The sexual question

CHAPTER IVToC

THE SEXUAL APPETITE

If we sum up the three preceding chapters we arrive at the philosophical conclusion that reproduction depends on the general natural tendency of all living beings to multiply indefinitely. Fission and sexual reproduction arise from the simple fact that the growth of each individual is necessarily limited in space as well as time. Reproduction is thus destined to assure the continuation of life; the individual dies but is perpetuated in his progeny. We do not know why the crossing of individuals is rendered necessary by the phenomenon of conjugation. On this subject we can only build hypotheses, but the study of nature shows us that where conjugation ceases reproduction is etiolated and finally disappears, even when it is still possible for a certain time.

From the commencement of life there is thus a powerful law of attraction with the object of reproduction. At first there are unicellular organisms, in which one cell penetrates the other in the act of conjugation. Their substances combine intimately, while the molecules of each nucleus become so arranged as to give the new individual a more fresh and powerful energy of growth.

In the lower multicellular plants and animals which bud, fresh buds live at the expense of the old trunk to give life to new branches, and the male cells or pollen fecundate the female cells so as to disperse the germs capable of growth and of thus reproducing the species. It is also the same in the madrepores and other agglomerated animals (such as the solitary worms), composed of parameres or metameres, so long as a single central nervous system does not coordinate the metameres, or primary agglutinated animals, into a single organism.

In the higher animals, the complex polycellular individuals formed by the agglomeration of several primitive animals, are transformed into a higher and mobile unity by the aid of the great vital apparatus called the nervous system, which becomes the mental director of the living organism and invests it with its individual character. However, this higher unity of life, which always becomes more psychic, that is to say, at the same time intellectual, sentimental and voluntary, by its complication and its numerous relations with other individuals, this unity called the central nervous system cannot do without the necessity for reproduction. In animal phylogeny, as soon as hermaphrodism has ceased and each individual has become the sole bearer of one of the two kinds of sexual cells, the species will eventually disappear if the male cells cannot reach the female cells by the active movement of the whole individual. Thus is produced the marvelous phenomenon of the desire of increase and reproduction, originally peculiar to the male cell, penetrating the nervous system, that is to say life and soul in its entirety, the life of the higher unity of the individual. An ardent desire, a powerful impulse thus arises in the nervous system at the time of puberty and attracts the individual toward the opposite sex. The care and the pleasure of self preservation, which had hitherto fully occupied his attention, become effaced by this new impulse. The desire to procreate dominates everything. A single pleasure, a single desire, a single passion lays hold of the organism and urges it toward the individual of the opposite sex, and to become united with it in intimate contact and penetration. It is as if the nervous system or the whole organism felt as if it had for the moment become a germinal cell, so powerful is the desire to unite with the other sex.

In some beautiful verses the German poet-philosopher Goethe (West-Oestlicher Divan, book VIII, "Suleika") describes the desire to procreate (p. 63):

If we look at nature we see everywhere the same desire and the same attraction of the sexes for each other; the bird which warbles, the mammal which ruts, the insect which hums while pursuing the female with implacable tenacity, at the risk of their own life, employing sometimes cunning, sometimes dexterity, and sometimes force to attain their object. The ardor of the female is not always much less, but she uses coquetry, pretending to resist, and simulates repulsion. The more eager the male, the more coquettish is the female. If we observe the amorous sport of butterflies and birds, we see what efforts it costs the male to attain his object. On the other hand when the male is clumsy and slow the female often comes toward him or at any rate does not resist him, for instance in certain ants the males of which are wingless while the females have wings. The final act always consists in intimate union at the moment of copulation.

In some animals Nature is prodigal in the means she employs to pursue her great object, reproduction, by aid of the sexual appetite. The apiary raises hundreds of male bees. As soon as the single queen-bee takes wing for its nuptial flight all the males follow, but a single male only, the strongest and most nimble, succeeds in reaching her. In the intoxication of copulation he abandons all his genital organs to the body of the queen and dies. The other males, now useless, are all massacred in autumn by the working bees.

Sexual connection among butterflies of the Bombyx family is no less marvelous. They live for months as caterpillars and sometimes for two years as chrysalids, hibernating in a cocoon in some corner of the earth or in the bark of trees. Finally the butterfly, brilliantly colored, emerges from the cocoon and spreads its wings. It only possesses, however, a rudimentary intestinal canal for the short life which remains, for it does not require much nourishment and is only devoted to sexual connection. The female remains quiet and waits. The male, furnished with large antennæ which perceive the odor of the female at a distance of several kilometers, commences an infatuated flight through the woods and fields, as soon as his wings are sufficiently strong. His sole object is to reach the female. Here again there are numerous competitors. The one who arrives first possesses the female, but expires shortly afterward. His competitors die also, exhausted by their long flight and by starvation, but without having attained their object. After copulation, the female searches for the green plants which will ensure a long caterpillar life for her offspring. There she deposits her fecundated eggs in considerable numbers and then expires in her turn, like a faded flower which has fulfilled the object of its existence and falls after leaving the fruit in its place.

The French naturalist Fabre has described these phenomena, relying on conclusive experiments, and my own observations and those of other naturalists confirm them fully. Among the ants, all the males die also, soon after an aërial nuptial flight, in which copulation is generally polyandrous, one male hardly waiting for the preceding one to discharge his semen before taking his place. Here the female possesses a receptacle for semen which often contains the sperm of many males, and which allows it to fecundate the eggs one after another for several years as she lays them, and thus to act as the mother of an ant's nest during a period which may extend to eleven or twelve years, or even more.

In the lower organisms, love consists only in sexual instinct or appetite. As soon as the function is accomplished love disappears. It is only in the higher animals that we see a more or less durable sympathy develop between the two sexes. However, here also and even in man the sexual passion intoxicates for the moment all the senses. In his sexual rut even man is dominated as by a magic influence, and for the time he sees the world only under the aspect inspired by this influence. The object loved appears to him under celestial colors, which veil all the defects and miseries of reality. Each moment of his amorous feeling inspires sentiments which it seems to him should last eternally. He swears impossible things and believes in immortal happiness. A reciprocal illusion transforms life momentarily into mirages of paradise. The most common things, and even certain things which usually disgust him, are then the object of the most violent desire. But, as soon as the orgasm is ended and the appetite satisfied the feeling of satiety appears. A curtain falls on the scene, and, at least for the moment, repose and reality reappear.

Such are, in a few words, the general phenomena of the normal sexual appetite among sexual organisms in the whole of living nature. I am not speaking here of degenerations, such as onanism and prostitution. Let us now analyze this appetite further.

The natural appetites are inherited instincts the roots of which lie far back in the phylogenetic history of our ancestors. Hunger forms the basis for the preservation of the individual, the sexual appetite that for the preservation of the species, as soon as reproduction takes place by separate sexes. All appetite belongs to the motor side of nervous activity; there is something internal which urges us to an act, but, on the other hand, one or more sensations may exist at the base of this something to put it in action. I have proved, for example, that the egg-laying instinct in the corpse fly (Lucilia cæsar) is only produced by the odor of putrefaction. As soon as the antennæ, which contain the organ of smell, are removed from these flies they cease to lay, while other more severe operations, or removal of one antenna only does not produce this result.

The mechanism of appetites is thus a lower mechanism and has its seat in the primitive nervous centers. As Yersin has proved, a cricket deprived of its brain may copulate so long as the sensory irritations can reach the sexual nervous centers.

We can thus say that the mechanism of appetites belongs to automatic actions deeply inherited by phylogeny. Although complicated and composed of coördinated reflex movements which follow one another in regular succession, it has no actual power of modifying the so-called voluntary acts, which depend entirely on the cerebral hemispheres, and of which we men only have a conscious feeling. The appetites are not capable of adapting themselves to new circumstances and cease to be produced when the chain is interrupted. We are obliged to admit that the instincts or appetites are accompanied by a sub-conscious introspection which, as such, can hardly enter into direct relation with our higher consciousness, that is, with our ordinary consciousness in the waking state.

In spite of this, when their intensity increases, the appetites overcoming the central nervous resistances, reach the cerebral hemispheres, and consequently our introspection or higher consciousness, under a synthetic or unified appearance, and influence in a high degree the cerebral activities, which are reflected in association with all the elements of what we call our mind in the proper sense of the term, that is to say, our intellect, sentiments and will. It is from this point of view that sexual appetite must be considered in order to make it comprehensible. Love, with all that appertains to it, belongs as such to our mind, that is, to the activity of our cerebral hemispheres, but it is produced there by a secondary irradiation from the sexual appetite, which alone concerns us at present. We may also remark that sexual ideas when once awakened in the cerebral hemispheres by sexual appetite, are worked up there by the attention, that is to say by concentrated cerebral activity, then associated with other ideas, which on their side react strongly on the sexual appetite, developing or paralyzing it, attracting or repelling it, or finally transforming its attributes and objects.

By sexual desire (libido sexualis) we mean the manner in which the sexual appetite manifests itself in man. Each term may be employed for the other.

The Sexual Appetite in Man.—Man represents the active element in sexual union, and in him the sexual appetite, or desire for coitus, is at first the stronger. This desire develops spontaneously, and the role of fecundator represents the principal male activity. This appetite powerfully affects the male mind, although sexual life plays a less important part in him than in the female.

In boys, the sexual appetite is often prematurely awakened, excited in unnatural ways by bad example. Moreover, it varies enormously in different individuals, a point to which we shall return when dealing with pathology. Leaving aside unnatural appetites and abnormal forms of sexual instinct we shall describe here its most spontaneous and normal form.

Puberty. Awakening of the Sexual Instinct in Boys.—Sooner or later in different individuals, the boy pays attention to his erections, which are at first produced in a reflex and involuntary manner. Mental development and reflection, so precocious in man, are causes which draw attention to the differences of the sexes before the sexual appetite is developed. It is, however, the first signs of this appetite which concentrate the attention on these differences, for in their absence, the boy is more indifferent to them than to the straight or crooked form of a nose. Man has the habit of passing by without notice anything which does not interest him, and this is why we find, in individuals whose sexual appetite is developed late or feebly, an indifference and ignorance in these matters which appear almost incredible to those whose sexual appetite is precocious and violent; while, on the contrary, the lively interest which the latter show in everything concerning the sexes appears foolish and absurd to the sexually indifferent.

The pairing of animals, even of insects, awakens a curious interest in those whose sexual dispositions are strong and precocious; they comprehend very quickly the reason and are led to draw analogies with their own sensations in the same domain. The aspect of the female sex has, however, a much stronger action still on the normal man. But here is produced a peculiar phenomenon. What especially excites the boy in the aspect of the female sex is anything unusual; the sight of certain parts of the skin which are normally covered, the clothes or ornaments, particular odors, women whom the boy is not accustomed to see, etc. It is for this reason that brothers and sisters do not excite, or excite very little, their reciprocal sexual appetite, at least if there are no anomalies or exceptional exhibitions. The sexual appetites of boys among savage peoples who live naked is hardly at all excited by naked girls; on the other hand, it is strongly excited by those who are clothed or ornamented in a peculiar manner. The sexual appetite of a Mahometan is strongly excited by the nudity of the feminine face, that of the European by that of a woman's legs, because women are accustomed to veil their faces in the first case and their legs in the second. These are naturally only relative differences. When the sexual appetite of man is violent and unsatisfied woman excites it in a general way, if she is not too old or repulsive.

A second important character of the normal sexual appetite is the special attraction that appearances of health and strength in woman produce in man. Healthy forms, normal odors, a normal voice, a skin healthy in appearance and to the touch, constitute attractions which charm and excite man, while all that is unhealthy or faded, every pathological odor, produce a repulsive effect and hinders or diminishes sexual desire.

Everything connected with the sexual organs, their appearance, touch and odor, tend to excite the sexual appetite, all the more when they are usually covered; it is the same with the breasts.

The first sexual sensations are of a quite indeterminate nature; something unconscious and obscure inclines the boy toward the female sex and makes it appear desirable. A boy may thus become enamored of the portrait of a woman with a swelling bosom and alluring eyes and be seized with desire, either at their sight or only on remembrance. This desire is not concentrated especially on the sexual act, as with an adult who is already experienced in these matters; it is more generalized and vague, although sensual.

For a long time, these repeated aspirations, impulses and desires, remain unsatisfied. In different individuals the imagination associates the most diverse images with such manifestations of the sexual appetite. The objects of the latter appear in dreams and provoke nocturnal erections. The boy soon remarks a sensory localization of his appetites in his sexual organs, especially in the glans penis, but also in the surrounding parts, and the known or only vaguely defined image of the female sexual organs, which is hardly present at the first appearance of his desires, begin to excite him more and more.

In natural or savage man, as well as in animals, the boy then makes attempts at coitus and soon attains his object, for, in the state of nature, man marries as soon as puberty is attained.

Nocturnal Emissions.—In civilized man such difficulties are opposed to marriage, that he replaces it by prostitution, or by more or less unnatural means, as soon as his sexual appetite becomes strong. In those who abstain, the images produced by sexual excitation, combined with erections, act more strongly during sleep than waking and produce ejaculations of semen called nocturnal emissions or pollutions. These generally occur during erotic dreams, and as the dreams produce the illusion of real perception, in quality as well as in intensity, it is not surprising that they are followed by an orgasm and ejaculation of semen.

Masturbation.—In the waking state the unsatisfied sexual appetite may produce such excitation that the boy applies friction to the glans penis, which cause voluptuous sensations. As soon as he has made this discovery he repeats the act and provokes ejaculation of semen artificially. Thus arises the bad habit of masturbation or onanism, a habit which is both depressing and exhausting, which takes an increasing hold on those who practice it. Although from the purely mechanical point of view masturbation causes a more normal ejaculation than nocturnal emissions, which are often interrupted by awakening and the vanishing of the dream which produced them, it has a much more harmful effect, by its frequency and especially by its depressing action on sentiment and will. We shall return to this subject in Chapter VIII.

The accumulation of semen in the seminal vesicles strongly excites the sexual appetite of man, and he is momentarily satisfied by their evacuation. But we shall soon see that this purely organic or mechanical excitation, which seems at first to be only adapted for natural wants, does not in man play the principal role. We can easily understand that it cannot be the principal moving power of the sexual act. In fact, for any of the animals in which copulation occurs, the possibility of accomplishing this is not connected solely with the accumulation of semen, for it depends on obtaining a female. It is necessary, therefore, for the accumulated semen to wait, and for the perception of the female by the aid of the senses to excite the male to coitus.

External Signs of the Sexual Appetite.—Like every other desire the sexual appetite betrays itself by the physionomy. This consists in the play of cerebral activity, that is the thoughts, sentiments and resolutions, on the muscles by means of motor nerves and nerve centers. It is not limited to the face but extends to the whole body. The abdomen, the hands and even the feet have their physionomy; that of the muscles of the face and eyes is, however, the most active and most expressive. Sexual desire betrays itself in looks, by the expression of the face and by certain movements in the presence of the female sex. Men differ greatly in the way in which they betray or hide their sentiments and thoughts by the play of their muscles, so that the inner self is not always reflected without. Moreover, the expression of sexual desire by the play of the physionomy may be confounded with that of other sentiments, so that one who appears libidinous is not always so in reality, and inversely.

Continence in Man.—Abstinence or sexual continence is by no means impracticable for a normal young man of average constitution, assiduous in intellectual and physical work, abstaining from all artificial excitations, especially from all narcotics and alcohol in particular, for these substances paralyze the judgment and will. When sexual maturity is complete, that is after about twenty years, continence is usually facilitated by nocturnal emissions accompanied by corresponding dreams. The health does not suffer from these in any way. However, in the long run this state cannot be considered as normal, especially when there is no hope of it coming to an end in a reasonable time. What is much more abnormal are the numerous artificial sexual excitations that civilization brings with it.

Sexual Power.—The individual variations in the sexual instinct are enormous, and may be said to vary from zero to an intense and perpetual excitation called Satyriasis. By sexual power is understood the faculty of accomplishing coitus. This power in the first place requires strong and complete erections, as well as the faculty of following them by frequent seminal ejaculations, without being precipitate. Impotence or incapacity for coitus belongs to pathology and consists usually in the absence or defectiveness of erections. Sexual power and appetite generally go together, but not always, for it is possible to be powerful with feeble sexual appetite, and intense appetite sometimes goes with impotence; the latter condition, it is true, is pathological. Sexual power also varies so much in individuals that it is hardly possible to fix a limit between the normal and the pathological.

The sexual power and appetite in man are strongest on the average between 20 and 40 years, especially between 25 and 35. But, while young men of 18 to 20 years or more may be still tranquil, without having had seminal ejaculations, one often finds, among races who mature earlier, boys of 12 or 16 who are fully developed both in sexual power and appetite. In our Aryan races, however, when this occurs before the age of 14, it is a case of pathological precocity. The late appearance of sexual power and appetite is rather a sign of strength and health.

After the age of 40, the sexual power slowly diminishes, and after the seventieth year, or even before this, becomes extinct. Exceptionally one finds old men of 80 who are still capable. Normally the sexual appetite diminishes with age; often, however, especially when it is artificially excited, it lasts longer than sexual power.

As regards sexual power we must distinguish between that of copulation and that of fecundation. The power may exist without the latter, when the testicles have ceased to functionate, while the other glands, in particular the prostate, second the venereal orgasm by their secretion, when the power of erection is still preserved. Inversely, the testicles may contain healthy spermatozoa in the impotent. In this case artificial fecundation by the syringe is practicable.

Individual Variations in Sexual Power.—The fact that there are men who for several years can copulate several times a day proves to what extent sexual power varies in man. Sexual excitation and desire may sometimes attain such a degree that they are repeated a few minutes after ejaculation. It is not rare for a man to perform coitus ten or fifteen times in a single night, in brothels and elsewhere, although such excess borders on the domain of pathology. I know a case in which coitus was performed thirty times. I was once consulted by an old woman of 65 who complained of the insatiable sexual appetite of her husband, aged 73! He awakened her every morning at three o'clock to have connection, before going to work. Not content with this, he repeated the performance every evening and often also after the mid-day meal. Inversely, I have seen healthy looking husbands, at the age of greatest sexual power, accuse themselves of excess for having cohabited with their wives once a month or less. The reformer, Luther, who was a practical man, laid down the average rule of two or three connections a week in marriage, at the time of highest sexual power. I may say that my numerous observations as a physician have generally confirmed this rule, which seems to me to conform very well to the normal state to which man has become gradually adapted during thousands of years.

Husbands who would consider this average as an imprescriptible right would, however, make wrong pretensions, for it is quite possible for a normal man to contain himself much longer, and it is his duty to do so, not only when his wife is ill, but also during menstruation and pregnancy.

The question of sexual relations during pregnancy is more difficult, on account of its long duration. In this case caution is necessary, but total abstinence from sexual connection is, in my opinion, superfluous.

The Desire of Change in Man.—A peculiarity of the sexual appetite in man, which is fatal for society, is his desire for change. This desire is not only one of the principal causes of polygamy, but also of prostitution and other analogous organizations. It arises from the want of sexual attraction in what one is accustomed to and from the stronger excitation produced by all that is new; a phenomenon of which we have spoken above. On the average, woman has a hereditary disposition which is much more monogamous than man. The sexual appetite thus loses its intensity from the prolonged habit of connection with the same woman, but, becomes much more intense with other women, if not in all men at any rate in most. Such desires may generally be overcome by the aid of a true and noble love, and by sentiments of duty and fidelity toward the family and toward a respected wife. We cannot, however, deny that they exist, nor that they are the cause of the worst excesses, and the most violent scenes, often with a tragic result. We shall return to this subject later.

Excitation and Cooling of the Sexual Appetite.—Without touching the domain of pathology, I must again dwell on the great individual diversity of the objects of the male sexual appetite. It is usually young but mature female forms of healthy appearance, and especially the sight of the nudity of certain parts of the body which are usually covered, particularly the breasts and sexual organs, which most strongly excite the sexual appetite in man. It is the same with the corresponding odors. The voice, the physionomy, the clothing and many other details may also provoke his desires. There are, however, men who are more excited by thin and pale women.

Certain attributes excite one and not another; for instance, the hair, certain odors, certain forms of face, a certain fashion of clothing, the form of the breasts, etc. The peculiarities, which are absent in women with whom a man has been on familiar terms in his youth are generally those which attract the most. In sexual matters contrasts tend to mutual attraction. Thin people often become enamored of fat, short ones of long ones, and inversely. One cannot, however, fix any rules. One often sees young men excited at the sight of women of older age, and old men enamored of very young women, even of children. All these discrepancies constitute the more important points of origin of sexual pathology. In spite of all, there still exist a great number of tranquil men with monogamous instincts and not fond of change. Lastly, we must not forget that super-abundant feeding and idleness exalt the sexual appetite and tend to polygamy, while hard work, especially physical, and frugal diet diminish it.

It is needless to say that the mental qualities react powerfully on the sexual appetite. A quarrelsome temper, coldness and repulsion on the part of a woman cool the desires of the man, while an ardent sexual desire on the part of the woman, her love and tenderness, tend to increase and maintain them. We are dealing here with purely animal sexual instinct, and we may state that the sexual appetite of woman generally excites strongly that of man, and considerably increases his pleasure during coitus. There are, however, exceptions in the inverse sense, in which coldness and disgust on the part of the woman excite the passion of certain men, who have, however, no taste for libidinous women. All degrees are found in this domain.

Active in the sexual act the man desires corresponding sentiments in the woman. But, on the other hand, all want of natural reserve, and delicate sentiment, and all cynical sexual provocation on the part of a woman, produce in the normal man a repulsive effect. The normal woman possesses an admirable instinct in these matters and knows how to betray her feelings in a sufficiently fine and delicate manner, so as not to hurt those of the man.

A phenomenon, which we shall meet with in Chapter VIII, under the name of psychic impotence, shows the powerful and disturbing interference of thoughts on the automatic action of instinctive sexual activity. A momentary psychic impotence is not necessarily pathological. While voluptuous sensations alternate during coitus with desire and corresponding erotic representations, a sudden idea of the ridiculousness of the situation, signs of pain or of bad temper in the woman, the idea of impotence or of the real object of coitus; finally, anything which acts as a contrast to the sensations and impulses of coitus, may interrupt it, so that the voluptuous sensations and sexual appetite disappear and erection subsides. Voluntary efforts are often incapable of putting things right again. The charm is broken, and only new images and new sentiments associated instinctively with the sexual appetite can be reëstablished, by making the subconscious state preponderate over the reasoning consciousness.

Influence of Modern Civilization. Pornography.—Human sexuality has been unfortunately perverted and in part grossly altered by civilization, which has even developed it artificially in a pathological sense. The point has been reached of considering as normal, relations which are in reality absolutely abnormal. For example, it is maintained that prostitution produces normal coitus in man. How can this term be seriously employed in speaking of connection with a prostitute who is absolutely indifferent to it, and who seeks only to excite her clients artificially and to get their money, without mentioning venereal diseases which she so often presents them with! Forgetful of the natural aim of the sexual appetite, civilization has transformed it into artificial enjoyment, and has invented all possible means to increase and diversify it.

As far back as the history of civilization goes we see this state of affairs, and in this sense we are neither better nor worse than our ancestors. But we possess more diverse and more refined measures than barbarian peoples, and than our direct ancestors, to satisfy our unwholesome desires. Modern art in particular often serves to excite eroticism, and we must frankly admit that it often descends to the level of pornography. Hypocritical indignation against those who dare to say this often serves only to cover in the name of art the most indecent excitants of eroticism.

Photography and all the perfected methods of reproduction of pictures, the increasing means of travel which facilitate clandestine sexual relations, the industrial art which ornaments our apartments, the increasing luxury and comfort of dwellings, beds, etc., are, at the present day, so many factors in the science of erotic voluptuousness. Prostitution itself has become adapted to all the pathological excrescences of vice. In a word, the artificial culture of the human sexual appetite has given rise to a veritable high school of debauchery. The artistic and realistic representations of erotic sexual scenes, so widespread at the present day, are much more capable of exciting the sexual appetite than the crude and unnatural pictures of former days, when, however, erotic objects of art generally belonged to a few rich persons or to museums.

Influence of Repeated Sexual Excitations.—The artificial and varied repetition of sexual excitation, by means of objects which provoke it, increases the sexual appetite. This cannot be doubted, for the law of exercise is a general truth in the physiology of the nervous system. This law, which is also called the law of training, shows that every kind of nervous activity is increased by exercise. A man becomes a glutton by accustoming himself to eat too much, a good walker by exercising his legs. The habit of wearing fine clothes or of washing in cold water causes these things to become a necessity. By continually occupying ourselves with a certain thing, we take a liking for it and often become virtuosos. By always thinking of a disease we are led to imagine that we suffer from it. A melody too often repeated often becomes automatic and we whistle or hum it unconsciously.

Inversely, inactivity weakens the effect of irritations which correspond to it. By neglecting certain activities or the provocation of certain sensations, these diminish in intensity, and we cease more and more to be affected by them. We become idle when we are inactive, for the cerebral resistance accumulates, and idleness renders the renewal of the corresponding activity more difficult. It is not surprising, therefore, to find this law in the phenomena of the sexual appetite, which diminishes with abstinence and increases with repeated excitation and satisfaction. However, another force, that of the accumulation of semen in the seminal vesicles, associated with an old natural inherited instinct, often counteracts the law of exercise of the nervous system, as the empty stomach excites the instinct of nutrition. But, however imperious the hunger, and however indispensable its satisfaction for the maintenance of life, this does not impair the truth of the old saying, "Appetite comes by eating."

The exaggerated desire for sleep experienced by idle people is an analogous phenomenon. Although sufficient sleep is a necessity for healthy and productive cerebral activity, an exaggerated desire for sleep may be artificially developed.

These phenomena are of fundamental importance in the question of the sexual appetite. Here, the well-known axiom of moderation which says, "Abuse does not exclude use" finds its application. An English commentator on Cicero erroneously attributes to him the following: "True moderation consists in the absolute domination of the passions and appetites, as well as all wrong desires, by reason. It exacts total abstinence from all things which are not good and which are not of an absolutely innocent character." This definition is excellent, although it is not Cicero's. It excludes, for example, the use of a toxic substance such as alcohol, which is not a natural food, but not the moderate satisfaction of the sexual appetite which is normally intended for the preservation of the species, for this satisfaction may be good or bad, normal or vicious, innocent or criminal, according to circumstances. In this connection, the application of the right measure, and choice of the appropriate object raise delicate and complicated questions. So-called moral sermons lead to nothing in this domain.

After numerous personal observations made on very diverse individuals who have consulted me with regard to sexual questions, I think I can affirm that when a man wishes to be loyal to himself he is generally able to distinguish between natural desire and artificial excitation of the sexual appetite. To be pursued and tormented by sexual images and desires, even when striving against them, and when the legitimate and normal occasion to satisfy them is absent, is not the same thing as to pass the time in inventing means of artificial excitement to pleasure and orgy while leading an idle and egoistic life. I speak here of the normal man and not of certain pathological states in which the sexual appetite takes the character of a perpetual obsession, even against the will of the patient. By serious and persevering work and by avoiding all means of excitation, the sexual appetite can usually be kept within the bounds of moderation.

We have mentioned above pornographic art as one of the means which artificially excite the sexual appetite. Along with the interested exploitation of the habit of taking alcoholic drinks, exploitation of the sexual appetite constitutes one of the largest fields of what may be called social brigandage. Besides pornographic pictures, the principal means employed to artificially excite the sexual weaknesses of man are the following:

Pornographic novels in which sexual desire is excited by all the artifice of the novelist, and in which the illustrations often rival those we have just spoken of to seduce the purchaser.

Alcohol which, by paralyzing the judgment and will as well as moral inhibitory sentiments, excites the sexual appetite and renders it grossly impulsive. Its first fumes make man enterprising, and he falls an easy prey to proxenetism and prostitution, although it soon weakens the sexual power.

But it is the modern arsenal of prostitution which plays the principal role. The proxenets (pimps) exploit both the sexual appetites of men and the weakness and venality of women. Their chief source of gain consisting in the artificial excitation of the male sexual appetite by all possible means, their art consists in dressing their merchandise, the prostitutes, with attractive refinement, especially when dealing with rich clients who pay well. It is on this soil that are cultivated the most disgusting artifices, intended to excite even the most pathological appetites.

Other causes are added to lucre, or are the consequences of it. A boy led to masturbation by pornographic pictures, or by the seduction of a corrupted individual, becomes in his turn the seducer of his comrades. Certain libidinous and unscrupulous women have often persuaded adolescents and schoolboys to sleep with them, thus awakening precocious and unhealthy sexual appetites.

Such habits which excite the sexual appetite and cause it to degenerate artificially, develop in their turn a mode of sexual boasting in men, the effects of which are deplorable. To appear manly, the boy thinks he ought to have a cigar in his mouth, even if it makes him sick. In the same way the spirit of imitation leads youth to prostitution. The fear of not doing as the others and especially the terror of ridicule constitute a powerful lever which is abused and exploited. Fearing mockery, a youth is the more easily seduced by bad example the less he is put on guard by parents or true friends. Instead of explaining to him in time, seriously and affectionately, the nature of sexual connection, its effects and dangers, he is abandoned to the chance of the worst seductions.

In this way the sexual appetite is not only artificially increased and often directed into unnatural channels, but also leads to the poisoning and ruin of youth by venereal diseases, to say nothing of alcoholism.

We have referred especially to educated youth, but the youth of the lower classes are perhaps in a still worse condition, owing to the promiscuity of their life in miserable dwellings. They often witness coitus between their parents, or are themselves trained in evil ways for purposes of exploitation.

It is astonishing that the results of such abominable deviation of the sexual appetite are not worse. No doubt excesses disturb the ties of marriage and of the family, and often provoke impotence and other disorders of the sexual functions. It must, however, be admitted that their satellites, the venereal diseases, and their most common companion, alcoholism, are in reality the greatest destroyers of health, and make much more considerable ravages in society than the artificial increase and abnormal deviations of the sexual appetite itself. However, the latter by themselves very often poison the mind and social morality, as we shall have occasion to see.

Immoderate sexual desire, provoked in men by the artificial excitations of prostitution, etc., is a bad acquisition. It renders difficult the accustomance to marriage, fidelity and ideal and life-long love for the same woman. It is true, that many old roués and habitués of brothels later on become faithful husbands and fathers, especially when they have had the luck to escape venereal disease.

But whoever looks behind the scenes may soon convince himself that the happiness of most unions of this kind is very relative. The degradation of the sexual sentiment of a man who has long been accustomed to live with prostitutes is never entirely effaced, and generally leaves indelible traces in the human brain.

I readily admit that a man with good hereditary dispositions, who has only yielded for a short time to seductive influences, may be reformed by a true and profound love. But even in him, excesses leave traces which later on may easily lead him astray when he becomes tired of the monotony of conjugal relations with the same woman. On the other hand, we must also recognize that sexual relations in themselves, even in marriage, create a habit which often urges a married man to extra-nuptial coitus, even when he had remained continent before marriage.

The tricks which are played on a man by his sexual appetite, especially by his polygamous instincts, must not, however, be confounded with the systematic, artificial and abnormal training of the same appetite. The physical and psychic attractions of a woman are capable of completely diverting the sexual desires of a man from their primary object, and of directing them on the siren who captivates his senses. The elements of the sexual appetite here form an inextricable mixture with those of love, and constitute the inexhaustible theme of novels and most true and sensational love stories.

Hereditary pathological dispositions play a considerable role in many cases of this kind. Also, marriages of sudden and passionate love (we are not dealing here with love marriages concluded after sufficient reflection and deep mutual acquaintanceship) are not more stable than the so-called "mariages de convenance," for passionate natures, usually more or less pathological, are apt to fall from one extreme to the other. The power exercised by sexual passion in such cases is terrible. It produces conditions that may lead to suicide or assassination. In men whose power of reason is neither strong nor independent, opinions and conceptions are frequently changed; love may change to hatred and hatred to love, the sentiment of justice may lead to injustice, the loyal man may become a liar, etc. In fact the sexual appetite is let loose like a hurricane in the brain and becomes the despot of the whole mind. The sexual passion has often been compared to drunkenness or to mental disease. Even in its mildest forms it often renders the husband incapable of sexual connection with his wife.

For example, a man may cherish, respect and even adore his wife, and yet her presence and touch may not appeal to his senses, nor excite his appetite or erection; while some low-minded woman will produce in him an irresistible sensual attraction, even when he experiences neither esteem nor love for her. In such cases sexual appetite is in more or less radical opposition to love. Such extreme phenomena are not rare, but hardly common. Although excited to coitus with the woman in question, the husband would not in any case have her for wife, nor even have children by her, for after the slightest reflection he despises and fears her. Here, the sexual appetite represents the old atavistic animal instinct, attracted by libidinous looks, exuberant charms, in a word by the sensual aspect of woman.

On the contrary, in a higher domain of the human mind, the sentiments of sympathy of true love, deeply associated with fidelity, and with intellectual and moral intimacy, unite against the elementary power of the animal instinct. Here we see dwelling in the same breast (or, to speak more correctly, in the same central nervous system) two souls, which struggle with each other.

We are not dealing here with cases in which a new passion arrives to turn the man from his old affection. No doubt the extreme cases of which we have spoken are not usual, but we see in most men more or less considerable mixtures of analogous sentiments in all possible degrees, especially when the woman loved loses her physical attractions from age or other causes.

The Procreative Instinct.—The sexual appetite of man does not consist exclusively in the desire for coitus. In many cases it is combined, more or less strongly and more or less consciously, with the desire to procreate children. Unfortunately, this desire is far from being always associated with higher sentiments and with love of children or the paternal instinct. In fact, conscious reasoning plays a smaller part than the animal instinct of self-expansion. We shall see later on that the procreative instinct often plays an important role in our present civilization.

The Sexual Appetite in Woman.—In the sexual act the role of the woman differs from that of the man not only by being passive, but also by the absence of seminal ejaculations. In spite of this the analogies are considerable. The erection of the clitoris and its voluptuous sensations, the secretion from the glands of Bartholin which resembles ejaculation in the male, the venereal orgasm itself which often exceeds in intensity that of man, are phenomena which establish harmony in sexual connection.

Although the organic phenomenon of the accumulation of semen in the seminal vesicles is absent in woman, there is produced in the nerve centers, after prolonged abstinence, an accumulation of sexual desire corresponding to that of man. A married woman confessed to me, when I reproached her for being unfaithful to her husband, that she desired coitus at least once a fortnight, and that when her husband was not there, she took the first comer. No doubt the sentiments of this woman were hardly feminine, but her sexual appetite was relatively normal.

Frequency of the Sexual Appetite in Woman.—As regards pure sexual appetite, extremes are much more common and more considerable in woman than in man. In her this appetite is developed much less often spontaneously than in him, and where it is so, it is generally later. Voluptuous sensations are usually only awakened by coitus.

In a considerable number of women the sexual appetite is completely absent. For these, coitus is a disagreeable, often disgusting, or at any rate an indifferent act. What is more singular, at least for masculine comprehension, and what gives rise to the most frequent "quid pro quos," is the fact that such women, absolutely cold as regards sexual sensations, are often great coquettes, over-exciting the sexual appetites of man, and have often a great desire for love and caresses. This is more easy to understand if we reflect that the unsatiated desires of the normal woman are less inclined toward coitus than toward the assemblage of consequences of this act, which are so important for her whole life. When the sight of a certain man awakes in a young girl sympathetic desires and transports, she aspires to procreate children with this man only, to give herself to him as a slave, to receive his caresses, to be loved by him only, that he may become both the support and master of her whole life. It is a question of general sentiments of indefinite nature, of a powerful desire to become a mother and enjoy domestic comfort, to realize a poetic and chivalrous ideal in man, to gratify a general sensual need distributed over the whole body and in no way concentrated in the sexual organs or in the desire for coitus.

Nature of the Sexual Appetite in Woman.—The zone of sexual excitation is less specially limited to the sexual organs in woman than in man. The nipples constitute in her an entire zone and their friction excites voluptuousness. If we consider the importance in the life of woman, of pregnancy, suckling, and all the maternal functions, we can understand why the mixture of her sentiments and sensations is so different from that of man. Her smaller stature and strength, together with her passive role in coitus, explain why she aspires to a strong male support. This is simply a question of natural phylogenetic adaptation. This is why a young girl sighs for a courageous, strong and enterprising man, who is superior to her, whom she is obliged to respect, and in whose arms she feels secure. Strength and skill in man are the ideal of the young savage and uncultured girl, his intellectual and moral superiority that of the young cultivated girl.

As a rule women are much more the slaves of their instincts and habits than men. In primitive peoples, hardiness and boldness in men were qualities which made for success. This explains why, even at the present day, the boldest and most audacious Don Juans excite most strongly the sexual desires of women, and succeed in turning the heads of most young girls, in spite of their worst faults in other respects. Nothing is more repugnant to the feminine instinct than timidity and awkwardness in man. In our time women become more and more enthusiastic over the intellectual superiority of man, which excites their desire. Without being indifferent to it, simple bodily beauty in man excites the appetite of women to a less extent. It is astonishing to see to what point women often become enamored of old, ugly or deformed men. We shall see later on that the normal woman is much more particular than man in giving her love. While the normal man is generally attracted to coitus by nearly every more-or-less young and healthy woman, this is by no means the case in the normal woman with regard to man. She is also much more constant than man from the sexual point of view. It is rarely possible for her to experience sexual desire for several men at once; her senses are nearly always attracted to one lover only.

The instinct of procreation is much stronger in woman than in man, and is combined with the desire to give herself passively, to play the part of one who devotes herself, who is conquered, mastered and subjugated. These negative aspirations form part of the normal sexual appetite of woman.

A peculiarity of the sexual sentiments of woman is an ill-defined pathological phenomenon with normal sensations, a phenomenon which in man, on the contrary, forms a very marked contrast with the latter; I refer to the homosexual appetite, in which the object is an individual of the same sex. Normally, the adult man produces on another man an absolutely repulsive effect from the sexual point of view; it is only pathological subjects, or those excited by sexual privation who are affected with sensual desires for other men. But in woman a certain sensual desire for caresses, connected more or less with unconscious and ill-defined sexual sensations, is not limited to the male sex but extends to other women, to children, and even to animals, apart from pathologically inverted sexual appetites. Young normal girls often like to sleep together in the same bed, to caress and kiss each other, which is not the case with normal young men. In the male sex such sensual caresses are nearly always accompanied and provoked by sexual appetite, which is not the case in women. As we have already seen, man may separate true love from the sexual appetite to such an extent that two minds, each feeling in a different way, may inhabit the same brain. A man may be a loving and devoted husband and at the same time satisfy his animal appetites with prostitutes. In woman, such sexual dualism is much more rare and always unnatural, the normal woman being much less capable than man of separating love from sexual appetite.

These facts explain the singular caprices of the sexual appetite and orgasm in the normal woman, in whom these phenomena are not easily produced without love.

The same woman who loves one man and not another is susceptible to sexual appetite and voluptuous sensations when she cohabits with the first, while she is often absolutely cold and insensible to the most passionate embraces of the second. This fact explains the possibility of prostitution as it exists among women. The worst prostitutes, who have connection with innumerable paying clients without feeling the least pleasure, generally have a "protector" with whom they are enamored and to whom they devote all their love and sincere orgasms, all the time allowing themselves to be plundered and exploited by him.

What the normal woman requires from man is love, tenderness, a firm support for life, a certain chivalrous nature, and children. She can renounce the voluptuous sensations of coitus infinitely more easily than the exigencies I have just indicated, which are for her the principal things. Nothing makes a woman more indignant than the indifference of her husband, when, for instance, he treats her simply as a housekeeper. Some have maintained that the average woman is more sensual than man, others that she is less so. Both these statements are false: she is sensual in another manner.

All the peculiarities of the sexual appetite in woman are thus the combined product of: (1) the profound influence of the sexual functions on her whole existence; (2) her passive sexual role; (3) her special mental faculties. By these, and more especially by her passive sexual role, are explained her instinctive coquettishness, her love of fiery and personal adornment, in a word her desire to please men by her external appearance, by her looks, movements and grace. These phenomena betray the instinctive sexual desires of the young girl, which as we have just seen, do not normally correspond to a direct desire for coitus.

While a virgin experiences in her youth the sensations we have just described, things change after marriage, and as a general rule after repeated sexual connections. If these do not provoke voluptuous sensations in some women, they do in the majority, and this is no doubt the normal state of affairs. Habit, then, produces an increasing desire for coitus and its sensations, and it is not rare, in the course of a long life in common, for the roles to be reversed and the woman become more libidinous than the man. This partly explains why so many widows are anxious to remarry. They easily attain their object, as men quickly succumb to the sexual desire of woman when it is expressed in an unequivocal manner.

In widows, two strong sentiments struggle against each other, with variable results in different individuals; on the one hand, feminine constancy in love, and the memory of the deceased; on the other hand, the acquired habit of sexual connection and its voluptuous sensations, which leaves a void and appeals for compensation. The sexual appetite being equal, the first sentiment prevails generally in religious women or those of a deeply moral or sentimental character, while the second prevails in women of more material or less-refined nature, or in those simply guided by their reason. In these internal struggles, the more delicate sentiments and the stronger will of the woman result from the fact that when she wishes she can overcome her appetites much better than man. But, in spite of this, the power of the sexual appetite plays an important part in the inward struggle we have just mentioned. When this appetite is absent there is no struggle, and the widow's conduct is dictated either by her own convenience, or by the instinct which naturally leads a woman to yield to the amorous advances of a man.

At the critical age, that is the time when menstruation ceases, neither the sexual appetite nor voluptuous sensations disappear, although desire diminishes normally as age advances. In this respect it is curious to note that old women possess no sexual attraction for men, while they often feel libidinous desires almost as strongly as young women. This is a kind of natural anomaly.

As we have already stated, individual differences in the sexual appetite are much greater in woman than in man. Some women are extremely excitable, and from their first youth experience violent sexual desire, causing them to masturbate or to throw themselves onto men. Such women are usually polyandrous by nature, although the sexual appetite in woman is normally much more monogamous than that of man. Such excesses in woman take on a more pathological character than in man, and go under the name of nymphomania. The insatiability of these females, who may be met with in all classes of society, may become fabulous. Night and day, with short interruptions for sleeping and eating, they are, in extreme cases, anxious for coitus. They become less exhausted than men, because their orgasm is not accompanied by loss of semen.

Although in the normal state woman is naturally full of delicacy and sentiments of modesty, nothing is easier than to make these disappear completely by training her systematically to sexual immodesty or to prostitution. Here we observe the effects of the routine and suggestible character of feminine psychology, of the tendency of woman to become the slave of habit and custom, as well as of her perseverance when her determined will pursues a definite end. Prostitution gives us sad proofs of this fact.

The psychology of prostitutes is very peculiar. Attempts to restore them to a moral life nearly always fail hopelessly; it is rare to see them permanently successful. Most of these women have a heredity of bad quality and are of weak character, idle and libidinous. They find it much easier to gain their living by prostitution, and forget their work, if they have ever learned any. The poverty, drunkenness and shame which follow seduction and illegitimate birth have no doubt driven more than one prostitute to her sad trade, but the naturally evil dispositions of these women constitute without any doubt the principal cause. Alcohol, venereal diseases and bad habits, combined with continually repeated sexual degradation, afterwards determine progressive decadence.

Some of these women, however, of better quality, only surrender themselves to prostitution by compulsion; they suffer from this existence and strive to escape from it. The grisettes and lorettes[2] form a group intermediate between prostitution and natural love; they are women who hire themselves for a time to one man in particular, and are maintained and paid by him in return for satisfying his sexual appetites. Here again, sexual desire only exceptionally plays the chief role. The conduct of these women results from their loose character and pecuniary interest.

If, therefore, we admit on the one hand that the sexual excesses of the female sex are especially grafted on hereditary disposition of character, or are primarily due to strong appetites, we are obliged on the other hand to recognize that the great role played by sexuality in the brain of woman renders it more difficult for her than for man to return to better ways when she has once prostituted herself, or when she has surrendered in any way to sexual licentiousness, even when her original quality was not bad.

In man the sexual appetite is much more easily separated than in woman from other instincts, sentiments and intellectual life in general, and possesses in him, however powerful it may be, a much more transient character, which prevents it dominating the whole mental life.

I have dwelt so much on this point because it is essential to know the differences which exist between man and woman in this respect, and to take them into account if we wish to give a just and healthy judgment on the sexual question from the social point of view. The more it is our duty to give the same rights to both sexes, the more absurd it is to disregard the profoundness of their differences and to imagine that these can ever be effaced.

Flirtation.—If we look in an English dictionary for the meaning of the word flirt, we find it equivalent to coquetry. But this English term has become fixed and modernized in another sense which has become international, to express the old idea of a series of well-known phenomena which must be clearly distinguished from coquetry.

Coquetry, an especially feminine attribute, is not in itself dependent on the sexual appetite; it is an indirect irradiation, purely psychical, and we shall speak of it later on. Flirtation, as we now understand the term, is directly connected with the sexual appetite, and constitutes its external impression in all the wealth of its forms, as much in man as in woman. In a word, flirtation is a polymorphous language which clearly expresses the sexual desires of an individual to the one who awakens these desires, actual coitus alone excepted.

Flirtation may be practiced in a more or less unconscious manner. It is by itself neither a psychic attribute nor sexual appetite, for a human being may so hide and overcome his appetites that no one remarks them; and on the contrary, he may simulate sexual appetite without feeling it, or at any rate behave in such a way as to excite it in his partner. Flirtation thus consists in an activity calculated to disclose the eroticism of the subject as well as to excite that of others. It is needless to say that the nature of coquetry disposes to flirtation.

Flirtation comprises all the sport of love, kisses, caresses and all kinds of sexual excitation even to orgasm, without reaching the consummation of coitus. All degrees may be noted; and, according to temperament, flirtation may be limited to slight excitation of the sexual appetite or may extend to violent and rapidly increasing emissions. The considerable individual differences which exist in sexual sensibility result in the same perception or the same act having little effect on one individual, while it excites another to a high degree. In the latter case, especially in man, flirtation may even lead to venereal orgasm without coitus, and even without any manipulations which resemble it. A woman of exuberant form, assuming sensual and voluptuous attitudes, may thus provoke an ejaculation by the slight and repeated friction of her dress against the penis of an excitable dancer.

The same thing often occurs when a passionate couple caress and embrace each other without the genital organs being touched or even exposed. In this respect the woman is better protected than the man, but when she is very excitable an orgasm may be produced in her during the caresses of a passionate flirtation by the pressure or friction of her legs against each other (a variety of masturbation in woman).

As a rule, however, things do not go so far as this in flirtation. The sight and touch are used alternately. The eyes play an important part, for they may express much and consequently act powerfully. A pressure of the hands, an apparently chance movement, touching the dress and the skin, etc., are the usual means of flirtation. In situations where people are close together or pressed against each other, as in railway carriages, or at table, the legs play a well-known part, by pressure of the knees and feet.

This dumb conversation of the sexual appetite begins at first in a prudent and apparently innocent manner, so that the acting party does not risk being taxed with impropriety; but as soon as he who began the flirtation perceives that his slight invitations are welcome he grows bolder, a tacit mutual agreement is established, and the game continues without a single word betraying the reciprocal sensations. Many who practice flirtation, both men and women, avoid betraying themselves by words, and they take pleasure in this mutual excitation of their genital sensibility, however incomplete it may be.

Flirtation may assume very different forms according to education and temperament. The action of alcohol on the brain develops the coarsest forms of flirtation. Every one knows the clumsy embraces of semi-intoxicated persons which can often be seen at night or on Sundays and holidays, in the street or in railway carriages, etc. I designate these by the term "alcoholic flirtation." Even in the best and most refined society flirtation loses its delicacy even under the effect of the slightest degree of alcoholic intoxication.

Flirtation assumes a more delicate and more complicated character, rendering it gracious and full of charm, in persons of higher education, especially when they are highly intellectual or artistic.

We must also mention the intellectual variety of flirtation which is not expressed by sight or touch, but only by language. Delicate allusions to sexual matters and somewhat lascivious conversation excite eroticism as much as looks and touch. According to the education of the persons concerned, this talk may be coarse and vulgar, or on the contrary refined and full of wit, managed with more or less skill, or clumsily. Here the natural finesse of woman plays a considerable part. Men wanting in tact are clumsy and offensive in their attempts at flirtation, and thus extinguish instead of exciting the woman's eroticism. The manner in which alcoholic flirtation manifests itself in cynical, dull, obtrusive and stupid conversation, corresponds to its other forms of expression. Woman desires flirtation; but does not wish it to assume an unbecoming form.

One can say anything to a woman; all depends on the way in which it is said. I have seen lady doctors with whom one could discuss the most ticklish subjects, profoundly shocked by the misplaced pleasantries of a tactless professor. In themselves these pleasantries were quite innocent for medical ears, as my lady colleagues were finally obliged to admit, when I pointed out to them the specially feminine character of their psychic reaction, proving to them that they listened without a frown to things ten times worse, when the lecturer gave them a moral tone.

Men also generally feel disgusted with the dull, cynical or clumsy form of female eroticism, although they are not usually over-refined themselves in this respect.

This last phenomenon leads us to distinguish between flirtation in man and in woman. For woman it constitutes the only permissible way of expressing erotic sentiments, and even then much restraint is imposed on her. Circumstances develop in her the art of flirtation and give it remarkable finesse. Unless she exposes herself to great danger, woman can only leave her sensuality to be guessed. Every audacious and tactless provocation fails in its object; it drives away the men and destroys a young girl's reputation. Even when possessed by the most violent erotic desire woman cannot ostensibly depart from her passive role without compromising herself. Nevertheless, she succeeds on the whole very easily in exciting the passions of man, by the aid of a few artifices. No doubt she does not entirely dominate him by this means. She must be very delicate and adroit, at any rate at first, in the provocative art of flirtation. These frivolities are greatly facilitated by her whole nature and by the character of her habitual eroticism. Man, on the other hand, may be more audacious in the expression of his passion. This brings us back to what has been said concerning the sexual differences.

A whole volume could be written on the forms of flirtation, which is the indispensable expression of all sexual desire. Among engaged couples it assumes a legal character and even a conventional form. The way in which barmaids flirt with their customers is also somewhat conventional, although in quite a different way. In society, flirtation is generally seasoned with more Attic salt, whether it is not allowed to exceed certain limits, or whether it leads to free liaisons after the manner of the Greek hetaira. In the country, among peasant girls and boys it takes a grosser form, if not more sensual, than among the cultivated classes; in the latter, language takes the principal part. Among rich idlers in watering places, large hotels, and even in some sanatoriums, flirtation takes a dominant place and constitutes, in all its degrees, the chief occupation of a great number of the visitors. It grows like a weed wherever man has a monotonous occupation or suffers from the ennui of idleness.

In certain individuals, flirtation takes the place of coitus from the sensual, and love from the sentimental point of view. There are modern crazy natures who spend their existence in all kinds of artificial excitation of the senses, creatures of both sexes incapable of a useful action.

As a momentary and transient expression of all the necessities of love, flirtation has a right to existence; but, when cultivated on its own account and always remaining as flirtation, it becomes a symptom of degeneration or sexual depravity, among idle, crazy and vicious persons of all kinds.