Part 29

“The lesser mortality of married men from the age of twenty upwards is to be explained by the selection of the fit which occurs in marriage, by the smaller proportion of marriages among men engaged in hazardous occupations, and by the deterioration in the quality of the unmarried which results from emigration. Still the directly favorable influence of marriage is undeniable, and, no doubt, the ethical factors of this institution have a beneficial effect, whereas the gratification of the sexual impulse hardly enters into the account.

“Suicide is certainly very little dependent upon repression of the sexual impulse, since all the motives arising out of the affairs of love play together but a small part among the causes of suicide.

“The beneficial influence of marriage in the prevention of insanity is in part apparent merely, since, in the selection exercised by marriage, those predisposed to mental disorder, and those in whom such disorder has already manifested itself, are, for the most part, already excluded. Still, as regards the male sex at any rate, the beneficial influence of marriage is undeniable, and consists principally in the favorable ethical factors of this state. In women, on the other hand, the advantage of marriage is doubtful, since the nerve centres and the nervous system as a whole are strongly affected by the processes of reproduction.

“Satyriasis, nymphomania, and hysteria are in no way dependent upon the repression of the sexual impulse.

“Criminality in the married is comparatively less common than in the unmarried. In criminal assaults on young persons, repressed sexual impulse plays a part.

“Chlorosis is not in any way dependent on repression of the sexual impulse. A disease apparently analogous to chlorosis, occurring in unmarried women from twenty to thirty years of age, is dependent rather on mental causes, and is relieved by other means than marriage, especially by suitable occupation. Marriage and gestation are distinctly injurious in cases of true chlorosis.

“The satisfaction of the sexual impulse, and still more gestation, favor in women the origin and growth of tumors, give rise often to mechanical disturbances, and open the way for the invasion of toxic pathogenic germs.

“Osteomalacia occurs only in parous women.”

Moll divides the sexual impulse into two components: The impulse toward intimate contact (in a sense both physical and mental) with a person of the opposite sex, which he calls the contrectation-impulse (Kontrektationstrieb); and the impulse to bring about a change in the genital organs, which he calls the detumescence-impulse (Detumeszenztrieb). The former impulse induces intimate physical and mental contact between the two persons concerned, the latter impulse induces the local processes of copulation. In women, detumescence results from the passing off of local swelling and the release of nervous tension in the genital organs, with the discharge of indifferent glandular secretions, notably the secretion of Bartholin’s glands, and perhaps also the secretion of the uterine glands. The intensity of the detumescence-impulse in women varies greatly in different individuals, these variations being more extensive than those occurring in the male. In some women the impulse toward intimate contact, the contrectation-impulse, is normal, though the detumescence-impulse is wholly wanting (vide Dyspareunia).

Runge defines the sexual impulse as the impulse which brings the sexes together. This impulse is subservient to an instinct, namely the instinct of reproduction; that is to say, the sexual impulse induces the individual to perform actions which subserve the purpose of reproduction without the agent’s being directly or chiefly concerned with this purpose.

The sexual impulse, as sensation, perception, and impulse, is, according to von Krafft-Ebing, a function of the cerebral cortex; a centre for the sexual sense has not as yet, however, been localized. The close relations which obtain between the sexual life and the sense of smell lead to the supposition that the sexual and the olfactory spheres of the cerebral cortex are in close proximity one with the other. The development of the sexual life has its beginnings in the organic sensations of the developing reproductive glands. A mutual dependence now arises between the cerebral cortex as place of origin of sensations and perceptions, and the organs of generation. By anatomico-physiological processes these now give rise to sexual perceptions, representations, and impulses. The cerebral cortex, by apperceived or reproduced sensuous perceptions, influences the organs of generation. This influence is effected by the intermediation of the centres of vascular innervation and ejaculation, which are situated in the lumbar enlargement of the spinal cord, and are certainly in close proximity one with the other. Both are reflex centres.

The psycho-physiological process embraced in the conception of the sexual impulse is according to von Krafft-Ebing constituted in the following manner:

I. Of the central or peripherally aroused perceptions.

II. Of the pleasurable sensations associated with these.

Hence arises the impulse to sexual satisfaction (libido sexualis). This impulse becomes stronger in proportion as cerebral excitement, consequent on appropriate perceptions and the working of the imagination, strengthens the intensity of these pleasurable sensations. If the conditions are favorable to the performance of the sexual act by means of which satisfaction is attained, the continually increasing impulse finds expression in action; in other circumstances, inhibitory perceptions intervene, sexual excitement diminishes, the activity of the centre for erection is inhibited, and the sexual act itself is prevented. In the case of civilized humanity the ready action of such perceptions for the inhibition of the sexual impulse is necessary and decisive. On the strength of the impulsive perceptions the constitution and various organic processes have an important influence; on the strength of the inhibitory perceptions, education and the cultivation of self-control are powerfully operative.

In addition to mental influences, all forms of local irritation of the sensory nerves of the female genital organs and adjacent parts, by internal processes or external friction, serve to increase the strength of the sexual impulse. Among internal processes which stimulate the erectile centre by centripetal impulses must be included, the stimulus of the enlarged graafian follicle, stasis in various vascular areas of the genital organs in consequence of a sedentary mode of life, abdominal plethora from excessive consumption of food and stimulating drinks, and habitual constipation. External friction may be in the form of intentional manipulation, but it may be due to certain bodily attitudes or to the arrangement of the clothing.

In normally constituted individuals, the sexual impulse is by no means constant in its intensity. Apart from the temporary indifference resulting from sexual gratification, and apart from the decline in the impulse that occurs after prolonged continence, ensuing after a certain reactionary intensity of desire has been happily overcome, the mode of life has a very great influence. The town-dweller, who is continually reminded of sexual matters, and continually solicited to sexual intercourse, is in any case more subject than the countryman to sexual excitement. A sedentary and sheltered mode of life, a chiefly animal diet, the free use of alcohol and of spices, and the like, have a stimulating action on the sexual life. In the female, the sexual impulse is stronger just after menstruation. In neuropathic women this increase of excitement may occur to a pathological degree. Not infrequently also in the climacteric period, women are subject to sexual excitement due to pruritus, especially in those neuropathically predisposed. Magnan reports the case of a lady who was subject to matutinal accesses of intense erethismus genitalis. The same author writes of a young lady who since puberty had been subject to continually increasing sexual impulse, which she gratified by masturbation. Gradually it came to pass that the sight of a good-looking man produced violent sexual excitement, and on these occasions, since she felt herself unable to answer for her own conduct, she used to lock herself up in her bedroom till the storm had passed away. Ultimately she surrendered herself to any available man in order to obtain rest from her torturing desires, but neither intercourse nor onanism gave her relief, so that she was finally sent to an asylum.

As regards pathological increase of the sexual impulse, hyperæsthesia sexualis, the constitution of the individual is, according to von Krafft-Ebing (Psychopathia Sexualis), of great importance. He writes: “With a neuropathic constitution, a pathological increase of sexual desire is often associated, and such individuals bear for the greater part of their life the heavy burden of this constitutionally anomalous sexual impulse. The intensity of the sexual impulse may be such as to amount to an organic compulsion, and the freedom of the will may thus be seriously imperilled. Non-satisfaction of this desire may induce a true sexual heat (like that of lower animals), or a mental state characterized by sensations of anxiety, in which the individual yields to the impulse, and his responsibility for his action is most questionable. Should the person so affected not give way to his desire, he runs the danger, by this enforced abstinence, of injuring his nervous system by the induction of neurasthenia, or of seriously aggravating neurasthenia that already exists.

“Excessive sexual desire may arise either from peripheral or from central causes. The former variety is less common. Such cases as do occur, may arise from pruritus of the genitals, from eczema, or from substances which by their remote local action stimulate sexual desire, such for instance as cantharides.

“Sexual excitement of central origin is common in those suffering from congenital neuropathic predisposition, in hysterical subjects, and in states of mental exaltation. In such cases, when the cerebral cortex, including the psychosexual centre, is in a state of hyperæsthesia (abnormal excitability of the imagination, facilitated association of ideas), not only optical and tactile sensations, but also auditory and olfactory impressions, will arouse lascivious perceptions.

“Sexual hyperæsthesia may be continuous, with exacerbations, or intermittent, and even periodic. In the last case, according to von Krafft-Ebing, it is either an independent cerebral neurosis, or else a partial manifestation of a general condition of mental excitement (mania, dementia paralytica, dementia senilis, etc.).”

Erotogenic zones, the stimulation of which leads to an increase in the intensity of the sexual impulse and of sexual sensibility, are in woman first of all and principally the clitoris, which indeed is said to be the only zone of this nature in the virgin state (an opinion held by von Krafft-Ebing and others, but certainly most improbable); next to this comes the whole of the external genitals, and especially the parts covered with hair; also the vagina by friction and inter coitum; finally the nipple and its areola when stimulated by titillation—an increase of the excitability of this region appears to result from suckling.

According to Hensen, the direct stimulation of the sexual impulse proceeds by way of the dorsal nerve of the (penis or) clitoris; he assumes, however, that certain states of the reproductive glands are able to induce an increase in the irritability of the centres connected with the aforesaid nerves. In women it certainly appears that particular states of the ovary have a stimulating or inhibiting influence respectively on sexual excitement, so that we might ascribe to the ovaries the rôle of a regulator of the sexual impulse. The processes that occur in the ovary at the time of the ripening and rupture of the graafian follicle, and the resulting tension of the follicular wall, induce by stimulation of the ovarian nerves an increased sensibility of the central zones, and produce in a menstruating female a condition of increased sexual excitability, so that slight stimuli will give rise to a powerful orgasm more readily than would otherwise be the case, when the reflex irritability of the centre is less pronounced and the sexual impulse is consequently less intense. Still more than during these ordinary menstrual processes may this stimulation be effective at the time of the menarche, when the changes in the ovary occur for the first time and with the greatest intensity, so that at this time the individual may be especially susceptible to sexual stimulation.

At such times of sexual excitement, very slight external peripheral stimuli, in the form either of tactile stimulation of the sensory nerves of the skin and the external genital organs, or of stimulation of the imaginative and perceptive faculties of the brain, suffice to induce a powerful increase of the sexual impulse; whereas at other times, at which no particular sexual excitement exists, much stronger stimuli are needed to produce such an effect. Thus the sexual impulse in women is more readily and more powerfully increased in proportion as the central organ is in a condition of temporarily enhanced excitability in consequence of the condition of the ovaries.

The gratification of this impulse, the act of copulation, produces the specific sensation of sexual pleasure; in the female this is effected chiefly by friction of the glans clitoridis, the organ when erect projecting downwards at a right angle, and pressing upon the intromitted penis—the friction of the glans produces powerful mechanical stimulation of the numerous plexuses of sensory nerve fibres, which terminate in the genital corpuscles of Krause. In woman, then, we find in the ovary the place of origin and the means of regulation of the sexual impulse, and in the clitoris we find the seat of the specific sensation of sexual pleasure.

In the poorer classes of society, an increase of the sexual impulse occurs in women chiefly in consequence of bad example and of unfavorable domestic conditions, such as lead to persons of opposite sexes sleeping in the same bed, and also in consequence of the abuse of alcohol. In the well-to-do classes, it is the perusal of modern equivocal romances, visits to theatres, balls, and evening parties, and, speaking generally, idleness combined with luxurious living, that serve to stimulate the sexual impulse in woman.

A certain dependence of the sexual impulse upon seasonal variations appears to exist also in the human species. At any rate in certain months of the year, a definite increase in the number of conceptions continues to recur, which indicates that during these months a larger number of sexually mature individuals is engaged in the discharge of sexual functions. Rosenstadt regards this as the manifestation of a “physiological custom,” immanent in the physical constitution of civilized man, and inherited by him from his animal ancestors. He explains it in the following terms: “Primitive man inherited from his mammalian forefathers the peculiarity of reproducing his kind only during a certain definite period, the period of heat or rut. After humanity had entered upon this period, copulation was effected en masse, as was easy in view of the primitive community of sexual intercourse before the origin of marriage. In the course of his progress toward civilization, however, man began to reproduce his kind indifferently throughout the entire year; but the original “physiological custom,” in accordance with which reproduction occurred at definite seasons only, did not disappear, and persists, indeed, to a certain extent even to the present day as a survival of earlier mammalian life, and manifests itself in the annual recurrence in certain months of an increase in the number of conceptions. The analogy in structure and function between the genital organs of the human species and those of other mammals (the female anthropoid apes do not merely exhibit from time to time a period of heat, but are subject to a more or less regular menstruation), which for the most part reproduce their kind only at certain definite periods, leads to the conclusion that in the human species also the sexual impulse may originally have awakened only at a particular season of the year, and that the persistence of this physiological custom in man, in spite of the fact that sexual intercourse occurs all through the year, and notwithstanding that the conditions necessary to awaken the sexual impulse are actually perennial, must be ascribed to inheritance.”

This view, which is maintained also by other gynecologists, finds support in Kulischer’s assumption, based upon ethnological investigations, according to which coupling in primitive man took place only at certain seasons, namely, at spring and at harvest-time. In support of this view, which was held also by von Hellwald, Kulischer refers to a number of actual and symbolical practices among different races, which make the assumption extremely probable.