acute that she desired to be castrated. In this
connection, also, I may mention a case, which
has been communicated to me from Glasgow, of a
girl—strong and healthy and menstruating
regularly since the age of 17—who was
seduced at the age of 20 without any sexual desire
on her part, giving birth to a child nine months
later. Subsequently she became a prostitute for
three years, and during this period had not the
slightest sexual desire or any pleasure in sexual
connection. Thereafter she met a poor lad
with whom she has full sexual desire and sexual pleasure,
the result being that she refuses to go with any
other man, and consequently is almost without
food for several days every week.
The late appearance of the great climax of sexual emotion in women is indicated by a tendency to nervous and psychic disturbances between the ages of 25 and about 33, which has been independently noted by various alienists (though it may be noted that 25 to 30 is not an unusual age for first attacks of insanity in men also). Thus, Krafft-Ebing states that adult unmarried women between the ages of 25 and 30 often show nervous symptoms and peculiarities. (Krafft-Ebing, “Ueber Neurosen und Psychosen durch Sexuelle Abstinenz,” Jahrbuecher fuer Psychiatrie, Bd. viii, ht. 1-4, 1888.) Pitres and Regis find also (Comptes-rendus XIIe Congres International de Medecine, Moscow, 1897, vol. iv, p. 45) that obsessions, which are commoner in women than in men and are commonly connected in their causation with strong moral emotion, occur in women chiefly between the ages of 26 and 30, though in men much earlier. The average age at which in England women inebriates begin drinking in excess is 26. (British Medical Journal, Sept. 2, 1911, p. 518.)
A case recorded by Serieux is instructive as regards the development of the sexual impulse, although it comes within the sphere of mental disorder. A woman of 32 with bad heredity had in childhood had weak health and become shy, silent, and fond of solitude, teased by her companions and finding consolation in hard work. Though very emotional, she never, even in the vaguest form, experienced any of those feelings and aspirations which reveal the presence of the sexual impulse. She had no love of dancing and was indifferent to any embraces she might chance to receive from young men. She never masturbated or showed inverted feelings. At the age of 23 she married. She still, however, experienced no sexual feelings; twice only she felt a faint sensation of pleasure. A child was born, but her home was unhappy on account of her husband’s drunken habits. He died and she worked hard for her own living and the support of her mother. Then at the age of 31 a new phase occurs in her life: she falls in love with the master of her workshop. It was at first a purely psychic affection, without any mixture of physical elements; it was enough to see him, and she trembled when she touched anything