rvation. A certain class of such people
are undoubtedly feminine. From their earliest youth they have shown
marked inclination for the habits and the dress of women; and when they
are adult, they do everything in their power to obliterate their
manhood. It is equally true that such unsexed males possess a strong
attraction for some abnormal individuals. But it is a gross mistake to
suppose that all the tribe betray these attributes. The majority differ
in no detail of their outward appearance, their physique, or their dress
from normal men. They are athletic, masculine in habits, frank in
manner, passing through society year after year without arousing a
suspicion of their inner temperament. Were it not so, society would long
ago have had its eyes opened to the amount of perverted sexuality it
harbours.

The upshot of this discourse on vulgar errors is that popular opinion is
made up of a number of contradictory misconceptions and confusions.
Moreover, it has been taken for granted that "to investigate the
depraved instincts of humanity is unprofitable and disgusting."
Consequently the subject has been imperfectly studied; and individuals
belonging to radically different species are confounded in one vague
sentiment of reprobation. Assuming that they are all abominable, society
is content to punish them indiscriminately. The depraved debauchee who
abuses boys receives the same treatment as the young man who loves a
comrade. The male prostitute who earns his money by extortion is
scarcely more contemned than a man of birth and breeding who has been
seen walking with soldiers.

III.

LITERATURE--DESCRIPTIVE.

Sexual inversion can boast a voluminous modern literature, little known
to general readers. A considerable part of this is pornographic, and
need not arrest our attention.[7] A good deal is descriptive,
scientific, historical, anthropological, apologetical and polemical.
With a few books in each of these kinds I propose to deal now.

The first which falls under my hand is written by a French official, who
was formerly Chief of the Police Department for Morals in Paris.[8] M.
Carlier, during ten years, had excellent opportunities for studying the
habits of professional male prostitutes and their frequenters. He had
condensed the results of his experience in seven very disagreeable
chapters, which offer a revolting picture of vice and systematised
extortion in the great metropolis.

"In the numerous boo