The Sexual Impulse.

By the term sexual impulse, we understand the impulse shared by women and by men towards intimate physical contact and sexual intercourse with individuals of the opposite sex. In the child this impulse slumbers, to awaken at the menarche with the onset of puberty, to increase slowly at first, and then more rapidly, after the manner of an avalanche, until it becomes a powerful passion, dominant throughout the active sexual life of the woman, and it may even continue far beyond this period. The proper aim for whose attainment the sexual impulse in woman strives is by no means (as is asserted in some quarters) the fulfilment of “the impulse toward motherhood,” but is merely the complete satisfaction of sensual passion by intercourse with the male. Still, the sexual impulse is often satisfied by the minor degrees of sexual gratification in the form of the mutual contact, so agreeable to the sense of touch, of portions of the body, and even by the play of imagination and illusion under the dominion of love. Finally, also, love amounts to what Buffon, the celebrated naturalist, expressed with coarse incisiveness in the phrase, “L’amour c’est le frôlement de deux intestins.”

In the sexually mature woman, the sexual impulse always exists, though its strength varies in accordance with individual inheritance, with physical and mental condition, and with external circumstances, and though its manifestation may be repressed by force of will. The sensation of the sexual impulse in a maiden during the years of development is described by Goethe in a masterly manner in the verses.[[33]]

“Meine Ruh ist hin

Mein Herz ist schwer,

Ich finde sie nimmer

Und nimmermehr.

Mein Busen drängt

Sich nach ihm hin,

Ach, dürft ich ihn fassen

Und halten ihn

Und küssen ihn,

So wie ich wollt,

An seinen Küssen

Vergehen sollt.”

A resemblance to heat or rut in animals, who exhibit the sexual impulse only at definite periods, those at which the ovules ripen, is manifested in females of the human species only in so far as there is during menstruation a more intense sexual sensibility; but the limitation of the sexual impulse to definite periods, and its close association with reproduction, are not found in women. Education and morality impose artificial limitations on the sexual impulse in women, whilst nature endows this impulse with a coercive power, a fact recognized by thinkers of all times and all peoples. Thus, Buddha wrote: “The sexual impulse is stronger than the ankus with which the wild elephant is controlled, it is hotter than flame, it is like unto an arrow driven into the spirit of man.” In a similar sense Luther writes: “He who wishes to restrain the impulse of nature and not to allow it free play, as nature will and must, what does he do but this, to insist that nature shall not be nature, that fire shall not burn, that water shall not wet, that man shall neither eat, drink, nor sleep.” Schopenhaur describes the sexual impulse as “the completest outward manifestation of the will to live, the concentration, that is to say, of all wills. * * * The affirmation of the will to live concentrates itself in the act of generation, and this act is its most determined expression.” Mainländer in his Philosophy of Deliverance makes the following statement: “In the sexual impulse lies the centre of gravity of human life. To nothing does man devote a more earnest attention than to the business of generation, and in the pursuit of no other aim does he concentrate the intensity of his will in so striking a manner as in the performance of the act of generation.” Debay similarly insists on the strength of the sexual impulse, saying: “The union of the sexes is one of the great laws of nature; to that law men and women are subordinated as completely as all other creatures, they cannot escape its operation.”

According to the general opinion, the sexual impulse is not so strongly developed in women as it is in men. Hegar, Litzmann, Lombroso, P. Müller, and many others, assume that the sexual sensibility of women is less than that of men; Fürbringer is inclined to attribute the characteristic of sexual frigidity to the great majority of German wives. I do not believe that this view, of the slight intensity of the sexual impulse in women in general, is well grounded, and can admit only this much, that in adolescent girls who are inexperienced in sexual matters, the sexual impulse is less powerful than in youths of the same age who have undergone sexual enlightenment. From the moment when the woman also has been fully enlightened as to sexual affairs, and has actually experienced sexual excitement, her impulse toward intimate physical contact and toward copulation is just as powerful as that of men. According, however, to the dominant artificial conditions, man assumes it as his right to give free rein to his sexual desires and to gratify them without regard to consequences, whereas woman, narrowly confined within the boundaries imposed by law and convention, cannot so readily yield to her inclination in the direction of physical love, and must forcibly control that inclination. Moreover, a powerful check on the free indulgence of the sexual impulse is imposed on woman by the consequences of such indulgence, consequences which exist for woman only.

I may further indicate as differential characteristics, that in woman the sexual impulse is more accessible to voluntary control than it is in man, the ardor of female sexual passion is more readily diminished than that of the male; and again that in the female the gratification of the sexual impulse is less narrowly restricted than in the male. Excessive sexual gratification on the one hand and suppression of sexual desire on the other are, generally speaking, less harmful to the female organism than to the male. In these differentiæ is to be found, in my opinion, the influence which determines the type of sexuality in the respective sexes.

The following account is given by Havelock Ellis of the differential characters of the sexual impulse in the female: “In courtship, woman plays a more passive part than man; in woman the physiological mechanism of the sexual processes is more complicated, and the orgasm develops more deliberately; the sexual impulse in woman needs more frequently to be actively stimulated; the culmination of sexual activity is attained later in the life of woman than in the life of man, the strength of sexual desire in woman becomes greater after she has entered upon regular sexual intercourse, women bear sexual excesses better than men; the sexual sphere is larger and more widely diffused in women than it is in men; finally, in woman the sexual impulse exhibits a distinct tendency to periodic exacerbations, and it is in any case much more variable than in man.” The same author, who has published several notable biological studies on subjects connected with sex, maintains that the source of erotic pleasure in the case of the male lies in activity, but in the female in the passive state, in the experience of compulsion, and he holds that sexual subordination is a necessary element in the sexual enjoyment of women.

Hegar maintains that under the term sexual impulse two distinct conceptions are confounded: First, the impulse toward copulation, the desire of carnal union with a member of the opposite sex; secondly, the impulse toward reproduction, the desire for children. At the same time, this author admits that it is questionable if we can properly speak of an impulse toward reproduction, when reproduction is merely a consequence of copulation; in the case of civilized man, at any rate, so much reflection is connected with the idea of reproduction that it can hardly be proper to speak of anything of the nature of an impulse. In the case of woman, the expression is less unsuitable, since in woman special organs exist for the maintenance of the ovum after fertilization, and these organs may perhaps lead to the production of this peculiar form of mental activity.

According to Darwin, a comparatively less intensity of sexual desire is common to the females of all species of the animal kingdom. The female demands a prolonged courtship, and often endeavors for a considerable time to elude the male. In the lowest classes of the animal kingdom the female leads a separate existence as soon as she has been fertilized by the male, the sexual functions being thus subordinated to the maternal. Among birds at the pairing season the male is always the more passionate and active of the two, whilst the female commonly remains passive and occupies herself in building the nest. Among mammals, it is difficult to determine whether sexual feeling is stronger in the female or in the male; but it is certain that sexual relations are seldom long lasting, they continue in most cases only during the period of heat or rut, and at most only till the birth of the young.

From these phenomena witnessed in the animal kingdom, many naturalists have concluded that in females of the human species also, sexual sensibility and the intensity of the sexual impulse are less than in the males, and even that the sexual sense in general is but little developed in the female sex, or sometimes entirely wanting. The complicated apparatus which the primary and secondary sexual characters of the female combine to make up, exists, according to this view, not for the gratification of the sexual impulse, but for the fulfilment of the function of motherhood. “Love in women,” says Lombroso, “is in its fundamental nature no more than a secondary character of motherhood, and all the feelings of affection that bind woman to man arise, not from sexual impulses, but from the instincts, acquired by adaptation, of subordination and self-surrender.”

Mantegazza lays stress on the fact that in the female, sexual desire is very rarely accompanied by pains analogous to those which occur in man, in whom sexual excitement manifests itself in painful tension of the testicle and the seminal vesicles, or in spasmodic, long-continued priapism.

Sergi writes to Lombroso: “The normal woman loves to be flattered and wooed by man, but yields herself to his sexual desires only like an animal at the sacrifice. It is well known how much pains must be taken, how many caresses must be expended, before a woman will yield with pleasure to a man’s desires, and will share his sexual passion. Without the employment of these means, a woman remains cold and gives as little satisfaction as she feels. There are girls who are quite obtuse to the joys of love, and either resist energetically a man’s approaches, or yield to him passively, without ardor and without enthusiasm. It is well known, also, that among the lower races of mankind, means are employed to stimulate the sexual sensibility in women, means that seem to us to amount to torture; and that the male, with the same end in view, undergoes the most painful operations, from which it is apparent that the slight sexual sensibility of women in these lower grades of civilization is fully recognized.” And again: “If a normal woman marries for love, she hides that love deep in her heart, and even on the wedding-day exhibits no great sexual excitement; she often complains later that in her husband the love-fervor of the first days still continues; the very moderate sexual needs of the wife form a natural and most valuable check to the much more powerful passion of the male.”

Saint Prospêre expresses himself to a similar effect: “Women do not fall in consequence of the excessive power of the senses—in this domain they are overlords, in striking contrast to men, whose weakest side is here. It is not by means of the senses that a woman is to be overcome; her weakness lies elsewhere—in her heart, in her vanity.” And de Lambert wrote the epigram, “Women play with love, and yield themselves to love, but they do not abandon themselves to love.”

Well known also is the saying of Dante:

“We know how speedily in women the fire of love is consumed

Unless eye and hand continually supply it with fresh fuel.”

On the other hand, it is asserted in the laws of the Hindus that sexual desire in women can as little be satisfied or fed full as a devouring fire can be fed full of combustible materials, or as the ocean can be overfilled by the rivers that pour their waters into it.

Lombroso finds a proof of the sexual indifference of women and of the greater sexual needs of man, in the existence of prostitution, with which can be contrasted the existence only among the degenerate classes (both rich and poor) of a small group of male prostitutes (alfons, souteneurs). This author also refers to the rarity and uniformity in women of the sexual psychoses so frequent in men, as indications of the minor intensity of sexual desire in the former; and he refers also to a series of facts, as for instance, to the occurrence of platonic love, which, though indeed often hypocritical, has a real existence more often in the female sex than in the male; to the long-enduring chastity of girls, and to vows of chastity, which are rarely made except by females; moreover, the ready adaptation of women to polygamy, as well as their scrupulous observance of monogamy, which latter for the male is nominal rather than actual. If in general the opposite view concerning women prevails, this is ascribed by Lombroso to the fact, that love is the most important circumstance in a woman’s life. The reason therefore, however, is to be found, not in the erotic sphere, but in the desire for the satisfaction of the maternal instinct, and in a woman’s need for protection. A celebrated accoucheur, Giordano, has remarked: “Man loves woman for the sake of the vulva; what woman loves in man is the husband and the father. Comprehensively we may express the matter by saying that woman has less eroticism and more sexuality.”

As a rule, remarks Erb, it is believed that the sexual impulse is less intense in women than in men. This is true enough, he writes, as regards youthful and virgin individuals, who have not yet come into intimate contact with men, and in whom sexual desire and sensibility have not yet been directly excited; later, however, when sexual intercourse has been begun, a change usually takes place, and the sexual needs become active in women also, and demand satisfaction. It is well known that not a few women experience powerful and uncontrolled sensual inclinations, just like those of men. On the other hand, we must insist that quite a large number of women possess the so-called naturae frigidae, and have no sensual inclination to sexual intercourse, to which they are either indifferent, or in some cases strongly averse, even regarding it with horror. This lack of the sexual sense in women, is especially common in hysterical subjects, and Erb reports that he has encountered quite a large number of cases of this character. Whether in quite healthy women with normal sexual impulse, complete abstinence from sexual intercourse, too often compulsory but sometimes voluntarily undertaken, is harmful in its consequences—this, says Erb, is a question very difficult to answer. Many such unfortunate women have assured him that they suffered severely in consequence of their enforced continence; the majority of these became neurasthenic or hysterical. The complication of purely physical influences with mental influences, increases the difficulty of the problem. Neurologists have observed women on whom continence was forced either during marriage or after its dissolution, who thereupon fell into a state of severe nervous exhaustion or nervous excitement, or suffered from threatening or even actually developed psychoses. That sexual abstinence is “absolutely harmless,” as moralists and many physicians would so gladly believe, appears to Erb a quite unwarrantable assumption.

“In the processes of reproduction,” continues Erb in his discussion of this subject, “woman is the principal sufferer. With inhuman cruelty, nature has condemned woman to a far more difficult rôle than man in the intercourse of the sexes and in the preservation of the species; she is overpowered and forced by man, she is compelled to make the most severe sacrifices for the sake of the new generation, first when it is germinating within her womb, and later when it is entrusted to her care; and only too frequently she fails to find the respect and protection due to her for the performance of these functions! Compared with the sacrifices made by woman, the temporary continence which is all that is demanded from man will be admitted to be a small matter! It is fortunate that as a rule the young woman who has never come into intimate contact with the male, appears to be endowed by nature with a relatively weak sexual impulse! This unequal and unjust distribution of the male and female rôles on the part of nature may be regretted, but it cannot be altered.”

The modern advocates of the rights of women, who demand that in the sexual sphere also, woman should receive emancipation, oppose the view that in the male the sexual impulse is stronger than in the female, and also the view that whilst in the male the impulse is simply one toward sexual congress, in the female the determining motive to intercourse is furnished by the desire for motherhood. They complain of “the perverse repression in woman of the sexual impulse and its physiological gratification,” since sexual energy and sexual sensibility are equal in intensity and identical in quality in the female and in the male. Thus, Johanna Elberskirchen writes (Die Sexualempfindung bei Weib und Mann—Sexual Sensation in Woman and Man): “Body and soul, the whole being is subordinated to a single powerful feeling and impulse, a single will flows through nerves and blood, forcing and driving the female toward the male with irresistible power; the yearning, the longing for the relief of sexual tension, the craving for the euphoria and fleshly delight that dominate the whole personality. And this elementary sexual longing it is that clouds the woman’s brain, that drives her into the man’s arms, that leads her to forget all the shame threatening her and her child, that brings her to sexual union—not the longing for a child, not the so-called impulse to motherhood.” And again: “Woman yearns for love, all her love-organs cry out for love, soul and body * * *. We do not long only for the rude sexual act. We spiritualise it—at least some of us do so; at any rate we individualize it. It is one particular man whom we desire, he alone can still our longing, our bodily and mental hunger for love. He satisfies us with all his love-affinities.” Naturally, also, the consequence is deduced, “a free course must be given to sexual sensation in women, and to the satisfaction of sexual desire, within physiological limits, within the bounds of physiological necessity.”

Löwenfeld asserts that in the life of woman the sexual functions play a comparatively much greater part than in the life of man, woman’s thoughts and feelings are, that is to say, much more powerfully influenced by sexual matters than those of men; but none the less he is of opinion that in the normal woman the desire for sexual satisfaction is on the average less keen than in the normal man. Distinctly greater in woman is the erotic element only, the need to love and to be loved after an ideal manner, which is excited by the reproductive glands just as much as is the simple sensual desire. Very frequently, manifestations of this ideal need are erroneously attributed to the sensual impulse, yet this latter may be entirely absent in cases in which the erotic element is strongly developed. According to Löwenfeld, the sexual impulse is altogether wanting in young girls before the time of puberty, and in elderly women (in the case of the latter we consider this assertion most questionable); this lack of the sexual impulse persists in girls for an indeterminate time even after puberty, as long as they remain free from all experience of sexual stimulation. In this respect they offer a notable contrast to males of the same age. In normal girls, according to the same author, erotic dreams and similar occurrences are entirely wanting, and specific sexual sensations therefore remain absolutely unknown to them; hence it follows that the sexual impulse cannot, properly speaking, arise in such individuals, and in so far as they experience any desire for sexual intercourse it can only take the form of a craving for some enjoyment, the nature of which is entirely unknown. The absolute lack of the sexual impulse (complete frigidity) persists, according to Löwenfeld, in a not inconsiderable proportion of women even after their introduction to sexual intercourse—Effertz estimates that such complete frigidity is permanent in 10 per cent. of all women—and in a still greater proportion of women the sensual impulse never exceeds a certain minimal intensity (partial frigidity). It is probable that in the higher classes of society, inherited predisposition, education, and perhaps also higher intelligence, combine to diminish the intensity of the sexual impulse. In contrast with these women of frigid temperament, however, we meet with women, certainly in very limited numbers, whose sexual passions are extremely powerful, and whose needs no man can satisfy.

Hegar, who considers that the sexual impulse in women is seldom very powerful, draws the following conclusions in respect of the influence of sexual gratification, on the one hand, or of continence, on the other, on the duration of life and on physical and mental health: “As far as comparisons between married women and women vowed to celibacy (nuns and members of other celibate religious orders) justify any conclusion, sexual activity and inactivity, respectively, would appear to have little influence on the duration of life. Comparisons between married and single women show, indeed, that the gratification of the sexual impulse and the processes of reproduction are distinctly injurious when experienced before the attainment of complete sexual maturity. In married women up to the age of thirty, in some countries even up to the age of forty, the mortality is greater than in unmarried women. The notably smaller mortality of married women, as compared with unmarried, after the age of forty, is usually explained as the result of the complete fulfilment of the genital functions. It may, however, find a truer explanation in the selection effected by marriage, especially when we take into consideration that from the women thus selected the weaker individuals have been previously weeded out by the processes of reproduction:

“The lesser mortality of married men from the age of twenty upwards is to be explained by the selection of the fit which occurs in marriage, by the smaller proportion of marriages among men engaged in hazardous occupations, and by the deterioration in the quality of the unmarried which results from emigration. Still the directly favorable influence of marriage is undeniable, and, no doubt, the ethical factors of this institution have a beneficial effect, whereas the gratification of the sexual impulse hardly enters into the account.

“Suicide is certainly very little dependent upon repression of the sexual impulse, since all the motives arising out of the affairs of love play together but a small part among the causes of suicide.

“The beneficial influence of marriage in the prevention of insanity is in part apparent merely, since, in the selection exercised by marriage, those predisposed to mental disorder, and those in whom such disorder has already manifested itself, are, for the most part, already excluded. Still, as regards the male sex at any rate, the beneficial influence of marriage is undeniable, and consists principally in the favorable ethical factors of this state. In women, on the other hand, the advantage of marriage is doubtful, since the nerve centres and the nervous system as a whole are strongly affected by the processes of reproduction.

“Satyriasis, nymphomania, and hysteria are in no way dependent upon the repression of the sexual impulse.

“Criminality in the married is comparatively less common than in the unmarried. In criminal assaults on young persons, repressed sexual impulse plays a part.

“Chlorosis is not in any way dependent on repression of the sexual impulse. A disease apparently analogous to chlorosis, occurring in unmarried women from twenty to thirty years of age, is dependent rather on mental causes, and is relieved by other means than marriage, especially by suitable occupation. Marriage and gestation are distinctly injurious in cases of true chlorosis.

“The satisfaction of the sexual impulse, and still more gestation, favor in women the origin and growth of tumors, give rise often to mechanical disturbances, and open the way for the invasion of toxic pathogenic germs.

“Osteomalacia occurs only in parous women.”

Moll divides the sexual impulse into two components: The impulse toward intimate contact (in a sense both physical and mental) with a person of the opposite sex, which he calls the contrectation-impulse (Kontrektationstrieb); and the impulse to bring about a change in the genital organs, which he calls the detumescence-impulse (Detumeszenztrieb). The former impulse induces intimate physical and mental contact between the two persons concerned, the latter impulse induces the local processes of copulation. In women, detumescence results from the passing off of local swelling and the release of nervous tension in the genital organs, with the discharge of indifferent glandular secretions, notably the secretion of Bartholin’s glands, and perhaps also the secretion of the uterine glands. The intensity of the detumescence-impulse in women varies greatly in different individuals, these variations being more extensive than those occurring in the male. In some women the impulse toward intimate contact, the contrectation-impulse, is normal, though the detumescence-impulse is wholly wanting (vide Dyspareunia).

Runge defines the sexual impulse as the impulse which brings the sexes together. This impulse is subservient to an instinct, namely the instinct of reproduction; that is to say, the sexual impulse induces the individual to perform actions which subserve the purpose of reproduction without the agent’s being directly or chiefly concerned with this purpose.

The sexual impulse, as sensation, perception, and impulse, is, according to von Krafft-Ebing, a function of the cerebral cortex; a centre for the sexual sense has not as yet, however, been localized. The close relations which obtain between the sexual life and the sense of smell lead to the supposition that the sexual and the olfactory spheres of the cerebral cortex are in close proximity one with the other. The development of the sexual life has its beginnings in the organic sensations of the developing reproductive glands. A mutual dependence now arises between the cerebral cortex as place of origin of sensations and perceptions, and the organs of generation. By anatomico-physiological processes these now give rise to sexual perceptions, representations, and impulses. The cerebral cortex, by apperceived or reproduced sensuous perceptions, influences the organs of generation. This influence is effected by the intermediation of the centres of vascular innervation and ejaculation, which are situated in the lumbar enlargement of the spinal cord, and are certainly in close proximity one with the other. Both are reflex centres.

The psycho-physiological process embraced in the conception of the sexual impulse is according to von Krafft-Ebing constituted in the following manner:

I. Of the central or peripherally aroused perceptions.

II. Of the pleasurable sensations associated with these.

Hence arises the impulse to sexual satisfaction (libido sexualis). This impulse becomes stronger in proportion as cerebral excitement, consequent on appropriate perceptions and the working of the imagination, strengthens the intensity of these pleasurable sensations. If the conditions are favorable to the performance of the sexual act by means of which satisfaction is attained, the continually increasing impulse finds expression in action; in other circumstances, inhibitory perceptions intervene, sexual excitement diminishes, the activity of the centre for erection is inhibited, and the sexual act itself is prevented. In the case of civilized humanity the ready action of such perceptions for the inhibition of the sexual impulse is necessary and decisive. On the strength of the impulsive perceptions the constitution and various organic processes have an important influence; on the strength of the inhibitory perceptions, education and the cultivation of self-control are powerfully operative.

In addition to mental influences, all forms of local irritation of the sensory nerves of the female genital organs and adjacent parts, by internal processes or external friction, serve to increase the strength of the sexual impulse. Among internal processes which stimulate the erectile centre by centripetal impulses must be included, the stimulus of the enlarged graafian follicle, stasis in various vascular areas of the genital organs in consequence of a sedentary mode of life, abdominal plethora from excessive consumption of food and stimulating drinks, and habitual constipation. External friction may be in the form of intentional manipulation, but it may be due to certain bodily attitudes or to the arrangement of the clothing.

In normally constituted individuals, the sexual impulse is by no means constant in its intensity. Apart from the temporary indifference resulting from sexual gratification, and apart from the decline in the impulse that occurs after prolonged continence, ensuing after a certain reactionary intensity of desire has been happily overcome, the mode of life has a very great influence. The town-dweller, who is continually reminded of sexual matters, and continually solicited to sexual intercourse, is in any case more subject than the countryman to sexual excitement. A sedentary and sheltered mode of life, a chiefly animal diet, the free use of alcohol and of spices, and the like, have a stimulating action on the sexual life. In the female, the sexual impulse is stronger just after menstruation. In neuropathic women this increase of excitement may occur to a pathological degree. Not infrequently also in the climacteric period, women are subject to sexual excitement due to pruritus, especially in those neuropathically predisposed. Magnan reports the case of a lady who was subject to matutinal accesses of intense erethismus genitalis. The same author writes of a young lady who since puberty had been subject to continually increasing sexual impulse, which she gratified by masturbation. Gradually it came to pass that the sight of a good-looking man produced violent sexual excitement, and on these occasions, since she felt herself unable to answer for her own conduct, she used to lock herself up in her bedroom till the storm had passed away. Ultimately she surrendered herself to any available man in order to obtain rest from her torturing desires, but neither intercourse nor onanism gave her relief, so that she was finally sent to an asylum.

As regards pathological increase of the sexual impulse, hyperæsthesia sexualis, the constitution of the individual is, according to von Krafft-Ebing (Psychopathia Sexualis), of great importance. He writes: “With a neuropathic constitution, a pathological increase of sexual desire is often associated, and such individuals bear for the greater part of their life the heavy burden of this constitutionally anomalous sexual impulse. The intensity of the sexual impulse may be such as to amount to an organic compulsion, and the freedom of the will may thus be seriously imperilled. Non-satisfaction of this desire may induce a true sexual heat (like that of lower animals), or a mental state characterized by sensations of anxiety, in which the individual yields to the impulse, and his responsibility for his action is most questionable. Should the person so affected not give way to his desire, he runs the danger, by this enforced abstinence, of injuring his nervous system by the induction of neurasthenia, or of seriously aggravating neurasthenia that already exists.

“Excessive sexual desire may arise either from peripheral or from central causes. The former variety is less common. Such cases as do occur, may arise from pruritus of the genitals, from eczema, or from substances which by their remote local action stimulate sexual desire, such for instance as cantharides.

“Sexual excitement of central origin is common in those suffering from congenital neuropathic predisposition, in hysterical subjects, and in states of mental exaltation. In such cases, when the cerebral cortex, including the psychosexual centre, is in a state of hyperæsthesia (abnormal excitability of the imagination, facilitated association of ideas), not only optical and tactile sensations, but also auditory and olfactory impressions, will arouse lascivious perceptions.

“Sexual hyperæsthesia may be continuous, with exacerbations, or intermittent, and even periodic. In the last case, according to von Krafft-Ebing, it is either an independent cerebral neurosis, or else a partial manifestation of a general condition of mental excitement (mania, dementia paralytica, dementia senilis, etc.).”

Erotogenic zones, the stimulation of which leads to an increase in the intensity of the sexual impulse and of sexual sensibility, are in woman first of all and principally the clitoris, which indeed is said to be the only zone of this nature in the virgin state (an opinion held by von Krafft-Ebing and others, but certainly most improbable); next to this comes the whole of the external genitals, and especially the parts covered with hair; also the vagina by friction and inter coitum; finally the nipple and its areola when stimulated by titillation—an increase of the excitability of this region appears to result from suckling.

According to Hensen, the direct stimulation of the sexual impulse proceeds by way of the dorsal nerve of the (penis or) clitoris; he assumes, however, that certain states of the reproductive glands are able to induce an increase in the irritability of the centres connected with the aforesaid nerves. In women it certainly appears that particular states of the ovary have a stimulating or inhibiting influence respectively on sexual excitement, so that we might ascribe to the ovaries the rôle of a regulator of the sexual impulse. The processes that occur in the ovary at the time of the ripening and rupture of the graafian follicle, and the resulting tension of the follicular wall, induce by stimulation of the ovarian nerves an increased sensibility of the central zones, and produce in a menstruating female a condition of increased sexual excitability, so that slight stimuli will give rise to a powerful orgasm more readily than would otherwise be the case, when the reflex irritability of the centre is less pronounced and the sexual impulse is consequently less intense. Still more than during these ordinary menstrual processes may this stimulation be effective at the time of the menarche, when the changes in the ovary occur for the first time and with the greatest intensity, so that at this time the individual may be especially susceptible to sexual stimulation.

At such times of sexual excitement, very slight external peripheral stimuli, in the form either of tactile stimulation of the sensory nerves of the skin and the external genital organs, or of stimulation of the imaginative and perceptive faculties of the brain, suffice to induce a powerful increase of the sexual impulse; whereas at other times, at which no particular sexual excitement exists, much stronger stimuli are needed to produce such an effect. Thus the sexual impulse in women is more readily and more powerfully increased in proportion as the central organ is in a condition of temporarily enhanced excitability in consequence of the condition of the ovaries.

The gratification of this impulse, the act of copulation, produces the specific sensation of sexual pleasure; in the female this is effected chiefly by friction of the glans clitoridis, the organ when erect projecting downwards at a right angle, and pressing upon the intromitted penis—the friction of the glans produces powerful mechanical stimulation of the numerous plexuses of sensory nerve fibres, which terminate in the genital corpuscles of Krause. In woman, then, we find in the ovary the place of origin and the means of regulation of the sexual impulse, and in the clitoris we find the seat of the specific sensation of sexual pleasure.

In the poorer classes of society, an increase of the sexual impulse occurs in women chiefly in consequence of bad example and of unfavorable domestic conditions, such as lead to persons of opposite sexes sleeping in the same bed, and also in consequence of the abuse of alcohol. In the well-to-do classes, it is the perusal of modern equivocal romances, visits to theatres, balls, and evening parties, and, speaking generally, idleness combined with luxurious living, that serve to stimulate the sexual impulse in woman.

A certain dependence of the sexual impulse upon seasonal variations appears to exist also in the human species. At any rate in certain months of the year, a definite increase in the number of conceptions continues to recur, which indicates that during these months a larger number of sexually mature individuals is engaged in the discharge of sexual functions. Rosenstadt regards this as the manifestation of a “physiological custom,” immanent in the physical constitution of civilized man, and inherited by him from his animal ancestors. He explains it in the following terms: “Primitive man inherited from his mammalian forefathers the peculiarity of reproducing his kind only during a certain definite period, the period of heat or rut. After humanity had entered upon this period, copulation was effected en masse, as was easy in view of the primitive community of sexual intercourse before the origin of marriage. In the course of his progress toward civilization, however, man began to reproduce his kind indifferently throughout the entire year; but the original “physiological custom,” in accordance with which reproduction occurred at definite seasons only, did not disappear, and persists, indeed, to a certain extent even to the present day as a survival of earlier mammalian life, and manifests itself in the annual recurrence in certain months of an increase in the number of conceptions. The analogy in structure and function between the genital organs of the human species and those of other mammals (the female anthropoid apes do not merely exhibit from time to time a period of heat, but are subject to a more or less regular menstruation), which for the most part reproduce their kind only at certain definite periods, leads to the conclusion that in the human species also the sexual impulse may originally have awakened only at a particular season of the year, and that the persistence of this physiological custom in man, in spite of the fact that sexual intercourse occurs all through the year, and notwithstanding that the conditions necessary to awaken the sexual impulse are actually perennial, must be ascribed to inheritance.”

This view, which is maintained also by other gynecologists, finds support in Kulischer’s assumption, based upon ethnological investigations, according to which coupling in primitive man took place only at certain seasons, namely, at spring and at harvest-time. In support of this view, which was held also by von Hellwald, Kulischer refers to a number of actual and symbolical practices among different races, which make the assumption extremely probable.

Sexual desire in women, the sexual impulse, outlasts the proper sexual life, and manifests itself even after the cessation of menstruation, when the possibility of conception has passed away; it appears, therefore, to have no necessary connection with the function of ovulation.

This is indicated by the always respectable number of women who enter upon marriage even after the climacteric age. Thus the percentage of brides who were more than 45 years of age was: In Prussia, 2.58 per cent.; in England, 1.38 per cent.; in Sweden, 1.53 per cent.; in Ireland, 0.31 per cent. Of quite peculiar interest are the figures relating to elderly women who marry men considerably younger than themselves. Thus we learn from the tables of Routh that in the space of 10 years in Ireland:

Women between the ages of 46 and 55 years married
Men below the age of 17 in1 instance.
Men between the ages of 17 and 25 in35 instances.
Men between the ages of 26 and 35 in145 instances.
Men between the ages of 36 and 45 in227 instances.
And women of ages greater than 55 years married
Men below the age of 17 in1 instance.
Men between the ages of 17 and 25 in3 instances.
Men between the ages of 26 and 35 in12 instances.
Men between the ages of 36 and 45 in15 instances.
Men between the ages of 46 and 55 in52 instances.

In England during the year 1855 the age of the bride exceeded the climacteric age in 778 instances. The brides were:

From 46 to 50 years of age in135 instances.
From 51 to 55 years of age in219 instances.
From 56 to 60 years of age in89 instances.
From 61 to 65 years of age in22 instances.
From 66 to 70 years of age in7 instances.
From 71 to 75 years of age in3 instances.
From 76 to 80 years of age in3 instances.

In Bohemia in the year 1872 the oldest bride numbered no less than—86 years.

Börner reports cases in which the sexual impulse remained in full activity after the change of life, and in some cases was greatly increased in intensity—these latter individuals being in a condition of real torment, which induced them to masturbate to obtain relief.

The sexual impulse may be present in cases in which the ovaries are entirely wanting. Thus, Hauff reports the case of a young girl who had no ovaries, but was nevertheless excessively addicted to masturbation. Gläveke speaks of a puella publica in whom the uterus and the ovaries were entirely absent, but who asserted that she experienced during coitus active sexual sensation. Both Kussmaul and Puech report similar experiences in cases of absence or arrested development of the uterus.

As regards the effect on the sexual impulse of the operation of oöphorectomy, most authors state that no change occurs; still, there remain many who express the opposite opinion. From the collective summary of cases bearing on this question made by Gläveke, it appears that after extirpation of the ovaries the sexual impulse remains unchanged in the great majority of cases, or at most is but slightly diminished in intensity. Hegar states that he has often witnessed a diminution of the sexual impulse after oöphorectomy, but that this decline is by no means constant, indeed he states that one of his patients assured him that in her case no decline in the intensity of the sexual impulse had followed the operation. Similarly variable reports were the experience of Schmalfuss. In one case he found there was but little sexual inclination; in one case, disinclination; in one case disinclination at first, followed by a return of inclination. Bruntzel reports that in four patients subjected to oöphorectomy, in two cases the sexual impulse persisted, but in the remaining two it was extinguished. Köberle is of opinion that sexual inclination diminishes as a result of this operation. Peaslee, on the contrary, asserts that the patients remain striking examples of womanhood, in whom all the qualities peculiar to their sex are preserved. Péan observed as a rule no difference in the sexual impulse to result from this operation, but he considers that the patients are apt to describe in exaggerated terms the amount of sexual feeling that remains to them. In one case, Spencer Wells observed after oöphorectomy an increase in sexual excitability; Tissier had the same experience, and this author believes that in these cases the sexual impulse is generally preserved. On the other hand, Bailly observed a case, in which both ovaries were removed on account of new growths, where the sexual impulse at first became excessive, and then completely disappeared. Anger and Goodell speak in the same sense.

I am myself acquainted with a woman twenty-six years of age who in girlhood underwent oöphorectomy on account of extremely severe nervous troubles associated with menstruation; she had not experienced in consequence any loss of the sexual impulse; she married a man belonging to the upper strata of society, and consulted me four years later to learn if she could by any means be rendered capable of bearing a child. Two other cases have come within my personal experience in which young women married after extirpation of the ovaries, and in whom sexual desire and sexual sensation were all that could be wished.

In twenty-seven women who had undergone the operation of oöphorectomy, Gläveke made inquiries regarding the three following points: First, whether the sexual impulse had been affected by the operation; secondly, whether during intercourse sexual pleasure was experienced to the same degree as formerly; and thirdly, whether during intercourse any kind of difference was observed as compared with pre-operative experience. He obtained the following results:

Sexual inclination was
Unaffected in 6 cases22 per cent.
Diminished in 10 cases37 per cent.
Extinguished in 11 cases41 per cent.
Sexual pleasure during coitus was
Unaffected in 8 cases31 per cent.
Diminished in 10 cases38 per cent.
Extinguished in 8 cases31 per cent.

In a considerable number of cases the sexual impulse was thus found by Gläveke, not indeed to be entirely extinguished, but still notably diminished. In another set of cases, the sexual impulse was entirely extinguished, but only in one case was there actual aversion to coitus. The women readily permitted intercourse when their husbands desired it, but remained themselves quite indifferent. The greater number of these women stated that the specific sensation of pleasure during coitus was markedly weakened, but not entirely lost; in a small proportion, this sensation was completely extinguished. In the case of seven women who complained that coitus was very painful, Gläveke found that the calibre of the vagina was much diminished. In these cases, the sensation of pleasure during coitus was either greatly diminished or completely extinguished. The women permitted intercourse very unwillingly, their unwillingness arising, not from any actual aversion, but because they dreaded the pain which coitus produced. An extremely hysterical woman, affected with severe prolapse of the uterus, stated that every attempt at intercourse was frustrated by violent hysterical convulsions. The sexual impulse appears always to suffer first and most severely, and only after this is the sensation of pleasure during coitus affected. In a few women only, according to the experience of this author, was the sexual impulse quite unaffected by the removal of the ovaries.

Amputation of the clitoris appears notably to diminish both the sexual impulse and the sensation of sexual pleasure, but the results of clitoridectomy for the cure of masturbation are by no means always favorable. In the women of the Russian sect of the Skopstki, the clitoris, the nymphæ, and a part of the labia majora are removed, in order to destroy sexual desire. According to von Krafft-Ebing it is probable that in the virgin the clitoris is the only erotogenic zone, that is to say, that only by the stimulation of the clitoris can erection, the orgasm, and the sensation of ejaculation be induced. It is probable that the vagina becomes erotogenic only as a result of coitus; thenceforward, however, the erotogenic significance of the clitoris is notably lessened, and in multiparæ may entirely disappear.