ous acme
has occurred; and still more frequently I have been told this in respect
of somewhat older children, for example, at ages of seven or eight
years. I believe, however, that this voluptuous acme is, at any rate in
children, much less common than the equable voluptuous sensation which
can be aroused by all kinds of manipulations and stimulations of the
peripheral genital organs, and more especially of the glans, the penis,
the clitoris, and the labia minora. The older the child, the more
frequently is the voluptuous acme attained; in our own climate, during
the last years of the second period of childhood, this occurs
comparatively often; the voluptuous acme does not last so long as in
sexually mature individuals, but is in other respects described in
identical terms. It is experienced simultaneously with the occurrence of
the rhythmical muscular contractions which have previously been
described. It is possible, as I suggested before, that in such cases the
ejaculation of a certain quantity of glandular secretion always occurs,
although, as I have also explained, this secretion may sometimes be too
small in quantity to be actually expelled from the urethra by the
muscular extractions. This point is, however, still obscure. But it may
be regarded as definitely established that the equable voluptuous
sensation, and more particularly the voluptuous acme, may occur at an
age at which, at any rate, secretion does not yet exist in sufficient
quantity to be expelled from the urethra, and the existence of such
secretion is therefore not unequivocally manifested. In exceptional, and
doubtless pathological instances, and above all in cases in which, owing
to the practice of masturbation, there has been excessive stimulation,
instead of the voluptuous acme, a painful sensation may be experienced.
In general, however, in children, just as in adults, the voluptuous acme
is associated with a sense of satisfaction, and with the subsidence of
the previously existing sexual excitement. _This much is beyond
question, that the voluptuous acme and the sense of satisfaction
associated therewith make their appearance subsequent to the development
of erection and the equable voluptuous sensation in the genital organs._
Mutatis mutandis, _this is equally true of both sexes_.

In other respects, however, the voluptuous sensation and the voluptuous
acme exhibit in the child an important difference from the same
phenomena in the adult, to w