Studies in the Psychology of s.e.x.
by Havelock Ellis.
VOLUME III
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.
This volume has been thoroughly revised for the present edition and considerably enlarged throughout, in order to render it more accurate and more ill.u.s.trative, while bringing it fairly up to date with reference to scientific investigation. Numerous histories have also been added to the Appendix.
It has not been found necessary to modify the main doctrines set forth ten years ago. At the same time, however, it may be mentioned, as regards the first study in the volume, that our knowledge of the physiological mechanism of the s.e.xual instinct has been revolutionized during recent years. This is due to the investigations that have been made, and the deductions that have been built up, concerning the part played by hormones, or internal secretions of the ductless glands, in the physical production of the s.e.xual instinct and the secondary s.e.xual characters. The conception of the psychology of the s.e.xual impulse here set forth, while correlated to terms of a physical process of tumescence and detumescence, may be said to be independent of the ultimate physiological origins of that process. But we cannot fail to realize the bearing of physiological chemistry in this field; and the doctrine of internal secretions, since it may throw light on many complex problems presented by the s.e.xual instinct, is full of interest for us.
HAVELOCK ELLIS.
June, 1913.
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
The present volume of Studies deals with some of the most essential problems of s.e.xual psychology. The a.n.a.lysis of the s.e.xual Impulse is fundamental. Unless we comprehend the exact process which is being worked out beneath the shifting and multifold phenomena presented to us we can never hope to grasp in their true relations any of the normal or abnormal manifestations of this instinct. I do not claim that the conception of the process here stated is novel or original. Indeed, even since I began to work it out some years ago, various investigators in these fields, especially in Germany, have deprived it of any novelty it might otherwise have possessed, while at the same time aiding me in reaching a more precise statement. This is to me a cause of satisfaction. On so fundamental a matter I should have been sorry to find myself tending to a peculiar and individual standpoint. It is a source of gratification to me that the positions I have reached are those toward which current intelligent and scientific opinions are tending. Any originality in my study of this problem can only lie in the bringing together of elements from somewhat diverse fields. I shall be content if it is found that I have attained a fairly balanced, general, and judicial statement of these main factors in the s.e.xual instinct.
In the study of Love and Pain I have discussed the sources of those aberrations which are commonly called, not altogether happily, "sadism" and "masochism." Here we are brought before the most extreme and perhaps the most widely known group of s.e.xual perversions. I have considered them from the medico-legal standpoint, because that has already been done by other writers whose works are accessible. I have preferred to show how these aberrations may be explained; how they may be linked on to normal and fundamental aspects of the s.e.xual impulse; and, indeed, in their elementary forms, may themselves be regarded as normal. In some degree they are present, in every case, at some point of s.e.xual development; their threads are subtly woven in and out of the whole psychological process of s.e.x. I have made no attempt to reduce their complexity to a simplicity that would be fallacious. I hope that my attempt to unravel these long and tangled threads will be found to make them fairly clear.
In the third study, on The s.e.xual Impulse in Women, we approach a practical question of applied s.e.xual psychology, and a question of the first importance. No doubt the s.e.x impulse in men is of great moment from the social point of view. It is, however, fairly obvious and well understood. The impulse in women is not only of at least equal moment, but it is far more obscure. The natural difficulties of the subject have been increased by the a.s.sumption of most writers who have touched it-casually and hurriedly, for the most part-that the only differences to be sought in the s.e.xual impulse in man and in woman are quant.i.tative differences. I have pointed out that we may more profitably seek for qualitative differences, and have endeavored to indicate such of these differences as seem to be of significance.
In an Appendix will be found a selection of histories of more or less normal s.e.xual development. Histories of gross s.e.xual perversion have often been presented in books devoted to the s.e.xual instinct; it has not hitherto been usual to inquire into the facts of normal s.e.xual development. Yet it is concerning normal s.e.xual development that our ignorance is greatest, and the innovation can scarcely need justification. I have inserted these histories not only because many of them are highly instructive in themselves, but also because they exhibit the nature of the material on which my work is mainly founded.
I am indebted to many correspondents, medical and other, in various parts of the world, for much valuable a.s.sistance. When they have permitted me to do so I have usually mentioned their names in the text. This has not been possible in the case of many women friends and correspondents, to whom, however, my debt is very great. Nature has put upon women the greater part of the burden of s.e.xual reproduction; they have consequently become the supreme authorities on all matters in which the s.e.xual emotions come into question. Many circ.u.mstances, however, that are fairly obvious, conspire to make it difficult for women to a.s.sert publicly the wisdom and knowledge which, in matters of love, the experiences of life have brought to them. The ladies who, in all earnestness and sincerity, write books on these questions are often the last people to whom we should go as the representatives of their s.e.x; those who know most have written least. I can therefore but express again, as in previous volumes I have expressed before, my deep grat.i.tude to these anonymous collaborators who have aided me in throwing light on a field of human life which is of such primary social importance and is yet so dimly visible.
HAVELOCK ELLIS.
a.n.a.lYSIS OF THE s.e.xUAL IMPULSE.
Definition of Instinct-The s.e.xual Impulse a Factor of the s.e.xual Instinct-Theory of the s.e.xual Impulse as an Impulse of Evacuation-The Evidence in Support of this Theory Inadequate-The s.e.xual Impulse to Some Extent Independent of the s.e.xual Glands-The s.e.xual Impulse in Castrated Animals and Men-The s.e.xual Impulse in Castrated Women, after the Menopause, and in the Congenital Absence of the s.e.xual Glands-The Internal Secretions-a.n.a.logy between the s.e.xual Relationship and that of the Suckling Mother and her Child-The Theory of the s.e.xual Impulse as a Reproductive Impulse-This Theory Untenable-Moll"s Definition-The Impulse of Detumescence-The Impulse of Contrectation-Modification of this Theory Proposed-Its Relation to Darwin"s s.e.xual Selection-The Essential Element in Darwin"s Conception-Summary of the History of the Doctrine of s.e.xual Selection-Its Psychological Aspect-s.e.xual Selection a Part of Natural Selection-The Fundamental Importance of Tumescence-Ill.u.s.trated by the Phenomena of Courtship in Animals and in Man-The Object of Courtship is to Produce s.e.xual Tumescence-The Primitive Significance of Dancing in Animals and Man-Dancing is a Potent Agent for Producing Tumescence-The Element of Truth in the Comparison of the s.e.xual Impulse with an Evacuation, Especially of the Bladder-Both Essentially Involve Nervous Explosions-Their Intimate and Sometimes Vicarious Relationships-a.n.a.logy between Coitus and Epilepsy-a.n.a.logy of the s.e.xual Impulse to Hunger-Final Object of the Impulses of Tumescence and Detumescence.
The term "s.e.xual instinct" may be said to cover the whole of the neuropsychic phenomena of reproduction which man shares with the lower animals. It is true that much discussion has taken place concerning the proper use of the term "instinct," and some definitions of instinctive action would appear to exclude the essential mechanism of the process whereby s.e.xual reproduction is a.s.sured. Such definitions scarcely seem legitimate, and are certainly unfortunate. Herbert Spencer"s definition of instinct as "compound reflex action" is sufficiently clear and definite for ordinary use.
A fairly satisfactory definition of instinct is that supplied by Dr. and Mrs. Peckham in the course of their study On the Instincts and Habits of Solitary Wasps. "Under the term "instinct,"" they say, "we place all complex acts which are performed previous to experience and in a similar manner by all members of the same s.e.x and race, leaving out as non-essential, at this time, the question of whether they are or are not accompanied by consciousness." This definition is quoted with approval by Lloyd Morgan, who modifies and further elaborates it (Animal Behavior, 1900, p. 21). "The distinction between instinctive and reflex behavior," he remarks, "turns in large degree on their relative complexity," and instinctive behavior, he concludes, may be said to comprise "those complex groups of co-ordinated acts which are, on their first occurrence, independent of experience; which tend to the well-being of the individual and the preservation of the race; which are due to the co-operation of external and internal stimuli; which are similarly performed by all the members of the same more or less restricted group of animals; but which are subject to variation, and to subsequent modification under the guidance of experience." Such a definition clearly justifies us in speaking of a "s.e.xual instinct." It may be added that the various questions involved in the definition of the s.e.xual instinct have been fully discussed by Moll in the early sections of his Untersuchungen uber die Libido s.e.xualis.
Of recent years there has been a tendency to avoid the use of the term "instinct," or, at all events, to refrain from attaching any serious scientific sense to it. Loeb"s influence has especially given force to this tendency. Thus, while Pieron, in an interesting discussion of the question ("Les Problemes Actuels de l"Instinct," Revue Philosophique, Oct., 1908), thinks it would still be convenient to retain the term, giving it a philosophical meaning, Georges Bohn, who devotes a chapter to the notion of instinct (La Naissance de l"Intelligence, 1909), is strongly in favor of eliminating the word, as being merely a legacy of medieval theologians and metaphysicians, serving to conceal our ignorance or our lack of exact a.n.a.lysis.
It may be said that the whole of the task undertaken in these Studies is really an attempt to a.n.a.lyze what is commonly called the s.e.xual instinct. In order to grasp it we have to break it up into its component parts. Lloyd Morgan has pointed out that the components of an instinct may be regarded as four: first, the internal messages giving rise to the impulse; secondly, the external stimuli which co-operate with the impulse to affect the nervous centers; thirdly, the active response due to the co-ordinate outgoing discharges; and, fourthly, the message from the organs concerned in the behavior by which the central nervous system is further affected.[1]
In dealing with the s.e.xual instinct the first two factors are those which we have most fully to discuss. With the external stimuli we shall be concerned in a future volume (IV). We may here confine ourselves mainly to the first factor: the nature of the internal messages which prompt the s.e.xual act. We may, in other words, attempt to a.n.a.lyze the s.e.xual impulse.
The first definition of the s.e.xual impulse we meet with is that which regards it as an impulse of evacuation. The psychological element is thus reduced to a minimum. It is true that, especially in early life, the emotions caused by forced repression of the excretions are frequently ma.s.sive or acute in the highest degree, and the joy of relief correspondingly great. But in adult life, on most occasions, these desires can be largely pushed into the background of consciousness, partly by training, partly by the fact that involuntary muscular activity is less imperative in adult life; so that the ideal element in connection with the ordinary excretions is almost a negligible quant.i.ty. The evacuation theory of the s.e.xual instinct is, however, that which has most popular vogue, and the cynic delights to express it in crude language. It is the view that appeals to the criminal mind, and in the slang of French criminals the brothel is le cloaque. It was also the view implicitly accepted by medieval ascetic writers, who regarded woman as "a temple built over a sewer," and from a very different standpoint it was concisely set forth by Montaigne, who has doubtless contributed greatly to support this view of the matter: "I find," he said, "that Venus, after all, is nothing more than the pleasure of discharging our vessels, just as nature renders pleasurable the discharges from other parts."[2] Luther, again, always compared the s.e.xual to the excretory impulse, and said that marriage was just as necessary as the emission of urine. Sir Thomas More, also, in the second book of Utopia, referring to the pleasure of evacuation, speaks of that felt "when we do our natural eas.e.m.e.nt, or when we be doing the act of generation." This view would, however, scarcely deserve serious consideration if various distinguished investigators, among whom Fere may be specially mentioned, had not accepted it as the best and most accurate definition of the s.e.xual impulse. "The genesic need may be considered," writes Fere, "as a need of evacuation; the choice is determined by the excitations which render the evacuation more agreeable."[3] Certain facts observed in the lower animals tend to support this view; it is, therefore, necessary, in the first place, to set forth the main results of observation on this matter. Spallanzani had shown how the male frog during coitus will undergo the most horrible mutilations, even decapitation, and yet resolutely continue the act of intercourse, which lasts from four to ten days, sitting on the back of the female and firmly clasping her with his forelegs. Goltz confirmed Spallanzani"s observations and threw new light on the mechanism of the s.e.xual instinct and the s.e.xual act in the frog. By removing various parts of the female frog Goltz found that every part of the female was attractive to the male at pairing time, and that he was not imposed on when parts of a male were subst.i.tuted. By removing various of the sense-organs of the male Goltz[4] further found that it was not by any special organ, but by the whole of his sensitive system, that this activity was set in action. If, however, the skin of the arms and of the breast between was removed, no embrace took place; so that the s.e.xual sensations seemed to be exerted through this apparatus. When the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es were removed the embrace still took place. It could scarcely be said that these observations demonstrated, or in any way indicated, that the s.e.xual impulse is dependent on the need of evacuation. Professor Tarchanoff, of St. Petersburg, however, made an experiment which seemed to be crucial. He took several hundred frogs (Rana temporaria), nearly all in the act of coitus, and in the first place repeated Goltz"s experiments. He removed the heart; but this led to no direct or indirect stoppage of coitus, nor did removal of the lungs, parts of the liver, the spleen, the intestines, the stomach, or the kidneys. In the same way even careful removal of both t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es had no result. But on removing the seminal receptacles coitus was immediately or very shortly stopped, and not renewed. Thus, Tarchanoff concluded that in frogs, and possibly therefore in mammals, the seminal receptacles are the starting-point of the centripetal impulse which by reflex action sets in motion the complicated apparatus of s.e.xual activity.[5] A few years later the question was again taken up by Steinach, of Prague. Granting that Tarchanoff"s experiments are reliable as regards the frog, Steinach points out that we may still ask whether in mammals the integrity of the seminal receptacles is bound up with the preservation of s.e.xual excitability. This cannot be taken for granted, nor can we a.s.sume that the seminal receptacles of the frog are h.o.m.ologous with the seminal vesicles of mammals. In order to test the question, Steinach chose the white rat, as possessing large seminal vesicles and a very developed s.e.xual impulse. He found that removal of the seminal sacs led to no decrease in the intensity of the s.e.xual impulse; the s.e.xual act was still repeated with the same frequency and the same vigor. But these receptacles, Steinach proceeded to argue, do not really contain s.e.m.e.n, but a special secretion of their own; they are anatomically quite unlike the seminal receptacles of the frog; so that no doubt is thus thrown on Tarchanoff"s observations. Steinach remarked, however, that one"s faith is rather shaken by the fact that in the Esculenta, which in s.e.xual life closely resembles Rana temporaria, there are no seminal receptacles. He therefore repeated Tarchanoff"s experiments, and found that the seminal receptacles were empty before coitus, only becoming gradually filled during coitus; it could not, therefore, be argued that the s.e.xual impulse started from the receptacles. He then extirpated the seminal receptacles, avoiding hemorrhage as far as possible, and found that, in the majority of cases so operated on, coitus still continued for from five to seven days, and in the minority for a longer time. He therefore concluded, with Goltz, that it is from the swollen t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es, not from the seminal receptacles, that the impulse first starts. Goltz himself pointed out that the fact that the removal of the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es did not stop coitus by no means proves that it did not begin it, for, when the central nervous mechanism is once set in action, it can continue even when the exciting stimulus is removed. By extirpating the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es some months before the s.e.xual season he found that no coitus occurred. At the same time, even in these frogs, a certain degree of s.e.xual inclination and a certain excitability of the embracing center still persisted, disappearing when the s.e.xual epoch was over.
According to most recent writers, the seminal vesicles of mammals are receptacles for their own alb.u.minous secretion, the function of which is unknown. Steinach could find no spermatozoa in these "seminal" sacs, and therefore he proposed to use Owen"s name of glandulae vesiculares. After extirpation of these vesicular glands in the white rat typical coitus occurred. But the capacity for procreation was diminished, and extirpation of both glandulae vesiculares and glandulae prostaticae led to disappearance of the capacity for procreation. Steinach came to the conclusion that this is because the secretions of these glands impart increased vitality to the spermatozoa, and he points out that great fertility and high development of the accessory s.e.xual glands go together.
Steinach found that, when s.e.xually mature white rats were castrated, though at first they remained as potent as ever, their potency gradually declined; s.e.xual excitement, however, and s.e.xual inclination always persisted. He then proceeded to castrate rats before p.u.b.erty and discovered the highly significant fact that in these also a quite considerable degree of s.e.xual inclination appeared. They followed, sniffed, and licked the females like ordinary males; and that this was not a mere indication of curiosity was shown by the fact that they made attempts at coitus which only differed from those of normal males by the failure of erection and e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n, though, occasionally, there was imperfect erection. This lasted for a year, and then their s.e.xual inclinations began to decline, and they showed signs of premature age. These manifestations of s.e.xual sense Steinach compares to those noted in the human species during childhood.[6]
The genesic tendencies are thus, to a certain degree, independent of the generative glands, although the development of these glands serves to increase the genesic ability and to furnish the impulsion necessary to a.s.sure procreation, as well as to insure the development of the secondary s.e.xual characters, probably by the influence of secretions elaborated and thrown into the system from the primary s.e.xual glands.[7]
Halban ("Die Entstehung der Geschlechtscharaktere," Archiv fur Gynakologie, 1903, pp. 205-308) argues that the primary s.e.x glands do not necessarily produce the secondary s.e.x characters, nor inhibit the development of those characteristic of the opposite s.e.x. It is indeed the rule, but it is not the inevitable result. s.e.xual differences exist from the first. Nussbaum made experiments on frogs (Rana fusca), which go through a yearly cycle of secondary s.e.xual changes at the period of heat. These changes cease on castration, but, if the testes of other frogs are introduced beneath the skin of the castrated frogs, Nussbaum found that they acted as if the frog had not been castrated. It is the secretion of the testes which produces the secondary s.e.xual changes. But Nussbaum found that the testicular secretion does not work if the nerves of the secondary s.e.xual region are cut, and that the secretion has no direct action on the organism. Pfluger, discussing these experiments (Archiv fur die Gesammte Physiologie, 1907, vol. cxvi, parts 5 and 6), disputes this conclusion, and argues that the secretion is not dependent on the action of the nervous system, and that therefore the secondary s.e.xual characters are independent of the nervous system.
Steinach has also in later experiments ("Geschlechtstrieb und echt Sekundare Geschlechtsmerkmale als Folge der innerskretorischen Funktion der Keimdrusen," Zentralblatt fur Physiologie, Bd. xxiv, Nu. 13, 1910) argued against any local nervous influence. He found in Rana fusca and esculenta that after castration in autumn the impulse to grasp the female persisted in some degrees and then disappeared, reappearing in a slight degree, however, every winter at the normal period of s.e.xual activity. But when the testicular substance of actively s.e.xual frogs was injected into the castrated frogs it exerted an elective action on the s.e.xual reflex, sometimes in a few hours, but the action is, Steinach concludes, first central. The testicular secretion of frogs that were not s.e.xually active had no stimulating action, but if the frogs were s.e.xually active the injection of their central nervous substance was as effective as their testicular substance. In either case, Steinach concludes, there is the removal of an inhibition which is in operation at s.e.xually quiescent periods.
Speaking generally, Steinach considers that there is a process of "erotisation" (Erotisieurung) of the nervous center under the influence of the internal testicular secretions, and that this persists even when the primary physical stimulus has been removed.
The experience of veterinary surgeons also shows that the s.e.xual impulse tends to persist in animals after castration. Thus the ox and the gelding make frequent efforts to copulate with females in heat. In some cases, at all events in the case of the horse, castrated animals remain potent, and are even abnormally ardent, although impregnation cannot, of course, result.[8]
The results obtained by scientific experiment and veterinary experience on the lower animals are confirmed by observation of various groups of phenomena in the human species. There can be no doubt that castrated men may still possess s.e.xual impulses. This has been noted by observers in various countries in which eunuchs are made and employed.[9]
It is important to remember that there are different degrees of castration, for in current language these are seldom distinguished. The Romans recognized four different degrees: 1. True castrati, from whom both the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es and the p.e.n.i.s had been removed. 2. Spadones, from whom the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es only had been removed; this was the most common practice. 3. Thlibiae, in whom the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es had not been removed, but destroyed by crushing; this practice is referred to by Hippocrates. 4. Thlasiae, in whom the spermatic cord had simply been cut. Millant, from whose Paris thesis (Castration Criminelle et Maniaque, 1902) I take these definitions, points out that it was recognized that spadones remained apt for coitus if the operation was performed after p.u.b.erty, a fact appreciated by many Roman ladies, ad seouras libidinationes, as St. Jerome remarked, while Martial (lib. iv) said of a Roman lady who sought eunuchs: "Vult futui Gallia, non parere." (See also Millant, Les Eunuques a Travers les Ages, 1909, and articles by Lipa Bey and Zambaco, s.e.xual-Probleme, Oct. and Dec., 1911.)
In China, Matignon, formerly physician to the French legation in Pekin, tells us that eunuchs are by no means without s.e.xual feeling, that they seek the company of women and, he believes, gratify their s.e.xual desires by such methods as are left open to them, for the s.e.xual organs are entirely removed. It would seem probable that, the earlier the age at which the operation is performed, the less marked are the s.e.xual desires, for Matignon mentions that boys castrated before the age of 10 are regarded by the Chinese as peculiarly virginal and pure.[10] At Constantinople, where the eunuchs are of negro race, castration is usually complete and performed before p.u.b.erty, in order to abolish s.e.xual potency and desire as far as possible. Even when castration is effected in infancy, s.e.xual desire is not necessarily rendered impossible. Thus Marie has recorded the case of an insane Egyptian eunuch whose p.e.n.i.s and s.c.r.o.t.u.m were removed in infancy; yet, he had frequent and intense s.e.xual desire with e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n of mucus and believed that an invisible princess touched him and aroused voluptuous sensations. Although the body had a feminine appearance, the prostate was normal and the vesiculae seminales not atrophied.[11] It may be added that Lancaster[12] quotes the following remark, made by a resident for many years in the land, concerning Nubian eunuchs: "As far as I can judge, s.e.x feeling exists unmodified by absence of the s.e.xual organs. The eunuch differs from the man not in the absence of s.e.xual pa.s.sion, but only in the fact that he cannot fully gratify it. As far as he can approach a gratification of it he does so." In this connection it may be noted that (as quoted by Moll) Jager attributes the preference of some women-noted in ancient Rome and in the East-for castrated men as due not only to the freedom from risk of impregnation in such intercourse, but also to the longer duration of erection in the castrated.
When castration is performed without removal of the p.e.n.i.s it is said that potency remains for at least ten years afterward, and Disselhorst, who in his Die accessorischen Geschlechtsdrusen der Wirbelthiere takes the same view as has been here adopted, mentions that, according to Pelikan (Das Skopzentum in Russland), those castrated at p.u.b.erty are fit for coitus long afterward. When castration is performed for surgical reasons at a later age it is still less likely to affect potency or to change the s.e.xual feelings.[13] Guinard concludes that the s.e.xual impulse after castration is relatively more persistent in man than in the lower animals, and is sometimes even heightened, being probably more dependent on external stimuli.[14]
Except in the East, castration is more often performed on women than on men, and then the evidence as to the influence of the removal of the ovaries on the s.e.xual emotions shows varying results. It has been found that after castration s.e.xual desire and s.e.xual pleasure in coitus may either remain the same, be diminished or extinguished, or be increased. By some the diminution has been attributed to autosuggestion, the woman being convinced that she can no longer be like other women; the augmentation of desire and pleasure has been supposed to be due to the removal of the dread of impregnation. We have, of course, to take into account individual peculiarities, method of life, and the state of the health.
In France Jayle ("Effets physiologiques de la Castration chez la Femme," Revue de Gynecologie, 1897, pp. 403-57) found that, among 33 patients in whom ovariotomy had been performed, in 18 s.e.xual desire remained the same, in 3 it was diminished, in 8 abolished, in 3 increased; while pleasure in coitus remained the same in 17, was diminished in 1, abolished in 4, and increased in 5, in 6 cases s.e.xual intercourse was very painful. In two other groups of cases-one in which both ovaries and uterus were removed and another in which the uterus alone was removed-the results were not notably different.
In Germany Glaveke (Archiv fur Gynakologie, Bd. x.x.xv, 1889) found that desire remained in 6 cases, was diminished in 10, and disappeared in 11, while pleasure in intercourse remained in 8, was diminished in 10, and was lost in 8. Pfister, again (Archiv fur Gynakologie, Bd. lvi, 1898), examined this point in 99 castrated women; he remarks that s.e.xual desire and s.e.xual pleasure in intercourse were usually a.s.sociated, and found the former unchanged in 19 cases, decreased in 24, lost in 35, never present in 21, while the latter was unchanged in 18 cases and diminished or lost in 60. Keppler (International Medical Congress, Berlin, 1890) found that among 46 castrated women s.e.xual feeling was in no case abolished. Adler also, who discusses this question (Die Mangelhafte Geschlechtsempfindung des Weibes, 1904, p. 75 et seq.), criticises Glaveke"s statements and concludes that there is no strict relation between the s.e.xual organs and the s.e.xual feelings. Kisch, who has known several cases in which the feelings remained the same as before the operation, brings together (The s.e.xual Life of Women) varying opinions of numerous authors regarding the effects of removal of the ovaries on the s.e.xual appet.i.te.
In America Bloom (as quoted in Medical Standard, 1896, p. 121) found that in none of the cases of women investigated, in which ooph.o.r.ectomy had been performed before the age of 33, was the s.e.xual appet.i.te entirely lost; in most of them it had not materially diminished and in a few it was intensified. There was, however, a general consensus of opinion that the normal v.a.g.i.n.al secretion during coitus was greatly lessened. In the cases of women over 33, including also hysterectomies, a gradual lessening of s.e.xual feeling and desire was found to occur most generally. Dr. Isabel Davenport records 2 cases (reported in Medical Standard, 1895, p. 346) of women between 30 and 35 years of age whose erotic tendencies were extreme; the ovaries and tubes were removed, in one case for disease, in the other with a view of removing the s.e.xual tendencies; in neither case was there any change. Lapthorn Smith (Medical Record, vol. xlviii) has reported the case of an unmarried woman of 24 whose ovaries and tubes had been removed seven years previously for pain and enlargement, and the periods had disappeared for six years; she had had experience of s.e.xual intercourse, and declared that she had never felt such extreme s.e.xual excitement and pleasure as during coitus at the end of this time.
In England Lawson Tait and Bantock (British Medical Journal, October 14, 1899, p. 975) have noted that s.e.xual pa.s.sion seems sometimes to be increased even after the removal of ovaries, tubes, and uterus. Lawson Tait also stated (British Gynaecological Journal, Feb., 1887, p. 534) that after systematic and extensive inquiry he had not found a single instance in which, provided that s.e.xual appet.i.te existed before the removal of the appendages, it was abolished by that operation. A Medical Inquiry Committee appointed by the Liverpool Medical Inst.i.tute (ibid., p. 617) had previously reported that a considerable number of patients stated that they had suffered a distinct loss of s.e.xual feeling. Lawson Tait, however, throws doubts on the reliability of the Committee"s results, which were based on the statements of unintelligent hospital patients.
I may quote the following remarks from a communication sent to me by an experienced physician in Australia: "No rule can be laid down in cases in which both ovaries have been extirpated. Some women say that, though formerly pa.s.sionate, they have since become quite indifferent, but I am of opinion that the majority of women who have had prior s.e.xual experience retain desire and gratification in an equal degree to that they had before operation. I know one case in which a young girl hardly 19 years old, who had been accustomed to congress for some twelve months, had trouble which necessitated the removal of the ovaries and tubes on both sides. Far from losing all her desire or gratification, both were very materially increased in intensity. Menstruation has entirely ceased, without loss of femininity in either disposition or appearance. During intercourse, I am told, there is continuous spasmodic contraction of various parts of the v.a.g.i.n.a and v.u.l.v.a."
The independence of the s.e.xual impulse from the distention of the s.e.xual glands is further indicated by the great frequency with which s.e.xual sensations, in a faint or even strong degree, are experienced in childhood and sometimes in infancy, and by the fact that they often persist in women long after the s.e.xual glands have ceased their functions.
In the study of auto-erotism in another volume of these Studies I have brought together some of the evidence showing that even in very young children spontaneous self-induced s.e.xual excitement, with o.r.g.a.s.m, may occur. Indeed, from an early age s.e.xual differences pervade the whole nervous tissue. I may here quote the remarks of an experienced gynecologist: "I venture to think," Braxton Hicks said many years ago, "that those who have much attended to children will agree with me in saying that, almost from the cradle, a difference can be seen in manner, habits of mind, and in illness, requiring variations in their treatment. The change is certainly hastened and intensified at the time of p.u.b.erty; but there is, even to an average observer, a clear difference between the s.e.xes from early infancy, gradually becoming more marked up to p.u.b.erty. That s.e.xual feelings exist [it would be better to say "may exist"] from earliest infancy is well known, and therefore this function does not depend upon p.u.b.erty, though intensified by it. Hence, may we not conclude that the progress toward development is not so abrupt as has been generally supposed?... The changes of p.u.b.erty are all of them dependent on the primordial force which, gradually gathering in power, culminates in the perfection both of form and of the s.e.xual system, primary and secondary."
There appear to have been but few systematic observations on the persistence of the s.e.xual impulse in women after the menopause. It is regarded as a fairly frequent phenomenon by Kisch, and also by Lowenfeld (s.e.xualleben und Nervenleiden, p. 29). In America, Bloom (as quoted in Medical Standard, 1896), from an investigation of four hundred cases, found that in some cases the s.e.xual impulse persisted to a very advanced age, and mentions a case of a woman of 70, twenty years past the menopause, who had been long a widow, but had recently married, and who declared that both desire and gratification were as great, if not greater, than before the menopause.
Reference may finally be made to those cases in which the s.e.xual impulse has developed notwithstanding the absence, verified or probable, of any s.e.xual glands at all. In such cases s.e.xual desire and s.e.xual gratification are sometimes even stronger than normal. Colman has reported a case in which neither ovaries nor uterus could be detected, and the v.a.g.i.n.a was too small for coitus, but pleasurable intercourse took place by the r.e.c.t.u.m and s.e.xual desire was at times so strong as to amount almost to nymphomania. Clara Barrus has reported the case of a woman in whom there was congenital absence of uterus and ovaries, as proved subsequently by autopsy, but the s.e.xual impulse was very strong and she had had illicit intercourse with a lover. She suffered from recurrent mania, and then m.a.s.t.u.r.b.a.t.ed shamelessly; when sane she was attractively feminine. Macnaughton-Jones describes the case of a woman of 32 with normal s.e.xual feelings and fully developed b.r.e.a.s.t.s, c.l.i.toris, and l.a.b.i.a, but no v.a.g.i.n.a or internal genitalia could be detected even under the most thorough examination. In a case of Bridgman"s, again, the womb and ovaries were absent, and the v.a.g.i.n.a small, but coitus was not painful, and the voluptuous sensations were complete and s.e.xual pa.s.sion was strong. In a case of Cotterill"s, the ovaries and uterus were of minute size and functionless, and the v.a.g.i.n.a was absent, but the s.e.xual feelings were normal, and the c.l.i.toris preserved its usual sensibility. Munde had recorded two similar cases, of which he presents photographs. In all these cases not only was the s.e.xual impulse present in full degree, but the subjects were feminine in disposition and of normal womanly conformation; in most cases the external s.e.xual organs were properly developed.[15]
Fere (L"Instinct s.e.xuel, p. 241) has sought to explain away some of these phenomena, in so far as they may be brought against the theory that the secretions and excretions of the s.e.xual glands are the sole source of the s.e.xual impulse. The persistence of s.e.xual feelings after castration may be due, he argues, to the presence of the nerves in the cicatrices, just as the amputated have the illusion that the missing limb is still there. Exactly the same explanation has since been put forward by Moll, Medizinische Klinik, 1905, Nrs. 12 and 13. In the same way the presence of s.e.xual feelings after the menopause may be due to similar irritation determined by degeneration during involution of the glands. The precocious appearance of the s.e.xual impulse in childhood he would explain as due to an anomaly of development in the s.e.xual organs. Fere makes no attempt to explain the presence of the s.e.xual impulse in the congenital absence of the s.e.xual glands; here, however, Munde intervenes with the suggestion that it is possible that in most cases "an infinitesimal trace of ovary" may exist, and preserve femininity, though insufficient to produce ovulation or menstruation.
It is proper to mention these ingenious arguments. They are, however, purely hypothetical, obviously invented to support a theory. It can scarcely be said that they carry conviction. We may rather agree with Guinard that so great is the importance of reproduction that nature has multiplied the means by which preparation is made for the conjunction of the s.e.xes and the roads by which s.e.xual excitation may arrive. As Hirschfeld puts it, in a discussion of this subject (s.e.xual-Probleme, Feb., 1912), "Nature has several irons in the fire."
It will be seen that the conclusions we have reached indirectly involve the a.s.sumption that the spinal nervous centers, through which the s.e.xual mechanism operates, are not sufficient to account for the whole of the phenomena of the s.e.xual impulse. The nervous circuit tends to involve a cerebral element, which may sometimes be of dominant importance. Various investigators, from the time of Gall onward, have attempted to localize the s.e.xual instinct centrally. Such attempts, however, cannot be said to have succeeded, although they tend to show that there is a real connection between the brain and the generative organs. Thus Ceni, of Modena, by experiments on chickens, claims to have proved the influence of the cortical centers of procreation on the faculty of generation, for he found that lesions of the cortex led to sterility corresponding in degree to the lesion; but as these results followed even independently of any disturbance of the s.e.xual instinct, their significance is not altogether clear (Carlo Ceni, "L"Influenza dei Centri Corticali sui Fenomeni della Generazione," Revista Sperimentale di Freniatria, 1907, fasc. 2-3). At present, as Obici and Marchesini have well remarked, all that we can do is to a.s.sume the existence of cerebral as well as spinal s.e.xual centers; a cerebral s.e.xual center, in the strictest sense, remains purely hypothetical.