nsation. The
question then arises, was this voluptuous sensation excited during
childhood of a truly sexual nature at this early age? Was the boy's
impulsive desire to kiss his tutor a sexual impulse? From the fact that
later in life such an impulse is unmistakably sexual, the conclusion is
often drawn that the earlier inclinations, and the pleasurable
sensations associated with the corresponding mental processes, were also
sexual. The inference is an obvious one, and is doubtless justified in
many instances. But the following point must be taken into
consideration. It is a fact that the psychosexual processes of the child
are less sharply differentiated from other psychical processes than is
the case in the adult; and it is therefore possible that the specific
sexual perversions, and the specific sexual sensibility, develop out of
a corresponding sensibility in the child which is not yet of a sexual
character. The observation of Stanley Hall[59] that children display a
peculiar interest, not only in their own feet, but also in the feet of
other persons, would appear to confirm this view. He writes: "Quite
small children often display a marked fondness for stroking the feet of
others, especially when these feet are well formed; and many adults
testify to the persistence of such an impulse, whose gratification gives
them a peculiar pleasure." It may readily be supposed, in many cases of
foot-fetichism, that this unmistakably sexual phenomenon has originally
developed out of such a non-sexual fondness for feet.

Unquestionably, many of the processes of childhood are not to be
regarded as sexual, although they are closely related to the sexual
life. This statement applies to many of the friendships between boys or
between girls, such as are formed during the period in which the sexual
impulse is still undifferentiated, or after its differentiation has
occurred--and such friendships must not be identified with sexual
feelings. At this period of life, we occasionally observe a desire in
boys to form romantic friendships with others of their own sex; and the
same is true also of girls. In many cases of this kind, there is no
question of the presence of any sexual element, and we have no right,
therefore, to regard as manifestations of the sexual impulse such
instances of enthusiastic friendship during the period of
undifferentiated sexual impulse. Each case must be separately analysed,
in order to determine its nature. On the