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PSYCHOPATHIA SEXUALIS.
fore, important forensically. As to the frequency of handkerchief-fetichism, it may be remarked that the handkerchief is the one article of feminine attire which, outside of intimate association, is most frequently displayed, and which, with its warmth from the person and specific odors, may by accident fall into the hands of others. The frequency of early association of lustful feelings with the idea of a handkerchief, which may always be presumed to have occurred in such cases of fetichism, probably is due to this.
Case 85. A baker’s assistant, aged 32, single, previously of good repute, was discovered stealing a handkerchief from a lady. In sincere remorse, he confessed that he had stolen from eighty to ninety such handkerchiefs. He had cared only for handkerchiefs, and, indeed, only for those belonging to young women attractive to him. In his outward appearance the culprit presents nothing peculiar. He dresses himself with much taste. His conduct is peculiar, anxious, depressed, and unmanly, and he often lapses into whining and tears. Lack of self-reliance, weakness of comprehension, and slowness of perception and reflection, are noticeable. One of his sisters is epileptic. He lives in good circumstances; was never severely sick; developed well. In relating his history, he shows weakness of memory and lack of clearness; calculation is hard for him, though when young he learned and comprehended easily. His anxious, uncertain state of mind gives rise to a suspicion of onanism. The culprit confessed that he had been given to this practice excessively since his nineteenth year. For some years, as a result of his vice, he had suffered with depression, lassitude, trembling of the limbs, pain in the back, and disinclination for work. Frequently a depressed, anxious state of mind came over him, in which he avoided people. He had exaggerated, fantastic notions about the results of sexual intercourse with women, and could not bring himself to indulge in it. Of late, however, he had thought of marriage. With great remorse and in a weak-minded way, X. now confessed that six months before, while in a crowd, he became violently excited sexually at the sight of a pretty young girl, and was compelled to crowd up against her. He felt an impulse to compensate himself for the want of a more complete satisfaction of his sexual excitement, by stealing her handkerchief. Thereafter, as soon as he came near attractive females, with violent sexual excitement, palpitation of the heart, erection and impetus coeundi, the impulse would seize him to crowd up against them and, faute de mieux, steal their handkerchiefs. Although the consciousness of his criminal act never left him for a moment, he was unable to make any resistance to the impulse. During the act he felt an anxiety which was in part due to his inordinate sexual impulse, and partly to the
