The Sexual Instinct and its Morbid Manifestations from the Double Standpoint of Jurisprudence and Psychiatry/Group B. Acquired Genesic Perversion

by Benjamin Tarnowski

Group B. ACQUIRED GENESIC PERVERSION

I. ACQUIRED PEDERASTY ............ 91

II. GENESIC PERVERSION IN 'THE DEMENTIA OF DOTAGE (SENILE PEDERASTY) ........ 106

III. GENESIC PERVERSION IN PARALYTIC DEMENTIA (PEDERASTY IN THE PROGRESSIVE PARALYSIS OF THE INSANE) ............. . 118

GROUP B, ACQUIRED GENESIC PERVERSION.

I. Acquired Pederasty.

WHEN a boy with perverted sexual instinct goes into a large school, particularly if it is a boarding-school, and comes into contact with a large number of other boys of various ages, among whom it is difficult to watch over and safeguard the regular development of puberty, he generally becomes a source of contamination to a great many of his school- fellows.

On the one hand violent, sometimes mor- bidly aggravated sexual excitement, which becomes developed as the boy grows up into a youth and remains unsatisfied, on the other hand the tendency to embracing, cuddling, sleeping two in a bed, all these render possible the first attempts at intercourse. To the above may be added habit and the spirit of imitation.

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The tall, strong, active lad is always the model for the weaker and younger ones.

Under the influence of example, the wish not to be behindhand, to show their boldness, the unhappy youths conquer their repugnance to the filthy act, heat their imagination with pictures of women and at the same time indulge in pederasty. The oftener such abnormal acts are committed, the more the normal, healthy action of the sexual instinct gets blunted and modified under the influence of an acquired habit. At first a heightened effort of phantasy, with evocation of the features of a woman, was necessary to procure excitation, and to present the reality as a disagreeable but only means of relieving the exaggerated erethism. But with time the disgust gradually wears away, the reality little by little takes the place of phan- tasy, and produces without its aid the usual excitation. In dream as in the waking state the sexual excitation is combined by habit with the picture of the passive pederast. The image of the woman on the contrary loses its brightness, and the representation of female beauty becomes obscured. More pleasure is found with women who ape the manners of men, with closely cropped hair, breasts but

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slightly developed, and a narrow pelvis. After the vicious habit has become more and more confirmed, woman finally loses altogether the faculty of exciting sexually. The acquired active pederast (paedicator) becomes absolutely impotent in the presence of women, or at all events loses the faculty of accomplishing regular connection.

When once the force of example, habit, certain restrictions, etc,, have developed such morbid types, the vice builds a nest for itself in the establishment; the tradition is trans- mitted from those who leave to the new- comers. Young, maidenish looking boys, particularly if just arriving for the first time, are subjected for their moral demoralization to a whole series of temptations and some- times to threats and even to maltreatment, in order to induce them to become passive pederasts. To lead astray and to pervert an inexperienced lad is considered to be a sort of meritorious act, to be applauded by the pupils who have left the school. These latter generally continue connection with the estab- lishment, visit it occasionally and on holi- days invite some of the pupils to visit them at their homes, where their instruction in a certain direction is still further developed.

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The school has now to a certain extent be- come the centre of a group of pederasts, who continue to draw thence new victims, and seek only to initiate them into the lowest paths of vice and moral turpitude. When the boy has been ruined from the sexual point of view, he is gradually taught to seek for and receive presents, treats, etc., from his teachers, that is to say to sell his charms. He thus finally becomes that most despicable representative of this disgusting vice u a venal passive pederast."

Accustomed from his youth to masturbation, habituated for his own sake to dissimulate shame and conscience, feeling disgust for the unnatural sexual connections, but for money smothering his repugnance to the filthy act, as well as to the person of the buyer, on whom he lavishes his purchased smiles and caresses in reply to the most revolting acts that can possibly be committed on a man; accustomed from his youth to falsehood, not only in word and deed, but also looking at it as a mode of expression of sentiment connected with his profession; combining in himself at the same time all the repulsive characteristics of an onanist, such a creature is equally venal outside of the sexual ques-

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tion and is capable of the most unscrupulous and dirty actions. Society has long since recognized the depravity of such individuals, and stamps these prostitute pederasts with deserved contempt.

It is in this manner that pederasty, intro- duced by any means into an educational establishment, causes a whole series of morbid disorders, not only in the sexual sphere, but also with regard to morality in general.

On the one hand the active pederast, who gradually loses the power of having normal connection, of his own free will disguises his nature and condemns himself to the greatest privation in life, in not only renouncing womanly love, but in exposing himself to become an object of the deepest contempt, horror and disgust to womankind; who, con- scious of his vice, has not yet the force of character, to abandon it and in a fit of despair is ready to take his own life or to drown his conscience in wine and in unbridled orgies in the company of similar moral cripples. On the other hand stands the degraded, lying and venal Cynede, whose soul is fun- damentally depraved, and is physically and morally ill. And between these two distinctly developed types is a whole series of perverters

and perverted, a complete system of gradual allurement to vice, shamelessness and ve- nality.

Besides boarding-schools above alluded to, sailing-vessels on long voyages, prisons, barracks with schools for soldiers 5 boys, etc., also furnish favourable conditions for the spread and development of acquired pede- rasty. But as we have already seen the combining of several conditions is requisite in order that pederasty, after it has found a resting-place, should be further developed with all its consequences. Otherwise it soon disappears as an isolated, accidental phe- nomenon.

The causes of the birth of acquired pederasty are not exhausted in the details given above, and in many cases it may develop itself under the influence of example and of pressure exercised by the surroundings, or else independ- ently, as the outcome of the moral depravity of single individuals.

The intensity of the sexual impulse varies considerably according to the health of the subject. From the moment of puberty and all through life the need of sexual satisfaction, as well with regard to its force, duration and frequency, as also in the manner of its produc-

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tion, is in the highest degree changeable, resulting from a number of causes, which this is not the place to discuss. It is, however, important, to note that not only different persons, though quite normally constituted, but also that different races may have a sexual impulse of greatly varied intensity.

In persons of a sensual temperament the genesic function is to them, during a certain period of their life, the main-spring of their existence. They sacrifice everything to satisfy their sexual impulse, which extinguishes all other desires. Such subjects generally spare themselves no pains, are extremely enterprising and not overscrupulous about the means they may employ to attain their object, in which effort they sometimes succeed in spite of every obstacle. When through some cause or another they are deprived of the possibility of obtaining normal satisfaction, then under the intensity of their lust they have recourse to masturbation or much more rarely they become active pederasts. They choose the most girlish looking Cynede they can, the act is strictly limited to sodomy, and at the first opportunity pederasty is replaced by connection with women. These are so to say occasional pederasts.

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But when such an individual, who has passed the greater part of his live having continual sexual intercourse with women and has never felt any interest in aught else than the sexual function, after long continued excesses, too often repeated sexual intercourse or other causes, notices that his sexual power is beginning to diminish, although the desire still persists with all its earlier force, he then has recourse to various stimulating mediums. After he has tried everything else, has heated his imagination and thereby still more excited his sensuality, whilst the genesic power continues to diminish day by day, he will sometimes resort to passive pederasty, as to an excitant to favour erection and thereby facilitate sexual satisfaction. In such cases pederasty is not the object, but merely one of the many means of excitation, which are often combined in a particular, systematically arranged method, which for a man who has been accustomed to make sexual intercourse the business of his life, and feels himself becoming more impotent every day, is now grown an absolute necessity

Debauchery may also exist even with or- dinary, relatively feeble intensity of sexual impulse. The development of strength of

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character, the power to master one's passions and to stem them, is here of great impor- tance.

With sensitive natures the desires as a rule quickly acquire great intensity, in that they determine certain actions or excite new desires, otherwise they give way to the dictates of good sense, of morality, habit and feeling of duty.

But when the resisting powers have not been sufficiently developed by education, the sensitiveness, inasmuch as it favours rapidly rising desires, claims for them immediate satis- faction, which in the sexual sphere finds ex- pression in incontinence. Therefore a subject, who from the sexual point of view is feeble, may be intemperate. The slightest sexual desire awakens in him an irresistible and im- perious impulse to seek to satisfy it, and this produces in a feeble subject inclined to genital weakness exhaustion, diminished excitation and imperfect erection. A peculiar intermixt- ure is developed of impaired virility and sexual intemperance, of physical decrepitude and depravity.

The slightest excitement makes such an individual give way to his sexual lust which, in consequence of his increased sensitiveness and irritable weakness of the nervous system,

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grows rapidly, and is so overrated by himself, that the possibility of satisfying it turns out to be far Jess than he had anticipated.

Bodily fatigue and satiety come sooner than moral satisfaction. The harmony and com- pleteness of the climax of excitation which characterize the normal sexual act are wanting. Perfect satisfaction becomes a matter of chance, and the subject, who is gradually losing his sexual power, while endeavouring to rouse the excitation, seeks to discover new means or obtains them from morbidly affected subjects who are afflicted with perverted sexual instinct. In this case imitation becomes one of the most powerful agents for propagating depravity.

As a model to imitate, there is some prominent personage, a privileged class of society, and lastly the general tendency, the fashion of the day.

The weaker the development of the faculty to receive impressions, to assimilate them and transform them into new mental products, to reproduce them by the force of imagination and in general to exhibit, in its broadest sense, the creative power, the stronger is the tendency to imitation. And just as in ques- tions of fashion in general an inclination to imitate points to a want of independence and

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to an insufficient stability of ideas, the imita- tive impulse gives rise in the sphere of sexual activity to a series of senseless acts provoked by excitations having no connection whatever with the sexual act.

The desire to ape a certain person, at all events to equal him in depravity, or if possible to surpass him, the longing to create a sensation or to astound by some extraor- dinary action, causes many petty, vain and weak-minded characters, to accustom them- selves to abnormal varieties of sexual action, without the same being in any way called for by a personal want on their part. The proof of this is to be seen in the rapid propa- gation of various aberrations of the sexual instinct, which independently, as morbid symp- toms, are very seldom met with.

There are, for instance, examples of patients afflicted with senile dementia to whom, as we shall presently see, the sight of a woman in the act of defecation caused erection. A few years ago in Paris a number of men of high standing happened to be afflicted with this morbid abnormality. At present, according to L. Taxil, l "les stercoraires" 2 as they

1 L. Taxil., Inc. eit., p. 166.

a Stercoraceous, i.e. delighting in excrement.

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are named are no longer exceptional phenom- ena. In houses of prostitution there are special arrangements made for this purpose, and healthy young men, from a spirit of imitation, repeat the morbid actions of imbecile subjects, who had once been famed for the dissolute life they led.

It is to be remarked that under such circumstances the spread of pederasty and of flagellation as stimulants is principally favoured by the reading of certain works, written by persons affected with congenital perversion of the sexual instinct. Such was the case of the well-known Marquis de Sade, the author of " La nouvelle Justine on les malheurs de la vertu, " a congenital pederast, who was several times condemned to prison and even sentenced to death for crimes against decency and for murder. At the end of his life he fell into senile dementia, and died in 1814 in the Lunatic Asylum at Charenton, where he had been incarcerated for cruel tortures inflicted on a woman. While this psychopathic author puts into the mouth of his hero the description of his own morbidly distorted feelings, he pens a warm apology for sodomy. In the images and descriptions, which are striking by their

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cynicism and the obvious sexual perversion they disclose, the enfeebled debauchee seeks to discover a yet untried stimulant, and he follows the counsels of a monomaniac.

The same with regard to flagellation. Le Riche de la Popeliniere 1 describes in the form of unconnected dialogues and tales, rather poor in matter and literary talent, the manifestations of his own personal sexual impulse and its congenital perversion, attribut- ing to flagellation such a stimulating power as could only be evolved in the morbid phantasies of a madman, to which, however, the debauchee who is losing his manhood hastens to have recourse.

Pederasty also belongs to the acquired form of sexual perversion, and it prevails so to say in the endemic states among many nations in the East.

The fact is, however, that pederasty is far from being in the East so common and ha- bitual as it is often said to be. It is there condemned by religion and to a certain extent prosecuted by the laws; but it finds notwith- standing more favourable conditions for pro- pagation in the East than in Europe.

' Tableaux des moeurs du temps dans les differents ages de la vie. Avec note de Charles Monselet, Paris, 1867.

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The absolute exclusion of women from social life, their sequestration and the impos- sibility for them of having any sexual inter- course whatever except in marriage, and even then often only with the permission of their parents and after the payment by the would-be husband of a sufficient sum for the possession of his bride, puts the Mussulman youths in the position of pupils of a boarding-school.

What tends yet further to develop the senile form of pederasty is early sexual en- joyment, excessive sexual intercourse in rich families, leading to satiety of the senses. Again the great disparity of age between an old man and a young woman serving him as slave is a powerful agent for producing degen- eracy in the descendants, and by that means to sexual perversion.

The numerous passive pederasts, who are mostly to be met with in wealthy families, where this vice has found a traditional resting- place, do not serve exclusively for the satis- faction of perverted sexual instinct. Some- times the wealth and consideration of a Mussulman is measured by the number of richly and peculiarly dressed boys that he has in his service. One may often see a retinue of boys, who out of vanity are kept

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by persons absolutely abhorrent of pederasty. Thus in the east pederasty is more openly shown, is less dissimulated, even openly vaunted, and often rich and depraved men are known to boast of possessing a beautiful boy, as with us men boast of having an expensive mistress. Putting that out of the question, the psychical interests of life in the East are more limited, and they are often more concentrated on the sexual sense, where- by depravity in its lowest form. is occasioned, and may then, as we have seen, lead to acquired pederasty.

It would certainly be an error, to admit, that in the East or anywhere else a phenom- enon so contrary to nature and so morbid as this abnormal mode of satisfying of the sexual instinct, which is opposed to nature and to the propagation of the species, should be recognized as normal, regular and legal.

Pederasty, like any other hideous deform- ity, always and everywhere rouses abhor- rence in the mind of a normally developed man, and in that of woman loathing and contempt.

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II. Sexual Perversion in the Dementia of Dotage (Senile Pederasty).

Sexual activity often presents many morbid aberrations during the progressive development of so-called Senile Dementia.

This denomination does not exactly corre- spond with the morbid state under considera- tion, because the phenomena mentioned are not observed exclusively in individuals of advanced age, and are far from being always accompanied by a falling off of the intelli- gence.

Completely developed morbid forms are mostly observed after the age of sixty, but preliminary symptoms of the same may mani- fest themselves at a much earlier date.

The more the individual has wasted his energy and force, either in the unequal struggle for life, or in giving way early to unbridled passions, or in the effort of sur- mounting serious maladies, the sooner the morbid condition appears and the more rapid will be its evolution. A peacefully conducted life, on the contrary, will exhibit in old age no morbid manifestations. Accordingly senile dementia may not unfrequently be met with in middle-aged subjects, and on the other

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hand men of advanced age may be found with juvenile freshness of feeling and of understanding.

The malady consists principally in a falling off in the alimentary supply to the brain, with further atrophy of the nervous elements, together with disease of the walls of the cerebral blood-vessels and consequent narrow- ing of their " lumen", or opening, local obstruction, dilatation and rupture of these same vessels, and so on. Whilst the above modifications interfere with the regular cir- culation of the blood in the brain, they also give rise to a series of consecutive morbid appearances which, besides the thickening or thinning of the cranial bones, lead to local softening of the brain, degradation and morbid weakening of the intellectual powers.

As the morbid condition in question con- stitutes a part only of the general lowering of the entire organism, and coincides with an abatement of the functions in the entire vegetative sphere, it finally finds expression in senile decrepitude.

This gradual decay of the organism in all the organs and systems of the body does not take place equally and may manifest itself in extremely various ways. In some

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cases physical weakness is the foremost symptom, with perfectly intact possession of the intellectual faculties; in others, on the contrary, there are first of all organic changes in the brain, which show themselves in changes of character and of intelligence, whereas the physical powers remain unimpaired.

In cases of the latter kind the prominent feature is often a deviation of the sexual sense, which may show itself in manifold ways. The earliest symptom, and one com- mon to all cases, is an increasing cynicism of language, particularly when conversing with young people and even with mere boys.

Such morbidly affected subjects specially like to demoralize the latter and to deprave them, by means of alluring prints, obscene books and tales, so as to bring them in this manner first to masturbation and afterwards little by little to passive pederasty.

In other cases the sexual perversion, under the influence of hemorrhoidal accidents or of prurigo so often accompanying old age, takes another direction, and the patient himself becomes a passive pederast, while he allows his victim to take the active part.

Very often the affected subject is at one time a passive and at another an active

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pederast, or else he endeavours to commit the sodomitic act on little girls of four or five years old.

At first extremely cautious, distrustful and reserved, these individuals, in direct ratio with the lowering of intelligence and strength of will, and particularly of memory and under- standing, lose the power of restraining them- selves, allowing their abnormal condition to be more distinctly recognized, and commit brutal criminal assaults on youths and children, carrying their cynicism to its culminating point. But by reason of their continually increasing moral and physical decadence this cynicism takes at times a very naive form, but again at other times the filthiest and most disgusting possible.

For instance, some weak-minded old man will entice children to his lodging and there ex- pose his genital organ to them, which has long since lost all power of erection and emission.

A whole series of such cases has been described by Lasegue 1 under the title of " Exhibitionists."

In one case a man, 60 years of age, holding a high position under Government, exhibited

1 Las&gue, Les Exhibition istes, Union Medicale, 1877, 1 May.

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his private parts to a little girl, 8 years old, who lived opposite. In another, an old General, who led a very regular life, and possessed a superior, understanding and edu- cation, used at times to stop before the railings in front of a house, in which there resided some little girls, exhibit his parts before them during some minutes and then silently depart. An old writer, 65 years of age, who led a quiet and respectable life, was taken up by the police for an offence against public decency, by exposing his person to women passing in the street.

All the above-mentioned patients had, at the outset of the malady, fully retained their intelligence, but later observations showed evidence of numerous pathological deviations in the sphere of the central nervous system, and towards the end of their life unmistak- able symptoms of senile dementia were sure to become apparent. In other cases the satis- fying of the sexual desire is accompanied by the most improbable, disgusting actions; for instance, the subject makes a woman defecate into his mouth, or himself defecates onto the naked body of a woman.

I knew such a patient who used to make a woman dressed in a very low cut ball-

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dress lie down on a low sofa in a brilliantly lighted drawing-room; whilst he himself, ensconced behind the door of a neighbouring- darkened room, contemplated her for some time and then, being in erection, would rush in and evacuate his faeces upon her bosom, during which he experienced a sort of seminal emission. This case might be reckoned as belonging to the periodical form of perversion of the sexual instinct, had there not been concurrently a markedly increasing tendency on the part of the patient towards passive pederasty and other manifestations connected with the intellectual faculty, clearly pointing to incipient senile dementia. Still more astounding and disgusting are the morbid aberrations of those whom the French call " les renifleurs" (sniffers) and to describe whom Tardieu has borrowed the Latin tongue: " Foedissimum tandem et singulare genus libidinosorum vivido colore exprimit appellatio ' renifleurs,' qui in secretos locos nimirum circa theatrorum posticos convenientes quo complures feminae ad micturiendum festiiiant, per nares urinali odore excitati, illico se invicem polluunt." 1 (A peculiarly disgusting and

1 Tardieu, Etude me'dico-le'gale sur les attentats aivx inceurs, p. 206.

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very curious type of voluptuaries is graphically expressed by the title "renifleurs", men who gather in secret places, such for instance as the back-doors of theatres, where numbers of women come hurriedly to make water, and experience ' in sniffing the smell of their urine an excitement they proceed to satisfy by mas- turbating themselves there and then).

Under this head must also be included the cases of accomplishment of the sexual act with birds (Geese, Hens) in which the morbid state of excitement attains its climax at the sight of the dying animal, and its dying convulsions procure an extreme sensual satisfaction to the patient in the moment of coition.

Restless, irritable, sleepless, the patient's intellect sinks lower every day and he falls into second childhood. Mirth without cause and laughter alternate with tears and ill- humour; the sexual sense sometimes manifests itself in the most cruel manner. The old man thus affected will fondle a child and then suddenly chastise it without cause, and often most brutally; often his morbid lust finds excitement in the flogging of boys and girls with rods, which lead to attempts at criminal assault by seizing hold of the genital

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parts of the victim with his hands or in other acts of violence.

In the further progress of the malady a deep psychical perturbation shows itself, with incoherent delirium, insane notions that death is already near at hand, and dread of per- secution alternating with mad excitement and megalomania. The patients often have gid- diness, fainting-fits and sometimes cramps. Paralysis comes next, with complete intel- lectual clulness, helplessness and apathy, and the patient lets himself die of hunger, if those about him do not take sufficient care, or there supervenes senile pneumonia, disease of the bladder, etc., till eventually he becomes bed-ridden.

The disease usually takes the chronic form and pursues its course during several years. Exceptionally there are cases in which its course is more rapid, and it may terminate in a year or in a few months. The more favourable the conditions of the patient, the slower will be the progress of the disorder and the more likely are the initial symptoms to remain limited for some considerable time to isolated psychical symptoms, such for instance as despicable avarice, extreme distrust, ungrounded fear of being robbed. When at

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the outset the initial symptoms are of the sexual order, these subjects may become a source of considerable danger to public morals.

While they appear to enjoy good bodily health, are intellectually highly gifted, possess experience, knowledge and means, they satisfy their morbid instincts with the utmost caution and patience and proceed methodically in the work of depraving youths and children.

In view of what has preceded, one cannot chime in with metaphysical reflexions of the ingenious philosopher who could see in pe- derasty, particularly in the senile form, a fresh proof of the beautiful adaptability of nature. Schopenhauer, *. it is known, was struck, previous to other observers, with the frequency of sexual perversion in old men. The extensive prevalence of pederasty in all ages and among all peoples, the impossibility of uprooting it, prove it in the opinion of this Philosopher, to be inborn nature of man, on the ground that only on such a supposition are its constant occurrence and fatal inevit- ableness comprehensible.

He explains the conformity of this phenom-

1 Schopenhauer, Die Welt als Willc und Vorstelhing (The Universe as Will and Idea), Leipzig, 1859, Bd. II, S. 641.

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enon to a law by an effort of nature to avoid the propagation of the species by old men, who, as Aristotle already asserted, after their 54th year, invariably engender only weakly, rachitic offspring, causing thereby a deterioration of the race. The principal object of nature is the propagation of the species, to her the individual is only a means.

Nature manifests her laws in this respect, in that she gives to those whose power of engendering strong and healthy children is declining a taste for pederasty.

According to Schopenhauer the harm done by pederasty is but slight compared with the evil which it aids to prevent.

But actual facts contradict the paradoxical assertion of the celebrated philosopher. Pe- derasty, and particularly senile pederasty, causes the greatest injury to society, especially to children and youths.

Sometimes such a morbidly affected subject is for many years the pivot of a whole circle of pederasts, the head of a large company of psychopathic and dissolute men, disseminates the most unbridled licentiousness, celebrates pederastic orgies, establishes meetings for mu- tual flagellation, sodomy, etc., until the pro-

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gressively increasing malady brings him to the grave, or senseless acts done openly render his insanity evident.

A well-defined example of senile pederasty, with slow, gradual and progressive develop- ment of senile dementia is on$ recorded in our forensic practice, the prosecution of Mr. J. . . .

A gentleman, 65 years of age, once occu- pying a very superior station and highly educated, advertised in the papers for youths to do writing- work for him, and when they came he used to enter into cynical conver- sations with them, counsel them to lend them- selves to the most immodest actions, inciting them finally to pederasty. 1

One of the most horrible types of senile sexual perversion, combined with the vilest cruelty, is that of the celebrated Marshal Gilles de Hayes.

A Marshal of France, Gilles de Laval Sieur de Rayes, 2 was condemned at Nantes in 1440, in the reign of Charles VII of France, for outrage and murder committed on more than 800 children during the course of

1 Mierzejewski, Forensische Gynakologie, S. 241.

2 S. Jacob, Curiosites de 1'histoire de France. Causes celebres, Paris, 1859.

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eight years, to be burned alive at the stake, which sentence was carried out.

In his castles in Brittany, where he led a solitary life far from Court, he committed the most unheard-of cruelties on young chil- dren of both sexes. When he was brought to prison, he used every means in his power for his defence, agreeing beforehand with his accomplices, as to what they must say before the Judges and what they must avoid saying. Finally, in face of the overwhelming evidence against him, and of the comprehensive avowals of his criminal aids, Henriet and Pontou, he admitted his guilt and submitted a confession, the details of which are appalling. He de- clared that the reading of Suetonius and the description of the orgies of Tiberius, Cara- calla and other Roman emperors had first inspired him with the idea of tasting some- thing similar himself.

Thenceforth he began with the help of Henriet and Pontou to entice little children to his castle, where he outraged them, sub- mitting them at the same time to all sorts of torture, and then put them to death. The bodies were burned and a few pretty children's heads were alone preserved as mementos.

"I enjoyed/' said the Marshal, "while

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committing these act?, an inexplicable ecstasy, of course suggested by the devil, and I pray therefore that the possibility be granted me to do penance for my sins in a Cloister/ He wrote to Charles VII to implore his clemency and acknowledged freely that he had left Court on account of the rising within him of an irresistible impulse to violate chil- dren, and particularly the youthful heir to the crown.

III. Genesic Perversion in Paralytic Dementia (Pederasty in the Progressive Paralysis of the Insane).

Sexual Perversion will sometimes show itself in progressive Paralysis of the Insane, and is then an early symptom of serious cerebral disease. This affection is known to the public under the general appellation of " softening of the brain" (Pederastie des ramollis).

The gradually increasing frequency of pro- gressive paralysis, which is evidently con- nected with present social conditions, places this malady in the front rank of all the organic disorders of the brain, that are complicated with mental aberrations, and at once shows the ne- cessity of taking closely into account the symp-

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tomatology of this morbid process, which is far from being always the same as well from the anatomical as from the clinical point of view.

Without going more closely into the varie- ties of the clinical phenomenon, everywhere known under the generic name of * paralytic idiocy", I must remark, that in the premonitory stage contrary to the prevalent idea as to the total course of the disease not extending beyond two or three years at longest it often drags on during a number of years before the appearance of disturbance of the motor or psychical systems.

In this prodromic period, when the changes consist principally in disorders of the vaso- motor system, there is a gradual and imper- ceptible change in the character, habits, inclinations and efforts of the patient, who is still considered everywhere and by every- one to be sane.

Heightened self-esteem, a somewhat greater energy, are not unfrequently in the earliest moments of the premonitory period combined with a change and a perversion of the sexual instinct. 1

A model of a family man, hitherto temperate in sexual matters, begins to visit prostitutes,

1 Tarnowsky, Geschlechtssinn.

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candidly admitting to his physician that one woman could not suffice him. For the same reason the patient has recourse to pederasty. As he himself says the usual act of copulation does not satisfy him, he resorts to sodomy and afterwards to pederasty. He feels no remorse; he is neither conscious of the enorm- ity of his acts, nor penitent for what he has done. He usually visits the medical man on account of some venereal disease he has contracted, and without the least hesitation communicates to him his sexual debauches and aberrations. The ease with which the patient admits the vicious satisfaction of his passion, the naivete of the relation itself, a certain absence of shame, indifference and neglect of the universally adopted forms of description of such matters all this must naturally appear strange to the attentive observer.

A closer examination generally reveals the exhibition of other signs, which, if not dis- tinctly marked, point nevertheless to the initial period of progressive paralysis.

A certain absence of mind, forgetfulness and want of memory is noticeable in the patient. He is insensible to fatigue; on the contrary, according to what he himself asserts,

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lie is always fresh, alert and in good spirits; whereas in reality he is incapable of writing a few business letters one after the other; he makes mistakes in the simplest reckonings, and easily forgets proper names. He finds it difficult to settle his mind on one subject, the intelligence in general, and the memory in particular, seem to be im- paired. The patient occasionally has a ten- dency of blood to the head, with a dull feeling of oppression, sometimes with nausea and giddiness, consequent upon increasing paresis of the vasomotor nerves and he often explains all these phenomena as caused by insufficient sexual gratification, and aban- dons himself more than ever to all sorts of licentiousness, among others to sodomy and to pederasty.

The want of precautionary measures, which are always taken by habitual pederasts, a certain brazenness with which the affected subject will address to prostitutes or to venal Cynedes proposals of sexual connection of the most unnatural nature, as well as the absence of perseverance in the execution of his intentions, and the want of impulsive- ness, which are to be observed during the periodical attacks of sexual perversion all

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these signs distinguish the present form of pederasty from the other varieties of the same.

The subject importunes a woman or a youth with his filthy proposals, but if they are repelled he does not persist in his demands with the boldness and want of sense of an impulsive psychopath, but instead he makes similar proposals to some other persons. The longer the malady lasts, the more thoughtless and light-headed does the patient become.

He sometimes addresses himself to most unlikely persons, allowing himself to make use of indecent words and gestures, becomes extremely cynical, although he knows how to restrain himself on the slightest observation being made to him. In this condition he often becomes the hero of various scandalous affairs, or gives occasion to judicial prose- cution for offending public decency. The malady sometimes remains very long, for months or years, in this premonitory stage, alternately augmenting or decreasing, until it attains its full development and manifests itself in the unmistakeable disorders of the psychical and motor systems, which characterize paralysis of the insane.

Ambitious monomania, irritability or maniacal excitement, difficulty of speech, tremor of the tongue, uncertain gait and other symptoms show themselves, which point undoubtedly to a deep-rooted disease of the brain.

The perturbations of the sexual instinct now fall into the background, and the patient comes under the .treatment of the alienists.

At the same time it is of great importance, to recognize the malady in its very earliest stage, when it is not yet distinctly marked.

In an interesting study of the functional disturbances in the early stage of progressive paralysis Dr. Negris^[1] communicates the following observation:

A gentleman, 52 years of age, who was occupied with mental labours, and led a strictly moral life, was arrested on the charge of having endeavoured to commit a criminal assault upon two little girls. Further obser- vation showed that distinct symptoms of progressive paralysis were to be recognized in him, which had not previously been re- marked.

I remember a hard-working young savant, who in everything was temperate as an ascetic; with him the preliminary period of the disease lasted at least two years, during which it manifested itself, first in increased, and later in perverted sexual instinct. Whilst he was gradually losing his self-command and his intellect sinking lower and lower, he continued his pederastic intercourse with venal Cynedes, having already a chancre on his penis, and thereby infected several of them, which left him quite indifferent.

A certain blunting of the feeling of shame, of pity, a progressively increasing apathy and loss of modesty are the characteristic features of the premonitory period.

A good-natured, charitable man, who took to heart the misfortunes of his neighbour, and used to preach the gospel of self-denial and hard work, by dint of his benevolent activity and genial character, attracts the affections of a young girl, who falls passion- ately in love with him. They soon became more intimate and finally were betrothed. This lasted for more than a year, without any proper limits having been passed. There was a sudden break in their intercourse. The unhappy abandoned maiden suffered terribly, without exciting his compassion, and finally committed suicide with the aid of poison. His complete indifference to the tragical end of this girl who should have been so dear to him was the first distinct symptom of the commencement of a morbid process. One year later exacerbation of the genesic sense manifested itself, partly in sexual perversion (Sodomy), and three years afterwards the unfortunate subject ended his life in a Lunatic Asylum, presenting all the symptoms of regular progressive paralysis.

In order to complete my description, I will here add a few words concerning the morbid symptoms, which go by the name of Priapism and which, according to certain observers, should be counted among the causes which produce exaggerated or perverted sexual action.

Increased erethism, morbid sexual desire, with continual erection and emission of semen, lowered conscience and an inclination to impulsive actions, constitute, as above said, a frequent symptom of maniacal conditions of varied intensity and form.

The same may be said of Priapism or continual involuntary erection with diminished sexual desire, without voluptuous feeling, with unfrequent or long delayed emissions of semen, in many various morbid shapes.

Priapism in a particularly acute form may also be induced by intoxication with cantharides, as we have already observed.

Another similar condition appears in a relatively transitory form in certain affections of the uro-genital system (urethritis, spon- gitis, cavernitis, etc.). Lastly it may be one of the most unpleasant symptoms of spinal disease and of irritation of the genito-spinal centre.

For instance, in 1882, I had occasion to observe in the course of my clinical practice in the Academy of St. Petersburg a case of Priapism, of the above origin, in a soldier. The malady lasted two years and prevented the patient from doing active duty. The complete erection which was the chronic condition of the member did not diminish after repeated coition, to which the patient had at first resorted in order to be quit of his painful condition.

Later on the act of copulation and especially that of emission was accompanied by violent pain. Sexual and voluptuous desire had entirely disappeared, the thought even of copulation caused an unpleasant sensation to the patient.

In a less marked degree I have had oc- casion to observe Priapism, of central origin, in certain cases of the premonitory stage of tabes dorsalis (locomotor ataxy).

Priapism usually manifests itself with diminished sexual desire, involuntary long continued erection, with emission of semen, which even in copulation is very long in coming, whereby this act is extraordinarily prolonged; and even after it is ended, in the period of absolute sexual apathy, the erection still persists for some time.

The loss of voluptuous sensation, which is a characteristic of Priapism, renders it impossible to recognize in this morbid state the symptom of any deviation or perversion of the sexual instinct.

But in this there are exceptions.

As a symptom of incipient tabes Priapism may attack a man who, from the sexual point of view, has led a, licentious life, considering that men given to sexual excess form an important contingent of the victims of tabes dorsalis.

The patients then ascribe the diminution of voluptuous sensation and the retardation of emission to the want of exterior excitation, to the numbing of their senses towards the accustomed charm, and they then have recourse to various new devices, hitherto unknown to them, to obtain a better erection and satisfaction of their sexual desires.

With the most unbridled orgies, Athenian nights, pederasty, sodomy, the sticking of silver needles into the erected member or into the skin of the scrotum, when erection lasts unusually long, do such affected subjects come to the end of their sexual vigour, whilst with the further progress of the malady they fall into complete impotence, combined with motor disturbances of the lower extremities and other symptoms of a rapidly progressing tabes dorsalis.

Original footnotes

1. Ncgris, De la Dynamic ou exaltation fonctionnellc au debut de la paralysie generate, 1878.