or hysterical. The process is undoubtedly sane and protective,
unless the subject be unhealthy. The period of creative art power
extended a little beyond the end of the period of natural seed
emission--the art work of this last stage being less vibrant, and
of a gentler force. Then followed a time of calm natural rest,
which gradually led up to the next sequence of melancholy and
power. The periods certainly varied in length of time, controlled
somewhat by the force of the mind and the mental will to create;
that is to say, I could somewhat delay the natural emission, by
which I gained an extension of the period of power."

How far masturbation in moderately healthy persons living without normal
sexual relationships may be considered normal is a difficult question only
to be decided with reference to individual cases. As a general rule, when
only practiced at rare intervals, and _faute de mieux_, in order to obtain
relief for physical oppression and mental obsession, it may be regarded as
the often inevitable result of the unnatural circumstances of our
civilized social life. When, as often happens in mental degeneracy,--and
as in shy and imaginative persons, perhaps of neurotic temperament, may
also sometimes become the case,--it is practiced in preference to sexual
relationships, it at once becomes abnormal and may possibly lead to a
variety of harmful results, mental and physical.[345]

It must always be remembered, however, that, while the practice of
masturbation may be harmful in its consequences, it is also, in the
absence of normal sexual relationships, frequently not without good
results. In the medical literature of the last hundred years a number of
cases have been incidentally recorded in which the patients found
masturbation beneficial, and such cases might certainly have been
enormously increased if there had been any open-eyed desire to discover
them. My own observations agree with those of Sudduth, who asserts that
"masturbation is, in the main, practiced for its sedative effect on the
nervous system. The relaxation that follows the act constitutes its real
attraction.... Both masturbation and sexual intercourse should be classed
as typical sedatives."[346]

Gall (_Fonctions du Cerveau_, 1825, vol. iii, p. 235) mentioned a
woman who was tormented by strong sexual desire, which she
satisfied by masturbation ten or twelve times a day; this caused
no bad