Page:The Evolution of Modesty.djvu/19

CONTENTS. XV

Charcot's Too Absolute Conclusions — Fallacies Involved — Charcot's Attitude the Outcome of his Personal Temperament — Breuer and Freud — Their Views Supplement and Complete Charcot's — At the Same Time they Furnish a Justification for the Earlier Doctrine of Hysteria — But They Must Not be Regarded as Final — The Diffused Hysteroid Condition in Nor- mal Persons — The Physiological Basis of Hysteria — True Path- ological Hysteria is Linked on to almost Normal States, especially to Sex-hunger 209

III.

The Prevalence of Masturbation — Its Occurrence in Infancy and Childhood — Is it More Frequent in Males or Females? — After Adolescence Apparently more Frequent in Women — Reasons for the Sexual Distribution of Masturbation — The Alleged Evils of Masturbation — Historical Sketch of the Views Held on This Point — The Symptoms and Results of Masturbation — Its Alleged Influence in Causing Eye Disorders — Its Relation to Insanity and Nervous Disorders — The Evil Effects of Mastur- bation Usually Occur on the Basis of a Congenitally Morbid Nervous System — Neurasthenia Probably the Commonest Accompaniment of Excessive Masturbation — Precocious Mas- turbation Tends to Produce Aversion to Coitus — Psychic Results of Habitual Masturbation — Masturbation in Men of Genius — Masturbation as a Nervous Sedative — Typical Cases — The Greek Attitude toward Masturbation — Attitude of the Catholic Theologians — The Mohammedan Attitude — The Modern Scientific Attitude — In What Sense is Masturbation Normal ? — The Immense Part in Life Played by Transmuted Auto-erotic Phenomena 235

APPENDIX A.

The Influence of Menstruation on the Position of Women 284

APPENDIX B. Sexual Periodicity in Men 297

APPENDIX C. The Auto-erotic Factor in Religion 310

Ixdex 327

Diagrams 341