ly six weeks old attempted to
serve its mother; when three months old this animal became so
troublesome, owing to its attempts to cover other foals and even calves,
that castration was necessary.[56] The same author describes a case of
masturbation in a foal only two months old; the animal masturbated by
arching the back to an extreme degree, and pushing the hind feet forward
along the surface of the belly on either side of the penis.

Several allusions have been made in passing to the subject of sexual
perversions. A detailed consideration of these manifestations is now
necessary, owing to the fact that perversions exhibit peculiar
relationships to the sexual life of the child, such relationships being
of two distinct kinds. In the first place, perverse modes of sexual
sensibility are very common during childhood; and since erroneous views
on the subject are widely prevalent, the true significance of such
perversions demands very careful study. In the second place, it is
maintained that certain influences affecting the sexual life during
childhood are competent to give rise to permanent sexual perversions. We
will discuss these two questions in the order here stated.

Adult sexual perverts frequently declare that their first experience of
perverse sexual sensibility dates from the eighth year, or even earlier.
Thus, by homosexuals we are told that the homosexual inclination was
felt in very early childhood, in one case directed towards a
school-fellow, in another towards some near relative, or towards a
resident tutor--- or in the case of female homosexuals, towards a
girl-companion or a governess. Moreover, homosexuals often assure us
that the homosexual inclination has been persistent, and that it has
never been interrupted by any manifestation of heterosexual desire. The
assumption that in homosexuals the sexual impulse becomes active earlier
in life than is normal, was one of several considerations by which von
Krafft-Ebing was led to regard homosexuality as a degenerative
phenomenon, consequent upon neuropathic or psychopathic hereditary
taint; and this author held the same view regarding other sexual
perversions--sadism, for instance. In opposition to this opinion,
attention may be drawn to the fact, which was fully considered in the
last chapter, that very commonly indeed the activity of the normal
sexual life can also be traced back into the early days of childhood.
This fact has hitherto to a large extent b