n one point at least all writers are
agreed, viz., that of boys an overwhelming majority masturbate
occasionally. The only point in dispute is whether there are any
exceptions. For my own part, I am confident that exceptions exist. I
have received direct information on the point from leading men of
science, and from others whose absolute veracity I have never had any
reason to doubt. Healthy men, endowed with a normal sexual impulse, are
occasionally to be found who have never masturbated at all. I go
further, and believe that such persons are by no means so rare as many
authorities maintain. Nevertheless, as regards the male sex, differences
of opinion are, after all, not very extensive, since it is only in
relation to a minority that these differences exist. But when we pass
to the question of the extent of masturbation among girls, the
differences become more acute. On this point also I have endeavoured to
obtain exact information by means of numerous inquiries, with the
following results. Among girls, masturbation is less general than it is
among boys. Among those who have never masturbated during girlhood, we
find women who as adults have powerful sexual impulse. On the other
hand, many girls who masturbate do so very often. I believe, indeed,
that cases in which masturbation is performed twice or thrice in brief
succession are _relatively_ commoner among girls than they are among
boys. As regards this point my own experience harmonises with that of
Guttceit.[40] On the other hand, Guttceit's assumption that almost all
girls who attain the age of eighteen or twenty years without any
opportunity for sexual intercourse practise masturbation conflicts with
my own experience. I am acquainted with a number of women of a fairly
ardent temperament who do not masturbate, although they have no
opportunity for sexual intercourse. Moreover, this view is confirmed by
the common experience regarding the relative sexual anaesthesia of women;
it is an admitted fact that complete sexuality is in women far less
readily awakened than it is in men.

I must take this opportunity of referring at some length to a matter
which, though somewhat obscure, is none the less profoundly interesting.
In many instances sexual excitement occurs in children as the result of
a feeling of anxiety; in boys such anxiety may lead to ejaculation, with
or without erection, and with more or less voluptuous sensation. A
schoolboy informed me that he had had