Raffalovich, Uranism. 41 



five or six years of age he has dreamed of the warmth 

 of their breasts and naked arms. He has dreamed that he was 

 their slave and has loved his slavery and his masters. He has 

 not had a single grossly sensual thought, but he has discovered 

 his sentimental bent. 



The well-born congenital invert may be exceptionally inno- 

 cent physically up to the age of puberty if he has no bad coun- 

 sellor and if he is shy and ignorant of his own bodily structure. 

 His depravity is then strictly cerebral and sentimental. It is 

 not as yet applied to the surrounding persons. He loves the 

 paintings, statues, and pictures representing pretty figures. 

 Workmen, however, interest him on account of their garments, 

 which differ from those worn by his parents ; and he already 

 experiences that passion of the invert for everything which re- 

 sembles a uniform or a conventional costume. That which the 

 Germans call soldaten Hebe is so widely known and so widely 

 practiced among the inverts and the corrupt in all the Europ- 

 ean countries that in certain towns the number of soldiers who 

 prostitute themselves is larger than one would like to suppose. 

 It is not an exaggeration to say that in certain regiments the 

 presumption is in favor of the venality of a majority of the sol- 

 diers. The clientele must be numerous and assiduous for such 

 results. The soldier is the craze of many inverts and the sol- 

 dier as soon as he finds himself alone or with another soldier 

 tries to allure his client by his looks and his bearing. His co- 

 quettish and trim clothes are not without effect. This is deplor- 

 able and painful and we may well wish to find a remedy for it, 

 which is, however, impossible at present. Shamelessness and 

 venality can be pushed no further. 



While still young and pure the child feels himself ready 

 for anything mysterious. He has heroic dreams. He is a hero 

 loving another hero, and his waking visions are as fervid as any 

 fairy stories. He is either the hero or the chosen friend or 

 even more rarely and for a short time the heroine of the ro- 

 mance which he reads or hears related. The invert from birth 

 is not necessarily effeminate ; he is not always so, and he does 

 not always prefer little girls and their games. 



