normal channels; and that the men subject
to them are neither physically, intellectually, nor morally inferior to
normally constituted individuals. Having demonstrated these points to
his own satisfaction, and supported his views with a large induction of
instances and a respectable show of erudition, he proceeds to argue that
the present state of the law in many states of Europe is flagrantly
unjust to a class of innocent persons, who may indeed be regarded as
unfortunate and inconvenient, but who are guilty of nothing which
deserves reprobation and punishment. In this second and polemical branch
of his exposition, Ulrichs assumes, for his juristic starting-point,
that each human being is born with natural rights which legislation
ought not to infringe but protect. He does not attempt to confute the
utilitarian theory of jurisprudence, which regards laws as regulations
made by the majority in the supposed interests of society. Yet a large
amount of his reasoning is designed to invalidate utilitarian arguments
in favour of repression, by showing that no social evil ensues in those
countries which have placed abnormal sexuality upon the same footing as
the normal, and that the toleration of inverted passion threatens no
danger to the well-being of nations.

After this prelude, an abstract of Ulrichs' theory and his pleading may
be given, deduced from the comparative study of his numerous essays.

The right key to the solution of the problem is to be found in
physiology, in that obscure department of natural science which deals
with the evolution of sex. The embryo, as we are now aware, contains an
undetermined element of sex during the first months of pregnancy. This
is gradually worked up into male and female organs of procreation; and
these, when the age of puberty arrives, are generally accompanied by
corresponding male and female appetites. That is to say, the man in an
immense majority of cases desires the woman, and the woman desires the
man. Nature, so to speak, aims at differentiating the undecided foetus
into a human being of one or the other sex, the propagation of the
species being the main object of life. Still, as Aristotle puts it, and
as we observe in many of her operations, "Nature wishes, but has not
always the power": [Greek: he physis bouletai men all' ou dynatai].
Consequently in respect of physical structure, there come to light
imperfect individuals, so-called hermaphrodites, whose sexual apparatus