only, asked every woman on the street to marry him or allow coitus, and thus became so publicly obnoxious that it was necessary to place him in an asylum. There the sexual excitement increased to a veritable satyriasis, which lasted until he died. He masturbated continuously, even before others; took delight only in obscene ideas; thought the men about him were women, and followed them with indecent proposals (Legrand du Saulle, “La Folie,” p. 533).
Moreover, women previously moral, when affected with senile dementia, may manifest similar conditions of great sexual excitement (nymphomania, furor uterinus).
It may be seen from a reading of Schopenhauer,[1] that, as a result of senile dementia, the abnormally excited and perverse instinct may be directed exclusively to persons of the same sex (v. infra). The manner of the satisfaction is here passive pederasty, or, as I ascertained in the following case, mutual masturbation:—
Case 2. Mr. X., aged 80, of high social position, from a family having hereditary taint. He was always very sensual and a cynic, of uncontrollable temper, and, according to his own confession, as a young man, preferred masturbation to coitus. However, he never showed signs of contrary sexual instinct, and kept mistresses, raising a child by one. At the age of forty-eight he married, out of inclination, and begat six children, and never gave his wife cause for complaint. I could obtain but an incomplete history of his family. It was certain that his brother was suspected of love for men, and that a nephew became insane as a result of excessive masturbation.
The patient, always peculiar and quick-tempered, for years has been growing more extreme in character. He has become exceedingly suspicious, and slight opposition to his wishes induces attacks of anger which may become actual raving, and in which he may raise his hand against his wife. For a year there have been unmistakable signs of incipient senile dementia. The patient has become forgetful, localizes past events incorrectly, and has false ideas of time. For fourteen months it has been noticed that he manifests affection for certain male servants, especially for a gardener’s boy. Otherwise rude and overbearing to servants, he surfeits his favorite with favors and presents, and commands his family and his house officials to treat the boy with the greatest respect. The aged patient awaits the hour of rendezvous in true sexual excitement. He sends his family away, that he may be with his favorite undisturbed, and remains shut up with him for hours; and when the
↑Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung, 1859, B. ii, p. 461 et seq.
