Studies in the Psychology of Sex Volume Iii Part 3

[13]

See, for instance, the case reported in another volume of these Studies ("s.e.xual Inversion"), in which castration was performed on a s.e.xual invert without effecting any change.

[14]

Guinard, art. "Castration," Dictionnaire de Physiologie.

[15]

M. A. Colman, Medical Standard, August, 1895; Clara Barrus, American Journal of Insanity, April, 1895; Macnaughton-Jones, British Gynaecological Journal, August, 1902; W. G. Bridgman, Medical Standard, 1896; J. M. Cotterill, British Medical Journal, April 7, 1900 (also private communication); Paul F. Munde, American Journal of Obstetrics, March, 1899.

[16]

See Swale Vincent, Internal Secretion and the Ductless Glands, 1912; F. H. A. Marshall, The Physiology of Reproduction, 1910, ch. ix; Munzer, Berliner klinische Wochenschrift, Nov., 1910; C. Sajous, The Internal Secretions, vol. i, 1911. The adrenal glands have been fully and interestingly studied by Glynn, Quarterly Journal of Medicine, Jan., 1912; the thyroid, by Ewan Waller, Pract.i.tioner, Aug., 1912; the internal secretion of the ovary, by A. Louise McIlroy, Proceedings Royal Society Medicine, July, 1912. For a discussion at the Neurology Section of the British Medical a.s.sociation Meeting, 1912, see British Medical Journal, Nov. 16, 1912.

[17]

Since this was written I have come across a pa.s.sage in Hampa (p. 228), by Rafael Salillas, the Spanish sociologist, which shows that the a.n.a.logy has been detected by the popular mind and been embodied in popular language: "A significant anatomico-physiological concordance supposes a resemblance between the mouth and the s.e.xual organs of a woman, between coitus and the ingestion of food, and between foods which do not require mastication and the spermatic e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n; these representations find expression in the popular name papo given to women's genital organs. 'Papo' is the crop of birds, and is derived from 'papar' (Latin, papare), to eat soft food such as we call pap. With this representation of infantile food is connected the term leche [milk] as applied to the e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed genital fluid." Cleland, it may be added, in the most remarkable of English erotic novels, The Memoirs of f.a.n.n.y Hill, refers to "the compressive exsuction with which the sensitive mechanism of that part [the v.a.g.i.n.a] thirstily draws and drains the nipple of Love," and proceeds to compare it to the action of the child at the breast. It appears that, in some parts of the animal world at least, there is a real a.n.a.logy of formation between the oral and v.a.g.i.n.al ends of the trunk. This is notably the case in some insects, and the point has been elaborately discussed by Walter Wesche, "The Genitalia of Both the s.e.xes in Diptera, and their Relation to the Armature of the Mouth," Transactions of the Linnean Society, second series, vol. ix, Zoology, 1906.

[18]

Nacke now expresses himself very dubiously on the point; see, e.g., Archiv fur Kriminal-Anthropologie, 1905, p. 186.

[19]

Untersuchungen uber die Libido s.e.xualis, Berlin, 1897-98.

[20]

Moll adopts the term "impulse of detumescence" (Detumescenztrieb) instead of "impulse of e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n," because in women there is either no e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n or it cannot be regarded as essential.

[21]

I quote from the second edition, as issued in 1881.

[22]

This is the theory which by many has alone been seen in Darwin's Descent of Man. Thus even his friend Wallace states unconditionally (Tropical Nature, p. 193) that Darwin accepted a "voluntary or conscious s.e.xual selection," and seems to repeat the same statement in Darwinism (1889), p. 283. Lloyd Morgan, in his discussion of the pairing instinct in Habit and Instinct (1896), seems also only to see this side of Darwin's statement.

[23]

In his Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication, Darwin was puzzled by the fact that, in captivity, animals often copulate without conceiving and failed to connect that fact with the processes behind his own theory of s.e.xual selection.

[24]

Beaunis, Sensations Internes, ch. v, "Besoins s.e.xuels," 1889. It may be noted that many years earlier Burdach (in his Physiologie als Erfahrungswissenschaft, 1826) had recognized that the activity of the male favored procreation, and that mental and physical excitement seemed to have the same effect in the female also.

[25]

It is scarcely necessary to point out that this is too extreme a position. As J. G. Millais remarks of ducks (Natural History of British Ducks, p. 45), in courtship "success in winning the admiration of the female is rather a matter of persistent and active attention than physical force," though the males occasionally fight over the female. The ruff (Machetes pugnax) is a pugnacious bird, as his name indicates. Yet, the reeve, the female of this species, is, as E. Selous shows ("s.e.xual Selection in Birds," Zoologist, Feb. and May, 1907), completely mistress of the situation. "She seems the plain and unconcerned little mistress of a numerous and handsome seraglio, each member of which, however he flounce and bounce, can only wait to be chosen." Any fighting among the males is only incidental and is not a factor in selection. Moreover, as R. Muller points out (loc. cit., p. 290), fighting would not usually attain the end desired, for if the males expend their time and strength in a serious combat they merely afford a third less pugnacious male a better opportunity of running off with the prize.

[26]

L. Tillier, L'Instinct s.e.xuel, 1889, pp. 74, 118, 119, 124 et seq., 289.

[27]

K. Groos, Die Spiele der Thiere, 1896; Die Spiele der Menschen, 1899; both are translated into English.

[28]

Prof. H. E. Ziegler, in a private letter to Professor Groos, Spiele der Thiere, p. 202.

[29]

Die Spiele der Thiere, p. 244. This had been briefly pointed out by earlier writers. Thus, Haeckel (Gen. Morph., ii, p. 244) remarked that fighting for females is a special or modified kind of struggle for existence, and that it acts on both s.e.xes.

[30]

It may be added that in the human species, as Bray remarks ("Le Beau dans la Nature," Revue Philosophique, October, 1901, p. 403), "the hymen would seem to tend to the same end, as if nature had wished to reinforce by a natural obstacle the moral restraint of modesty, so that only the vigorous male could insure his reproduction." There can be no doubt that among many animals pairing is delayed so far as possible until maturity is reached. "It is a strict rule amongst birds," remarks J. G. Millais (op. cit., p. 46), "that they do not breed until both s.e.xes have attained the perfect adult plumage." Until that happens, it seems probable, the conditions for s.e.xual excitation are not fully established. We know little, says Howard (Zoologist, 1903, p. 407), of the age at which birds begin to breed, but it is known that "there are yearly great numbers of individuals who do not breed, and the evidence seems to show that such individuals are immature."

[31]

A. Marro, La p.u.b.erte, 1901, p. 464.

[32]

Lloyd Morgan, Animal Behavior, 1900, pp. 264-5. It may be added that, on the esthetic side, Hirn, in his study (The Origins of Art, 1900), reaches conclusions which likewise, in the main, concord with those of Groos.

[33]

It may be noted that the marriage ceremony itself is often of the nature of a courtship, a symbolic courtship, embodying a method of attaining tumescence. As Crawley, who has brought out this point, puts it, "Marriage-rites of union are essentially identical with love charms," and he refers in ill.u.s.tration to the custom of the Australian Arunta, among whom the man or woman by making music on the bull-roarer compels a person of the opposite s.e.x to court him or her, the marriage being thus completed. (E. Crawley, The Mystic Rose, p. 318.)

[34]

The more carefully animals are observed, the more often this is found to be the case, even with respect to species which possess no obvious and elaborate process for obtaining tumescence. See, for instance, the detailed and very instructive account-too long to quote here-given by E. Selous of the preliminaries to intercourse practised by a pair of great crested grebes, while nest-building. Intercourse only took place with much difficulty, after many fruitless invitations, more usually given by the female. ("Observational Diary of the Habits of the Great Crested Grebe," Zoologist, September, 1901.) It is exactly the same with savages. The observation of Foley (Bulletin de la Societe d'Anthropologie de Paris, November 6, 1879) that in savages "s.e.xual erethism is very difficult" is of great significance and certainly in accordance with the facts. This difficulty of erethism is the real cause of many savage practices which to the civilized person often seem perverse; the women of the Caroline Islands, for instance, as described by Finsch, require the tongue or even the teeth to be applied to the c.l.i.toris, or a great ant to be applied to bite the parts, in order to stimulate o.r.g.a.s.m. Westermarck, after quoting a remark of Mariner's concerning the women of Tonga,-"it must not be supposed that these women are always easily won; the greatest attentions and the most fervent solicitations are sometimes requisite, even though there be no other lover in the way,"-adds that these words "hold true for a great many, not to say all, savage and barbarous races now existing." (Human Marriage, p. 163.) The old notions, however, as to the s.e.xual licentiousness of peoples living in natural conditions have scarcely yet disappeared. See Appendix A; "The s.e.xual Instinct in Savages."

[35]

In men a certain degree of tumescence is essential before coitus can be effected at all; in women, though tumescence is not essential to coitus, it is essential to o.r.g.a.s.m and the accompanying physical and psychic relief. The preference which women often experience for prolonged coitus is not, as might possibly be imagined, due to sensuality, but has a profound physiological basis.

[36]

Stanley Hall, Adolescence, vol. i, p. 223.

[37]

See Lagrange's Physiology of Bodily Exercise, especially chapter ii. It is a significant fact that, as Sergi remarks (Les Emotions, p. 330), the physiological results of dancing are identical with the physiological results of pleasure.

[38]

Groos, Spiele der Menschen, p. 112. Zmigrodzki (Die Mutter bei den Volkern des Arischen Stammes, p. 414 et seq.) has an interesting pa.s.sage describing the dance-especially the Russian dance-in its orgiastic aspects.

[39]

Fere, "L'Influence sur le Travail Volontaire d'un muscle de l'activite d'autres muscles," Nouvelles Iconographie de la Salpetriere, 1901.

[40]

"The sensation of motion," Kline remarks ("The Migratory Impulse," American Journal of Psychology, October, 1898, p. 62), "as yet but little studied from a pleasure-pain standpoint, is undoubtedly a pleasure-giving sensation. For Aristippus the end of life is pleasure, which he defines as gentle motion. Motherhood long ago discovered its virtue as furnished by the cradle. Galloping to town on the parental knee is a pleasing pastime in every nursery. The several varieties of swings, the hammock, see-saw, flying-jenny, merry-go-round, shooting the chutes, sailing, coasting, rowing, and skating, together with the fondness of children for rotating rapidly in one spot until dizzy and for jumping from high places, are all devices and sports for stimulating the sense of motion. In most of these modes of motion the body is pa.s.sive or semipa.s.sive, save in such motions as skating and rotating on the feet. The pa.s.siveness of the body precludes any important contribution of stimuli from kinesthetic sources. The stimuli are probably furnished, as Dr. Hall and others have suggested, by a redistribution of fluid pressure (due to the unusual motions and positions of the body) to the inner walls of the several vascular systems of the body."

[41]

Anatomy of Melancholy, part iii., sect. ii, mem. ii, subs. iv.

[42]

Sadger, "Haut-, Schleimhaut-, und Muskel-erotik," Jahrbuch fur psychoa.n.a.lytische Forschungen, Bd. iii, 1912, p. 556.

[43]

Marro (p.u.b.erta, p. 367 et seq.) has some observations on this point. It was an insight into this action of dancing which led the Spanish clergy of the eighteenth century to encourage the national enthusiasm for dancing (as Baretti informs us) in the interests of morality.

[44]

It is scarcely necessary to remark that a primitive dance, even when a.s.sociated with courtship, is not necessarily a s.e.xual pantomime; as Wallaschek, in his comprehensive survey of primitive dances, observes, it is more usually an animal pantomime, but nonetheless connected with the s.e.xual instinct, separation of the s.e.xes, also, being no proof to the contrary. (Wallaschek, Primitive Music, pp. 211-13.) Grosse (Anfange der Kunst, English translation, p. 228) has pointed out that the best dancer would be the best fighter and hunter, and that s.e.xual selection and natural selection would thus work in harmony.

[45]

Fere, "Le plaisir de la vue du Mouvement," Comptes-rendus de la Societe de Biologie, November 2, 1901; also Travail et Plaisir, ch. xxix.

[46]