[16]. Westermarck (op. cit., p. 211), after a careful review of the evidence, says: “These facts appear to prove that the feeling of shame, far from being the original cause of man’s covering his body, is, on the contrary, a result of this custom; and that the covering, if not used as a protection from climate, owes its origin, at least in a great many cases, to the desire of men and women to make themselves attractive.”—Trans.
[17]. This is not literally the case. “It is expressly stated, of the women of several savage peoples, that they are less desirous of self-decoration than the men.”—Westermarck, op. cit., p. 184. And the same writer (p. 182) says that “it is a common notion that women are by nature vainer and more addicted to dressing and decorating themselves than men. This certainly does not hold good for savage and barbarous peoples in general.”—Trans.
[18]. Comp. Max Müller, who derives the word fetich etymologically from factitious (artificial, an insignificant thing).
[19]. Deutsches Montagsblatt, Berlin, August 20, 1888.
[20]. Magnan’s “spinal cérébral postérieur,” who finds pleasure in every woman, and on whom every woman looks with favor, has only desire to satisfy his lust. Purchased or forced love is not real love (Mantegazza). The one who originated the saying, “Sublata lucerna nullum discrimen inter feminas,” must have been a cynic indeed. Power in a man to perform love’s act is no proof that this makes possible the greatest pleasure of love. There are, indeed, urnings who are potent for women,—men who do not love their wives, but who are still able to perform the marital “duty.” In most cases of this kind, indeed, there is no lustful pleasure; it is essentially a kind of onanistic act, for the most part made possible by means of help of imagination that calls up another beloved person. By this deception sensual pleasure can be induced, but this rudimentary psychical satisfaction is the result of a mental trick, just as in solitary onanism, where fancy has to assist in order to induce sensual pleasure. As a rule, the degree of orgasm necessary as a means to the attainment of lustful pleasure seems attainable only when the imagination intervenes. Where mental impediments exist (indifference, repugnance, disgust, fear of infection or pregnancy, etc.), sensual pleasure seems usually wanting.
[21]. “The important part played by the hair of the head as a stimulant of sexual passion appears in a curious way from Mr. Sibree’s account of King Radàma’s attempt to introduce European customs among the Hovas of Madagascar. As soon as he had adopted the military tactics of the English, he ordered that all his officers and soldiers should have their hair cut, but this command produced so great a disturbance among the women of the capital that they assembled in great numbers to protest against the king’s order, and could not be quieted until they were surrounded by troops, and their leaders cruelly speared.”—Westermarck, op. cit.
Here male hair was a physiological fetich of females. It represents a relation of the sexes that civilization has gradually reversed. While in civilized society woman exercises her ingenuity to increase her attractiveness, among savages it is the men who are anxious to increase their physical charms. This reversal of the primitive relation is a very interesting fact, and is probably to be explained by the transference of the “liberty of choice” from woman to man which civilization has gradually induced. Westermarck (op. cit., p. 185) says: “It should be noted that it is, as a rule, the man only that runs the risk of being obliged to lead a single life. Hence it is obvious that, to the best of his ability, he must endeavor to be taken into favor by making himself as attractive as possible. In civilized Europe, on the other hand, the opposite occurs. Here it is the woman that has the greatest difficulty in getting married, and she is also the vainer of the two.”—Trans.
[22]. The olfactory centre is presumed by Ferrier (“Functions of the Brain”) to be in the region of the gyrus uncinatus. Zuckerkandl (“Ueber das Riechcentrum,” 1887), from researches in comparative anatomy, concludes that the olfactory centre has its seat in Ammon’s horn.
[23]. Comp. Laycock, who (“Nervous Diseases of Women,” 1840) found that in women the love for musk and similar perfumes was related to sexual excitement.
[24]. Also in the insanity of gestation.—Trans.