A Problem in Modern Ethics Part 9

[58] See above, p. 36, the suggestion quoted from Dr. Huggard of "a congenital lack of balance between structures themselves healthy." It might be queried whether this "imperfect s.e.xual differentiation," or this "congenital lack of balance between structures themselves healthy,"

is not the result of an evolutionary process arriving through heredity and casual selection at an abnormal, but not of necessity a morbid, phenomenon in certain individuals.

[59] The first two from Casper-Liman, Handbuch der gerichtlichen Medicin, vol. i. pp. 166-169. The others from Krafft-Ebing, Psychopathia s.e.xualis.

[60] Memnon, section lxxiii. p. 54.

[61] Since Ulrichs left off writing, Italy (by the "Nuovo Codice Penale"

of 1889) has adopted the principles of the Code Napoleon, and has placed s.e.xual inversion under the same legal limitations as the normal s.e.xual instinct.

[62] Dr. W. Ogle, on the 18th March, 1890, read a paper before the Statistical Society upon "Marriage Rates and Ages." The conclusion he arrived at, with regard to the rapidly-advancing over-population of England, was that, in order to equalise the death-rate with the birth-rate (or in other words, to maintain the population at its present level), we must look forward either to (1) an increase of emigration which would involve social revolution, or (2) to the advance of the average age at which women marry to the point of thirty years, or (3) to an exclusion of 45 per cent. of those who now marry from matrimony at any period of life. In the face of these calculations, after admitting their possible exaggeration, it seems illogical to punish with severe legal penalties those members of the male s.e.x who do not want to marry, and who can satisfy their natural desires in ways which involve no detriment to the State and no violation of the rights of individuals.

[63] Psych. s.e.x., p. 108. I have condensed the sense of four short paragraphs, to translate which in full would have involved a disagreeable use of medical language.

[64] Psych. s.e.x., p. 107.

[65] Studies in Literature, p. 119.

[66] In this relation it is curious to note what one of Casper-Liman's correspondents says about the morals of North America (_op. cit._, vol.

i. p. 173). "Half a year after my return I went to North America, to try my fortune. There the unnatural vice in question is more ordinary than it is here; and I was able to indulge my pa.s.sions with less fear of punishment or persecution. The American's tastes in this matter resemble my own; and I discovered, in the United States, that I was always immediately recognised as a member of the confraternity." The date of this man's visit to America was the year 1871-72. He had just returned from serving as a volunteer in the great Franco-German war of 1870-71.

[67] Not included in the "Complete Poems and Prose." It will be found in "Leaves of Gra.s.s," Boston, 1860-1861.

[68] The two last are from "Drum-Taps."

[69] This I cannot find in "Complete Poems and Prose." It is included in the Boston edition, 1860-61, and the Camden edition, 1876.

[70] "Drum-Taps." Complete Poems, p. 247.

[71] _Ibid._, p, 238.

[72] "Leaves of Gra.s.s." Complete Poems, p. 107.

[73] Complete Poems, p. 109. Compare, "I hear it was charged against me," _ibid._, p. 107.

[74] Complete Poems, p. 110.

[75] Camden edition, 1876, p. 127. Complete Poems, p. 99. Compare "Democratic Vistas," Complete Prose, p. 247, note.

[76] These prose pa.s.sages are taken from "Democratic Vistas," cited above, p. 119, note.

[77] While these sheets were going through the press, I communicated Whitman's reply to a judicious friend, whose remarks upon it express my own opinion more clearly and succinctly than I have done above: "I do not feel that this answer throws light on the really interesting question; does the sentiment of 'Calamus' represent, in its own way, the ideal which we should aim at impressing on pa.s.sionate affections between men, as certainly liable to take other objectionable forms? Is there sufficient affinity between the actual and the ideal for this to be practicable? That is what I have never felt sure about when we have discussed these matters. But I do not feel that my doubts have been resolved in any negative direction by Walt Whitman."

[78] Kelts, Scythians, Dorians, Tartars, Normans.

[79] It ought to be borne in mind that they are by no means invariably complicated with abnormal s.e.xuality, but quite as often with normal s.e.xuality in some extravagant shape, as well as with other kinds of moral aberration.

[80] It may not be superfluous to recapitulate the main points of English legislation on this topic. (1) Sodomy is a felony, defined as the carnal knowledge (per anum) of any man or of any woman by a male person; punishable with penal servitude for life as a maximum, for ten years as a minimum. (2) The attempt to commit sodomy is punishable with ten years' penal servitude as a maximum. (3) The commission, in public or private, by any male person with another male person, of "any act of gross indecency," is punishable with two years' imprisonment and hard labour."