Féré, Revue de Médecine, August, 1900. In this paper Féré brings together many interesting facts concerning flagellation in ancient times.
Schmidt-Heuert (Monatschrift für Harnkrankheiten, 1906, ht. 7) argues that it is not so much the actual use of the rod as playful, threatening and mysterious suggestions playing around it which nowadays gives it sexual fascination.
Moll (Untersuchungen über die Libido Sexualis, Bd. 1, p. 18) points out that these emotions frequently suffice to cause sexual emissions in schoolboys.