chosexual processes
are also occurring prematurely. Thus, Kisch[81] expresses the opinion
that in many cases premature sexual development manifests itself in
children by the enlargement of the breasts, and by the growth of the
axillary and pubic hair, in the absence of the commencement of
menstruation, Kussmaul also observed cases in which, in comparatively
early girlhood, all the physical signs of puberty were present although
menstruation had not yet begun. According to my own experience, we must
be careful to avoid taking an exaggerated view of such a connexion.
Passionate psychosexual processes may occur in young children in the
absence of any physical signs of premature sexual development. An
impulse to masturbate may also arise quite independently of the
commencement of the adult development of the external genital organs.
Psychically determined erections may likewise occur, although the
physical development is by no means far advanced. We shall therefore do
wisely to avoid taking a narrow view of such a connexion, inasmuch as it
may be that the physical signs of puberty on the one hand, and the
phenomena of detumescence and contrectation on the other, may occur in
conjunction at a very early age, whilst, in other cases, phenomena of
the one class or of the other may occur in isolation. This statement is
true, not merely of the secondary sexual characters, whose development
by no means always affords a measure for the degree of development of
the sexual impulse, but it is true also of the reproductive organs
themselves. Halban[82] reports the case of a boy six years of age,
whose penis was as large as that of a full-grown man, but in whom, apart
from the erection, all the characters were infantile. Still more often
do we note the independence in many young men of the individual symptoms
of sexual development from the growth of the beard, for this latter is
often still lacking at an age when the sexual life in general has
attained an extensive development. Still less importance must be
attached to other occasional signs. According to Marc d'Espine[83]
"puberty occurs early in girls with dark hair, grey eyes, a delicate
white skin, and of powerful build; late, on the other hand, in girls
with chestnut hair, greenish eyes, a coarse, darkly-pigmented skin, and
of delicate, weakly build;" but the evidence to justify any such
generalisation is lacking. It is possible that the opinion quoted is
supported to some extent by