as we have already pointed
out, such masturbation may or may not be preceded by a reflex erection.
And just as the boy soon learns that itching is relieved by scratching,
so also he learns that by means of artificial stimulation he may induce
sensations of a voluptuous character. It is the same with the little
girl, in whom sensations occur in the genital organs, due in some cases
to developmental, and in others to pathological stimuli (skin eruptions
are an instance of the latter kind), and these lead to manipulations of
the genital organs.

In contradistinction to the cases just described, in which the child
has learned spontaneously to practise artificial stimulation of his
genital organs, are the cases in which seduction by others is the cause
of masturbation. Nurses sometimes touch, stroke, and stimulate the
external genital organs of the children entrusted to their care--boys
and girls alike--either to keep them quiet, or for the gratification of
their own lustful feelings. In this way the child, who in the case of
all agreeable sensations has a natural desire for their repetition, is
gradually led to imitate the manipulations which have given rise to the
voluptuous sensations, and is thus seduced to the practice of
masturbation.

In the preceding passages I have spoken of all kinds of mechanical
stimulation of the genital organs, and also of erections[25] occurring
in small children. I now pass on to consider ejaculation. Whereas during
normal intercourse in the sexually mature man and woman a fluid
secretion is expelled, nothing of the kind is possible in children, at
least such is the general opinion. Frequently, indeed, as regards the
male sex, the end of childhood, properly speaking, is supposed to be
indicated by the first ejaculation of semen. Matters are, however, by no
means so simple as this. We have seen that the testicular secretion, the
most important constituent of the semen, consists, as Fuerbringer[26] has
pointed out, almost entirely of spermatozoa. But how is it in the case
of children? The spermatozoa may be first formed at very varying ages.
According to the investigations of Mantegazza,[27] they rarely make
their appearance earlier than the eighteenth year of life. Fuerbringer
does not unconditionally accept this view; but he has himself, as he has
personally informed me, examined boys at ages of fifteen to sixteen in
whom the ejaculation was entirely devoid of spermatozoa. But, on the
other