ulsive to me as to a normal man. Even every imitation of
coitus is, for me, without attraction. In a boy's body two things
specially excite me: _his belly and his nates_, the first as
containing the digestive tract, the second as holding the opening
of the bowels. Of the vegetable processes of life in the boy none
interest me nearly so much as the progress of his digestion and
the process of defecation. It is incredible to what an extent
this part of physiology has occupied me from youth. If as a boy I
wanted to read something of a piquantly exciting character I
sought in my father's encyclopaedia for articles like:
Obstruction, Constipation, Haemorrhoids, Faeces, etc. No function
of the body seemed to be so significant as this, and I regarded
its disturbances as the most important in the whole mechanism of
life. The description of other disorders I could read in cold
blood, but intussusception of the bowels makes me ill even
to-day. I am always extremely pleased to hear that the digestion
of the people around me is in good condition. A man who did not
sufficiently watch over his digestion aroused distrust in me, and
I imagined that wicked men must be horribly indifferent regarding
this weighty matter. Even more than in ordinary persons was I
interested in the digestion of more mysterious beings, like
magicians in legends, or men of other nations. I would willingly
have made an anthropological study of my favorite subject, only
to my annoyance books nearly always pass over the matter in
silence. In history and fiction I regretted the absence of
information concerning the state of my heroes' digestion when
they languished in prison or in some unaccustomed or unhealthy
spot. For this reason I held no book more precious than one which
describes how a young man after being shipwrecked lived for a
long time in a narrow snow-hut, and it was conscientiously stated
that he became aware of digestive disturbances. No immorality
angers me more than the foolish practice of ladies who in society
neglect the satisfaction of their natural needs from misplaced
motives of modesty. On a railway journey I suffer horribly from
the thought that one of my fellow-travelers may be prevented from
fulfilling some imperative natural necessity.

"I naturally devote the greatest attention to my own digestio