closed the fact that for a year or more
the boy had been intimate with prostitutes and other girls.

I have been writing of processes occurring in the reproductive organs,
such as erections, seminal and other discharges, and masturbation; and
of the means for the recognition of these processes. But it is necessary
to recognise that we must not assume without further inquiry that all
processes occurring in the genital organs are of a sexual nature,
although in individual instances the distinction between the sexual and
the non-sexual may be extremely difficult, or even impossible. Thus, of
erections occurring before the reproductive glands ripen, not all are of
a sexual nature. We know, too, that even in the adult, non-sexual
erections may occur. The clearest instances of this are met with in the
form of priapism, the principal characteristic of this condition being
the occurrence of permanent erection which has nothing at all to do with
the sexual impulse. The same is true for the most part of matutinal
erections, the precise cause of which is not yet determined. They are
commonly referred to distension of the bladder, which is supposed by
reflex action to lead to distension of the corpora cavernosa of the
penis. It is certain, at any rate, that these matutinal erections are
not caused by sexual thoughts, nor as a rule do they induce sexual
feelings. We must distinguish between these processes; just as recently
we have learned to distinguish herpes progenitalis, the characteristic
of which is its localisation to the genital organs, from herpes
sexualis, which is directly dependent upon sexual processes. If we
regard this distinction between sexual and non-sexual erections as
applicable also to erections in childhood, we are justified in assuming
that many erections, in infants-in-arms, for instance, are non-sexual in
nature, even though in appearance there is nothing to distinguish them
from sexual erections. In infants, erections may arise from external
stimuli or from distension of the bladder, which must be distinguished
from the erections which have a definitely sexual causation. We must, of
course, admit the possibility that such primarily non-sexual erections
may secondarily give rise to sexual processes; inasmuch as by the
stimuli resulting from the erection, the child's attention may be
directed to the genital organs. Just as we must guard against regarding
every erection in the child as a sexual process, so also