ut if the wife possesses only a moderate amount of
sexuality and if she is too weak in body and in will-power to resist
her lord and master's demands, her health is often ruined and she
becomes a wreck. (Complete abstinence and excessive indulgence often
have the same evil end-results.) Some men "kill" four or five women
before the fury of their libido is at last moderated. Of course, it is
hard to find out a man's libido beforehand. But if a delicate girl or
a woman of moderate sexuality has reasons to suspect that a man is
possessed of an abnormally excessive libido, she would do well to
think twice before taking the often irretrievable step.

I have spoken so far of excessive libido in normal men, that is, in
men who are otherwise normal, sane and can _whenever necessary_
control their desires. There is a form of excessive libido in men
called satyriasis, which reaches such a degree that the men are often
not able to control their desires, and they will satisfy their
passion even if they know that the result is sure to be a venereal
infection or several years in prison. Of course, satyriasis is a
dysgenic factor; those suffering with that disorder are not normal;
they are on the borderland of insanity, and not only should they not
be permitted to marry, but they should be confined to institutions
where they can be subjected to the proper treatment.

=Excessive Libido in Women=

Just as we have impotent and excessively libidinous men, so we have
frigid and excessively libidinous women. A wife possessed of excessive
libido is a terrible calamity for a husband of a normal or moderate
sexuality. Many a libidinous wife has driven her husband, especially
if she is young and he is old, to a premature grave. And "grave" is
used in the literal, not figurative, sense of the word. It would be a
good thing if a man could find out the character of his future wife's
libido before marriage. Unfortunately, it is impossible. At best, it
can only be guessed at. But a really excessive libido on the part of
either husband or wife should constitute a valid ground for divorce.
When the libido in woman is so excessive that she _cannot_ control her
passion, and forgetting religion, morality, modesty, custom and
possible social consequences, she offers herself to every man she
meets, we use the term nymphomania. It is a disease which corresponds
to satyriasis in men, and what I said of satyriasis applies with equal
force to nymphomania.