treatment. Mechanical means were
simultaneously employed, his hands being fastened at night in such a way
that he could not bring them into contact with his genital organs. But
he speedily loosed himself from his bonds. The trouble abated in
severity, but continued none the less for several years. I saw the
patient again when he was twenty-four years of age. No abnormality
whatever could be observed. He had normal sexual potency, and was
entirely free from neurasthenic symptoms.

I have hitherto, in this chapter, spoken only of the dangers of
auto-erotism. It is hardly necessary to mention the fact that the
nervous system of the child may be injuriously affected by other sexual
acts, as, for instance, by premature sexual intercourse. The occurrence
of such acts is naturally favoured by a premature awakening of the
sexual life.

We have also to consider the results of passionate love in children,
apart from actual sexual intercourse. In children with congenital
neuropathic predisposition, these results may be serious; and, as Bell
points out, symptoms of severe nervous shock may ensue, more especially
owing to separation from the beloved object, or in consequence of
rejected affection. The same writer even records several attempted
suicides consequent upon the death of the loved one; two of these
occurred in boys of eight and nine years of age respectively; two
occurred in girls, aged nine and eleven years. Eulenburg,[90] who has
made a special study of suicide and attempted suicide during
school-life, in his enumeration of the causes of such acts, mentions
several that are germane to our subject. Among these are the following:
becoming acquainted with the existence of a liaison on the part of the
loved one with another; unfortunate love; love for a married woman;
neglect of school work owing to a love-affair and consequent fear of
expulsion; and, finally, love-anxiety. It must, however, be freely
admitted that Eulenburg's cases relate to schoolboys who were fairly
old. Thus, one of these cases was that of a Catholic boy in one of the
higher forms, who had formed a liaison with a girl of sixteen in a
neighbouring girls' school, and whose Director had intervened, very
judiciously, as it appears, on learning of the affair. The other cases
in which Eulenburg mentions the age of those concerned were also those
of boys no longer very young; in some of these, double murder or double
suicide resulted. In the other comprehens