y
form in which sexual inclination exhibits itself in the persons
concerned; but in other cases the paedophilic impulse alternates with
normal sexual feelings, or with some other perverse sexual
manifestation. A homosexual man, for instance, may one day be sexually
attracted by children, the next by adult males. Less widely known,
although, as I think, far commoner than is usually believed, are the
cases in which women are sexually attracted by immature boys. Some of
those cases of which mention has previously been made, in which
nursemaids and other female servants seduce boys to the practice of
masturbation, belong to this category; but this does not exhaust cases
of such a nature. It is not necessary, when we see a woman caressing a
boy, to assume at once and in every case that a sexual motive is at
work; but unprejudiced observation will show that many of these cases
are sexually determined. An interesting case of this nature has been
published by Magnan.[116] It was that of a lady twenty-nine years of
age, with strongly marked hereditary taint, and suffering from very
various mental abnormalities, with five nephews, the eldest of whom was
thirteen years of age. At first, this eldest nephew was the object of
her desires. "The sight of him caused in her intense sexual excitement;
she experienced voluptuous sensations, which she was quite unable to
repress, sighed, rolled her eyes, and became flushed; sometimes she had
spasmus vaginae, with local secretion." When this boy grew older, the
next brother took his place in her desires; and in succession these were
transferred to the other three. At the time when Magnan saw the patient,
her sexual inclinations were directed towards the youngest nephew, a boy
three years of age.

In many cases, the sexual inclination towards children is primary,
existing from the first appearance of the sexual impulse; or it may
appear simultaneously with other inclinations without there having been,
as far as can be learned, marked previous sexual excesses. There can be
no doubt whatever that in such cases we have to a large extent to do
with morbid personalities. No small part in these cases is played by a
purely psychological factor, namely, the innocence of the child. We know
that also in the case of the normal sexual inclination of the male,
innocence on the part of the female exerts a notable stimulus, in which
connexion the question whether we have to do here with a result of
convent