125"Ueber die klinisch-forensische Bedeutung des perversen Sexualtriebes" ("The Clinical and Legal Significance of Perversions of the Sexual Impulse")Allgemeine Zeitschrift für Psychiatrie und psychisch-gerichtliche Medizin, vol. xxxix, p. 220et seq., Berlin, 1883.
125"Ueber die klinisch-forensische Bedeutung des perversen Sexualtriebes" ("The Clinical and Legal Significance of Perversions of the Sexual Impulse")Allgemeine Zeitschrift für Psychiatrie und psychisch-gerichtliche Medizin, vol. xxxix, p. 220et seq., Berlin, 1883.
126See footnote to page 260.
126See footnote to page 260.
127Compare Havelock Ellis,Studies in the Psychology of Sex, vol. vi.;Sex in Relation to Society(Philadelphia, 1910, p. 368); "But altogether outside theoretical morality, or the question of what people 'ought' to do, there remainspractical morality, or the question of what, as a matter of fact, people actually do. This is the really fundamental and essential morality. Latinmoresand Greek [Greek: êthos] both refer tocustom, to the things that are, and not to the things that 'ought to be.'" The etymological connexion, of which Dr. Moll speaks, between the wordsmorality(orethics) andcustom, thus subsists through the intermediation of the dead languages. But in German, the etymological connexion betweenSitte(custom) andSittlichkeit(morality) is immediately apparent.—Translator's Note.
127Compare Havelock Ellis,Studies in the Psychology of Sex, vol. vi.;Sex in Relation to Society(Philadelphia, 1910, p. 368); "But altogether outside theoretical morality, or the question of what people 'ought' to do, there remainspractical morality, or the question of what, as a matter of fact, people actually do. This is the really fundamental and essential morality. Latinmoresand Greek [Greek: êthos] both refer tocustom, to the things that are, and not to the things that 'ought to be.'" The etymological connexion, of which Dr. Moll speaks, between the wordsmorality(orethics) andcustom, thus subsists through the intermediation of the dead languages. But in German, the etymological connexion betweenSitte(custom) andSittlichkeit(morality) is immediately apparent.—Translator's Note.
128For details, see Rosenbaum,Geschichte der Lustseuche(History of Venereal Disease), Halle, 1893, p. 52et seq.
128For details, see Rosenbaum,Geschichte der Lustseuche(History of Venereal Disease), Halle, 1893, p. 52et seq.
129It is surprising that the author makes no reference to the close association, in many cases, of the sentiment of disgust with unpleasant smells. The earthworm, the cockroach, and the bed-bug are regarded as peculiarly disgusting, and all have a particularly offensive odour. The unpleasant smell of the alvine evacuations is assuredly a large element in the disgust these inspire.—Translator's Note.
129It is surprising that the author makes no reference to the close association, in many cases, of the sentiment of disgust with unpleasant smells. The earthworm, the cockroach, and the bed-bug are regarded as peculiarly disgusting, and all have a particularly offensive odour. The unpleasant smell of the alvine evacuations is assuredly a large element in the disgust these inspire.—Translator's Note.
130Die seelische Entwicklung des Kindes(The Mental Development of the Child), 2nd ed., Leipzig, 1908, p. 90.
130Die seelische Entwicklung des Kindes(The Mental Development of the Child), 2nd ed., Leipzig, 1908, p. 90.
131For fuller details, see the work of Rudeck,Geschichte der öffentlichen Sittlichkeit in Deutschland(History of Public Morals in Germany), 2nd ed., Berlin, 1905, p. 4et seq.Cf.also, Alfred Martin,Deutsches Badewesen in vergangenen Tagen(German Bathing Customs in Former Days), Jena, 1906.
131For fuller details, see the work of Rudeck,Geschichte der öffentlichen Sittlichkeit in Deutschland(History of Public Morals in Germany), 2nd ed., Berlin, 1905, p. 4et seq.Cf.also, Alfred Martin,Deutsches Badewesen in vergangenen Tagen(German Bathing Customs in Former Days), Jena, 1906.
132A German law dealing with offences against sexual morals.—Translator's Note.
132A German law dealing with offences against sexual morals.—Translator's Note.
133I owe to private information, most kindly given me by Dr. Bohn, my knowledge of numerous details bearing on this question.
133I owe to private information, most kindly given me by Dr. Bohn, my knowledge of numerous details bearing on this question.
134Romanische Liebe und persönliche Schönheit(Romantic Love and Personal Beauty), 2nd ed., Breslau, 1894, vol. ii. p. 58.
134Romanische Liebe und persönliche Schönheit(Romantic Love and Personal Beauty), 2nd ed., Breslau, 1894, vol. ii. p. 58.
135This does not conflict with the fact that in these circles also much hypocrisy is practised—much more certainly than in our own country (Germany). To a still greater extent is this true of England, where also in many circles all illegitimate sexual intercourse is proscribed, thus leading to the practice of hypocrisy. Because a large proportion of the population does not practise illegitimate intercourse, those who do indulge in it are led to conceal as far as possible their own illegitimate intercourse; as a result of this we find side by side and simultaneously in the same circle, on the one hand a prohibition of illegitimate intercourse based upon genuine conviction, and on the other a hypocritical condemnation of such intercourse. Further, we have to admit that the question is an exceptionally difficult one, precisely on account of the hypocrisy and lies in which the sexual life is enveloped. Naturally, where illegitimate intercourse is forbidden, those who do indulge are far more careful, and especially in guarding against venereal infection, lest the illness should betray them to others. A communication made to me very recently suggests the need for great caution in our judgment in these matters. A foreign university professor gives his students very fine lectures on the sexual life, laying great stress on the beauty and importance of sexual abstinence. The lecturer was convinced that as a result of his lectures his students were exceptionally chaste and abstinent. But a colleague of this same professor at the university is no less firmly convinced, and this as the result of reports from members of his friend's audience, that the assumed chastity of the students is purely imaginary, and that in actual fact their lives are just as loose as those of students in general.
135This does not conflict with the fact that in these circles also much hypocrisy is practised—much more certainly than in our own country (Germany). To a still greater extent is this true of England, where also in many circles all illegitimate sexual intercourse is proscribed, thus leading to the practice of hypocrisy. Because a large proportion of the population does not practise illegitimate intercourse, those who do indulge in it are led to conceal as far as possible their own illegitimate intercourse; as a result of this we find side by side and simultaneously in the same circle, on the one hand a prohibition of illegitimate intercourse based upon genuine conviction, and on the other a hypocritical condemnation of such intercourse. Further, we have to admit that the question is an exceptionally difficult one, precisely on account of the hypocrisy and lies in which the sexual life is enveloped. Naturally, where illegitimate intercourse is forbidden, those who do indulge are far more careful, and especially in guarding against venereal infection, lest the illness should betray them to others. A communication made to me very recently suggests the need for great caution in our judgment in these matters. A foreign university professor gives his students very fine lectures on the sexual life, laying great stress on the beauty and importance of sexual abstinence. The lecturer was convinced that as a result of his lectures his students were exceptionally chaste and abstinent. But a colleague of this same professor at the university is no less firmly convinced, and this as the result of reports from members of his friend's audience, that the assumed chastity of the students is purely imaginary, and that in actual fact their lives are just as loose as those of students in general.
136See the article on "Coeducation" inBuch von Kinde(The Book of the Child), edited by Adele Schreiber, vol. ii, Leipzig, 1907, p. 48.
136See the article on "Coeducation" inBuch von Kinde(The Book of the Child), edited by Adele Schreiber, vol. ii, Leipzig, 1907, p. 48.
137Versuch einer Charakteristik des weiblichen Geschlechtes(Attempt at a Characterization of the Female Sex), Hanover, 1797, vol. i. p. 95.
137Versuch einer Charakteristik des weiblichen Geschlechtes(Attempt at a Characterization of the Female Sex), Hanover, 1797, vol. i. p. 95.
138Pougin,Dictionnaire du Théâtre, Paris, 1885, p. 715.
138Pougin,Dictionnaire du Théâtre, Paris, 1885, p. 715.
139The description of such a mental state will be found in a diary, shown to Nyström by a young friend of his, and published by the former in his work onThe Sexual Life and its Laws(Das Geschlechtsleben und seine Gesetze), Berlin, 1904, p. 129.
139The description of such a mental state will be found in a diary, shown to Nyström by a young friend of his, and published by the former in his work onThe Sexual Life and its Laws(Das Geschlechtsleben und seine Gesetze), Berlin, 1904, p. 129.
140Moll,Aerztliche Ethik, Stuttgart, 1902, pp. 220-31.
140Moll,Aerztliche Ethik, Stuttgart, 1902, pp. 220-31.
141Theologians are not agreed as to when the "age of reason" is attained. Gousset, in hisMoraltheologie zum Gebrauch der Pfarrer und Beichtväter(German translation of the seventh edition of a French work,Moral Theology for the Use of Priests and Father-Confessors), Aix, 1852, vol. ii. p. 244, demands that children should go to confession as soon as they are seven years of age; other authorities consider that the "age of reason" begins only in the last years of childhood.
141Theologians are not agreed as to when the "age of reason" is attained. Gousset, in hisMoraltheologie zum Gebrauch der Pfarrer und Beichtväter(German translation of the seventh edition of a French work,Moral Theology for the Use of Priests and Father-Confessors), Aix, 1852, vol. ii. p. 244, demands that children should go to confession as soon as they are seven years of age; other authorities consider that the "age of reason" begins only in the last years of childhood.
142L'Amour, 5th ed., Paris, 1861, p. 72.
142L'Amour, 5th ed., Paris, 1861, p. 72.
143From what has been said before, it will have become evident that the question has different aspects in different strata of the population. I have attempted merely to formulate general principles, not to furnish an answer for every possible concrete question. Differences between town and country, between richer and poorer, between cultured and uncultured, must be given due consideration. In the case of those belonging to the less cultured and the poorer strata of society, a special use in this connexion may be found for those social institutions which have of late come into being in various localities as the fruit of voluntary effort corresponding to our Children's Care Committees, &c., in England—Translator, and conducted by women of the cultured and well-to-do classes. These institutions may be utilised for imparting the sexual enlightenment, at any rate in so far as they permit of an individual study of the child-psyche.
143From what has been said before, it will have become evident that the question has different aspects in different strata of the population. I have attempted merely to formulate general principles, not to furnish an answer for every possible concrete question. Differences between town and country, between richer and poorer, between cultured and uncultured, must be given due consideration. In the case of those belonging to the less cultured and the poorer strata of society, a special use in this connexion may be found for those social institutions which have of late come into being in various localities as the fruit of voluntary effort corresponding to our Children's Care Committees, &c., in England—Translator, and conducted by women of the cultured and well-to-do classes. These institutions may be utilised for imparting the sexual enlightenment, at any rate in so far as they permit of an individual study of the child-psyche.
144Sexuelle Belehrung der aus der Volksschule entlassenen Mädchen(The Sexual Instruction of Girls Leaving the Elementary School), Leipzig, 1907.
144Sexuelle Belehrung der aus der Volksschule entlassenen Mädchen(The Sexual Instruction of Girls Leaving the Elementary School), Leipzig, 1907.
145Among others by K. Höller: "Die Aufgabe der Volksschule" ("The Task of the Elementary School"),Proceedings of the Third Congress of the German Society for the Suppression of the Venereal Diseases, at Mannheim, in the Year 1907. In these Proceedings, which were published as the seventh volume of theZeitschrift zur Bekämpfung der Geschlechtskrankheiten(Journal for the Suppression of the Venereal Diseases), the reader will find a vast amount of material bearing upon this question.
145Among others by K. Höller: "Die Aufgabe der Volksschule" ("The Task of the Elementary School"),Proceedings of the Third Congress of the German Society for the Suppression of the Venereal Diseases, at Mannheim, in the Year 1907. In these Proceedings, which were published as the seventh volume of theZeitschrift zur Bekämpfung der Geschlechtskrankheiten(Journal for the Suppression of the Venereal Diseases), the reader will find a vast amount of material bearing upon this question.
146Briefe über die wichtigsten Gegenstände der Menschheit (Letters Concerning Matters of the Utmost Importance to Mankind), written by R., and published by S. I. Teil, Leipzig, 1794, p. 100et seq.To all who are interested in the subject under discussion, I strongly recommend the perusal of this book, which seems to-day to have been entirely forgotten.
146Briefe über die wichtigsten Gegenstände der Menschheit (Letters Concerning Matters of the Utmost Importance to Mankind), written by R., and published by S. I. Teil, Leipzig, 1794, p. 100et seq.To all who are interested in the subject under discussion, I strongly recommend the perusal of this book, which seems to-day to have been entirely forgotten.
147For example, Max Oker-Blom:Beim Onkel Doktor auf dem Lande. A book for parents, 2nd ed., Vienna and Leipzig, 1906.—An English version,How my Uncle the Doctor Instructed me in Matters of Sex, has been published by the American Society of Sanitary and Moral Prophylaxis, 33, West 42nd Street, New York. [A list of a number of such books will be found in a footnote to p. 684 of my translation of Bloch'sThe Sexual Life of Our Time. As Oker-Blom himself says of this vital matter of sexual enlightenment, "Better a year too early than an hour too late."—Translator.
147For example, Max Oker-Blom:Beim Onkel Doktor auf dem Lande. A book for parents, 2nd ed., Vienna and Leipzig, 1906.—An English version,How my Uncle the Doctor Instructed me in Matters of Sex, has been published by the American Society of Sanitary and Moral Prophylaxis, 33, West 42nd Street, New York. [A list of a number of such books will be found in a footnote to p. 684 of my translation of Bloch'sThe Sexual Life of Our Time. As Oker-Blom himself says of this vital matter of sexual enlightenment, "Better a year too early than an hour too late."—Translator.
148Affektivität, Suggestibilität, Paranoia, Halle, 1906.
148Affektivität, Suggestibilität, Paranoia, Halle, 1906.
149Anthropologisch-kulturhistorische Studien über die Geschlechtsverhältnisse des Menschen(Anthropological and Historical Studies concerning the Sexual Life of Mankind), 2nd ed., Jena, 1888, p. 106.
149Anthropologisch-kulturhistorische Studien über die Geschlechtsverhältnisse des Menschen(Anthropological and Historical Studies concerning the Sexual Life of Mankind), 2nd ed., Jena, 1888, p. 106.
150There is one bearing of the use of alcohol in relation to irregular sexual intercourse, the importance of which Dr. Moll appears to me largely to ignore in his discussion of the subject, and that is the effect which even moderate doses of alcohol have in blunting the finer sensibilities, and in disturbing the balance of the judgment. (The author's only reference to the subject is on page 348, where he writes, "If so much alcohol is taken as to interfere with the natural psychical inhibitions, sexual practices may occur that would not otherwise have occurred.") To take the woman's point of view first, it is, I believe, a common experience with prostitutes that, in the earlier days at any rate, they find it difficult to ply their trade unless under the influence of alcohol. Turning to the man's point of view, there is quite a considerable proportion of young men who, however strong their sexual impulse, object to meretricious intercourse at once on ethical and æsthetic grounds. The ethical ground is that intercourse with a prostitute infringes the elementary principle of civilised morals, that one human being should not use another as a mere means to the ends of the former, but that each of us must treat all human beings as ends in themselves; considering the general character of prostitution, the fact that obligations to the individual prostitute are supposed to be discharged by a conventional money payment, does not countervail the fact that this moral principle is infringed. On the æsthetic objections to prostitution, it is hardly necessary to enlarge; they have been felt by all men with refined sensibilities. But it is precisely these refined sensibilities which are blunted by even moderate doses of alcohol—doses insufficiently great to abate the sexual impulse itself. I do not mean to suggest that prostitution would not continue, in the present economic and social conditions, were there no intoxicants in the world; but I think an evening spent in quiet observation in the "promenade" of a "fashionable" London music-hall will convince most people that the above-described effects of alcohol are by no means purely imaginary.—Translator's Note.
150There is one bearing of the use of alcohol in relation to irregular sexual intercourse, the importance of which Dr. Moll appears to me largely to ignore in his discussion of the subject, and that is the effect which even moderate doses of alcohol have in blunting the finer sensibilities, and in disturbing the balance of the judgment. (The author's only reference to the subject is on page 348, where he writes, "If so much alcohol is taken as to interfere with the natural psychical inhibitions, sexual practices may occur that would not otherwise have occurred.") To take the woman's point of view first, it is, I believe, a common experience with prostitutes that, in the earlier days at any rate, they find it difficult to ply their trade unless under the influence of alcohol. Turning to the man's point of view, there is quite a considerable proportion of young men who, however strong their sexual impulse, object to meretricious intercourse at once on ethical and æsthetic grounds. The ethical ground is that intercourse with a prostitute infringes the elementary principle of civilised morals, that one human being should not use another as a mere means to the ends of the former, but that each of us must treat all human beings as ends in themselves; considering the general character of prostitution, the fact that obligations to the individual prostitute are supposed to be discharged by a conventional money payment, does not countervail the fact that this moral principle is infringed. On the æsthetic objections to prostitution, it is hardly necessary to enlarge; they have been felt by all men with refined sensibilities. But it is precisely these refined sensibilities which are blunted by even moderate doses of alcohol—doses insufficiently great to abate the sexual impulse itself. I do not mean to suggest that prostitution would not continue, in the present economic and social conditions, were there no intoxicants in the world; but I think an evening spent in quiet observation in the "promenade" of a "fashionable" London music-hall will convince most people that the above-described effects of alcohol are by no means purely imaginary.—Translator's Note.
151The arguments against raising the Age of Consent for women beyond the age of sixteen now specified in the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885, as ably summarised by Havelock Ellis, should be consulted in this connexion. See hisStudies in the Psychology of Sex, vol. vi.,Sex in Relation to Society, pp. 528-30. Davis, Philadelphia, 1910.—Translator's Note.
151The arguments against raising the Age of Consent for women beyond the age of sixteen now specified in the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885, as ably summarised by Havelock Ellis, should be consulted in this connexion. See hisStudies in the Psychology of Sex, vol. vi.,Sex in Relation to Society, pp. 528-30. Davis, Philadelphia, 1910.—Translator's Note.
152"Die Anfänge einer Erziehung zu geistiger und körperlicher Gesundheit während des ersten Lebensjahres" ("The Beginnings of an Education for the Maintenance of Mental and Bodily Health, as applied during the First Year of Life"),Fortschritte der Medizin, 1908, No. 21.
152"Die Anfänge einer Erziehung zu geistiger und körperlicher Gesundheit während des ersten Lebensjahres" ("The Beginnings of an Education for the Maintenance of Mental and Bodily Health, as applied during the First Year of Life"),Fortschritte der Medizin, 1908, No. 21.