[307] This is, no doubt, the most common opinion, and it is frequently repeated in text-books. It is scarcely necessary, however, to point out that only the opinions of those who have given special attention to the matter can carry any weight. R. W. Shufeldt ("On a Case of Female Impotency," pp. 5–7) quotes the opinions of various cautious observers as to the difficulty of detecting masturbation in women.
[308] This latter opinion is confirmed by Näcke so far as the insane are concerned. In a careful study of sexual perversity in a large asylum, Näcke found that, while moderate masturbation could be more easily traced among men than among women, excessive masturbation was more common among women. And, while among the men masturbation was most frequent in the lowest grades of mental development (idiocy and imbecility), and least frequent in the highest grades (general paralysis), in the women it was the reverse. (P. Näcke, "Die Sexuellen Perversitäten in der Irrenanstalt," Psychiatrische en Neurologische Bladen, No. 2, 1899.)
[309] Mammary masturbation sometimes occurs; see, e.g., Rohleder, Die Masturbation (pp. 32–33); it is, however, rare.
[310] Hirschsprung pointed out this, indeed, many years ago, on the ground of his own experience. And see Rohleder, op. cit., pp. 44–47.
[311] In many cases, of course, the physical precocity is associated with precocity in sexual habits. An instructive case is reported (Alienist and Neurologist, October, 1895) of a girl of 7, a beautiful child, of healthy family, and very intelligent, who, from the age of three, was perpetually masturbating, when not watched. The clitoris and mons veneris were those of a fully-grown woman, and the child was as well informed upon most subjects as an average woman. She was cured by care and hygienic attention, and when seen last was in excellent condition. A medical friend tells me of a little girl of two, whose external genital organs are greatly developed, and who is always rubbing herself.
[312] R. T. Morris, of New York, has also pointed out the influence of traditions in this respect. "Among boys," he remarks, "there are traditions to the effect that self-abuse is harmful. Among girls, however, there are no such saving traditions." Dr. Kiernan writes in a private letter: "It has been by experience, that from ignorance or otherwise, there are young women who do not look upon sexual manipulation with the same fear that men do." Guttceit, similarly, remarks that men have been warned of masturbation, and fear its evil results, while girls, even if warned, attach little importance to the warning; he adds that in healthy women, masturbation, even in excess, has little bad results. The attitude of many women in this matter may be illustrated by the following passage from a letter written by a medical friend in India: "The other day one of my English women patients gave me the following reason for having taught the 17-year-old daughter of a retired Colonel to masturbate: 'Poor girl, she was troubled with dreams of men, and in case she should be tempted with one, and become pregnant, I taught her to bring the feeling on herself—as it is safer, and, after all, nearly as nice as with a man.'"
[313] H. Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex, volume ii, "Sexual Inversion," Chapter IV.
[314] See, also, the Appendix to the third volume of these Studies, in which I have brought forward sexual histories of normal persons.
[315] E. H. Smith, also, states that from 25 to 35 is the age when most women come under the physician's eye with manifest and pronounced habits of masturbation.
[316] It may, however, be instructive to observe that at the end of the volume we find an advertisement of "Dr. Robinson's Treatise on the Virtues and Efficacy of a Crust of Bread, Eat Early in the Morning Fasting."
[317] Pouillet alone enumerates and apparently accepts considerably over one hundred different morbid conditions as signs and results of masturbation.
[318] "Augenkrankheiten bei Masturbanten," Knapp-Schweigger's Archiv für Augenheitkunde, Bd. II, 1882, p. 198.
[319] Salmo Cohn, Uterus und Auge, 1890, pp. 63–66.
[320] Fonctions du Cerveau, 1825, vol. iii, p. 337.
[321] W. Ellis, Treatise on Insanity, 1838, pp. 335, 340.
[322] Clara Barrus, "Insanity in Young Women," Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, June, 1896.
[323] See, for instance, H. Emminghaus, "Die Psychosen des Kindesalters," Gerlandt's Handbuch der Kinder-Krankheiten, Nachtrag II, pp. 61–63.
[324] Christian, article "Onanisme," Dictionnaire Encyclopédique des Sciences Médicales.
[325] Näcke, Verbrechen und Wahnsinn beim Weibe, 1894, p. 57.
[326] J. L. A. Koch, Die Psychopathischen Minderwertigkeiten, 1892, p. 273 et seq.
[327] J. G. Kiernan, American Journal of Insanity, July, 1877.
[328] Maudsley dealt, in his vigorous, picturesque manner, with the more extreme morbid mental conditions sometimes found associated with masturbation, in "Illustrations of a Variety of Insanity," Journal of Mental Science, July, 1868.
[329] See, e.g., Löwenfeld, Sexualleben und Nervenleiden, 2d. ed., Ch. VIII.
[330] Marro, La Pubertà, Turin, 1898, p. 174.
[331] E. C. Spitzka, "Cases of Masturbation," Journal of Mental Science, July, 1888.
[332] Charles West, Lancet, November 17, 1866.
[333] Gowers, Epilepsy, 1881, p. 31. Löwenfeld believes that epileptic attacks are