[302] Venturi, Degenerazioni Psico-sessuali, pp. 105, 133, 148, 152.

[303] J.P.  West, Transactions of the Ohio Pediatric Society, 1895. Abstract in Medical Standard, November, 1895; cases are also recorded by J.T.  Winter, “Self-abuse in Infancy and Childhood,” American Journal Obstetrics, June, 1902.

[304] Freud, Abhandlungen zur Sexualtheorie, pp. 36 et seq.

[305] G.E.  Shuttleworth, British Medical Journal, October 3, 1903.

[306] See for a detailed study of sexuality in childhood, Moll’s valuable book, Das Sexualleben des Kindes; cf. vol. vi of these Studies, Ch.  II.

[307] This is, no doubt, the most common opinion, and it is frequently repeated in text-books.  It is scarcely necessary, however, to point out that only the opinions of those who have given special attention to the matter can carry any weight.  R.W.  Shufeldt ("On a Case of Female Impotency,” pp. 5-7) quotes the opinions of various cautious observers as to the difficulty of detecting masturbation in women.

[308] This latter opinion is confirmed by Naecke so far as the insane are concerned.  In a careful study of sexual perversity in a large asylum, Naecke found that, while moderate masturbation could be more easily traced among men than among women, excessive masturbation was more common among women.  And, while among the men masturbation was most frequent in the lowest grades of mental development (idiocy and imbecility), and least frequent in the highest grades (general paralysis), in the women it was the reverse. (P.  Naecke, “Die Sexuellen Perversitaeten in der Irrenanstalt,” Psychiatrische en Neurologische Bladen, No. 2, 1899.)

[309] Mammary masturbation sometimes occurs; see, e.g., Rohleder, Die Masturbation (pp. 32-33); it is, however, rare.

[310] Hirschsprung pointed out this, indeed, many years ago, on the ground of his own experience.  And see Rohleder, op. cit., pp. 44-47.

[311] In many cases, of course, the physical precocity is associated with precocity in sexual habits.  An instructive case is reported (Alienist and Neurologist, October, 1895) of a girl of 7, a beautiful child, of healthy family, and very intelligent, who, from the age of three, was perpetually masturbating, when not watched.  The clitoris and mons veneris were those of a fully-grown woman, and the child was as well informed upon most subjects as an average woman.  She was cured by care and hygienic attention, and when seen last was in excellent condition.  A medical friend tells me of a little girl of two, whose external genital organs are greatly developed, and who is always rubbing herself.