boys belonging to the former group, and in 48 belonging to the
latter. Of the 69 belonging to the former group, 48 were found to
masturbate, in 25 improper sexual acts with the mouth were admitted, in
12 active paederasty, and in 17 passive paederasty. It is evident that
these data must not be generalised, for Ferriani's studies related to
boys who had been morally neglected from the earliest days of childhood,
and who had been sent to prison as thieves, beggars, and vagabonds. A
great danger attendant on sexual acts in which one child is led astray
by another is, of course, the moral harm which threatens the other
associates of such children. Girls and boys are equally exposed to such
seduction, and the seducer also may be of either sex. In cases of an
altogether exceptional character, danger threatens in this respect from
a child's own brothers or sisters. I alluded to this matter in an
earlier chapter, on page 71. Among cases which have come under my
notice, I may mention one in which a boy began to carry out all kinds of
perverse sexual acts with his sister, who was about eight years younger
than himself, and continued to do this when he had attained the age of
twenty-nine years. Forel[100] sees, rightly, as I believe, especial
danger in the leading of others astray by young homosexuals, alike in
boys' and in girls' boarding-schools. In some of these cases the
seducer's act is merely a manifestation of the early undifferentiated
state of the sexual impulse, but in others it is an early sign of a real
homosexual development.

I append here certain cases from the literature of the subject showing
the great dangers that proceed from such premature sexual development.
One case reported by Forel[101] was that of a girl nine years of age.
"This girl would stimulate sexually all boys of her own age or somewhat
younger whom she could induce to allow her to do so. She did this so
secretly, that by mishandling the genital organs of her two little
brothers, both younger than herself, she slowly brought one to his
death, and in the other caused serious injury to the bladder and
urethra. With an older boy, she was accustomed to have actual sexual
intercourse in the woods. I could not, in this case, gain any definite
information regarding hereditary taint. Such persons commonly become
criminals in later life, or at least indulge in the most shameless
masturbation or give themselves up to prostitution."

A case which at one time