attracted great attention in France may here be
given in the actual words of the report. "Leo, thirteen years old,
demanded the favours of eleven little girls, offering in return, as the
girls confessed, a small reward--a penny or a sweet. Many others must
have been compelled by their parents to make no complaint, in order to
avoid a mortifying publicity. Leo is the son of a good fellow, a
shoemaker by trade, and also a lamplighter. The mother having run away,
and the father being often out at work, the boy was left much alone. He
would then entice into the house little girls of the neighbourhood, one
after another, in order to commit immoral acts with them. One day he
invited in a little girl of five. The girl's brother peeped through the
window, and saw Leo standing naked in front of Mary, as if he _posait
pour le torse_. Ultimately the matter was reported to the police
superintendent of the district, and it transpired that not less than
ten or eleven little girls of the quarter had been thus led astray. From
time to time he invited into the house a number of good-for-nothings of
the same stamp as himself, and here this youthful Casanova organised
pleasure-parties of a kind usually unknown to those of his age. The lad
was bound over to come up for trial if called upon. Such cases as this
are commoner than is generally believed; and perhaps commoner in the
country than in the town."

The way in which such practices spread by moral contagion is shown by a
report of Ferriani,[102] who made inquiries of nine boys, at ages
varying between eight and twelve years, how they had learned to
masturbate. I. had been taught by a certain K., II. by I., III. by IV.,
IV. by I., V. by II., VI. by III., VII. by IV., VIII. by VI., IX. by II.
Not long ago, I myself came across such an epidemic, in which there
occurred, not only masturbation, but, in addition, all sorts of mutual
sexual contacts between boys and girls; a boy of five was the primary
seducer, having undertaken the sexual enlightenment of a girl of seven,
and beginning this process with the remark that she need no longer
believe that babies were brought by a stork. These two went on to
improper contact, and subsequently quite a number of children were
gradually corrupted by the two.

To the jurist, also, the question of the sexual life of the child is one
of great importance. I do not myself share the view of Ferriani and
others, that the sexual life of the child, when it a