an exhaustive 
study of people conforming to all standards of normal- 
ity for the purpose of discovering what was proper sex 
hygiene for normals. It was also stated that now and 
then a neurotic was included when, after years, it was 
fully determined that such an one had been only tem- 
porarily absent from the ranks of the normal. Nat- 
urally, some long and detailed cases were taken from 14 
INTRODUCTION 
the so-called neurotic class, first because they were more 
accessible for detailed study, and second because it 
seemed important to show why they had left the nor- 
mal and by what means they got back again. 
As nearly as I can remember without going over 
every case in detail, each and every one of them left 
the normal as a result of disturbance or worry arising 
from some of the dogma which had become a part of 
our sexual code, or from misinterpretation of it. In 
each and every case, likewise, the return to the normal 
was rapid, complete, and permanent after contradic- 
tion of predicted calamities, the clothing of sex with 
its true dignity by dispelling shame and self-conscious 
prudery, and by pronouncing ethically correct and 
physically safe as much auto-erotic relief as seemed 
unavoidable after all current methods of self-control, 
sublimation, and sex regimen had been exhausted. I 
have advocated and always shall advocate self-control 
in sex as in all things; but it is true that I have made 
some slight concessions to sex necessity, imperious 
obsessing desire, universal custom, biologic law, or to 
the phenomena arising out of the libido, elan vital, sex 
instinct or impulse, under whatever terms they may be 
subsumed. This concession, or removal of the stigma, 
stain, and fear of moral and physical evils from such 
auto-erotism as wras apparently a physiologic and 
psychic necessity in given cases might be construed as 
a letting down the bars or an admission of fatalism 
or a disposition to ignore the rightfulness and necessity 
of self-control. 
If my points have in any way been proved, it is no 
derogation of the virtue of self-control to establish 
its limits. It is no fatalism to discover the lawrs under 
which human beings operate and to live and advocate INTRODUCTION 
15 
living by them. The question then comes as to whether 
I have demonstrated my main proposition. This may 
be or may not be; I am, as ever, open to conviction; 
but if it has been demonstrated it has been done legiti- 
mately from studies in normal people, not by applying 
to them findings made among nerotics. To be sure, 
I have helped, by the latter studies, to corroborate what 
many physicians and psychologists are now beginning 
to believe, viz., that neurotic and normal belong to 
the same great class. The neurotic is a little more 
neurotic than the normal, and the normal is a little less 
neurotic than the neurotic. The determination of what 
part of the class one shall be in is generally due to 
one's early sex experiences and the psychic states re- 
sulting from these. When trying, humiliating, or dis- 
gusting experiences, or when normal manifestations of 
instinct are looked upon as crippling, debasing, and 
altogether vicious, and the sufferer tries to escape his 
thoughts and cannot; we have the neuroses. When the 
individual himself sees, in early life, or in later life 
is brought by the physician or psychologist to see 
these things in their true perspective, and to allow 
of their presence as some small factor in his unified 
personality, then we have the normal. The above is 
what I have chiefly tried to show by the introduction 
of neurotic cases, and from this point of view I think 
such cases well worth considering. 
Their observation started these investigations, they 
go in some measure to strengthen the evidence derived 
from normal people; but any radical sentiments which 
I have uttered or may advance are based, not on these, 
but on the universality of certain sex phenomena in 
people who were normal, as far as I and ordinary opin- 
ion could determine. I need not enter here fully into 16 
INTRODUCTION 
all phases of the criticism. I have discussed elsewhere 
emissions or spontaneous sleep manifestations and the 
fact that they are unquestionably in some cases ade- 
quate outlets for the necessarily continent; while, in 
others, whether as the result of a congenital tempera- 
ment or of a psychological state rising out of false 
reasoning and fear, they occur seldom if at all, even 
in extremely virile individuals. 
If a personal allusion may be pardoned, I may state 
that, so far as my knowledge goes, I have had but 
three emissions during my life up to the present, though 
I have suffered much during periods of abstinence both 
before and since marriage. My age is fifty-one, I am 
the father of seven children, and am apparently as 
virile as at twenty, thirty, or forty. Were this an iso- 
lated case it might be looked on as an anomaly, but 
since many men and women have assured me that theirs 
is a similar make-up, there is no doubt that thousands, 
perhaps hundreds of thousands, may be placed in the 
same category. This practical absence of the phe- 
nomena of emissions or other sleep manifestations in 
some normal people and its healthful frequency in 
others renders at once entirely valueless any assump- 
tion that emissions or sleep manifestations are a uni- 
versal panacea for those of either sex necessarily con- 
tinent. We must either see to it that all normal peo- 
ple have sex manifestations in sleep, varying in fre- 
quency, perhaps as a rule from once a month to three 
times a week, or we must provide some other remedy 
for those who have none, or practically none, of these 
manifestations. I have no hesitancy whatever in nam- 
ing auto-erotism as the only possible remedy consistent 
with morals, health, self-respect, and social betterment, 
for this latter class. INTRODUCTION 
17 
One more reference to the letter of criticism. I did 
not publish my views on these matters until many years 
after I had entertained them, and not until others 
as well as myself had had opportunity to observe the 
results upon those who had believed and followed them. 
If there had been a single exception to the apparent 
salutary effects of these views, if all indications did not 
point to this solution of the sex problem as safe, sane, 
constructive, and better than anything thus far ad- 
vanced, neither Rational Sex Ethics nor this work, nor 
the lesser books now being brought out, would ever have 
been published. 
" Facts are stranger than fiction," and some such 
facts have come to my attention while I have been 
writing these things. I recently met, in an accidental 
way, a professional man who incidentally discovered 
that I had made some investigations in sex matters, 
and that I was writing along these lines. Perhaps giv- 
ing the results of this meeting and acquaintance may 
help to dispel the doubts of some who disapprove of 
sex enlightenment and of definite rules for sex conduct. 
This liberally educated man, who had been married 
ten years and who had several children, had read all 
the sex books he could get hold of and had consulted 
several doctors in a vain search for knowledge to en- 
able him to live a normal married life, such a life as 
two apparently normal people like himself and his wife 
should live. He had no intention of consulting me as 
a physician in regard to their marriage relations. (He 
had long since given up hope of solving their prob- 
lems.) Our talks were friendly, rambling'ones, inter- 
spersed with a little advice here and there, and my 
account, I fear, must be rambling also; but I think it 
worth while as showing what dense ignorance exists 18 
INTRODUCTION 
even among us medical men, and what simple remedies 
often immediately rectify mistakes of many years' stand- 
ing. 
We were talking about the current sex books, and 
he said there was almost no definite information in them, 
and I said, " Especially in those for girls, and that is 
why I am writing a book for girls just now." Then I 
said, thinking to show how ignorant our profession is 
of sex, that a scientist investigating these problems had 
told me that Adolph Meyer, one of the foremost psy- 
chiatrists, had told him that sixty per cent, of women 
in this country were frigid. 
My acquaintance spoke up and said, " My wife is one 
of them." 
I replied, " But that statement is not true, and I will 
stake what little reputation I have that not one-sixth 
of one per cent, of women in this country are frigid; 
so if your wife is such I have discovered a rare case. 
It will make the third in my professional life." I con- 
tinued, " The chances are ten thousand to one that 
your wife is as normal as mine, or as the ordinary 
woman." He hoped that this might be true, for his 
sufferings had been intense during ten years of faith- 
fulness to her. He informed me that they had become 
cold toward each other, that the early caresses and 
tokens of affection had long since been dispensed with, 
that there was little pleasure in living, for either, that 
he was much worried concerning her health and his 
own, finally saying that no outsider realized how close 
his home was on the rocks. In spite of his claim that 
his wife never had shown sex desire in the ten years 
of their married life, I daringly told him that, though 
I was not quack enough to make an absolute guarantee, 
since there was the remote possibility of his wife's INTRODUCTION 
19 
being abnormal, I would, with this reservation, engage, 
as a friend, to have them both happy, contented, and 
gaining weight, and his wife welcoming rather than 
repulsing his sexual advances, and all within a month. 
Of course one may say that this was egotism, bragga- 
docio, or guess-work on my part, but the fact is that 
such cases had been so numerous in my experience and 
the results so universally the same that I thought I 
might be pardoned for discounting an occasional one 
in advance. Anyway, within two weeks from that con- 
versation I accidentally saw her put her hand in his 
and snuggle up to him and saw him put his arm around 
her and look caressingly down upon her, little evi- 
dences of affection which he had told me had not hap- 
pened in his family for years. He also told me, and 
she corroborated it, that during this two weeks, she had 
had and manifested sexual desire during intercourse 
three nights in succession, and that on the fourth night 
she had had a perfect orgasm, and that after an interval 
of four days, without the ordinary attempts at excita- 
tion, she had manifested spontaneous desire and had 
had a perfectly satisfactory and complete orgasm. 
This couple, wdiose love was growing cold, whose home 
was near the rocks, who had little zest in living, who, 
for days at a time, would " nag " each othei' without 
knowing why, and then for days pass each other si- 
lently, like ships in the night, feeling all the while re- 
morse for their treatment of each other, both thin, 
both nervous, and both worried about each other's 
health, had given up their hopes of a happy married 
life, after consulting all the books they could find, as 
well as several doctors. 
What did I do under these circumstances? I first 
learned some of the husband's history, then gave him 20 
INTRODUCTION 
my book and some manuscripts to read, and told him 
to read it all to her or get her to read it by herself. 
After this preparation, I began to talk over the manu- 
script which I was working on with them at every 
opportunity. I asked for advice and suggestions. I 
gave them some other sex books to read, criticising 
some passages, praising others, and casually told them 
some of the problems that I myself had faced and solved 
in the first ten years of my own married life. Going 
a little more into the history, the husband had been 
reared by an overloving and jealous mother who had 
lost her husband when the boy was young. She had 
frightened him about masturbation and had so instilled 
it into his mind that he must not touch himself that 
even now he had great repugnance to the ordinary toilet 
of his sexual organs. This repugnance extended to 
caressing and preliminary excitation of his wife, al- 
though he believed this proper and had made many 
half-hearted efforts in this direction. His mother had 
also frightened him about emissions. He had mastur- 
bated more or less and had worn strings with shells 
tied to them to make him lie on his side and thus 
prevent emissions, which had at times been frequent 
and were now increasing in frequency. His mother 
had broken up several of his love-affairs and had tried 
to prevent his marriage a few days before its occur- 
rence. I advised him to be very confidential with his 
wife in talking over sex matters, and after explaining 
the origin of his repugnance, told him to try to over- 
come it and not to spare caresses. 
I then tried to talk with his wife, though we were 
both somewhat diffident at first, she always having been 
so on sex subjects and I not having much of an excuse 
•for talking such matters over with her; but I had INTRODUCTION 
21 
learned from the husband that menstruation, which 
had given her little trouble before marriage, was be- 
coming increasingly disturbing and painful. I made 
this an excuse for conversation and gave it as my 
opinion that absence of sexual satisfaction was the sole 
cause of this difficulty. As I grew bolder, I learned 
that as a girl in school she had heard of sexual matters 
and seen sexual sights which, on the one hand, had 
shocked and disgusted her, but which, on the other, 
had attracted and erotically excited her. No one had 
taught her concerning these matters, but the absorp- 
tion of current opinion had led her to believe that 
everything connected with sex was low and immoral. 
After marriage, her husband's mother had tried to 
alienate her husband's affections from her, and hers 
from him. Though this effort had not been successful, 
she had at times thought that her husband cared little 
for her. She was ashamed of sex and afraid to re- 
spond to his advances, in her own words, never could 
let herself go. She could not and would not talk 
these matters over with him, so they were never con- 
fidential about them. She had had desire enough at 
times, especially preceding menstruation, but had so 
sedulously concealed it from him that he had believed 
her to be absolutely cold. She actually thought him 
rather low and brutal because he had manifested a hus- 
band's natural desires. By means of books, manu- 
scripts, talks, and illustrations I got these false notions 
pretty well out of her head and she became a willing 
listener to my advice, with the results already men- 
tioned. 
Any one at all conversant with these things knows 
as well as I that, whereas they would have been miser- 
able together a few years longer perhaps, then one or 22 
INTRODUCTION 
the other or both would have gone to a sanitarium, or 
they would have broken up altogether, now neither 
weal nor woe can separate them and they will be happy 
to the end of their days, which will surely last some 
years longer than would have been the case without 
my presumptuous intervention. 
I learned some other things from this man. He 
told me of a physician whom I knew to be modern, 
educated and of the best repute, who declared that he 
would take his own seventeen-year-old son to a pros- 
titute to initiate him in promiscuity, stating that he 
would do this rather than have the son learn to mas- 
turbate, for this would certainly kill him. To me it 
is almost unbelievable that such criminal ignorance 
can exist here in New England in the twentieth century; 
and yet I realize that there are those who would con- 
sider me equally culpable for telling my four husky 
boys, after warning them never under any circum- 
stances to take liberties with girls, to cut off their 
right hands sooner than have intercourse with a pros- 
titute or with any other woman except their wives; 
that if they could no longer contain, after following 
all my directions, occasional masturbation never hurt 
any one morally nor physically and never would, and 
that any such necessary occurrence need not diminish 
their own self-respect. Be that as it may, my wife 
and I are proud of them; and three of them are fighting 
for Uncle Sam, while the fourth, who is seventeen, is 
eager to be doing so. 
This man told me of another case. A certain evan- 
gelist taught a young man to masturbate. This young 
man got very much frightened about this, very likely 
through the influence of some othei* evangelist. He 
believed himself headed for physical decrepitude and INTRODUCTION 
23 
moral ruin. He worried about this constantly and 
spent much time on his knees praying to be freed from 
his slavery to this practice, though often in the midst 
of his prayers he would jump up and masturbate. Any 
intelligent man or woman could cure a sad case like 
this within a week. I have had a number just such, 
and no moral or physical ruin has occurred in any of 
them, and the symptoms disappeared like magic. I 
convinced them that no disastrous physical results 
were possible and providing relief was necessary, there 
was no vice nor crime in obtaining it. I assured them 
that God would not impose on man a burden heavier 
than he could bear. After this easing of the mind, 
which in itself greatly diminished the sexual impulse, 
I advised them to occupy themselves and never to think 
of these things, telling them that if emissions came 
often enough to relieve them, all was well and good; 
if not and resistance was difficult or impossible, to 
masturbate what was necessary and forget about it, 
just as they would after any call of nature. With 
this advice, some stopped masturbation altogether and, 
as far as I could find out, no one continued to mastur- 
bate over three or four times a week, which is about 
the average of normal intercourse between healthy mar- 
ried people. All became happy, robust, and moral, 
and some are now the proud fathers and mothers of 
children who would delight the eugenic enthusiasts. 
One more possible lesson from this chance acquaint- 
ance. This man's mother, it will be remembered, lost 
her husband when at the acme of her sexual power. 
It is known that her relations with her husband were 
normal and satisfying, in spite of her almost morbid 
fear of all things sexual. She became worried concern- 
ing the boy's habits, exceedingly devoted to him and 24 
INTRODUCTION 
jealous of him and finally insane. This was probably 
an CEdipus complex. Is it too much of an assumption 
for me to say that a few hours of sensible talk from an 
understanding man or woman would have made her per- 
fectly normal and prevented her insanity altogether? 
Perhaps one would not consider this assumption un- 
warranted after considering with me the lives of a 
dozen women in identical circumstances, with indcntical 
temperaments, and all having the same point of view, 
and all in various stages of neurosis, fast approaching 
psychosis. They were all ashamed of a normal sex 
instinct and frightened at any manifestation of desire 
and passion which, after the loss of their husbands, 
there appeared to be no moral provision for. A few 
convincing arguments, like those used in cases cited 
in Rational Sex Ethics and in other parts of this vol- 
ume, were all that wras necessary to bring about an 
almost immediate resumption of normal life activities, 
interests, and usefulness. Such cases are sprinkled 
through my case-book during a period of over twrenty 
years. No one has become neurotic a second time. 
No one has fallen by the wayside, and, to my knowledge, 
not one has died, though some of these women are now 
over seventy years of age. RATIONAL SEX ETHICS 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS RATIONAL SEX ETHICS 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
CHAPTER I 
PSYCHO-ANALYSIS AND SOCIETY 
FART I. AN APPRECIATION AND A CRITICISM, WITH 
REPORT OF CASES 
Dr. Trigant Burrow, in his article, Psycho-analysis 
and Society, in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 
January, 1913, very clearly, concisely, and eth- 
ically touches a topic with which the writer long has 
been concerned. In a journal which has had no trivial 
or barren articles from its inception, there certainly 
have been few so incapable of misinterpretation or 
more phraseologically and etymologically accurate, and 
none more correct in their ethical deductions than those 
from the above-named author. While the present 
writer has no sympathy with crass materialism and 
is as much of an idealist as Dr. Burrow, he refers to 
some of the statements made in the article mentioned 
in a way which might be called critical. We believe 
that he has stated what should be our correct attitude 
on many questions, and that he has done so more com- 
prehensibly than anyone else has done. Nevertheless, 
some of the statements are believed to have been too 
strong for humanity, unless it is to reach Infinity. 
27 28 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
" Hitch your wagon to a star," is an admirable 
metaphor and has a beautifully transcendentalizing 
sentiment. " Hitch your zeppelin to a star," would 
be more in keeping with the conditions. Wagons are 
" of the earth, earthy " and must of necessity be 
hitched to some terrestrial object. Humanity is like 
the wagon, and, like it, must travel hard roads. In 
spite of Daedelus, Icarus flew too high and paid the 
penalty. Of course it was better to have been in the 
upper regions and to have " hobnobbed " with the In- 
finite than to have flown ignobly too low and to have 
gone down without the broad perspective, but let it not 
be forgotten that he had to drown in the same water 
either way. After much experience, it would seem that 
pragmatism is the best idealism and that the " golden 
mean," even in modern science, is not obsolete. 
Several years before Breuer and Freud made their 
memorable contribution to hysteria, which I neither 
read nor heard of till ten years later, I learned that 
the conflict between the theoretically right and the 
supposedly wrong, in other words, sexual sublimation 
and subjugation versus sexual expression or relief 
(whether psychic or physical, or the two intimately 
blended) was the cause, or a cause, of neurosis and 
psychosis in many cases. Long before knowing 
Freud's dictum, the conclusion was arrived at that this 
moral conflict was at the basis of most nervous and 
much psychic trouble, but even now it is not considered 
etiological for all. Pyscho-analysis is a recent and 
dignified term., but for twenty years I have been arriv- 
ing at the hidden conscious lives of patients and friends 
and at much that is now called unconscious or sub- 
conscious without an elaborate technique or a supernal 
erudition. While the sub-conscious or unconscious ex- PSYCHO-ANALYSIS AND SOCIETY 
29 
ists, and at times holds its traumas and repressions, 
these may be arrived at by methods simpler than 
Freud's, if they are necessary to effect a permanent 
cure, in most neuroses and psycho-neuroses. All phy- 
sicians and psychologists must know, but very few apply 
a simple principle which will cause the unconscious 
to dwindle to much less than its present fancied colossal 
proportions. The principle is enunciated in the three 
words: confidence inspires confidence. If you confide 
to your patient your hopes and aspirations, your de- 
feats and triumphs, your financial reverses or successes, 
he will reciprocate in kind. If you are not too shy 
about any sexual remissness that you are heartily 
ashamed of, he or she also wall be confidential. You 
do not have to go to your unconscious self for these 
things, neither do they in the vast majority of cases; 
if the experience with several hundred normal people 
and many neurotic and psychic cases, covering a period 
of twenty years, teaches anything. While this method 
is perfectly simple, one should have common sense, tact, 
some altruism, and a sound practical ethics, highly 
tinged with idealism; and one should not have sexual 
self-interest or self-consciousness, fear of derogation or 
criticism, or the attitude of a superior moralist. 
I agree with Dr. Burrow that psycho-analysis has no 
bearing on the realities which underlie the symbols of 
religion. It detracts nothing from rational religion 
for it to admit that the hideousness of license and pro- 
miscuity drove religion and ethics to demand an abso- 
lute asceticism, which extreme all informed people must 
now admit was as far too right as the other extreme 
was too wrong. Ideals change with civilizations; 
houris, Nirvana, super-sense, are all, to a certain ex- 
tent, relative. " As a man thinketh in his heart so is 30 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
he." The fact stands out plainly that, for humanity 
to avoid absolute pessimism, ethics and health, or abil- 
ity to live, must be synonymous. A social construction 
of Spencerian ethics would regard the psychotic or 
neurotic, from sexual abstinence, equally culpable with 
the one from sexual excess. Every one recognizes in- 
stantly that sex ideals are often too low for human- 
ity's best good. No one seems to recognize that sex 
ideals can be too high, yet no demonstration is neces- 
sary to show that the far swing of the pendulum to 
asceticism defeats all ideals for the future. Neurotics 
usually seek too high an altitude and condemn self too 
severely for any remissness or fancied remissness. Dr. 
Burrow says, " Shall psycho-analysis seek to cure the 
neurosis by shattering the social ideal? " and this, he 
says, " is the selfish, personal, and impermanent way, 
not the way that looks to the larger social interests." 
Again he says, " Does it not seem that the logical sub- 
limation for unconscious repression is conscious con- 
trol? " 
Now no one who has had experience with nervous 
people or with ordinary, so-called well people will deny 
that for one case of unconscious repression there are 
scores and perhaps hundreds, where there has been con- 
scious control or attempted control. Relief has come 
only from modifying the ideal (if one chooses to con- 
sider complete control possible, or by recognizing the 
inexorable demands of nature if one believes, as I do, 
absolute control to be ordinarily impossible), lessening 
the self-condemnation for errors or fancied errors, or 
in some way modifying the standards formerly adhered 
to. When the comparatively fewr cases are consid- 
ered, whose unconscious complexes are brought to the 
light of day, how much better will they deal with them PSYCHO-ANALYSIS AND SOCIETY 
31 
than their brothers or sisters who have had such con- 
scious complexes have done? One thing is certain. No 
one can look to the larger social interest unless he 
keeps out of a sanitarium or psycho-pathic hospital. 
It is equally certain that ideals have put most people 
who are in these places there. Shall people be encour- 
aged to cling to these identical ideals or shall they be 
helped, as is necessary for prophylaxis or cure, to mod- 
ify them, but not enough to cause individual moral 
laxness or social harm? Are we ourselves ashamed of 
our own ideals or of nature? If not, why do we in- 
sist on neurotic patients having ideals far and away 
above our own? The ordinary, well-balanced, pro- 
ductive, moral, altruistic man oi' medico is married and 
properly sexually adjusted, perhaps one half the popu- 
lation are so adjusted, and such adjustment is ad- 
mittedly a valuable asset toward health and long life. 
All call it desirable, and many consider it absolutely 
necessary, for the proper physical and mental health 
of either sex. Yet one half the population is without 
this adjustment, the woman unavoidably and the man 
often ignorantly, selfishly, or short-sightedly. 
We whose " lines are cast in pleasant places " en- 
courage or impose on the less fortunate, burdens which 
we ourselves, frankly, could not bear. I'll not say 
would not, though some would not, but certainly many 
could not. It is folly to say that the average normal 
man or woman can remain so, and be absolutely con- 
tinent for a long period of years. It is vicious to 
encourage sexual promiscuity, and the average doctor 
or person revolts at it. There is one standard for a 
married person and another for an unmarried one. 
Married men and single men, married women and sin- 
gle women are made just alike and have like instincts 32 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
and needs. Some of the segregated ones resort to pro- 
miscuity, some to auto-erotism, all to one or the other, 
at least occasionally, during certain years of develop- 
ment or of strongest virility. I say all advisedly, for 
any exceptions due to unusual power of resistance or 
to abnormally weak sexuality are so few in either male 
or female sex as to be negligible. Many reconcile 
themselves to the worst possible solution, so far as they 
themselves or society are concerned, and have pro- 
miscuous relations. Many others, whose ideals are 
higher, seek auto-erotically what relief is necessary and 
constantly reproach themselves for their fancied degra- 
dation. 
Now then, whether necessary or not, practically every 
member of the community does, during certain years, 
attain, writh greater or less frequency, some form of 
conscious sex relief or satisfaction. If strict conti- 
nence is the ideal, all transgress, either by promiscuity, 
auto-erotism, perversions or pseudo-perversions. The 
difference between the ordinary neurotic and the ordi- 
nary, supposedly normal individual is that the former, 
though he, as a rule, transgresses his ethical code less 
frequently and less completely than the latter, has 
never lowered or changed his ideals at all and as he is 
invariably reticent thinks himself almost unique in 
sinning. The normal individual, from his more com- 
municative nature and wider experience, realizes that 
he is not unique, and that, if he has sinned, all human- 
ity is " tarred with the same stick." Though he may 
be still an idealist and have transcendent notions, he 
has also learned that " we are but dust " and, if the 
traditional code demands the impossible and is con- 
trary to nature, no ideals are jeopardized by proper 
recognition of natural instincts. He allows somewhat PSYCHO-ANALYSIS AND SOCIETY 
33 
for his instincts and admits the physical man or woman 
to some place in his categories. In short, I mean to 
say that we medicos and many other people, who are 
fairly normal, are so as the result of squarely and 
consciously facing ourselves and our pasts, and with- 
out magnifying the good or minimizing the bad, uniting 
all qualities in a psychic whole. 
The neurotic magnifies the real or fancied moral de- 
linquencies in which, from his inexperience with the 
world, he imagines himself to be unique, and at the same 
time under-estimates the good qualities. He splits off 
a portion of his personality and constantly dwells on 
this Mr. Hyde part of himself. He tries to get rid 
of him, and when he does, Freud must be invoked to 
bring him back. But mind, he does not get rid of Mr. 
Hyde as often as Freud or many others think, nor 
nearly as often as he would try to make us believe. 
When the neurotic is brought in rapport with the 
physician and proper transference, which is based on 
confidence rather than on libido, has occurred, he will 
tell all about his troubles and may be readily cured by 
suggestion and re-education. As to what suggestions 
may be proper, little of value can be found in the 
numerous studies of abnormal sexuality. It would seem 
that lessons learned from the sex lives of those sup- 
posedly nearest normal would make the safest criterion. 
I have devoted much time to the study of the details 
of the sex lives of normal people of the better class. 
The adjustments and compromises resorted to and the 
standards arrived at by these people have, to a large 
extent, been used as a basis for the treatment of neu- 
rotics by suggestion, and in their re-education. The 
reasons for this method are too long to permit of their 
entering into this article, but the method will appear 34 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
and the results will be obvious after consideration of the 
following cases. If any ideas seem unconventional, let 
it be remembered that the conventions, though right and 
necessary, impose severe penalties on many helpless 
women and on some misguided or uncourageous men. 
Unquestionably the conventionalized home and family 
are bought at the price of prostitution or auto-erotism. 
Either price may be high, but certainly the former is 
unnecessarily so. 
The case under consideration is that of a young 
woman who first consulted me at the age of twenty-six. 
She was under treatment, off and on, for about a year, 
though she did more or less work after the first three 
months. At present she is in excellent physical and 
mental health and has been for several years. Before 
her final nervous breakdown, she had several minor at- 
tacks. Previous to the time of consulting me she had 
been unable to do any work for several months. At 
this time she could not read nor think. She suffered 
from insomnia and anorexia, had constant headaches, 
cried much of the time, and continually dwelt on her 
bad feelings and her inability to support herself. She 
had almost omnipresent, entirely involuntary sexual 
feelings and sexual imaginings with a certain young 
man as the object, though there was, at this period, 
practically no auto-erotic relief. This patient was 
very religious and conscientious and had worked hard 
to educate herself for a learned profession. She had 
had a long-drawn-out struggle between sex and her 
ideals. Her sex experiences were first learned in detail, 
and are given here complete by themselves, though 
there were many interruptions in the way of advice 
and suggestion in the course of the narrative. 
Her father always had been somewhat nervous and PSYCHO-ANALYSIS AND SOCIETY 
35 
was some five years older than her mother, who was 
sixty-five and in good health. She had two brothers 
and a sister, who always had been well. One brother 
had died from a rheumatic affection of the heart. At 
the age of four or five, her twin brother told her how 
the Sunday school teacher got her little girl. Shortly 
after this, she examined herself to see if she had the 
same anatomy and began to masturbate with a button- 
hook that had a wooden handle. She could remember 
no sensations at this early period. On one or two occa- 
sions she was left at home with her two brothers and 
they played at being animals. They undressed and 
the older brother assumed the role of the mother cow 
and was going to feed the brother and sister. On an- 
other occasion her cousin came in and wanted to play 
at man and wife, but she refused to play this game with 
him or with any one except her twin brother, though, 
for two or three years she and he indulged in this pas- 
time. The ' brother had no erection and she had no 
sensation, and on the older brother's learning of this he 
told them not to do it and it was stopped. 
At the age of four or five, after severe paroxysms of 
coughing during an attack of whooping cough, there 
was a slight show of blood from the vagina. Though 
this had been forgotten for years, she was then much 
frightened and the blood was attributed to this play 
with her brother. She always has had a horror of 
blood, and since a nervous attack three years before, 
often has dreamed of this brother's being violently 
killed or terribly injured, and in these dreams both she 
and her brother were very much frightened. This 
brother was almost her sole playmate until the age of 
twelve. 
At the age of eight or nine she went berrying with 36 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
three or four other little girls, and on two or three 
occasions they exposed themselves to each other by 
lifting their skirts. Nothing definite further was re- 
membered for several years except that there was occa- 
sional masturbation. At eleven or twelve the orgasm 
was attained by pressure against some object. At 
fourteen or fifteen, she began to use a hairbrush handle. 
At this time she became religious and began to worry 
about the moral and physical consequences of her prac- 
tice. 
She had a very slight spinal curvature, which was 
being treated at this time and she always thought that 
this spinal trouble was the result of her practice, since 
the position assumed while masturbating would soon 
bring on pain in her back. Masturbation was never at 
any time practiced oftener than once a week. Her 
menstruation was somewhat irregular and this was also 
attributed to masturbation. At seventeen she was so 
impressed with the evil of the practice that she prayed 
to be punished if she ever did it again, and she re- 
frained until about twenty. She was desperately nerv- 
ous all through this period. At this time she and her 
brother's chum, though not intimate, were good friends, 
and she had day-dreams in which she imagined that they 
married and went West together, though she usually 
thought herself unfit to marry, because of masturbation 
and her spinal trouble. 
At the age of twenty she changed her residence and 
began to go with another young man, concerning whom 
she had frequent day dreams of an erotic nature. She 
began to masturbate occasionally, especially during 
vacations, when her time was not so fully taken up 
with her studies. She was deeply interested in this PSYCHO-ANALYSIS AND SOCIETY 
37 
young man for two or three years, but later and now 
there wras and is only a sisterly feeling for him. 
At about the age of twenty-two she met a young man 
to whom she was instantly and strongly attracted. 
Their ideals and work were similar, which fostered their 
attachment, which was never very intimate, though she 
later learned that he was deeply interested in her. 
Returning to school broke up their companionship, 
though she continued to have day-dreams concerning 
him, at first on the highest ethical plane, later, when 
she became nervous, colored with erotic fancies, in 
spite of all efforts to avoid this later phase. After his 
engagement to another girl, all day-dreaming ceased. 
Some time later, at about twenty-five, she met an- 
other young man whose tastes and aspirations were 
also similar to hers. He was more of a physical type 
than the former and she did not like him at first, but 
he was very attentive and she soon began to admire 
him and have day-dreams, of somew'hat erotic nature, 
about him. She always attempted to repress these 
erotic fancies, with only partial success. Now they 
became entirely involuntary. This young man being 
interested in physical culture, eugenics, etc., before 
proposing marriage asked that he be allowed to make 
a digital examination per vaginam to ascertain if she 
were anatomically adapted for child-bearing. She at 
first objected, but began to worry about the possibil- 
ity of malformation, and thought it no worse to have 
him make an examination than to have some physician 
whom she did not know examine her. So she finally 
allowed this and he was satisfied with the examination, 
which apparently caused no sexual disturbance in either 
party, though she had erotic feelings later when think- 38 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
ing of it. Two evenings later, the eve of his departure 
for another state, he took the liberty to feel of her 
and to again insert his finger in her vagina. She al- 
lowed this for a moment or two and then demanded 
that he desist. She was erotically excited and the feel- 
ings persisted for some time. He was evidently mak- 
ing strong efforts to control himself, but proposed in- 
tercourse, which proposal she immediately rejected, 
telling him he had no right. She later made excuses 
to me for him for making this proposal, since she 
thought he had done so from philanthropic motives, 
i.e., she thought that he thought that her nervous con- 
dition was due to sexual repression, and he proposed 
intercourse for her sake rather than his own. This 
was their last meeting, though they corresponded for 
some six months longer. She had told him of her sex- 
ual life and its resistances, and of her auto-erotic ex- 
periences, and he had told her of similar experiences 
and of his belief that auto-erotism was never justifiable, 
though he admitted lapses from this ideal. Their cor- 
respondence began to wane, he met and married another 
girl. 
During this period she was nervous and worried and 
gave up her position. She had day-dreams of being 
married to him and of fulfilling all the functions of a 
wife and mother. Several times at night she had sex- 
ual dreams of him, but she did not masturbate more 
than once or twice for a period of six months. This 
brought her history down to the time when she came 
under the writer's care. For one of her religious and 
conscientious nature, the struggle between sex and 
her ideals had been fearful, persistent, and long drawn 
out, and though repression was constant, it had been 
seldom complete. She always felt ashamed, disgraced, PSYCHO-ANALYSIS AND SOCIETY 
39 
unworthy, and for years thought herself unfit for mar- 
riage, though home, husband, and children were her 
highest earthly ideals. 
She readily understood on explanation that her now 
almost constant sexual desire and the frequent un- 
sought, involuntary mental pictures of herself and the 
young man in sexual relations were not signs of de- 
pravity but the final giving way of her strong moral 
and religious nature to an imperious, well-developed sex 
nature. These things were now involuntary and she 
was not her own mistress, therefore not responsible. 
She was told that, in order to recover, she must make 
some concessions to her natural instincts. There 
seemed no way but moderate auto-erotic relief with- 
out shame, repugnance, or self-abnegation. She was 
told that under the complexities of modern life all could 
not be accommodated or adjusted sexually as many of 
us thought all should be. If the opportunity for love 
and marriage did not present, promiscuity was wrong 
and not to be thought of oi' tolerated, but it was equally 
wrong, for herself and society, to carry sex repression 
to the extent of producing physical incapacity or men- 
tal alienation. In her case the former had already su- 
pervened and the latter was imminent. Her reason ac- 
cepted all this at once, but her conscience was some 
time in becoming reconciled, and the habit of repres- 
sion, persisted in so many years, was hard to change. 
Heart-break for the man she had loved and lost (she 
still idealized him and blamed herself for any uncon- 
ventional occurrences), headache, physical weakness, 
financial worries and discouragement at the gloomy out' 
look made a repetition of advice, encouragement, and 
suggestion necessary for some months. Although, on 
resuming auto-erotism and relinquishing worry, im- 40 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
provement was immediate, it was only up to a certain 
point. 
Then inquiry was made as to her present frequency 
of indulging in auto-erotism and the method employed. 
It was learned that she used an object about one-half 
inch in diameter and four inches long, without pre- 
liminary excitation of the breasts or clitoris, about once 
a week. At times she failed to get complete relief, 
and was unable to sleep. She was now advised to use 
a somewhat larger and longer object, after some pre- 
liminary excitation, and to lessen the intervals for a 
time, at least. Improvement was rapid from now on. 
She became gay and confident, headaches disappeared, 
and she felt that she should entirely recover. The only 
drawback was the impossibility of ridding herself of 
the feelings of shame at allowing the young man to 
take liberties with her. There w^is, of course, psycho- 
analysis in this case, though not in a strictly Freudian 
sense. Her history was not all told at once, and some 
things were remembered from time to time which had 
been long forgotten, but the essentials of her sexual 
play with her brother and her auto-erotic habits and 
much more were told at the first interview, which was 
like any ordinary conversation. There was no hyp- 
nosis, head pressure, semi-recumbent posture, semi- 
lighted room, nor any kind of sleight of hand about it. 
The facts in regard to the last young man, which 
were in her mind constantly, came slowest and hardest, 
but these experiences never had been in the unconscious, 
nor had the detailed sexual experiences of early child- 
hood been ever, for any length of time, crowded from 
consciousness or forgotten. The dangers she had been 
through were not minimized by the physician, but she 
was told to be thankful that nothing worse had hap- PSYCHO-ANALYSIS AND SOCIETY 
41 
pened, and to look at her experiences with the young 
man as an education and a warning for the future. 
She was told not to blame herself too much, as her mo- 
tives were entirely innocent, to let some of the blame, 
if blame there was, attach to the young man, whose 
conduct was certainly worthy of censure. This man, 
married and unavailable, was gradually lowered to the 
estate of an ordinary human being by her adviser, and 
she was led to think that there were many estimable 
men yet unattached, and perhaps there was one for 
her. At any rate, she could be useful, happy, and 
self-respecting if she had to journey alone. Dreams 
were invoked, and though they revealed nothing which 
she had not told already, they confirmed much of this 
and showed that in sleep she was now living over her 
childhood sex life and her experiences with the young 
man, and that she was reconciling her past sex life and 
ideals with the present hard facts of existence, so that, 
from the ruins, a new personality, emblemed by the 
" rose red-streaked, then all white," referred to later, 
was rising, like Phoenix, from the ashes. 
DREAMS 
I. She dreamed that the wife of the young man (who 
had been so intimate and so indiscreet with her) came 
to see her. She at first liked her very much, then the 
wife's face changed to a face recently seen, and now 
she did not like it, and she said to the wife, " I do not 
see why he chose you instead of me." 
II. Dreamed she (the young man's wife) wrote a 
friendly letter to the dreamer. 
III. Dreamed that the young man was here and 
verv friendly. She, the dreamer, asked him if he was 
married. He said, " Yes, but very unhappy." 42 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
IV. Dreamed she saw the wife's picture. At first 
liked and then did not. 
V. Dreamed of the wife as having dark hair and eyes 
like her own. 
VI. Dreamed that she and Mr. C., a recent acquaint- 
ance, were sitting on the floor, he kissed her and she 
w7as indignant, but paid little attention, as she thought 
that perhaps he did not intend any wrong. Mr. X., a 
friend and clergyman, came into the room, and now 
Mr. C. was in the next room with Mrs. X. and Mr. 
C. said to Mrs. X., referring to some remark of the 
dreamer, " She understands me and that is satisfactory 
but not real comfortable." A friend from near her 
home came in and introduced her husband, but he ig- 
nored her. At the last remark of Mr. C., she laughed 
uproariously and w7as greatly amused in her dream. 
Air. C. in many ways reminds her of the young man 
previously spoken of. 
VII. She wras sitting on a veranda, with a dog, of 
which she is fond. She teased him and he started away. 
She whistled and called him back, just to continue 
teasing him. The dog appeared to know7 this, bit her 
on the chin and part of his jaw seemed to be in her 
mouth. She wroke, much frightened, and having a 
strange sensation. In the dream the bite did not seem 
to hurt her much, but it was accompanied by a most 
uncomfortable sensation. 
Note. If we substitute in this dream the young man 
for the dog and a rather common post-nuptial kiss for 
the bite, the translation of this dream will be easy. 
VIII. She dreamed that she was at Mr. X.'s. She 
put her foot on Air. C.'s foot, and he said, " Is that as 
near to affection as you ever come? " In relating this 
dream she recalled that the young man had put his foot PSYCHO-ANALYSIS AND SOCIETY 
43 
on hers often in a similar way, and she here recognizes 
Mr. C. as a substitute for the young man. 
IX. She dreamed that she, a little girl in short 
dresses, was in a strange house with some woman, per- 
haps her mother. Of a sudden two kittens jumped 
under her skirts and frightened her terribly. The 
brother (now dead) entered the room. When this 
dream is discussed she remembers seeing a cat the day 
of the dream. One should refer to the episode in her 
sex history, related long before this dream, in which 
this brother, seven, and she, four, were left at home 
alone together. They undressed and played they were 
animals. 
X. She dreamed that she and this brother were mar- 
ried and that she had sexual relations with him. Vide 
sex history. As a child she had played at husband and 
wife with this brother, and they had played at inter- 
course. 
XI. She dreamed she was beside a barn near her 
old home, gathering beautiful roses, some being white, 
and one beautiful white rose had red lines in it. There 
were a great many girls in the barn, who had no right 
there, she thought. There seemed to be something 
underhanded about it. She saw more girls through a 
window. The facts were that she had seen roses near 
this barn, as a child, on her way to school. She al- 
ways had been afraid to pass this barn, thought that a 
cat had been killed there. She also had seen animals 
copulate there. The day before this dream, she had 
been telling a story, " Quality, not Quantity," in which 
a white rose figured as an emblem of purity. 
XII. She dreamed again of flowers of different kinds 
and colors. The final central figure emerging from all 
the rest was a beautiful white rose. 44 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
XIII. She dreamed of meeting and having a talk 
with a former Sunday school teacher. While she was 
with this teacher, the brother referred to came into the 
room. It will be recalled that when she was four or 
five years old this brother, using this Sunday school 
teacher and her husband as illustrations, explained the 
advent of babies into this world, and that later she was 
much shocked to have been told this. 
Few further comments on these dreams are neces- 
sary if the sex history of this patient is carefully read, 
her affair with the young man is kept in mind and her 
conversations with the physician, who is trying to help 
her outgrow her love for this young man and to make 
her see herself a self-respecting and normal human 
being, are taken account of. After she became able to 
control her thoughts of this young man, particularly 
those of a sexual nature, it will be seen that, for a time, 
she got relief or satisfaction in her dreams of him 
under different disguises, if one wishes a Freudian in- 
terpretation. Then the childhood episodes, so long 
her bete noir, were worked over, sometimes with accom- 
panying erotic feelings and sometimes without. 
I assume that these early experiences were being 
assimilated by her new-found personality and finally 
disposed of, sloughed off, as it were. Then, as a re- 
sult of her own reasoning and my words of comfort, 
she first began to realize herself in dreams what she 
had always longed to be, pure and wholesome. The 
red-streaked rose was her former self, a white one in 
dream XI. was her present self, other white ones were 
other girls who had had similar experiences but who 
were really in intention as pure as she. The consum- 
mation occurs in dream XII. when she, as the white PSYCHO-ANALYSIS AND SOCIETY 
45 
rose, emerges from the many colored flowers. This 
period of definite dreams ended at the time when she 
was clearly on the high road to complete recovery. It 
is plain that dreams such as these are the via regia 
of the conscious or unconscious mind but not, as Freud 
would encourage us to believe, ante rem and necessary 
adjuncts in probing a personality, but in this case at 
least they are post rem and constitute unmistakable 
proof of the correctness of the patient's intimate life 
history, already detailed to the physician from her 
conscious mind, sans cumbersome psycho-analytic de- 
vices. That esoteric training which the ordinary physi- 
cian is said to lack and which, according to strict 
Freudians, he is unable to acquire, is entirely unneces- 
sary in this instance. CHAPTER II 
PSYCHO-ANALYSIS AND SOCIETY 
FART II 
In the Journal of Abnormal Psychology for Au- 
gust, 1916, Dr. Burrow further remarks concerning our 
wrong educational system. He criticizes particularly 
didactic methods of instruction and the almost total 
absence of training on the affective side, thus leaving 
no outlet for the emotions. So much we can heartily 
agree with, but his conclusion that this lack of affec- 
tive development has led to regressive tendencies in 
which auto-erotic pursuits have been exalted and that 
there has resulted a general over-estimation of every- 
thing sexual is not in consonance with my findings, 
though a surface analysis might lead to this conclu- 
sion. It is quite evident that, whether there is repres- 
sion of sex from fear induced by traditional teaching 
regarding the dire results to psyche and soma of any 
sex expression before marriage or whether there are 
attempts at sublimation, still all sexuality, from puberty 
on, is neither repressed nor sublimed; else we should 
have entire disappearance of the impulse to marriage 
and propagation in many people where this impulse 
is still a fact. If then the sex instinct is present in 
some degree, regardless of teaching or aspiration, it 
is again evident that, since the spermatozoa and the 
ova are continuously coming to maturity in the body 
and libido is constantly being secreted by the affective 
46 PSYCHO-ANALYSIS AND SOCIETY 
47 
mind, repression will necessitate a cumulative action of 
these elements and there will be apparent undue con- 
sideration given to the sexual by the individual. 
Again, the fear, almost universal, of evil consequences 
of lapses in repression will cause a constant dwelling 
on these matters and thus make it seem that the person 
gives more than proper place to the sexual. That this 
is not really so can readily be shown by following a 
sufficient number of cases after a sufficient elucidation 
of these matters has been given to dispel the fears 
which, as Dr. Burrow says, and I agree, are invariably 
the basis of the neurosis, and when enough knowledge 
of nature has been obtained to enable the individual 
to dispense with prolonged and desperate attempts at 
repression. I propose to submit a case in illustration, 
but first let me suggest a reason, which no one seems 
to have given, for the oversight or neglect of the 
propei* education of the emotional life of the child to 
which Dr. Burrow has called attention. Catering to, 
or education of, the emotions necessitates the psychic 
enjoyment or physical pleasure of the individual. In- 
terest in music, painting, the dance, or sex expression 
all involve emotional enjoyment; but the ancient ultra- 
idealism conceived all emotional or sensational enjoy- 
ment as being wrong, and all sex expression unneces- 
sary and a vice or crime, even the necessary expres- 
sion for procreation was considered a low and an un- 
necessary concession to nature by a clergy directly 
descended, though it seems paradoxical, from those 
to whom inspiration dictated to " grow and multiply 
in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." Mor- 
tification of the flesh, sackcloth and ashes, flagellation, 
the car of Juggernaut, fasting, and a long face were 
means to the highest ideals; while asceticism indicated 48 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
strength, purity, and godliness. Though these ideals 
long have been done away with among sensible people, 
these ideas have such root in human consciousness that 
they subconsciously dominate our philosophical, psy- 
chological, religious, ethical, and educational systems 
today. In fact, the revulsion of feeling which turned 
much enlightened humanity from this ultra-idealism, 
stifling to breadth and happiness, to a crass material- 
ism, Hedonistic enough, to be sure, but destitute of 
many of the best human ideals, was but the persistency 
and harmfulness of these traditions. It is to be hoped 
that modern pragmatism will mitigate the evils of these 
two extremes. 
Among the mentally well oriented, as well as among 
those alienated, things are not always what they seem. 
The minds of religious enthusiasts are often seething 
cauldrons of erotic fancies. The supercilious, legally 
wedded woman, horrified at infractions of the conven- 
tions, will often not hesitate to procure an abortion, 
while what the world calls an immoral woman often has 
higher ideals and suffers more in striving for them. 
Striving for unattainable ideals or non-recognition of 
inexorable instincts, as one chooses to put it, have 
been the undoing of many of the straightest men and 
most virtuous women. The following case so well il- 
lustrates cause and effect, the danger of too high ideals 
or non-recognition of nature, the penalty of suppres- 
sion of emotional life and of sex ignorance, and the 
points under consideration of repression and supposed 
regression, and so profoundly appeals to our admira- 
tion and sympathy that I shall quote fully from my 
notes and endeavor to draw some legitimate conclu- 
sions from the story, compared to which the modern 
problem-novel, in its attempts at realism, hardly PSYCHO-ANALYSIS AND SOCIETY 
49 
scratches the veneer of our society. Sex literature and 
modern fiction are rife with abstractions calculated to 
set us thinking, but entirely useless when we seek for 
remedies. The concrete psychic facts and physical re- 
sults are not only more profoundly absorbing, but the 
only safe criterion of a rational therapy. The one 
whose history is given is a resident of a distant state, 
a widow of forty-eight years, refined, liberally edu- 
cated, beautiful, the devoted mother of three children. 
Her married experience was most happy, her thoughts 
and aspirations for herself and her children always 
have been of the highest, her conduct was, to a certain 
point, unexceptionable. 
How comes the nadir of her present from the zenith 
of her past? for she finds herself pregnant and bears 
an illegitimate child. The paradox, if it be one, though 
I prefer to call it a legitimate sequence of events and 
no serious detraction from her virtue, I propose to ex- 
plain from the intimate facts of her inner life. 
When about eight years of age, having no previous 
knowledge or thought of sex, she accidentally saw a 
man urinating. She was ashamed and disgusted and 
excited, though the excitement was not known to be 
sexual, by this sight of the male genitals. Two years 
later, walking with a woman companion, they suddenly 
came upon a man in an alley way, masturbating. She 
had no idea then or for many years later what the man 
was doing, but was much frightened and shocked at this 
sight. A vivid picture remained, of his actions and 
of the distended organ and of the expression of pleas- 
ure on his countenance. Instinctively she thought that 
what he was doing was wrong and loathsome and won- 
dered why he was doing it. There was often a recur- 
rence of vivid mental pictures of these two incidents, 50 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
combined always with a feeling of horror and disgust 
at herself for thinking of them. There were no erotic 
feelings accompanying these mental pictures until she 
learned, about the time of her marriage, what the sec- 
ond man was doing. Subsequently erotic feelings ac- 
companied these mental pictures and each time they re- 
curred she felt as if she had been violated by this second 
man. On several other occasions she accidentally ob- 
served men urinating, and on three other occasions 
saw men masturbating. Once she sawr a man, appar- 
ently a degenerate, walking along the street masturba- 
ting without being exposed. Some years after her hus- 
band's death, a man sitting opposite her in a railway 
car, kept looking at her. He was evidently greatly 
excited and wras masturbating furiously. She could not 
change her seat without attracting attention. The old 
horror and disgust returned at this sight and later there 
were intense erotic feelings on remembering it. Just 
before this incident she had been suffering intensely from 
erotic feelings and had been making every effort to re- 
pel the advances of a man of whom she vTas fond and 
v'ho later w'as the cause of her undoing. 
After her life story had been given to the physician 
and all these matters had been explained, she saw a man 
sitting in a grove masturbating. Aside from a slight 
feeling of shock and disgust, she had no disturbance 
from this incident. 
From about the time of her marriage she had a feel- 
ing of curiosity and repulsion in regard to male genitals. 
She told her husband of this, and he wTas careful not 
to expose himself before her. If her husband or one of 
her boys or a male guest wrent to the bathroom to 
urinate, she had a feeling of disgust and a strong erotic 
feeling. At the age of seventeen, she awroke one night PSYCHO-ANALYSIS AND SOCIETY 
51 
having violent sensations immediately culminating in 
an orgasm. Immediately she had a feeling of shame, 
disgust, terror, and utter unworthiness. Similar oc- 
currences resulted in similar feelings, and she soon be- 
gan to have erotic feelings when awake, and soon 
learned their meaning and began to masturbate occa- 
sionally when the feelings were too intense to be con- 
trolled. On every occasion there was the greatest re- 
pugnance and fear of physical and moral calamity. 
About this time she read Pierce's quack literature, heard 
risque stories from a girl, read Eve's Daughters by 
Marion Harland, and Know Thyself, all of which made 
her redouble her efforts to abandon masturbation, and 
she was successful at about the time of her engagement, 
one and one-half years before her marriage. Both she 
and her fiance had strong erotic excitement during their 
engagement, but neither for a moment thought of yield- 
ing to these feelings. 
After her marriage, on account of an imperforate 
hymen or a disproportion in the size of the organs, 
complete intercourse was impossible for a period of 
three months; but they did not know enough to con- 
sult a physician. The husband attained an orgasm 
frequently from contact, and on these occasions she 
had extreme excitement and a great deal of pain, but 
no orgasm. Undoubtedly the patience and considerate- 
ness of the husband prevented serious nervous collapse 
at this time. Shortly after three months, she became 
pregnant and for about two weeks they had intercourse 
daily with complete satisfaction to both. Then, fol- 
lowing the dictates of Tokology, intercourse was of 
rare occurrence during pregnancy and there was none 
for two months after confinement. Then, as she was 
delicate and nervous, to avoid an early repetition of 52 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
pregnancy they delayed intercourse two weeks after 
each menstruation and then indulged three or four 
times a night for five nights. Occasional relief was 
had at other times by pressure of the penis against 
the clitoris until both had an orgasm. Rarely she 
masturbated him. 
Eight years after her marriage the husband became 
ill from a double valvular heart lesion. They were told 
that he must have no excitement, and they interpreted 
this to include sexual excitement. They began to oc- 
cupy separate rooms, and she made every effort to con- 
ceal any erotic feelings. After six months of total 
abstinence, they began to have intercourse on the rarest 
occasions, though both he and she suffered extremely 
from deprivation for the few years that her husband 
lived. Both were very nervous, but perfectly har- 
monious. She had almost constant desire, but con- 
cealed it from him and despised herself for having such 
feelings when her husband wras ill. When he was greatly 
excited she avoided intercourse by telling him that she 
was tired or ill or did not wrant it. She had occasional 
voluptuous dreams but never masturbated during her 
married life. 
Not long after his death, sexual feelings returned and 
kept increasing in frequency, and she had to resort to 
masturbation occasionally, but always with the great- 
est shame and remorse. She met a man older than 
she, with whom she became friendly, and he tried to 
help her loneliness and, it might be said, paid her some 
little attention. After a time, he told her abruptly 
that he enjoyed their friendship but that he did not 
care enough in the right way for her or any woman 
to marry. During this friendship, there was no in- 
crease in erotic excitement. The friendship continued PSYCHO-ANALYSIS AND SOCIETY 
53 
after this declaration, but she became very lonely and, 
to prevent herself from brooding, and to do some good 
in the world she entertained, perfectly conventionally, 
another man who promptly fell in love with her, and 
after a time they were engaged. 
All her life, as a result of her mother's criticisms, 
she had felt that she was stupid, unattractive, and that 
no one cared for her. Though this feeling had disap- 
peared to some extent during her married life, it had 
reappeared in full force after the declaration of the 
friend mentioned above. This second man's evident 
love and respect for her induced a strong emotional 
state. After a time he said that, as they were engaged 
and both suffering, intercourse was all right and he 
tried to induce her to think as he did. She knew bet- 
ter and resisted any advances of this nature, though 
she was so situated that she could not escape him and 
had to submit to many lover-like attentions all calcu- 
lated to excite her erotic nature. Finally, as much out 
of sympathy for him and his sufferings as from the 
stress of great desire, she consented to a relation which, 
though external contact only, and never complete in- 
tercourse, finally resulted in her pregnancy. Mutual 
orgasms were obtained as the result of contact from 
time to time. On each and every occasion, she resisted 
to the best of her ability, his attempts at excitation, 
but finally succumbed in some instances. He also tried 
to break off these relations, and both, as a prophylactic 
to their intense desires when together, tried masturba- 
tion before their meetings. Neither thought there was 
any danger of conception, and after her condition was 
discovered, no further relations were had. 
Circumstances were such that they could not marry. 
He offered repeatedly to marry her, but now insisted 54 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
that she go away with him and leave her children. 
She felt that she could not sacrifice them, and besides 
now she saw a side of his character altogether new to 
her. He blamed her, insisted that she had ruined his 
career, and left her to take all initiative and responsi- 
bility incident to her condition. She took medicine, at 
his suggestion, to bring on the menses, and tried, on 
her own account, by attaining the orgasm several times, 
to restore her monthly sicknesses. 
The other details of this history are unessential. 
Always nervous and having had several severe attacks 
of depression, she now had the worst one of all. She 
procured a loaded revolver, which she attempted sev- 
eral times to use, but at the last moment her courage 
failed her. She now fell into my hands and my treat- 
ment was quite simple. After learning the history, 
which took two or three days, I admired and agreed 
with her ethical notions, but allowed somewhat for her 
ignorance of sex matters and foi* her temptations and 
provocations. I told her that, under the circum- 
stances, she could have, many times in her life, obtained 
auto-erotic relief, and could do so still, with perfect 
justification, from any sane, biological, ethical, or re- 
ligious code. I respected her more than I did many 
ostensibly virtuous married ladies, and I told her so. 
I sympathized with her deeply and let her know it. 
My wife treated her as she would a sister. The morbid 
ideas in regard to male sex organs, I removed in about 
twenty minutes, according to her statement. I simply 
took some anatomical charts and explained to her in 
a general way the functions, relations, and states of 
the male and female generative organs just as I might 
have instructed her in astronomical, botanical, or in 
physiological facts and I showed her the natural psy- PSYCHO-ANALYSIS AND SOCIETY 
55 
chological sequence between the several incidents and 
the morbid ideas, assuring her that, given the same 
premises, such ideas were as likely to come to me or any 
one else as to her. She gave up ideas of the revolver 
and took up her life again with a measure of self- 
respect and a determination to live in the present and 
in prospect rather than in retrospect. 
In this case, added to the ordinary neglect of affec- 
tive development in early years, there had been her 
mother's constant criticisms which tended to inhibit all 
self-expression. Utter lack of sex knowledge and un- 
fortunate incidents and situations did the rest. After 
her restoration to health, her erotic feelings though 
recurring at intervals were less frequent and no 
stronger than in the ordinary married or unmarried 
woman of her age and temperament. Her former sex- 
ual preoccupation entirely disappeared. Of course 
this isolated case would prove little except as being 
a sample of scores of young, middle-aged, and elderly 
persons of both sexes whom I could cite. 
Her struggles toward continence remind us of sim- 
ilar attempts to preserve what was thought to be a state 
of personal purity by numerous men and women in the 
Middle Ages. Undoubtedly, if the minutiae of their pri- 
vate lives were all known, we should find that all, as we 
know was the case with many of them, were forced to 
recognize nature or fell below their ideals at times 
much as she did. Her point of view and struggle for 
purity are shown in her horror at voluptuous dreams, 
in the fierce struggle against auto-erotism, in her self- 
control during her husband's sickness, and in the long 
fight before she succumbed to the insidious male when 
lonely, striving to repress sex, at the acme of her sex- 
ual life, he reinforced propinquity and sympathy with 56 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
violent and sophistical protestations of love and desire. 
The fact that she was desirable to a man for whom 
she at first had great admiration and after she had be- 
gun to accept finally her mother's statements as to her 
unattractiveness and undesirableness, helped much in 
her undoing. 
The futility and unwisdom of one of this lady's nature 
attempting to forego all sex expression seem obvious. 
But what shall we advise? No one, unless still sub- 
servient to tradition, will advise promiscuity. Advice 
to a woman to marry is often null and void. When, as 
is often the case, more than nocturnal involuntary sex 
expression is needed to preserve health and sanity and 
conventional purity, there is no alternative, I have 
many times unblushingly, as in this case, advised tem- 
perate auto-erotism as safe and sane and without vio- 
lence to self-respect or sane ethics. This has done 
away with omnipresent desire, which is the token of the 
cumulative action of the sex instinct in the rigidly 
continent, who are still virile. It has improved physi- 
cal health and restored nervous balance and quietude. 
The recipients of this advice are numerous, and they 
grace the best firesides, schools, and churches in puri- 
tanical New England, and the writer is still persona 
grata to these people, many of whom are not only 
patients but respected friends. Those of highest ideals 
have natures often as ardent as those of the lowest. 
Where ideals are low, strong or uncontrollable sex 
emotion finds expression in promiscuity; while those 
possessing high ideals express such sex emotion as is 
difficult or impossible of control auto-erotically, con- 
ceiving this safer for the individual, less injurious to 
society, and more ethical. CHAPTER HI 
THE CASE OF N 
PART I. HISTORY AND THERAPY 
We present the following case, believing that it will 
prove of considerable interest to both pro- and anti- 
Freudians. The physician began the study of the 
neuroses and their relations to sex anomalies at about 
the time Bruer and Freud made their first investiga- 
tions of hysteria and has continued to study and treat 
neurotic and mental cases to the present time. The 
patient, N , is a college graduate, has a university 
degree, and is at present a college professor. In the 
opinion of the physician he is a young man singularly 
pure morally, of keen insight and rare ability. This 
opinion of him is shared by several prominent educa- 
tors. When the case was brought to our attention he 
was twenty-four years of age, of rather retiring na- 
ture and studious habits. After graduating from col- 
lege and being for some time in the university, he had, 
on March 17, 1915, while working in the library, a 
sudden, brief nervous attack, taking the form of an 
intense though very vague feeling of fear or appre- 
hension. He became anxious to get to his room, and 
dreaded going to an informal college banquet scheduled 
for that evening, fearing that he might become ill there 
or would be nervously disturbed by the large crowd. 
Two weeks later, while walking on the street, he be- 
came conscious of a trembling sensation in his limbs 
57 58 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
and felt a strong desire to tell some one that he was 
ill. He considered going into a drugstore near by to 
get some one to accompany him to his room, but did 
not, and after arriving at the room and lying down 
a short time, he felt perfectly natural again, study- 
ing late into the evening without difficulty. 
Three weeks after this experience, while traveling 
on a passenger coach, bound for a week-end home visit, 
N suffered a prolonged attack of fear, which, 
though for the most part still vague and undefined, 
before its cessation clearly involved a fear of impend- 
ing amnesia or other mental calamity. He felt some- 
what confused and, as before, greatly desired to speak 
to some one. At the end of his railroad journey, 
while waiting for a trolley, he considered telephoning 
a physician who he knew would be glad to take him home 
in an automobile, and bought numerous useless small 
articles at a drugstore as a distraction. He also tried 
reading to pass away his time, but could not get in- 
terested or concentrate. This attack, finally merging 
over into a feeling merely of weakness, without fear, 
continued about two hours after N arrived home. 
Returning to the university, the next week he became 
gradually more apprehensive about going out to classes, 
meals, or to any place very far removed from his room. 
Vague fears of a possibly impending onset of confusion 
or amnesia became increasingly persistent. Late in the 
day, with increasing fatigue, he tended to become pes- 
simistic, worrying over the possibility of dementia 
praecox, epilepsy, or other mental disease. Synchro- 
nously with all these fears and worries, there developed 
an especially marked dread of solitude. 
After two weeks of increasing disturbance, N 
decided to give up his studies and W'ent home, suffering THE CASE OF N 
59 
much on the trip from the symptoms already described. 
A week later he went out alone for a walk, but suffering 
markedly from fear and " loneliness," he returned after 
having gone but a short distance. Soon there was a 
similar attack when he was left at home alone one eve- 
ning; and presently attacks were almost certain to 
occur whenever he found himself in solitude or isolated 
among strangers, as in a railway station, church, pub- 
lic hall, strange crowded street, and the like. About 
this time, the fear of self-injury was added to the list, 
and sharp knives, ropes, water and poison became taboo. 
The barber's chair was for a time the curious object 
of one phobia. 
N 's sleep was irregular, appetite poor, with more 
or less indigestion, he lost weight, and found it diffi- 
cult to read or study. A month's rest resulted in in- 
creased physical and mental efficiency, but there seemed 
to be no perceptible improvement of the several phobias; 
if anything, these tended to become more and more 
fixed. Solitude, which invariably came to be the occa- 
sion of any one or all the phobias, became particularly 
intolerable. 
Discouraged by two months of unsuccessful self- 
treatment, on August 15th N consulted the physi- 
cian. In the first conversation he related substantially 
the above history. The physician's experience with 
the neuroses led him at once to a thorough investigation 
of his patient's sex history. N < heartily cooperated 
in this investigation, for some previous contact with the 
Freudian literature had made it clear to him from the 
beginning that his difficulty was in some way associated 
with the sex life. The sex history, as given in the 
physician's case-book, reads: 
Sex history: The patient is a male of 24, with brown 60 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
hair and blue eyes. As a child he was considered frail 
and had indigestion, apparently of nervous origin, and ca- 
tarrh. In reality he seems to have had little serious sick- 
ness and was generally in good health. His father is 
living and well at 70; his mother died at 47, of an obscure 
organic disease of the nervous system. He has a perfectly 
healthy brother and sister. A sister, born about two years 
before the patient, died shortly after birth. At 7 or 8 
years he experienced some degree of pleasure if he urinated 
while having an erection; he was also conscious at times 
of slight erotic sensations in the anal region. He wished 
to ride horseback, but had a great fear of horses. At 11 
he had conscious, though vague, and very slight, local sex 
manifestations. There came to be some association be- 
tween the sight of the rectum and sexual organs of horses 
and his erections, which occurred frequently when he was 
riding in a carriage. At 7 or 8 he once made a series of 
drawings of horses, making prominent the rectum and 
droppings. Severe criticism from his brother put a check 
on this pastime. Once more, however, at 14, he made a 
similar set of drawings, which he contemplated in secret 
with more or less sexual enjoyment. At 15 he began to 
have more erections and emissions; at 20, awaking from a 
nap in a hammock, having a strong erection, he accidentally 
discovered masturbation. Following this there was marked 
sexual excitement and masturbation about once in ten days. 
Later the interval was reduced to a week, though occasion- 
ally the period would be two weeks. 
For five months preceding his first nervous attack, the 
patient had masturbated two or three times a week. After 
this attack sex excitement tended to diminish, and during 
the three months beginning May 8th he masturbated but 
two or three times. Emissions, since their first appearance, 
have varied in frequency from three times a week to once 
in two weeks. From the first he was ashamed of mastur- 
bation, and was in constant fear of mental and physical 
injury, especially fearing that it would unfit him for mar- 
riage, either through direct impotence or through some 
nervous complication which would make marriage undesir- 
able. He was also greatly concerned on the ethical side, 
as he considered masturbation a very serious moral trans- THE CASE OF N 
61 
gression. He has never indulged in nor contemplated 
promiscuous sex relations; moral scruples, not fear of dis- 
ease, being the restraining influence. His sexual dreams, 
preceding emissions, have nearly always been of horses, 
the image being of a horse's rectum in the process of de- 
fecation. The stages of the emission were synchronous 
with the stages of defecation. Since beginning to mastur- 
bate at 20 he has usually had images of girls' faces when 
masturbating, but at times the image of an emission as 
above described would displace the idea of the opposite sex. 
Masturbation was always partly a psychic and partly a 
physical act. Cheap vaudeville and any literature relating 
to sex always excited him more or less sexually. He was 
satisfied before consulting the physician that his sex worry 
and his neurosis were intimately associated. 
Shortly after the first conversation, it was discovered 
that the patient had a long redundant and narrow prepuce, 
with a tight restricting band about one inch from the distal 
extremity. This was so tight that the glans was exposed 
only with great difficulty when the organ was flaccid and 
its exposure was not possible during erection. This condi- 
tion was treated by forcible dilatation of the prepuce, which 
was repeated several times, and shortly after all trouble dis- 
appeared, the glans moving freely in and out of the prepuce 
whatever the state of the organ. The restriction, though 
undoubtedly at times tending to aggravate sexual excite- 
ment, appears to have had no direct bearing upon the 
neurosis. 
The intimate connection of the past sex worry and 
the present neurosis was very evident to the physician, 
and the most recent sex disturbances, the masturbation 
worries, seemed to be the first to treat. In many cases 
these are all that it is necessary to treat, apparently 
being the sole basis of the neurosis. In this case, how- 
ever, it seemed clear from the longstanding horse-sex 
complex that there was something beyond this in child- 
hood experience. 
For nearly three years N had been in constant 62 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
fear of the physical and mental results of masturba- 
tion, especially the mental. Long fearing that his 
mother's trouble had been mental, he now felt that 
hereditary disposition coupled with his practice would 
make some direful result absolutely certain. Self- 
condemnation of his moral culpability was constant and 
he had thoroughly convinced himself that he was prac- 
tically unique in being addicted to this habit. He 
thought he saw, in lassitude, in indigestion, in physical 
weakness, and in indisposition to study, the beginning 
of mental and physical ruin. Directly preceding his 
nervous attack, his efforts at abandoning masturbation 
were redoubled, but with only partial success. For a 
time after the onset of the neurosis there was more 
frequent masturbation, despite attempts to check it 
and a greater fear than ever of consequences. 
By the aid of some manuscript which the physician 
had at hand, he was able very quickly to give the pa- 
tient his views on masturbation, and by quoting many 
cases to give some authority to them. The briefest 
statement of the physician's point of view, omitting the 
facts underlying them, which were included in the 
manuscript,1 are here given, that the reader may un- 
derstand the whole treatment: 
Masturbation is practically universal, that is, it is 
practised for a time by virtually every male and by 
nearly every female. It is also practised by most of 
the lower animals, especially if the sexes be segregated. 
There is uncontrovertible proof of this. Masturbation 
is needlessly worried over by most young men and by 
many young women. It is at first a more or less in- 
stinctive part of the sexual development of children 
i This manuscript has recently appeared in book form. See 
Robie: Rational Sex Ethics. Boston, Badger, 1916. THE CASE OF N 
63 
and adolescents, and later, if marriage does not super- 
vene, it is, as Ellis says, the most normal manifestation 
possible in abnormal social conditions. Yielding to 
an imperious, all-commanding instinct, moderately, in 
the safest, sanest way, one that does not involve the 
rest of society, but only the individual himself, if the 
motives are right, is neither disgraceful noi' immoral. 
Masturbation as an end in itself may be perverse and 
immoral, possibly in rare cases injurious, but as a 
means to preserve health and sanity or to prevent social 
vice, if practiced faut de mieux it is none of these things. 
Pre-scientific ideas of the soul- and body-destroying 
power of masturbation, medieval medical ideas of its 
causing elipsy, insanity, impotence, et al., are all sheer 
nonsense. This stand is readily proved. 
The patient was further advised to keep his mind 
in healthy channels, to cultivate hard work and legiti- 
mate enthusiasms, to abandon forever as foolish all 
worry over any harm resulting from masturbation, 
to restrain sex manifestations so far as possible with- 
out great suffering or disturbance, and to marry early, 
but only when there should be mutual love and con- 
geniality, not as a means of sexual relief, meantime, 
if sex proved too strong, to masturbate moderately 
rather than to injure himself and society by promiscu- 
ous intercourse. He was advised never to worry about 
this more than about other periodic, more or less fre- 
quent, demands of body and mind. 
Good or bad, the physician's stand was promptly 
recognized and the advice accepted. Masturbation was 
resorted to two or three times a week without fear of 
consequences, and there was immediate and continued 
improvement. 
The treatment was continued by interviews once or 64 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
twice a week, during which endeavor was made to dis- 
cover further factors possibly involved in the neurosis. 
Several of the patient's older dreams were written out 
from memory, while those occurring from night to 
night were carefully preserved and studied. Analysis 
of the earlier dreams revealed very evident signs of the 
masturbation-worry, but in none of the dreams did 
there appear any satisfactory explanation of the horse- 
sex complex, nor was there any explanation of certain 
attacks of diarrhea and indigestion which seemed 
usually to be conditioned by the prospect of, or par- 
ticipation in, social activities. Neither was there any- 
thing to explain sudden attacks of nausea or vomiting 
at meal time whenever certain unpleasant family asso- 
ciations had been aroused. The chief function of the 
later dreams seems to have been in indicating the prog- 
ress of the treatment, nearly every dream being in the 
nature of a " review " of the case to date, with the 
most urgent current fears and worries playing the 
most prominent role. A selection of the more charac- 
teristic dreams, with analyses, is presented in Part II 
of this article. 
The mystery and obscurity surrounding his mother's 
death, occurring when he was thirteen, had led N 
to believe she had been afflicted with a transmissible 
mental disease. His people having always referred to 
him as " just like his mother," he easily argued, as we 
have noted, that both predisposition and evil habit 
would make insanity inevitable. Still further confirm- 
ing these fears was his alleged " queerness " as a child. 
It had also been impressed upon him that ordinary ca- 
tarrh, or bad teeth, or " too much religion " might 
lead to mental trouble. He had read somewhere that 
the average period of sanity for the masturbator was THE CASE OF N 
65 
three years; it is significant that his neurosis developed 
at about the end of a three-year period. Suicide was 
feared either as a result of insanity, or because it 
might be resorted to in a desperate moment to antici- 
pate the supposedly certain mental breakdown. The 
traditional literature stating that masturbators at 
length are generally driven to suicide contributed much 
to this fear, as had also a recent newspaper account 
describing the spectacular suicide of a man who had 
left behind a note warning boys of the " inevitable 
consequences of certain bad practices." 
Certain phobias peculiar to public places and social 
activities appear to have arisen in the first instance 
from the patient's habit of comparison of himself with 
defectives and derelicts, it appearing logical in the 
light of his traditional knowledge that most of these 
were brought to their low estate by the " certain bad 
practice." Again, he had read with concern of many 
respectable people being found in railway stations or 
other public places suffering from amnesia or other 
mental disturbance. At dances he had for some time 
feared there might develop uncontrollable sex mani- 
festations. Sex excitement induced by the theatre had 
often been followed by masturbation. Some one had 
informed him that practically all chorus men were 
masturbators, or otherwise sexually abnormal, and that 
a certain theatrical manager was reputed to be able to 
identify a masturbator the moment he stepped into his 
office. This seemed to confirm the traditional belief 
that the practice was easily betrayed by a character- 
istic whine of the voice, dullness of eye, or through some 
other facial or bodily characteristic. At church, at 
lectures, at public events generally there had been espe- 
cially unhappy comparisons when attending with a 66 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
young woman as companion, or when there were young 
women present, for there, in a mood of self-abasement, 
N would reflect upon his delinquencies, which he 
argued had long since rendered him unfit equally for 
present company and future marriage. 
During a part of one of the masturbation years, 
N : had occasion to travel much alone, and while 
on the train or at hotels he was much given to com- 
paring himself unfavorably with other travelers. He 
also became sensitive about the isolation of traveling 
alone, fearing that perhaps this condition favored more 
frequent masturbation; and as the habit continued very 
persistently he came to worry much about a possible 
serious climax while so far away from home. On 
earlier trips he customarily indulged in pleasant day 
dreams as he looked out upon the landscape, but when 
traveling now his reflections tended to degenerate into 
a pessimistic self-condemnatory state of mind. The 
vibration of the Pullman cars at times acted as a sex 
stimulant, and there was consequent repression and 
occasional masturbation. As he went from place to 
place, each change of scene, though welcomed as the 
harbinger of new resolves, actually became the occasion 
of increased conflict in which these resolves were destined 
to early collapse. The tendency to hesitate before 
undeniably perilous solitary jaunts in the mountains 
or through forests, though perfectly justifiable, he ac- 
credited almost exclusively to his " lack of nerve " re- 
sulting from masturbation. 
The investigation of the foregoing fears completely 
disposed of the relation between them and masturba- 
tion. Not only were the data collected by the physi- 
cian useful in dispelling the fears, but an obvious and 
irrefutable argument came to exist in the patient's THE CASE OF N 
67 
mind, for it was evident that, since he had resumed occa- 
sional masturbation without remorse or fear of injury 
he had constantly increased in weight, he was unques- 
tionably stronger and more fit physically than at any 
former time in his life, he was sleeping better, his 
appetite wTas improved, he was optimistic and ambitious 
for mental application, and he had the conviction that 
his ability to concentrate and accomplish was possibly 
even greater than formerly. 
In spite of all this improvement and the entire ab- 
sence of masturbation worries, however, the phobias 
did not entirely subside. An onset of fear or confu- 
sion would come on less frequently than heretofore, but 
yet often enough to be disquieting. The influence of 
childhood sex experiences as a factor in the causation 
and prolongation of the phobias was predicted. 
A more detailed account of the remembered child- 
hood experiences was now obtained, especially those 
bearing on the horse-sex complex, and they are here 
transcribed regardless of repetition. The origin of 
the sex excitement produced by seeing horses and of 
the sex dreams involving horses could not be ascer- 
tained at this time, though the subject wTas thoroughly 
discussed in the hope of finding a solution. As a child, 
sex excitement occurred whenever N watched 
horses in the stable, on the street, or when riding. 
Aftei' puberty his sex dreams all involved horses, yet at 
the same time, as always, he was afraid of horses. He 
was constantly fearful of the possibility of being called 
upon at home to harness or to drive, and long walks 
were frequently taken at harnessing-time with the ex- 
press purpose of avoiding any such possibility. At 
the age of seven, as already mentioned, he made draw- 
ings of horses in which the anal region and feces were 68 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
prominent. His older brother scolded him severely for 
this, yet at fourteen he felt impelled, though conscious 
of wrong-doing, to make similar more elaborate draw- 
ings which he contemplated with pleasure in secret. 
He was also prone to draw, throughout childhood, en- 
gines and cars, and to play at building railroads and 
running trains. A favorite play for years was to pic- 
ture himself as the engine and thus run noisily up and 
down the sidewalk. It would seem that his recently 
developed fear of railroad trains, stations, and the 
like might, in addition to the reasons given in connec- 
tion with masturbation, have childhood roots from as- 
sociation and identification of the horse, which was to 
him a means of locomotion, an object of fear, and a 
strong sex stimulant, with the engine (" iron horse ") 
or train, also a means of locomotion and of sex stimu- 
lation. The substitution of the fear of the engine, train 
and everything connected therewith would thus be jus- 
tified as being a much more bearable idea than the 
revolting horse-sex association. 
In childhood the horse became, through its sexual 
significance, the source of both the patient's greatest 
pleasure and greatest fear. In late adolescence his 
greatest pleasure and greatest fear came from mastur- 
bation. This double sexual conflict of pleasure and 
fear inevitably gave rise to a very intense mental con- 
flict. When the masturbation conflict overshadowed 
and practically usurped the horse-sex conflict, imag- 
ery of girls' faces appeared in the sex dreams instead 
of horses, and the fear of horses tended to decrease 
as the fear of masturbation increased. Then when the 
emotion of the later conflict became intolerable, there 
was a sudden reversion to the childhood horse-sex con- 
flict, which, however, undergoing an automatic substi- THE CASE OF N 
69 
tution, appeared as the phobia of railroad travel. A 
similar process was involved in the development of the 
phobias centered about the trolleys, boating, walking, 
and even in those phobias, previously described, not 
necessarily involving locomotion. During the early 
horse-sex struggle, for example, it was the patient's 
habit, when the family planned a drive, to go himself, 
if possible, on the trolley, thus avoiding occasions when 
he might be expected to drive or to handle horses in 
some other way. Likewise, when the family was on a 
picnic at a lake near by, he would go out in a boat at 
times when he might be expected to help harness. 
Walking, as once noted, also served as an escape from 
possible stable duties. It is possible to find an early 
childhood " escape " paralleling every later phobia. 
Even the phobias most intimately and obviously asso- 
ciated with the recent masturbation conflict, like the 
fear of being left alone at home, have their further 
basis in certain elements of the childhood conflict: in 
earlier years, to follow out the example of the fear of 
being alone, when left alone at home, N had often 
struggled against the temptation to go to the stable 
to watch the horses, while at the same time there was 
a more or less continual fear that he might be called 
upon in an emergency to harness or care for them in 
some way. 
Some time before the advent of the neurosis, but yet 
far enough into the masturbation period to become 
much bound up with it, N , mainly through pro- 
pinquity, had formed a more or less intimate friend- 
ship with a certain Miss Z , a young woman of some 
physical attractiveness, but whose mental and social 
attainments, together with a decidedly unpredictable 
disposition, occasioned no little degree of dissatisfac- 70 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
tion. Not only did she become the innocent focus of 
many unhappy self-abasing reflections, but throughout 
the friendship N had suffered many misgivings as 
to whether she were a truly dependable friend, or were 
merely treating him politically for the purpose of se- 
curing a tolerable and reasonably generous social es- 
cort. A previous friend or two had been treated 
rather cavalierly. Miss Z seemed to demand ex- 
clusive attention, yet her own privilege and habit was 
to be as unexclusive as might be. N 's friends, 
observing the exclusiveness, feared serious intent, and 
had long been critical of Miss Z 's alleged many 
short-comings. The physician, knowing little other 
than N 's onesided view of the situation, assumed a 
strictly neutral role. N himself, thoroughly cog- 
nizant of the many unhappy associations clustered 
about Miss Z , and realizing that a continued irri- 
tating friendship with her was prolonging the neurosis, 
would have ended the friendship at once; but such a 
change meant a considerable reduction of a social dis- 
traction in many ways highly desirable, and, with 
characteristic neurotic indecision, N was unable 
suddenly to adopt a new course. 
A further cause of deferred recovery was found within 
the patient's home circle, wrhere an elder member of the 
family, particularly associated with an unusually dis- 
agreeable family estrangement, apparently failing to 
understand the neurotic mind, gradually became more 
and more critical of the patient's long illness and the 
physician's " senseless " methods of treatment. For 
several years, N had been much concerned over the 
estrangement, and now of course the whole affair be- 
came especially aggravating. But there was no way 
of " explaining away " or remedying the situation, nor THE CASE OF N 
71 
was there for the time being any other convenient place 
of residence for the patient. The dining table con- 
tinued to be the bete-noir for N , now, even as it 
had been in childhood, when at sundry times at table, 
he had been joked for his " queerness," for being " like 
his mother," or had been upbraided for his fear of 
horses, aversion for the family business, and various 
other faults great and small. At the present time, with 
these old associations furnishing excellent soil for neu- 
rotic seed, when unpleasant allusions to the family 
estrangement were made, it often reacted on N to 
produce nausea, vomiting, or other digestive disturb- 
ance. 
The foregoing are all the essential points of the 
patient's history obtained up to October 1, 1915. 
Two childhood episodes, not yet discovered, were now 
predicted, a first fundamental to the horse-sex conflict, 
and another determining the anal region as a mildly 
erogenous zone and associating the whole digestive ap- 
paratus with sex. Presently a fortuitous circumstance 
favored us. One day, while throwing a rope over a 
limb in tree-trimming work the patient suddenly re- 
called a former family hired man who had hanged him- 
self in the woods shortly before his intended marriage. 
This long-standing association might in part explain 
the patient's fear of the woods and solitude. How- 
ever that may be, the memory of the hanging episode 
led the patient to a talk with his father, in which the 
latter was reminded of two of N 's early childhood 
experiences. First, when three years old, while riding 
in an old style " gig/' the mare became unmanageable 
and he was thrown violently so that his private parts 
struck against the buttocks of the mare. Second, 
shortly after this, during an attack of gastritis, it 72 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
became impossible, on account of his cries and strug- 
gles, to feed him by the mouth, and he was for a time 
given enemas of liquid food. During the neurosis, it 
is to be noted, the patient often felt like crying when 
at table. 
After the disposition of these incidents it was as- 
sumed that all of any importance had been discovered, 
and occasional talks between physician and patient 
were had for a time for the purpose of suggestion and 
reeducation. N continued for some weeks to be 
timid about starting out alone for a walk, but one or 
two experiences without phobias soon restored him to 
nearly his original self-confidence. One much dreaded, 
but thoroughly successful experience in being left alone 
at home was sufficient to eliminate another phobia. 
The fears of self-injury, of social excitement, of crowds, 
etc., tended gradually to disappear. With each suc- 
cessful experience the physician hastened to assure 
N that he (the physician) thoroughly believed that 
all the phobias had in reality disappeared, but that very 
possibly some occasional disturbance might persist for 
a while because of the many life-long conflicts and 
fears. In spite of the unpleasant family situation, the 
temporary lack of vocation (though a responsible posi- 
tion had been accepted), and in spite of continued irri- 
tation arising from the Z friendship, N now 
appeared mentally normal and physically robust. 
The travel phobia remained more or less persistent, 
but N presently suggested that he attempt a trip 
alone to a city near by. This trip was anticipated 
for several days with little or no apprehension, but 
when the actual moment of departure by train ap- 
proached, a severe attack of nausea and vomiting came 
on without apparent physical cause. A second attempt THE CASE OF N 
73 
to start was made the same day, but this, though un- 
accompanied by nausea, was the occasion of sufficient 
emotional disturbance to deter him from the trip. 
Some days of weakness and discouragement followed. 
N , at about this time being called upon to make 
an urgent business trip to New York City, consulted 
the physician as to the advisability of such a trip, if 
accompanied by a companion. Both physician and 
N had some misgivings regarding the companion, 
fearing that there might be a tendency in such pam- 
pering to make N more dependent than ever in 
matters of travel; but the trip finally was made with 
another person, and proved in every way to be suc- 
cessful. Very shortly after this traveling alone on 
railroad or trolley became quite uneventful, save for 
an occasional vague anxiety accompanying the first 
trips and appearing once or twice again later, when 
N was exceptionally fatigued. 
Presently the unsatisfactory Z friendship was 
brought to a close without serious jar to either party, 
and, within a fortnight of the New York trip, early in 
April, 1916, the patient returned to his university, re- 
suming the full burden of work without difficulty. Fre- 
quent errands into the business section of the city in 
which the university is situated soon dispelled the anx- 
ieties associated with crowds and city excitement. As 
successful experiences accumulated to give N a new 
mental background, self-confidence and optimism in- 
creased rapidly to a wholesome, normal level, which has 
now been maintained for considerably more than a 
year. 
Several interesting questions arise from this case. 
The physician's ability, particularly, to discuss them, 
and his point of view with the reasons therefor, could 74 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
perhaps be better judged from the monograph already 
mentioned, as it embodies the results of many years of 
experience along these lines. His views, however, to- 
gether with those of his collaborator, are here reiter- 
ated and discussed more specifically in reference to the 
case in hand. 
The case of N certainly shows that a psycho- 
analysis, in the strictly Freudian sense, is not always 
necessary, even in severe neuroses and psychoneuroses. 
The procedure here may be called psycho-analysis, but 
more correctly psychological analysis, after Janet. 
Parenthetically, we consider that, though Freud and 
his school are bold discoverers and insatiable collectors, 
it needs such men as Pierre Janet and Morton Prince 
to verify the discoveries and to assort the collections. 
There is no question in this case but that there were 
traumatisms and conflicts. The " double " idea is un- 
usual. The two parallel sets of conflicts served to 
prolong the case and to make it more difficult, but one 
hardly need call attention to the fact that no impor- 
tant matter had to be extracted from the subconscious, 
save, possibly, the gig incident and the experiences 
with rectal feeding, which were predicted with accuracy 
and arrived at adventitiously in the course of the pa- 
tient's talks with his father. Moreover, it is probable 
that no amount of psycho-analysis would have revealed 
these two experiences. It was tried. Dreams were 
studied and analyzed, and if the patient had proved 
reticent (or, following more closely the scientific vernac- 
ular, " shown great resistances ") much could have 
been learned from them. Still, nothing we found led 
to these two episodes. Oui* assumption is that at the 
tender age of two or three years these experiences, THE CASE OF N 
75 
though producing such a profound effect upon the or- 
ganism as to establish an indelible physiological im- 
pression, there is extreme improbability of their in- 
volving consciousness to the extent of establishing a 
disagreeable memory needing later expurgation or re- 
pression into the subconscious. If this point is well 
taken, the analysis has been sufficiently complete. 
When all had been discovered and explained, there was 
not an instant dispersion of all fear and apprehension. 
Neither would there be such a result, ordinarily, unless 
the neurosis was of a mild and superficial type. Many 
competent writers, despite Freudian disapproval, would 
agree with us that a complete Freudian catharsis and 
abreaction leaves the patient psychically as weak as 
he would be physically after the analogous physical 
catharsis, and that this Freudian method seldom pre- 
cludes the necessity for suggestion and reeducation. 
The doctrine of polymorphous perversion of child 
sexuality in this case seems to have some refutation. 
One could hardly say that perverse tendencies existed, 
ab origine, after learning the two incidents which gave 
the sex manifestations a seemingly perverse direction. 
From time immemorial shyness, bashfulness, lack of 
confidence, misanthropy, and much more have been 
called the universal heritage of the masturbator. But 
here note that the individual under consideration was 
always, in his early years, solitary, shy, " queer," and, 
in a way, proud of his peculiarities; note also, how- 
ever, that he never masturbated until twenty years old, 
and that after this there occurred a transmogrification 
of all these former characteristics into those of the 
thoroughly normal young adult male, and at the time 
of recovery, though he still masturbated as necessity 76 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
occasionally demanded, there was nothing in his man- 
ner, bearing or physique to distinguish him from any 
good young American. 
The Freudian esoteric, on the pinnacle of fancied 
scientific isolation, pursues indefinitely and indefatig- 
ably the chimera of submerged, repressed, subconscious 
memory, while the veriest tyro, endowed with common 
sense and humanity, may, with slight effort, wrest these 
important facts from the conscious mind of the patient 
at one sitting. This is meant as no derogation of the 
sub-conscious, co-conscious or un-conscious, for Prince, 
Freud, Janet, and others have demonstrated and, to a 
certain extent, delimited this important region of the 
psyche beyond peradventure, and even the refinement 
of the ultra-Freudian analysis may undoubtedly at 
times be requisite. Perhaps only a rural free lance in 
neurology, who has no traditions, can say that at least 
half the cases where strict Freudian technique has been 
observed, needed but a sympathetic listener who first 
convinced the patient that he wished to help him, that 
he knew how to help him, and that he would hold his 
confidences inviolate. 
While we do not wish to pose as experts in dream 
interpretation, we may perhaps be permitted a few 
observations in this connection, observations which 
could well be illustrated by many dreams of both neu- 
rotic and normal people which we have at hand, but 
which the reader will find quite sufficiently illustrated 
in the unique collection of N 's dreams in Part II. 
It would appear that by no means are all dreams for 
the purpose of fulfilling disguised wishes, but many 
times serve rather to digest, to codify, and to assimi- 
late much of the recent material which has entered the 
dreamer's waking consciousness. (Note the " review " THE CASE OF N 
77 
dreams.) While many dreams are frankly or dis- 
guisedly sexual, many, even in neurotics, whose minds 
have a sexual preoccupation, are concerned with en- 
tirely indifferent subjects. Many sexual dreams of 
adults are uncensored in large measure and tendencies 
which the dreamer would indignantly disclaim in his 
waking state appear in his dreams. No OEdipus com- 
plex has been revealed in this case; its lack also in other 
cases coming under our observation would seem to make 
its universality extremely doubtful. The suggestive 
therapy of the analyst distinctly modifies, perhaps even 
makes, many of the patient's dreams. (Note Dream 
XLVII.) Transference, as evidenced in some of these 
dreams, occurs between man and man just as it occurs 
between woman and man, and while it may, if the analyst 
is willing or careless, assume a sexual significance, it 
is ordinarily sans libido, and its synonym is confidence. 
Though some strict Freudians may consider our later 
interpretations fragmentary or crude, the fact that 
the patient's history was freely given before the dreams 
were analyzed, that there were few or no resistances, 
that the dreamer himself was interested and in some de- 
gree qualified to obtain a correct interpretation, that 
he recovered completely - a result which is possible, 
according to Freud's school, only when the analysis 
is correct and complete,- all would make it seem super- 
fluous to inject more or different sex meaning into the 
dreams than now appears, though many similar dreams 
of suggestible people, analyzed by a rigorous Freudian 
standard and symbolism, would doubtless be claimed to 
show delinquencies and departures from the norm far 
greater than those we have indicated. An inherent 
pragmatic tendency renders us loath to accept in its 
entirety any system of dream interpretation or of 78 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
neuro-therapeusis. Every system has some elements 
of truth and none have all. Many times Freud's re- 
ductive method proves efficacious, but we refuse to be- 
lieve in a symbolization universally applicable to all 
dreams. 
At a later stage in reeducation the long-circuiting, 
sublimating, constructive method of Jung is apparently 
correct. In many dreams of people ignorant or edu- 
cated, normal or neurotic, something like the recon- 
structive method of Horton appears to give the only 
legitimate analysis of the dream. We definitely at- 
tempt to make plain that a pragmatic, eclectic, utilita- 
rian criterion is more satisfactory, at least from the 
patient's standpoint, than lofty scientific' ideals or ab- 
stract discussions. The whole question seems to be 
largely a matter of method, and while inductive meth- 
ods seem generally the more accurate, we cannot deny 
entirely the value of a priori reasoning. This latter 
theoretical method of the idealist was formerly adopted 
to the exclusion of all practical observation, but now 
induction tries to stifle all that transcends observation. 
James and Aristotle, both excellent men, suggested a 
middle course. The middle of the road may give bet- 
ter perspective than either side, and it is certainly safer 
where ruffians infest the hedges. Why abandon either 
soul or body? If there are two, neither can be aban- 
doned with impunity. Then again, if our philosophy 
is monistic, we must still consider both sides of the 
shield. Why not lay less stress on psychoanalysis or 
other methods in the treatment of neurotics and select 
the method which works most clearly to the advantage 
of the patient? Perhaps we may approach unity in 
that way as well as or better thaq by attempting to THE CASE OF N 
79 
demonstrate the pet theories with which we have be- 
come enamored. 
A few weeks after N 's complete recovery, he re- 
marked, upon meeting the physician, that he consid- 
ered the Freudian analysis which he had undergone 
rather of the nature of a " scaffolding " than the real 
constructive w'ork in his treatment. In pharmacolog- 
ical terms, it might have been called a " vehicle." He 
considered the analysis to have been necessary, of 
course, in order that the physician's suggestions might 
be intelligent and germain, but had come to consider, 
as he looked upon the case in retrospect, that the sug- 
gestions rather than the analysis, had been the principal 
therapeutic agents leading to recovery. He had come 
to believe, furthermore, that the " scaffolding " should 
always be removed immediately after it had served its 
purpose, just as one removes the staging after shingling 
his house. The physician is confident that these con- 
clusions were arrived at independently of his own, 
though his own are similar. Let us agree that psycho- 
analysis, or psychological analysis, are both attempts 
to get at what is in the mind, regardless of whether it 
is in the conscious mind of us all, the co-conscious of 
Prince, the sub-conscious of Janet, or the un-conscious 
of Freud. The physician cheerfully admits that his 
method is simpler and involves less technique than the 
Freudian psychoanalysis, and his only claim for its 
advantage is that it saves time, is less elaborate and 
disturbs the patient much less than the more erudite 
method. 
It is always necessary to remember, in dealing with 
neurotics, that we may create a new introspection neu- 80 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
rosis while we are getting rid of the original disturb- 
ance. This patient, N , having a twofold trouble 
of long standing, considerable time, much questioning, 
and careful introspection were necessarily involved in 
the treatment. After everything necessary for a cure 
had been revealed, the patient became more anxious than 
the physician lest something had been overlooked, not- 
withstanding his familiarity with psychological litera- 
ture. Much more than in this case neurotic people of 
lesser attainments continue to worry and introspect in 
a never-ending seeking for some trivial factor which 
might have been of some moment in the causation of 
the neurosis. This habit of introspection may prove 
more difficult to eradicate than the original neurosis. 
Though the physician had been for years on guard 
against this very thing and did not relax his vigilance 
in this case, some time elapsed and some difficulties were 
met before the habits of constant seeking and persist- 
ent introspection were overcome. In fine, it required 
time and effort to remove the "scaffolding" used in 
this case, for to have left it would have been unsightly 
if not dangerous. It is unquestioned that suggestion 
and reeducation had to be employed constantly for a 
considerable time after the original process of psycho- 
analysis or psychological analysis was complete, the 
suggestion, particularly, serving as a means of remov- 
ing the " scaffolding." It has been observed, not only 
in this, but in many cases, that merely unloading the 
conscious or unconscious mind of its burdens and 
traumas to priest or physician does not effect a com- 
plete cure. What the priest says to his parishioner 
or the physician to his patient, after the facts have 
been obtained by some form of analysis, establishes 
a new trend of thought and a new mental attitude. THE CASE OF N 
81 
These effect the cure. Freud, we are aware, largely 
disregards in his writings the therapeutic value of sug- 
gestion, but in the long seances which he holds with 
his patients he cannot avoid making some suggestions 
to them, although he himself may be unconscious of 
doing so. Any form of analysis, by making physician 
and patient aware of the conditions, builds the " scaf- 
folding " or staging, abreaction sorts the materials, 
while the suggestion of the physician cements them to- 
gether to form a permanent structure. CHAPTER IV 
THE CASE OF N 
PART II. INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS 
Prof. L. C. Day, A.M. 
It is fortunately possible to begin the study of the 
dreams in the case of N with several of the pa- 
tient's dreams which his psychological interest had led 
him to write out and preserve more than a year before 
the neurosis actually developed. N 's records show 
a few fragmentary interpretations which he attempted 
to make at the time, but none of these touch more than 
an occasional obvious repressed wish; in most cases 
clearly dependent upon physical or physiological con- 
ditions. But now, privileged as we are to view these 
dreams in the light of all that has happened since, it is 
a relatively simple matter for us to go beyond N 's 
original attempts, and to discover the deeper symbolism 
of repressed wishes and sexual struggle. 
It will be recalled that the first definite neurotic 
phobic symptoms appeared on March 17, 1915. The 
mental conflict arising from the practice of masturba- 
tion, however, as we noted, had been continuing for 
nearly three years, all the time becoming more intense 
and more intolerable. The only dreams during the 
early portion of this period of which the patient has a 
definite recollection are those characterized by the horse- 
sex images usually preceding or accompanying noc- 
turnal emissions ; but undoubtedly had the other dreams 
been preserved, we should have found a very consid- 
erable number portraving in some symbolic way, the 
82 THE CASE OF N 
83 
mental struggle which was going on more or less per- 
sistently from the date of the first masturbation ex- 
perience. 
The most carefully recorded pre-neurosis dream is 
dated January 26, 1914. Following N 's habit of 
dividing his dreams into so-called " phases," the essen- 
tial details of this dream run thus: 
1. Night. I am lying in the brass bed in the old boys' 
room at home. The bed is not in a natural position, but the 
doors and windows of the room are as usual. 
2. I have a vague notion that a burglar is planning to 
come in through the porch window, at the right, near the 
foot of the bed. It somehow seems that some one has told 
me of his coming. 
3. I lie for a moment half awake and afraid to move, with 
limbs much cramped. 
4. The burglar finally jumps upon the bed at my back, 
as I lie on my left side. The bed now seems to be the one 
at I (where N was then visiting). I pretend to 
sleep, but really I am quite awake. 
5. The burglar presently inserts his revolver in my right 
ear. I speak lightly to myself: "Well! Here goes fifty 
or sixty dollars! " (This amount was actually in N 's 
clothes.) Then I begin to wonder what I shall say to the 
burglar when he fully awakens me. Meantime, the re- 
volver is gradually pressed farther into my ear. I awaken, 
considerably frightened. 
Continuing the phase arrangement in our interpre- 
tation, the first section would seem very clearly to in- 
dicate a reversion to childhood scenes. N , though 
now out of college and in a city about a thousand miles 
from his boyhood home, goes back in his dream to the 
room occupied for several years by himself and an older 
brother. It was in this room that N suffered his 
first experiences with erections. The burglar, indica- 
tive of a more or less characteristic fear of N 's 84 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
early life, well represents the dangers of masturbation, 
while the fact " some one " seems to have told N 
of the burglar's coming would seem to represent the 
body of traditional " scare " literature from which 
N got this idea of danger. The third phase, 
though involving obvious psysiological factors, never- 
theless at the same time symbolizes the painful mental 
situation arising from masturbation; the dreamer, it 
is to be noted, is cramped and cannot move, that is to 
say, cannot stop masturbation. In the fourth phase 
the danger is represented as getting uncomfortably 
near (the burglar jumps upon the bed). The dreamer 
pretends to ignore the fear of danger, but is really cog- 
nizant and quite fearful (pretends sleep but is really 
awake). Finally, in the fifth phase, the situation is 
represented as becoming decidedly critical, with N 
ready to give up freely and as philosophically as pos- 
sible to a habit which is apparently hopeless. The 
money may be taken to symbolize sexual power. 
This first dream is typical of a great number whose 
latent content may be distinctly revealed as centering 
about the persistent worry over masturbation merely 
as a habit. A less common type of dream is the one 
in which masturbation in its relation to the other activ- 
ities of life is the topic concerned. The first type con- 
cerns itself with the more purely " masturbation com- 
plex," while the second involves as well another complex, 
most frequently perhaps an " occupational " complex. 
The following dream is illustrative: 
1. I am in the S high school dressing-room, yet the 
stairway and hall are arranged as those in old T Hall 
at A . The room, too, is partly like the Hall, with 
seats and desks set over near the stage side. School is in 
session. THE CASE OF N 
85 
2. I am having great difficulty with my clothes, which 
are half off, and much tangled. Very vaguely, other young 
fellows in the dressing-room are having similar difficulties. 
3. I enter the schoolroom to the right of the principal's 
desk, stepping towards the blackboard, which is behind the 
desk. I am dressed only in a union suit, and am holding 
my hands high in the air. 
4. I debate with myself for some moments whether such 
is the proper dress for school. It seems that it is not, yet 
I am able to recall dimly a number of occasions when union 
suits have been worn publicly. 
5. I suddenly find myself back in the dressing-room, con- 
fusedly putting on my clothes. Awaken. 
The latent content here is clearly concerned with 
N 's imminent career as a teacher and participant 
in general social life, the composite schoolroom and 
hall being taken as being significant of both teaching 
and broader public activities. The struggle with the 
clothes indicates the dreamer's difficulty with mastur- 
bation, a difficulty serving to confuse and delay him 
just as he is about to enter upon his career. The other 
young men in the dressing-room represent those having 
similar difficulties. The third phase is anticipatory: 
N is in a way asking himself the question: " Shall 
I enter into teaching and social life openly and hon- 
estly as a masturbator? " N himself has sug- 
gested that the union suit symbolizes masturbation, in 
that it is one thing (cf. solitary masturbation) taking 
the place of two things (cf. normal intercourse of two 
persons). The elements of openness and honesty are 
symbolized by the standing attitude, with hands raised 
high in the air. In the fourth phase N is seen 
debating with himself whether it is proper to go out 
as a model for youth (teacher) while yet a masturbator. 
He reflects, however, that probably many other young 86 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
men have gone out in that way. Finally, in the fifth 
phase, we have N deciding that such a course is 
not right and renewing the struggle to stop his habit 
(confusedly putting on clothes). 
Involving again the more purely masturbation com- 
plex, we find a number of typical " struggle " dreams, 
of which the following is representative: 
1. I am standing on a cornice, just below a great dome, 
grayish white in color, made of stone or some other very 
hard material. The surface is uneven with a hazy design 
of rings and lines. 
2. Presently I try desperately to climb upward, vaguely 
desiring to get a view from the top of the dome, but I fall 
back repeatedly. I suffer no particular pain, but have a 
strong feeling of chagrin and disappointment. 
3. Several other people are climbing upward also. Some 
reach a higher point than I, but all slip back at times. 
The masturbation struggle in dreams like this, comes 
very near to the surface. The whole forlorn struggle 
is symbolized by the futile attempts to climb the dome, 
while the presence of others in similar distress is in- 
dicative of N 's strongly growing tendency to make 
unhappy personal comparisons. Although N 
could not recall in detail any dream between the date 
of the March nervous attack and the beginning of his 
treatment in August, he remembered in a general way 
that there were a number of dreams involving the 
" struggle " element, the dreamer commonly finding 
himself standing in a deep mudhole, treacherous swamp, 
or rapidly flooding plain. Again, he would seem to 
be climbing a very long or seemingly endless stairway. 
N had been under treatment about a month 
before we undertook to record his dreams systemat- 
ically. From the very first these dreams reflect most THE CASE OF N 
87 
conspicuously, perhaps, the course of treatment. 
Sometimes the dream is very brief and involves only 
the material of the most recent " conversation " with 
the physician, though as the treatment progressed there 
was a tendency for the dream to become more elaborate 
and to " review " the entire case to date. The 
" worry " element - worry over his own condition - 
rather than the " wish " seems to predominate in most 
instances, until late in the treatment (or occasionally 
earlier, when N was in a cheerful frame of mind) 
when the dream was often concluded by a brief hopeful 
wish, usually for recovery. 
Dreams one and four both rehash in a typical man- 
ner the material of a recent " conversation ": 
1. I am back of the house (N 's home) between the 
buildings (barn and house proper) with several men, one 
of whom seems to be Dr. R , though he looks like Gen. 
French of the British Army. The men all have British 
Army khaki-colored caps, long army overcoats, puttees, 
etc., but I have simply the overcoat and am wearing my 
everyday brown cap. We are all shovelling manure over a 
fence rail. . . . 
4. I am walking or being carried along a height, look- 
ing down upon a roof at my right. The roof appears to 
be that of the A fire station, but the size and color of 
the building are more like M 's stable. On the roof, 
slightly confused with tree branches, are immense chalk or 
white paint figures in more or less of a jumble, but remind- 
ing me of problems on a slate. Vague sensation of moving 
forward and out of sight of the roof. Awaken. 
The first dream followed shortly after a discussion 
with the physician on the possible relations of the 
horse-sex associations to N 's neurosis. N re- 
flects that he and the physician - Dr. R , seem 
to have found, in the horse-sex associations, something 88 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
quite fundamental to the illness. Having found this, 
N feels that they are now armed and equipped 
(soldiers), with Dr. R at the head (Gen. French) 
to go ahead and clean up matters (shovelling manure). 
The soldiers are taken further to symbolize the med- 
ical authorities that Dr. R frequently mentioned 
in his discussions. These authorities, under Dr. 
R 's personal direction, as it were, are helping 
N out of his trouble. Manure is selected to sym- 
bolize the nervous difficulties because of the various 
vulgar horse associations. N himself is dressed 
only partly in uniform to symbolize the fact that his 
knowledge and efforts in regard to the case are at a 
relatively amateurish state of development, compared 
with those of Dr. R and the recognized authori- 
ties. 
Dream 4 followed a discussion in which physician 
and patient spent much time in summarizing the case 
to date and outlining the several problems involved. 
In the dream the large chalk or painted figures repre- 
sent the problems which Dr. R and N must 
work out. They seem to have most of the data, but 
it is yet to be calculated (the figures are in more or 
less a jumble). A stable roof is indicative again, of 
the fundamental horse-sex complex, while the fire-sta- 
tion is confused with it, for physician and patient were 
yet in doubt as to the place of fire, which appeared in 
many childhood dreams, in reference to certain neu- 
rosis symptoms. 
A portion of Dream 9 is interesting because of the 
clever way in which the dream " censor " has distorted 
and symbolized a fine distinction between " functional " 
and " organic " nervous diseases - a distinction 
brought out in a previous discussion between the physi- THE CASE OF N 
89 
cian and N , at a time when the latter was worry- 
ing considerably for fear that his difficulty was or- 
ganic. 
9. I am standing in the B. and X. freight yard at 
A , feeling strongly that I am " waiting for something." 
Presently a small crazy-looking engine appears from near 
the freighthouse, recklessly backing several freight cars 
across the tracks, though all wheels seem to be on the rails. 
The first feeling of expectancy is apparently a brief 
review of the early anticipation of some mental or 
physical trouble which was to arise from masturbation. 
Due to the development of strong railway and travel 
phobias in many later dreams, railroad equipment in 
some form came to symbolize the neurosis. This is 
most clearly the case in this dream, where the crazy- 
looking engine and cars represent the appearance of 
the expected disease. But the functional-organic dis- 
tinction, which was so much in the mind of the patient 
at this time, is revealed by the dream-fact that though 
the cars are running across the tracks, the wheels in 
every case are properly and normally on the rails, i.e., 
though the patient's mental life might be running crazy- 
like and cross-wise, as it were, fundamentally every^- 
thing was really running on the right tracks. 
At a considerably later time than this, when N 
was making very fair progress toward recovery, he 
worried much because he did not as yet seem to avoid 
certain phobias without special distraction being 
brought to bear. One day in discussing this situation, 
the physician in a most casual way remarked, " So 
then, you think you'd be all right if you could only 
take a three-ring circus along with you ? " Though 
a friendly jest, the remark made a deep impression on 90 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
N and the next morning he reported the following 
dream: 
47. I am vaguely moving about in the lower rooms at 
home when a very blusterous brass band, seeming to be a 
part of a circus which is in town, comes up the street by 
the L. church. The major, a dark, heavy-browed, slightly- 
stooped, villainous looking man in dark plain clothes, boldly 
leads his players up onto the front porch. I tolerate the 
noise for a short time, but at length, becoming rather in- 
censed, I go out to tell the major to quit. He declines, 
however, and the disturbance continues. I then ask L. H. 
C., who appears on the steps below me, to go across to Mr. 
T.'s and get Mr. A., the constable. L. H. C. appears very 
reluctant or stupid, but finally I see him going up Mr. T.'s 
driveway. Mr. A., strong and robust, and looking espe- 
cially clear and rosy of cheek, presently strides across the 
street, comes onto the porch, steps into the midst of the 
bandmen, and orders the major to stop, threatening arrest 
if he does not. . . . Awaken. 
We note here that the " three-ring circus " has been 
much in N 's mind, though only its band appears 
in the dream. N tolerates the noisy distraction 
for some time, but at length he summons his courage 
and demands of himself that it must cease; he realizes 
that he must do without it. The symbolism of L. H. C. 
is irrelevant to our present discussion, but Mr. A. is 
the symbol of returning health and strength, and it is 
these that will finally dispense the need of distraction. 
Dream 10 is thoroughly representative of the longer 
type of " review " dream: 
10. I am in the upstairs hallway at home, though a room 
near by seems like one of aunt N.'s (childhood associ- 
ate). With me are several rugged men dressed chiefly in 
khaki. All are armed, some with rifles, some with revolv- 
ers; I have a revolver. It seems that I have just entered, THE CASE OF N 
91 
seeking protection, and one or two of the men are show- 
ing me how to use my firearm. It soon develops that 
some ruffians are coming up the stairs to attack us, and 
two or three men, in blue shirts, appear at the head of the 
stairs. Great confusion, and both sides open fire; general 
rough-and-tumble with ruffians mostly on top. One of them 
seizes and makes me prisoner after a short struggle. I am 
much surprised, however, that he does not kill me, and 
he takes away my revolver only to return it immediately. 
The struggle about me continues, but my defenders are giv- 
ing in one by one to the ruffians as I did. They, too, are 
well treated as they surrender, but I am still suspicious that 
execution or severe punishment yet awaits us. My captor, 
however, talks reassuringly; and presently, as I look into 
the chamber of my revolver, I note that the unused car- 
tridges are still there. I say to myself: " Well, he trusts 
me." . . . Vague interval. ... I am looking down upon a 
floor or table entirely covered by an immense birthday cake 
with a plain brownish frosting. As I look, there glide 
across it, in subdued ball-room light, a number of miniature 
dancers in bright colonial costume. Awaken. 
We find here in a way a complete history of the 
case. N secured his early sex knowledge from 
rough " hired men," factory workers, etc. (rugged men 
dressed in khaki). The revolver is symbolic of the 
sex organs. Observing the various manifestations of 
sex life, N ■ had gone to such men for " protec- 
tion," i.e., knowledge of their meaning and control. 
The ruffians signify sex desire and satisfaction, prob- 
ably with especial reference to masturbation. The 
two or three men in blue shirts (note the association 
of blue with melancholy) may signify the two or three 
years of masturbation. The general rough-and-tum- 
ble is clearly the masturbation conflict. N suc- 
cumbs (made prisoner) yet he finds he has not been 
brought to either death or dire ruin. He still has 
sexual power (revolver returned). It has in a way 92 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
been returned by Dr. R , who has informed him 
that he is perfectly all right, after he had long con- 
sidered himself as probably impotent. N 's old 
knowledge, however, is more or less persistent (strug- 
gle continues) and N still has some misgivings 
(still suspicious of execution or severe punishment). 
There are then further reassurances from Dr. R , 
and N confirms his sexual power by self-examina- 
tion. (Captor talks reassuringly; looks into chamber 
of revolver and notes that unused cartridges are still 
there.) The final " happy ending " scene, in view of 
some of the discussion of the time, appears to be a 
general symbolism of marriage. N feels that mar- 
riage now will be safe and desirable, having been put 
into a much more favorable light after recent sex re- 
education. 
Perhaps the most elaborate symbolism of review and 
treatment is to be found in Dream 19. 
19. As I am passing through the lower barn at home, 
an immense black rat runs across the floor in front of me, 
and disappears in a stall at my right. I seize a handy 
stick, and dig for a moment among the cracks of the stall; 
but I soon decide this effort futile, thinking it better to 
hunt systematically for the main entrance to the rat's hole. 
Presently I find a large hole in the cinder driveway just 
outside the barn doorway. I poke around in this with my 
stick and succeed in dislodging the rat, but, though I fre- 
quently hit him as he dodges about the barn floor, my stick 
proves too light to inflict damage. Now thoroughly 
aroused, I take from its place on the wall a curious heavy 
long-handled tool having two ugly iron prongs resembling 
a large saw-tooth ice chip. With this, I dig viciously into 
the rat hole, and can feel that I hit its lodger once or 
twice. Suddenly for some reason I stand up and turn 
about, seeing directly back of me a cave-in in the drive- 
way, with the soil at its bottom heaving and disturbed as THE CASE OF N 
93 
if alive, and with several rats' tails projecting from it. 
Into the midst of this turmoil I plunge my iron prongs time 
and time again until everything is quiet. I stoop down to 
see if I surely killed the large rat, and decide that a cer- 
tain larger lump that I speared in one of my first plunges 
accounts for him. I am still anxious to know, however, how 
many rats I killed in all, and am standing perplexed when 
a voice near by says: " Count the tails! " I count the 
tails and find ten. Both the " voice " and myself are sat- 
isfied that these ten are all that were in the nest. I step 
away mildly pleased at my " kill," but I feel impelled to 
go back for a final look - possibly still doubtful about the 
ten. Awaken. 
The general stable setting is of course significant of 
the horse-sex complex. The black rat, through the 
traditional reference to " rats in a garret " in mental 
disturbances, symbolizes the neurosis. The neurosis 
appears, N takes what amateur medical knowledge 
he has at hand to combat it (seizes handy stick) ; but 
little or no success attends this first effort. The sec- 
ond more systematic hunt refers to the early unsatis- 
factory attempts to discover the neurosis root under 
the physician's guidance. He then at times seems to 
touch upon vital points in the neurosis, but is as yet 
able to inflict only slight damage (dislodges rat, fre- 
quently hits him, but stick too light to inflict damage). 
Physician and patient at about this time evolved what 
they often refer to as the " double-barrelled " explana- 
tion of the neurosis, and which, with revision, was 
finally settled upon as the true explanation of the 
case. The " double " element has reference to the 
parallel working childhood horse-sex conflict and 
adolescent masturbation conflict, which we have dis- 
cussed in an earlier section. The curious ugly, two- 
pronged tool symbolizes this " double " explanation 94 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
which soon proves a formidable weapon. Further pres- 
ence of the " double " element is emphasized in the 
situation where the rat is hit as N digs into the rat- 
hole with the new weapon; the " lodger " is hit, i.e., the 
recent sex worries are dissipated, but the cave-in so 
suddenly appearing indicates that beneath these newer 
worries are a number of deep-seated childhood emo- 
tional experiences. The turmoil signifies the general 
neurosis conflict. It is into the midst of this turmoil 
that the " double-barrelled " explanation is vigorously 
applied again and again (plunging of the prongs time 
and time again). That N feels that the neurosis 
root is killed, is evidenced by the fact that in the dream, 
the large rat is quickly and surely accounted for. 
The patient is, however, still uncertain as to whether 
all causative elements have been eliminated (anxious to 
know how many rats are killed, stands perplexed). 
It is perhaps Dr. R who shouts " Count the tails! " 
The fact that ten tails are counted is very interesting 
in light of discussion preceding the dream, in which the 
" double ''-explanation had been summarized in the 
form of ten chief points. There is still some element 
of doubt at the close of the dream. N had not by 
this time been fully convinced of the validity of the 
" double ''-explanation. 
N made no attempt to conceal unfavorable de- 
velopments, so certain dreams of despondent import 
served as no direct warning; but had he attempted to 
conceal his thought and tried to nurse grievances in 
silence, dreams of this type might well have given the 
physician invaluable aid. No. 23 is representative of 
the " unfavorable " dreams: THE CASE OF N 
95 
23. I am leaning out of one of the back barn windows, 
looking down particularly at the small dirt area (used 
in summer for garden truck) lying between the barn and 
the concrete garden wall. There is a warm spring rain, 
and the ground everywhere is very wet, while into the area 
several small streams are running from the driveway and 
eaves. I am attracted especially by a stream running 
from the driveway which has broken through a cinder dike 
I made some time ago. I am rather disturbed by this break, 
but looking at the regular channel, I see it to be completely 
blocked by silt, and I reflect that it is better for the water 
to go through the break than to wash down over the steps 
near by into the garden, as it would in the clogged chan- 
nel. I then experience a peculiar vague feeling about the 
immensity of the sky, and I reflect rather poetically on the 
steady warm spring rain. Awaken. 
Gardening had long been a hobby in which the 
patient took great pride. In practically every in- 
stance where discouragement was to be symbolized in 
a dream, we find some garden or hillside lawn badly 
gullied or destroyed in some way by storm. After 
one particularly discouraging experience with phobias, 
for example, the patient's very choice fernery, in his 
home garden appeared in a dream to have been washed 
aw'ay and buried in heavy mud. Dream 29 occurred 
after a similarly discouraging experience, taking place, 
however, after some degree of cure had been attained, 
and after N was becoming in general more hope- 
ful and optimistic. The barn setting, so usual, is 
significant of the horse-sex complex. Here, however, 
we do not find the entire garden involved. Instead, the 
garden proper (symbolizing general nervous and bodily 
health) seems to be unaffected, i.e., general health has 
now become quite satisfactory. But the recent phobic 
PATIENT 96 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
experience has centered attention on one relatively 
small phase of the case (small truck area). The break 
in the dike refers directly to the phobic experience. 
N had thought he had erected sufficient psycho- 
logical barriers to overcome such an attack. The un- 
expected attack (break) was naturally disturbing, but 
as N reflects further, he concludes that it is per- 
haps better to confine the trouble to this one symptom, 
rather than to have it spread out more generally, 
though perhaps less intensively (better' for water to 
go through break than to wash down steps near by and 
injure the main garden). In the end, optimism tri- 
umphs. The warm spring rain, though responsible for 
the streams to the break in the dike, apparently sym- 
bolizes patience and hope. N is still cheerful de- 
spite the unexpected phobic experience. 
It would be possible to go into almost limitless de- 
tail regarding the new symbolism developing with each 
new development in the case, and the characteristic 
symbolism associated with each of the many lesser fam- 
ily and social worries, but the selection we have made 
would seem to have been made thoroughly representa- 
tive simply by the addition of one more typical dream: 
29. I am vaguely walking with some one along a macad- 
amized highway. There is some confused talk, but my 
chief interest is in the roadside, which has been freshly 
trimmed and cleared of brush. On either side is an irreg- 
ular row of tall trees, in summer foliage, with large trunks 
standing out clearly against sky or woodland background, 
as the case may be. . . . Interval. ... I am again on this 
highway, but alone; though at first a little confused, appre- 
hensive of a nervous attack, I soon make a brave start 
ahead. . . . 
Here we find N in his dream literally walking THE CASE OF N 
97 
on the " road to recovery." The old ugly brush, filled 
with phobic terrors, has been cleared and N walks 
confidently along with some companion (the physician). 
Presently he takes the same route alone; he is at first 
slightly fearful, but soon starts bravely ahead. The 
literal cleared road to recovery appears several times 
in later dreams, but the same growing self-confidence, 
and optimism are expressed also by dreams in which 
N : finds himself walking vigorously on the street, 
much pleased with himself, or, again, greeting a robust, 
rosy-faced young man (symbolizing his recovered self) 
back from a long journey. There appears an occa- 
sional discouraging dream of the garden type, but the 
last dreams in the systematic collection (dated March, 
1916) reflect a more and more cheerful frame of mind. 
Several dreams selected more or less at random a few 
weeks later, indicate the symbolism centered about the 
neurosis to be completely broken up, and the only 
" problems " symbolized those of a passing nature and 
characteristic only of commonplace, unneurotic daily 
life. CHAPTER V 
A CASE OF HYSTERIA 
Pawlow's experiments in the conditioned salivary 
reflex through the work of Yerkes and others have 
long been known in this country. Prince 1 refers to 
this and the linking of the psychological to the physio- 
logical as follows: 
" These experiments of Pawlow show the possibility of 
linking a physiological process to a psychological process 
by education and through the conservation of the associa- 
tion reproducing the physiological process as an act of un- 
conscious memory." He quotes from Pawlow: "All the 
phenomena of adaptation which we saw in the salivary 
glands under physiological conditions such as the introduc- 
tion of stimulating substances into the buccal cavity reap- 
peared in exactly the same manner under the influence of 
psychological conditions, i. e. by drawing attention to the 
substances in question." Prince says, " Pictorial images 
or ideas of the substances had become associated with the 
specific salivary reaction and conserved as a neurogram. 
The stimuli produced psycho-physiological memory. Any- 
thing associated psychologically with the objects which 
physiologically excited the saliva may act as stimuli. Any 
sensory stimuli may be educated." 
Very little has been done in this country with the 
conditioned motor reflex and the Russian is untrans- 
lated and inaccessible. J. B. Watson says:2 
i The Unconscious, Morton Prince, pp. 139-140. 
2 J. B. Watson, Place of Conditioned Reflex in Psychology, 
Psychological Review, March, 1916. 
98 A CASE OF HYSTERIA 
99 
I wish I had time to develop the view that the concept 
of the conditioned reflex can be used as an explanatory 
principle in the psychology of hysteria and the various 
" tics " which appear in so-called normal individuals. It 
seems to me that hysterical motor manifestations can be 
looked upon as conditioned reflexes. This would give a 
raison d'etre which has hitherto been hazy. 
He speaks of the well known reaction of a person 
recently operated upon who, for a long time, will re- 
act to slight movements of the body or attempts to 
touch the wound as if the noxious stimuli attendant 
upon the operation were still present. The thunder 
clap and lightning flash have been so long associated 
that the flash may produce the same effect that the 
thunder clap originally did. 
The following case, aside from being of great interest 
as a typical hysteria showing fundamental sex traumas 
but not conforming to Freud's dictum, is thought to 
show some of the relations of conditioned motor reflex 
to hysterical motor reaction. Be it understood that I 
have but a cursory knowledge of these matters derived 
from reading Sherrington's Integrative Action of the 
Nervous System, a summary of Pawlow's work and Wat- 
son's paper. My work with the neuroses has been 
clinical. I do not assume that my inferences are cor- 
rect but ask if they may not be. I am remote from 
those who know, and I wish criticism and information. 
The patient is a young woman of twenty-two, always 
fairly robust physically. When she broke down she 
was in college, working her way and standing high in 
her class. For several years when unwell she has had 
a tendency to uncontrollable laughter. She has had 
frequent headaches and these were always severe dur- 
ing menstruation. The laughing spells were usually 100 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
of short duration but sometimes lasted a whole eve- 
ning. During the past year she has had several cry- 
ing spells which terminated in severe sick headaches. 
About six months ago she had two laughing spells in 
one week. Four weeks later, after witnessing the nerv- 
ous break-down of one of her relatives, she had a 
sleepless night and trembled all over with a sort of 
nervous chill. One week later she went to church with 
a friend. She had a severe headache, felt cold and 
near the end of the service fainted and had to be helped 
from the church. One leg felt wyeak, and she had a 
fear of infantile paralysis. The doctors reassured her, 
saying that she was working too hard, and sent her to 
the hospital for a fewT days. The first day she felt 
numb, having a terrible headache and a slight paralysis 
of the jaw which troubled her a great deal. She had 
no solid food for two days and later when she tried to 
chew meat had great difficulty in doing so. On the 
third day of her stay at the hospital, she began to 
laugh and kept it up practically continually for one 
whole day and at frequent intervals for another. Nar- 
cotics finally controlled this, and she went to sleep; 
although it was not a restful sleep, and she was weak 
and exhausted. 
Two days later she got up and, though still weak, 
went back to her work the following day. She at- 
tended classes, but, on the advice of her physician, did 
no studying. She found that she could not concentrate 
and was obliged to spend most of her time in bed. At 
the end of a week she had another attack of laughing 
and screaming which lasted two days and one night. 
This was relieved by sedatives, and broken sleep fol- 
lowed for one night. The next morning she began to 
have convulsive attacks w'hich occurred at frequent A CASE OF HYSTERIA 
101 
intervals, and the following day she was sent home by 
the college doctors for a year's rest. At home she was 
kept very quiet and did nothing but rest. For the 
first two or three weeks, she had laughing or convul- 
sive attacks practically every day, and they were par- 
ticularly bad at the menstrual period. They were not 
so frequent for the next three weeks, but came on 
when she was in the least excited. The most severe 
attack of all came as the result of attending a church 
function, and consisted of laughing, kicking, scream- 
ing, and convulsive movements. The following week 
she had several attacks. She then came under my 
care. She had been given mineral oil and nux vomica 
for regular medicine and told to live out of doors as 
far as possible. She was to encourage complete re- 
laxation by doing no hard work or study, and to go 
to bed (out of doors) directly after supper. She was 
asked no questions of a private nature. 
For ten days after arriving she had minor convul- 
sive attacks, diminishing in severity, and two or three 
very slight laughing spells. Any sudden noise or any- 
thing startling, like the telephone bell, would cause 
her to almost spring from her chair, and she would feel 
weak and shaky afterwards. After two weeks the 
laughing and convulsive attacks and the excessive re- 
action to slight noises and confusion ceased. With one 
or two slight exceptions, there were no attacks for 
three weeks, even at the menstrual period. Then when 
left alone to assume the cares of the household, she had 
eight attacks in twenty-four hours, and one rather se- 
vere convulsive and fainting attack. For two nights 
she did not sleep much, but for the next two days she 
was comparatively well. She was then disturbed by a 
patient, and had a sleepless night and two convulsive 102 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
attacks the following day. For the next few weeks 
with only two or three slight attacks, she slept six to 
eight hours a night, ate well, and gained seven pounds 
in eight weeks. On the physician's advice, she went 
to several trying public functions, beginning two weeks 
after her arrival. When she had been here three weeks, 
she began rehearsing for an amateur opera in which 
she took part several weeks later. She sat up reading 
ordinary novels with the family until eleven or twelve 
o'clock each night, and after two weeks she worked 
five or six hours a day at ordinary housework. She 
went to walk only two or three times a week, and slept 
indoors, although she usually had the window raised. 
She saw children have epileptic fits at a hospital with- 
out disturbance, and an uncongenial man showed ob- 
noxious attentions without causing attacks. She had 
no medicine whatever. At the last menstruation, she 
had severe pain but absolutely no nervous symptoms. 
Her original pinched and anxious expression has 
changed to an open and cheerful countenance. Gloom 
and pessimism, leading to a desire for an early demise 
(only the timely entrance of the nurse prevented her 
trying to take poison at the hospital) have been en- 
tirely superseded by content and optimism. This may 
seem early to say so, but I feel as confident that this 
patient is practically well, and will indefinitely remain 
so, as far as any nervous trouble is concerned, as I 
shall be when a year or two of perfect health have 
demonstrated the fact. So much for the superficial 
aspects of the case; now let us deal with the less con- 
spicuous and more intangible elements. 
Twenty-four hours after her arrival, the physician 
asked for a history of her trouble. This was readily 
given, and then he began to ask about her sex life. She A CASE OF HYSTERIA 
103 
answered frankly, although reserving the most impor- 
tant incidents for some days. At first she was fright- 
ened and had one sleepless night, for she dreaded re- 
vealing her entire sexual autobiography. A case read 
her of another young woman made her feel that she 
was not alone in her troubles, and made her feel free 
to proceed. None of the history revealed in the first 
three weeks was ever, for any length of time, absent 
from consciousness. The eight or nine incidents told 
at a later seance had been repressed or forgotten and 
they all came to the surface the same night, while she 
was awake, and were told to the physician the next day. 
Several other incidents came out later when something 
in the conversation suggested them. 
When six years of age, an older girl told her of a 
girl in town who was in trouble, and she became curious 
about the origin of children. She asked her mother, 
who said that they came from heaven. This statement, 
presumably true, in the abstract, gave little relief to 
her curiosity. The older girl (aged ten) told her of a 
boy asking her for sexual intercourse. She explained 
the process and said that she was going to allow it 
sometime. This girl obtained her information from 
another girl in the community who had regular sexual 
relations with her brothers. These girls became 
" fast." When eight the patient was followed by three 
boys who asked her if she and her brother had sexual 
intercourse, and she denied it. They then asked her 
for it, not euphemistically, as I have expressed it, and 
she was frightened; but did not know whether it was 
right or wrong. They chased her but she escaped. 
She told her mother, who was angry, and had the 
teacher punish the boys. They never acted improp- 
erly again and were good friends of hers later. 104 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
At ten she talked of sex with a friend who was 
twelve, and learned masturbation. They practiced 
this mutually about once in three months, and once 
they tried Lesbianism, at the older girl's suggestion. 
This girl became a worthy woman. At this time there 
was secretiveness but no shame. A year or so later, 
she and another girl friend of her own age (twelve) 
talked of sex. This girl found a syringe in the bath- 
room with directions for a vaginal douche. They were 
curious and looked up the terms in the dictionary, also 
they found an old medical book and tried to read it. 
They experimented with their fingers and found the 
vaginal opening. However, there was little sensation 
produced by the finger in the vagina, so they returned 
to masturbation by titillation of the clitoris. She 
does not know how this girl turned out. After puberty 
there was another period of vaginal experimentation, 
but no orgasm was produced in this way. 
There wras no masturbation by herself up to the time 
of her first menstruation, which occurred at thirteen. 
She had not been told about this, and when it occurred 
she was greatly frightened. She told her mother, who 
said that it wras only something that she wrould have 
all her life. She told her what to do and said she 
meant to have told her before. She had strong erotic 
feelings at this time, but she repressed them for some 
months. They grew stronger, and after three or four 
months she began to masturbate two or three times at 
the menstrual period and not at all between. At 
thirteen she went to a country school where she was 
ahead of the others, although they were much older 
than she. The big boys told " smutty " stories to all 
the pupils, and copies of these were even passed around. 
One boy of nineteen was very attentive to her, and after A CASE OF HYSTERIA 
105 
a time began hugging and kissing her whenever oppor- 
tunity offered. He was secretive about this, though 
the other boys openly hugged and kissed the girls. 
Finally he asked her for intercourse and she refused, 
though he was alone with her for a whole evening and 
aroused her to the highest pitch of erotic feeling. He 
begged and pleaded, but she would not give in, for some 
instinct kept her from it, though she thought perhaps 
it might be all right. After two months of repeated 
urgings one day, when they were alone in the church 
and he had fondled her breasts and felt of her genitals 
until she was highly excited, she consented. He made 
the attempt but neither then nor at any of his subse- 
quent attempts during the next year and a half did 
he obtain any penetration, though he hurt her ex- 
cruciatingly, and she was sore from the pressure. He 
did not obtain an orgasm at this time, but did at a 
later attempt. She masturbated that night and after 
other experiences of this nature, obtaining relief, but 
not a complete orgasm. Immediately after this relief 
she could go to sleep. One month she skipped men- 
struation and was greatly worried for fear that she 
was pregnant. 
The next year she went away to school in another 
place and had a boy friend of about her own age. 
They were considerably attached to each other, and this 
relationship was perfectly correct in all respects. 
Then a bad girl in the school broke up this attachment, 
and the first boy again became attentive and their 
former relations were resumed. Altogether he at- 
tempted intercourse with her five or six times. He al- 
ways excited her first by feeling of her breasts and 
genitals, and he insisted on her holding and manipu- 
lating his penis. Doing this excited her as much as 106 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
what he did to her but she felt ashamed and disliked 
doing it. The next year (she was now fifteen) she 
first fully realized that this was not right and refused 
any further attentions from him. At the final inter- 
view she returned a ring and repulsed him, though he 
begged, pleaded, and threatened. 
Ever afterward the sight or thought of this man 
disgusted her. He was a slight musician, and hearing, 
five years later, selections which he had played would 
throw her into a state bordering on hysteria. After 
realizing what she had been doing, she began to worry 
and condemn herself very much. She found that this 
man had had intercourse or attempts at it with no less 
than eight other girls in the community. She sus- 
pected that he had told them about her, as he had 
her about them. She thought her wrong-doing such 
that she was unfit to marry. She now masturbated 
about once a month and began to try to leave it off, 
which she was finally successful in doing at about 
eighteen. Once after she was eighteen she gave in and 
masturbated when unbearable erotic feelings were 
aroused by seeing cats copulate. Three or four months 
after ending relations with the man above, another man 
of twenty-one found an opportunity to put his arm 
around her and his hand inside her dress and feel of 
her breasts, remarking that they were nice ones. She 
instantly repulsed him and he desisted. This stimu- 
lated her erotic feelings tremendously, but she was dis- 
gusted and would not yield to them. On one other 
occasion, when she was alone with this man, he started 
something similar and she was much frightened, but 
some one interfered and nothing occurred. No further 
incidents of this nature have occurred in her experience. A CASE OF HYSTERIA 
107 
These affairs served to make her dislike boys in gen- 
eral. 
Three years later, when in college, in company with 
three other girls she saw an exhibitionist, but was at 
some distance and the sight did not make a very deep 
impression. Three weeks after this, she and another 
girl came suddenly upon another exhibitionist in the 
woods. They were almost upon this man when he 
turned and faced them, holding his erect penis in his 
hand. She took in at a glance this and the expression 
on his face, which was that of intense pleasure. The 
girls, greatly frightened, were obliged to pass directly 
by him. He made no attempt to say or do anything 
to them. They were greatly excited by these incidents 
and talked about this and sexual matters in general. 
One girl told about the hymen being a proof of vir- 
ginity. From that time on, the patient worried, fear- 
ing that her hymen was ruptured by the man referred 
to. She thought she ought not to marry and that if 
she did her husband would discover her guilt and cast 
her off. She thought it unfair that a man should be 
able to learn of his wife's past, and she not of his. 
Another girl said that intercourse happened when the 
woman was asleep and therefore she had no control over 
its frequency. This also troubled the patient, though 
from her own experience she did not believe it. From 
a risque story which she heard, she got the idea that a 
cutting operation would be necessary before intercourse, 
should she marry. 
Soon an intimacy sprang up with a young man who 
wrote her letters, sent her flowers, and came to see her. 
The girls thought she was engaged, and she herself be- 
gan to think a good deal about it, and to have persistent 108 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
erotic feelings. She had day-dreams at this time with 
erotic feelings, and voluptuous dreams with orgasms 
at night. Finally, when they were joking her about her 
engagement, she masturbated several times a night for 
several nights. Shortly after this, she learned indi- 
rectly that the man who was paying her attentions was 
already engaged. She then became disgusted with him 
and developed an antipathy toward all men, and has 
had no attachment since. She still feared that she was 
unfit for marriage and a fear of marriage itself grew up. 
She thought that a cutting operation would be neces- 
sary on the marriage night, and she had a great horror 
of childbirth because she thought that conception oc- 
curred when a woman was asleep and that she must 
have an unlimited number of children simply for her 
husband's sexual gratification. Then her experience 
with the first man, the exhibitionists, and this last man 
who had deceived her, led her to think all men base. 
She began making desperate attempts at repression 
and soon stopped masturbation. During the last two 
years, she has had occasional day dreams (with slight 
erotic feelings) of her future work, of a scientific na- 
ture, with a man who was also a scientist and who 
finally fell in love with and married her. There was 
never any culmination when the day-dreams became 
erotic, but during this period she had voluptuous 
dreams once in two or three months. During the last 
three months she has had one voluptuous dream at a 
menstrual period. 
After four and a half weeks' residence, she had a 
day of unusual optimism. The next day she had the 
added responsibility referred to above and, as already 
said, for two days was nervous with hysterical attacks. 
I told her that she had more " untold tales " in her A CASE OF HYSTERIA 
109 
conscious or unconscious mind. The following day, 
after a restless night, largely given to self-catechism, 
she related the following additional episodes which had 
been either repressed or forgotten. These had not en- 
tered her mind at any of our former talks. The first 
thing told was an experience of the last day or two. 
A young man patient, by his manner and appearance, 
reminded her of the man with whom she had the early 
experiences. She felt nervous at being left alone in 
the house with him during the evening. This brought 
on a convulsive attack and this man put his arm about 
her as if to help her. She immediately had slight 
erotic feelings, of which she was extremely ashamed, 
and her old attitude of self-condemnation returned. 
This undoubtedly was the main cause of the frequent 
attacks in the two days referred to. I explained that, 
since this man resembled the one with whom she had 
had the former experiences, she was now substituting 
him for that one, as the memories of the former were 
coming to the surface, and that it was not at all in- 
dicative of weakness that he should arouse her at this 
time as the other had done previously. The things 
which she recalled for the first time are as follows: 
(1) When six or seven she overheard the vulgar ex- 
pression for sexual intercourse. She asked her mother 
about it and was told that it was a bad word which she 
must never repeat. However, the word persisted in 
her mind and always troubled her. (2) At seven she 
played innocently in the hay with a boy of the same 
age. She spoke of this to her mother, wdio told her 
not to do anything of the kind again, for he was likely 
to be feeling of her. This aroused her curiosity. (3) 
When eight she looked out of the window of the school- 
room and, seeing dogs copulating, remembered a girl 110 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
who was said to have had intercourse with her dog. 
At this moment she had her first remembered erotic 
feelings, which were intense. One of the boys who had 
formerly chased her also saw the dogs and looked up 
at her and laughed. She was ashamed to have him 
know that she was watching the dogs. This picture 
recurred with great vividness for some time and now, 
after it has been long forgotten, it is as vivid as when 
she saw it. She was excited at the sight of the male 
genitals and later that year she was excited in watch- 
ing a bull. (4) At the age of thirteen, she and a girl 
of fourteen masturbated mutually several times, and 
once they indulged in Lesbianism. Both were greatly 
excited. (5) When rather young she was greatly puz- 
zled at seeing a girl dip her dog in the brook to make 
her have puppies. (6) One of her playmates lived 
near a young married couple, and once she saw them on 
the bed having intercourse. She described this vividly 
to her friends. They knew that this had to do with 
getting children and so kept track of this woman and 
found that she had a baby exactly nine months from 
this time. (7) At ten she accidentally came upon a 
man urinating, and his large organ aroused her curi- 
osity, but gave her no erotic feelings. 
She now remembered, or was willing to tell more de- 
tails of her experiences with the boy of nineteen, which 
seemed to her more shameful than any of the others. 
On the occasion when he first attempted intercourse 
with her in the church, her brother had been hired to 
leave them, but he suddenly returned and caught them 
in " medias res." She was ashamed and frightened 
and made spasmodic efforts to get away. She had al- 
ready been in a tense condition from the pain of the 
operation. They tried to make him promise not to A CASE OF HYSTERIA 
111 
tell, and then went home. Before long the brother be- 
gan to threaten to tell on them, and this always fright- 
ened her. Whenever she and this man were together 
after this he was always trying to find out what was 
done, joking and asking questions. As a result of his 
threats, he made her his abject slave for two years. 
Then one night, after she had retired, he entered her 
room and, after some altercation, threatened to tell 
her parents of what she had done. Then, becoming 
excited from seeing her in bed, he promised never to 
tell of anything if she would do the same for him as 
she had done for the other man. She, though excited 
by this proposition, refused. Somehow, this seemed 
worse than having relations with the other man. The 
brother appeared ashamed and left the room. He 
never mentioned this or threatened to tell of her again, 
but always teased and maltreated her. She almost 
hated him for this and his persistent telling of 
" smutty " or suggestive things whenever she and some 
other man were together, for this led the others to think 
that they could make improper remarks in her pres- 
ence. 
She felt very badly when she told of being caught 
by her brother and, bursting out crying, said that she 
was not fit to marry a decent man. She seemed re- 
lieved and her attacks became milder and less frequent. 
That night she slept four or five hours and the next 
night two or three. Her antipathy toward the male 
sex returned, and she thought that even if she ever 
did have a husband he would be a drunkard or as bad. 
The next day she had one screaming and convulsive 
attack, and a tendency to cry without tears and with- 
out reason. We had a long talk about the situation, 
trying to come to a reasonable estimate of the respon- 112 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
sibility, if any, for the incidents that had occurred 
in her sexual life. At this point she told, for the first 
time, though I have mentioned it earlier, what seemed 
to her the worst thing that she ever did, i.e., while the 
man was fondling her breasts and clitoris, he insisted on 
her manipulating his penis. This she had done un- 
willingly, and with great shame and disgust on each 
occasion, but it excited her greatly. After telling this 
last and, as she thought, worst incident, she cried and 
has had no further attacks to date, four weeks later. 
This completes the history of her sex experiences. 
It will be noticed that this history was given rapidly 
and that the principal events neither had been repressed 
nor forgotten. No psychoanalytic sleight of hand was 
necessary. The events w'hich had been repressed or 
forgotten seemed to be brought to the surface by meet- 
ing the man who reminded her of her early experiences. 
Whether her attacks at this time were the result of 
the shock of being reminded of this man or were caused 
by the emotion attendant upon the long list of experi- 
ences which were near the surface and came into her 
consciousness during the wakeful night is an open ques- 
tion. I am not in the habit of reading of cases of hys- 
teria where it has been such a simple matter to obtain the 
basic facts as it has been in this, though it is hardly 
different from numerous cases which I have treated. 
These memories were largely conscious and troubled 
her so constantly that life was not worth living. She 
was entirely ignorant of the fact that these trouble- 
some memories were the cause of her hysterical condi- 
tion. I hardly need say that I continue to disagree 
with Freud and others who say that hysteria is always 
determined by repressed or forgotten experiences of 
childhood. It is undoubtedly caused by these experi- A CASE OF HYSTERIA 
113 
ences; but, so far as my experience goes, they often are 
not an unconscious but a constant conscious menace 
to the integrity of the individual psyche. 
The treatment was almost too simple to mention and 
was about the same as in other cases which I have de- 
scribed in other places. I was somewhat acquainted 
with this young lady and no preamble was necessary. 
I went over her general symptoms and history at the 
first sitting and at the next asked her if she had ever 
been frightened or had any sexual shocks. When she 
was a little hesitant, I told her that the chances were 
ninety-nine to one that her trouble was caused by mem- 
ories of sex experiences which she thought were wrong, 
though they were not necessarily so, and we might as 
well get down to business to begin with. She at once 
told me of her auto-erotic activities, of being chased by 
the little boys, and similar experiences. As soon as 
she began to tell things, I began to try to explain them. 
I told her that masturbation was practically universal 
with both young men and young women and, in any 
well-born individual, the only harm that ever came 
from it was from the worry about it. I convinced her 
that; f^.at times the sex impulse is irresistible, there is 
mpgal issue involved in its moderate relief, provided 
T^:^Te else is involved. She agreed with me that it was 
tSnresistible at times in her case; then, of course, it was 
■the only legitimate mode of relief. When this seemed 
p justifiable she was immediately relieved of a great load. 
She was more ashamed of the other experiences and 
hesitated about telling them. I knew she had more 
to tell and read her the history of another nervous 
young woman whose experiences had been varied enough 
to cover almost anything she was likely to have en- 
countered. This young woman had made a complete 114 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
\ recovery and ouf present patient began to have aspi- 
xatjpns to live ari<^ to be well. After three days, she 
pyercame her timidity and told the chiefest of her dis- 
^ree^ble memories which, of course, concerned her ex- 
pe>j^hlees,.with the young man of nineteen. From now 
on, everything was told freely as fast as she remem- 
bered it'; I took up each episode with her and we 
tried to- give a real instead of a fictitious value to each, 
e.g., she considered herself depraved, that she had lost 
her virtue, and was not fit to marry as a result of her 
experiences with this young man; but I made it plain 
to her that a girl of thirteen or fourteen, with abso- 
lutely no instruction in sex matters, groping her way 
in the dark, taken advantage of at the time of her 
first menstruation and first strong and persistent sex 
feelings by a man of such wide experience could not be 
held responsible at any tribunal for her acts. What 
really counted in the whole experience was the fact 
that she, unaided, had arrived at a different viewpoint 
and had terminated these relations on moral grounds, 
even while erotically desirous of them, and that sh?. 
had refused others any similar privileges. I consid- 
ered her not responsible for the events. I cq^^^'ed 
her voluntary termination of the relations an 
tion that her ideals were of the highest. It seenmq^y 
me that she had proved a desire for correct livmg? 
when everything was against her. I thought her char-1 
acter stronger and better for these trials and even 
thought her more trustworthy in this particular than 
many of those who, having had no opportunities or 
temptations, had had none of these experiences. I told 
her just what I thought, and was measurably successful 
in convincing her that I was right. After hearing her 
whole story I told her, as I felt, that I had no higher A CASE OF HYSTERIA 
115 
aspirations for my own boys than that some one of 
them should fall in love with and marry her or some 
girl of equally good character. 
That the early experiences had a determining value 
for the later emotional and muscular hysterical mani- 
festations, i.e., that they were conditioned motor re- 
flexes, seems fairly evident. If you tickle a child he 
will giggle or laugh; if this is persisted in, he will have 
convulsive movements; if the child is hurt or held against 
his will, he will struggle, and the movements will tend 
to become involuntary. A sudden fear or being sur- 
prised in an overt act will cause an involuntary tension 
in many or all the muscles in the body, whether the 
individual be child or adult. Brill has recently said 
and, I think, shown that screaming is often resorted to 
to drowm out unpleasant memories. Fear of paralysis 
or the use of certain muscles for wrong, or thought-to- 
be-wrong purposes, often causes hysterical paralysis. 
These things are too well known and too common to 
need more than the mere mention. Now let us see how 
they apply in this case. Tickling a girl will always 
cause, from the more highly emotional nature, more 
reaction than tickling a boy. Sexual fondling is a re- 
fined or special form of tickling and always produces, 
in the female',' more emotion and more response than 
ordinary t^M^timulation. 
This girl a^^he outset of her sex life, when erotic 
feeluM^wete becoming strong, when her real knowl- 
edge of'these things was nil, though curiosity and a 
hal^^med idea of right and wrong were present, was 
subjected repeatedly in similar situations to manipula- 
Alon of the breasts and fondling of the clitoris, and at 
the same time she was compelled to see and manipulate 
the male genital organs. One would infer that she 116 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
would react, like any ordinary child, and giggle and 
squirm. As a matter of fact she did, and remembers 
it clearly. When later she was compelled to endure 
severe pain from the pressure of the penis against her 
external genitals and was discovered in this, even then 
thought-to-be-compromising situation, she had at first 
rigidity from fear and almost immediately convulsive 
movements in her efforts to escape. Many times be- 
sides the actual occurrences were these scenes revived 
by the gibes of her brother and the fear that he would 
tell her parents. After the establishment of her hys- 
terical condition, attempts of the brother to tease her 
would invariably cause convulsive attacks. Later the 
sight of the male sex organs when she encountered the 
two exhibitionists revived the whole past and added the 
new fancies of a desire to be followed and violated by 
these men. There was a mental struggle against these 
fancies similar to the physical struggle against the for- 
mer real incidents. Such a mental struggle will produce 
tension of the muscles, abstraction, and involuntary 
motion. The curiosity about the male genitals and 
erotic feelings produced by sight or thought of them 
was a very potent source of self-condemnation. But 
I showed her that the whole matter had absolutely noth- 
ing to do with her character or purity, it^eing merely 
the natural manifestation of well kno^BP?ychic laws. 
Under the stress of a high degree of erotic feeling she 
was compelled to see and handle the male or^afc^iich 
under normal conditions in any normal wom^ wpuld 
itself produce or increase erotic excitcmen^^^hese 
experiences, of course, could not be readily forgotten, 
nor was the emotion which went with them lost. What 
more natural then, when her brother invited her to A CASE OF HYSTERIA 
117 
sexual relations, than that she should speculate as to 
the size of his organs and wonder if he would be more 
successful than the man had been. It was inevitable 
that erotic feelings should accompany these specula- 
tions. These imaginings and feelings had long been 
put aside when the two experiences with the exhibition- 
ists revived them and added to them. As a child, she 
had wondered much concerning the completion of the 
sexual act. At the time of the exhibition experiences, 
she had been for a long time strenuously resisting erotic 
feelings and an impulse to masturbate. 
In such a state, almost any unconventional idea is 
likely to come unsolicited. If we may speak of a con- 
ditioned psychic reflex, the sight of the genitals of the 
exhibitionists was the condition or association which 
brought back the old desire and imaginings which them- 
selves were conditioned by the associations accompany- 
ing them, and applied them to the present situation. 
Her desire to be pursued and violated by these men was 
conditioned by the experiences with the man and her 
brother, formerly, and was no more to be escaped from 
than the memory of a railroad accident which one has 
witnessed or been involved in and, therefore, no more 
a test of character. While we were discussing this 
from every viewpoint for a week or two, during which 
time I explained to her, by means of anatomical charts, 
the size, appearance, and functions of the male and 
female genitals (she had already had a course in em- 
bryology from which this information was entirely ex- 
purgated), she had numerous dreams and day-time 
mental pictures of male genitals, accompanied by some 
slight erotic feelings, but after the completion of the 
discussion, these disappeared entirely. She had many 118 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
fears that she was anatomically unfitted for intercourse 
and child-bearing, as well as fears that she had been 
injured or that the hymen had been ruptured. These 
could not be definitely and finally disposed of by talk. 
I, therefore, after some weeks, made a physical ex- 
amination, finding an anular hymen apparently intact 
and all the organs perfectly normal except a very slight 
retro-version. She felt much better after reassurance 
of these matters, though all her attacks had ceased 
some time before the examination. As has been stated, 
she had been absolutely devoid of erotic feelings for 
some months previous to coming under my care. Dur- 
ing the first week of our discussions there were none. 
I told her in the event of having such feelings to hesi- 
tate no more in relieving them and to worry no more 
about it than about an act of micturition. She finally, 
just before beginning to menstruate, had erotic feel- 
ings one night after going to bed, which she relieved 
by titillation of the clitoris, obtaining a species of 
orgasm, complete relief, and sound sleep. After seven- 
teen days, she was disturbed by erotic feelings during 
an entire afternoon and at the time of retiring she had 
identical feelings with those which formerly preceded 
her hysterical attacks. She obtained a fairly satis- 
factory orgasm by titillation of the clitoris, and all 
symptoms of hysteria immediately disappeared, and 
she soon went to sleep. During the next five weeks she 
had erotic feelings six times, on three occasions the 
feelings died away of themselves, on the three others 
when they were persistent she relieved them as above, 
obtaining on each occasion an imperfect orgasm but 
an immediate disappearance of the feelings and sound 
sleep. A CASE OF HYSTERIA 
119 
I became satisfied after a long discussion of this mat- 
ter that she had been so afraid of anatomical imperfec- 
tion and so opposed to masturbation as a moral and 
physical transgression (she had many times gotten her- 
self to the verge of an orgasm and then by desperate 
efforts controlled herself), that she had not experi- 
enced a perfect orgasm in the waking state. This was 
confirmed by her statement that in her occasional 
voluptuous dreams, she had experiences far more com- 
plete than when awake. I now explained as well as I 
could what the complete orgasm was like, and told hei' 
that long time repression of all sex feeling and her 
repeated attempts to avoid completion made the ac- 
complishment of the orgasm difficult, but that there 
appeared to be no reason why it should not be complete 
when the resistances were abandoned. I could say this 
with more authority after the physical examination, 
which revealed practical perfection. 
At the beginning of our treatment she said that she 
seldom had dreams that she remembered. I told her 
to make an effort to remember her dreams, and to write 
them down immediately. It developed that she did 
dream a great deal. Many of these dreams are inter- 
esting, as showing the progress of the treatment in 
what I call review dreams, which of course were partly 
suggested. These dreams corroborate Prince's view 
expressed in his book The Unconscious, where he says 
that " though dreams are often fulfillment of wishes 
they have often to do with the solution of unsolved 
problems with which the mind has been occupied." 
One of the later dreams and its sequel I propose to give 
first, as this occurred the night after our discussion 
of the reasons for her inability to attain a complete 120 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
sexual orgasm when in the waking state. This also 
was the point at which I considered the treatment prac- 
tically ended and the patient well. 
DREAM MARCH FOURTH 
She dreamed that she was at T crawling in Mr. 
C.'s cellar, and he following her. Then she was in a 
room trying to get something to eat. Then she was 
standing by a table and her brother was fondling her 
breasts and both were greatly excited. He took out 
his erect penis, and she became greatly excited. At 
this point, she woke in a state of great excitement and 
began to titillate the clitoris. The parts were moist, 
and moisture increased with excitement. After a few 
minutes she used a syringe nozzle in the vagina. This 
increased the sensation but the greater sensation con- 
tinued to be in the clitoris. In about thirty minutes, 
the orgasm occurred. This she described as rythmical 
contractions all about the clitoris and inside the va- 
gina. There was a feeling of extreme tension at the 
beginning of the orgasm and relaxation as the con- 
tractions subsided. There were about a dozen con- 
tractions, being further apart and more violent toward 
the end. During this experience she felt powerless to 
think or move and she never remembered having " such 
strong pleasurable feelings." There was slight desire 
and slight manipulation of the clitoris as the feelings 
slowly subsided. A slight epistaxis soon occurred, not 
uncommon in her case, and the headache, feeling of 
stupidity and pressure in the head which she had felt 
increasingly for some days, left her completely and 
she felt easy, perfectly relaxed, contented, happy, and 
without self-criticism. It will be remembered that she 
considered voluptuous dreams indications of impurity A CASE OF HYSTERIA 
121 
and degeneracy and that she had dreaded them and 
resolved to do all she could to prevent them. Perhaps 
that is the reason for her waking before the orgasm. 
One of the last subjects to be discussed, but one of 
much importance was concerning a series of experi- 
ences which occurred before the experience with the 
exhibitionists and undoubtedly conditioned their effects 
upon her. It will be remembered that she was much 
impressed by the expression of sexual pleasure on the 
face of the last exhibitionist, and these memories were 
often stimuli inducing erotic feeling, in spite of the 
natural revolt of her nature against such feelings un- 
der such conditions. The following experience had 
been forgotten or thought not worth mentioning, yet 
it shows clearly that its determining influence gave much 
greater significance to the exhibitionist episodes than 
they otherwise would have had. From the age of fif- 
teen, she had been mildly subject to migraine, attacks 
occurring once or twice a month after severe nervous 
excitement or worry. I first learned of this some weeks 
after her arrival, after she had told a friend some 
of her troubles and this conversation had been followed 
by a mild attack. Later I questioned her about this 
and learned that in addition to the above she had, for 
the last two years, also been car-sick, especially when 
traveling in the night, though this might happen in the 
daytime. She was never car-sick previous to a trying 
experience two years ago while traveling in the night. 
On this occasion a storm made it necessary for her to 
drive to make a train a long distance over a lonely road 
by night with two strange men. Then she had to walk 
some distance through a questionable part of the city 
with one of the strangers. Though this man proved 
to be a perfect gentleman, she was much afraid during 122 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
both the ride and the walk, more so because she had 
recently heard the details of the narrow escape of one 
of her friends who had been approached on the train 
by a white-slaver, and rescued by a gentleman among 
the passengers. This kept worrying her after board- 
ing her train. In the seat across the aisle sat a man 
who began to stare at her and to try to attract her 
attention. She had no idea what his actions meant 
and was thoroughly disgusted with him, knowing in- 
stinctively that there was some sexual purport in his 
conduct. Later she remembered his facial expression, 
which indicated sexual enjoyment, and had erotic feel- 
ings herself at the memory, though ashamed of herself 
for having them. His actions as described were to 
stare steadily at her foi' a time then to lean over the 
back of the seat and stare at another woman. During 
all this time he was never still, but kept fidgeting and 
twisting about in his seat. He kept his hands in his 
pockets. She was particularly impressed by his facial 
expression, which was that of intense abstraction, and 
indicated unmistakably excessive sexual excitement and 
pleasure. She had no idea of what he was doing, in- 
deed she did not know until our talks that men or boys 
ever masturbated. Of course it is evident that this wyas 
his occupation at the time, and the case is almost iden- 
tical with that of another lady patient of mine. 
I myself have also observed a similar occurrence in a 
public conveyance. Chrysippus commended Diogenes 
for masturbating in public, but he might advocate 
greater privacy about the practice in the present state 
of society, if he knew the disturbances which result 
from chance observation of it by uninformed and un- 
married women. 
Her trip was otherwise uneventful, but ever since A CASE OF HYSTERIA 
123 
that time riding on the cars has, invariably at night, 
usually by day, induced severe car-sickness. If this is 
not a conditioned reflex, what is? The incidents of 
the trip were, with all their associations, vividly im- 
pressed upon her mind. The fear and the disgust were 
closely associated with her railway journey. Later 
there was more disgust with herself for allowing the 
erotic feelings which accompanied memories of this 
man's facial expression. Later the remembered ex- 
pression on the exhibitionist's face, which was similar, 
produced in her the same result, more readily prob- 
ably because of this former experience. Naturally she 
did not want to harbor such thoughts and pushed them 
into the background of consciousness, possibly into the 
subconscious. The association of cars, especially at 
night, brought back the most permanent thing, which 
was disgust, but a feeling of disgust on an ordinary 
railway journey would start inquiries as to the reason. 
As this reason had been willed aside, .the association 
roused its synonym, nausea, which could be present with- 
out in any way awakening her suspicion. She and I are 
both confident that now these things have been thor- 
oughly explained, she will not be car-sick again. In 
fact, she has already demonstrated this to a certain 
extent. Of course I explained to her that it was a 
perfectly natural and common phenomenon that erotic 
feeling should be aroused in any one of either sex, no 
matter how chaste or modest, when compelled to observe 
pets or domestic animals copulating, or when humans 
were observed in the same situation, or when one of 
either sex was known to be in a state of sexual excite- 
ment, or when erotic situations were read, heard about, 
or seen dramatized in our common vaudeville. This is 
one of the best known of human reactions. Like pro- 124 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
duces like. An enthusiastic speaker rouses his hearers, 
a dull one puts them to sleep. One who has just eaten, 
placed at a good table with a lot of hungry men, will 
begin over again with appetite. The stronger and more 
primitive the emotion involved, the greater the reaction; 
hence, very many people, I suspect about all people, at 
times, much to their own chagrin, react to some of the 
above mentioned stimuli just as this young lady did 
and as I myself have done. Her sick headaches or 
migraine can undoubtedly be explained as can most 
such cases on exactly the same principle. 
In Rational Sex Ethics, p. 121ff, I have remarked 
that nocturnal emissions in men and voluptuous dreams 
in women seemed to adequately take care of the super- 
fluous sexual energy in some people, but that this relief 
proved inadequate in very many cases. I now wish 
to reassert this statement more strongly as the result 
of many recent observations and to try to elucidate 
this matter somewhat. This nocturnal relief in dreams 
seems to be the ideal method for the single or the un- 
avoidably continent, and I offer a psychological reason 
for its so often proving inadequate. Nearly all young 
men and women get from quack literature or the cur- 
rent books, supposed to tell what young people should 
know, or from other sources, the idea that there is 
something physically injurious or ethically " off color " 
in these involuntary manifestations. In the present 
case, as in many others I have investigated, the dread 
of this form of sex expression becomes a frightful night- 
mare. They are alw'ays on their guard. They take 
precautions to avoid sexual dreams, and will not to 
have them the last thing before going to sleep. Con- 
stantly being on the defensive undoubtedly has an in- 
hibitory effect on the sleep and dream manifestations of A CASE OF HYSTERIA 
125 
the individual. We all know that the manifest content 
of the dream is largely dependent on the dream-day and 
many believe that childhood and adolescent wishes and 
trends influence dreams extensively. It then seems per- 
fectly logical to infer that this long established an- 
tipathy and dread prevents in many people the natural 
release in sleep of surplus sex energy. 
An additional reason for believing this may be ad- 
duced from facts fairly well known and which I myself 
have repeatedly demonstrated, that a woman who be- 
fore marriage has been self-conscious, prudish, and 
in fear of nocturnal sleep manifestations, and almost 
lacking nocturnal sex manifestations, or at least such 
as had complete culmination, after marriage and after 
the acquirement of sensible sex knowledge, during the 
absence of her husband or during enforced abstinence 
from any cause has almost invariably, before sex de- 
sire became excessive, had complete sexual orgasms 
and relief in dreams. I often have discussed these mat- 
ters with younger or older single women who formerly 
had no such relief, or if so it was a rare occurrence, 
followed by harsh self-criticism and constant dread of 
recurrence. After learning of and accepting my be- 
lief as to the absolute normality, morality, and utility 
of such dreams, they had them with increasing fre- 
quency, corresponding to which there was a reduction 
of conscious desire. Of course, the long established 
inhibitions are too strong for early and complete eradi- 
cation, but this change occurs frequently enough to 
lead one to think that the changed viewpoint influences 
the dreams. These ideas are tentative but ought, after 
considerable observation, to be susceptible of proof or 
disproof. If proved correct, here is a strong argu- 
ment for early, sensible sex knowledge, not only for 126 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
the prevention of neurotic and psycho-neurotic states, 
but as a preventive of what, without some such relief, 
I and some others have considered necessary - con- 
scious auto-erotism. 
After establishing a systematic method of relief, this 
patient discovered that frequently desire continued 
after a complete orgasm. She continued the excita- 
tion for two or three minutes, when another orgasm 
occurred, more violent than the first, affording com- 
plete relief and a longei' respite from desire than the 
single orgasm had given. The occasions of her auto- 
erotic relief up to the time of the dream with the fol- 
lowing complete orgasm have been given. I add with- 
out comment a list of her experiences from that time 
to the present. March 13th, orgasm; March 13th, 
later began to menstruate; March 16th, orgasm ; March 
17th, orgasm afternoon and evening; March 18th, two 
orgasms (discovered the efficacy of one orgasm imme- 
diately following another); March 19th, orgasm; 
March 20th, orgasm; March 24th, two orgasms ; March 
29th, two orgasms; March 30th, orgasm; March 31st, 
orgasm; April 2nd, orgasm; April 5th, voluptuous 
dream; April 8th, began to menstruate; April 11th, two 
orgasms; April 14th, orgasm; April 16th, voluptuous 
dream; April 18th, orgasm; April 19th, two orgasms; 
April 26th, five orgasms in a half hour; May 1st excite- 
ment but no orgasm; May 8th, orgasm; May 10th, 
orgasm; May 18th, orgasm; May 25th, orgasm; May 
27th, orgasm; May 30th, orgasm;-June 1st, orgasm; 
June 6th, orgasm; June 8th, two orgasms in the after- 
noon and one in the evening; June 9th, orgasm; June 
11th, orgasm; June 19th, three orgasms; June 20th, 
orgasm in afternoon, also evening; June 21st, orgasm; 
June 25th, orgasm; June 26th, orgasm; June 28th, A CASE OF HYSTERIA 
127 
orgasm; June 29th, orgasm; July 2nd, orgasm in the 
afternoon, also evening. Began to menstruate July 
3rd, a. m. ; July 4th, orgasm; July 5th, orgasm; July 
10th, orgasm; July 11th, two orgasms; July 12th, 
orgasm. From July 12th to 22nd, voluntary absti- 
nence from auto-erotism, though desire was present 
often in the afternoon and evening. When desire was 
strong after going to bed would go to sleep after an 
hour or two, and no desire on waking in morning. 
On each recurrence of erotic feeling, they were stronger 
and more oppressive than before. After July 22nd, 
she exerted considerable repression, and up to the pres- 
ent has masturbated about twice a week, on an average, 
there often being two or three orgasms rapidly suc- 
ceeding each other on each occasion. If she refrained 
for a week, a voluptuous dream would occur. During 
periods of severe mental strain or application, desire 
would be excessive, and after experimenting she found 
that, with more frequent relief, she could do her work 
with perfect satisfaction and without any discomfort. 
Otherwise the work was unsatisfactory, and she was 
completely worn out by it. 
DREAMS AND HINTS AT THEIR INTERPRETATION 
January 25th - 1 
She dreamed that she was a teacher in a country 
school, and a little boy was masturbating. She told 
him not to do this, whereupon all the other boys be- 
gan to do the same thing. She herself had strong 
erotic feelings in the dream, and woke in a state of 
excitement which she tried to relieve but did not obtain 
a complete orgasm. 
This dream came after the doctor's explanation of 128 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
the universality and ordinary harmlessness of moderate 
auto-erotism. The first dream of the series is similar 
to the last, already given, which was followed by a com- 
plete orgasm and, as it had occurred the night after a 
detailed explanation of the orgasm, so this dream fol- 
lowed a thorough discussion of auto-erotism. 
January 28th - 2 
Dreamed that her brother was chasing the doctor's 
little girl of ten, he being exposed. They were in the 
doctor's backyard and the dreamer was trying to stop 
him. This dream occurred two weeks before she told 
the doctor of her brother's proposal to her. 
Evidently the doctor's child is substituted for the 
dreamer whom the brother is really pursuing. She ex- 
plained, ultimately more fully, that after his proposal, 
though she had repulsed him and had had a feeling that 
it wras not right; nevertheless, she did long to see his 
genital organs and to have relations with him. She 
thought that, her brother being smaller than the man, 
the act might be complete with him. This was a favor- 
ite longing of hers for a time, but later she felt great 
shame to have had this curiosity and longing. 
February 1st - 3 
She dreamed that she was engaged to a patient who 
resembled the man of the history, and the doctor's wife 
encouraged the alliance. When he proposed, she was 
at the kitchen sink doing dishes. He gave her a ring 
having five fire opals, though some of them were broken. 
His people thought her too common and opposed the 
match. She felt badly, not knowing how to break the 
engagement. When the doctor returned, she ran to 
him, threw her arms about his neck and cried, where- A CASE OF HYSTERIA 
129 
upon the doctor said that she was in a nervous condi- 
tion, not responsible, and the engagement had better 
be broken. 
The engagement refers to her relation with the man 
formerly. The doctor's wife's encouragement is ful- 
filling a wish of hers that she might think well of her in 
spite of her conduct. The ring with broken opals in- 
dicates the improper and ephemeral relation, and that 
he did not make proper and conventional love to her 
but insulted and misused her. As a matter of fact, she 
at one time wore a ring of his to school, and she also 
had a ring with fire opals in it. Her desire to escape 
the engagement, referred to the tangle her life had 
been in and her shame and discouragement. Her run- 
ning to the doctor indicated that she had been much 
comforted by his assurances that her responsibility for 
her childish misdemeanors was nothing, or very slight. 
February 3rd - 4 
She and C , a young man she had known and 
thought favorably of, though she had not had conscious 
sex imaginings concerning him, were trying to hitch 
up a horse. C was bareheaded and wore a white 
bathrobe and she also was dishevelled. They were in 
some barn, both were hungry and both had sexual de- 
sire. When she was fifteen, she had a dream that they 
were married. She had had this young man's picture 
and he had kissed her good night at one time. 
Evidently this was a sex dream and the difficulty at- 
tendant on hitching up the horse very likely had refer- 
ence to the pain and shock she had suffered from the 
attempts at intercourse with the other man. 130 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
February 11th - 5 
She was in a church which seemed situated back of 
her house where the barn really was, and the church had 
a barn door. In the church near the altar was a chest 
of drawers in which she had hidden articles of cloth- 
ing. One article had been stolen. She felt badly 
about this and told her mother, who said that it did not 
make much difference. The article in question was a 
white chemise. The dreamer said to her mother that 
she was going " after that evening dress." It wras in 
the night and seemed a dangerous undertaking. She 
was frightened and her mother did not want her to go. 
She went, however, and took her blue evening dress from 
one of the lower drawers, and ran with it very much 
frightened into the house and slammed the door. Her 
father was angry because she had been after it. Then 
she and her father were in this church, which now 
seemed like a church she was familiar with, and she 
seemed to be seeking for the white chemise which had 
been stolen. 
In this dream she is evidently taking up the threads 
of her life anew and endeavoring to regain her self- 
respect. The stolen white chemise might be the vir- 
tue which she thought she had lost. Her mother's un- 
concern would evidently then fulfill the wish which she 
had expressed to me many times that her mother might 
not think too hard of her, if she should ever know her 
misdemeanors. She was afraid to go after the eve- 
ning dress which to me indicated her reentrance into a 
happy and normal way of living. Her mother was 
afraid to have her go and her father was angry. She 
had already told me that she feared her mother's horror 
and her father's disapproval if they should come to A CASE OF HYSTERIA 
131 
know of her telling me all these things, which I consid- 
ered necessary for her recovery. In spite of her fear, 
she did get the evening dress, or in other words became 
normal and happy. Being in the church with her fa- 
ther seeking the white garment, to me indicates com- 
plete reconciliation, and that she was not yet quite clear 
as to her character and purity. 
February 12th - 6 
A little explanation is necessary to introduce the 
next dream. Lately she had had ideas of a young man, 
A. H. B., who as a boy gave her some attention and 
whose affections were alienated by a girl whose char- 
acter was questionable. She had felt badly about this 
at the time, as she liked this boy, and his attentions 
had been strictly correct. At the time she had known 
him, she had had some sex imagery concerning him, 
which she had repressed with disgust. Now that the 
other matters were being cleared up for her, she again 
had fancies of him as a sexual partner, also mental 
pictures of his face and at the same time of his genitals. 
She was deeply ashamed of this, and did not tell me 
of it for some days. The night after she had told me 
of these fancies, and I had explained that she was 
finally getting rid of these childish unwelcome imagin- 
ings, she had this dream: 
It was a rainy day and she was teaching school. 
She would not let the children out of doors. They 
seemed to be in a basement under a steel bridge. She 
was exploring the basement and went into a place where 
live sparks of electricity seemed glowing all over the 
wall or framework. After leaving this spot, the elec- 
trician in charge and her father appeared to her. The 
electrician seemed in love with her and much worried 132 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
about her. Her father was also much excited and both 
of them warned her against going into that place, as 
she surely would get killed. After the warning, she 
told them that she had already been through the danger 
safely, at which both were much rejoiced. 
It seems as if the sparks and the electricity were 
symbols for her erotic feelings and images concerning 
the boy, A. H. B., who undoubtedly was the electrician 
in the dream. She felt that both he and her father 
would be greatly shocked to know of her experiences 
and perhaps at her changed viewpoint in regard to 
auto-erotic relief. It fulfilled her w'ish that she came 
through the danger safely and that she was still per- 
sona grata to A. H. B. and her father. 
February 14 th - 7 
Dreamed that she was walking near the river late at 
night with the doctor's wife, and a villain sprang upon 
her and seized her. He had a rope with rocks tied to the 
ends of it which he w'as going to wind about her before 
throwing her into the river. The doctor's wife en- 
deavored to save her but was unable. The doctor ap- 
peared and attacked and thrashed the man, and took 
her home. She was sick in bed and people came and 
sent her flowers, but she finally recovered. This dream 
does not need translation, for she was coming to feel 
that the doctor was helping her out of a hopeless situa- 
tion. 
While this patient was being cured she wrote out, 
though this was her first experience with a typewriter, 
her own case at my dictation. Immediately after she 
had written the above, she said to me that she recalled 
for the first time a similar dream that she had had one 
year ago. In it she and her roommate went by night A CASE OF HYSTERIA 
133 
through a disreputable part of the city where they had 
been forbidden to go. Some villains flashed a magne- 
sium light in their faces, seized them, put them in can- 
vas bags, and carried them to a house of ill fame. 
Cries and struggles were unavailing, but before they 
had been initiated, a letter sent secretly brought some 
of their relatives w'ho rescued them. One cannot fail 
to see that this dream is practically the same as the 
last one except that the rescuer, from her thought-to- 
be-lost condition, now takes definite form. 
February 16th - 8, Voluptuous Dream 
She dreamed she was in the woods with her brother 
and that he had intercourse with her, which was pleas- 
urable to both. Then she seemed to be in the kitchen 
here, and a great red fox pursued her. She was very 
much frightened, but the brother drove him away. 
She immediately awoke in a state of sexual excitement, 
which she started to relieve by titillation of the clitoris, 
but did not obtain the orgasm, as it was time to get up. 
It will be remembered that she as a child had had 
fancies of her brother being more successful than the 
man had been. Here that childish wish is fulfilled and 
her bete noir, the red fox, in other words, the genital 
organs of the man who assaulted her, which had had 
a seductive and a terrorizing influence upon her for 
so long, was removed by the brother's success in inter- 
course in the dream. It would be natural to think that 
after this dream she would have no more of these fancies 
concerning intercourse with this man or her brother 
or concerning their sexual organs and, up to the pres- 
ent time, she has been entirely free from such. 134 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
BIRTH DREAM 
" I seemed to be sleeping with N (who is a young 
woman friend). We were talking a while and then 
tried to go to sleep. Then I seemed to be in labor. 
All the abdominal muscles were contracting and trying 
to force the child out. I seemed to be in some pain, 
and my efforts were fairly tearing me to pieces. Then 
the child seemed to be lying in the bed just where it 
had emerged from me. I longed desperately to take it 
in my arms, for it seemed the most wonderful thing in 
the world. Yet I aw'oke before I had even touched it." 
This dream is already translated, for the dreamer 
is a perfectly normal young woman, and like all such 
longs for motherhood under the proper circumstances. 
March 18 th 
" I live near M with my parents. My father and I 
set out to drive somewhere. On the way we find four 
things: a carriage rug or mat, a black dog, a span of 
beautiful black driving horses which we have to catch, 
and some white eggs. We go home and show them to 
mother. We are putting the horses in the barn, and 
the new ones are inclined to be refractory. An old 
man seems to be around and I go hunting eggs with 
him in the hay. We find lots of them, but they are 
brown. There is a heap of hay on the floor and he 
proposes to lie on this and have intercourse. I refuse 
and escape him. A few days later the old man is found 
dead and my father sends me to Dr. R, who lives in 
England, lest I be accused of the murder. I next am 
at Dr. R's house and am quite ill. The room really is 
not in Dr. R's house but is a room which I was once in 
some years ago. The doctor thinks me very sick but A CASE OF HYSTERIA 
135 
Mrs. R and her daughter are not over-sympathetic. I 
still have a cap and overcoat belonging to the mur- 
dered man, and in the night I am cold, and put the 
overcoat over me. I am lying in a cot alone in a room 
and suddenly I have a feeling that I am suspected of 
this murder and that these clothes will convict me. It 
is a dark cold night but I am nearly wild with fear, 
and in my frenzy I go out and hide these things by 
burying them in the ground. In the morning I am 
ill, with a great deal of fever and delirium, and Dr. R 
is much worried. 
" Some weeks have passed and I am better but still 
somewhat in disgrace with most of the doctor's family. 
The doctor and his wife are soon to go to America and 
their daughter is going to teach school. I am to be 
sent back to a certain house in London where I seem 
to have roomed before, and I am to seek employment 
of some sort. We all go for a sort of farewell picnic 
down by a beautiful little river. The doctor's daugh- 
ters (aged twenty-five and ten) and I find a lot of lovely 
little yellow and white chrysanthemums beside the 
stream. Doctor and his wife visit. We girls then see 
some beautiful flowers across the stream and we wrant 
them. We wade across, although Doctor forbids it, 
and reach the other side in safety. A lover of mine 
has followed us, and when about in the middle of the 
stream he appears below and wants me to come with 
him and marry him. I seem to be fond of him down in 
my heart, yet I treat him rudely and send him away. 
Upon reaching the other side of the stream we find our- 
selves in the most exquisitely beautiful place I ever have 
seen. There was the clear river flowing on the right 
side of us, and we were in a sort of open forest. To 
our left was a dense wood. Flowers were everywhere, 136 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
and the trees were filled with some members of the Mnio- 
tiltidse family who were making sweet music. It was 
cool and shady, and we picked a great many flowers. 
They were most peculiar, purple ones and white ones, 
with the leaves of the same color. They were not much 
like ordinary flowers because they seemed to be spiral 
(diameter at the base two inches and about six inches 
high, tapering toward the top), but they were so beau- 
tiful. When we had gathered all we wanted, we sat 
down and talked of the future and carried on conver- 
sation with Dr. and Mrs. R, who were still on the other 
side. We seemed to be happy and did not want to 
part. My future was most indefinite and N did not 
want to teach. We were still enjoying the Elysian 
beauty when I woke." 
She and the doctor's daughter had a very confidential 
talk on the day before the dream and she felt much 
relieved by it. The pile of hay in the barn seemed 
identical with the place where one of her experiences 
with the man occurred. The eggs in the first instance 
were a pure white and the others were a dirty brown. 
Going to England to Dr. R's might be going east to 
a strange and dreaded place, and returning to London 
might be going back to college. 
With these things in mind, we might interpret the 
main points of this dream in a somewhat Freudian way, 
though we do not insist upon it. Her trip with her 
father involved transition from the dirty rug or mat 
and black dog, typical of her former deplored mental 
state and sex experiences to the black horses of legiti- 
mate sex relief, and the white eggs of purity in pros- 
pective marriage and motherhood. The old man and 
the brown eggs would seem to indicate her former ques- 
tionable sex acts with the man and her sexual imagin- A CASE OF HYSTERIA 
137 
ings. The pile of hay identifies the old experiences, and 
the man in the case now seems old and disgusting. He 
was killed when she prohibited further relations, but 
his cap and coat, signifying the results to her character 
of her experiences, were with her until I helped her bury 
them, and she certainly was nervously quite sick during 
the first of this process. She often, in reality, said to 
me, " What would your wife and daughter say to me 
if they knew my history? " Hence, she was in disgrace 
with my family in the early part of the dream. The 
general picture obtained from her dream farewell picnic 
seems no derogation of my methods. I am unable to 
see why she made me forbid them to cross the river for, 
though I know all girls must wade through deep water, 
I knew enough of the circumstances to have no further 
fears for them, and she knew it before the dream. The 
lover seems impersonal and she sent him away, though 
wanting him deep down in her heart because, though 
now anticipating marriage and children in the future, 
she is not ready for these beatitudes until her educa- 
tion is complete, and she has seen more of a world 
recently discovered to be like the Elysium of her dream. 
The purple and white flowers show how the same thing 
may be considered good or bad. The white are now 
in the ascendency. Strictly Freudian interpretation 
may carry the symbolism further and, recalling that she 
as a little girl was familiar with the size, shape, and 
color of the adult erect organ, say that these flowers 
resemble this very much and indicate that it might be 
the bearer of the greatest harm or the greatest good 
and that the same body and mind thought to be vile 
in the past were pure and wholesome and that the fu- 
ture had in store perfectly legitimate happiness and 
usefulness. 138 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
As a final word we might say, a propos of the many 
recent efforts toward a saner mental hygiene, that this 
case is paralleled by thousands having a similar etiology, 
though the results may be either neurosis, psycho- 
neurosis, dementia praecox or other mental malady 
which, taken in time, would deplete our institutions 
and fill up the ranks of normal, happy, useful human- 
ity. CHAPTER VI 
INTRODUCTION TO SEX AND CASE 
HISTORIES 
In a former study some twenty-five sex histories 
of normal people were given in some detail. These were 
selected as typical of several hundred such histories 
then collected. The limited number was selected in or- 
der to keep consistently to the principle of brevity. It 
seems advisable to present as a basis for judgment a 
few more similar cases. These, like the former ones, 
were obtained from people who were, as far as could 
be judged, normal, moral, and successful. The presen- 
tation of such cases has the advantage of making this 
study more nearly complete in itself without reference 
to the earlier 'work. Five interesting histories, not then 
published, are taken from the earlier series. The rest 
have been selected as typical, from histories collected 
recently, most of them within the last year or two. 
Some of them are histories of young people, who, in 
their early years, were instructed in sex matters by 
myself, and from whom I recently have obtained a full 
history. Indeed, I am much interested in some of these 
young people, having had a fatherly, professional, or 
friendly knowledge of them since their advent into this 
world, at which, with some of them, I assisted. While 
all have had some experience with auto-erotism, which 
I think has been demonstrated by many observations 
besides my own as a normal phase in the life of prac- 
tically every perfect specimen of either sex, or at least, 
139 140 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
again to quote Ellis, the " natural result of unnatural 
circumstances," I can with much confidence state that 
no one of the young people with whom I have discussed 
sex matters ever has indulged in promiscuous inter- 
course. Of course, I may have been deceived; but since 
these people have been under observation, and their 
general reputation, characteristics, and habits known 
to me, any such deception is highly improbable. 
Since those who have furnished written histories have 
answered the questions in the questionnaire formerly 
used, and since, in general, these questions have been 
followed, when notes for histories were made at per- 
sonal interviews, it is necessary to repeat here this 
questionnaire, which has been at the basis of all the sex 
histories. Answers to questions which were not essen- 
tial sometimes have been omitted; but this is no essen- 
tial detraction, since the important facts are recorded 
in each case. 
QUESTIONNAIRE ON PHYSIOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY OF 
SEX 
1. Sex, age, color of hair and eyes? Peculiarities? 
2. Were, or are, your parents and your relatives of 
sound health? Was there consumption, rheumatism, 
nervousness, or insanity in any member of your family? 
Give particulars. 
3. Are you now, and have you been from childhood, 
in good health with the exception of acute diseases? 
State fully if you have not been. 
4. Please introspect carefully and describe the first 
conscious manifestations of sex. (a) The first feel- 
ings of sex for any one of your own or of the opposite 
sex. (b) Were these spontaneous or were they sug- 
gested to you by some one? (c) How frequent were SEX AND CASE HISTORIES 
141 
these feelings before puberty? How frequent after 
puberty ? 
5. Did you, as a child, masturbate? If so, was the 
habit taught you or was it done of your own volition? 
If taught, under what circumstances? If not, what 
led to its beginning? Did threadworms, friction of 
clothing, sliding down bannisters, itching of prepuce, 
or any other irritation of glans penis or clitoridis, or 
any other ascribable cause other than instinct lead to 
it? Was a feeling of shame instinctive or developed 
later from reading or from conversation with other 
people? Were you, as a child, secretive about this 
habit among your fellows, or not? If not, when did 
you learn to be secretive? What made you so? When 
did you begin to try to give up this habit? What 
made you try, and how long before you were success- 
ful? If you are married, has this ever affected your 
health and happiness or that of your partner or that 
of your children? If single, do you know of any effect 
that this has had on you and have you thought or do 
you think it would affect you if married? 
6. What were your early and later psychic states 
when you indulged in auto-erotism, i.e., did you have 
lascivious, mental pictures of persons of your own or 
the opposite sex? If of the opposite sex, did you im- 
agine that you were married and having intercourse, 
or was there a feeling of exerting superior physical 
power, or of submitting to the same? Was this ever 
a purely physical act, without psychic accompaniment? 
Have you ever had day-dreams, with or without sexual 
concomitance or sequence? 
7. What were your worries and anxieties about in- 
juring your mind or your health or your procreative 
powers or your future children? State effects of sug- 142 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
gestive literature and vaudeville upon you, also effects 
of medical, semi-medical, and quack literature which 
pictured the direful effects of auto-erotism. 
8. If you, for a short time only, or never, practiced 
this habit, please tell what your sexual life has been. 
If you have had irregular (extra-marital) intercourse? 
If so, how frequent? If continent, how frequent emis- 
sions did you have, if a male; or, if a female, were there 
voluptuous dreams with orgasms at or near the men- 
strual epoch? 
9. Tell the early surroundings which kept the sex- 
ual instinct from coming into consciousness or enabled 
you to control it if it did come into consciousness. 
10. Have you, at any time, had slight or serious 
nervous troubles? If so, have excessive virility, ex- 
hausted vitality, or sexual worries or practices had, 
in your estimation, anything of a causal relation? 
11. Do you know and can you describe briefly well- 
authenticated cases where nervous diseases, sexual wor- 
ries, perversions, or continence were concomitant? Is 
there supposed or known causal relation? 
12. From your own observations and your personal 
sexual experiences, what sexual hygiene and what in- 
struction in sex matters would you recommend for 
children and young people for their own happiness and 
health and for the moral improvement of society? 
13. If you think sexual anomalies important factors 
in the causation of nervous diseases, what would you 
suggest as a remedy? 
From time to time, when the value of other informa- 
tion has become apparent, other questions have been 
asked, and the answers noted, and such answers have 
influenced opinions expressed in different places, though SEX AND CASE HISTORIES 
143 
these answers ordinarily do not appear in the printed 
histories. Some of these questions have been: What 
is the frequency of intercourse between man and wife, 
what its duration? How regularly does the wife have 
orgasm? What is the effect of intercourse without 
orgasm? What is the duration of auto-erotism? Is 
this practiced without culmination, and if so what is 
the effect? In a woman, does complete satisfaction en- 
sue after a single orgasm, or is there desire or necessity 
for several in rapid succession, either in intercourse 
or auto-erotism? Do erotic feelings increase at or near 
the climacteric? Do they increase, diminish, or re- 
main as before, after this period is passed? CHAPTER VII 
CASE HISTORIES 
Case 1 
1. Male, forty-four years, blue eyes, brown hair. 
2. Yes. 
3. Slight nervousness and several attacks of sciatica. 
Hard worker and very active. 
4. First had sex manifestations at about eight, when 
I noticed that climbing a tree gave me the emotion. 
First began to notice girls per se at about eleven. 
Nearly always liked to be near girls from thirteen on, 
but always felt much embarrassed in their company. 
5. Yes, habit spontaneous, but other boys assisted 
and did it themselves without thought of shame. Feel- 
ing of shame and concealment was developed by cir- 
culars given out in Sunday School and in Y. M. C. A. 
Circulars were in the usual veiled terms, and their en- 
tire get-up was intended to scare a boy into an early 
decline. At first was not secretive, but afterwards 
was very much so. Emissions always gave me great 
relief from tight feeling. Gave up habit because some 
one told me that it led straight to the insane asylum, 
and that it was preferable to go to women. From 
eighteen to twenty-eight was working in different places 
at heavy manual labor, among men, and so managed 
to remain somewThat in control. Married at twenty- 
eight and now have a wife and daughter. My early 
life has had no observable, deleterious effects on my 
144 CASE HISTORIES 
145 
wife or child, and I should be broken-hearted if it did 
have. 
6. Had no early mental pictures or thoughts about 
the act, simply did it because of excessive virility or 
animal spirits or life. I did it daily for a long time, 
and it always seemed as if the parts forced themselves 
on me. Sometimes it would seem as if they would swell 
up and burst if not relieved. Nearly always the act 
was purely physical. After eighteen I would dream 
nearly every night, all sorts of dreams, which usually 
wound up with coitus with some one and was followed 
by a seminal emission. I then believed these emissions 
to be sure signs of early mental and physical decay and 
tried every way to avoid them. Would work myself 
down to try to sleep without them, but it was no use. 
7. All the literature that has been brought to my 
attention has resulted in all sorts of worries because of 
what I thought was a very serious breakdown imminent 
in the near future. 
8. After eighteen many voluptuous dreams at all 
times. Now, when I have such dreams, they always 
include my wife. Have had them many times with 
most pleasurable emotions. She is nearly always their 
chief actress, but sometimes is in the near background. 
In fact, now my sexual demands on my wife are exces- 
sive, although I do everything in my power to restrain 
myself, and when she is away from me, I am in torture. 
I try not to think about it, but the force comes from the 
physical side. 
9. Was raised in a family where I attended a Pres- 
byterian Sunday School until I was twelve years old. 
After that I seldom went, and now do not go at all. 
10. Have never had any trouble at all other than 
that mentioned, and excessive virility. 146 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
12. I cannot say just what teaching should be fol- 
lowed, but I believe that if we are going to reduce dis- 
ease and crime some effort must be made to provide 
that women shall get married about twenty and men 
about twenty-two. Our present economic system makes 
for prostitution, because it is impossible to suppress the 
sex longings until a man is thirty or more, and it is the 
same for women. I know absolutely that late mar- 
riages and ignorance of the sex relation tend to in- 
crease prostitution. Children under eighteen should 
have some sex instruction, some of which I have only 
learned within the last five years. Late marriages tend 
to destroy society, from one cause or another. 
13. I have had no experience with this. Never heard 
of any directly. 
Case 2 
1. Male, twenty-seven years, dark hair, blue eyes. 
2. Mother and father generally well, but mother had 
a tendency to nervousness, and severe attacks of rheu- 
matism. 
3. I have had most of the children's diseases, but 
have since enjoyed the best of health. I am rarely 
sick and have not been seriously so since childhood. 
4. Up to the age of twelve, I had no knowledge of 
sex differences. I never had any sex instruction of any 
sort except such as was self-acquired. My curiosity 
first aroused by hearing some one suggest that the 
sexes were not the same. After that time (about 
twelve or thirteen) I was very eager to inform myself. 
My parents dodged the question and I sought to ob- 
tain some information through such old-styled medical 
books as I found in the home library. Sex curiosity 
was pretty constant thereafter, and increasing. CASE HISTORIES 
147 
5. I learned to masturbate of myself while rolling 
and twisting in bed. Instinctively, I was ashamed and 
secretive. I began to try to give up the habit at fif- 
teen or sixteen, on account of reading one of the old- 
style scare books, but I was not successful. The habit 
was at first practiced once or twice a day and contin- 
ued so till about twenty. Since then, it gradually has 
been practiced much less; now rarely more than once 
in a period varying from one to three weeks. I was 
much bothered for a long time by shame and fear of 
the consequences, but this has been passing away of 
late years under the feeling that it was evidently doing 
me no harm. 
6. I used to imagine, during auto-erotism, thalt I 
was having intercourse with one of the opposite sex. 
There was always, I think, such psychic accompani- 
ment. 
7. Suggestive literature especially has had the ef- 
fect of arousing the passions; vaudeville also to some 
extent, but less, especially of late years, when I have 
gone little through lack of more than occasional inter- 
est. I was considerably frightened by scare literature 
for a number of years, but gradually I paid little at- 
tention to it. 
8. I had extra-marital intercourse for a few months 
after graduating from college, but never with prosti- 
tutes. Practised only with one girl who, through lack 
of early instruction and on account of her strong pas- 
sions, had formed the habit of more or less regular 
intercourse with several of her boy friends. During 
the time we were together, she gradually gave up in- 
tercourse with others, and finally we stopped ourselves 
by mutual consent. I have not had intercourse since 
(this was several years ago), and I think she has not. 148 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
Sometimes we had intercourse every day, always several 
times a week, for about three months. Emissions once 
in two or three weeks if I do not masturbate. 
10. No. 
11. No. 
12. The cultivation of confidence between parent and 
child, the teaching that the child can always have his 
questions answered fully and without shame, instruc- 
tion shortly before puberty, if the child has not already 
asked for information or shown signs of curiosity. At 
present I am in very good health, in spite of leading 
a sedentary life and being a very hard student. I have 
had four years of college and three years of university 
education. I have been successful in gaining prizes, 
scholarships, and fellowships; so that it is evident that 
my health has not been impaired. At present I am an 
instructor in a state university. 
Case 8 
1. Male, fifty-one, hair and eyes dark brown. 
2. Yes. 
3. Yes. 
4<. (a) Thought himself defective till thirteen, then 
had first sex feeling, with boys as an object, (b) Sug- 
gestion. (c) Infrequent. 
5. Yes. Mysterious suggestions of boys kept him 
thinking about himself, and at thirteen produced an 
emission. Was ashamed and secretive instinctively. 
Masturbated about twice a month until fifteen, then 
heard a lecture on sex and was terribly frightened, 
and practically stopped masturbation. When about 
twenty-one, after spending all his money on quacks, 
consulted a physician, and his mind was relieved. Be- 
fore this he had thought that emissions were abnormal, CASE HISTORIES 
149 
that they were the unpardonable sin, and that he was 
fast going to his grave. After this, he was associated 
with young men who went regularly with prostitutes, 
and he resumed masturbation about once a week. Later 
he married and is perfectly sound; but he has no chil- 
dren and has always considered the absence of them 
due to masturbation, though he has never investigated 
to find whether he or his wife was sterile. 
6. Had daydreams at times with sex content, and 
when masturbating had mental pictures of an ideal 
woman. Quack advertisements caught him. 
7. Frightened by these and by the lecture, had a 
horror of consequences and still had fears of losing his 
mind. 
8. When continent, emissions are once a week, occa- 
sionally more frequently; and then nearly wild from 
fears of consequences. 
9. Home surroundings of the best, but no instruc- 
tion. 
12. Full talks should be given by the teacher, par- 
ents, or minister. Suppress absolutely all newspaper 
advertisements on sex subjects. 
Note. He thought intercourse about once a week 
about right for him and people in general. He fears 
that more frequent indulgence in early years has in- 
jured him, but there is no evidence of it. 
Case 13 
1. Male, eyes blue, hair brown. 
2. Mother had quick consumption. 
3. No sickness except measles and pneumonia at 
nine months. 
4. Pictures sexually suggestive shown him by hired 
girl, when he was six years old, but he had no sex feel- 150 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
ings. When he was ten, three girls, respectively ten, 
eleven, and thirteen years of age, wrote vulgar words 
for him to read; but he had no sex feelings. From 
six to ten, he slept in room with his father and mother. 
From whispers and the motions of the bed, he guessed 
what was being done, but he was twelve before he knew 
where children came from. At eleven, he had strong 
sensations of sex when about to be tardy at school, but 
they disappeared without culminating in orgasm, after 
entering school. When he was twelve, a boy of six- 
teen took him home with him when his parents were 
absent and showed him his genital organs by means 
of a concave mirror, and got him to do the same. The 
boy also told him where he came from, and how men 
and women fitted together, etc. 
About this time two cousins induced him to sleep with 
them, and they felt of each other's genitals, obtaining 
erections and pleasurable sensations but no orgasm. 
The same year, the boy above mentioned played with 
his penis in his presence and got him to do the same, 
though there was still no orgasm. Soon he obtained 
one when with a neighbor's boy who told him what fun 
it was. This boy had been taught by an aunt of six- 
teen to masturbate, and later to have intercourse with 
her. She married later and has been a good woman. 
He began at fourteen to masturbate in secret, and ob- 
tained orgasm but no semen till he was sixteen. For 
two years, when masturbating, he always imagined him- 
self having intercourse with a certain girl of his ac- 
quaintance. At fifteen, several girls in the neighbor- 
hood tried to seduce him to intercourse, but he refused. 
Shame was instinctive, he was always secretive, and 
began trying to give up practice at sixteen, when a 
boy of eighteen said, " You and I and the other fellows CASE HISTORIES 
151 
have been masturbating, but must give it up." This 
boy give him a book to read, picturing the awful re- 
sults of masturbation, and he also ran across quack 
advertisements at this time. He had previously mas- 
turbated about twice a week, so he was not too much 
frightened by the accounts he read of those who had 
done it two or three times a day. He reduced the fre- 
quency to about once a week. This continued till nine- 
teen, when it was still further reduced to about once 
in two weeks. Later came an added feeling of respon- 
sibility, and he discontinued the practice entirely for 
a short time, until he went to board where a young 
woman took care of his room. He soon had an emis- 
sion and another in two weeks. Feeling ashamed of 
this, he anticipated the emissions by masturbating about 
once in two weeks, but stopped entirely for one year 
before his marriage. 
7. No daydreams, saw no vaudeville, but read The 
Police News, which was a strong sex stimulant. 
12. A mother should keep young and in close touch 
with her daughters. Boys never should be scared and 
should receive their sex information at home, rather 
than on the street. 
Case 58 
1. Male, forty-two years, dark hair, gray eyes. 
2. Yes. 
3. Yes. 
4. (a) After puberty, he had feelings toward other 
sex. (b) Suggested, (c) None before, occasionally 
after. 
5. Yes, suggested. Shame and secretiveness instinc- 
tive. When about seventeen he began to try to give 
up the practice, as thought it not a good thing to do. 152 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
Was successful after three years. Practice has had 
no known effect. 
6. No daydreams and act was physical, without 
psychic accompaniment. 
7. Worried much till information gained on subject. 
8. Emissions once in ten days to two weeks. More 
frequent when exercising violently. Can remember no 
dreams accompanying emissions, but talks in sleep when 
overtired. 
9. He kept busy till puberty, and about this time 
took up athletic training in Y. M. C. A., and heard 
talks on sex subjects, some of which were exciting; 
but on the whole they were good. Later he read 
Sperry's books on sex subjects. 
10, 11, 12. Whenever possible, full instructions 
should come from the parents, age of instruction differ- 
ing with the intellectual needs of the boy. Appeal to 
the boy's interest. Suggest that masturbation may 
dwarf physically, but do not scare him. Have the 
teaching largely ethical. A father often feels incom- 
petent to teach sex. The physician ought to, but 
usually does not do so. 
13. Worry does more damage than anything else. 
Case 59 
1. Male, twenty-eight years, hazel eyes, auburn hair. 
2. Yes. 
3. Yes. 
4. (a) At puberty. (b) Spontaneous. (c) Two 
or three times a wTeek. 
5. Yes. Spontaneous, at fourteen. From twice a 
week to twice a month. Usually about once a week. 
Instinctively ashamed and secretive. After three years 
he began to try to give up masturbation and he was CASE HISTORIES 
153 
successful after several years of gradual reduction. 
6. Pictures at times of females, but mostly a phys- 
ical act. 
7. Excessive worry, much increased by quack litera- 
ture which strengthened the belief that physical degen- 
eracy and consumption would ensue. No vaudeville, 
no erotic literature. 
8. No extra-marital intercourse. Emissions from 
once a month, to two in six months. 
9. Good home, but no counsel in sex matters, and no 
suggestions from schoolmates. 
12. Parents or guardians should have the confidence 
of the child and should begin to instruct as soon as the 
child begins to ask questions, but no detailed instruc- 
tion should be given until puberty. 
Case 309 
1. Female, fortyfive years, auburn hair, blue eyes. 
3. Yes. 
CASE HISTORY 
She began to menstruate at the age of eleven. Since 
she had not been warned of this by her mother, she 
thought she was bleeding to death. When she told her 
mother, the mother merely told her that this was some- 
thing all women had to go through. Twice before mar- 
riage and once after, aside from her pregnancy, there 
were three months between menstrual periods. 
When she was six or eight years of age, her father 
began to masturbate her by titillating her clitoris, and 
he kept this up as occasion offered until she was fif- 
teen or sixteen. She always hated him, but was greatly 
excited by this practice. She began to masturbate 
when about nine, and pursued this practice more espe- 154 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
cially when taking a bath. The practice continued a 
few times a month till her marriage at thirty-one. She 
thought it was not right, but she did it just the same. 
She has had some voluptuous dreams, and even had 
them occasionally after marriage when sleeping with 
her husband. Occasionally, by letting her imagination 
loose, she has obtained an orgasm with no manipulations. 
When she became engaged to a man she had known a 
long time, her father, who was brilliant and gentle- 
manly, but impractical and flighty, refused absolutely 
to allow her to marry him, and without apparent rea- 
son. Some time afterwards, her father got involved 
with a woman, and her mother became insane shortly 
after finding this out. 
Later, another man became engaged to her, and she 
determined to marry him and did so, in spite of her 
father's furious protests. She told her husband of 
her father's practice. On her wedding night she be- 
came hysterical and cried a good deal. They had in- 
tercourse, which made her wild with desire, but she 
could not obtain an orgasm. After a few days, her 
husband began to manipulate her breasts and clitoris 
before intercourse, after which she very readily ob- 
tained an orgasm. They had intercourse every day 
for a few weeks and after that two or three times a 
week. 
She was lacerated by instrumental delivery of her 
child fifteen months after marriage. Laceration was 
not repaired for ten years. Then a perfectly success- 
ful operation was performed. After the birth of her 
child, her husband began practicing coitus interruptus, 
but he usually satisfied her. She always w'anted more 
children and no precautions were taken after the oper- 
ation until recently, when her husband began to with- CASE HISTORIES 
155 
draw. He began treating her badly and she became 
somewhat hysterical and excitable, but probably not 
more so than he. Finally he discontinued intercourse, 
without explanation. She always had been moderately 
erotic, and suffered on account of this. She always 
had stronger desire at her menstrual periods and her 
husband had greater desire also at those times. She 
was laid up a month after her operation, during which 
time both she and her husband were sexually excited 
and masturbated each other several times. They did 
this also at times when she was menstruating. It would 
take but a minute or two to obtain the orgasm, when 
at other times it would take about twenty minutes. 
Sent away on account of her nervousness, she im- 
mediately recovered when it was explained to her that 
moderate auto-erotic relief was fully justifiable, under 
the circumstances. She had resorted to this on a few 
occasions when she had been unable to sleep and had 
had intense pain in the ovaries, but was deeply ashamed 
of this and much worried about it. She remained well, 
in spite of her husband's evident desire to have her 
considered mentally unbalanced, and in spite of his 
refusing to live with her. 
Case 312 
Male, seventeen years old. His parents always had 
been in good health. He broke down nervously while 
attending high school, one year previous to going away 
for treatment. He was very self-conscious, cried a 
good deal, showed no ambition, and would not talk, 
even to his parents, kept picking his face and almost 
constantly kept his hand over his mouth. He had been 
a good student, was fond of birds, flowers, and trees, 
familiar with Thoreau, Emerson, Walt Whitman, and 156 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
Burroughs. He had a slight attack of infantile paral- 
ysis when he was one year old, and his left leg was 
slightly smaller than his right and had a tendency 
to walk on the outside of his foot. At present he will 
not read, insists on lying in bed, constipated, very 
thin, unwilling to eat. An elongated and tight prepuce, 
impossible to expose glans. He was encouraged to 
talk, made to eat, the prepuce was dilated, and adhe- 
sions broken up, and two teaspoonfuls of smegma were 
removed. 
The following history was given: When about nine, 
the boys in school told him of having intercourse with 
the girls. He tried this with two of his sisters. Later, 
he became intimate with another girl and they handled 
each other's genitals, though he had no orgasm at that 
time. After this, he and his brother three years older 
indulged somewhat in mutual masturbation. He no- 
ticed first semen at sixteen. The emission came with- 
out sexual excitement, immediately after urination. 
Several times he had noticed emissions this way without 
any sensation, but masturbated occasionally. Has had 
some emissions in sleep while dreaming of girls. 
This history was given after the physician had 
guessed that sex matters were troubling him and had 
told him never to worry about masturbation or any 
little escapades with girls in school when he was a small 
boy. He immediately burst out in a violent paroxysm 
of weeping, which lasted fifteen minutes. When he re- 
covered from this, he told about his experiences with 
his sisters and the other girl, and said, " Oh, can I for- 
get these things ? " He was greatly relieved by this 
conversation. At the first conversation he had not 
been definite about his experiences, and had not given 
the impression that any of the girls had been his sis- CASE HISTORIES 
157 
ters. Two days later, he said that two of the girls 
were his sisters and told of mutual masturbation with 
his brother. After another period of violent crying, 
he was again greatly relieved. There were a few judi- 
cious conversations at intervals of a few days. He at 
once began to eat voluntarily, his shyness and manner- 
isms disappeared. One month from the beginning of 
treatment, he was sufficiently recovered to return home 
and take up his accustomed duties. He continued 
happy, industrious, and free from any nervous diffi- 
culty. 
NOTE ON CASES OF ALCOHOLISM 
In my neurological practice, I formerly treated some 
two hundred and fifty alcoholics. The circumstances 
were such and the time so limited that I was unable to 
make regularly any reliable sex investigations with 
these patients. I frequently did, however, make some 
attempts in this direction; and especially when an other- 
wise moral, successful, and stable man was addicted to 
alcohol, did I look beyond the alcohol for the cause of 
the trouble. I found it useless to attempt to treat 
an alcoholic and leave a disturbing domestic complex 
untouched. I became satisfied also that what I said 
to many young men concerning the sex question helped 
them to a life of total abstinence as much as, if not 
more than, any medical treatment, though this is largely 
inference. I submit two sample cases which might have 
been diagnosed with equal propriety: alcoholism, neu- 
rosis, or marital infelicity. 
313 CASE HISTORY, ALCOHOLIC 
A man of superior ability, married and with several 
children, earning a high salary, in a responsible posi- 
tion, became addicted to alcohol, lost his position, was 158 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
abandoned by his family and friends and became a 
common drunkard. Strangers, kinder than his own 
wealthy kin, attempted his regeneration. The disease 
was cured, his appetite for liquor was destroyed, his 
ambition to fill a man's place returned, but at this junc- 
ture his wife refused to return to him until he had, by 
a year's abstinence, demonstrated his sincerity. How 
fatal such a course would be to proving his sincerity, 
all who know human nature must realize. Years later, 
this man's wife told me that she had not forgotten my 
severe criticism, which she said was the most cruel and 
sweeping that she had suffered in all her life. How- 
ever unkind it may have been, I am pleased to say that 
she relented, and he went back to live with his family 
and to fill a remunerative position. 
After five years she herself appealed to me. He 
had met an old friend and had fallen from grace. He 
again was restored to the ranks of sobriety and indus- 
try. He has remained there several years, and un- 
doubtedly, this time, he will remain there permanently. 
This woman's confidence in one who had so severely 
castigated her made possible the exploration of the 
inner lives of this couple. A romantic attachment in 
the beginning early lost some of its glamour from the 
ordinary sex fear and reticence of the ordinary young 
wife, coupled with the ordinary passion, sex ignorance, 
and lack of tact of the ordinary young husband. It 
was but a step from the strain of business affairs and 
mild domestic infelicity to the delusive solace of the 
cup which does not permanently cheer. Naturally, 
this added fuel to the small flame of domestic estrange- 
ment, made his downfall rapid. There was no com- 
plete understanding after his return to his home. The 
wife had less confidence in him than formerly, in addi- CASE HISTORIES 
159 
tion to retaining her early contempt and intolerance 
of sex. Her nature, fundamentally normal, became, as 
many would say, increasingly frigid; but in my lan- 
guage, a normal erotic nature had, through false no- 
tions, repression, and lack of confidence, been substi- 
tuted temporarily by too much criticism, irritability, 
and sexual indifference. Of course the changes in the 
husband were similar, renewing the old desire to escape 
constant sexual deprivation and business cares in the 
temporary oblivion which alcohol brings. His meeting 
with the old friend was but the culmination of a situa- 
tion which long had been developing. 
It is useless to repeat the details of my conversation 
and precepts. Suffice it to say that the wife, who al- 
ready was incipiently neurotic, saw the utility of un- 
distorted nature, and rejected beliefs long held, for 
truths indubitable. Visions of normal love and mutual 
tenderness supplanted critical irritability, and influ- 
enced her to apply common sense and studious effort 
toward rekindling an old romance. Of course he also 
became sensible of many unwitting errors, which he 
strove to correct, along with the grievous ones which 
he had committed. One need have little fear of neu- 
rosis or alcoholism or any but unavoidable calamities 
in such a regenerated family, which came into being 
over twenty years after the clergyman's pronuncia- 
mento. 
314* CASE HISTORY, ALCOHOLIC 
This was the case of a young business man in the 
thirties, who had a wife and two small children. Busi- 
ness had been strenuous, and the financial outlook not 
bright. Husband and wife were in love and well mated, 
but he did not know that a young mother, with two 
small children, and many household cares, would re- 160 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
spond less frequently to his sex demands than a care- 
free wife before the children came, especially when the 
former response had been an inevitable out-cropping of 
love and nature, in spite of those old, early-implanted 
ideas of sex shame and fear which have wrecked the 
lives of so many of the best women. Social drinking 
led to debauch when business cares and sex restraint 
became oppressive. Now a physician told him he had 
Bright's Disease and was not long for this earth (alco- 
holics often have a transient albuminuria), and he rap- 
idly reached a stage of hallucinations that would shame 
Dore's conception of Dante's imagination. But while 
this stage was developing, he became temporarily im- 
potent, from alcoholic excess, and his wife, when not 
too much worried, tired, or grieved, felt nature's de- 
mand for the old caresses, which he was now unable 
to give. His humiliation and her unsatisfied neurotic 
condition hastened the descensus averni, which now be- 
came a debacle. His psychosis had begun, hers was 
impending. 
Within three weeks he returned to his home, resumed 
a bankrupt business, immediately made good and now, 
after nine years, is a happy and prosperous man, with 
a delightful and happy family. Let no one think for 
a moment that medical procedures which have proved 
most efficacious were the sole or the determining cause 
of this transition. During this treatment it was neces- 
sary, by reassuring suggestions, to remove all fears of 
possible nephritis. Afterward, it was necessary to as- 
sist both parties by sympathetic and somewhat sophisti- 
cated explanations in smoothing out the sex maladjust- 
ments which had resulted from idiopathic characteris- 
tics or acquired misinformation. 
Verbum sat sapienti, it is not necessary to multiply CASE HISTORIES 
161 
details when it is perfectly clear that in alcoholism, as 
much as in any neurosis, psychological therapeutics is 
as necessary, or more necessary than medicinal treat- 
ment. In my experience, sex psychology is the brand 
most often necessary to the successful treatment of 
these cases. The prudish timidity and false modesty 
of a tradition-bound public too long has furnished an 
excuse for medical neglect of human maladjustments, 
which are prevailingly fundamental causes of misery, 
crime, and neurosis. CHAPTER VIII 
SEX HISTORIES 
Case a 
1. Male, twenty-six years, hair and eyes black. 
2. Sound. 
3. Yes. 
4*. At the age of fifteen, while taking a bath he had 
an erection, and immediately an emission. Emissions 
occurred about once a week for several weeks. Alto- 
gether, he had about one dozen spontaneous emissions 
when awake (one such in school without an erection) 
and one-half dozen emissions in sleep, (a) None be- 
fore puberty, (b) Spontaneous, (c) See above. 
5. Soon after the above experience, he made up his 
mind to go out with girls, as the other boys did, but 
soon had a talk with a physician which influenced him 
not to do this. He began to masturbate soon after 
the first emission. This was entirely spontaneous, and 
at first it occurred about once a week, later increasing 
to three or four times a day some days, perhaps con- 
tinuing thus for a week at a time, followed by absti- 
nence for a week. Shame and secretiveness were in- 
stinctive. He began to try to give up the practice 
when about seventeen. He was influenced to do this 
by the talk of the physician and by medical literature. 
He was never entirely successful. For a time forfeited 
a nickel to his sister's bank every time he masturbated, 
also deprived himself of smoking for twenty-four hours 
after each transgression. 
6. As a boy, slight cruelties to animals, thinking of 
162 SEX HISTORIES 
163 
girls, and smoking all stimulated erotic feelings. The 
sexual fancies were not of girls well-known or cared 
about. There were frequent daydreams with sex con- 
tent. 
7. He worried to some extent for fear that insanity 
would result from this practice, but the chief and con- 
stant worry was in regard to the moral degradation 
resulting from it. He was somewhat worried by quack 
literature and stimulated by erotic literature. At a 
later period, vaudeville was a sex stimulant. 
8. He never had intercourse. Emissions described 
under 4. 
9, 10, 11. As the result of worry, he developed a 
condition of nervousness, discouragement, and hyster- 
ical tendency. 
11, 12, 13. Note. A boy in college attempted to 
teach him masturbation, and he did not undeceive him 
by telling him that he already knew all about it. Some 
years later, a university professor invited him to stay 
with him over night. After retiring, the professor at- 
tempted to masturbate him. This wras refused but 
finally allowed on this and the succeeding night, but 
it was not mutual. About a year later, this same pro- 
fessor arranged a meeting and made similar overtures. 
They had a long talk as to whether masturbation was 
right or wrong. He finally consented once to mutual 
masturbation. Although this professor endeavored on 
several occasions to arrange meetings later, he refused 
absolutely to have anything further to do with him. 
When he was very young, he became engaged, on short 
acquaintance, to a girl several years older. Both be- 
came erotically excited and had orgasms several times 
as the result of kissing and caressing, but no thought 
of intercourse. This engagement was soon broken. 164 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
He was next much attached to a girl who refused to 
marry him. During this time there were three periods 
of six weeks each when he neither masturbated nor had 
emissions. He next became engaged to another girl, 
also much older than he. He talked over his sex ex- 
periences and sufferings with her, and she sometimes 
advised his going out with women and then immediately 
advised against it. She even gave him to understand 
that she would do something for his relief, but neither 
one of them dreamed of intercourse. Once when out 
w'alking with her, he had a spontaneous emission. This 
led him to think that his love for her was too sensual, 
and when she became indifferent, the engagement was 
broken. 
Later he was somewhat interested in another woman 
older than himself, who had been once married, to whom 
he also told his history, and she exclaimed, " Oh, you 
poor boy! Go out and do as the other men do." 
Immediately after, she told him never to do anything 
of the kind. Soon after this, he got hold of modern 
literature and advice which convinced him of the harm- 
lessness of moderate masturbation, and that under 
some circumstances it was no transgression against 
good morals. His mind was immediately relieved, and 
his sexual desire and relief were reduced about one- 
half. He also abandoned at once the various dissi- 
pations he had indulged in as preventives of masturba- 
tion, and he shortly met and fell in love with a girl 
several years younger than himself. They wTere soon 
engaged and married a few months later. They have 
been very happy. SEX HISTORIES 
165 
Case b 
1. Male, eighteen years, hair black, eyes brown. 
2. Yes. 
3. Yes. 
4. First sex feelings at nine, (a) At sixteen for 
girls, (b) Suggested, (c) Occasionally before pu- 
berty, frequently after. 
5. Yes, at nine, taught by boy three years older. 
Once in a week or two until puberty- At fourteen first 
emission and worry about this. For a time now mas- 
turbated once or twice a week. At fifteen or sixteen 
once a day. Read medical book (Park's Human Sex- 
uality} which led to much worry about results of prac- 
tice. In spite of this, there was an increase in sexual 
excitement, and though every effort was made to stop 
masturbation, it increased in frequency, being more 
than once a day at this time. 
6. At first it was largely physical, then there were 
mental pictures of girls. He was sexually excited by 
" loose " girls at cheap dances. 
7. As result of reading medical book, he feared in- 
juring health and feared mental trouble. Fears ceased 
after his talk with the doctor. 
8. Never had intercourse. 
9. Instructed in sex matters by a physician when 
about seventeen. He was advised to keep away from 
cheap dances, never to have intercourse till marriage, 
and told that masturbation, if the impulse could not be 
resisted, was not disgraceful and entirely harmless. 
After that, he went with good girls and had no sex 
disturbance in their company. Worries and slight 
nervous symptoms immediately disappeared. The im- 
pulse to masturbate immediately decreased. There 166 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
would be great excitement and masturbation once a day 
for three to six successive days, then entire absence 
of erotic feelings or any thought about the subject of 
sex for a week or two at a time, w'hen the period of 
excitement like the above would again occur. 
Case c 
1. Female, twenty-five years, hair black, eyes brown. 
2. Yes. 
3. Yes. 
4. At ten or eleven, (a) . (b) Suggested. 
Occasional before puberty and occasional after, but 
strongest at time of menstruation. 
5. Yes. When about ten or eleven, she saw her 
brothers urinate while they were out berrying, and felt 
erotic excitement. Once another boy called to them, 
asking the boys if their sister was there, and the an- 
swer being " Yes," he said, significantly, that he would 
be right up. She understood the hidden meaning, and 
became sexually excited. Presently, she went away 
from the rest and masturbated by titillation of the 
clitoris with a small twig. She had excited herself in 
some such manner a few times before this, but this in- 
cident stands out very clearly in her memory, as the 
excitement was intense. She began to menstruate 
when about fourteen, having been told about it before 
by her mother, who had also warned her wThen a little 
girl to keep away from bad-talking boys and girls 
and to come to her for any information she wished. 
Her mother now told her about conception, and told her 
to avoid being free with men and boys. She again 
promised to answer any questions whenever she wdshed 
to ask them, but told her to avoid talking these things 
over with other girls, which she always refused to do. SEX HISTORIES 
167 
When sex matters were spoken of in her presence, she 
always refused to listen, and so obtained no outside 
information. Was instinctively secretive, and some- 
what ashamed. 
6. After puberty, she had mental pictures of boys 
when indulging in auto-erotism. Some daydreams with 
sex content. 
7. No sex worries, of any amount, since she felt, from 
her mother's talk, that she always could go to her for 
information or advice when she really needed it. She 
always had a great longing for babies. When about 
sixteen, and having erotic desire during menstruation, 
she accidentally discovered that the nipples were sensi- 
tive, and from this time on seemed to forget about the 
clitoris and obtained a sort of orgasm by titillation 
of the nipples when erotic feelings were strong. The 
process lasted about a half hour, and the practice was 
resorted to chiefly at about time of menstruation. 
8. No intercourse. Occasional voluptuous dreams. 
9. Answered above. 
10. No nervous troubles. 
12. Parents should talk sex matters over freely with 
their children. 
Note. Once at a party a boy tried to put his hand 
under her dress. She was terribly frightened and drove 
him away, though he tried in vain to obtain her for- 
giveness. She had a long cry after this, and always 
afterward had an antipathy for this boy. She had no 
erotic feeling during or after this incident. Her 
fright and resistance were the result of her mother's 
warning. After she began to go with the young man 
to whom she was later engaged, her erotic feelings in- 
creased and she stimulated the nipples more often, but 
this did not satisfy as formerly. She had headaches 168 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
and was somewhat nervous, had occasional cries and 
was somewhat hysterical. She now had a talk with 
her mother and with a physician, and read some plain 
talk on sex subjects. After this, when erotic excite- 
ment was excessive, she practiced auto-erotism occa- 
sionally by titillation of the clitoris or in a Lucea-like 
manner. This was done several times just before men- 
struation and about once a week for the rest of the 
month. Headaches, hysterical symptoms, and slight 
mannerisms largely disappeared, and she continued in 
perfect health. 
Case d 
1. Female, seventy years old, eyes blue, hair brown. 
2. Yes. 
3. Yes. 
4. She never was told by mother about menstruation. 
The first menstruation began in school. Much fright- 
ened, she told the young man teacher that she thought 
she was bleeding to death, and she would have to go 
home. She always felt ashamed to meet him after this. 
Her first sexual feelings were at seventeen, when a man 
of thirty-eight began to pay her attentions. Her feel- 
ings were very strong, but she did not yield to them till 
marriage at nineteen. Two or three days after mar- 
riage, she had perfect orgasm and though her husband 
was very passionate, she always welcomed his atten- 
tions and always had an orgasm. After four years she 
detected her husband with another woman, and she 
insisted on separate apartments for the six years that 
they lived together after this. 
5. No masturbation as a child, and none anyway ex- 
cept when waking at night in the midst of a voluptuous 
dream. Always terribly afraid that she was immoral SEX HISTORIES 
169 
because she had such dreams, and because she some- 
times assisted the orgasm at such times. 
6. Nothing. 
7. Her mother told her that masturbation or any 
sex thought or actions were most dangerous and dis- 
graceful. She has worried and felt ashamed all her 
life because of her nocturnal experiences. 
8. She was frightened by her mother. She never 
had any irregular intercourse. After seventeen, she 
had dreams with orgasm every two or three weeks until 
marriage. When living apart from her husband and 
when not living with her second husband, she has had 
these dreams sometimes much more frequently, and 
even now, at seventy, has them about once in two weeks. 
She has suffered terribly at her menstrual periods from 
sexual desire, and also frequently at other times. 
9. Fear from mother's talks. 
10. No nervous troubles. 
11, 12. Children should be taught early about sex, 
and not frightened. 
NOTE 
During the six years after she discovered that her 
husband was unfaithful, they lived in the same house, 
but though she suffered the most exquisite torture, she 
never would have intercourse with him again. Her hus- 
band, who was much older than she, had had many sex- 
ual experiences before his marriage, and told her that, 
though he loved her as much as he could any woman, 
he could not be faithful to her, if she were an angel from 
Heaven. His promiscuous career was such that he once 
claimed to have had relations with all nationalities but 
one. 
She left him ten years after they were married, he 170 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
died, and she married again. She was extremely erotic 
this time, but her husband was peculiar and often cold. 
He also later wrent with other women, and she finally 
left him. At forty-two she was taken with typhoid 
fever while menstruating, and was ill a long time. 
After recovery, she never menstruated again. Was 
very erotic up to the time of change of life and would 
have practiced auto-erotism extensively, if not for the 
fear inspired by her mother. Since the change, she 
has had more erotic feeling than before, if anything, 
and there is no change now, at seventy. Her sad ex- 
periences have not soured her, and she is still cheer- 
ful, optimistic, and in good health. She even looks 
forward to marrying again. 
She reports the case of a cousin who at sixty mar- 
ried a man of thirty-five. This cousin is essentially 
of her own temperament and always has had strong 
and frequent erotic feelings. She and her husband 
are very happy and an unusually devoted couple. 
NOTE BY AUTHOR 
Here seems to be a suitable place to mention the case 
of a woman I have known many years. She was almost 
identical in erotic temperament with the above, and 
suffered much when her husband became impotent, 
though she was fifty-five. After his death, she married 
a man of thirty-five. They appear to have been very 
happy. She is well preserved and in good health, 
though she is nowr over eighty. 
Case e 
1. Male, forty years, hair brown, eyes hazel. 
2. His father died young, after a six weeks' attack 
of malaria. His mother died at seventy. SEX HISTORIES 
171 
3. Yes. 
4. When five years old. (a) At twelve had sex feel- 
ings toward another boy. (b) Spontaneous, (c) 
Once in two or three weeks before puberty. More fre- 
quently after, but largely repressed. 
5. At age of five, without any outside instruction, he 
began to masturbate by holding his penis between his 
legs and moving legs back and forth. Secretive, but 
no special shame. His mother gave him Stahl's book 
for young men. This made masturbation very offen- 
sive to him and beneath his dignity. Also, his mother 
told him not to touch himself, as it was a " nasty " 
thing to do. Immediately, he began trying to give up 
the practice, and would go sometimes a week, sometimes 
two or three weeks, and after his conversion there were 
at least two periods of six months each without mastur- 
bation. No harm came from the practice. 
6. Before puberty, he had sex imagery of girls when 
masturbating; and after puberty, like imagery of girls. 
In particular, twTo girls who were known to be having 
sexual relations with other boys, were always in his 
mind when masturbating. Masturbation was both a 
psychic and a physical act. Never had daydreams. 
7. Moral aspects of the case troubled him most and 
he always thought masturbation was a great sin. In 
early years, he had much worry with regard to physical 
results, but this was gradually lessened while he was 
arriving at the conclusion that there could be no great 
physical injury from this, since he always felt so much 
better after masturbating, in spite of the impressions 
made on him by the warnings in Stahl's book. He never 
saw vaudeville or erotic literature as a boy or young 
man. 
8. At the beginning of puberty, emissions were two 172 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
or three a week. He was much worried about this, as 
was his mother, whom he told. What a Young Man 
Should Know, by Stahl, relieved him on this point. All 
through high school he was going with a girl. He held 
her in his lap and hugged and kissed her daily. She 
sought rather than objected to this sentimentality, 
though she never gave any indications of any thought 
or desire for intercourse, and he never thought of such 
a thing. He was many times ashamed of himself for 
having erections wdiile holding her and kept on having 
emissions about three times a week. 
12. Boys and girls both should be talked to early 
about the sex nature and told not to worry or think 
about it. There should be no scare teaching. 
NOTE 
Since marriage, he was away from his wife once for 
a period of eight weeks. During this time, it was im- 
possible to avoid seeing couples " spooning." A man 
of his acquaintance was going regularly to prostitutes, 
and insisted on telling him about it. In addition to 
this, a young lady who slept on the same floor, always 
left her door open at night, apparently as an invita- 
tion. His sex desire became almost unbearable. His 
early disgust at masturbation made it more than ever 
repugnant to him, now that he was married, and he 
resisted the impulse, but had emissions nearly every 
night. He became nervous, lost flesh, and after return- 
ing home, in his first attempts at intercourse with his 
wife, could get no erection, though there would be an 
emission. He had had a slight discharge for some 
time, and he even feared that he had, in some innocent 
way, contracted gonorrhoea, for he never had inter- 
course with any woman but his wife. After a few days, SEX HISTORIES 
173 
he began to have normal erections, the discharge ceased 
and he gradually improved in health. 
NOTE II 
Once he read " camphora per odores viros castrat." 
He used to smell spirits of camphor when with the girl 
above mentioned. This at once relieved erections and 
desire. 
Case f 
1. Female, thirty years, eyes and hair dark. 
2. Yes. 
3. Yes. 
4*. At twelve, a girl of fourteen told her that women 
menstruated, but she did not believe it. She began 
going with a boy at twelve, but had no sex feelings ex- 
cept on rare occasions till menstruation at fourteen, 
(b) Suggested, (c) Rare before, frequent after. 
5. At twrelve the girl above taught her to mastur- 
bate. This was done but few times before her first 
menstruation two years later. Feeling of shame and 
secretiveness thought to be instinctive. When about 
sixteen or seventeen read books telling about the dan- 
gers of masturbation, and began to try to abandon the 
practice. Would stop for a time, and then begin again. 
No harm has resulted. 
6. Thought of boys or of some suggestive story she 
had heard, when indulging in auto-erotism. 
7. Got the idea from books she read that the prac- 
tice would make her become foolish, but she did not 
worry excessively for long. 
8. No voluptuous dreams. 
9. No sex teaching. 
10. No. 
11. No. 174 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
12. Children should be taught early and never fright- 
ened. 
NOTE 
Went with a boy all through high school, who finally 
became obnoxious in his attentions, and she ceased to 
care for him. Between eighteen and twenty-one, she 
went with twro other young men. The first was a fine 
fellow, but the second made improper proposals to her, 
and when she was sitting in the grove he would lie down 
and rub himself against her. She was disgusted, and 
tried to make him stop this, but he laughed and treated 
it as a joke. Later, when thinking these experiences 
over, in spite of her disgust, she would be troubled with 
erotic desires. 
At this time, her future husband came on the scene, 
and there was at once a different feeling toward him. 
For about a year, beginning when she was sixteen, she 
practiced auto-erotism about once a day. Then this 
had been much diminished, but it increased somewhat 
while keeping company with the last boy. Now it de- 
creased again, but increased after she and her future 
husband were engaged. They were married after en- 
gagement of three months. Her shame and fear of all 
things sexual caused her to conceal all sex feelings from 
her husband, but she had an imperfect orgasm about 
two months after marriage, and after this a similar 
occurrence about once a month. This continued for 
about ten years, during which time she skillfully con- 
cealed her feelings from him though she often lay awake 
for hours after becoming excited and not attaining an 
orgasm. She was ashamed of having any desire, and 
blamed her husband for having desire and asking for 
intercourse, which he did less and less frequently as SEX HISTORIES 
175 
time went on. The fire of their romantic attachment 
had really become ashes, when some modern sex books 
and accidental explanations showed her the error she 
had been laboring under. She immediately became 
properly erotic and responsive and had at one time 
sixteen orgasms during a period of sexual enjoyment 
which lasted an hour and a half. Two days later, she 
experienced six orgasms in rapid succession, and for 
a period of some weeks after becoming convinced of the 
propriety of sex relations, she herself suggested such 
relations every night, if her husband failed to do so. 
A most remarkable improvement in the domestic atmo- 
sphere took place immediately. The husband for a 
long time had had pains in the back and lower abdo- 
men, which he and several doctors had diagnosed as 
rheumatism. These immediately disappeared and he 
said he never felt so well in his life. The improvement 
in health and spirits was most striking in both parties. 
Case g 
1. Male, twenty-four years, eyes brown, hair black. 
2. Yes. 
3. Yes. 
4. At ten years, after getting information from boys, 
suggested sex relations to a girl of seven, who showed 
him her privates but refused anything further, (b) 
Spontaneous, (c) From the age of ten to thirteen 
masturbated every day or two. At thirteen began to 
have emissions, and after this masturbated every day 
for a year or two, and some days three or four times. 
5. Yes, as above. At sixteen or seventeen, fright- 
ened as result of reading Havelock Ellis, and tried to 
stop. About this time, a physician warned him to 176 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
keep from intercourse and discouraged masturbation, 
but did not frighten him about it. Instinctively secre- 
tive and ashamed. 
6. Mental pictures of girls when masturbating. Silk 
dresses were especially exciting to him. Daydreams 
with sex content were frequent. 
7. Worried after reading Ellis, and began to try 
to give up masturbation at seventeen. During last 
year in high school he reduced the number of times to 
once or twice a week. In college, he usually mastur- 
bated once a week, on Saturday night. Excited by 
vaudeville and by vulgar literature passed around by 
the boys, e.g., Only a Boy. 
8. Masturbation pretty well stopped last year in 
college; afterwards he had emissions about once a week. 
After going to a dance or after anything to stimulate 
erotic excitement, he would have persistent erections 
and desire at night, but no emission. On the follow- 
ing night, he would have dreams and emission almost 
invariably. Erotic dreams were of girls whom he had 
seen, but who were not among his acquaintances. 
9. See above. 
10. No nervous troubles. Always absolutely well. 
11, 12, 13. When he was in high school, he went 
with a girl and they hugged and kissed each other, but 
there was nothing further. When he went away, the 
friendship lapsed. Several times, after dances, when 
out walking with girls or when kissing them, he had an 
emission. 
Case h 
1. Female, twenty-five years old, hair and eyes black. 
2. Yes. 
3. Yes. SEX HISTORIES 
177 
4. No opportunity to get complete history. The 
following facts only are known: No early sex instruc- 
tion. Moderate auto-erotism at different periods. 
When about fourteen, in the school which she attended, 
the boys and girls generally had sexual relations; and 
she did the same as the rest, having had no warnings 
or instruction. After a year, these relations were 
stopped when she began to realize that they were wrong. 
After this she was in a state of constant self-accusation 
and shame until about twenty. She then met a young 
man well informed in sexual matters, but a fine young 
man and strictly moral. They fell in love immediately. 
The young man's mother and sister gave her the sex 
instruction which her mother should have given her. 
When he asked her to marry him she refused and said 
she was not worthy, but he persisted and finally got 
her to tell him of her experiences. He told her that, 
since she had been young and ignorant when she had 
done these things, she was not at all to blame, and 
that he made no account of this whatever. He said 
he much preferred to marry a girl whom he knew about 
and who had been honest with him. She finally con- 
sented to marry him and is one of the happiest young 
women alive. 
author's note 
This young man and his three sisters had frequently 
talked over sex matters with their father and mother. 
This was considered both natural and proper in this 
liberally educated and moral family. I have recently 
discovered another just such family. Since I have 
long advocated this sort of thing there is some satis- 
faction in observing the good results of these methods. 
Very probably a tragedy in the life of this young 178 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
woman was averted by her falling into the hands of 
people who were liberal, sensible, and human. 
Case i 
1. Female, thirty-five years old, hair and eyes black. 
2. Yes. 
3. Yes. 
4. First menstruation at sixteen, accompanied by 
some erotic feelings. A schoolgirl friend told her of 
menstruation and gave her other sex knowledge. When 
she asked her mother about these things, she hushed her 
up and so shamed her that she never has overcome the 
feeling that all sex matters are low and disgraceful. 
When she was fifteen she began to go with the man who 
later became her husband. There were no sex imag- 
inings concerning him until she was seventeen, but from 
that time until her marriage, usually when she wras 
with him, she had erotic feelings. She began to have 
voluptuous dreams with orgasms soon after her first 
menstruation. At first she had them occasionally, and 
usually near the menstrual period. After she was sev- 
enteen they happened almost nightly for a few days 
before menstruation. They also were usually nightly 
and at times several times in a night, when she was 
associating with the young man. She thought these ex- 
periences very wrong and worried a great deal about 
them. If she were having these experiences about three 
times a week in a temperate climate, they would be al- 
most immediately doubled on going South. She says 
that husbands and wives are much more prone to mari- 
tal infidelities in warm climates. On her wedding night, 
she had an intense orgasm at the first intercourse, and 
though their relations usually have been four or five 
times a week, she has almost invariably had an orgasm, SEX HISTORIES 
179 
and after her husband's absences usually has had a 
repetition. Her husband seldom has been away from 
her for a longer period than two weeks, but during 
these short absences she has suffered tortures from 
erotic feelings, though she had almost nightly relief 
in sexual dreams. She has been much ashamed of her 
ardent, though perfectly normal, sex nature. She is 
a very active woman and always has enjoyed perfect 
health. 
Case j 
1. Male, thirty-eight years old, hair black, eyes 
brown. 
2. Yes. 
3. Yes. 
4. (a) At puberty, (b) Spontaneous, (c) None 
before puberty, infrequent after, with gradual increase. 
5. Without being taught by any one, he began occa- 
sional masturbation about the beginning of puberty at 
thirteen. Shame and secretiveness were instinctive. 
At the age of seventeen he began to try to give up the 
practice of masturbation as he had acquired the belief 
from reading and from talks with parents and other 
people that the practice was injurious to health. He 
then began to have emissions which were at first infre- 
quent. As masturbation was reduced, the emissions in- 
creased. If emissions did not occur regularly he mas- 
turbated. At eighteen he began to have fears that 
emissions were harmful, but later found that other men 
were having the same experiences and an athletic di- 
rector explained that they were normal. This finally 
dispelled his fears, in a measure; but not until he had 
begun to seek occasional promiscuous intercourse, think- 
ing this safer than having emissions or masturbating. 180 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
6. He had many air castles or daydreams in which 
he figured as the hero of boys' books which he had read. 
Later, when the sex instinct became stronger and he 
saw married people happy in their homes, he began to 
imagine a home of his own and the woman who was to 
be his wife. This was a girl whom he had known from 
childhood, and whom he finally married. At other 
times, when in a state of sex excitement, he imagined 
sex relations with various girls whom he casually met 
who were of voluptuous nature and apparently in a 
state of erotic excitement similar to his own. At first, 
he had images of such girls when masturbating, and 
later they urged him to seek promiscuous relations with 
girls of this type. His moral scruples were such that 
he never was able to seek such relations without first 
fortifying himself with a few drinks to overcome his 
repugnance. He very seldom went with prostitutes, 
but usually with some young woman who was suffering 
as he was. He was frightened by quack literature and 
advertisements. With one girl in particular, he had 
relations about twice a month for a period of six 
months. Both were suffering extremely for relief and 
were entirely faithful to each other during this period. 
It was entirely a sex attraction on both sides, and 
neither thought of marriage. Then and now, many 
years later, they had and have much respect for each 
other. He was always particular to ascertain beyond 
a reasonable doubt that the woman with whom he had 
relations had previously had intercourse. He even re- 
fused, on one occasion, to have sex relations with a 
young woman who offered herself, because he knew that 
she was a virgin. Every woman of the class with whom 
he had relations, invariably obtained complete satis- 
faction in intercourse, but in his few experiences with SEX HISTORIES 
181 
regular prostitutes, no one of them appeared to have 
any erethism or satisfaction. 
Before his marriage there was a period of increased 
sexual desire during which he had more frequent emis- 
sions but no promiscuous relations. His wife had an 
orgasm at their first connection, and since their mar- 
riage has had complete satisfaction whenever they have 
had intercourse, which has averaged four or five times 
a week. After an absence from home, his wife usually 
had several orgasms at the first intercourse. They have 
been very much in love, very happy and absolutely 
faithful to each other. 
NOTE 
He was told by an athletic trainer that almost in- 
variably, when men were in training, there would be a 
large increase in the number of emissions, two or three 
times as many as under ordinary conditions. In the 
two or three days of light training preceding a big 
game, there were likely to be two or three emissions. 
After a hard game, there would be none for several 
days. The above accurately describes his case when 
in training. A friend had an emission on his way to 
class, and spoke of this as the result of training and 
as something to be expected. 
note n 
A young man who had been carefully reared and 
kept from all bad companions and from all sex expe- 
rience and knowledge, went to college. In order to 
have him away from all evil influences, his people ar- 
ranged with the college authorities to have him board 
and room with a woman of fifty and her niece, both of 
whom were of excellent repute. Three days after his 182 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
arrival, the elder woman initiated him into sexual in- 
tercourse, and soon after the younger one offered her- 
self. For the next two years, he had frequent rela- 
tions with both, often going from the room of one 
directly to that of the other. He then disappeared in 
a large city and devoted himself to prostitutes and ac- 
quired venereal disease. He was finally found. He 
said that his life had been wrecked and that he never 
should marry the young woman to whom he had been 
engaged. He died a year or two later. 
Case k 
1. Female, thirty years old, hair brown, eyes blue. 
2. Yes. 
3. Yes. 
4. First menstruation at thirteen. She was alarmed 
about this, as her mother never had told her anything 
about it. Her first conscious sex feelings occurred 
spontaneously at this time. They were infrequent and 
not particularly annoying. 
5. There was no masturbation. Sex feelings grad- 
ually grew stronger and more frequent from thirteen 
to fifteen, when a man, much older, began to pay her 
attentions, and when she was sixteen, they were mar- 
ried. The hymen was very resistent, and the first in- 
tercourse caused great pain and considerable hemor- 
rhage. It was two months before she began to have 
any pleasure in intercourse. She was ignorant and 
very much afraid, though her husband endeavored to 
prepare her for intercourse by means of the ordinary 
stimulations. Her breasts were sensitive, but she never 
has had the slightest pleasurable sensation in the clit- 
oris. The mere touching of this organ, which is appar- 
ently normal, makes her irritable, nervous, and angry, SEX HISTORIES 
183 
and often causes pain. She soon came to have an 
orgasm about once in a week or ten days. They had 
intercourse about twice a week. Her husband became 
abusive, overworked her, and went to drinking. After 
a few years she procured a divorce. 
She soon married a man fifteen years older than her- 
self, whose wife had died. They have had intercourse 
always five to seven times a week, which is always agree- 
able to her, and she usually, though not invariably, has 
an orgasm. A uterine displacement caused her some 
trouble, but its repair left her in perfect health. She 
has had no children, though she has taken no measures 
to prevent them. Her husband, who is nearly fifty 
years of age, is a man of unusual virility, and although 
he has intercourse almost every night, he invariably 
desires and obtains, at every intercourse, two or more 
orgasms without the slightest intermission. This pro- 
longation and repetition on his part is most agreeable 
to her, and is the reason for her usually attaining an 
orgasm. 
Case 1 
1. Female, twenty-three years old, hair brown, eyes 
gray. 
2. Yes. 
2. Yes. 
4. At the age of eight, a maid told her of experi- 
ences with her lovers and tried to masturbate her. She 
had some local sex feelings at this time. The experi- 
ence was not repeated, as the maid was soon discharged. 
There were no further sex feelings before puberty. 
The first menstruation occurred at thirteen, but there 
were no further sex feelings until she was sixteen. 
5. No masturbation as a child. At sixteen a young 184 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
man with whom she was acquainted kissed her, and this 
aroused erotic feelings, the first since the experience 
with the maid. From that time on, following menstrua- 
tion, there would be local irritation. Attempting to 
relieve this, produced the same feelings which the maid 
had produced, and from this time on, she began to mas- 
turbate once each month following menstruation, then 
there would be no erotic feelings until the next men- 
strual period. She had many men friends, and en- 
joyed skating, dancing, etc., and allowed such familiari- 
ties as kissing, but any further attempts at familiarity 
were disgusting, and she immediately discontinued the 
acquaintance of any one who made any improper ad- 
vances. Risque stories or jokes disgusted her, vaude- 
ville had no effect; but late years, medical literature 
concerning sex produced erotic feelings. Masturba- 
tion has had no effect. She sometimes thought that 
masturbation ought not to be given way to, and at 
others, that it was an instinctive and natural mani- 
festation. Erotic feelings were so strong after men- 
struation that she had little confidence in herself. Al- 
ways, from a young girl, she had had a firm determi- 
nation never to have intercourse until marriage, so that 
she could tell her husband truly that she never had 
had sex relations with any one. She found that the 
single act of masturbation after each menstruation, 
completely freed her from this tremendous desire, and 
she felt perfectly safe and her own mistress until the 
next monthly period. 
6. Masturbation was both a psychic and physical 
act. She imagined the heroes and heroines in stories, 
or people she read about in papers in voluptuous situa- 
tions, but never in actual intercourse. She herself was 
never a participant. The Thaw case first came before SEX HISTORIES 
185 
the public when she was a young girl, and its charac- 
ters frequently figured in her imaginings. She had 
daydreams often without any sex element. 
7. She had no serious worry. 
8. She has voluptuous dreams at long intervals. Be- 
fore her marriage, the intervals were longer and the 
dreams invariably ended in orgasm. Since her mar- 
riage, such dreams are more frequent, but they are 
never complete before she wakes. A short time after 
waking, the excitement disappears and she goes to sleep 
again; but the next day the dream will keep recurring 
to her, attended by strong erotic feelings which grow 
stronger on each recurrence. Since her marriage, ero- 
tic feelings after menstruation are stronger and more 
persistent than ever before. 
9. Her mother told her about menstruation and 
warned her against familiarities from men, but told 
her she trusted her - putting her on her honor, so to 
speak, at the same time her full freedom was allowed. 
12. She believes in full instruction and freedom for 
young people, and truthful answers to their questions 
according to the age of the child. 
NOTE 
The case of a girl who was in school with her im- 
pressed her deeply. This girl of twelve masturbated 
openly and shamelessly. The teachers frightened her 
about this, telling her she would die if she continued 
the practice " of playing with herself." She stopped 
tliis at once and immediately began having sex rela- 
tions with boys in the school. When she was sixteen 
she was a common prostitute, at seventeen she had 
syphilis, at eighteen she was pronounced incurable and 
died soon after. 186 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
NOTE II 
She also was well acquainted with a girl who mas- 
turbated and who feared this would cause pregnancy. 
When she was reassured to the contrary, she ceased to 
worry and continued the practice, using a candle, and 
similar articles. This girl was ruddy and healthy, and 
of a most happy disposition. She kept free from sex- 
ual entanglements and at last accounts wras engaged to 
a most estimable young man. 
NOTE in 
The narrator of this history, on her wedding night, 
experienced no pleasure but considerable pain and a 
choking sensation followed by a hysterical condition 
at the first intercourse. At the next, some five hours 
later, she experienced a complete orgasm, after which 
she was also hysterical for a short time. During the 
next few weeks, sometimes there was complete orgasm 
and sometimes not. After two months, she had an or- 
gasm invariably and synchronously with her husband. 
They were separated often during their early mar- 
ried life, but when together had intercourse several 
times each night. CHAPTER IX 
BIRTH CONTROL 
In the conflict between the individual and society is 
to be sought the remedy for most human ills. All in- 
dividuals have certain inalienable rights and all com- 
munities have a certain authority over the individuals 
of which they are composed. It is self-evident that a 
monarchy or a democracy that stifles all initiative, or 
undermines the health of its constituents, must ulti- 
mately fail. Absolute freedom of the individual in- 
vites a like result. Our political, labor, and social 
questions spring from differences of opinion as to in- 
dividual and community rights. For their own pur- 
poses, selfish autocrats ever have disregarded the right 
or w'ell-being of the individual. Prussian militarism il- 
lustrates this to-day as it does an exaltation of com- 
munity or national rights above those of the individual. 
This is not an isolated instance, for we see in demo- 
cratic America with all its individuality and non-cen- 
tralization, relics of ancient and old-world methods of 
suppressing the individual. Realizing that the indi- 
vidual is the substructure of society and that upon 
him ultimately depends all public good, we of necessity 
consider him first in any logical discussion of all social 
questions. 
This present birth control discussion, in some form 
or other, has been present many centuries. It comes, 
then, in the last analysis away from any abstract con- 
187 188 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
siderations of public weal or woe. It is little related 
to war, famine, pestilence, and social status, and be- 
comes a concrete investigation of the individual and 
his individual family. It is difficult to pass laws that 
will fit all conditions, particularly when laws often hold 
over from ante-diluvian or immediately post-diluvian 
states of society to higher civilizations. There is 
something to be said on both sides. 
" Grow and multiply in the land which the Lord 
thy God giveth thee " was good advice for the children 
of Israel about to colonize a new country. In China, 
where in a few years nine millions died, from famine and 
disease incident to it, we have no means of knowing 
that the same authority even would have given the 
same advice. Analogously, it would be equally fool- 
ish to insist that the rules which would apply to our 
hardy colonial ancestors, when the population was 
sparse, necessities were few and inexpensive, and the 
men and women robust inhabitants of God's great out- 
of-doors, could be legitimately applied to their semi- 
effeminate urban descendants, inoculated with the cost 
of high living and actually faced by the high cost of 
living. No intelligent person, not even a certain erudite 
attorney would question the humanity to the individ- 
ual or the safeguard to society of contraceptive knowl- 
edge to a middle-aged married woman known to be fer- 
tile, who was tubercular, tabetic, or diabetic. No 
physician or high school graduate would consider that 
contraceptive methods were improper by or for a hus- 
band or wife whose recovery from a severe neurosis or 
a psychosis depended in considerable measure on the 
usual conjugal relations. If morons marry, as they 
often do, few would decry contraceptive methods as 
improper for them at least until our public sentiment BIRTH CONTROL 
189 
is strong enough to allow sterilization of the unfit. 
Who among us is so inhuman, ignorant, or hide-bound 
as to object to contraceptive information or contracep- 
tive measures for the working man's wife with already 
eight or ten improperly nourished children and she her- 
self sickly and overburdened and almost certain to die 
at her next confinement. 
More than twenty years ago, I attended a woman at 
her seventh confinement. She was very frail, the chil- 
dren had come in rapid succession; she had a severe 
post-partum hemorrhage and I despaired of her life, 
but she recovered, raised all her children, and is her- 
self hale and hearty today. I told the husband she 
must have no children for several years if ever. After 
a time, my conscience compelled me to tell them more. 
I was relieved to find that though they had been rig- 
ildy continent, in their relations, he had not yet suc- 
cumbed to outside influences and, though both were in 
a border-line state, neither had then developed the 
serious nervous trouble to be looked for sooner or later 
under any such regime. 
A modicum of common sense intelligently used, will 
make it clear to any one that there is hardly a family 
in existence whose contracting parties are both virile 
and lovers, the two most essential qualities to any mar- 
riage, where some form of prevention of conception is 
not practised for a longer or shorter period. If this 
is a sin and the one without sin was to throw the first 
stone, there would be no martyred Stephens, unless the 
unfertile and impotent married and the ignorant un- 
married took a hand in the stone throwing. 
Personally, I have been married twenty-seven years. 
In our first four married years, we had four children 
which we both desired, I especially. In the remaining 190 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
twenty-three years, we have had three more which we 
both desired, but she especially. I may say that both 
of us have wished and now wish for more, but certain 
reasons not wholly mercenary forbid us further par- 
ticipation in the greatest of life's responsibilities and 
joys. Had nature taken her uninterrupted course, one 
of twTo things certainly would have happened. Either 
she w'ould now be a broken woman, I a dependent and 
our progeny of twenty or more in various stages of 
their ow7n upbringing; or I should have a family of from 
ten to fifteen children, and a slab in the cemetery bear- 
ing an inscription to the best woman who was ever on 
earth. The facts are that we are both alive and w7ell, 
hope we are useful, and have six robust children. I 
am not as much ashamed of this record as I should 
probably be if I did not know7 of thousands of women 
and men w7hom I thoroughly respect where similar con- 
ditions entailed like consequences. 
Some one says " bad taste "-" unrefined "-" all 
facts of the origin of life, all intimate family matters 
should not be mentioned or if so, referred to in diluted 
figures of speech." Perhaps so, but I hardly think so, 
when the silence w7hich should be golden is punctuated 
wdth infanticide, abortion, puny children, suffering 
women, and crowded graveyards. Sometimes, I be- 
come aweary at the educated naivete, the prudish reti- 
cence, the unconscious ignorance of so-called educated 
people who know7 or ought to know7 what everybody else 
does. Forel advocates that young people wishing to 
marry and not in financial circumstances to do so, on 
account of the expectation of children, should be in- 
structed in preventive measures to be used for a short 
period. This doctrine as an encouragement to mar- 
riage, as a prevention of immorality and venereal dis- BIRTH CONTROL 
191 
ease, and as a preserver of health, has many arguments 
in its favor; but I do not insist upon it. 
Let us now speak of the other side. No one will 
deny that birth control literature scattered indiscrimi- 
nately might do harm in some cases. A man or woman 
entering matrimony for money, position, or lust, and 
not wishing children ought to have no ready means of 
avoiding them; for such an imminent danger to their 
selfish purposes might prevent such a union, unhallowed 
for the individual and unprofitable for the state. That 
the family of any such couple would be of much use to 
society is questionable, and society has little concern 
for what becomes of such supremely selfish individuals. 
There ought to be some way to compel parents with one 
child, or married people without any, to have a mod- 
erate family, if possible; but these people already know 
all there is to be known in the way of prevention. I 
incline to think that a law against contraceptive infor- 
mation does nothing to make the selfish and self-cen- 
tered do their manifest duties; but punishes the pure, 
the modest, the frail, and the unselfish. If by repres- 
sion of natural instincts or by ignorant methods of 
prevention, we continue to make a class of neurotic 
men and women such as we now have, in just such a 
degree, it does not argue well for the future of the 
state. Neither does it argue well, if from the over- 
strain incident to too numerous maternal cares or too 
frequent childbearing, we kill off all our best mothers 
and leave a numerous progeny to bring itself up. Most 
fertile and unselfish people need at one time or another 
advice as to birth control. It is a matter of indiffer- 
ence to the impotent or infertile, and the extremely 
selfish ought not to have it; but all of the latter class 
now have it. Sooner or later, some of those who need 192 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
it, get it. The ones in reality most affected are the 
poorest and least intelligent who keep on having numer- 
ous offspring, though they are the least fitted of any 
class to rear them. 
The fact that a law against contraceptive informa- 
tion exists, has comparatively little significance when 
we recognize the undoubted fact that most of the people 
of highest ethical conceptions and economic worth: 
clergymen, physicians, and lawyers, as well as men and 
women of all professions and callings, disregard it at 
will. It merely shows that at some former time the 
religio-ethical or judicial conscience was at variance 
perhaps with what was then - certainly with what is 
now - the public or social conscience. The law 
against contraception is more obsolete today than the 
old blue laws. It would then have been a crime to 
drive a horse or an automobile on Sunday. It is as 
obsolete as the canonical law which punished by a fine 
feticide or abortion before the eightieth day after im- 
pregnation and by death the same crime after that date. 
Perhaps some law ought to exist, but certainly not one 
which is in direct contravention to the belief and prac- 
tice of the large mass of the moral, useful, thinking 
men and women in the community. 
In The American Journal of Urology and Sexology 
for August, 1916, there is an article by Dr. B. S. 
Talmy concerning the limitation of offspring by abor- 
tion or prevention of conception, which if startling still 
furnishes much food for thought. While we may not 
follow the author in all his deductions and will not at- 
tempt here to enter upon any elaborate review or criti- 
cism, it may be well to consider some of the truths 
which he utters. I will quote partly his ideas and 
partly his exact language. He shows that in earlier BIRTH CONTROL 
193 
times the child was under the absolute control of the 
parents both before and after birth. Except to the 
Jews, the child's life had little value and if undesirable, 
it was disposed of at the will of the parents. The 
church doctrine that the soul entered the body at a 
definite time after the beginning of gestation led to 
severe penalties for the prevention of conception or for 
tampering in any way with the contents of the uterus. 
The right of the foetus to life was based entirely on this 
Christian doctrine. 
Later, he says, " There arose a .certain rebellion 
against the sanctity of potential man." The love of 
luxury and the gospel of comfort among the rich, a 
higher sense of responsibility to offspring among the 
middle classes, have decreased the will to procreate. 
Socialism among the laboring classes has brought en- 
lightenment, and they have learned that a liberal sup- 
ply of children is not only a great drain upon their 
small income but increases competition by increasing 
numbers. Therefore, restriction of offspring benefits 
not only the parent, but the child himself. Lower 
average birth rate means more vigorous mothers, and 
smaller families mean more vigorous children. Fem- 
inism, or woman's aspiration for a career, also leads 
her to refrain from too many children. Childbearing 
is evaded for social, economic, and luxurious reasons. 
Such is the gist of a portion of his article. 
I think it must be recognized that there is abundant 
justification for birth control in some cases and for 
some of these reasons, and that there is no justification 
whatever in others, therefore, the present law or no 
law at all is, equally unjust. It seems to me that this 
matter ought to be in the hands of an unprejudiced 
scientific, humanitarian, economic commission of the 194 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
highest order as should be euthanasia, sterilization of 
the unfit, control of marriage, if they are to be regu- 
lated by the state. Certainly some just regulation in 
these matters is advisable. 
Again quoting Talmy's ideas and some of his words, 
birth control is accomplished by contraception or feti- 
cide. 
Unmarried victims surprised in extra-matrimonial gesta- 
tion resort to the latter, as do also many married women. 
In the conscience of the people, there is no difference be- 
tween the desire to have no children and abortion. 
The moral aspect of feticide is entirely overlooked. 
In Manhattan and Bronx, there are eighty thousand 
abortions every year and the number is increasing. 
In 1881, a special commission of the Michigan board 
of health reported that in the United States there were 
at least one hundred thousand voluntary abortions 
annually,- one-third of all pregnancies; and six thou- 
sand women died from the results. In Lyons, France, 
there were annually nineteen thousand abortions to 
eight thousand births in a city of four hundred and 
fifty thousand inhabitants. Interruption of pregnancy 
is against the laws of most civilized countries. The 
state claims to have vital interest in the increase of 
population. Europe is an armed camp; and the larger 
the population, the greater the number of soldiers. 
But while the state forbids interference, most individ- 
uals - even the legislators themselves - constantly 
break these laws. The religious principle is the basis 
of the law against abortion and fear of race suicide is 
the basis of laws against the products of conception. 
Results show that decrease of birth rate cannot be in- 
fluenced by law, and penal codes ought to be in har- 
mony with social currents. BIRTH CONTROL 
195 
A practice widespread in all classes in spite of legal, 
religious, ethical, and moral effects must be in harmony 
with the social conscience of the people. In ten years in 
New York City only three abortionists were convicted. 
Jurors will not convict. It is futile for legislators with one 
or two children to pass stringent laws against the limitation 
of offspring. 
Talmy argues that legalizing abortion would save 
many mothers and children who now die from clandes- 
tine abortions by ignorant persons who cannot consult 
reputable physicians and who cannot or will not afford 
the proper care. Celibacy is, he says, a negligible fac- 
tor in birth control. Castration is not only illegal, 
but not to be thought of as an ordinary remedy. He 
states that onanism or withdrawal is injurious to both 
parties, as are also the other mechanical and chemical 
means of preventing conception. All means, he says, 
spoil the libido and disturb the finer sensibilities of 
the couple. (Which of course is not necessarily true 
when justification, intelligence, and adequate knowledge 
are united in accomplishing the desirable end.) Again 
he says that " the need of preparation renders me- 
chanical or chemical contrivances inapplicable just in 
such cases where they are most needed, where a con- 
ception is nothing short of tragedy, namely in the un- 
married victim." 
If laws against contraception were repealed it would 
be of little practical value. He argues that while advo- 
cates of contraception say this would avoid destruc- 
tion of life by abortion, still potential life is also in 
the egg and spermatozoan and it amounts to the same 
thing and if morally right to destroy them separately, 
it would be equally so after union. Many claim it as 
a fundamental individual right of women to bear, or not 196 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
to bear children. The call of nature should not be out 
of harmony with the penal code, and he bases his claim 
for legal abortion, as do other Neo-Malthusians, largely 
on this legalization of feticide. 
Legalization of feticide thus may save life and never 
will do any harm. The number of abortions cannot 
increase to any great extent, even after legalization. 
The number of women in the large centers of popula- 
tion, who do not undergo a couple of abortions during 
their sex-life is very small indeed. There is no use 
acting the ostrich and refusing to see things as they 
really are. The declining birth-rate is a phenomenon 
in all civilized countries. The limitation of offspring 
has become a national institution not only in France, 
but in all highly civilized countries. The more progres- 
sive a country is, the further has the limitation pro- 
gressed. The diminished fecundity among the modern 
progressive nations is not biological, but volitional. 
When we hear that among college-bred women, in our 
country, the birth-rate has fallen below the necessary 
average, the reason of this phenomenon is not that the 
knowledge of the binomial theorem has any effect upon 
the ovaries, but that college-bred parents refuse to 
have a large progeny. Even the poor ignorant immi- 
grants, in our country, decline to breed like rabbits. 
The same Irish or Jewish women who in their native 
countries, true to the tenets of their churches, were 
proud of their vast offspring, will try limitation as 
soon as they become somewhat Americanized. We may, 
therefore, expect that with the spread of instruction 
and general education, limitation of offspring will reach 
the poorest sections of our population. Since contra- 
ception is not always effective - half-a-dozen accidents 
will surely happen in the life of every woman, no matter BIRTH CONTROL 
197 
what contraceptive she uses - the women who wish 
to avoid maternity will take their refuge in the artificial 
emptying of the uterus. Abortion will continue to in- 
crease and to exact an appalling toll from the lives of 
our women. 
I have quoted thus fully from Dr. Talmy, because 
the woeful results of present conditions and the argu- 
ments for legalized abortion are much the same as the 
corresponding ones for contraceptive measures. I 
have entertained my views for many years, and I wrote 
the first half of this article before having seen his. 
While I never entertained the view that contraceptive 
information should be disbursed indiscriminately, I have 
long believed in the discriminate dissemination of it. 
Legalized abortion also probably would be going too 
far, but I agree that some remedy must be found for 
sparing the lives of many unfortunate, though maybe 
only ignorant, or perhaps entirely innocent, women who 
fall into the clutches of the greedy, ignorant, and vi- 
cious professional abortionists. It seems as if regu- 
lation by a wise commission would be the sanest method 
in this instance, as in the others I have mentioned. 
All this discussion shows the necessity for thinking 
men and women getting together, and after they have 
laid aside prudery and prejudice, ancient dogma and 
modern notions that are exclusively material and 
utilitarian, then, without animus and with calmest 
judgment and clearest insight, they can strive to ar- 
rive at what is honest, ethical, and humane,- having 
in view that pragmatic or middle course which seems 
to be the best road for our children and children's chil- 
dren to travel in the long search for humanity's El 
Dorado which is happiness, usefulness, purity, and 
brotherly love. CHAPTER X 
MISTAKES OF A PHYSICIAN 
Elsewhere, I have quoted extensively from the ex- 
cellent pamphlet on sex instruction, entitled, A Letter 
from a Physician to his Son in College, by the late Dr. 
Woodruff. I am pretty well acquainted with another 
physician who has instructed several sons before, dur- 
ing, and after, their college days. He made some mis- 
takes before adopting whole-heartedly the policy which 
has kept him measurably free from such mistakes in 
later years. At the time his son of seventeen started 
for college, he was still sufficiently influenced by tra- 
dition to hesitate about speaking of auto-erotism for 
fear that, by his explanations, he might lead the lad 
to the discovery of this practice, assuming, as many 
parents do, that, presumably, up to that time, he knew 
nothing about it. The son was told that sexual rela- 
tions with any woman before marriage would at once 
cause greater sorrow to his parents and later greater 
regret on his own account than any course he could 
pursue. He was also shown that such a course would 
be hostile to the progress of society. The sex prob- 
lem was acknowledged to be a difficult one, and in the 
event of its becoming a too difficult one for him to 
solve alone, he was told to apply to the physician for 
further advice and relief. An effort was made to 
shape his future by counselling him to idealize woman, 
to be satisfied with nothing less than perfect health, 
198 MISTAKES OF A PHYSICIAN 
199 
and when the time came, to seek a mate in the same 
condition. He was assured that he might be reason- 
ably certain, after following these precepts, of long 
life, happiness, and healthy children. 
Eight years after this advice was given, it became 
apparent that this son was having a great deal of worry 
and mental disturbance over some of these questions. 
His letters indicated that he was pessimistic, dis- 
couraged, and losing efficiency. The following extracts 
from correspondence about this time, speak for them- 
selves : 
Dear Ma, 
I have been having another one of those long, miserable 
spells when I feel like staying up so late every night that 
I can't help but sleep when I do go to bed. I have done 
a great many different things to accomplish this, we have 
played cards a good many nights, we have played pool 
several, though I have control of that game now and play 
it only once in a while. We have bowled a few nights. I 
have been out with the two A girls who are down here, 
several times. I have worked a good many nights until 
late. Three nights I have stayed here all night. One 
night I slept two hours, the other nights not at all, worked 
all night and then all the next day too, but twice I have 
taken offence at little things H. has said, and I have given 
him every excuse for firing me, and once I very nearly quit 
and left D., but then he convinced me that this was fool- 
ish, and here I am. If my personal affairs will only go 
along smoothly for a while, I have no doubt I shall stay 
here indefinitely, and regardless of all things, I feel that I 
am steadily making good. 
After several similar letters, the physician wrote 
something as follows: 
Dear X., 
It seems to me that your letters indicate an unsettled 200 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
condition of mind. Your irregular and prolonged hours 
of work and exaggerated attempts at mild dissipation indi- 
cate the same. You seemed anxious for a talk. Now I 
am going to read between the lines of letters to me and 
your mother, and guess that there are some phases of the 
sex question troubling you. Years ago, I tried to make 
these matters clear, and have been much gratified that I 
did influence you on the most important point of all, for I 
am thoroughly convinced from observations and assurances 
that you have never indulged in promiscuity. I tried also 
at that time to make it plain to you that sex would be a 
troublesome problem, and that when it became so, I could 
give you further help. For some reason, perhaps because 
of lack of opportunity, you have not consulted me further. 
Now I am going to guess again that I was not definite 
enough then, and try to be so now. You are a virile man, 
a chip, I suspect, of the old block. You have assumed 
that absolute prohibition of all sex promiscuity meant that 
my ideal, which I wished you to live up to, was absolute 
continence. This is not necessarily so. Absolute conti- 
nence procured without serious consequences to soma or 
psyche is highly desirable, the most laudable of ideals. 
But this is an ideal seldom arrived at, and I believe seldom 
possible in our present state of civilization. You and I 
are surely agreed that any incontinence which involves an- 
other is not only execrable from a moral standpoint, but 
almost sure to bring physical disaster on self and others. 
During sexual immaturity, and even after full development, 
marriage may be inadvisable or impracticable for a time. 
When sex desires become physically and psychically op- 
pressive, some auto-erotic relief is practically universal 
among the best people, and I believe perfectly justifiable 
and absolutely moral. At any rate I have preached this, 
and I preach no doctrine which I have not accepted or 
would not accept under the specified conditions. 
I want you to know that your mother and I have been 
through these things and have experienced just such wor- 
ries and disturbances, as has all that part of humanity that 
has any ideals or aspirations. It is due you to know that 
you children are no mix-up. Neither your mother nor I 
have ever known, in the Scriptural sense, any one but each MISTAKES OF A PHYSICIAN 
201 
other. So far as that goes, you have a perfectly clean 
heredity, though we have had the same worries in the 
early days, fought the same battles, not always with great 
success, that you probably now are fighting. I should ad- 
vise you to have much less anxiety over the matters and 
some less determination to stick to the ideal of absolute 
continence than I had. Whenever it is convenient, you are 
welcome to the details of my experience, if they are of any 
use to you. I have a book in press, dealing with these mat- 
ters, and when it is out, I will send you a copy. 
Now, you know us pretty well, and we are a good deal 
like most of our friends and acquaintances, whom you also 
know. You can size up the situation for yourself. I hope 
I have hit the points which trouble you. 
After you have done with this letter I am perfectly will- 
ing that you should send it on to the rest of " the bunch." 
We have already talked pretty freely with some of them 
when circumstances seemed to warrant it. 
Your affectionate Father. 
Dear Pa, 
I do not appear at all serious to the world, but until 
lately I have been unable to check very frequent spells of 
violent crying. For the past two months I have avoided 
these, and I think I have found the cause of them. I have 
^worried about whether the course I have steered has been 
right or wrong. You said that you had known but one 
woman. In the same sense I have never known a woman, 
and several times I have been almost convinced that I was 
a fool. The pressure of sex has been very heavy upon me 
when I have been alone. For a long time, I have known 
that relief was possible; but I have never found anything to 
even hint that relief was justifiable, even for the purpose 
of saving one's health, maybe one's brain, or maybe one's 
life, except intercourse with a lawfully wedded wife. 
Now, unless I've misread your letter, it has been nearly 
criminal for me to exist at two different times for periods 
of six weeks with no relief whatever. Interesting from a 
doctor's viewpoint? I wonder. Criminal, I say, because 
I should aim to help society all possible. By making the 
most of myself, I help society. By putting myself in a 202 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
position where it becomes practically imperative that I keep 
my mind off myself by such means as playing poker and 
pool for money, working all night long at brain-work, then 
doing more or less manual work days to keep myself as 
physically tired out as possible, incidentally eating, recreat- 
ing, and sleeping irregularly, I directly hurt society, so I 
have wondered what was right. I've even been almost con- 
vinced that the only right course to pursue would be to 
have what I suppose you would call a " mistress." Can 
you appreciate what I have had to worry about? If you 
can, please let me know it. I have availed myself of the 
contents of your letter in shaping my policy from now on, 
and am giving it the same credence that is given the Bible, 
so you'd better be right. You see, I only have your word 
for something that I wanted to believe, but I may have 
misconstrued your meaning. It is after 2 a. m. and I 
wanted to tell you that I feel that I am making good at 
the office, and about our home-life and the people I know 
here and at the office, etc., but I must close. Let this let- 
ter stand for my appreciation of the effort evident in your 
letter, and believe that I am beginning to know how to love 
the best father and mother there are. 
A son's love, 
From X. 
Dear X, 
Instead of your conduct with women up to date being 
foolish, it has been, in my estimation, and in that of your 
mother, and in that of all well-meaning people, the surest 
evidence of wisdom, foresight, and character. I tried to 
have you steer such a course when you w'ent away to school. 
If I had any influence upon you to that end, it is a matter 
of more self-congratulation for me than anything I ever 
did in my life except marrying your mother. I think you 
guessed correctly, that crying spells, depression at times, 
perhaps your whole recent throat trouble, etc., are nervous 
manifestations, largely the result of sex repression and 
sex worry, but the game is worth the candle. If you are 
satisfied that you are right and doing all right, the symp- 
toms will disappear. But certainly to injure your health 
by repression is unjustifiable when moderate relief without 
involving any one else is entirely innocuous. MISTAKES OF A PHYSICIAN 
203 
You did not in the least misunderstand my letter. When 
I tried to impress upon you the moral and physical dan- 
gers of promiscuous relations, before you went to college, 
I also tried to impress upon you that if you ever found 
continence too great a burden, I would be glad to advise 
and help you. I probably bungled it. Anyway, you have 
been a long while in coming, but at your age, no harm is 
done except the punishment you have been through; and 
those of us who try to conform to a high standard all have 
some punishment. I had, but have had pay for it ten 
thousandfold, and I believe you will, only be sure - what- 
ever else her qualifications - that you find a girl who 
thinks the same way. It will be no discredit to her, if 
she has had the same trials and tortures which you have 
and has resorted to the same mode of relief. Once again, 
you have not misconstrued my meaning. The responsibil- 
ity is great if you accept my word as Bible, but in this 
matter, I am willing to accept the responsibility fully. I 
know the inner lives of hundreds of the best people. I 
have advised many for many years, and I have no cause 
for regret. I am giving my ideas to the world, and shall 
be criticised by the ignorant and narrow-minded; but after 
working twenty-five years in this line, I am ready to back 
my thesis against all comers. I am sending you a copy of 
my book, which is just out. I thank you for your confi- 
dence, and I don't think you will regret it. 
Your affectionate Father. 
Dear Pa, 
I brought home twelve hours' office work to do before 
Mon. a. m., but started the book at 1.45 and don't know 
when I'll leave it. All the way to the bottom of page - 
kept noticing how like my case, except for ages cited, this 
was. Then at practically the last word in the case, I 
knew I knew the narrator. He shall have every word of 
mine when I can see him. In some ways, I'm sure it's as 
interesting, and I could write a book on the details. I may 
yet. for I've really studied, and I plan to discuss these mat- 
ters when I can, in the hope of doing what you are doing, 
helping this world the little I may. I think that in after 
years the things you advocate may be called the best means 
of answering that continual question (in the minds of 204 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
youth, at least), " What is the right and what, wrong? " 
that ever will be written - I admit that I, for one, feel 
that your theory is as plausible, and its proof as conclusive, 
as Darwin's theory of evolution, and perhaps more so, 
though until I read your first expressions on the subject I'd 
never dared to hope that so convincing an answer to the 
greatest problem could be formulated. Thanks for book. 
From X. 
The matters thus far taken up by correspondence 
between physician and son were gone over more fully 
during a visit some six months later. It developed 
that previous to the talk on his departure for college, 
this son already had had some experience with auto- 
erotism, which he was unwilling to acknowledge. He 
gained the impression from the father's talk that any 
conscious sex expression before marriage was unjus- 
tifiable. He possessed the abundant virility which goes 
with physical strength and unusual activity. He made 
a prolonged fight against auto-erotism, which became 
his bete noir. Occasional lapses were inevitable, and 
always attended by great self-condemnation. The 
struggle became so severe that he was many times on 
the point of giving up the whole battle and going with 
women, as did practically all the other men of his ac- 
quaintance. The correspondence came at a time when 
he must soon have given up to the demands of sex, or 
have become a confirmed neurotic. The correspondence 
already recorded shows how he solved these questions. 
All tendency to any neurosis immediately disappeared, 
and he married very happily about one year after the 
first letter. 
If the physician had not been somewhat in touch with 
this young man and at the same time had not possessed 
some tact and insight, the result of his early overideal- 
istic instruction would have been entirely futile. CHAPTER XI 
INCIDENTAL OBSERVATIONS 
SEX DREAMS A SUBSTITUTE FOR VOLUNTARY SEX 
EXPRESSION 
I have remarked elsewhere that, of the several hun- 
dred women whose sex histories I have obtained, less 
than a half dozen have denied practising some form of 
conscious auto-erotism at some time in their lives. I 
have now two more cases to add to this number and, 
though one of these does not strictly belong in this list, 
the auto-erotism was so infrequent and so nearly in- 
voluntary, that I shall consider the case as if it were 
absent altogether. 
Usually it is impossible to get more than the most 
fragmentary sex history from a woman who denies auto- 
erotism. The few women who have, or pretend to have, 
entire control of their sex feelings, or who persistently 
maintain that they have no such feelings, are more 
reticent, more self-conscious, and have much poorer 
memories than those who are frank in admitting sex de- 
sire and the ordinary lapses from the ancient standards. 
These two cases, however, have given full and frank 
histories, and there is no doubt that they are absolutely 
accurate. I refer to cases d and i in the chapter 
entitled, Sex Histories. I shall not repeat them here 
in full, but mention only such facts as relate to the 
present discussion. By referring to case d, it will be 
noted that this woman, seventy-three years of age, had 
been married twice, always had experienced very fre- 
205 206 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
quent and persistent erotic feelings after the age of 
seventeen, was always able to respond immediately to 
the sexual advances of either of her husbands, and 
when in the single state, even to the present time, has 
suffered great tortures from sexual desire. From the 
first advent of her sexual impulse she has had frequent 
voluptuous dreams with orgasm. This has been her 
only sex relief when single, with the exception of at 
times awakening at the beginning or in the midst of 
an orgasm, when she has helped to complete this man- 
ually. 
Case i is that of a woman of thirty-five, married at 
twenty-five, who never practised auto-erotism, but be- 
gan to have voluptuous dreams at the age of sixteen, 
when her first menstruation occurred. Up to the time 
of her marriage these continued, with greater or less 
frequency, depending on her proximity to the menstrual 
period, or whether or not she wras much in the company 
of the man who became her husband. Since marriage, 
during her husband's absences, she has suffered in- 
tensely from sexual desire, although his absences were 
short and sexual dreams were frequent. At times, be- 
fore marriage, there would be an interval of two or 
three weeks between these sex dreams; but when keep- 
ing company with the young man she had these dreams 
practically every night, and often several in a night. 
The writer of the letter of criticism in the introduc- 
tion to this book has the opinion that emissions or other 
sleep manifestations should afford all necessary sex 
relief to the unmarried. This is a very common belief 
among those who have theorized largely concerning sex 
ethics, but who, it is plain, have not learned all the 
actual facts. In my reply to that criticism, in the 
Case of Hysteria and in the chapter on Popular Teach- INCIDENTAL OBSERVATIONS 
207 
ing in Rational Sex Ethics, I have discussed this mat- 
ter from an entirely different viewpoint. The two 
cases above apparently offer strong evidence in support 
of the opinion of my critic and those who have similar 
views. While these two cases demonstrate the possi- 
bility of sex experiences in sleep being adequate sex 
expression for the unmarried woman, the extreme rarity 
of such cases (these being the only cases I have dis- 
covered) makes stronger my contention that ordinarily, 
some conscious sex expression in auto-erotism is neces- 
sary. Discussion of these questions with these two 
women revealed that both believed that, had not these 
sleep manifestations been frequent, no exercise of will, 
nor any regimen, nor any moral scruple could have 
prevented frequent conscious sex relief of some kind. 
Even as it was, their sufferings were intense, and their 
powers of resistance were taxed to the utmost. 
Now, we all know very well that the ordinary man 
or woman is not like these two cases. Even in the 
cases which I have collected, one cannot fail to note 
that, while very frequently, the sex instinct is just as 
strongly developed as in the two referred to, emissions 
or other sleep phenomena occur with much less fre- 
quency and regularity and, as a rule, only after pro- 
longed sex excitement, perhaps lasting for days or weeks 
before the relief occurred; while in these cases, though 
sex excitement was often of daily occurrence, relief as 
regularly followed on the night after the excitement. 
Many authors go so far as to claim that unmarried 
women who have not had sexual intercourse never have 
voluptuous dreams with orgasm. My observations 
flatly contradict this, since I have found hardly an un- 
married woman who has not had occasional sleep mani- 
festations corresponding to emissions in unmarried men. 208 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
Nevertheless, these experiences are usually very infre- 
quent, and both sexes have many periods of excessive 
sex excitement without any succeeding nocturnal relief. 
The nocturnal experiences in young women under 
twenty or twenty-five, though almost invariable, are 
much less frequent than those of young men of cor- 
responding age, but after the period of full maturity 
they are often more frequent than in men of the same 
age. When, as was the case with these two women, 
and as is the case with some men, complete nocturnal 
sex relief occurs shortly after the first troublesome 
erotic feelings, and then recurs again before sex ex- 
citement again becomes intense, the persons in ques- 
tion look forward to this expected relief and have 
courage to continue the struggle for continence, feel- 
ing sure that this relief will come soon. It can be pre- 
dicted with certainty that persistent erotic feelings on 
a given day will be followed by nocturnal relief that 
night, and after that freedom from such feelings for 
some days to come. One of my cases, after a day of 
erotic excitement, had a night without emission and 
no special erotic disturbance the next day, but an emis- 
sion invariably that night. While the struggle for con- 
tinence often is severe with people of this type, it is by 
no means impossible, and there is no apparent injury to 
health, and little prospect of neurosis. It is a different 
matter, however, where the sex excitement is - as I have 
characterized it in another chapter - cumulative, and 
no spontaneous relief occurs, or at least only at very 
long intervals. The more I investigate the lives of 
people, the more I am convinced that for this latter 
class, which I am sure is a very numerous one, absolute 
continence for any great length of time is impossible, 
or accomplished only at the risk of injury to the virile INCIDENTAL OBSERVATIONS 
209 
power, or of bringing on a severe neurosis. There 
seems to be no legitimate relief for such people when 
single, or long separated from their mates except con- 
scious auto-erotism, which, I maintain, is as salutary 
and as ethical for them as are the sleep manifestations 
for the men and women who have easy-working safety- 
valves. 
It is impossible to state with accuracy the relative 
size of these two classes, but the evidence so far 
obtained shows that those for whom involuntary sex 
expression is an adequate outlet, form a much smaller 
class than those who have very little such expression 
or whose only relief must be voluntary. I long have 
acted on my belief that young people in general have 
high enough aspirations and lofty enough ideals, or 
may readily be taught them, so that they may safely 
be taught these palpable truths and others about the 
sex life. They can be trusted safely to work out their 
problems, striving for such a state of relative or abso- 
lute continence as is healthful, feasible, or possible. 
When they know all the facts, they are likely to obtain 
such auto-erotic relief as is necessary for health and 
the prevention of extreme discomfort. They are not 
likely to resort to a form of incontinence which in- 
volves others, and invites venereal disease. Those who 
we feel ought not to be trusted with all the facts, will 
not be influenced by any teaching or argument, but will 
always choose the selfish path, involving least resist- 
ance. 
KNOWLEDGE AND TRUST NECESSARY FOR THE NEWLY 
MARRIED 
Readers of these pages may be interested to know 
that the cases yielding the facts on which this writing 210 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
is based are, in general, not copied from books, nor are 
they ordinarily old memories. During the eight weeks 
in which I have been writing two smaller books and 
most of this one, a large part of the material on which 
they are based has incidentally come to hand. These 
things have not been sought especially - indeed, there 
has been little opportunity for seeking, since I am not 
pretending, at present, to attend to my customary 
practice, but am sitting around, pretty well isolated 
in rather a small town. When such cases as the one 
referred to in the introduction to this book, and the 
one used as basis for the present chapter, together with 
some of the facts used in the chapter entitled, Ques- 
tions and Answers, and under the title, Is Continence 
Necessary to Highest Endeavor? together with many 
others, are the incidental acquirement of the writer in 
so short a time, in such isolation, it must be apparent 
to all that there is abundant reason for my contention 
that ignorance of vital matters is dense and all-pervad- 
ing. The simple remedies and ready relief show the 
ease with which matters may be improved if we are 
awake to conditions and make some earnest, intelligent 
effort. 
Returning to our title, we have recently been instill- 
ing into the minds of young men and women a whole- 
some dread of the horrors of venereal disease. This 
never can be overdone, and we should not relax in our 
efforts; but let us not, while warning against these dan- 
gers, become careless in our diagnosis, nor lead young 
people to condemn the innocent without evidence. 
Those who have read Scott's Fair Maid of Perth 
have not failed to note the insufficiency of one-sided 
knowledge. It was not enough for Henry of the Wynd 
to teach his treacherous adversary the thrust which INCIDENTAL OBSERVATIONS 
211 
should pierce the joints of an enemy's armor. The 
smith makes this plain when he says to his dying an- 
tagonist, " Fool, I taught thee the thrust, but not the 
parry." For complete safety one must learn both 
offense and defense. So, in teaching our young people 
to avoid venereal disease, we must beware that this 
knowledge does not, at times, act as a boomerang. 
Urethritis is not always gonorrhoea. At least two 
causes besides the gonococcus are at times responsible 
for this condition. If all people were as conscientiously 
clean as the young couple hereinafter described, there 
might be little danger of trouble; and still, as will be 
seen, they passed through a period of deep gloom and 
anxiety, and both their lives might have been wrecked 
had not this young wife pursued the obvious course 
of consulting the specialist,- a course which she would 
hardly have pursued unless, as was the case, she had 
escaped, to some extent, the sex fear and prudery 
which, till recently, have been almost universal. 
The following letter was written by a young wife 
whose husband is among our soldiers at the front: 
You are quite aware of the practical knowledge C. had 
of marriage relations before his marriage. He had none, 
at least that is what he told me, and from his actions, em- 
barrassment, etc., the first night we were together, I readily 
believed him, although he afterwards suggested that he 
might have affected all this to deceive me. I do not think 
a clear-sighted, modern woman, who has banged around the 
world as I have, could be easily fooled in such a matter. 
It is very hard for me to sit here and put all this on paper, 
harder than you realize, for in spite of a fixed and old de- 
termination to throw off the old bugbear of false modesty, 
it still hampers me enough to make the writing of this very 
difficult. I really do think that C. had intended to go back 
to camp after his wedding without any sexual relations 
whatever. I may be wrong for once, but I think that was 212 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
his endeavor, and he fought the good fight from about one 
o'clock until somewhere around six in the morning. I do 
not know whether he derived any satisfaction, I know I 
did not. It was very painful for me, and I had a peculiar 
feeling, as if I were choking. Then I cried. About two 
hours later, we were more successful, but not for me. 
The following night he had to leave for camp on the 
12.20 train, and we therefore did not undress fully. How- 
ever, to my complete surprise, he was excited enough to de- 
sire intercourse, and as I was desirous too, this happened, 
and I had complete satisfaction for the first time. The in- 
tense emotion, being more than anything I ever had imag- 
ined, broke me down completely, and poor C. thought I was 
ill. His concern was most amusing - afterwards. 
Before that, I never had any desire for sexual relations 
of any kind, although, as you know, I have a voluptuous 
nature, and was always intensely attracted by the opposite 
sex. I have had scores of boy friends and always liked to 
choose among foreigners of Southern and Eastern blood, 
because they were warmer and more passionate lovers, and 
yet, any attempt at familiarity would disgust me, and one 
more would lose my friendship. When I first became ac- 
quainted with C. I was on very great terms of friendship 
with one A. J., the son of a wealthy Brazilian, and at an- 
other time with a young Italian of wealth and education. 
I do not know why I liked these boys, I could not have 
married either of them, but I liked their wild, hot natures, 
which seemed to be in accord with my own. They were 
daring, so was I. I went to cabarets with them and en- 
joyed life, such as it was. I had nothing else to do, and 
if I stayed at home I would think too much. They did not 
stop to consider things in the usual, cold-blooded, American 
way, and I think that is why I finally consented to marry 
C.- because he went ahead and did not sleep on the job. 
I said that before my marriage I had no desire for sex- 
ual intercourse, but since then it seems that, sometimes, I 
cannot control myself, and, in this connection, I want to 
tell you something before I go further with my story. C. 
seems to think that any great desire shown on his part 
makes our love appear low and degrading. He wants 
our love to be set apart from these desires; but I say that INCIDENTAL OBSERVATIONS 
213 
this cannot be, for with the true love of man for woman 
there is nothing low or degrading in fulfilling the natural 
desires of this same love, desires which are part of us, like 
the desire for fine music, etc. Am I right or wrong? 
The second time C. came in from camp, which was about 
two weeks after, it was my menstruating period, and al- 
though it was very hard for us both, myself especially, 
at this time, we agreed that nothing should happen, and 
nothing did, for which I am truly thankful. A little later 
he was home for four days, and I believe we had inter- 
course at this time every night at least twice each night, 
an interval of a few hours' sleep between. You must un- 
derstand, we were both very ignorant indeed on this sub- 
ject, and we had to slowly learn all the rudiments; but 
with a little thought and what you might call concentra- 
tion we were successful twice in getting complete satisfac- 
tion together, which was the result we wanted. This was 
on the last night of his leave. 
A week later I decided to surprise him, and went down 
to camp to see him. Then he had some news for me which 
made the whole world black. It appears that on that last 
night, he had felt a strange soreness, and although he re- 
marked about it at that time, I, knowing nothing of such 
matters, took no notice. On the next day there was a gen- 
eral inspection at the camp, and the doctor stopped at him 
and questioned him in the most humiliating manner and de- 
manded that he report at the hospital. Of course I do 
not know what there was to show to occasion this, but ap- 
parently there was, and when C. reported at the hospital, 
he was entered on the list of venereal patients. You can 
imagine how I felt, and how he felt, but I can truthfully 
swear that never once did one thought of doubting his word 
ever enter my mind. I felt sure of my man, and I trusted 
him. I do not know whether or not he felt that way toward 
me, but I think he did. 
Anyway, it was a terrible few weeks for us both, and 
I determined, as soon as it was possible, to see an expert 
physician. All kinds of thoughts passed through my head. 
I tortured myself, wondering if possibly I was to blame, 
having read that such diseases could be communicated 
through kissing, and I had kissed all my friends to my 214 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
heart's content. However, to end a long story, I went to 
Dr. G., a well known specialist here, and had two exami- 
nations, one being a laboratory examination, which he said 
was absolutely authentic; and he pronounced me absolutely 
pure, with the exception of a little leucorrhoea, which he 
said probably was caused by my mental wTork and nervous 
temperament. 
Strange to say, that same week things looked better at 
the camp for C., and although he was not finally discharged 
from the lists, he w7as allowed to come home, which we con- 
sidered a good sign. The desire for intercourse with me 
at this time was so bad that I was almost irritable, but I 
knew it could not be, as he was in great pain, especially 
when sexually excited, so I controlled myself for that time. 
I took him to see Dr. G., who made an examination of him 
and talked with us both for over an hour. He laughed 
at the idea of a venereal disease. He said it was merely 
a touch of urethritis, caused by contact with the acid in 
my leucorrhoea. He said that some of those doctors at 
the camp who classed C. as a venereal patient should be 
herding sheep. 
C. has been home twice since then. The first time we 
had intercourse the same as before the trouble, without such 
satisfactory results, but without the slightest discomfort, 
and with no complications. 
This little incident may look small on paper, but it was 
nearly a tragedy to us. If we had not had such great faith 
in each other it might have been the means of breaking up 
our lives, especially as we were parted and could not talk 
things over. We just trusted, and we won out. It was a 
mistake made through ignorance, and one which is liable 
to be made every day with more disastrous results. If this 
letter is of any use to you professionally you are at liberty 
to use it, as I know you will use discretion. 
The diagnosis made by the doctor that the young 
man's benign urethritis was caused by the young wom- 
an's leucorrhoea is very likely correct, but there is still 
another cause, outside the gonococcus, usually over- 
looked, which might as easily have been responsible for INCIDENTAL OBSERVATIONS 
215 
it. Knowing as I do the previous history, I am in- 
clined to think it was this usually unrecognized cause 
which was at the seat of the trouble. It sounds like a 
paradox, but it is nevertheless true that the more pure, 
continent, and moral a young man or a young woman 
may be, especially if they be at the acme of good health, 
the more danger there is of their showing a few transient 
symptoms which, to the unsophisticated or the care- 
less, may have the appearance of venereal disease. It 
is hard to imagine any greater humiliation or suffering 
than is the lot of the upright young man or woman 
placed under any such suspicion. 
For the purpose of illustration, and to put us on our 
guard, I mention a few cases known to me. The first 
is that of a married man who was away from his wife 
for a period of somewhat less than two months. He 
did not then have, nor has he ever in his life had in- 
tercourse with any woman except his wife, and he 
never has had any venereal disease, yet on his return 
from this trip he presented the symptoms of gonorrhoea 
and feared that he had contracted this in some inno- 
cent way. What really did occur was this. He had 
had very little intercourse for some time before leaving 
home. While away his duties were light, and various 
unavoidable stimuli to erotic feelings were present. A 
young woman who slept on the same floor left her door 
open every night apparently as an invitation. He 
saw daily many young men and women in bathing cos- 
tume, but though they were partial to the costume, 
they were not ardent patrons of the sport. He saw 
them occupied with the usual beach pastime of " spoon- 
ing." He soon began to suffer from a high degree of 
erotic excitement, with persistent erections, pain in 
the testes, loins, and back by day, and sexual dreams 216 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
with emission at night. He lost flesh rapidly, and 
before his return home, he developed a muco-purulent 
discharge from the urethra. On attempting to resume 
intercourse after his return, he was at first impotent, 
but after two or three days was successful, and he 
regained his usual health after about three weeks. 
Of course we have, by means of the microscope, a way 
to settle conclusively all such cases, but the man him- 
self, or his wife, may not know this, and the damage 
to family congeniality may be done before the physi- 
cian is consulted. Men and women of marriageable 
age should be told that a vaginal discharge is often in- 
nocent. A discharge from the male urethra is not al- 
ways a gonorrhoea, and there is no sure way of telling 
except by means of the microscope. It is, therefore, 
always safe to reserve judgment until a careful search 
has been made for the gonococci. 
In another chapter, I mention four women who, along 
with a very ardent sexual impulse, which had been al- 
most entirely repressed, had a leucorrhoea, which ap- 
parently resulted from the congestion due to their 
ardent impulses. Anyway, the leucorrhoea disappeared 
soon after these women established a regular mode of 
relief for their sexual desires. 
I know a man who, after passing through the ordi- 
nary stimulating experiences of the engagement period, 
began to have pains in his back and testes, and finally 
to have a discharge from the urethra. He consulted 
his physician on account of this condition. The physi- 
cian excluded gonorrhoea absolutely and explained that 
sexual excitement and the resulting congestion had 
caused his difficulty. Shortly after this, he was mar- 
ried, and the discharge and other symptoms soon dis- 
appeared. INCIDENTAL OBSERVATIONS 
217 
A married man, whose wife was indisposed, or be- 
came indifferent for a time, so that she declined his 
sexual advances, suffered with the same symptoms as 
those given above. After remaining continent, in def- 
erence to his wife's preferences, for some weeks, he con- 
sulted his physician. The simple prescription that he 
make friends with his wife and solicit her active co- 
operation being tactfully carried out resulted in his 
almost immediate recovery. 
I have known many men who, after from two to four 
weeks continent separation from their wives, have de- 
veloped a slight discharge from the urethra, over and 
above any that might come from urethrorhcea ex libi- 
dine, and on the first intercourse with their wives have 
suffered most excruciating pain at the moment of ejac- 
ulation. This pain might last only a few seconds or, 
in rare instances, an hour or more. Possibly it might 
recur at the next connection, but it was always only a 
transient difficulty. For this reason, paradoxical as 
it may seem, some men, who ordinarily desire nothing 
so much, positively dread the first intercourse when 
they have been away from their wives for some time. 
The young man whose wife wrote to me never had 
had sexual relations with any woman until his marriage 
and always had made desperate attempts to maintain 
perfect continence. The only respite had been auto- 
erotic relief at long intervals. Even this had been 
abandoned before his marriage, and one sees from her 
letter that his attempts at repression after marriage 
were more than the circumstances warranted, certainly 
more than his wife would have insisted on. This state 
of continence, attended by strong desire, which would 
cause hyperemia and tenderness, was sufficient to ac- 
count for all his symptoms, without considering his 218 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
wife's slight leucorrhoea a cause, though this might have 
been the only cause or a contributory one. The leu- 
corrhoeal discharge would more readily start up trou- 
ble in the young man since his constant desire and the 
constant engorgement of all the structures about the 
urethra had rendered the urethra inflamed and sensi- 
tive to any outside influences. 
The explanation of a leucorrhoeal discharge following 
long-repressed desire, is very similar to that in the male. 
Desire results in engorgement of the vaginal mucous 
membrane and the surrounding tissues, and of the 
uterus, tubes, and ovaries. More or less venous stasis 
and inflammation follow the prolonged engorgement, 
and finally serum escapes from the capillaries in the 
mucous membrane, and sooner or later this may be- 
come purulent. Many little troubles, unknown to peo- 
ple in general, and often passed over by physicians, 
can be explained as one of the above conditions. I 
have no doubt that serious troubles and misjudgments 
often have come upon the perfectly innocent because 
some of these things were not better understood. 
A CASE OF MANIC-DEPRESSIVE INSANITY 
Our societies for mental hygiene are becoming nu- 
merous and enthusiastic in their work which, so far, 
is largely that of organization or general discussion. 
Psychiatric clinics in this state are beginning to stim- 
ulate thought and to provide means for the prevention 
of mental disease. I find nothing, or next to nothing, 
said about sex education as a preventive of neurosis 
or psychosis. The old idea that masturbation was the 
cause of insanity, of course, has been entirely exploded, 
long since, but the old worries about this and other 
sex deviations are factors nearly as potent as formerly INCIDENTAL OBSERVATIONS 
219 
in the causation of neurotic and mental troubles. I 
cannot believe that physicians in general realize how 
numerous are the cases which suffer from such disturb- 
ance, or more active measures would be taken to combat 
it, however unpleasant the subject might be for them. 
Neurologists and psychiatrists will find no field more 
in need of active endeavor or more likely to yield sur- 
prisingly beneficial results than that of adjusting the 
sex psychology of those patients who are entirely sane 
or who have lucid intervals. The following case of 
mental trouble illustrates a method of treatment which 
frequently has proved most satisfactory for me, and 
most salutary for the patient. 
The patient, Mr. A , was a liberally educated 
man of much ability. His first two business ventures 
were not very successful, and he had, early in life, an 
attack of manic-depressive insanity, from which he 
recovered after several months' residence in a most 
exclusive institution, furnished with all modern equip- 
ment and directed by a staff possessed of the highest 
scientific ability. At thirty, some three years after 
this recovery, he married, and they had several chil- 
dren in the next few years. He had a good position, 
worked hard, and had no bad habits. Nevertheless, 
when about forty he had another attack, more severe 
than the first, and recovered after a longer residence at 
the above institution. Four years after this second 
recovery, during a time of some business strain, he 
heard a talk for men, by an evangelist, which appeared 
to precipitate the third and most severe attack of all. 
My experience with him began a few weeks after the 
initiation of this attack. Briefly, his symptoms were: 
very strong ideas of unworthiness; he expected to be 
killed and thought he deserved to be, but was very sorry 220 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
for his wife and children, who were to be included in 
the slaughter; he cried much, refused to eat, slept lit- 
tle ; his orientation was poor; retardation was marked; 
and he was very resistive. His people considered his 
condition far worse than during his former attacks, and 
to me the case seemed discouraging. 
Ordinarily, as I was then situated, being in the coun- 
try, with no one in the family besides my wife, a patient, 
and a hired man, I should not have taken him; but inter- 
est in him and his family induced me to do so. In five 
weeks he was perfectly well, in seven weeks he went 
home, and though this was nearly ten years ago, he 
never has been absent from business nor in any way in- 
disposed during that period. He is, as I told him when 
he left, less likely to have any further mental trouble 
than the ordinary healthy man in any community. 
I shall give a condensed account of my treatment of 
this case, beginning with the ordinary physical measures 
which were taken. At first I dared not leave him alone, 
and took him everywhere with me, even sleeping in the 
same bed with him for a time. Two of us, by much 
persuasion, and by practically carrying him, finally 
could seat him at the table, where he rarely would eat 
anything unless his hands were held and the food put 
into his mouth. He worked daily with me in the hay- 
field, digging stone or peeling bark. When engaged in 
the latter occupation, we carried our dinners. His was 
a quart bottle of milk or coffee, with eggs in it, which 
he took, after some persuasion, one holding him on either 
side; while I, by means of a trick used in feeding refrac- 
tory children, got him to swallow the liquid. Soon 
mild persuasion was sufficient to induce him to eat, and 
within two weeks, though depressed, he was partially 
sane. At no time did the treatment involve medicine, INCIDENTAL OBSERVATIONS 
221 
apparatus, calisthenics, nor a staff of trained psycholo- 
gists ; yet he recovered in much less time from an attack 
more severe than either of the former ones. With this 
simple treatment and nothing more, such patients some- 
times get well in three months, but frequently relapse, 
and many do not get well at all. 
I come now to the important part of the treatment. 
At first I knew nothing about Kis life or domestic rela- 
tions, but his constant talk of unworthiness and fear 
of impending punishment for himself and his wife re- 
minded me of a condition frequent in neurotics, and not 
unusual in people who consider themselves well. I knew 
there was some domestic trouble or tragedy; and, as 
tactfully as I could, I talked with him of his wife and 
family, and of my own. I spoke of the sex worries and 
errors of young people and of the ignorance of the 
newly married. Soon he began to talk and ask ques- 
tions, and later to tell his experience, whereupon I sub- 
stituted hope in place of his nightmare, and he soon 
called for his wife and his pipe, and his recovery was 
uneventful. 
He never had masturbated more than half a dozen 
times, having been terribly frightened about this prac- 
tice when a small boy, but, with some other boys, he had 
been in the habit of playing with the genitals of dogs 
in his home neighborhood. Later, when sixteen or 
seventeen, he was much troubled at having done a thing 
so disgraceful. He had strong sex impulses, and since 
he had this exaggerated fear of masturbation, he went 
with public women occasionally, when the impulse was 
irresistible, up to the time of his marriage. After mar- 
riage he suffered much from remorse at his past life 
and never transgressed, except on one occasion, when, 
away from home and lonely, he chanced to meet a 222 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
former partner, now a widow and also lonely. Nothing 
immoral was premeditated by either, and after two or 
three such occurrences, nothing further of the kind 
ever happened; but both had sincere and insistent regret 
for their conduct. 
It was natural, with these things on his mind, that 
the talk of the evangelist concerning masturbation and 
immorality should precipitate the final attack. His 
mental disturbances since marriage had been contrib- 
uted to, not only by his own remorse and sense of unfit- 
ness, but by a condition in his wife which is extremely 
common and always unnecessary. She had practiced 
auto-erotism somewhat as a girl, and later, without 
other instruction, had been thoroughly frightened about 
it. As is the rule, she henceforth had considered every- 
thing pertaining to sex low and degrading. As a wife, 
she had made strenuous effort at first to prevent erotic 
emotion and later, when she learned that it was ab- 
normal for a wife not to participate, she was without 
knowledge which would enable her to do so. The ab- 
sence of orgasm and a desire to abstain on the part of 
his wife, led him to seek relations infrequently, and 
resulted, as usual, in physical and nervous disturbance. 
When I finally had opportunity to talk w'ith her, I 
learned the above story and found that she had guessed 
his single infidelity, and that, though she still loved him, 
she was very indignant. I represented the case in its 
true light, and she forgave him. I freed her mind of 
worry and gave her some necessary instruction. I con- 
vinced him that his childhood experience with dogs had 
made no lasting impress on his character, that mastur- 
bation was nothing to be disturbed about, that his 
lapses in the way of promiscuity, since resulting from 
his unreasoning fear of masturbation, were less damag- INCIDENTAL OBSERVATIONS 
223 
ing to his character than they otherwise would have 
been. Somehow, I got them both to think less of the 
past, more of the future, and everything of each other. 
Today I cannot think of a more ideal home. It is now 
easy to see why I am confident that he will have no 
further trouble. 
If the trained psychologists who twice had this man 
in their care had investigated his mind, as they pre- 
sumably did his reflexes, I should have been unable to 
present this case. Nevertheless, I should not have suf- 
fered for want of material. I have had a case since 
then very similar in all its details, except that the one 
I have described had the delusion that I was going to 
take him and his wife and children up to the top of a 
hill and kill them all. The other believed that I was 
going to kill him only, but that his wife and unborn 
child were to be burned. I have explored the minds 
of several women who had fixed delusions, whose trouble 
seemed to have originated in sex worries and disturb- 
ances similar to those of the wife of the patient whose 
history is given. Their recovery was rapid and perma- 
nent. I say permanent because the cases I have in 
mind have remained well over twelve years. In any 
case similar to these, -where a similar exploration of 
the psyche has been possible, and similar advice has 
been given, I never have known a relapse. 
Married couples with primal worries, early poor ad- 
justment, and later strained relations, and still later 
neuroses or psychoses, are very numerous. Inside a 
week, people whose troubles I have tried to smooth out 
and who, during the process, had learned to make a 
diagnosis, have told me of six such who, though not yet 
ready for sanitarium or asylum, are yet sure candidates 
if let alone. One of these can be reached and undoubt- 224 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
edly the trouble prevented, but in our present state of 
diffidence, it is impossible to do anything for the others. 
To determine how to reach couples who are well mated 
physically and mentally, but who are drifting apart 
through ignorance of the vital facts of life, and certain 
- if left alone - to become neurotic or psychotic, is 
a problem well worth solving. Some do not know the 
cause of their troubles ; others, who do, are afraid to ask 
advice; and no outsider has the authority to interfere. 
SEX AND THE WAR 
I have written in another place somewhat concerning 
the endless sex problems which are ever with us, and 
their relation to the present unparalleled conditions of 
world strife. The subject has so great practical im- 
portance that perhaps I may be pardoned some repeti- 
tion in a short statement of some of these matters as 
they appear to one who has studied long and thought 
somewhat on problems of our racial and national wel- 
fare. The occasion is too hurried to say anything very 
elaborate, and I shall confine myself to some points 
which seem to me of great present import. Despite the 
statements of theorists who see life only from an ob- 
servatory through an equatorial, or from the smug com- 
fort of an easy-chaired study, the problem of continence 
and morality for the men in the army and the women 
at home, is not to be ignored. I know of a recent case 
where a perfectly normal, moral man, whose life was 
correct in every respect, was away from his home less 
than a week, occupied every moment of the day at hard 
physical labor. During this time he had no thought 
of sex and no sex disturbance. Yet, when he finally 
took the train for home, he suddenly became conscious 
that sex was not dead, but had been sleeping. He suf- INCIDENTAL OBSERVATIONS 
225 
fered a great deal in the few hours on the train and 
during a few hours of quixotic abstinence after his 
arrival home. The well-known frequent occurrence of 
such a condition in men and women who are of the best 
repute, after a period of separation, is well illustrated 
in this instance. You all very well know that such 
experiences are now being, and going to be, duplicated 
thousands and hundreds of thousands of times during 
this period of war, devastation, sorrow, and separation. 
Short absences need give no concern to men and women 
of fixed purposes. Some are so constituted that long 
absences give little trouble, and nature adjusts itself 
to conditions; but, not all the theorizing in the world by 
those well adjusted or impotent, will solve this problem 
for many married lovers who have been a short or a 
long time together, nor for many of the single people 
who are young and strong and virile. 
My position is well known as unequivocally and unal- 
terably opposed to the slightest deviation from our wise 
monogamic standards. Promiscuity is no solution, or 
a race destroying solution of this problem. Free love 
is no better than promiscuity, and the worst of all de- 
lusions. What then is the remedy? After utilizing all 
forms of work, all sorts of distractions, all approved 
regimen, and all legitimate sublimation in every form, the 
problem is still left for our American women at home, 
and their husbands and lovers at the front. What is 
the remedy when our robust and sturdy men, and 
healthy American women after long separations become 
unbearably oppressed by desires for that natural sex 
expression which has been an integral part of their 
lives together? We are doing all we can to protect 
those whose wills are weak, and those who wilfully trans- 
gress our sexual standards of morality; but many as- 226 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
sume that the men and women of fixed standards of 
purity, and of high religious aspirations, and of strong 
character, have no trouble worth mentioning, and that 
this trouble can be safely ignored. Pardon me, but I 
know better! I have learned from talks with many suf- 
ferers from treatment of many conditions resulting 
from such sufferings, from personal experiences, and 
from the communicated experiences of numerous men 
and women whose lives and characters I know, and in 
whose statements I have unbounded confidence. Really 
there is but one legitimate remedy after the hackneyed 
partial remedies already named fail, and they often fail. 
Those people who have enough of the so-called animal- 
ism, primal instinct, or human-ness, to be objects of 
pity or disgust to the ultra-idealist, but who are, in 
reality, good, strong, moral, trustworthy men and 
women, have this problem frequently looming large dur- 
ing these days. 
I unhesitatingly say that sufficient auto-erotism for 
moderate comfort and good health is the only remedy. 
But, the stigma attached to any such thing is so deep- 
seated and universal, the quacks, charlatans and well- 
meaning have instilled such fears of moral and physical 
injury from this, that people are likely to consider this 
remedy worse than the disease. Nevertheless, it is 
plainly the only recourse consistent with morality and 
health, after the remedies alluded to have proved un- 
availing, and they certainly are often unavailing. I 
do not speak of neurotics, who have come to be maligned 
by some people who say that these unfortunates are 
deficient in will power, and hence, cannot resist the de- 
mands of sex. The opposite is usually true of them, 
and neurotics usually exhibit a weakness of will power 
as the result of a re-action from a long and strenuous INCIDENTAL OBSERVATIONS 
227 
fight against sex, which has at length temporarily 
broken down their powers of resistance. I am speak- 
ing of our strongest and best, the most manly and the 
most womanly, who will many of them certainly become 
neurotic if they attempt to solve this problem as the 
present neurotics have done, along the same lines, and 
according to the views of those uncompromising ideal- 
ists who hold the transcendental, the intangible, and 
the supersensuous all worthy; and the body, sense, and 
instinct, always and ever unworthy, and negligible in all 
moral and religious considerations. If some of the 
truths which I have presented are germain, they must 
be sane and safe; at any rate, until some bettei' solu- 
tion is forthcoming, they are saner and safer than an 
old regime which has brought us ever increasing neu- 
roses, venereal perils, prostitution, divorce, and infi- 
delity. XII 
AN INCIPIENT PHILOSOPHY 
My rude attempts at philosophy may be thought a 
joke, and perhaps, in a way, they are. Certainly if 
I had the mental attributes of one whose physical dup- 
licate, to some extent, I surely am, I should allow a 
vein of humor to trickle through the chinks in my logic, 
if, peradventure, I were ever logical; for certainly 
there is a humorous side to this most pathetic of all 
tragedies, which is subsumed under the physico-ethico- 
religio-sex-complex. But my only title to a place in 
the galaxy of American humorists whose alpha star was 
that Mark Twain, whose joking nonsense was so sound 
a common sense that it kept sweet the waters of many 
a Mara for us modern humans, whose pathetic humor 
brought tears in the swift wake of the laughter, whose 
philosophy has, perhaps, more than any other, made 
our sometimes sordid Americanism redolent of a hu- 
manism which is sure to rise to the ascendent after this 
last war for freedom, whose Tom Sawyer and Huckle- 
berry Finn started many a child, as they are today 
starting my youngest, to face all seriousness and trouble 
of life with chuckles of mirth and an ineffaceable human- 
ism, my only claim, I say, to such celebrity is that a 
man " in his cups " has frequently solemnly asserted 
(the statement of many sober men to the same effect 
was taken lightly, but in vino veritas) that I was Mark, 
himself, until in summer, in white raiment, I almost 
think that I am, in truth, his shade. But alas, this is 
228 AN INCIPIENT PHILOSOPHY 
229 
winter, and it is only in summer that I suffer these 
sweet illusions of mistaken identity. Now the chill 
Borean blasts force a hirsute appendage, which tem- 
porarily transmogrifies me into another delightful cate- 
gory of the elect, and my sublimest aspirations to state- 
craft and literature are transiently fulfilled in the fleet- 
ing felicity of frequent recognition as that other ster- 
ling contemporary, whom we in Massachusetts some- 
times quarrel with, but ultimately name with pride as 
our Edmunds, our Roosevelt, our Bancroft, compositely 
apotheosized in one effulgent, transcendent personality, 
Henry Cabot Lodge. Had I, in some small measure, the 
mental attributes of these two typical Americans, whose 
physical oi' physiognomical characteristics I have so 
often innocently, but with proud self-gratulation, per- 
sonified, then would I write you a philosophy of sex that 
should be at once pleasing, inspiring, exact, and schol- 
arly. But since I have not, I have already gotten my- 
self into deep water, becoming, by my aspirations to 
be a cross between these two, a hybrid, and like some 
hybrids, sterile. But this humiliating reflection I have, 
by a fairly numerous progeny, already disproved on 
the physical side, and I would the mental stigma, by 
more than insouciant endeavor, seek to escape. So 
then, I must follow the old adage that every tub shall 
stand on its own bottom, and if I see humor in the great- 
est tragedy of the ages, try to emancipate it for your 
enjoyment from the semi-obscurity of my tortuous 
phraseology, and if I see utilitarian abstractions, 
seek by Gargantuan efforts to make my Lilliputian ac- 
tivities equal to the task of bringing forth concrete, 
understandable results, intelligible to an understanding 
public. 
Nothing is more difficult than an attempted recon- 230 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
ciliation between the partially plain and the sufficiently 
obvious. Bringing even a superficial cosmos out of 
an irrefragible chaos of sex is no light task. One would 
judge that philosophy, from its definition as a unifica- 
tion of all branches of knowledge, and from its being the 
goal of the wise men of the past, would constantly in- 
crease, at least by infinitesimal accretions, in useful- 
ness and availability; but late years it is becoming, on 
the one hand, a mere review of Plato, Aristotle, Kant, 
et al., a rattling of the dry bones of antiquity, or, on 
the other, a maudlin attempt to caricature some of our 
most necessary moral conventions and long securely 
founded institutions. A semi-jocular, pessimistic mis- 
anthropy, which insistently runs counter to the things 
which are, and which are, by right and necessity, an 
effort to cast adrift from our w'hole code of morals 
because of some slight inconveniences or correctable er- 
rors, by would-be reformers, more properly called de- 
stroyers, whose cerebral limitations are such that the 
superlative of their keenest perceptions goes no farther 
than to scent a trouble which they are incompetent to 
diagnosticate, but which, could they do so, they would 
still be incompetent to alleviate, brilliant, though dema- 
gogic critics of present-day institutions, like Shaw and, 
to some extent, Ibsen and Maeterlinck, opens our sores 
but provides no balm. Their philosophy, if it may be 
dignified by such a term, is pessimistic, destructive, ulti- 
mately worthless. Destructive criticism is poor philos- 
ophy. Again, the problem novel unsettles us much as 
to existing standards, show's us many errors we have 
fallen into, but offers no remedy. Enough of this de- 
structive philosophy to set us thinking may be a good 
thing, but that which w'ould overturn our time-honored 
sex conventions in their entiretly is w orse than clinging AN INCIPIENT PHILOSOPHY 
231 
to them in their original coercive and pre-scientific 
form. A sane public does not destroy the substantial 
and time-honored structure on Beacon Hill, but re- 
pairs the old and stable and adds new portions as 
needed. Such sanity in public affairs is metaphorical 
of the manner in which I shall, if I am able, philoso- 
phize concerning sex. 
With this unmethodological propaedeutic, let us 
glance for a few moments at what has been the chief 
objective of life in all the ages. The unicellulai' amoeba 
avoids foreign and noxious substances and eagerly ab- 
sorbs those which give pleasure and sustenance. The 
heliotropic sunflower gets pleasure and profit from the 
sun's rays. The well-fed cat or dog, when permitted, 
curls up in comfort and indolence by the fire. All ani- 
mals flee their natural enemies and seek the sunny slopes 
when the nutritive and sex instincts become dormant or 
satisfied. Man, at the head of the scale, as we know it, 
is no exception, and ever has sought happiness as the 
chief desideratum. This near caught butterfly, this 
fleeting phantom, this chimera, often has been thought 
to be an illegitimate object of man's ambition, an un- 
worthy goal. But is it? All life instinctively and 
necessarily avoids the enemies of life. Conversely, all 
life, to continue and develop, must seek and be in fel- 
lowship with what conserves life, and conduces to per- 
petuity. In what, for practical purposes, is a dualism 
of mind and body, the mind must be unfettered and 
free from alarms, and the body unhampered by disease 
and discomfort if progress is to be fostered and retro- 
gression prevented. 
Happiness, then, which has been the end of all true 
philosophy, since a necessary, is a legitimate and laud- 
able end. Plato sought happiness in virtue or knowl- 232 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
edge, or in the transcendence of the soul. Christianity, 
with a personal Deity and an individual immortality, 
sought happiness in the future glories of an intellectual 
and moral Paradise. Mohammedanism pictured a 
physical Paradise with happiness of a sensual order 
only; while Buddhism, between the two, saw ultimate 
happiness in a Nirvana which absorbed each individual 
atom again into the all from which each came. Aris- 
totle sought happiness in a well-ordered life in accord 
with Nature's laws and in intellectual enjoyment, while 
not denying future beatitudes. The attitude of the 
Stoics, whose position of lofty disdain for all human 
pain and pleasure, arose from observing the masses of 
humanity seeking happiness in the other extreme of low 
sensuality, such as afterward became the ideal of the 
later followers of Epicurus, a teacher whose own life 
and teachings and that of his immediate followers 
pointed the way to happiness much as Aristotle did in 
a well-ordered life in conformity with Nature's laws. 
But the Stoics even, though disparaging the happiness 
which wTas commonly sought, found in their austerity, 
superiority and indifference an ascetic sort of happiness 
and satisfaction. 
Just as Cynicism and Stoicism arose from the reac- 
tion against early Greek licentiousness, so the mild pro- 
tests of Epicurus himself and the ultimate debauchery 
of his followers rose as a protest against a Diogenes 
and Zeno who ignored, repressed, or disdained all human 
pleasures. The Paradisical antitheses above shown 
might be likened to those of human society and are de- 
veloped from identical conditions. The Stoic and 
Cynic -would have on earth, as would Plato, what the 
Christian looked forward to in a Heaven deprived of 
sense. The later Epicureans pursued here what the AN INCIPIENT PHILOSOPHY 
233 
Mohammedan coveted for his Paradise, sense and sense 
only. Aristotle and Epicurus himself represented a 
mean or middle ground in human society which is dup- 
licated to some extent in the Buddhist's Nirvana. Such 
antitheses run all through all religions, all philosophy 
and all life. Even today the looseness of feminine man- 
ners and the scanty, transparent feminine apparel are 
effectual protests against a former too severe puritan- 
ism and prudishness. Sex propagandism of every sort 
and description, good, bad and indifferent (including 
my own, which endeavors to propose an Aristotelian 
mean) are but the reaction against former ignorance 
and intolerance of humanity's rights and happiness, an 
attempt to transcend natural law in the lives of those 
of nature born. Aristippus and the early Hedonists 
sought happiness in intellectual pursuits, tempered with 
what was legitimately sensuous, while the later Epicu- 
reans abandoned themselves to the ruthless and immedi- 
ately sensuous. Nietzsche's superman would be happy 
only when might was right and ruthless egoism trampled 
and made subservient all lesser creatures. How evil 
and reactionary, how absolute a return to the Hun in 
his original barbarity this philosophy is, is shown by a 
Prussian militarism which has staked its all on the per- 
petuation of such doctrines. The antithesis of this is 
shown on the one hand in the transcendentalism of 
Emerson, which seeks happiness in lofty ideas which go 
beyond the stars, and on the other hand in the human- 
ism of our greatest commoner, Lincoln, who rightly saw 
happiness, won through sacrifice, in equality and broth- 
erhood. When the world has freed itself from the mod- 
ern Python of aristocratic militancy and the principles 
of Lincoln and Washington prevail, we shall be just at 
the dawn of a new and progressive era, when not only 234 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
freedom in politics and freedom in the externals of 
religion shall be universal; but freedom from ancient 
dogma and hide-bound epistemological formula must 
be added to freedom in other things. The truths of life 
and nature which are being drawn from the universe by 
the hand of science will be available for the universal 
benefit of mankind. 
Our incipient philosophy does not contemplate a com- 
plete return to the primitive, nor an exclusive devotion 
to transcendence. It is neither exclusive psychic ere- 
thism nor Epicurean sensuousness, but the universal 
adaptation of assured knowledge to the needs of all 
men, a pragmatic selection of the best of everything to 
the end of universal brotherhood and universal progress 
which we should consider, with Spencer, synonymous 
with universal happiness. Today more than ever be- 
fore men of all abilities and in all branches of science, 
art and humanism are unconsciously beginning to co- 
operate toward this nearest divine human goal. We 
cheerfully attempt to show how our infinitesimal efforts 
toward sex knowledge and rehabilitation contribute, if 
ever so slightly, to this summum bonum. We have 
often shown how the earliest extreme licentiousness 
caused the far swing of the pendulum to uncompromis- 
ing asceticism and idealism, which in turn compelled the 
later extreme of modern, educated materialism, better 
than ancient licentiousness, to be sure, but still un- 
worthy of humanity. We are now swinging back from 
this neo-Epicureanism toward a neo-idealism. Modern 
materialism went too far toward the old, exclusive 
recognition of the physical side of man, which was its 
prototype. It need never go so far again, but the only 
way to prevent it is by encouraging a pragmatism 
which shall take the best from idealism instead of adopt- AN INCIPIENT PHILOSOPHY 
235 
ing it in its prescientific entirety. Such a middle course 
is necessary as shall absorb all knowledge, and discard 
all dogma and superstition, a course which encourages 
all legitimate ideality, one which is already beginning 
to show in religious tolerance, democratic institutions 
and ideas of universal brotherhood. When the princi- 
ples of this philosophy are applied to sex, our indis- 
pensable attribute for social life and perpetuation, and 
sound principles of right sex living are brought out 
from the obscurity which fear, shame, and dogma hith- 
erto have made necessary for all knowledge which con- 
cerned sex, we may expect a more lasting impetus to our 
progress in morality, health and fellowship than wTe have 
acquired from enlightenment in any other branch of 
knowledge. 
I hope that all of us have, based on the revelations of 
nature and our intuitive perceptions, a well-grounded 
belief in a future existence of a higher order. I hold 
that such a belief is right, not only because it is an 
obligation, but because it is of highest therapeutic im- 
portance. But since most of us have long ago done 
away with the idea that all human well-being must be 
ignored or that earthly suffering must be courted as the 
surest means to the end of an impeccable immortality, 
we both logically and naturally turn, after declaring 
allegiance and subscribing to the precepts of the un- 
knowable or infinite, to work out our salvation in the 
midst of the knowable and finite. It ought to be as 
plain to us today as it was long ago to its author, 
that our most profitable line of investigation is in the 
field of the golden rule. The trite abridgment, " Live 
and let live," would suggest that we delve in nature's 
mysteries and unearth all that is immediate in a search 
for means to better our own condition and that of our 236 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
neighbor. The innumerable lines of human study and 
endeavor and our readiness in emergencies like the world 
war, to make everything subservient to ability and 
efficiency, indicate that, in general, we see our duty 
plainly. No great field of legitimate human exploita- 
tion except that of sex is still practically unfilled. 
This has been avoided, as beneath our dignity, or be- 
yond our power or right to understand. Shame and 
fear have resulted from early dogma. Secrecy, pru- 
riency and prudery have been secondary reactions. 
Nevertheless, sex ought not to be beneath our notice. 
Logically a function which is at the very foundation of 
life and its continuity, on which directly depend home, 
family, love, comradeship, and more remotely religion, 
ethics, art, and literature, must have great power for 
good or evil, and is, therefore, worthy of deepest con- 
sideration, but passing over logic, our senses inform 
us that the sex function, properly managed, makes for 
health, happiness, usefulness and longevity, and im- 
properly managed, makes for disease, crime, debauch- 
ery, and early decline or death. Why, then, do we hesi- 
tate and procrastinate? Why are we self-conscious 
and ashamed ? Why do we feel that we are sacrilegious 
or unclean if we think or talk about sex? Science must 
show what the condition is and how it came about, but 
philosophy must give the reason why. What the con- 
dition is is now plain enough to all, but it is worth while 
once more to show how prudery, shame and fear of sex 
became established. From the most primitive times 
mankind has felt the need of a system or being superior 
to and beyond itself. Man has always been aware of 
his own inadequacy. First he turned with reverence 
to the terrifying and beneficent manifestations of na- 
ture which he did not understand. Then he revered AN INCIPIENT PHILOSOPHY 
237 
and worshipped his ancestry. Also in early times the 
organs of generation, which were recognized as the 
vital forces of life, were worshipped. Again, Polythe- 
ism, or personification was in vogue. Superstition, 
credulity, mysticism, always have been the means by 
which a priesthood, deriving its sustenance from the 
people, enthused the people and kept them constant in 
some particular belief. When the new dispensation of 
Christianity appeared, with the highest system of 
morals, and its doctrines of vicarious sacrifice, re- 
birth, the fatherhood of God, and brotherhood of 
man, wherever in humanity there was a dawning 
sense of justice, loyalty, and purity, was there adop- 
tion of this new religion; and since it was so se- 
curely founded, it always has been and probably always 
will be the embodiment of all that is best. But man 
was fallible, and many abuses, long since corrected, 
crept into early Christianity. Heresy and its punish- 
ment, the Inquisition, flagellation, witchcraft, are 
among the exostoses which already have been exorcised. 
Other errors, more subtle and, therefore, harder to cor- 
rect, were less readily seen and are slowly being cor- 
rected. It takes a long time to learn that anything can 
be too right. It was perfectly clear that licentiousness 
was a tremendous evil, and the natural inference, of 
course, would be that absolute asceticism, since diamet- 
rically opposite, would be the greatest good. It took 
long to discover that the one extreme was as bad for 
humanity as the other, and that either would ulti- 
mately prove entirely destructive to this object of all 
solicitude. But when this was seen, the ascetic doc- 
trines were still unchanged, and the principles of self- 
sacrifice, renunciation and aspiration, involved in as- 
cetic ideals, had become thoroughly grounded. They 238 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
had and always will have strong advocacy from all 
right-thinking people, since in something short of their 
extreme application, they are always right and neces- 
sary. While the doctrines of the extremists were still 
in full sway, the author of Onania, Lallemand, Tissot, 
Voltaire and others rose up to apply these principles to 
specific cases and to herald as a " heinous sin " the deep- 
est vice and the sure precursor of utter destruction, 
auto-erotism, which always has been among the phe- 
nomena of early development, and a constant attendant 
of sex segregation during any part of virile life. Nat- 
urally, then, the part was put for the whole; and the 
horrible nightmare that all humanity then suffered 
from, since all humanity had, to some extent, partici- 
pated in the so-called crime so luridly pictured by those 
misinformed and misguided zealots, was extended to in- 
clude all other sex manifestations. Its influence is seen 
today when most women enter wedlock suffering from 
unreasoning shame and fear of sex, when many men 
enter it with less shame, but with the fear that normal 
indulgence is wrong and may prove injurious. Every- 
where among people of the best purposes and morals, 
the married and unmarried of both sexes, there is a 
constant warfare between natural instinct and inherited 
or early implanted belief. Auto-erotism, practiced 
more or less, at one time or another, by practically 
every normal human being, is almost universally be- 
lieved to be the terribly injurious, criminal and vicious 
practice which these old writers named it. At some 
time in life some people come to their senses and see for 
themselves, or are told by one of the few who have sifted 
these things to the bottom, that they are not necessarily 
culpable, immoral or in danger of early demise because 
they have yielded in the sanest way possible sometimes AN INCIPIENT PHILOSOPHY 
239 
to an instinct which is always powerful and probably 
often irresistible. Some have learned that sex is a 
tremendous power for good, if managed rightly, and 
that moderate marital indulgence is beneficial to both 
parties and nothing to be ashamed of. 
Why did these ideas get such a strong hold, and why 
are they so tenacious? The fundamental reason for 
this is of great comfort to all optimists, to all who 
believe in humanity. 
When man's instincts to right conduct originated, 
no one can say. Perhaps it was a reaction in primitive 
men, inspired by fear of the elements about them, but 
certain it is that, however low present-day humanity 
may go, there is still some slight aspiration for better 
things. When the evils of license became apparent and 
the repression which morals and religion demanded be- 
came evident as the right course, this instinct to do 
right and be right influenced man until finally he lost 
all sense of proportion in going to the extreme of mod- 
esty, self-accusation, prudery, and repression, and he 
failed to take into account the natural, legitimate, and 
necessary demands of the body, and has been even will- 
ing to sacrifice health, comfort, happiness, for an idea 
of abstract right. When ethics is recognized in its 
true light, when it is recognized that right conduct in 
the sight of God and man is synonymous with most 
perfect health, greatest efficiency or usefulness and 
highest happiness, then and not till then will the best 
people be willing to drop dogma and unattainable ideals 
and seek diligently, from whatever source, the informa- 
tion necessary to a unity of religion and life with morals 
and happiness. 
To show how tenaciously we cling to old exploded 
ideas, and how ludicrous are our efforts to effect the 240 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
transition from these fear-inspired beliefs to a present- 
day common sense, I must quote from some of the books 
which are advertised as regularly as quack nostrums 
and are regularly given by clergyman to parishioner, 
teacher to pupil, and parent to child. In short, they 
are to be found in every moral or Christian home. I 
will mention no names, for some of the authors are my 
friends, most of them are capable, and all have the best 
intentions. Further, I will admit that I, myself, have 
passed through the same stages that some of them are 
now passing through. I attribute my early conversion 
to my present view to the fact that I studied normal 
human life, as well as books. All the books of the past 
were inspired from a common source, and all the 
authors, before writing on these subjects, were largely 
influenced by reading some of these books or were 
alarmed by parents or friends, who had derived their 
information from such literature. No such thing as an 
unbiased opinion could be given by a student of litera- 
ture alone. The few who formerly studied human char- 
acter itself were scattered) their efforts timid and their 
work largely inaccessible. So, perhaps, it is not 
strange that we have been slow in throwing off the 
trammels of tradition in matters of sex. Perhaps my 
attempted exposition of how this transition has taken 
place is more psychological than philosophical, but it 
is necessary to any real philosophy of sex. 
A recent book that has been through four or more 
editions, now advertised regularly by the best periodi- 
cals, says, in regard to masturbation, or auto-erotism, 
" Viewing the world over, this shameful and criminal 
act is the most frequent, as well as the most fatal of all 
vices. ... It is only the most aggravated cases that 
are brought to notice, and these usually are hopeless AN INCIPIENT PHILOSOPHY 
241 
and incurable. The vast majority escape detection, 
and the practice in such, though indulged to a compara- 
tively moderate extent, does not the less seriously, but 
only the less completely, impair the intellect and lay the 
foundation of physical, mental, and moral maladies, 
the causes of which usually are as unsuspected as they 
are consequently persistent in their operation. . . . 
Perhaps the most constant and invariable, as well as 
earliest signs of the masturbator are the downcast 
averted glance and the disposition to solitude. Promi- 
nent characteristics are, loss of memory and intelli- 
gence, morose and unequal disposition, aversion or in- 
difference to legitimate pleasures and sports, mental 
abstractions, stupid stolidity, etc." In the eloquent in- 
troduction to his chapter on " Masturbation in the Fe- 
male," he says, " Alas, that such a term is possible! O, 
that it were as infrequent as it is monstrous, and that 
no stern necessity compelled us to make the startling 
disclosures which this chapter must contain! We be- 
seech, in advance, that every young creature into whose 
hands this book may chance to fall, if she be yet pure 
and innocent, will at least pass over this chapter, that 
she may still believe in the general chastity of her sex, 
that she may not know the depths of degradation into 
which it is possible to fall. . . . Beyond all dispute the 
crime exists." In the following rubric he gives " symp- 
toms which enable you to recognize or suspect this 
crime, ... a general condition of languor, weakness, 
and loss of flesh, the absence of freshness and beauty, of 
color from the complexion, of the vermilion from the 
lips, and whiteness from the teeth, which are replaced 
by a pale, lean, puffy, flabby, livid physiognomy, a blu- 
ish circle round the eyes, which are sunken, dull and 
spiritless, a sad expression, dry cough, oppression and 242 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
panting on the least exertion, the appearance of incip- 
ient consumption. The menstrual periods often exist, 
at least in the commencement, and so the alteration in 
health cannot be attributed to their derangement or 
suppression. It is not uncommon to see the shape im- 
paired." I will not repeat the moral symptoms, which 
he says are similar to those of the opposite sex, but 
will add his two fearful stimulants to maiden imagina- 
tion, with which he closes the list of symptoms, " The 
condition called ' nymphomania ' sometimes ensues, in 
which the most timid girl is transformed into a terma- 
gant, and the most delicate modesty to a furious au- 
dacity which even the effrontery of prostitution does 
not approach. Let it not be supposed that the absence 
of the seminal secretion in woman, renders this vice less 
destructive than in man. Ubi irriatio ibi fluxus (I omit 
his translation) is a medical maxim, and the increase 
of the proper secretions of the female organs under 
habitual irritation, is enormous and extremely debili- 
tating. Witness the sad examples of leucorrhoeal dis- 
charge (called the ' whites '), now so common as to be 
well nigh the rule rather than the exception." I might 
quote indefinitely to the same effect from this and a 
score of other similar authors, whose books are common 
in all our better homes, but before stopping to discuss 
I hasten to quote from others, who show by their clear 
and forceful statements that the leaven of common 
sense at last has begun to work. In a book published 
in 1916, the author says, " The ill effects of masturba- 
tion are usually^exaggerated. It is undoubtedly safe 
to say that the majority of young men and women have 
at some time in their life been victims of the practice. 
. . . While there is no reason to lose one's head over 
the fact that he has had the habit at some time in his AN INCIPIENT PHILOSOPHY 
243 
life, yet the fact does remain that masturbation is in- 
jurious and should be avoided by all young men and 
women. . . . Though masturbation tends to rob a per- 
son of his strength and mental energy if indulged in 
excessively, nature soon repairs any damage that may 
have been done, provided the habit is broken up and 
thoughts along this line are controlled. ... A spirit 
of manhood will help to cure the habit, and by so doing 
one will not only regain his full physical strength, but, 
what is more, his full self-respect. . . . All excess is 
injurious. . . . Every victory enhances self-respect. 
Let the past go, you can't change it. The future is 
yours." The author of another up-to-date book says, 
" Of course the habit of self-abuse means ruin to both 
brain and body. It is degrading to your true self, 
causes a loss of self-respect and makes a coward of 
every boy and man. How can it do otherwise? The 
mere loss of the bubbling spring of manly life, the sem- 
inal fluid, would bring about this cowardice in a bravely 
born boy. . . . All this is true of the habit, but this 
one fact I want to impress upon you - don't think 
because you have succumbed to the desire a few times, 
that you are lost, going to become insane, or show upon 
your features the wrong acts of youthful ignorance. 
No, don't worry yourself ill, don't become frightened at 
these misstatements, at what the advertising doctors say 
in their lying circulars and daily papers. All their 
statements are lies and used to get your money and 
ruin your health and happiness. ... I have seen hun- 
dreds of men and youths complete nervous wrecks from 
fear that the few times they practiced self-abuse when 
boys meant that they were doomed to go to the asylum 
or death. And all this misery and often the missing of 
good opportunities in life, were due to the fact that 244 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
they were told hobgoblin stories which remained with 
them and rose to frighten them at the most sensitive age 
in life,- early manhood. No more of this wrong treat- 
ment should be allowed. . . . You should remember 
that it is not so much the physical injury self-abuse 
does, not the ' losing a pound of blood ' every time he 
abuses himself, it is the brain power he is weakening, 
the filling of brain cells with pictures which shut out 
proper thoughts. Of course it hurts your growing 
strength, keeps you weak and finally affects your whole 
nervous system, but the youth has wonderful powers of 
recovery from physical injury, and if he has not kept 
up the habit, all this injury may be repaired. But not 
so with the brain. We cannot get rid of the negatives 
there, but we can keep them suppressed. And how 
well they may be hidden and not allowed to shut out 
good thinking, depends entirely upon the length and fre- 
quency of the practice of self-abuse. . . . Boys have 
been scared to death or to the point where they think 
death would be a relief by being told that pimples on 
the face were signs of self-abuse and the commencement 
of ' Lost Manhood.' Pimples on the face of a growing 
boy have no more to do with these conditions than a 
corn on the toe. Remember this truth. Self-abuse 
kept up will, of course, bring about a dirty complexion, 
pale face, trembling limbs, and the general appearance 
of something wrong with the youth." 
I quote the following from a book foi' girls and 
women, published in 1917. 
Masturbation or self-abuse is a term applied to a bad 
habit which consists in handling and rubbing the genitals. 
It is a bad habit because it is apt to injure the health and 
future development of the girl. . . . Girls who indulge in 
the habit of masturbation to excess not only weaken them- AN INCIPIENT PHILOSOPHY 
245 
selves, become anaemic and get a dingy, pimply complex- 
ion, but they lose their desire for normal sexual relations 
when they grow up, and are unable to derive any pleasure 
from the sexual act when they get married. In fact, many 
girls who masturbate excessively get a strong aversion to 
the normal sexual act, and their married life is an un- 
happy one. Their husbands often have to ask for a di- 
vorce Ninety per cent of all boys masturbate more 
or less, only about ten or at most twenty per cent of girls 
are addicted to this habit. But whatever the percentage of 
girls may be, the habit is an injurious one, and if you value 
your health, your beauty, and proper growth and mental 
development, you should not indulge in it. . . . And moth- 
ers should watch their children, guard them against devel- 
oping the habit, and do everything possible to cure them 
of it, if prevention comes too late. But while you see I 
do not deny the evil effects of masturbation, it is necessary 
to state that a great change has taken place in our opin- 
ions on the subject, and it is but right that parents should 
know of this change of opinion among the medical pro- 
fession, particularly among those who specialize in sexol- 
ogy. When parents make the " awful " discoverey that 
their child is fondling his genitals, . . . they feel as if a 
great calamity had befallen them. . . . Imbued with the 
mediaeval idea of the " sinfulness " of the habit, as well as 
its injuriousness, they begin to scold the child, to frighten 
it, to make it believe that it is doing something terrible, 
that it has disgraced them and itself, and they try to per- 
suade it that, unless it stops immediately, the most direful 
consequences are awaiting it. The results of this mode of 
procedure are disastrous, much more so than is the mastur- 
bation itself. ... It is time that parents and physicians 
learn that the injuriousness of the habit has been greatly, 
grossly exaggerated. It is time that they know that the 
vast majority of boys and girls get over the habit without 
being much or any the worse for it. . . . Every thinking 
physician and sexologist can tell you that picturing the mas- 
turbatory habit in too lurid colors and stigmatizing it with 
too strong epithets has, as a rule, the contrary effect to the 
one expected. The victims of the habit consider themselves 
degraded, irretrievably lost. They lose their self-respect, 246 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
and it is, on account of that, harder for them to break them- 
selves of the habit. ... I am not trying to minimize the 
dangers of masturbation, for, if indulged from an early age 
and to great excess, the results may be disastrous. But, 
even if I were to minimize the evil consequences, that would 
be less of a sin than to exaggerate them the way it has been 
done for so many years, by so many people in the profession 
and out of it. 
In another book published in 1917, we find, in regard 
to masturbation, 
To a normal mind this habit is so grossly offensive as 
to excite intense disgust - at worst it may cause physical 
and mental wreck. On this matter, however, it is very 
important that I be not misunderstood. It is undoubtedly 
true that the habit may continue years without producing 
noticeable deterioration of health. ... In general, the 
health is not ruined, as is alleged in the quack advertise- 
ments that deface and disgrace some journals that are al- 
lowed to enter our homes, but the fact remains that the 
practice is low, filthy, bestial, and degrading. Whatever 
may be said in depreciation of self-pollution, it immediately 
injures only the person who practices it, and by so much is 
less evil than a method of sensual gratification that involves 
another. 
In a book on women, for the professions, published 
in 1908, we find: 
If masturbation is practiced in moderation, it cannot be 
considered pathological. Moderate masturbation seems to 
be almost a natural phenomenon. Cohn says, " Masturba- 
tion is such a frequent manipulation that out of a hundred 
young men and girls, ninety-nine are addicted to it, and 
the hundredth is concealing the truth." . . . The habit, once 
established, masturbation presents an unconquerable im- 
pulse and a resultant incapacity to control it. It is then 
the cause of grave, material injury to the nervous system. 
It dwarfs the entire female organism. It makes a girl shy, AN INCIPIENT PHILOSOPHY 
247 
offish, squeamish, repellent, and weakens and sickens love. 
. . . The female masturbator becomes excessively prudish, 
despises and hates the opposite sex and forms passionate 
attachments for other women. . . . Masturbation is further 
the cause of a great number of the female complaints. It 
is often the cause of obstruction, painful menstruation, of 
ovarian neuralgia, of weakness of the legs and of sexual irri- 
tation. It causes pruritus vulvae, hypertrophy of the 
clitoris and labia minora, hyperaemia of the vaginal orifice, 
fluor albus, and cervical catarrh. Masturbating women 
complain of general weakness and palpitation of the heart. 
The author recently treated a young onanist of seventeen, 
who suffered from painful menstruation, attacks of palpita- 
tion of the heart, from melancholy and fear of death, and 
at the same time suicidal inclinations. 
My proneness to error is so embarrassing that I have 
striven to be absolutely accurate in my transcriptions, 
and the above quotations have the same form, punctua- 
tion, and emphasis which they had in the sources from 
which they were taken. Nearly all the above authors 
have college or university degrees, in addition to being 
regular reputable physicians, and some of them are of 
the very highest repute. 
The book first quoted from, which gives the lurid 
pictures of the direful results of auto-erotism, is typical 
of many books in circulation today and of hundreds 
used as authority in the past. An American college 
president writes that he has carefully read this book, 
and adds, " May God bless the author, and may his book 
fall into many hands where it may save, as well as pur- 
ify life." Twenty-four other American college presi- 
dents, all in different stages of ecstasy, unite with him 
in scattering encomiums of his work. They crown his 
head with laurel, and spread palm branches beneath his 
feet. But his unequivocal statements are strangely 
modified by all the other authors whom I have quoted. 248 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
The transition from ignorance to knowledge is slow 
and tortuous, and almost past understanding. The 
way these authors constantly and insistently contradict 
themselves in the same sentence or on the same page 
reminds one of a politician provincially said to be 
" straddle the fence," or of what we used to call a 
" Good Lord and good Devil " sort of man. It is im- 
possible to restrain a smile at such efforts as these to 
cling to the old, fearsome traditions, while sensing and 
being unable to deny science, reason, and common sense. 
Undoubtedly, these authors were once subjected to the 
frightful stories and the deliberate terrorizing of the 
child or adolescent mind and that is why these views are 
so ineffaceable, even when overwhelmed by contrary 
knowledge of the most definite character. How the 
young people for whom these books are intended can 
tell what the authors think about masturbation, I am 
unable to imagine. I have studied their statements and 
the subject, long and well, but when a man says, in one 
sentence, " The habit of self-abuse means ruin to both 
brain and body," and almost immediately says, " Don't 
worry. Don't become frightened at what the advertis- 
ing doctors say in their lying circulars and daily pa- 
pers. All their statements are lies and used to get 
your money and ruin your health and happiness," I am 
unable to get any clear notion of what he would have 
the young person think. But the quack doctors' state- 
ments are perfectly plain. When another says, " Mas- 
turbation tends to ruin strength and mental energy but 
nature soon repairs any damage that may have been 
done provided the habit is broken up," how does one 
know that he has received this saving knowledge in time? 
What inference is to be drawn from the remark that 
" Pimples on the face of a growing boy have no more to AN INCIPIENT PHILOSOPHY 
249 
do with these conditions, than a corn on the toe. Re- 
member this truth. Self-abuse, kept up, will, of course, 
bring about a dirty complexion, pale face, trembling 
limbs and a general appearance of something wrong 
with the youth." I do not need to go into all the de- 
tails of the various antitheses in these quotations. 
How it is possible for so many men, in such a short 
space, to so frequently and unqualifiedly contradict 
themselves is to me unintelligible. While the last author 
says that masturbation will not cause pimples, evidently 
trying to relieve the minds of young people who have 
been made self-conscious by such lies, he does not im- 
prove the matter much by saying in the next sentence 
that masturbation will cause a " dirty complexion, pale 
face, trembling limbs, etc." The next author is still in 
the stage where he asserts that girls who indulge to 
excess in the habit of masturbation weaken themselves, 
become anaemic and get a dingy, pimply complexion, 
lose their desire for normal relations, etc. Still he is 
careful to qualify his statement by the word " exces- 
sive," and later he says that the old scare methods are 
disastrous, and it is time that parents and physicians 
learn that " the injuriousness of the habit has been 
greatly, grossly exaggerated," and he says it is less of a 
sin to minimize the evil consequences than to exaggerate 
them. Another author, while saying that masturbation 
may cause physical and mental wreck, and in general 
characterizes it as " low, bestial, filthy, and degrading," 
immediately says that it is very important that he be 
not misunderstood and that it is undoubtedly true that 
the habit may continue years without producing notice- 
able deterioration of health, and he generously admits 
that this habit is less evil than promiscuous sensual 
gratification. The next in order, after saying that 250 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
masturbation, practiced in moderation cannot be con- 
sidered pathological, and that it seems to be almost a 
natural phenomenon, and approves an authority who 
considers the practice practically universal, winds up 
by saying that it makes a girl " shy, offish, squeamish, 
repellent," and that it " weakens and sickens love " and 
is the cause of numerous distressing female complaints. 
Perhaps it may be well to analyze a little more fully 
the statements of this last author, since his book is a 
pretentious one and written for the profession. His 
statement that moderate masturbation cannot be con- 
sidered pathological and that it is almost a natural 
phenomenon, and giving statistics to show that it is 
practically universal, wrould indicate that this is not a 
very serious matter. But without stating what he con- 
siders this normal degree of masturbation, he says that 
" the habit once established presents an unconquerable 
impulse," and he gives a long train of symptoms pro- 
duced by it. But can it be proved that any of them 
are produced by it? If all girls masturbate, why are 
only a few made " shy, offish, squeamish, and repellent " 
by it, why are not all prudish, following the same argu- 
ment, and why does the woman wrhose mind has been 
freed from the shame and fear complex cease to be prud- 
ish ; while the one retaining these complexes continues 
to be, though both may masturbate at the time, or 
neither may have done so for years? Howr can he say 
that masturbation is ever the cause of " painful men- 
struation, obstruction, ovarian neuralgia, or weakness," 
since for every case of these troubles claimed to be 
caused by masturbation, he, I, or any one can find fifty 
cases who masturbate as much or more and have none of 
these symptoms? As to "sexual irritation" I should 
prefer to call it a cause rather than a result of mastur- AN INCIPIENT PHILOSOPHY 
251 
bation, and can do so certainly as logically. The same 
remarks apply to " pruritis vulvae." Providing mas- 
turbation does enlarge the clitoris and nymphae, I am 
anxious to learn what if any pathological significance 
to attach to this phenomenon, but it certainly does not 
ordinarily cause any such enlargement. I have exam- 
ined but one woman who claimed never to have mastur- 
bated. She had a clitoris of the ordinary size. I ex- 
amined one who admitted that she had masturbated at 
least once a day for ten years. Her clitoris was smaller 
than that of the one who never masturbated. 
I have examined not less than twenty-five women who 
had masturbated, as they thought, and as many would 
think, excessively from eight to twelve years, but not one 
of these women had an enlarged clitoris. I have exam- 
ined many more women who claimed to have mastur- 
bated only on the rarest occasions, and one of these 
women has a clitoris somewhat larger than the ordinary. 
I know of a case of pseudo-hermaphroditism in a young 
person. She masturbates to some extent, and has a 
very large clitoris, but this is congenital and not caused 
by masturbation. If a woman has a large clitoris, 
which is very uncommon, she will undoubtedly mastur- 
bate more or less, at least in childhood. Later, after 
she begins to worry, if she finds the clitoris larger than 
in other women, she will ascribe this enlargement to 
masturbation, just as one case of mine was certain that 
masturbation caused valvular heart disease, and an- 
other believed, for fifteen years, that it caused scoliosis, 
and still another passed ten years in terror, fearing that 
it would cause pregnancy. What has been said of the 
clitoris applies equally well to the nymphae, only I 
might add that if masturbation produced an enlarge- 
ment of the nymphae, certainly intercourse would do so, 252 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
so all married women would gradually acquire an hyper- 
trophy of these parts, and prostitutes would develop 
an elephantiasis. He says that masturbation produces 
" hyperaemia of the vaginal orifice," and this, I confess, 
I am able neither to confirm nor deny. The part which 
he designates as hypersemic is so insubstantial, evanes- 
cent, intangible, that I can form no concept of it and 
know no way of dealing with it in ordinary language. I 
can readily believe that the structures surrounding the 
vaginal orifice become hyperaemic, as the result of mas- 
turbation, for they are always so when there is sexual 
excitement, but it would take a more sophistical dialec- 
tician than I to discuss, with any coherency, much less 
to understand what is meant by hyperaemia of the orifice 
itself. 
As for leucorrhoea and cervical catarrh, which he says 
are caused by masturbation, I think that any one of 
experience will agree that these conditions very rarely 
occur in girls or young unmarried women who, we know, 
almost invariably masturbate, but that both these con- 
ditions are very common in married women who have had 
children, but who have not masturbated for many years. 
Still, I have known four neurotic women whose sexual 
desire was of an almost constant character, but who, 
from fear and shame, refrained from auto-erotism al- 
most entirely. These women all suffered from pain in 
the ovaries, prolapse symptoms and leucorrhoea. After 
resorting to moderate auto-erotism for a time, these 
symptoms entirely disappeared. He says that mastur- 
bating women complain of general weakness and palpi- 
tation of the heart. How could they help it after read- 
ing his list of symptoms, which is strangely similar to 
the lists in the ordinary scare books? He mentions 
treating a young woman Onanist of seventeen, who suf- AN INCIPIENT PHILOSOPHY 
253 
fered painful menstruation, palpitation of the heart, 
melancholy, and fear of death and also suicidal inten- 
tions. We all know that none of these symptoms, with 
the possible exception of painful menstruation, could 
possibly have been caused by masturbation, though fear 
of the consequences of masturbation has produced these 
symptoms in innumerable cases, from time immemorial. 
A similar analysis of the symptoms resulting from mas- 
turbation, given by any author who has drawn his ideas 
from the old sex literature, would give similar results. 
There ought to be some way to prevent statements so 
palpably erroneous going forth as the basis of sex 
instruction. 
Practically every author except the first agrees that 
scare talk and quack advertisements have done young 
people incalculable harm. In so far forth they have 
discovered the truth and are doing a tremendous service 
to humanity in acknowledging it. Their next effort is 
to remove from their own books this scare element, which 
they know has done so much harm, but this is for them 
a delicate task. To begin with, they have apparently 
not yet gone far enough to be entirely free from this 
scare, which has at one time or another been a menace 
to nearly every one, and if they do recognize the truth 
about masturbation, i. e., that in itself it is ordinarily 
entirely harmless, they fear the result on young people, 
or they hesitate to oppose the prevailing public opinion. 
The delicate position in which they have found them- 
selves has resulted in this most amazing and amusing 
series of contradictions which I have quoted. But this 
is only a sample of the books which I have on my desk. 
Scores of recent books, which I have, or which are on 
the market, exhibit these identical discrepancies. I 
think I have already said that they exhibit a most laud- 254 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
able trend of educated public opinion, now in the transi- 
tion stage, but how the young people, for whom these 
books are intended can tell what the authors think about 
masturbation is beyond any imaginative flight of which 
I am capable. If the candid and unbiased reader will 
study these statements carefully and inform me if he 
gets any coherent idea from them as to what sex conduct 
for young people is correct, moral and safe, I shall be 
greatly in his debt. As for myself, had I not long ago 
become convinced, by unimpeachable evidence to the 
contrary, I am confident that these statements taken 
together would enhance rather than allay any fears 
which I might have in my mind as to the results of auto- 
erotism of any variety and in any degree, though I 
would not wish, in the least, to detract from the evident 
good intentions of the authors. When, after a suf- 
ficient working of this leaven, the time arrives for a 
general acceptance of facts and reason and a rejection 
of ancient authority, individual accomplishment will be 
substantially increased everywhere. Then the wear and 
tear, nerve strain, anxiety and constant puzzling over 
personal sex problems, now so general, will be done 
away with, and all that energy can go to some useful 
purpose. Young women, feeling themselves unfit for 
marriage, or taught that it is an unimportant matter, 
will look forward to it as a natural and necessary end 
in life, or as the real beginning of life. When sex 
assumes its true dignity, young men who now seek in 
illegitimate ways the joys which only marriage brings, 
and those who feel themselves incompetent or who dread 
its responsibilities will consider a wife and children the 
principal things in life to look forward to. As one 
who earnestly strove to guide our student footsteps, 
often and fervently said in his morning petitions, " Has- AN INCIPIENT PHILOSOPHY 
255 
ten the day, O Lord! " when these things shall be! 
Have I made it plain that legitimate happiness is a 
necessary cogener of health, longevity, altruism, 
morals and religion? Does any one fail to understand 
that ignorance and fear concerning sex have been ruth- 
less destroyers of happiness through all time, and have 
been, consequently, a direct menace to health, long life, 
usefulness, and morality? Have I clearly shown that 
extreme austerity in religion or a prescribed super- 
human virtue automatically will engender materialism 
and profligacy, and that the converse is equally true? 
It is unnecessary to say that both extremes are bad, 
since either will result automatically in the other, and 
from this, in turn, the other will result; and we all know, 
to start with, that licentiousness is bad. But without 
proving it logically, asceticism or extreme disdain of 
sex, is plainly more suicidal, even, than license. I think 
that no one will question that a mean somewhere between 
the two is right from any physical, moral, or religious 
point of view. The advocates of abstract, unbiologic 
virtue have continued to hold sway because our early- 
acquired sense of right has caused us to adhere to an 
idealism that was above realization in the fear that any 
lowering of the standard would cause our identification 
with license, which we know leads to decadence. 
If we would get light from electricity we must have 
power, magnets, coils, rheostats, wiring and lamps. 
We shall get no light until these things are constructed 
and related according to certain immutable rules. 
Slight variations in voltage, lamps or other things are 
permissible, but we cannot change the general plan. 
There is a pre-established harmony in man that pro- 
hibits vital changes if we would obtain efficiency and 
longevity. A function so vital as sex can be modified 256 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
to some extent, but it can never be entirely emancipated 
from the laws of biology which govern it. We are be- 
ginning to learn these laws. I have shown the hesitat- 
ing transition from the old ignorance to the new knowl- 
edge, which is now taking place. If the evils, ineffi- 
ciency, neurosis, divorce, prostitution, degeneracy, 
which accumulated under the old system are to be cor- 
rected, the physiology and psychology of sex must be 
studied and discussed in the open. 
At the risk of repetition I state some conclusions of 
my own, mention some investigators whose conclusions 
are similar and give some reasons for the position ar- 
rived at. I conclude that auto-erotism is the chief 
point of attack, since the attitude toward this practice 
has been influential in establishing the belief among the 
best people that all sex discussion is improper and that 
any sex expression other than for procreation is wrong. 
As regards auto-erotism, I conclude that it is impos- 
sible, from the nature of the case, to determine whether 
or not it does any harm to individuals who are con- 
genitally diseased or deficient. As regards normal peo- 
ple of either sex, it is sometimes necessary and never 
does harm unless carried to great excess; but it is never 
carried to great excess by normal people unless worry 
and self-condemnation keep sex ever in the sufferer's 
mind. Constant worry about sex is as much of a sex 
stimulant as persistent, deliberate attempts to procure 
erotic stimulation. Great excess varies with the indi- 
vidual temperament and development, and moderation 
also varies with these characteristics. Once a day or 
six times a day might be great excess. Once a fortnight 
or once a day might be moderation. It is possible for 
once a day to be moderate, it is probable that it would 
be excessive. Ordinarily sex demands of married peo- AN INCIPIENT PHILOSOPHY 
257 
pie may be, with best results gratified two to four times 
a week. Unmarried people of similar characteristics 
would have as urgent demand once or twice a week, 
which might, if repression produced symptoms of severe 
discomfort, be gratified with perfect propriety, auto- 
erotically. Sex dreams in women and emissions in men 
often make unnecessary any conscious auto-erotism in 
the unmarried. A frank statement to one in fear of 
the results of auto-erotism, that the practice is harm- 
less and nothing to be ashamed of, if one is making 
honest efforts at control, never leads to an increase in 
the practice, but always to a diminution. In case the 
practice has been replaced by a neurosis, explanations 
ordinarily will cure the neurosis, after which the prac- 
tice is likely to be resumed with about half the fre- 
quency that existed before the neurosis. Sublimation, 
or dispersion of the sex impulse, into various channels of 
thought or endeavor, almost invariably wfill reduce, but 
seldom or never entirely control, sex desires in a virile 
man or a sexually mature woman. Marital difficulties 
are usually due to sexual ignorance or misunderstand- 
ing. These can often be corrected by the parties them- 
selves, after they have established sufficiently confiden- 
tial relations. If they themselves are not successful, an 
experienced physician generally will have little difficulty 
in effecting a complete reconciliation. Marital rela- 
tions among conscientious people are more likely to 
be too infrequent than too frequent. So-called female 
frigidity is almost invariably a misnomer. The appar- 
ent frigidity is due to shame, fear, or ignorance, or all of 
these combined, in wife or husband, or in both parties. 
Some investigators in sex fields agreeing substantially 
with these conclusions are Emminghaus, Griesinger, El- 
lis Herbert, Forel, Sir James Paget, Woodruff, Brill, 258 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
Thiernich and Nacke; and numerous other investigators 
are approaching this position. 
These conclusions are the result of a knowledge of the 
intimate details of the sex lives of several hundred ap- 
parently normal men and women and of several hundred 
neurotics. The attempt was made to study only such 
normal people as were in good health, successful, and 
of the highest moral standards. Ten years ago these 
conclusions wrere tentative. Rapidly accumulating evi- 
dence since has invariably confirmed them. Applica- 
tion of these principles to young people in my own 
family and outside, and to married and unmarried peo- 
ple of both sexes and all ages, has given surprising 
results in absolute accord w'ith these conclusions, and 
there has been, so far, no single exception. 
In the choicest archives of the greatest country in the 
w'orld, in the most portentous declaration ever made, in 
a document signed in courage, faith, and determination 
and sealed in blood, we read that " all men are created 
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator w ith cer- 
tain inalienable rights, that among these are life, lib- 
erty, and the pursuit of happiness." The founders of 
this great republic and their successors realized that the 
greatest agent to promote freedom, equality, and happi- 
ness wras universal education. To that end our policies 
all have been directed until, in no nation in the world 
is there such a universal distribution of knowledge as 
in our own. The one department of instruction which 
has been under a permanent ban, though there is no 
law', reason, or justice for it, is that which deals with 
the intimate details of family life, the organs of genera- 
tion, and the act of procreation. The Constitution 
provides for freedom in the establishment and exercise 
of religion, for freedom of speech and of the press. Yet AN INCIPIENT PHILOSOPHY 
259 
this ban on education in the most fundamental things of 
life, things which, more than all else after the establish- 
ment of free institutions, influence the life, happiness 
and usefulness of every one, is the result of religious 
dogma conceived prior to the Middle Ages. I have 
shown how all philosophy concurs in the belief that 
happiness in a legitimate way is a legitimate goal for all 
mankind. Our patriotic forebears recognized this in 
the Declaration of Independence. I have said enough 
to demonstrate, though most people already know it, 
that ignorance in sex matters is a ruthless destroyer of 
much legitimate happiness. Ignorance in agriculture, 
in politics, in the mechanical trades, in the professions, 
anywhere, in short, means incompetence and misery. 
Sooner than in other fields does ignorance of the funda- 
mentals of life lead to these results. The most esoteric 
student and the most ignorant man or woman is bound 
to admit that this ignorance does exist. This fragmen- 
tary philosophy would be incomplete did I not urge 
some method of repairing this blighting defect in our 
otherwise superior educational system. 
There are those, the world over, who advocate sex 
education in the public schools. The Mannheim con- 
ference years ago declared for this, and this system has 
some support in this country. To a limited extent and 
in special cases this may be a proper course, but it can 
have no general application with us at present, and 
probably never. Proper instruction in sex matters 
never can come from young unmarried women who have 
no clear ideas of their own as to proper sex conduct, 
though married teachers and school superintendents, 
who have long studied these matters with an open mind, 
are often competent to give such instruction. Still it is 
doubtful whether this instruction ever can be given to 260 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
classes of boys and girls together, or to either sepa- 
rately. Sex instruction must be given to the individual 
or to small groups, for the present, at any rate. The 
qualified educator always should be ready to discharge 
his obligations in this particular to those young people 
who come within his influence and who do not otherwise 
obtain proper sex advice. Parents are naturally the 
ones first to instruct their children along sex lines, but 
here too we meet an obstacle. Until a generation has 
matured and has had children of its own, after sex in- 
struction for young people has become general, parents 
are likely to do more harm than good with this instruc- 
tion. Still, there are now some properly informed and 
others capable of acquiring the necessary information. 
All such should be convinced that to evade instructing 
their children in these vital matters is nothing short of 
criminal negligence. Since there has hitherto been no 
preparation for sex instruction in the medical schools, 
physicians, through no fault of their own, start with 
little more knowledge than the laity along these lines. 
It is no less their duty to acquire speedily the proper 
information, and their special training in scientific mat- 
ters generally, and their special facilities for acquiring 
such knowledge render their obligation to the public 
greater than that of any other class. No squeamish- 
ness should prevent an attempt on their part to dis- 
charge this educational and sociological duty to pa- 
tients, friends, acquaintances, and all who appear to be 
in need of proper advice. Clergymen are peculiarly 
adapted for acting in such an advisory capacity. 
Their obligation to fit themselves and to instruct, as far 
as possible, the young of their respective parishes is 
little less than that of the physician. The abolition of 
self-consciousness and prudery and the increase in con- AN INCIPIENT PHILOSOPHY 
261 
fidential relations between men and women generally in 
matters pertaining to their inner lives will more readily 
enable society to detect and ostracize the wolves in 
sheep's clothing, which always will be found in all pro- 
fessions and callings. Educated men and women every- 
where, outside the groups which I have named, should 
study sex phenomena, calmly and sanely, and extend the 
knowledge which they acquire to those in need, within 
their spheres of influence. Churches, medical and legal 
societies, and social organizations, by recognizing and 
encouraging legitimate investigation, and by demanding 
general instruction, should be the principal agents in 
overcoming ignorance of sex. The cardinal thing in 
sex instruction, as in anything else, is to tell the truth, 
and if one is halting between two opinions, he should 
give both, and let the individual choose for himself. 
I have given my special beliefs in other places, but, in 
general, children before puberty can profitably be given 
little more than plain and simple statements in addition 
to answering truthfully their questions. Reasons must 
be given later. It is of great importance that young 
people be brought into confidential relations with their 
elders, and that the almost instinctive fear that they 
have of asking for sex information, be overcome by judi- 
cious reassurances. The scare element should be abol- 
ished entirely from sex teaching. There is pretty gen- 
eral agreement that it does no good, and there is definite 
knowledge that it does incalculable harm. All sex phi- 
losophy and teaching should be based, as far as possible, 
on fact, not on opinion. Experience shows that there 
need be no fear of the consequences of telling young 
people all that is known, especially after they are well 
advanced in the pubertic period. All legitimate sources 
of knowledge which are open to their elders should be 262 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
made easy of access for them. It must be remembered 
that, until general sex education of young people has 
long been the rule, there will be great need of such edu- 
cation among adults, married and single, of all ages and 
of both sexes. The old ideas die hard, but I would say, 
finally, to those who still cling conscientiously to them, 
that their position can be kept tenable, and the truth 
and efficiency of these ideas maintained in no other way 
than by the careful study of people and the observation 
of the results of the acceptance of these ideas. The 
only way to refute my ideas or similar innovations is 
also by a study of the results of their application. We, 
all look and hope for something better, but, until that 
time shall come, I propose to stick to the bridge that 
has carried many safely over. APPENDIX I 
CRITICISMS AND ANSWERS 
1 
I stated in the introduction that I had been criti- 
cized very lightly for the position taken in a former 
book, Hational Sex Ethics. Since that time, I have 
become aware of a few rather severe, perhaps virulent, 
criticisms of that book. These were not unexpected, 
knowing as I did the prevalence of the old ideas in these 
matters. That there are so few such criticisms is a 
sure indication that people are beginning to think for 
themselves, rather than to depend entirely upon ancient 
ideas. Nevertheless, I think it may be of use in pro- 
mulgating a more general education in sex matters, to 
enter upon a short discussion of the most violent criti- 
cism which I have seen; not in self-defence, but to help 
make clear a position, which it is perhaps difficult for 
one not accustomed to independent thought and study, 
to understand: 
Though finding many things to approve in this book, the 
present reviewer must regard it in some respects as neither 
rational nor ethical, only amazingly sexual. 
Among the commendable features are the following: the 
recognition of the grave social menace of venereal diseases; 
the rejection of all forms of promiscuous intercourse; the 
importance of preparing children for adolescence and 
parenthood; the value of modern religion in meeting the 
issue; the avoidance of the coitus interruptus in marital re- 
lations; the importance of advising individuals rather than 
265 266 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
lecturing to audiences; and the rejection of all quack liter- 
ature and remedies. 
Highly objectionable is the permission of " auto-ere- 
thism " (i.e., masturbation), the vulgar frankness with 
which details of the sex life are presented, and the method 
of arriving at the so-called ethical conclusions. 
One of a dozen statements concerning auto-erethism is: 
"If the patients were married the problem was settled, if 
single or widowed, a solution was found by removing the 
stigma of sin, vice, or immorality from occasional auto- 
erotic relief when attempts at sublimation were inadequate " 
(p. 271). 
If I quoted passages to prove the obscene character of 
the book, which prints in minutest detail the erotic confes- 
sions of normal and abnormal men and women, it would not 
be proper for this magazine to circulate through the mails. 
Never has my mind had such a prurient bath, and I have 
heard Forel lecture and read Krafft-Ebing. First, I re- 
gretted having agreed to review the book, and then that I 
could not review it without first reading it. 
The method of arriving at the result that masturbation is 
not injurious is that the middle-class persons, selected for 
their virtue, who answered a questionnaire, admitted the 
practice but denied any injurious effects. Did they not 
then lose self-respect? Were they not uncomfortable in 
the presence of the opposite sex ? Did they not expend the 
vital fluid that the physical system would largely have ab- 
sorbed? Did they not stimulate unnaturally the secretion 
of semen by mental masturbation before the act? What 
would a masturbator call an injurious effect? And this in 
the name of biological and Spencerian ethics! 
The ideal method is also the best; absolute continence 
until marriage, involving purity of act, word, and thought. 
Impurity of thought is weakness in the central citadel of 
the soul. There is no sex necessity, say many reputable 
physicians, including Professor Howell at Johns Hopkins. 
If not, permission to defile soul and body is neither rational, 
nor ethical; not rational, for the reason, by re-directing at- 
tention, should control instinct; not ethical, for self-defile- 
ment is against conscience. Right physical and mental 
regimen reduces surplus semen to a minimum, and this sur- CRITICISMS AND ANSWERS 
267 
plus finds nature's relief in sleep, when, as Hawthorne says, 
the conscience sleeps. 
The author was born in 1866. The preface was written 
at 43 (1909), yet for some reason the book was not pub- 
lished till 1916. The author is a physician, superintendent 
of Pine Terrace, and is one of President G. Stanley Hall's 
pupils. He uses and approves Freudianism, in a modified 
form. Woman suffrage is rejected as inimical to woman's 
function. The book is loosely and unsystematically writ- 
ten. On page 325, line 2, " peform " appears instead of 
" perform." Man is here presented not so much a rational 
animal capable of self-control with a sense of right to be 
respected at all costs, but a kind of barn-yard cock with 
one hen, without respect even for the period of gestation. 
- Literary Editor, American Social Hygiene Association. 
My critic makes an admission that there are some 
good things in the book, coupled with a disposition to 
misconstrue meaning, and the assertion that it is ob- 
scene in its language and immoral in its teaching. Of 
course the book has to be read before one can decide, 
and opinions are so different. There are fifty to one 
whose signed statements, personal statements and liter- 
ary or medical criticisms show that they in no wise con- 
sider the book obscene or of immoral doctrine. If one is 
looking for obscenity, suggestiveness or coarseness, I 
would ask him to compare my critic's last sentence with 
any expression of mine found in the book. When I read 
this to my wife who, as I said in the preface, type-wrote 
the entire book for me, she said, " You are incapable of 
expressing yourself with any such vulgarity and coarse- 
ness as is shown in this sentence." She also said, " Peo- 
ple of this kind think that because there is pleasure in 
sex, and a natural desire for it, there can be nothing 
right or good in it." She ought to know something of 
the older ideas, for she was a minister's daughter. She 
still plays the church organ and sometimes takes even 268 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
me along to simulate singing in the choir. Really, 
this last sentence, aside from its own vulgarity, entirely 
distorts the spirit and meaning of the whole book. 
It is something of a paradox that a journal supposed 
to be devoted to social welfare, to welcome discussion 
and investigation, whose readers and supporters are 
usually both broad-minded and altruistic, should fur- 
nish a criticism more narrow-minded, more severe, and 
more opposed to social betterment than anything that 
has appeared in the last year and a half, in the lay or 
medical press. Since this critic is anonymous, he may 
pardon me for saying that I am not quite sure that his 
mind is perfectly clean. He certainly takes the method 
usually used to camouflage this defect by prating about 
the uncleanness of others in a way thought to draw 
attention from one's own remissness. I would not 
charge that he is consciously aware of this, any more 
than I would claim that the Kaiser is aware that his 
precipitation of world war and devastation was from 
motives of personal fear of loss of power and personal 
injury, rather than for the purpose of German aggran- 
dizement; but this defence reaction is well known to all 
of us who have studied the human soul, and Morton 
Prince has shown it in a masterly way in his Psychology 
of the Kaiser. I would suggest to my friend the read- 
ing of this little book, then that he make the proper 
substitutions and see where the analogies will lead him, 
or her, if the critic is a woman. If he will go to some 
modern psychologist and cooperate in an analysis of his 
own mind, he will learn some things, hitherto unsus- 
pected, which may temporarily alarm him concerning 
his own " holier than thou " sort of personality. I 
charitably consider that his present unconscious de- 
fences are against early fancied, now unconscious, CRITICISMS AND ANSWERS 
269 
transgressions of some kind. Commonly, however, 
there are unconscious defences against the mental rav- 
ages of known deviations. One little illustration will 
suffice: a former patient of mine whose instincts were 
moral and religious had his will power so weakened by 
mistaken ideas of sex, ideas similar to my critic's, that 
he proved unfaithful to his wife and became immoral 
with a woman associate, who also had correct moral and 
religious instincts, but whose strength was not sufficient 
to prevent temporary abdication from her high princi- 
ples. After this lapse, these two people, always solicit- 
ous for others, always conscientiously active in church 
and society, redoubled their efforts to keep people right 
and to turn people from wrong to right. Neither of 
these delinquents had the slightest hypocritical design. 
They knew not why they made these extra and despe- 
rate efforts toward the spiritual and social betterment 
of others. They had committed conscious wrong - 
there was an unconscious effort to compensate for this 
by accomplishing as much good as possible. I would 
suggest to such critics that the criticisms would be 
more effective if more judicial and more readily substan- 
tiated. Reason is better than vindictiveness, emotion- 
alism, or prejudice. There is a large body of men and 
women today who understand better than I the defence 
reactions to which I have alluded, and when they see a 
particularly virulent attack or any excessive emotional 
frenzy in criticisms of this kind, they smile and say, 
" Here is a case of early transgression or fancied trans- 
gression, later repressed into the sub-conscious and now 
exhibiting a fear or defence reaction; " or, again, 
" Here is a case of conscious transgression with an un- 
conscious attempt at compensation." They attach 
little significance to the utterances of such an one until 270 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
he has been subjected to a thorough psycho-analysis. 
Here again, the individual is not to blame but the fault 
is in the error of early thinking, which set a seal of 
secrecy and prudish reticence on those intimate facts of 
our lives which are generally not unworthy or shameful 
unless we ourselves make them so. Frankness and hon- 
esty characterize the disclosures from the sex lives of 
those superior men and women who form the bulk of my 
cases. These things are "amazingly sexual " only to 
those who have attempted to deny, ignore, or proscribe 
sex. The results of this latter line of thinking are anal- 
ogous to the train of serious symptoms, familiar to 
every physician, following chronic constipation in those 
whose excessive delicacy and extreme refinement have 
made proper attention to the elimination function seem 
vulgar and nauseous. 
This critic's attitude toward the erotic experiences of 
others reminds me of a case I saw recently. A man who 
had become a victim of the alcohol habit and who wished 
to be treated, sent for me to treat him. His wife was 
sick at the time and unable to care for him. His 
brother, who was the only available nurse, said, " I can- 
not attend to him now as it is just time for church, and 
I have no sympathy for him any way. Why doesn't he 
stop it himself without treatment the way I did? " I 
asked, " How long did you drink? " He answered 
promptly, " Until I was fifty years of age and the power 
of God saved me." The picture which I drew of his 
brother continuing an unwilling drunkard another fif- 
teen years and of his wife passing the same period in 
misery and suffering, waiting for the providence of 
God, when his slight sacrifice might at once remedy the 
evil, and my characterization of him as a disgrace to 
the church, a narrow and selfish egotist, brought unex- CRITICISMS AND ANSWERS 
271 
pected apology and recantation. There was some good 
in this man, though his willingness to lie supine in the 
" everlasting arms " and the comfortable idea that faith 
without works was sufficient had discolored the good in 
him past recognition. 
If this man who criticizes me is not a woman, he may 
be like the only one of my male cases who denied all 
those experiences which I have been classed as obscene 
for recording. The contemplation of these biographies 
doubtless furnished the medium in which his mind " had 
such a prurient bath." Otherwise, he is like our man 
who was impatient to get to church to thank God for 
saving him at fifty from the identical sin which his 
brother was struggling alone with at thirty-five. 
I also have read Forel and Krafft-Ebing, also Bloch, 
Tarnowsky, Roux, Fournier, Lidston, Morrow, Ellis, 
Moll, Malchow, Sturgis, Huhner, as a preliminary to 
my investigations, and have listened to Freud, Jung, 
and Ferenczi. There is something relevant in his apol- 
ogy for being compelled to read the book and his igno- 
rance of much of its contents. He speaks of persons 
answering a questionnaire as if I had dealt with 
strangers or men of straw. He will find it stated that 
practically all my facts were obtained through confiden- 
tial interviews with people who were well known to me; 
very few of the cases on which the book was based gave 
written answers. He says I based my opinion as to 
injurious effects on the opinion of my cases. Though 
the book plainly tells him, I will again explain how I 
arrived at this conclusion. My own judgment supple- 
mented by the opinion of the community as to a per- 
son's morals, health, and ability, was the basis of my 
conclusions. The opinions of the persons themselves 
are given for what they are worth. I illustrate: a man 272 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
at sixty-two was worrying excessively over the injurious 
effects of practicing masturbation when he was sixteen. 
He had raised eleven healthy children, was then, and is 
now, at seventy-four, a church deacon in deed as well as 
in name, he had been successful in business, he was the 
central figure in his community. I saw no reasons for 
granting his claim as to injurious results, and he saw 
none after some early bugbears were removed from his 
mind. Another man of sixty had worried much all his 
life and felt that he had suffered much harm, yet he had 
never been sick and had had a very enviable business and 
literary career. Any one of sense would have realized 
that his claim that he had been injured by masturbation 
was preposterous. A woman of thirty and another of 
fifty, each with healthy families, each happy and in per- 
fect health, both moral and social pillars in their com- 
munity, could conceive of no harmful results that had 
come to them from former auto-erotism, neither could I; 
but a woman of fifty who worried herself into a grave 
neurosis on account of auto-erotism, and recovered com- 
pletely in a few weeks' time, with nothing but mere talk 
for treatment, seemed equally free finally to herself and 
me from any injurious effects. In her case, fifteen 
years has helped to strengthen this judgment. The 
above is my method of deciding as to the harm of auto- 
erotism, and the careful readei' will have no difficulty in 
ascertaining this from the book itself. 
The critic's questions as to the loss of self-respect, 
etc., merit a little attention. Certainly they lost self- 
respect, any one can read it there in their own words. 
How could they help it, after reading the literature 
which I criticize in the chapter entitled " Extracts from 
the Popular Teaching in Sex Matters," in that book 
and in the chapter entitled " An Incipient Philosophy " CRITICISMS AND ANSWERS 
273 
in this volume. They certainly were uncomfortable in 
the presence of the other sex, and of course they did 
expend the vital fluid if they were males, and if females, 
there were similar occurrences; but when he (or she) 
asks if these fluids wrould not have been otherwise largely 
absorbed by the physical system, it is another question, 
and starts back with Hippocrates and Galen. There 
are many theories that the system absorbs unexpended 
semen with beneficial results, and undoubtedly there is 
truth in this, to a certain extent. The facts are, that 
emissions occur regularly in many continent males, and 
voluptuous dreams with orgasm just as regularly in 
many continent females. After these experiences those 
individuals who have passed the alarm stage are at their 
best physically and mentally, just as married men and 
women are at their best when moderate regular inter- 
course is indulged in. Some people do not have the 
nocturnal experiences at all, or with any regularity, 
even some who are both continent and virile. These 
are, as a rule, in great discomfort, feel inadequate and 
incompetent, are confused and erratic until they marry 
or have some sexual relief. Practically all people of 
both sexes are in better health, more moral and more 
efficient after marriage. On the other hand, excessive 
intercourse or masturbation at times seems to produce 
weakness, instability, and incompetence, the same con- 
dition that we find in those who are born with little 
virility, or in those of strong virility after long-con- 
tinued, excessive restraint. 
" Did they not stimulate unnaturally the secretion 
of semen by mental masturbation before the act? " 
This expression is hardly intelligible, as it involves 
several questions. There is a species of masturbation 
called psychic-Onanism in which the whole process is 274 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
mental. In ordinary masturbation and in intercourse 
the process is partly mental and partly physical. De- 
liberate attempts to fill the mind with erotic pictures by 
reading, by indecent shows and by the aid of the imagi- 
nation, will increase the production of semen, but unless 
there is already some accumulation of semen strong 
effort is required to fix the mind on erotic subjects. 
This effort is seldom made except by those of a low or 
lascivious turn of mind. People of good purposes 
strive rather to keep their minds from these matters. 
This is impossible for those whose minds are constantly 
burdened with shame for having practiced, and with fear 
of the results of masturbation. Among the people I 
have dealt with I should say that nine-tenths of the un- 
natural accumulation of semen and other sex products 
came from this cause and perhaps one-tenth from their 
conscious efforts in that direction. Sex excitement and 
erotic imagery result just as surely from worry and 
fear about sex as they do from deliberate, sensuous day- 
dreaming, and the worry is ever present, while the imag- 
ination is only reinforced or determined in this direction 
when already there is some physical stimulus behind it. 
I have repeatedly stated in the book referred to and in 
this that sex excitement, erotic images, production of 
semen, etc., were all reduced about one-half in the ordi- 
nary individual when the mind was freed from the preva- 
lent shame, fear, and uncertainty in regard to mastur- 
bation. 
The sex excitement may appear to originate on the 
physical side or on the mental, but after its occurrence, 
either acts as a stimulant to the other, but I believe that 
the primary stimulus which leads to excitement origi- 
nates in the accumulation of sex elements in the physical 
organs. CRITICISMS AND ANSWERS 
275 
In spite of the most idealistic attitude and a proper 
fear of the venereal consequences of promiscuity, abso- 
lute continence till marriage seldom, if ever, occurs. 
This universal deviation from the standard of ancient 
idealism may be ascribed to willful departure or to the 
compulsion of nature. With my evidence at hand and 
a firm belief in man's general effort for right conduct, I 
am forced to believe the latter. True, many reputable 
physicians say there is no sex necessity, but just as 
reputable ones, and I think many more of them, say 
there is. I know of but one way of settling the ques- 
tion, and that is by a comprehensive examination of 
the inner lives of men and women. I have devoted some 
time to this pursuit for many years. Professor Howell, 
whom he quotes as one of the greatest authorities, is all 
that can be claimed for him as an expert in the labora- 
tory teaching and didactic teaching of physiology, and, 
as a human personality, there is none more capable of 
inspiring the deepest admiration. As his pupil, I re- 
member him as most kindly and courteous, entirely un- 
affected and yet, though very young, a past-master in 
all physiological technicalities; but I remember him 
more especially as a very young man, taking his charm- 
ing young wife and beautiful baby almost daily for an 
airing in the suburban part of a certain university town. 
My wife and I, also youthful, were expecting our first 
baby at about this time. Both he and I have probably 
lived normally and happily since that time, thus admit- 
ting sex advisability at least. He, from long experience 
with scientific technicalities, from books, experiences, 
and men argues that there is no sex necessity. I, from 
a large experience with men, and from some slight study 
of books, science and myself, argue that there is. I 276 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
should be glad to see his evidence, and I know he would 
treat mine courteously. 
No! The book was not published for many years 
after it was written. There were two reasons. First 
I disliked myself, and my wife disliked to have me ap- 
pear antagonistic to that ultra-idealism in which we 
wrere both nurtured (though any intelligent reader will 
perceive that there is no real antagonism between those 
beliefs and my present doctrines). The second reason 
was that, when I did become convinced that publication 
was a duty, publishers were not then convinced that the 
public would deal kindly with such innovations. 
Finally, I think this critic may be a woman, for three 
reasons: first, my wife and daughter-in-law said right 
away that this critic was a woman ; second, the sentence, 
" Never has my mind had such a prurient bath," re- 
minded me of a woman's criticism of Dr. Hall's Adoles- 
cence, which I quoted on pages 335 and 336 of Rational 
Sex Ethics; third, after what was evidently a very su- 
perficial reading of the book, the critic takes the trouble 
to note that on page 325, line two, the letter r is omitted 
from the word perform. Now, my dear critic, I am 
sorry that I cannot mete out adequate justice to the 
offenders. My wife, who read much of the proof, has 
already been severely lectured, and if I could locate the 
compositor who committed this glaring outrage, he (or 
she) should be subjected to the severest castigation. 
In justice to myself, I think it proper to add here 
three or four reviews which have appeared in medical 
or lay journals, whose standing needs no comment of 
mine. I certainly appreciate their kindly words, which 
w'ere more than I had a right to expect. CRITICISMS AND ANSWERS 
277 
In the present flood of literature on sex topics, it is re- 
freshing to find an author who writes from the point of 
view of the general practitioner and who has endeavored 
to secure his material from normal persons rather than from 
the abnormal, the eccentric or the criminal classes. Dr. 
Robie seeks to discuss some of the perplexing problems of 
sex relations in a common sense way without obscuring his 
meaning by the complex terminology and fantastic theories 
of many writers in this field. He is even able to discuss 
psychoanalysis dispassionately and, without going to the 
extremes of the Freudian enthusiasts, to recognize the value 
of many of Freud's theories. The numerous case histories 
given are well selected as illustrations, and in many cases 
will be recognized as analogous to those encountered by 
most practicing physicians. While not intended to be either 
complete or final, Dr. Robie's book can hardly be over- 
looked by those interested in this subject.- Journal of the 
American Medical Association, August 4, 1917. 
A Physiological and Psychological Study of the Sex Lives 
of Normal Men and Women, with Suggestions for a Ra- 
tional Sex Hygiene, by W. F. Robie, A.B., M.D., Superin- 
tendent Pine Terrace, Baldwinville, Mass., sometime fellow 
at Clark University, Boston: Richard G. Badger, pp. 356, 
$3.50 net. 
This is a compact, handy volume of convenient size to 
slip into a handbag or overcoat pocket. The style is easy 
and the author is forceful and original, showing a wide 
knowledge of the subject and a keen appreciation of evi- 
dence. 
There is no question that the sexual function is, next to 
nutrition, the oldest and most difficult problem of human 
relationship. Prostitution, polygamy, promiscuity, purity 
and pollution are yet indeterminate factors in the problem 
of civilization. It is refreshing to find a writer willing to 
take up the subject on the evidence presented by human ex- 
perience, accepting the demonstrated truths of science and 
giving no undue weight to theological dogma and philosoph- 
ical speculation. It is a work of profound interest on a 
fundamentally important subj ect, and is very properly " for 
sale only to members of the medical and legal professions." 
- Journal of the National Medical Association. 278 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
The word " rational " in the title of this book is relevant, 
in the first place, to the method employed. The discussion 
is based upon an inductive study of material obtained in 
part through the author's medical experience and in part 
through questionnaires filled out by " what is considered 
the better part of the middle class." The questionnaires 
seem to have been in many cases supplemented by personal 
interviews. The outcome of the inquiry indicates a far 
greater frequency in this class of auto-erotism and a less 
amount of promiscuous relations than has ordinarily been 
supposed. The author is convinced also that the evil con- 
sequences of auto-erotism have been greatly exaggerated and 
that the fear of evil consequences has frequently been the 
worst factor. 
In the second place the term " rational " might be ap- 
plied to the recommendations of the author, if we under- 
stand by rational what is removed from extreme. While 
opposing utterly promiscuous sex relations, the author em- 
phasizes the positive values of vigorous sex life. His clin- 
ical advice to many persons both normal and neurotic, in 
which he has employed methods similar to those of Freudian 
analysis, seems to have yielded highly beneficial results.- 
International Journal of Ethics, January, 1918. II 
RATIONAL SEX ETHICS FOR MEN IN THE 
ARMY AND NAVY 
It is difficult for one to consider even briefly ordinary 
questions, or even fundamental instincts, in these days 
of world strife. The feudal despot of Potsdam, daring 
the abyss of utter destruction for the sole avowed pur- 
pose of making the world subject to the caprice of a 
madman, threatens all that centuries of heartbreak and 
bloodshed have taught us of democracy and the golden 
rule. Nietzsche's accursed psychopathic philosophy, 
exemplified in Bernhardi and put in practice by Wil- 
liam and the Potsdam Government, challenges all comers 
and disdains all traditions of Pitt and Gladstone, Wash- 
ington and Lafayette, Garibaldi and Lincoln. The 
haggard remnants of Belgium, Servia, Armenia and 
Roumania, disrupted Russia and suffering Italy are be- 
fore our eyes. The flower of the young manhood of 
England and France is being fed to the Moloch of 
Prussian Militancy and autocratic egoism. Men from 
every calling are starting forth with the godspeed and 
prayers of their women. The older men and the non- 
combatants are trying to get into the game, each and 
all eager to serve to the utmost in the unavoidable, last 
Titanic struggle of light with darkness, of liberty and 
civilization with coercion and barbarism. All efforts 
are united to win the war which must be decisively won 
for justice, decency, progress and happiness for the 
generations yet to be. 
279 280 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
Still, this Nemesis of war and destruction will not 
leave half so many scars, we all know very well, as will 
the incidental suppression and misdirection as a direct 
result of war's exigencies of the most fundamental of all 
instincts, the sex instinct. We all dread, for ourselves 
and others, the temporary and permanent separations, 
the heartbreaks and longings, the blighted homes and 
solitary lives, which inevitably must result in this coun- 
try, as have already resulted in others, on account of 
the war. 
Along with all the ideal in family life, in art, in reli- 
gion, and in ordinary aspiration, we must consider the 
foundation of all these things, the physical, material 
side. Everything has a subjective and objective, an 
ideal and a material side; and the sex instinct is no ex- 
ception. Our army is fighting for those transcenden- 
tal, immutable principles of the idealist - freedom, 
equality, happiness; but this were impossible did we 
not consider the physical and feed, clothe, arm, equip 
and train our boys. We inevitably lose some in battle, 
more from unpresentable disease, but more yet from 
ignorance or diffidence concerning the laws of life. 
Nothing calls for a calmer, saner thinking than for ways 
and means to prevent and minimize the vast inroads 
made or to be made into our sexual conventions and 
moral ideals by the transient or permanent changes 
necessitated by this world war. But how can we seek 
remedies if we do not know the disease? How can we 
discuss freely and intelligently the tremendous sex prob- 
lems which now confront us, if we have an excessive 
prudishness, an almost complete ignorance and an in- 
tense fear and disgust concerning the whole subject? 
Preliminary to any full and complete discussion 
should come a plain statement of some things incom- THE ARMY AND NAVY 
281 
pletely comprehended or entirely unrecognized. The 
sexual instinct is primal and came long before the ideals 
of love, music, painting and all the rest of those things 
which have grown out of it, and which are now placed 
before and above it. This may be well enough if it is 
not done to the complete ignoring or entire exclusion of 
the original force which is always present. 
The sexual instinct is much older than man, and 
arose, as some suppose, from tension or pressure of 
semen or fluids in testes or glands, leading to a desire 
for relief or evacuation, similar to one for urina- 
tion. Others suppose that accumulation of semen or 
other sex elements stimulated spinal centers, thus caus- 
ing sex excitement. 
Nowadays, we all know that not only organic im- 
pulses to evacuate and spinal excitation of the organs 
themselves, but psychic imagery and craving always 
accompany or are part of the sex instinct and impulse. 
All normal and most abnormal human beings possess 
this instinct. It begins somewhat in the earliest child- 
hood, increases at puberty, is strongest through young 
adult and middle life, and declines gradually in normal 
old age, commonly having some slight expression up to 
the age of eighty or ninety years. 
The traditional, ecclesiastic view saw this instinct as 
a self-sought depravity rather than the mainspring of 
all life. The individual's power of control was thought 
to be absolute, but love of pleasure and self-indulgence 
led to error. Absolute continence was thought to be 
easy, at any rate possible, at any time of life, in either 
sex, under all conditions. Any infraction of this rule, 
either in promiscuous relations or in auto-erotism, until 
the church united the man and woman, was regarded as 
criminal, vicious, and disgraceful; though after mar- 282 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
riage, much license was considered necessary and any 
amount permissible between the contracting parties. 
Auto-erotism was considered more destructive, vicious, 
and disgraceful than promiscuous relations. These 
ideas are obsessions in the minds of most good people 
today, though there is now pretty general agreement 
among the educated and experienced, that the opposite 
of most of these old notions is true. 
The sexual instinct within us is an unquenchable force 
which leads in its proper use, to the highest ideals and 
accomplishments. Even health, happiness and longev- 
ity depend largely on its proper use. Many students 
of this subject do not think control or continence for 
any long period is possible. Some of the most serious 
and thoughtful do not consider it advisable in the best 
interests of the race. I quote from Dr. S. Herbert's 
book on Physiology and Psychology of Sex (Pub. A. & 
C. Black, Ltd., 6 Soho Sq., London, '17, pp. 120 and 
121): 
" Instead of asking the question whether abstinence 
is possible, it would be much more pertinent to ask 
whether, if possible, it would be good. . . . Holding up 
too long love's vitalizing power, may lay barren the 
whole personality. Abstinence, then, which does not 
allow for the natural growth of the erotic emotions, far 
from being a true ideal, must be condemned at best as 
an ' empty virtue.' Indeed, the idea of sexual absti- 
nence is an ill-conceived notion which cannot be sus- 
tained either on physiological or on spiritual grounds. 
. . . The sex instinct is as natural as any other funda- 
mental human instinct. . . . The erotic emotions form 
the proper basis of even the noblest and purest love. 
We cannot starve the one without, at the same time, 
preventing the blossoming of the other. . . . Conti- THE ARMY AND NAVY 
283 
nence, instead of aiming to miss love, should rather be a 
disciplined cultivation of love. It is self-control which 
forms the central idea of chastity. ... A sane use of 
the gifts given us by Nature, in sex matters as much as 
in other relations of life, is the only wholesome rule of 
conduct." 
Promiscuous relations are known to result in the 
dread diseases, syphilis, chanchroid and gonorrhoea. 
They also encourage departures from our wisely 
adopted monogamic custom which with proper fostering 
ought to become an instinct of the race. Masturbation, 
or auto-erotism, is now known and stated by all experi- 
enced physicians to be harmless, at least when moder- 
ately practiced. Epilepsy, insanity and all other dis- 
eases are now known never to have been caused by it. 
What relation, you say, has all this to you and me? 
Why do I, in the midst of numerous obligations to fam- 
ily and nation, sit down at odd moments and try to rea- 
son sanely with you and try to give you a true per- 
spective in sex matters? Why do I try to make you 
understand the sex instinct as it really is, what it means 
for all of us, not what some well-meaning, ignorant, 
Utopia-minded theorist or religionist of old thought it 
would be wise for it to be? 
I repeat some things over and over to bring home 
to you the present need of clear, honest, practical 
thoughts and words, and why, now if never before, every 
one should give some concentrated thought toward solv- 
ing the problems arising out of the sex instinct. What 
will it profit us to win this war for democracy, to estab- 
lish those American principles and institutions which 
all of us are willing to sacrifice or die for; if they are to 
be the inheritance of a barren world? We make sacri- 
fices for children and children's children. We shudder 284 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
to think of the young men who will not come home to 
beget children, and we sorrow for the young women who 
will not be mothers; but we all know, beyond a perad- 
venture, that this necessary sacrifice is small, this grief 
is negligible in comparison with the sorrow, distress and 
destruction attendant upon other tragedies. Countless 
men will return corrupted, diseased and impotent. 
Countless women will be prepared for the surgeon's 
knife, made helpless invalids, and left forever barren to 
lead henceforth lives of shame and misery. 
Syphilis and gonorrhoea, the sport of mediaeval Eu- 
rope, the anxiety of the nineteenth century, the 
Nemesis of future generations! Again, sexual desire 
or instinct among those of us who are striving to be 
pure and above reproach, in the last century, unques- 
tionably has brought more human shipwreck, more men- 
tal and neurotic disease on men and women than alco- 
holism or perhaps than all other causes put together. 
We have kept our heads buried in the sand. What will 
happen when thousands, yes, tens of thousands, of the 
most intimate of human relations, meditated or consum- 
mated, are rudely dissevered by the blast of the war 
trumpet? Male infidelity has been a tremendous prob- 
lem and a great sorrow to the moralist, to the altruist, 
and even to the sinner. What of the future? 
Nervous and hysterical women have begun to be a 
threatening cloud on our horizon, and I say to you 
authoritatively that worry, fear, or desire, or some dis- 
turbance relative to the sex instinct has been the cause 
of the infirmity in most of these women who, all honor 
to them, are usually the best and the purest that bless 
the earth. If you hesitate to follow me, digest the fact 
that seldom, if ever, does a prostitute have ordinary 
nervous trouble. On the other hand, nervous women THE ARMY AND NAVY 
285 
are almost invariably pure-minded, and often become 
neurotic from being too pure-minded. I have known 
many just such cases. If now nervous women are 
almost a menace to our national health, for the rea- 
sons given, what will you say and what will you think 
when you look into the future of homes broken up, of 
sweethearts separated, and with many a youth's day- 
dream forever a will o' the wisp? 
We have come to the point where all must study the 
practical side, whether we are ministers, doctors, lay- 
men, wives, mothers, or sweethearts. We no longer can 
conscientiously put these things aside and wait for a 
" more convenient season." Within a week I have 
talked with officers in the army, with members of the 
clergy, with business men, with mothers of boys in the 
service. All agree that everything legitimate, both on 
the spiritual and physical sides, must be done to safe- 
guard our young men in training and at the front 
against the desires, temptations and seductions which 
beset their leisure hours, if we are to have a sound race 
of men and women after their return. I do not under- 
estimate the spiritual or religious side, and as a clergy- 
man told me recently, it will be a great help. It kept 
him from women, but he admitted that it did not keep 
him entirely free from conscious incontinence. I am 
free to admit the same truth. 
The Y. M. C. A. is a tremendous power for good, and 
we are doing all we can for it. It will give comfort, 
home-life, and amusement to the boys; but though it 
reduce desire, keep somewhat from tempting situations, 
and direct the mind into healthy channels, it will not 
entirely kill one of our strongest fundamental instincts. 
If anything is likely to do this, we had better now 286 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
humble ourselves to the Kaiser; for a eunuch has no 
sense of right or justice, and will not fight for principle. 
A man without the sex instinct will not fight at all, but 
will run like a sheep. We have some sheep here, but 
they will not be with the boys in France. The Salva- 
tion Army, the Red Cross, the Knights of Columbus, 
and many other organizations, many far-sighted chap- 
lains, some sterling officers tried in the fire and not 
found wanting, will help to preserve our citizen army. 
They, however, will be but a drop in the bucket, when 
even now thousands are invalided home or incapaci- 
tated, not from wounds on the fields of honor, not from 
the natural diseases of camp life, not sterile from 
mumps, but from syphilis and gonorrhoea - the pox 
and clap of the vernacular - the bane of civilization, 
more destructive than bullets for any army. 
I make a plea to every red-blooded man, to heed the 
adjuration of one of old to " think on these things." 
When you have thought, read and meditated; when you 
have sloughed off the theory of the ancients; and when 
you have absorbed the scientific dictum of modern biol- 
ogy and the common sense philosophy of honest, pro- 
gressive men; then " act in the living present, heart 
within and God o'erhead." Let no false modesty assail 
you, let no consideration of misinterpreted motives deter 
you! Think of yourself as you are, stripped of your 
shame, secretiveness and prudery. Think of yourself 
as separated from wife or sweetheart, away from home, 
trained to greatest physical efficiency, with periods of 
the most strenuous work and exertion, with the extreme 
nerve tension that must accompany night alarms, 
screaming shells, falling comrades, friends captured,- THE ARMY AND NAVY 
287 
all this alternating with short periods of rest and relax- 
ation, freedom from responsibility, warmth, and abun- 
dant food. 
You all show plainly now, I see it every day under 
the veneer, what you choose to insult by calling animal 
nature. (We will not quarrel over the indignities 
heaped upon the force which is the source of all life and 
all that is sweet and pure and beautiful in life.) Deli- 
cious strawberries, eggs for the epicure's breakfast, 
pork at any price,- all come, when you think of it, from 
foulest sources,- if you look at it in that way. But 
" handsome is as handsome does," and I fancy that if 
inanimate things were animate, and consciousness did 
originate in or below the very clods of earth, the dung 
in the sty and the unassthetic hen have all rejoiced at 
their products and themselves,- necessities and bless- 
ings to man. 
If you feel and exhibit your self-styled carnality now, 
what would you feel and show under the above pictured 
conditions? I know well what in time my own condition 
would be, and I, from the supposed placidity of over 
fifty, look back on a life of unusual strenuosity. In 
early years I experienced the usual trials and failures 
of the ordinary youth striving to be continent and deter- 
mined at all hazards to avoid promiscuity. Not even 
since marriage could I stay from home several months 
at a time, as I have on different occasions, without suf- 
fering extreme punishment. Oh no, nor could you, my 
brother man, if you have within you red blood or genesic 
glands such as would make you acceptable as a soldier. 
I talk plainly, do I? Perhaps so, but you all know 
that it is " the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but 
the truth." Any of you who do not know this to be 288 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
true, deserve the pity, not the contempt of all good, 
strong, virile men and women. 
Are these truths something of which to be ashamed, 
or to be proud? Could we win the war without the 
optimism and vigor of sex? What man would face suf- 
fering and death if not for home, women, and children? 
What woman would send a man forth cheerfully if not 
for home and all that home means? You know, deep 
down, that these are the things to be proud of in man 
or woman. You are beginning to know that it is not 
beneath your dignity and mine to study and understand 
them. You will agree with me that man can arrive at 
" full-orbed perfection " only by proper knowledge of 
these primal and positive, most deeply implanted, most 
necessary and most pleasure-fraught gifts of an all-wise 
Creator. 
What shall I, a father, tell my son in the army? 
First, what should or could I do in his place? What 
shall you, a husband in the army, tell your wife at 
home? Remember first, her hunger for you after long 
absences,- a hunger which you know was at times more 
intense even than yours for her through the years you 
have been together. 
A friend, the other day, asked a man who had two 
sons in the army if he were worrying for fear that they 
would be maimed or killed. " No," he said, " that's the 
least of my worries, that would be inevitable, in the line 
of duty and with all honor, but I fear something infi- 
nitely worse." The man was not a doctor either. 
Thousands of fathers and mothers have the same, 
identical fears today. The necessary sacrifices of this 
war are appalling; but the boys step out with readiness, 
and we follow up their efforts with resolution and cheer- THE ARMY AND NAVY 
289 
fulness. But the unnecessary depopulation, the blinded, 
the halt, the maimed, from avoidable venereal disease 
give us all a shudder to think of. 
Honestly, though I know that all are human and 
likely to err, that the seductress may get at some of 
mine in an unguarded moment, yet after all possible 
allowances, I wish that all fathers and mothers in this 
land could feel as easy and safe on this one point of 
the sexual perils as do my wife and I in regard to our 
four boys in the service. I hope, however, that I may 
say without egotism that they are all above the aver- 
age in brain, brawn and virility. These boys know my 
life and their mother's life before they were thought of, 
when they were conceived, and after they were born. 
They know that sex is no disgrace, that a struggle for 
continence is necessary, that lapses resulting from ex- 
cessive vigor are no disgrace; but, chiefest of all, they 
know that any lapse, any incontinence which harms or 
degrades another, which renders them unfit to look into 
the eyes of the girls they are engaged to, which makes 
problematical the prospect of offspring and necessi- 
tates a probability of disease, is unethical, disgraceful, 
and the source of greatest misery for them all. They 
know that when the battle was too hot and temporary 
defeat or abdication was inevitable, their nearest of kin, 
and most people of good repute, gave ground in such a 
way that with the same dominant purpose and with more 
force than ever before, they returned again to the fray, 
after each reverse. Am I overconfident in believing 
that they will make use of the same tactical means in 
dealing with the sex problem that I, and you, that men 
and women generally, have used who get somewhat above 
the murky, miasmal swamps yet full of unenlightened 
humanity ? 290 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
This may be a long peroration, but I think it no un- 
pardonable dilation on a most important and now very 
acute source of anxiety. We all agree that nothing in 
this world will so injure you or all the rest of us as any 
sexual promiscuity. Think of the ideality of conti- 
nence if you wish, I do; but I know7 also that there is a 
real, ungovernable sex necessity at times in the lives of 
all normal men and women. However much you think 
about the ideal and the aesthetic, I beg you not to omit 
entirely the physical and the practical. 
Paul said, " It is better to marry than to burn." 
Paul was a casuistic reasoner in the days when ascetic 
ideals were paramount. I might paraphrase his state- 
ment and I do so, with all reverence to him and to his 
great Master and Teacher. " Auto-erotism is better 
than to prostitute yourself or her," is my statement. 
Paul's observations probably w7ere largely general, mine 
are largely specific - not necessarily in the venereal 
sense - but I have before my mind's eye thousands of 
the unpublished pages of the lives of men and women 
who have struggled long and well with this question. 
Both the statements above are tantamount to saying 
that some legitimate concessions must be made to sex. 
If sex is inevitable, paramount, omnipresent, and irre- 
pressible, then some relief is justifiable ethically. We 
all know that moderate relief is not only compatible 
with health and sanity, but sometimes a necessity to 
insure these. We now7 know, also, and all of us should 
teach, that the lax morals and venereal perils resulting 
from promiscuity are the worst curses to moral and 
physical man. There is no alternative. There is only 
one course, after our premises. Moderate auto-erotism 
is, under obsessing sex promptings, neither debasing nor 
deleterious. If one fights a good fight, prays hard and THE ARMY AND NAVY 
291 
works hard, whether the working is fighting, knitting, 
or preaching, and succumbs sometimes to the inevitable, 
there need be no shame in the acknowledgment of these 
things. The soldier returning from the front after fol- 
lowing this philosophy might proudly say, " I have 
carefully and prayerfully cared for the talent which the 
Lord placed in my keeping, and have done the best I 
could to preserve inviolate the life force, shown through 
the sex instinct." 
If one desires confirmation, would he prefer as au- 
thority the guesses of the ancients, restated over and 
over again, in so many of our well-meaning, though dan- 
gerous modern books of sex-instruction; or would he 
prefer to believe such eminent scientists, altruists and 
physicians as Eminghaus, Griesinger, Ellis, Herbert, 
Forel, Sir James Paget, Woodruff, Brill, Gilbert, and 
scores of others? He might obtain some solace by 
taking this proposition to any elderly, honest, experi- 
enced physician, and, for that matter, to almost any 
honest, thoughtful man or woman who has grown above 
the trammels of dogmatic tradition. 
Shame on our civilization, that these things were not, 
I can almost say, are not, whispered about in our col- 
leges, medical schools and universities! Many a young 
man and many a young doctor procures his entire sex 
knowledge at the highest price in a brothel; and the 
fault is not his, but that of his father, his doctor, or his 
teacher. Go honestly into your own life and any lives 
that you know accurately about, then come back, and 
agree with me and say so; or find something better, and 
I'll agree with you and burn the book. Ill 
ADVICE FOR THE NEWLY MARRIED 
I have already mentioned that a good share of this 
book is made up of incidental, daily occurrences, i. e., 
concrete cases which have come to my notice while I 
was engaged in the writing of it. I have been told of 
what may seem to some a trivial, but which in reality is 
a very important case, just as I am finishing these 
chapters; and, though the parties involved are a thou- 
sand miles away, I am going to give what I know7 of it, 
and the best solution I can, from my very insufficient 
data. A bride of a few months, who is a friend of a 
member of my family, also a young married woman, con- 
fided in the latter to the extent of explaining her diffi- 
culties as a bride. This bride knew7 there w7as some- 
thing wrong, from her husband's attitude, and also 
probably from hearsay information. This was con- 
firmed by talking with. the other young w oman who had 
had a perfectly normal experience, i.e., she had had a 
perfect orgasm at the second intercourse w7ith her hus- 
band, and thereafter had almost invariably had com- 
plete satisfaction whenever intercourse occurred, W'hich 
was three or four times a night, two or three nights in 
succession w hen they were together every tw o w7eeks. It 
seems that the bride, as I shall call her, w7as much 
troubled and anxious, since she w7as unable usually to 
have any pleasure in intercourse and ever to have an 
orgasm. She knew that her husband expected and 
longed to have her enjoy him as he enjoyed her. She 
292 ADVICE FOR THE NEWLY MARRIED 
293 
also knew, for he had been manly enough to tell her 
before they were married, that he had had previous 
experiences with other women. He knew something of 
the art of love and made such efforts as he could to 
awaken her erotic nature. This was all to no avail 
except that at times, when he attempted to awaken her 
desire for intercourse by titillating her clitoris, she 
would almost instantly have an orgasm, and of course 
no further desire for anything sexual at that time. He 
was very ardent and could not, or would not leave her 
alone at any time except at the menstrual period. He 
was precipitate and could delay the orgasm only a few 
minutes. Conditions were such that she did not wish 
to immediately become pregnant (though she wanted 
babies as much as any woman), and they practiced 
interrupted intercourse, or withdrawal. When the re- 
verse of the ordinary position was tried she had some 
erotic feeling but never an orgasm. This is about all 
the information she gave to her friend who told me the 
circumstances; and I told her that this was one of the 
neglected, small difficulties of early matrimony that was 
probably the most frequent cause of divorce, infidelity, 
and neurosis. I ventured the opinion that if all the 
facts were known, everything could be quickly and satis- 
factorily adjusted. My name and my experience with 
these matters, as well as my optimism in the present 
case were mentioned to this bride; and as a result I add 
a note, just received, which gives a little information in 
the bride's own language: 
Things are no better yet - in fact much worse. Last 
week it caused considerable unhappiness to both of us. I 
try so hard to be aroused and sometimes I really think I 
could come, but I can't. Am just about dead after try- 
ing. Last week, for several nights I just couldn't bear 294 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
to have him touch me. It made me cold all over and 
finally, feeling sorry for him, I compromised, but I was so 
desperately mean and cranky that he didn't finish and 
wouldn't talk to me the next day. Oh, but he was cold to 
me and that almost broke my heart. I don't get much sat- 
isfaction any more by his touching me and am only aroused 
occasionally by the way I told you, which is the only suc- 
cessful one for me (reverse position). If Dr. Robie could 
do anything for us I can assure you it will never be for- 
gotten. You know everything about us and can tell him. 
Look at H.'s wife. She is just like me and she is in the 
family way. Please write soon. Will tell Dr. R. anything 
he wishes to know. 
Now I am going to try, with such facts as I have, to 
explain matters to this bride and her husband by letter, 
if this chapter may be called a letter, so that they can 
work these matters out for themselves. It will be plain 
to all who read the foregoing note that, if I am success- 
ful in my guesses, the other young couple referred to 
there, whose case is about the same, may also be able to 
solve their difficulty. I hope my professional readers 
will be altruistic enough to spread some of this informa- 
tion, (which I assure you is worth consideration) judi- 
ciously to the young people in their own immediate circle 
as they start on life's journey together; information 
which a censorious and prudish public, which has itself 
become neurotic and prudish from lack of it, forbids 
them to read for themselves first hand, though this same 
public seems to delight in their wallowing in the grue- 
some and sensual details of a suitcase mystery, a Riche- 
son case, a Thaw perversion, or a Lesbian suicide. 
Let us begin with the husband. We know he has had 
some sexual experience before marriage. My guess is 
that he had his experience almost entirely with profes- 
sional prostitutes, or possibly some slight experience ADVICE FOR THE NEWLY MARRIED 
295 
with some girl worked up to a high pitch of erotic excite- 
ment. In the former case, the prostitute would per- 
haps pretend to enjoy the intercourse; but every effort 
would be made to make it as short as possible, either to 
escape from the humiliating situation which had no 
pleasure for her, or, if she were past the womanly stage, 
and of a mercenary nature, in order to get rid of the 
one whose money she had received to get ready for the 
next paying admirer. If he also had experience with a 
woman in uncontrollable erotic fervor, she would also 
probably soon be through with him, in this case because 
she would have soon become completely satisfied and 
quiescent. Let us assume that the young man has no 
idea of the time needed for a perfectly normal, virtuous 
girl of eighteen, newly married, to become erotically en- 
thused and completely satisfied sexually; or for that 
matter, for a normal woman of any age, though she may 
be of a very erotic nature. 
A medical man informed me recently that it required 
sometimes three hours for him to completely satisfy his 
wife. He did this, not only because he knew it was 
necessary for her health and most pleasant for her, but 
because in satisfying her he got, as all men do, his most 
profound pleasure. This would seem an exaggerated 
case, especially as this man has been married twenty 
years and has several children; but I could give fuller 
details of many others, and one in particular, where the 
time required is never less than half an hour and at times 
two hours is required. We also know that this young 
man is precipitate; he may be able to control the com- 
ing of the climax or orgasm three minutes or fifteen, 
but not probably more than that; after the climax is 
reached he probably has no disposition to repeat the 
process and may fear to do so, for there is a popular 296 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
notion to the effect that repetition is injurious. Many 
men have told me that they could not repeat at once, as 
erection would subside and all desire would cease. A 
little concentration of attention and realization of ne- 
cessity enabled them to repeat the act at will one or 
more times until their wives were satisfied. I know very 
well a man who, when he was young and his wife was 
slow to enthuse, being desperate on account of her 
nervousness and crankiness, loving her and longing to 
have her happy with him in every way, often repeated 
the act three or four times without once withdrawing. 
This was difficult at first, but it soon became easy and 
before very long such repetition was unnecessary. This 
man and his wife are both unusually happy and abso- 
lutely healthy and the wife has no nervousness and 
crankiness after the lapse of nearly thirty years; but 
they started off just as this young couple are doing, on 
a course which would inevitably have resulted, but for 
intelligent remedies, in invalidism or divorce long before 
this. 
As a rule, a young married man who is strongly virile 
and deeply in love with his wife will seek intercourse 
with her nearly every night. She will chide him and 
think that this is all he wants her for, and she will per- 
haps have no pleasure at all, or very little. If he 
schools himself to repeat the act two, three, or four 
times without any appreciable intermission, or until his 
wife reaches the climax, he will not be so ready to keep 
importuning her every night for intercourse, whether 
she is sick or well, or in the mood or not; and mark my 
word, if he follows the above outline she will not be 
likely to refuse him when he does ask. She is likely 
before many years to do some of the asking, herself, 
unless he is a good reader of signs and forestalls her in ADVICE FOR THE NEWLY MARRIED 
297 
the asking. But this method is not often necessary. 
Think a little; a man usually has to pay court to a 
woman weeks or months before her nature is awakened 
or she is in love with him enough for him to propose to 
her with any prospect of a favorable answer. After 
engagement, the woman, who usually desires to delay 
marriage, grows more reconciled as their intimacy deep- 
ens by closer contact. Men forget that woman's na- 
ture does not essentially change after marriage. It is a 
long road, before marriage, to the first kiss with a nor- 
mal, virtuous woman, but who who has paid the price 
regrets it? It is some distance after marriage, to the 
first intercourse which the woman desires or demands, 
but no man ever complains of the time or hardship in- 
volved in the attainment of this summit of marital bliss. 
All the things necessary to get the first kiss, and many 
more, are desirable and often necessary before the wife 
asks or welcomes the husband's sexual advances. He 
must control his erotic feelings for a time, even if they 
seem overpowering. He must learn that, though a man 
may become almost instantly aroused and ready for 
intercourse, a newly married woman never or hardly 
ever exhibits this phenomenon. Embracing and kissing 
and gentle handling are preliminaries to further inti- 
macy with all normal women; and if we stop to think 
of it, a man knows this instinctively before marriage, 
though many of them forget it after. What man does 
not remember with shame a desire, which some have 
not successfully resisted, to get his hands upon his 
fiancee's breasts or beneath her clothes? This instinct 
should be controlled absolutely before marriage, but it 
would surprisingly lessen the number of divorces if it 
were more often remembered and heeded after marriage. 
I have talked with but three married women out of 298 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
several hundred, who did not delight in having their hus- 
bands gently hold their breasts and kiss or titillate their 
nipples. This is often a sufficient preliminary to inter- 
course if followed ten or fifteen minutes, but the major- 
ity of wives wish also their husband's hands in gentle 
dalliance with their more private parts before inter- 
course. Nearly all girls have some experience with 
masturbation in which the clitoris is manipulated and is 
the center of sensation. Whether they do or not, this 
is the organ that must become excited before they desire 
intercourse. Without excitement in the penis a man 
would be useless in intercourse; so is a woman whose 
clitoris is quiescent, so far as any pleasurable results 
for her are concerned. We have spoken of some pos- 
sible deficiencies in knowledge or errors in practice on 
the part of the young man. Now let us speak of the 
bride. 
She was very young, possibly frightened so much that 
at first there was no room for sexual feeling, especially 
since there was evidently considerable haste on the part 
of her husband; but we know that she is perfectly nor- 
mal, for she had an orgasm at times when he touched her 
clitoris. Having this orgasm so quickly may show that 
she had some mental reservations, (thinking the whole 
process was not right or nice,) which were temporarily 
overcome by his maneuvers. She may worry because of 
the harmless practice of masturbation, which all boys 
and practically all girls have had some experience with, 
though girls are longer in getting at the truth of the 
matter and over the feeling that there has been some 
moral transgression of which to be ashamed, or that 
some physical calamity is pending as a result of this 
practice. If this is a factor, the sooner husband and 
wife talk over and dispose of these foolish worries which ADVICE FOR THE NEWLY MARRIED 
299 
have no basis, the better. If she thinks there is any- 
thing wrong or to be ashamed of in the preliminaries to 
sexual intercourse between husband and wife, I can 
assure her to the contrary. Perhaps she has had some 
special daydream, or erotic imaginings which have come 
upon her as a result of some story, show, or erotically 
stimulating scene which she has witnessed some time in 
her girlhood. Often these imaginary scenes are trouble- 
some to deal with, for the woman thinks there is some- 
thing wrong about harboring such thoughts and she 
cannot have erotic feelings without them - they have 
grown to be a habit. She should not hesitate to invoke 
the old pictures if they are necessary, and, if they are 
repugnant to her, later, with her husband's assistance 
or that of a trained psychologist, unravel the cause of 
these imaginary scenes and thus get rid of them. 
Her present condition, as shown in the note, which is 
worse than the first, is entirely the result of worry and 
dread over her non-success in sexual matters. She must 
first of all realize that her condition is not at all seri- 
ous and stop all worry. This in itself will help her 
much toward becoming entirely normal. There is no 
question whatever but that a young woman such as she 
is, with a considerate and honorable husband who loves 
her dearly, may become in a short time absolutely nor- 
mal and perfectly happy. Her irritability and his 
coldness are entirely due to the present conditions. 
Their present state would grow rapidly worse until 
chronic unhappiness, neurosis, or serious rupture re- 
sulted if things were allowed to take the course which 
has begun; but the young woman and the young man 
both are in love, both know that something is wrong, 
both ought to now realize that it is a small difficulty, 
both wish to have this difficulty rectified and they will 300 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
try to be considerate of each other until they find the 
remedy. If they do not find it in these suggestions they 
will give me, or some one, more information and the 
solution may be found instantly. 
I will now advise a specific plan of action for them, 
basing my judgment on what little I know of the case. 
First, let them talk this letter and all these matters over 
very freely and frankly with each other - and be sure 
to understand that, while their trouble will surely re- 
sult seriously if nothing is done, and that while there 
may be some discomfort for both in getting adjusted, 
it is really a very simple matter after they become en- 
tirely familiar with each other's personalities and are 
absolutely confidential and unreserved with each other. 
They must stop all worry and go to courting,- a kiss 
after breakfast, and one just before, in short, at all 
convenient seasons when away from the public eye. He 
should sit much on the sofa with his arm around her 
and her head " pillowed on his breast," as the novels say. 
They should try to avoid a crossness and coldness that 
is due entirely to their present sexual maladjustment 
and which is not wholly avoidable until they are com- 
pletely adjusted. Still, if they fully realize the reason, 
they will be more charitable and not take little things 
too much to heart. He should not urge her to inter- 
course against her will, but she should cheerfully let him 
try to make intelligent attempts at least twice a week, 
and for his comfort and disposition, she should see to it 
that, though she may not get satisfaction the first few 
times, he gets complete relief at such times. Before be- 
ginning intercourse he should hold her breasts gently, 
perhaps touch her nipples lovingly, then titillate her 
clitoris gently,- unless this brings an orgasm at once, 
in which case he should not repeat this, but start inter- ADVICE FOR THE NEWLY MARRIED 
301 
course after the first preliminaries, being in the reverse 
of the ordinary position, or in any position which 
proves to be the natural position for them. Intercourse 
should continue very slowly and if he cannot at first 
wait for her to come, let him do so and continue his em- 
braces until he has erection and desire again. Then let 
him continue slowly, always trying to bring the penis in 
contact with the clitoris (which is the sensitive little 
organ just above the opening of the vagina), while they 
are both making the movements of intercourse. If he 
is very percipitate, it will be well for him to lie perfectly 
still and let her make the movements when and as she 
desires. He will not have much success with her if he 
practices withdrawal at this early stage of their mar- 
ried life. It is sure to be bad for one or both parties if 
continued long at any time in married life. I should 
advise if there is not success at first, that they should 
not nag or be cold or cross to each other w'hen they have 
finished their attempts, for it is the fault of neither of 
them; the fault is ours and that of their parents, and 
that of the public in general. We should have told 
them a great many of these things before they were 
married. 
If there is any little anatomical peculiarity in either, 
it may have to be seen to. If there is something I have 
not thought of, which is unusual in their case, more 
advice will be necessary; but I fancy that, if this does 
not solve the difficulty, a list of more minute details 
from both husband and wife, wuth the thoughts in child- 
hood and youth and at the present time about marriage 
and sex, would enable me to guess correctly and find a 
ready remedy next time. IV 
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 
Within a week, I have received a letter containing 
some questions on sex subjects. It is from a highly 
educated man about sixty years of age, whose life has 
been spent in educational, literary, and public work. 
His character and morals have conformed in every way 
to the highest ethical standards. He has taken great 
interest in sex education for the young and has written 
pamphlets of instruction for young people. Many 
other educated, earnest, altruistic men and women have 
asked me similar questions about the most intimate rela- 
tions of life. All this indicates a tremendous amount 
of ignorance of these essential things among people who 
wish and will make every effort to do what is right in 
sex matters, if they know what this is. If this man has 
not learned these facts after raising a family and after 
a life-long experience with young people, and after spe- 
cial study of sex subjects, it is clear that people in 
general do not know these things. In fact, none of us 
know some of them. How can I better elucidate some 
things which I do know and express opinions which are 
the result of study and experience than by answering 
the questions in this letter, and some queries which rise 
incidental to them, as best I may, summoning to my aid 
facts from the histories of normal and nervous people 
whom I have long known and whose statements I can 
vouch for? 
The letter follows: 
302 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 
303 
My dear Dr. Robie: 
I want you to know that you have written an unsually 
strong book on a very important and much slighted sub- 
ject. I'm not sure I'd want boys and girls under twenty 
to read it. My eyes have been opened wide as to the pos- 
sible prevalence of sexual desire and its satisfaction. A 
few questions have occurred to me, suggested mainly by 
your book and partly by my many years' contemplation of 
this matter and observations also. 
You speak of " moderate " masturbation being in most 
cases harmless. What do you mean by "moderate"? 
Once a day, once a week, or even, as one of your patients 
admits, six or seven times a day? Does an emission al- 
ways follow masturbating? What I mean is, does manipu- 
lating the genitals without consummation constitute mastur- 
bation ? 
What is an orgasm? I have no medical books and the 
dictionary is not clear. Is it the sensation of pleasure 
one has while manipulating his or her privates? I can't 
quite express myself. In your description of the hysteria 
case you refer to her having several orgasms a day. Does 
this include the pleasurable sensation while emission is tak- 
ing place? I don't know much about the sensations felt 
by the female. In the case of a boy or man, can he have 
an orgasm without an emission? If one can have pleasing 
sensations without emission is it possible by regulating the 
manipulation to prolong the sensation almost without limit ? 
Is this more or less injurious than allowing an emission? 
I infer that this hysteria case was one of nerves. Is it 
safe to infer from this that nervous people may mastur- 
bate with impunity, say once or twice a day? If any ill 
effect were to follow, would it be heightened or lessened 
by avoiding an emission and manipulating the parts with a 
more or less mild pleasure resulting? These questions are 
suggested by your book, coupled with some observations 
during a long life as an educator. Thank you for elucidat- 
ing these matters. 
Sincerely. 
What is moderate masturbation? We may as well 
include intercourse, and ask also, what is the proper 304 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
frequency of indulgence for the married, since you who 
read this and who wish to teach your children, are gen- 
erally ignorant along this line and have often wondered 
over and prayed to know whether your own habits of 
life were right or wrong. Not understanding what is 
proper sex expression may lead to disastrous results, 
even in those happily married. 
Let me illustrate. A man high in affairs, prominent 
in the church, with a lovely wife and several fine chil- 
dren, at the acme of his physical strength and virility, 
nevertheless, alwrays had worried over the supposed dis- 
astrous effects of what I should call moderate mastur- 
bation in youth. He always had made strong attempts 
at repression, but for a number of years there had been 
periods when he masturbated three or four times a 
week. He felt now that any use of his sex powers had 
a tendency to reduce his mental efficiency. He gained 
this idea many years ago from quack advertisements 
and from reading the ordinary books on sex subjects. 
As his wrork required a very active brain, he denied 
himself, in spite of tremendous desire for his wife. His 
wife, being a normal woman who had reached the stage 
of full sexual development, also had strong desire for 
him; but she, learning of his fear of debilitation and 
supposing him to be right, like a true wife, sacrificed 
her own feelings and made every effort to conceal from 
him her own natural and ardent desire. He kept up 
this habit of control until he suffered intensely physi- 
cally and became a chronic neurotic. 
He had, as a business associate, a mature, unmarried, 
well developed woman of young adult years, who also 
suffered from desire, and longed for love, as does every 
normal woman. She fell in love wfith this man, the more 
naturally, probably, because of his perfect and re- QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 
305 
strained virility. (A woman's intuition commonly 
penetrates to these tilings, and every one knows that a 
perfect woman is always unconsciously drawn to the 
strong and virile man, just as she is repelled by the weak 
and impotent, regardless of the mental attainments, 
moral qualities or abundance of this world's goods.) I 
do not know whose was the greater fault; but they fell, 
though both earnestly desired to be right and moral, 
and both professed this desire by earnest church and 
social work. 
The anxiety over this state of affairs brought on the 
man a complete nervous collapse, with severe depression, 
crying spells and suicidal ideas. I obtained his story, 
explained that his foolish ideas in regard to normal 
sex relations were without foundation, and told him to 
have relations with his wife from three to five times a 
week, after having ascertained from her that this fre- 
quency would be not only acceptable but very desirable. 
I insisted that he should do as he already had deter- 
mined that he ought to do, and immediately sever his 
relations with the other woman. 
Then I sought out the other woman, who, though 
from force of love and strong desire had surrendered 
herself, yet constantly suffered from a guilty conscience 
and was herself anxious to break off their relations, 
though she felt that to do so might break her heart and 
ruin her life. I did what I could to help her regain her 
self-respect, and also gave her hygienic suggestions for 
her future sex life. I told her that a certain amount of 
auto-erotic relief probably would be necessary for one 
of her ardent nature and full development breaking off 
completely from a life of sexual adjustment, if she 
would avoid neurotic complications and physical suffer- 
ing. This woman, whose tears of shame and sorrow 306 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
and gratitude fell copiously during our interview went 
and " sinned no more." 
These things occurred many years ago, but as yet 
no nervous disturbances or other disharmonies have oc- 
curred in any of the parties concerned. What I wish 
to impress from this illustration is that ignorance of the 
first principles of life led this man to be unfaithful to 
his wife, to disgrace himself in his own eyes, and to 
tempt another woman into error. 
When I told him to have intercourse with his wife 
from three to five times a week, I already had gained 
a pretty good notion of prevalent customs in this mat- 
ter. I also remembered Martin Luther's advice to the 
married, of two or three times a week, as proper for 
sexual congress. I have seen a tremendous amount of 
suffering and inefficiency in the best sort of married 
people from being too continent. I have no doubt that 
among the very ignorant and the very rich, the reverse 
is often true. I cannot be too emphatic, however, in 
the statement that many of those people who have every 
wish to live correctly and who do so to the best of their 
ability and knowledge, but who become partially ineffi- 
cient and suffer consequently from nervous diseases and 
from constant mental strain and physical discomfort, in 
spite of the most intelligent, earnest efforts at sublima- 
tion or repression of the sex impulse, are too continent. 
I quote very briefly from the histories of a few out of 
the many people I have known. 
A man, well educated, of high mechanical ability, and 
his wife, an accomplished musician, married sixteen 
years, with two healthy children, have been happy and 
in excellent health. Neither are of very ardent tem- 
perament. Often there is an interval of a week or ten 
days between sexual relations, which may then occur QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 
307 
two or three times a week, followed by another interval 
of comparative abstinence. Their relations always are 
mutually satisfactory. Before marriage, both mastur- 
bated to some extent, but their minds were early set at 
rest on this score. 
A university professor and wife, both highly edu- 
cated, hard working and with minds of the highest order, 
made a study of these matters. Both masturbated 
somewhat before marriage, both worried over this; but 
were relieved from worry on investigation. They have 
one robust child, are ideabin their home life and are 
useful and popular everywhere. This young wife told 
me that she considered it her absolute duty to be free 
enough from care and from the exhaustion of household 
work to be ready to anticipate and participate in mu- 
tually satisfactory sex relations about three times a 
week. 
Another educator of note discussed with me sex mat- 
ters soon after his marriage. Both he and his wife 
were of very ardent nature. Before marriage his wife 
had masturbated daily for eight or ten years. He had 
pursued the same practice for a time, but had aban- 
doned it as the result of fright from sex lectures and 
quack literature. He then sought clandestine inter- 
course occasionally when repression seemed impossible. 
He contracted gonorrhoea, abandoned all promiscuity, 
and was pronounced cured by a physician before mar- 
riage. Both he and his wife had suffered keenest agony 
over their sexual aberrations. Freed from this, to a 
large extent, and deeply in love with each other, they 
had sexual relations almost daily for some years. 
Later, either would respond at any sign of desire in 
the other. Now, after nearly twenty years, both desire 
and fully enjoy relations from once to three times a 308 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
week. This union has been perfectly ideal, both parties 
have been in perfect health, and they have several abso- 
lutely normal children. 
A professional man about seventy, married at thirty, 
had been told, at the age of twelve or fourteen, by an 
older boy that occasional masturbation was not harm- 
ful, and he resorted to this once or twice a week up to 
the time of his marriage. Since marriage, intercourse 
has occurred with about the same frequency. He and 
his wife have had a long, strenuous life of usefulness 
and are now surrounded by children and grandchildren 
in abundance. 
A clergyman and wife, married many years, and with 
a good sized family were in a most unsatisfactory condi- 
tion. They were living together, but he said he was in 
Hell, and she certainly ought to have been in a sanita- 
rium. I talked with this woman four hours, and w'ithin 
a fortnight he told me his Hell had been changed to 
Heaven. She became perfectly well and happy, and 
has been so over six years. It seems that this woman 
who had, like most nervous women, the highest ideals of 
purity, had, from the teaching of older girls and irre- 
pressible sex desire, been led to masturbate a few times 
a month during her girlhood and young womanhood. 
She had arrived at the opinion that everything about 
sex was low' and degrading, that she herself was unfit to 
be a wife or mother. Nevertheless, she had married, 
with the resolution that intercourse should be only for 
the purpose of procreation. She broke this rule some- 
what, but postponed each sexual embrace until her 
desire w as irresistible and her husband's desire had com- 
pelled him to masturbate for relief. The interval was 
usually tw o or three weeks. I cleared her brain of some 
old-fogy notions and made her believe that it was per- QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 
309 
missible and moral for them to have intercourse as often 
as they had the inclination, provided it did not interfere 
with their health, happiness, or usefulness. All these 
things increased an hundredfold, and they began to 
have and still have relations from two to four times a 
week. 
A young woman who had been, from the age of six- 
teen, nervous, frail, and self-condemning, on account of 
masturbation when repression seemed impossible, in 
spite of hard study, high ideals, and religious work, 
became obsessed at about the age of twenty-two, with 
sex imagery. These constant sex imaginings probably 
resulted from the natural increase of sex ardor, likely 
to occur at her age, coupled with the fact that a young 
man had shown her marked attentions, which had come 
to nothing, as he married another girl. She was in a 
deplorable state of nervous depression, and all efforts 
to control constant imaginings of sex situations with 
this young man and others were unavailing. I told her 
that nature was nothing to be ashamed of and that, 
though repression to a certain extent was right and 
advisable, it was wrong when carried to the extent to 
which she had carried it. I told her she ought to 
marry, but she would never be able to if she persisted in 
her struggles as she had been doing. I said I should 
respect her just as much, as would every other decent 
man and woman, if she resorted to enough auto-erotic 
relief to control her obsessing thoughts and her physical 
discomfort. She tried this once a week and improved 
greatly, but still suffered from insomnia and constant 
headache. Then she tried two or three times a week, 
and the most magical change ensued. Several years 
have passed, and she has been, up to date, reasonably 
happy, self-supporting, and in good health. 310 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
Another woman of liberal education, who had had 
sexual shocks in early youth, from contact with a man 
much her senior, and who had masturbated later to some 
extent became neurotic and suicidal from shame and 
self-condemnation over these things. Explanations 
were given, her self-respect was regained, she allowed 
her long-repressed sexual feelings some expression auto- 
erotically, frequently for some weeks, and then about 
once a week except at the menstrual period, when these 
experiences occurred three or four times on successive 
days. She gained in weight, resumed her work, began 
to look forward to a home and children, and altogether 
became the picture of a perfectly contented woman. 
A man of twenty-six had symptoms similar to those 
of the young woman above. Accidentally and spon- 
taneously he had begun to masturbate at twenty. He 
was highly educated and read, not the quack, but med- 
ical treatises on these subjects. He felt certain of 
moral degradation, and confident that he would become 
insane. He immediately adopted, after some explana- 
tion, what I considered a sensible view of the matter, 
and gave up his too strenuous repression. He mas- 
turbated two or three times a week from that time until 
his marriage, a year or two later, and he is still well 
and happy. 
I have given samples of several classes of men and 
women. I might multiply the cases from each class 
almost indefinitely from my own records, and I know 
that others who have dealt w7ith these matters could do 
the same as I, but these are enough for illustration. I 
should say, from the above and other experiences, that 
moderate masturbation wras about the same as mod- 
erate intercourse, and that no absolute rule could be 
laid down for either, since people differ so much in QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 
311 
virility and in the rapidity of life changes. Once a 
fortnight would be moderate for one, possibly once a 
day would be for another. Still, both would be ex- 
treme cases. Two or three times a week are still, I 
think, as in the time of Luther, the frequency with which 
strong desire may be safely gratified in a large majority 
of people of both sexes, whether single or married; but 
the stimulation to sex activity in married life is such 
that more frequent relief is necessary than in the un- 
married of equal sex capability. Auto-erotic relief 
once or twice a week, when desire is strong, too strong 
for resistance, ought to be safe in the unmarried and 
ought to be sufficient, in one who is intelligently striving 
to be continent. 
Taking up the other questions, the word orgasm, in 
medical terms, is used to denote the spasmodic, rhyth- 
mic contractions which occur at the height of sexual 
pleasure in either sex. At this time, the expulsion of 
semen occurs in the male, and a discharge of mucus 
from the glands in the vulva and vagina in the female. 
Following the orgasm is relief, disappearance of desire, 
and temporary exhaustion in the male, and often the 
same sequence in the female; but many women, and 
among them those most virtuous and normal, desire and 
need slight additional stimulation after the first or- 
gasm, upon which occur one, two, or more orgasms in 
rapid succession, followed finally by complete abatement 
of sexual desire. 
Self-induced sexual excitement to any extent is tech- 
nically masturbation, but it is usually understood that 
an orgasm is produced. However, I have been told 
by hundreds who have masturbated that they had done 
so many times to the extent of pleasurable sensations 
and even to the verge of an orgasm and then, by force 312 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
of will, foregone the climax. This had been done be- 
cause of the prevalent belief that the danger of mas- 
turbation lay mostly, if not altogether, in the loss of 
semen in the male and in the acme of excitement in the 
female. Some have postponed the orgasm for a time 
in this way frankly to prolong the pleasurable sensa- 
tions. This withholding of the orgasm is at the basis 
of the doctrines of the Oneida Community, who claimed 
to practice intercourse without emission of semen in the 
male and without the attainment of the orgasm in the 
female. 
Karezza, a book written by a woman physician, ad- 
vocates the same thing, the purpose being to spare the 
woman too frequent pregnancies. 
Another book, entitled Zugassent's Discovery, is de- 
voted to the advocacy of the same practice. I, myself, 
have recommended that a man should, at times, refrain 
from reaching a climax, or orgasm, wrhen he finds that 
his wife, at that time, cannot accomplish it, and also I 
have advised delay on the part of the husband until the 
wife was ready for the climax. Undoubtedly, there is 
neither any harm nor much benefit except for the psy- 
chic satisfaction, to the man himself, from this pro- 
cedure, but there is undoubtedly great benefit to the wife. 
If the orgasm is alwrays withheld or if there are very 
frequent, long periods of unsatisfied sex excitement, al- 
though after a time abatement of desire as a result of 
exhaustion may occur, there is no actual relief of the sex 
glands nor a restored equilibrium such as occurs after 
every completed sexual act. In these cases, harm may 
be done to the nerves of the parts, and perhaps to the 
entire nervous system. It is my belief that the members 
of the Oneida Community or the other cults committed 
to this practice did have orgasms now and then by mas- QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 
313 
turbation or otherwise and that no one of strong virility 
could induce protracted periods of sex excitement, cov- 
ering a long period of time without occasional complete 
relief in an orgasm without serious harm resulting. On 
the other hand, I have known of couples deficient in 
virile power, or advanced in years to have, for years, 
regular periods of sexual enjoyment without orgasm, 
and so far as I could judge, this was beneficial rather 
than otherwise. 
Concerning masturbation in a neurotic individual, 
it is safe to say that usually a neurotic differs little 
from the ordinary normal person except that he has un- 
dergone sex shocks in childhood, or he has stronger 
moral scruples concerning his inability entirely to re- 
press his sexual desire. The worry about this fre- 
quently is the sole cause of the nervous trouble. At 
other times repressed, sub-conscious experiences cause 
the trouble. When conscious repression has been ex- 
treme, or where hysteria or obsessions or phobias have 
been substituted for desire, which is temporarily absent, 
sex relief possibly once a day for a time, in either the 
single or the married, seems almost unavoidable if the 
person is to get rapidly over the nervous condition. 
This frequency, however, is desired or is necessary only 
for a short time when relief once or twice a week or less 
is all there is demand or necessity for. If you take the 
flashboards off the dam, the water that has been held 
back must go over with a rush in large volume for a 
short time. Then only that which comes in from the 
stream which feeds the pond flows over. The same 
thing occurs when, by wise instruction the check to un- 
necessary restraint is removed and the long pent-up sex- 
uality seeks frequent expression for a short time. No 
orgasm occurs without emission, though, after a long 314 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
period, there may be a disappearance of desire and sen- 
sation. Space does not permit further question and 
answer in this connection, but there are many allied 
topics which could be discussed with propriety and 
profit by parents and their married or marriageable 
children. V 
IS CONTINENCE NECESSARY TO THE 
HIGHEST ACHIEVEMENT? 
Most writers on sex subjects assert that strict con- 
tinence must be observed during prolonged mental ef- 
forts, or when preparing for or accomplishing difficult 
physical tasks. This is advanced as a rule of universal 
application. I have not enough evidence to refute this 
teaching altogether, but I have absolute proof that 
there are numerous exceptions to any such rule. While 
it is abundantly demonstrated that prolonged effort, 
psychic or physical, by an individual in a state of semi- 
starvation, or in extreme temperatures, tends to reduce 
or abolish temporarily the sex impulse, while it is with- 
out doubt true, also, that many people whose sex na- 
tures are subnormal may use all the superfluous sex 
force by sublimation in other forms of prolonged effort, 
and while it may be that some strongly sexed people are 
able to use the entire sex surplus in the sublimation inci- 
dent to mental or physical endeavor, nevertheless, re- 
peated observations, made on actual people, convinc- 
ingly establish that there are at least very many excep- 
tions in this last class. 
A man who had studied these matters carefully and 
who had made repeated observations on himself for 
many years, became thoroughly convinced that he un- 
derwent periods of great physical strenuosity much 
better, that his efforts could be more prolonged and 
better sustained if the usual regime, which included mar- 
315 316 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
ital relations several times a week, was adhered to. It 
also became convincingly evident, when difficult and pro- 
longed mental work was in progress, that there was 
always an increase in the sex impulse. If this were re- 
sisted, and continence, or practical continence, observed, 
the work became arduous and irksome, and the result 
of little value. But when nature was heeded and mar- 
ital relations increased considerably beyond the usual 
frequency, he did the best work of which he was capable, 
and did it with ease and enthusiasm. 
A teacher of much experience, whose work, of course, 
is prevailingly mental, reports, after repeated experi- 
ences in a state of repression alternating with a state 
which he believed to be that of conjugal license, or even 
excess, that in the latter condition, in spite of his con- 
victions, he performed all his duties enthusiastically and 
well; while in the former state constant irritability, ab- 
sence of enthusiasm, and a low state of efficiency charac- 
terized his attitude and his work. 
Several college students of both sexes have reported 
that ordinarily the sex impulse was under excellent con- 
trol, auto-erotic relief being sought, perhaps, once or 
twice a week in addition to occasional emissions or other 
of the sex manifestations of sleep; but when difficult ex- 
aminations were being undergone or prolonged thinking 
was in progress, sex impulses would invariably show an 
automatic increase. If these were repressed, the work 
seemed much harder and the results much less satisfac- 
tory than when auto-erotism was increased for a period 
corresponding to that of increased mental work. After 
repeated experiences there was no doubt whatever that, 
with more frequent sex expression, the work was done 
much more easily, with a greater sense of well-being, 
and the results were incomparably more creditable. IS CONTINENCE NECESSARY 
317 
A young woman who had the nocturnal sleep mani- 
festations of sexual dreams with orgasm about once 
a month, and who, in addition, allowed herself auto- 
erotic relief, consisting of one or two orgasms once, or 
possibly twice, a week, during a week of difficult ex- 
aminations, had persistent erotic feelings on Monday, 
followed by an auto-erotic experience in which there 
were two orgasms. All anxiety disappeared, and the 
examinations for the next two days went with unusual 
smoothness. Again, on Thursday afternoon, preced- 
ing a most difficult examination set for the following 
morning, she suffered from unusual and distressing sex- 
ual disturbance which she finally quelled by an auto- 
erotic experience culminating in five orgasms in rapid 
succession. She had never had, previously, any such 
erotic experience. Immediately after this, she felt 
calm, self-reliant, and in perfect form. 
On the following day she passed very creditably the 
examination in which she had expected to fail, and all 
the rest of the work of the week went smoothly. Next 
week she had no erotic disturbances and was not at all 
tired or nervous, conditions which invariably had been 
present on former similar occasions, when she had exer- 
cised complete control over all erotic feelings. 
I might quote other conscientious and exact observa- 
tions similar to the above, and numerous less exact ob- 
servations of men and women who have, in their own 
cases, observed similar results under similar conditions 
of continence or relative continence. 
These certainly are sufficient to show that the hith- 
erto accepted postulate that continence is necessary for 
highest achievement is debatable, if not a hypothesis 
constructed from insufficient data. 
The following quotation from Herbert Spencer, FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
318 
though I never have seen it quoted by those claiming 
to submit facts as a basis for sex ethics, is at least 
suggestive in this connection. 
That the physiological effects of a completely celibate 
life on either sex are to some extent injurious, seems an 
almost necessary implication of the natural condition, but 
whether or not there be disagreement on this point, there 
can be none respecting the effects of a celibate life as men- 
tally injurious. 
Herbert Spencer, Inductions of Ethics, Sec. 231. VI 
REGENERATION 
Some years ago I boarded a week or two at the same 
house with a very clever mechanic. He evidently was 
not of the type whose sex histories I cared to use in the 
study I have been making, as his moral standards were 
too elastic; but, becoming somewhat interested in him, 
and partly with the hope of helping him, and partly, 
to satisfy my own curiosity, I obtained his history, 
which I think worth presenting, as showing that sexual 
misdemeanors do not always prevent a return to the 
upper air. 
This young man of twenty-five came of a healthy 
parentage and never had had any serious sickness. 
When he was twelve years old, he was kicked in the 
scrotum by a horse, causing a left-oblique inguinal her- 
nia and later atrophy of the left testicle. When four- 
teen years of age, a girl of eighteen seduced him. At 
her first overtures, he was frightened; but she assisted 
him and pulled him over upon her, and he soon had an 
orgasm with semen. For some time he had intercourse 
with this girl every three days, then every day for a 
month or so. 
Six months after the initial experience, he left that 
locality, and being deprived of intercourse, began to 
masturbate about twice a week. He soon imbibed the 
popular fears regarding this practice and remembered 
that his mother had told him, when he was a small boy, 
319 320 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
that if he played with himself he would go crazy. He 
wondered if masturbation would not make him lose his 
desire for intercourse with women. He made an effort 
to stop masturbating, and would abstain for two or 
three weeks, when he would have a nocturnal emission, 
which frightened him as much as the masturbation. In 
spite of his experience with the girl, he attempted to 
refrain from promiscuous relations; but, as his nature 
was too strong for absolute continence, and he dared 
not masturbate, fearing insanity or that he would cease 
to care for women altogether, he began to have inter- 
course with girls once in two or three weeks. He never 
went with common prostitutes more than once or twice, 
fearing disease. 
When he was nineteen, the aunt of one of his chums, a 
woman much older than he, came into his room, and 
stayed over night. This was done to accommodate him, 
but he contracted gonorrhoea, which soon was cured by 
appropriate treatment. 
Once he said to a married friend, " You have a nice 
little wife," to which the husband replied, " "Why don't 
you come to see her? " He went to see them one even- 
ing. The man asked him to stay over night, saying he 
could sleep with him. When he woke in the morning, 
he found the man's wife in the bed between them. The 
man said " This is my side. You may have the other." 
Then he got up and left the room, and his wife locked 
the door. This woman was very erotic, and for a long 
time he visited her frequently with the husband's ap- 
proval. 
For the last three years he has been going with one 
young woman and has been with no other woman during 
this period. He refrained from intercourse and mas- 
turbation for six months, then began to have emissions REGENERATION 
321 
once a week. After this had happened four or five 
times, he was frightened, as he had been when a boy, and 
began to masturbate about once a week until six months 
ago when, after much persuasion, the girl consented to 
intercourse. Whenever he suggested it, she tried to 
persuade him not to do it, but finally consented. 
Though they were much together, their sexual relations 
were infrequent. I explained somewhat about mastur- 
bation and emissions, and he said that if he had a boy, 
he would prefer to have him masturbate ever so fre- 
quently rather than to go with a woman. 
I asked him about marrying the girl, and he said he 
thought of doing so sometime when his finances were sat- 
isfactory. I then urged very strongly that he do this 
at once, and I was gratified to learn that they were mar- 
ried within two weeks. He has remained faithful to her, 
they have two healthy children, and their home is un- 
usually happy.1 
i Ten years later. VII 
THE OLD IDEALISM IN SEX TEACHING 
There is a book entitled Marriage and the Sex Prob- 
lem by F. W. Foerster, Professor of Education in the 
University of Vienna, which I have not space to attempt 
to review. It is full of good intentions, partial truths, 
and the highest traditional idealism. I shall give a few 
brief quotations, but it must be read in its entirety to 
learn where unqualified idealism, without consideration 
of nature and instinct, leads us. He says: 
By thus resisting intellectual curiosity, a sense of shame 
exerts also another kind of protective influence; it restrains 
people from regarding a function which should be dedi- 
cated to the service of the race as a mere means of per- 
sonal enjoyment. The great educators of the past have 
all been instinctively aware of this truth, and have strongly 
insisted on the importance of cultivating a sense of shame; 
they have realised that the chief task of sexual education 
is not to draw the attention to sex matters, but to de- 
tract it from them. They have understood that in making 
use of the intellect to restrain sex instincts, there was every 
danger of the intellect itself, through the excessive famil- 
iarization, being captured and employed in the service of 
the enemy. Their methods were therefore indirect. They 
believed it best to develop religious thoughts which should 
have the effect of raising the individual, not only above 
sensuality but above the whole sphere of the material uni- 
verse. By means of ennobling truths, and symbols, they 
aimed at keeping the individual constantly in touch with 
a higher life. On the basis of such considerations as the 
above, I find myself compelled to protest emphatically and 
322 THE OLD IDEALISM 
323 
on principle against every kind of sexual instruction in the 
school, and in fact, against any too detailed enlightenment 
of the young with regard to sexual matters. 
. . . Even in the case of boys leaving school at the end 
of their teens it is of no value to enter into explanations 
of all the different sexual diseases, as is now so often done. 
The boys already know more about this subject than the 
teacher tells them. It would produce an infinitely better 
effect, if the teacher were to give the boys the broadest 
idea he could of the great possibilities of character; if he 
were to encourage them to look at the whole question of 
sex from the point of view of character, to consider their 
responsibilities, and the value of restraint and self-mas- 
tery. . . . The scientific method I believe is not practi- 
cable. . . . We must not forget that the root of all thirst 
for knowledge lies in sexual curiosity, and that it would 
involve a great injury to the development of humanity if 
children were to be permanently enlightened. . . . He who 
thinks religion is derived from sex, who ranks himself with 
those foolish people who are always trying to explain the 
world from one point of view, does not understand that 
the mighty uplifting force which was behind the great re- 
' ligious personalities of the past - and indeed led them to 
deny themselves earthly love, could hardly have itself orig- 
inated from sex instinct . . . those whose aim it is to sub- 
ject human nature to the spirit and to arouse the will to 
self-activity will need earnest and strict ideals which lift 
the spiritual clear above the natural, and present it in a 
state of purity and separation from sensuous influences. 
. . . Those who mock at celibacy as unnatural and impos- 
sible, know not, in very truth, what they do. . . . Consist- 
ent monogamy stands or falls with the esteem in which 
celibacy is held. 
If I had had the requisite ability, I should have writ- 
ten just such a book twenty-five years ago, before I 
began the intensive study of people; and had I contin- 
ued reading books alone, I certainly should have had the 
disposition and perhaps the necessary kind of scholarly 
ability requisite for writing a similar book today; but 324 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
the book of life has taken from me, as have the necessi- 
ties of life, much time that others have given to episte- 
mology, to dialectics and to form. I never can hope 
to compete with them in these things. My prolixity, 
and irrelevancy, my barbarisms, solecisms, and general 
incongruities were prescribed for me by an environment 
as inexorable as those human limitations whose influ- 
ences I so often insist inexorably proscribe man's com- 
plete temporal realization of that Absolute which is ever 
his quest. 
The book I have quoted from, is written with the 
highest educational and moral motives, by one who is 
most scholarly in the learning of the schools. It is a 
most readable book and its doctrines are what those of 
us who have aspired for the elevation and purification 
of humanity, along the lines of the older idealism, would 
like to believe without reservation; but it is not a ques- 
tion of what we may think should be an ideal life and 
an ideal destiny for man, but of what life and of what 
destiny he is capable within his temporal limitations. 
I recommend the reading of this book and its acceptance 
within proper limits, but not in toto. The author's 
knowledge is of books and systems, his aspirations are 
for ideals far and away above nature and biology, and 
he takes no account of the physical man. For him, all 
instinct and emotion are to be repressed, dominated, 
sublimated. If this man had possessed, with his other 
qualifications, a real, intimate, scientific knowledge of 
the inner springs of human life and conduct, he would 
have become an idealist with sufficient pragmatism to 
accommodate human limitations. 
It is one-sided books of this kind, of unimpeachable 
honesty, and assuredly of purposes above criticism, yet 
palpably untrue to life in our age or any age, which THE OLD IDEALISM 
325 
have furnished the neurologist and the alienist with 
much of their business in the last decade, and which have 
filled our divorce courts to overflowing and helped re- 
cruit the ranks of prostitution,- things which are all 
farthest from the thought and intent of the authors. 
Why can an extremist never be right? Because we are 
not infinite. If man could reach infinity or perfection, 
then unqualified lines of conduct might be prescribed, 
but man has limitations. He is human, finite, and is 
as much a derelict in an ether so refined that his sensu- 
ous nature, which is fundamental for him and an in- 
tegral part of him, cannot breathe, as his body is when 
it is engulfed in a flood so filled with the debris of the 
lowest sensual that he cannot swim. Whether we wish 
to or not, we must take cognizance of ourselves, of man- 
kind in general, and if we are made to breathe air, not 
attempt to go in our aeroplanes beyond the atmosphere 
which is our natural habitat. We must keep trout in 
well-aerated water if we wish to preserve life, but a pout 
will live a long time in the mud. You may remove a 
man's stomach, observing proper technique, and he may 
live and thrive, but you cannot remove the whole di- 
gestive tract and get any such result. 
The author's remarks on the feasibility or desirabil- 
ity of celibacy and absolute continence, remind me of a 
conversation which occurred during the early days of 
my sex investigations. In advancing a somewhat hesi- 
tating opinion to a very scientific authority, I said, 
" There is nothing to prove that absolute continence 
for a long time is a healthful or possible condition, but 
we often have instances where protracted continence 
shows the opposite." 
He was ready with an answer and took at once a 
mutual acquaintance as an example - a bachelor of 326 
FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS 
forty, strong, robust, well-balanced, highly cultured, 
and efficient. " There," he said, " is a man whom we 
know to be absolutely continent and at the same time, 
in perfect mental and physical health." Plainly, I was 
well refuted, but had it not been for the secrecy as to 
identity which has always gone in my sex investigations, 
I need not have been; for I already knew the history of 
the individual in question. I knew that he had had an 
early love affair, that he did not propose to the girl, as 
he felt that he could not marry for a long time for 
financial reasons, that she waited years for him to speak, 
and that when he did not, she married another, that he 
learned later that she had cared for him as he had for 
her, that he kept her as his ideal and never found an- 
other, that this ideal was his talisman against promis- 
cuity, that when sex demands were oppressive and obses- 
sive, he masturbated as much as the conditions seemed 
to warrant. 
I often am amused when people with insufficient prem- 
ises and no knowledge of life, use as arguments the celi- 
bacy of a priesthood, or the continent lives of thought- 
to-be-known individuals. My critic knew as much as 
they, and neither knew much of the real conditions. It 
is annoying to see chapters, whole books even, by edu- 
cated men, based on such circumstantial evidence, or 
pure guesswork. 
Reader, gentle or indignant, I may be very wrong, 
but I give you facts, cold, hard facts, facts repeated 
times without number. My mental limitations incapac- 
itate me for more logical deductions, or for more lucid 
reasoning than I have given already. I frankly admit 
that I was nurtured in the hot-bed of idealism. I was 
responsive to such stimuli. I thank God that I was and 
am an idealist, so far as maybe; but, until the old ideal- THE OLD IDEALISM 
327 
ism is restated in terms of biology and human limita- 
tions, pragmatism is for me the only possible idealism 
consistent with a well-rounded out, moral, healthy, and 
happy human life. We must have enough common 
sense to allow time and ability for preparation for the 
Heaven which is to be the home of all idealists, and 
maybe of pragmatists, and possibly of all the rest. INDEX 
Acquired characters, 6 
Authorities agreeing with au- 
thor, 257, 290 
Author of Onania, Lalle- 
mand, Tissot, Voltaire, con- 
cerning auto-erotism, 238 
Auto-erotism, denied, 200 
Auto-erotism, indications for, 
226 
Avoidance of extremes, 234 
Burrow, Dr. Trigant, 27, 29, 30, 
36, 47 
Belief in future existence, 235 
Breuer and Freud, 28 
Case histories, case 1, 144; case 
2, 146; case 8, 148; case 13, 
149; case 57, 151 case 59, 152; 
case, 309, 153; case, 312, 155; 
case 313, 157; case 314, 159. 
Christianity, early abuses in, 
237 
Concessions to sex, 289 
Conclusions, 256, 257 
Conditioned motor reflex, 98, 
108-117, 123 
Conditioned psychic reflex, 117 
Continence, 32 
Continence, observations on, 
314-317 
Conventions, 34 
Criticism of Rational Sex Ethics 
and discussion of same, 265- 
275 
Dreams and interpretations, 41- 
45, 77, 78, 82-97, 120, 127-137 
Enquiries, answers to, with il- 
lustrative cases, 303-313 
Erotic feelings, arousal of, 123, 
124 
Exhibitionist, 107 
Female frigidity, so-called, 257 
Foerster, F. W., Marriage 
and the Sex Problem, quota- 
tions from, 321, 322 
Freud, 33, 78, 99, 112 
Gratification, sexual, frequency 
of, 310 
Happiness, legitimate and laud- 
able, 231 
Hall, Dr. G. S., Adolescence, 
275 
Herbert, Dr. S., Psychology 
and Physiology of Sex, 282 
Histories in detail, 34, 49, 57, 
99, 219-221 
Holding to old beliefs, 239 
Horton, 78 
Hysteria, case of, 98 
Ignorance and fear of sex a 
menace to health and moral- 
ity, 255 
Incomplete sex instruction, 198 
et seq. 
Individual and society, the, 187 
Jung, 78 
Karezza, 311 
Lamark, 6 
Letter of enquiry on sex sub- 
jects, 302 
Letter of soldier's wife, 211- 
214 
Literary editor of American 
Hygiene Association, 265, 266 
Luther, 210 
329 330 
INDEX 
Married couples not adjusted, 
223, 224 
Mental hygiene, 138, 218 
Mistaken diagnosis, 213-218 
Newly married, the, practical 
suggestions for, 291-300 
Nietzsche, 278 
Nocturnal emissions, 124 
Nocturnal sleep manifestations 
in women, 125 
CEdipus complex, 24 
Oneida Community, 311 
Origination of instinct to right 
conduct, 239 
Pawlow, 98 
Point of view, 62, 63, 73-76 
Polymorphous perversion not 
ab origine, 75 
Pragmatism, 48 
Pragmatic criterion, 78 
Prince, 79, 98 
Problem of continence and 
morality, 224, 225 
Propaedeutic, unmethodological, 
228-231 
Psycho-analysis, 28 
Psycho-analysis and society, 
27-79 
Question, the sex, practical 
side, 284 
Question, the sex, spiritual 
side, 283 
Questionnaire, psychology and 
physiology of sex, 140 
Questionnaire, additions to, 
143 
Quotations from books of sex 
instruction, 240-247 
Reform of one given to sexual 
license, 318-320 
Review of Rational Sex Ethics 
by Journal of American 
Medical Association, 276 
Review of Rational Sex Ethicg 
by Journal of National Medi- 
cal Association, 276 
Review of Rational Sex Ethics 
bv International Journal of 
Ethics, 277 
Robinson, 5 
Sex education, suggestions for 
repairing defects in, 259-262 
Sex histories, introduction to, 
139, 140 
Sex histories, case a, 162; case 
b, 165; case c, 166; case d, 
168; case e, 170; case f, 173; 
case g, 175; case h, 176; case 
i, 178; case j, 179; case k, 
185; case 1, 183 
Sex ideals, 30 
Sex knowledge under perma- 
nent ban, 258 
Sex study avoided and why, 236 
Sex teachings, criticisms of er- 
roneous, 247-254 
Sexually adjusted, 31 
Sexual instinct, 280, 281 
Sherrington, 99 
Source of material, 210 
Spencer, Herbert, 317 
Spencerian ethics, 30 
Talmy, Dr. B. F., 192 et seq. 
Transference, 33 
Treatment, 113, 221 
Voluptuous dreams, a substi- 
tute for conscious auto-ero- 
tism, 206-209 
Watson, J. R., 98 
Weissman, 6 
Women, nervous and hysterical, 
283 
Woodruff, 198 
Yerkes, 98 
Zugassent's Discovery, 311