rders, taking advantage of the fact that he himself requested this
operation to relieve him of pain in his seminal vesicles, but with the
chief object of preventing the production of unfortunate children
tainted with his hereditary complaint.

Many years ago I also castrated a young hysterical girl of fourteen,
whose mother and grandmother were both prostitutes, and who had
already begun to have intercourse with all the urchins in the street.
Here again, I frankly admit that the hysterical troubles of the
patient served me as an excuse to prevent this unfortunate girl from
reproducing beings who would probably resemble her. I am of opinion
that castration, or some more benign operation, such as dislocation of
the Fallopian tubes in women (which renders them sterile without
destroying the ovaries, or even attenuating the sexual appetite)
should be performed in order to prevent the reproduction of the most
deplorable and most dangerous beings.

Among certain individuals, such as sadists, whose sexual appetite is
dangerous in itself, castration would be necessary. In my opinion, the
more benign operations are indicated in all individuals whose
psychopathological condition in this domain is such that they are
absolutely incapable of resisting their impulses, or of understanding
the dictates of reason. By this means they could go free instead of
being incarcerated in asylums.

On the other hand, I must emphasize the fact that such measures, the
personal consequences of which are so serious, should only be taken
in the case of absolutely dangerous, incurable individuals, concerning
whose pathological state there can be no doubt. I also believe that
these individuals, especially those with sexual abnormalities, would
very often consent to the operation, as was the case with my two
patients.

It would be a great advance if civil legislation would in such cases
accord official recognition to castration or dislocation of the tubes,
with the consent of the criminal or patient concerned. At present, our
laws and regulations are such that a psychopathological monster cannot
even be castrated when he wishes it, because medical men refuse to
undertake such an operation without a positive medical indication of
the usual kind, and because there is no legal protection; yet, when
done in time, castration would often save sadists and other dangerous
perverts from a criminal life, and society from their crimes and those
of their offspr