-Religious Education--The Bible--The
Confessional--Hypnotism--Psycho-Analysis--Counteraction of
Psychical Contagion.

Sexual Enlightenment--General Educational
Interests--Hygienic Reasons for Enlightenment--The Dangers
of Venereal Infection--Of Masturbation--Ethical
Reasons--Forensic Reasons--Social Reasons--Age at which
Enlightenment is Desirable--Place of Enlightenment; School
or Home--The School Physician--Importance of the
Mother--Individualisation--Mode of Enlightenment.--Reasons
urged against Enlightenment--Need that the Instructor should
be an Enlightened Person--Exaggerated Views regarding the
Importance of Sexual Enlightenment.

Physical Hygienic Measures--Stimulation by Means of the
Bed--Local Stimulation--Mechanical
Measures--Hydrotherapeutic Measures--Dirt--Sport and
Games--Fere's Method.

Pedagogy and Sexual Perversions--Dangers from
Paedophiles--Necessity for Heterosexual Influences--Dangers
of Corporal Punishment--The Right of the Teacher to Inflict
Punishment--Conclusion.

INDEX OF SUBJECTS 325

INDEX OF NAMES 337

THE SEXUAL LIFE OF
THE CHILD

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY AND HISTORICAL

To speak of "the sexual life of the child" seems at first sight to
involve a contradiction in terms. It is generally assumed that the
sexual life first awakens at the on-coming of puberty (the attainment of
sexual maturity of manhood or womanhood); the on-coming of puberty is
regarded as the termination of childhood; in fact the term _child_ is
usually defined as the human being from the time of birth to the
on-coming of puberty. But this contradiction is apparent merely, and
depends on the assumption that the on-coming of puberty is indicated by
certain outward signs (more especially the first menstruation and the
first seminal emission), insufficient attention being paid to the long
period of development which usually precedes these occurrences. And yet,
during this period of preliminary development, the occurrence of certain
manifestations of the sexual life is plainly demonstrable.

The period of childhood is subdivided into several sub-epochs, but the
delimitation and nomenclature of these varies so much with different
investigators, that to avoid misunderstanding I must first define the
subdivisions which I myself propose to employ. If we regard the
beginning