Case 139. Mr. von X., aged 25, landed proprietor. He comes of a neuropathic, passionate father. Father is said to have been normal sexually. His mother was nervous, as were her two sisters. Maternal grandmother was nervous, and his maternal grandfather was a roué, much given to venery. Patient is like his mother, and an only child. From birth he was weak, suffered much with migraine, and was nervous. He passed through several illnesses. At fifteen he began masturbation, without having been taught it.
Until his seventeenth year he says he never had feeling for men, or, in fact, any sexual inclination; but at this time desire for men arose. He fell in love with a comrade. His friend returned his love. They embraced and kissed and indulged in mutual onanism. Occasionally patient practiced coitus inter femora viri. He abhorred pederasty. Lascivious dreams were concerned only with men. In the circus and theatre males alone interested him. The inclination was for those of about twenty years. Handsome, tall forms were enticing to him. Given these conditions, he was quite indifferent to other characteristics of the men. In his sexual affairs with men his part was always that of a man.
After his eighteenth year the patient was always a source of anxiety to his highly respected parents, for he then began a love-affair with a male waiter, who fleeced him and made him an object of remark and ridicule. He was taken home. He consorted with servants and hostlers. He caused a scandal. He was sent away for travel. In London he got into a “blackmailing scrape,” but succeeded in escaping to his home.
He profited in no way by this bitter experience, and again showed disgraceful inclinations toward men. Patient was sent to me to be cured of his fatal peculiarity (December 12, 1888). Patient is a tall, stately, robust, well-nourished young man, of musculine build; large, well-formed genitals. Gait, voice, and attitude are masculine. He has no pronounced masculine passions. He smokes but little, and only cigarettes; drinks little, and is fond of confectionery. He loves music, arts, æsthetics, flowers, and moves in ladies’ society by preference. He wears a moustache, the face being otherwise cleanly shaved. His garments are in nowise remarkable. He is a soft, blasé fellow, and a do-nothing. He lies abed mornings, and can scarcely be made to rise before noon. He says he has never regarded his inclination toward his own sex as abnormal. He looks upon it as congenital; but, taught by his evil experiences, he wishes to be cured of his perversion. He has little faith in his own will. He has tried to help himself, but always begins to masturbate. This he finds injurious, inasmuch as it causes slight neurasthenic symptoms. There is no moral defect. The intelligence is a little below the average. Careful education and aristocratic manners are apparent. The exquisite neuropathic eye betrays the nervous constitution. The patient is not a complete and hopeless urning. He has hetero-