commonly formed by children.  The first, and the most widely disseminated, is that there is no real anatomical difference between boys and girls; if the boy notices that his little sister has no obvious penis he even concludes that it is because she is too young, and the little girl herself takes the same view.  The fact that in early life the clitoris is relatively larger and more penis-like helps to confirm this view which Freud connects with the tendency in later life to erotic dream of women furnished with a penis.  This theory, as Freud also remarks, favors the growth of homosexuality when its germs are present.  The second theory is the faecal theory of the origin of babies.  The child, who perhaps thinks his mother has a penis, and is in any case ignorant of the vagina, concludes that the baby is brought into the world by an action analogous to the action of the bowels.  The third theory, which is perhaps less prevalent than the others, Freud terms the sadistic theory of coitus.  The child realizes that his father must have taken some sort of part in his production.  The theory that sexual intercourse consists in violence has in it a trace of truth, but seems to be arrived at rather obscurely.  The child’s own sexual feelings are often aroused for the first time when wrestling or struggling with a companion; he may see his mother, also, resisting more or less playfully a sudden caress from his father, and if a real quarrel takes place, the impression may be fortified.  As to what the state of marriage consists in, Freud finds that it is usually regarded as a state which abolishes modesty; the most prevalent theory being that marriage means that people can make water before each other, while another common childish theory is that marriage is when people can show each other their private parts.

Thus it is that at a very early stage of the child’s life we are brought face to face with the question how we may most wisely begin his initiation into the knowledge of the great central facts of sex.  It is perhaps a little late in the day to regard it as a question, but so it is among us, although three thousand five hundred years ago, the Egyptian father spoke to his child:  “I have given you a mother who has carried you within her, a heavy burden, for your sake, and without resting on me.  When at last you were born, she indeed submitted herself to the yoke, for during three years were her nipples in your mouth.  Your excrements never turned her stomach, nor made her say, ‘What am I doing?’ When you were sent to school she went regularly every day to carry the household bread and beer to your master.  When in your turn you marry and have a child, bring up your child as your mother brought you up."[20]

I take it for granted, however, that—­whatever doubt there may be as to the how or the when—­no doubt is any longer possible as to the absolute necessity of taking deliberate and active part in this sexual initiation, instead of leaving it to the chance revelation of ignorant and perhaps vicious companions or servants.  It is becoming more and more widely felt that the risks of ignorant innocence are too great.