take this from a diary, so I know it is correct) I was still ignorant as to intrinsic fact.  Then I pulled myself together and felt it was really time I learned the actual details of the matter.  I went to a clever friend of mine and asked him to tell me all about it.  He expressed himself astounded at my not knowing; and he had very great shyness about telling me.  In fact, I had to drag facts out of him by a real cross-examination, during which he persistently marveled at my ignorance.  Though he had a great deal of false shame about the matter, I had none at all.  His revelations considerably surprised me, because I had no idea that there was actual intromission.  When I came to reflect on what I had learned the fact of this close physical intimacy appealed to me as being quite poetic and beautiful between two lovers; and I have had no reason since to change my opinion.

    “Summary.—­1.  Romantic interest in girls and women commencing
    early and remaining persistently.

    “2.  Knowledge before puberty of the fact that this interest was
    based on the all-important process of reproduction.

    “3.  Absence of further physical curiosity even at puberty itself.

    “4.  Knowledge ultimately acquired without shock.

“The physical in sex has never been any bother to me, neither have I bothered about it.  I have recognized it, frankly, and don’t see why I shouldn’t, but my unashamed recognition has probably been because the merely physical is less absorbing to me than to most.  Mental and emotional interest in passion has absorbed me greatly, but the merely physical has sunk into what I call its natural place of subordination.  Nature is kind.  It is our ‘conspiracy of silence’ which tends to emphasize physical detail.”

HISTORY VII.—­G.D., who is a doctor and a man of science, writes:  “There is a strong history of gout on the paternal side.  No history of alcohol, tubercle, brain trouble, or of the arthropathies.  There is some reason to believe that two of my maternal aunts were sexually frigid, and perhaps this was true to a less extent of my mother, who had a contracted pelvis, necessitating the induction of labor at the eighth month of pregnancy.

“About the age of 7 a German nursery governess, B., took charge of me, and I soon became devoted to her.  I was then a delicate child, and used to suffer frequently from nightmare, waking up screaming and covered with sweat.  When this happened, B. would sometimes take me into her bed and soothe me with kisses, etc.  These I returned, and can remember that I was particularly fond of kissing her breasts.

“About this time a girl cousin, A., about a year older than myself, was one of my most frequent playmates.  I endeavored to monopolize her company and attention, and on this account often came to blows with C., a cousin rather younger