broken down, our spirits were drawn closely
together, and with ardent kisses we swore eternal friendship."

Groos rightly sees in this passage a delicate intimation of sexual
sensibility. A little later we read how Wilhelm, having made an
appointment with this boy to meet him one evening in the forest,
encounters a young girl, a little younger than himself. "Spring flowers
of all kinds were growing in the beautifully adorned fields, among the
grass, and along the hedges. My companion was beautiful, blond, gentle;
we walked trustingly side by side, each holding the other by the hand,
and seeming to wish for nothing better in the world.... When, after the
lapse of so many years, I look back upon my former state, it seems to me
to have been a truly enviable one. Unexpectedly, in the same instant, I
experienced the sentiments of friendship and of love; for as I
unwillingly took leave of the beautiful child, I was consoled by the
thought of explaining these ideas to my young boy-friend, by the
prospect of confiding in him, and of rejoicing in his participation in
these newly discovered sentiments."

The following description of the period of the undifferentiated sexual
impulse has been placed at my disposal:--

CASE 1.--X. is now thirty-four years of age, happily married, with
several healthy children. He is himself a thoroughly healthy man, with
normal impulses, and free from all bodily and mental abnormality. His
description of the period of the undifferentiated sexual impulse may
best be given in his own words. "At the age of nine, when I was still
living in the country, and was being educated by a private tutor, a
passionate affection for him took possession of me. Generally speaking,
he was good-natured and indulgent, but was at times strict, I used my
utmost endeavours to be near him as much as possible. I was happy when
he touched me. Gradually this inclination increased; everything that he
had touched, everything that he had warmed with his body, I also wished
to touch. If he had drunk from a glass, I secretly drank from it myself,
so that my lips might touch the very spot where his had rested. At the
age of ten I began to attend the public school in the town, I sat beside
a fellow-pupil who, like myself, came from the country. Soon I conceived
a fondness for him. He was not only my playmate, I wished always that we
should do our work together; whenever he had any other companion than
myself, I was profoundly unha