The revolutionists of 1789 who opened the doors of all jails and insane asylums gave De Sade his freedom on July 14. He sided politically with his deliverers but after a while, became suspicious to them and again spent one year in prison (1793-1794).
What Bonaparte Thought of Him. De Sade, who had been very liberal in presenting free copies of his obscene novels to men prominent in the days of the Revolution and the Terror, made the mistake of sending a set of his works to Bonaparte.
The Corsican caused the entire edition to be suppressed and diagnosed the author very accurately as a murderous pervert, unfit to be at large. De Sade was committed to an insane asylum where he remained until his death on December 2, 1814.
Sadism is a morbid phenomenon which remained mysterious until recently, when the experimental work of physiologists like Cannon, Sherrington and others, revealed to us the close connection existing between mental states, muscular tensions and the secretions of ductless glands of the body.
Adler's "individual psychology" also has thrown much light upon many morbid actions which are simply attempts at compensation for a feeling of inferiority. The neurotic, briefly speaking, feels inferior, that is, afraid of some imaginary danger. He casts about for something which can be done quickly, simply, with the least effort, and which will restore his peace and safety by filling him, were it only temporarily, with a sense of actual or imaginary superiority.
Glandular Drunkenness. Wulffen suggests an interpretation of sadism which is ingenious but unconvincing. He considers every act of violence as provoked by the faulty functioning of some glands.
He compares the effect of the gonadal hormones (one of the secretions of the sex glands issuing from the interstitial cells) with that of alcohol. Alcohol destroys the inhibitions and allows unconscious cravings of an inacceptable sort to express themselves thru overt acts.
The drunken man loses all shame and all fear, becomes boisterous and, at times, murderous. Likewise, Wulffen says, oversecretion of the gonadal hormones creates a sort of sexual drunkenness in the course of which the individual is forced into violent or cruel behavior.
This would be acceptable if all the sadists were strong healthy specimens of manhood and womanhood. Most of them, on the contrary, show plainly signs of glandular insufficiency.