SEXUAL PSYCHOSES AND NEUROSES 211 



of masturbation ; shortly afterwards she began to entice Case of sexual 



men to gratify her desires ; she kept a diary in which lr 



her thoughts and feelings were described ; and the 



climax came when she took to dropping notes in the 



road asking men to meet her evidently in order that 



she might induce them to satisfy her cravings. She had 



no self-respect, no sense of decency or shame the world 



was blotted out of her consciousness when the over- 



whelming stimulus of her ovarian secretion flooded her 



mind ; and she had no remorse, but, rather, took a pride 



and pleasure in the methods adopted to consummate 



her desire. 



In the other case, a married lady, a little over thirty Case of 



years of age, who had several beautiful children, told me 



that she was never able to resist the advances of men desire - 

 she liked, and that she had indulged in immoral relations 

 with three different men in one year. This patient 

 recognized the error of her ways, and was full of remorse 

 after each adventure ; nevertheless, the sexual stimuli 

 were so great that until they were exhausted her sense 

 of right and wrong was completely obliterated. 



It is certain that in the first case the patient, judged 

 by any standard, was insane ; while in the second the 

 woman was merely intemperate from a social and moral 

 standpoint. In both cases the stimuli consisted of the 

 internal secretions of the ovaries ; but in the former 

 there was constant mental instability as well, while in the 

 latter there was temporary mental aberration in the 

 face of a stimulus temporarily stronger than those 

 directing her will. 



Excessive ovarian secretion in women may lead to Excessive 

 masturbation or to habits associated with sexual in- SLTcausing 6 " 



version. It is probable that if with the onset of puberty masturbation 



* and inversion. 

 marriage took place in European countries, as it does 



in some Eastern countries, such indulgences would not 

 be practised by educated women. Once, however, these 

 habits have become established, even matrimony may 

 fail to provide a satisfactory substitute, although, 

 fortunately perhaps, it may sometimes do so. 



