physically weakening himself. If you notice, it is
puppies that seem to go against Nature, but grown dogs, never.
So, if two small boys acted thus, I should think it merely an
instinctive feeling after Nature, which would amend itself. Many
here would consider it a heinous sin, but those who think such
things sins make them sins. I have seen, in the old days, most
delightful little children sent away, branded with infamy, and
scarce knowing why--you might as well expel a boy for scratching
his head when it itched. I am sure the soundest way is to treat
it as a doctor would, and explain to the boy the physical effects
of over-indulgence of any sort. When it is combated from the
monkish standpoint, the evil becomes an epidemic." I am, however,
far from anxious to indorse the policy of ignoring the sexual
phenomena of youth. It is not the speaking about such things that
should be called in question, but the wisdom and good sense of
the speaker. We ought to expect a head-master to possess both an
adequate acquaintance with the nature of the phenomena of
auto-erotism and homosexuality, and a reasonable amount of tact
in dealing with boys; he may then fairly be trusted to exercise
his own judgment. It may be doubted whether boys should be made
too alive to the existence of sexual phenomena; there can be no
doubt about their teachers. The same is, of course, true as
regards girls, among whom the same phenomena, though less
obtrusive, are not less liable to occur.

As to whether masturbation is more common in one sex than the other, there
have been considerable differences of opinion. Tissot considered it more
prevalent among women; Christian believed it commoner among men; Deslandes
and Iwan Bloch hold that there are no sexual differences, and Garnier was
doubtful. Lawson Tait, in his _Diseases of Women_, stated his opinion that
in England, while very common among boys, it is relatively rare among
women, and then usually taught. Spitzka, in America, also found it
relatively rare among women, and Dana considers it commoner in boys than
in girls or adults.[307] Moll is inclined to think that masturbation is
less common in women and girls than in the male sex. Rohleder believes
that after puberty, when it is equally common in both sexes, it is more
frequently found in men, but that women masturbate with more passion and
imaginative fervor