sexual act the role of the
woman differs from that of the man not only by being passive, but also
by the absence of seminal ejaculations. In spite of this the analogies
are considerable. The erection of the clitoris and its voluptuous
sensations, the secretion from the glands of _Bartholin_ which
resembles ejaculation in the male, the venereal orgasm itself which
often exceeds in intensity that of man, are phenomena which establish
harmony in sexual connection.

Although the organic phenomenon of the accumulation of semen in the
seminal vesicles is absent in woman, there is produced in the nerve
centers, after prolonged abstinence, an accumulation of sexual desire
corresponding to that of man. A married woman confessed to me, when I
reproached her for being unfaithful to her husband, that she desired
coitus at least once a fortnight, and that when her husband was not
there, she took the first comer. No doubt the sentiments of this woman
were hardly feminine, but her sexual appetite was relatively normal.

=Frequency of the Sexual Appetite in Woman.=--As regards pure sexual
appetite, extremes are much more common and more considerable in woman
than in man. In her this appetite is developed much less often
spontaneously than in him, and where it is so, it is generally later.
Voluptuous sensations are usually only awakened by coitus.

In a considerable number of women the sexual appetite is completely
absent. For these, coitus is a disagreeable, often disgusting, or at
any rate an indifferent act. What is more singular, at least for
masculine comprehension, and what gives rise to the most frequent
"quid pro quos," is the fact that such women, absolutely cold as
regards sexual sensations, are often great coquettes, over-exciting
the sexual appetites of man, and have often a great desire for love
and caresses. This is more easy to understand if we reflect that the
unsatiated desires of the normal woman are less inclined toward coitus
than toward the assemblage of consequences of this act, which are so
important for her whole life. When the sight of a certain man awakes
in a young girl sympathetic desires and transports, she aspires to
procreate children with this man only, to give herself to him as a
slave, to receive his caresses, to be loved by him only, that he may
become both the support and master of her whole life. It is a question
of general sentiments of indefinite nature, of a powerful desire to
become a mother a