." _Zeitschrift fuer
Sozialwissenschaft_, 1905.

CHAPTER XVII

THE SEXUAL QUESTION IN PEDAGOGY

=Heredity and Education.=--If we review the facts contained in
Chapters IV, VI, VII and VIII, we must conclude that the sexual
appetite, sensations and sentiments of every human being consist of
two groups of elements: (1) _phylogenetic_ or hereditary (hereditary
mneme); and (2) elements _acquired_ during life by the combined action
of external agents and habit or custom.

The first lie dormant in the organism for a time, in the form of
latent energies or dispositions, and form part of what is called
_character_. Most of them do not disclose themselves till the age of
puberty, and their development afterwards takes place under the
influence of external stimuli, which are modified by the will of the
individual, _i.e._, by his brain.

The second are the result of the influence excited by erotic
excitations and habit on the first.

Pedagogy can in no way change the first, for they are predetermined,
and constitute the soil to be cultivated by education. The task of the
latter can, therefore, only be to guide the hereditary sexual
dispositions into paths as healthy and useful as possible. In the case
of perverse dispositions, such as homosexual appetites, sadism, etc.,
moral education can only act in a general way on the character, and
combat that which excites the appetites. It cannot change the
character of the latter; there must be no illusion on this point.
Wherever hereditary dispositions present a normal average, education
can do much to avoid pathological errors and habits, by guiding the
sexual appetite in a healthy direction and by avoiding excess.

=Sexual Education of Children.=--Habit always diminishes the erotic
effect of certain perceptions of the senses; and inversely, eroticism
or sexual desire is especially excited by unaccustomed perceptions
and images relating to the other sex. The adult, unfortunately, nearly
always makes the same error in pedagogy; he unconsciously attributes
his own adult sentiments to the child. What excites the sexual desire
of an adult is quite indifferent to a child. It is, therefore,
possible to speak plainly to children to a certain extent on sexual
questions, without exciting them in the least; on the contrary, if the
child becomes accustomed to consider sexual intercourse as something
quite natural, this will excite his curiosity to a much less degree
later on, beca