rapidly; but immediately after
birth its growth is arrested, so that in a girl of nine it is little
larger than in the new-born infant. During the period of puberal
development, however, the growth of the organ is once more extremely
rapid. Its shape also changes at this time. In the child, the uterus is
longer in proportion to its thickness; in childhood, too, the
comparative length of the cervix in relation to that of the body of the
organ is much greater than in the adult woman. We need only allude in
passing to the fact that later in life marked changes occur in the
uterus as a result of pregnancy and parturition. The hyperaemia and the
bleeding that take place periodically during menstruation lead to
certain changes in the mucous surface of the uterus. Ovulation, which in
the sexually mature woman recurs at four-weekly intervals, also gives
rise to certain permanent changes in the ovaries. The site of each
ruptured Graafian follicle becomes cicatrised, and in consequence of the
formation of these little scars, the ovary no longer retains the
smoothness of surface which was characteristic of the organ in
childhood. From birth onwards the ovaries gradually increase in size,
but the growth is disproportionate in different diameters. Thus, for
instance, during the eighth year of life, growth is chiefly in
thickness, so that the ratio between the length and the thickness
becomes less than before. The structure of the ovaries also varies at
different ages. In a girl of three years, the primitive ovarian
follicles number about 400,000; at the age of eight it is estimated that
their number has been reduced to about 36,000. Certainly the majority of
the primitive follicles come to nothing. True Graafian follicles, of
which an account has already been given, are not usually formed prior
to the beginning of the puberal development; occasionally, however, they
are formed in the ovaries of immature girls.

Let us now pass to the consideration of the sexual impulse. We learn
from personal observation that two entirely distinct processes
participate in this impulse. In the first place, we have the physical
processes that take place in the genital organs; these are in part
unperceived, but in part they affect consciousness in the form of common
sensations, or as ordinary tactile and other similar sensations. In the
second place, we have those higher psychical processes by means of which
man is attracted to woman, and woman to ma