e fourth chapter of
this work I have discussed the wide individual differences which
children exhibit in these various respects; and a mere reference to the
matter here should suffice to show that the most careful and detailed
individual examination of the child-soul is indispensable, and that the
observance of a mechanical routine in the process of sexual
enlightenment would be even worse than no enlightenment at all.

It is a question of great importance, who, outside the school, is the
person best fitted to undertake the sexual enlightenment; and I have
repeatedly expressed my preference for the selection of the mother. But
a mother who is unable to superintend the general education of her
children, because she is compelled to spend most of her time away from
home engaged in earning a livelihood, is not fitted to undertake the
sexual enlightenment of her children; equally unfitted for this is the
mother who leaves the education of her children in the hands of hired
assistants, whilst herself occupied in attending public meetings,
perhaps on behalf of the woman's movement, of the education of children,
of the promotion of the sexual enlightenment, of rational dress, or the
like, whilst her children at home are abandoned to moral corruption; and
the same considerations apply to the mother whose nights are so much
occupied in dancing and feasting, that the greater part of her days have
to be spent in bed. Fortunately, however, there are many mothers who
have very different conceptions of their duties to home and children. We
find such mothers very often among the class of skilled artisans, but
also among the cultured middle class,[143] although among these latter
the desire to ape the manners of the so-called upper classes is
unfortunately far too general. I have seen cases in which the mother was
still the confidant of her sons after they had entered the period of
early manhood; and thus I have known a mother who in the case of a son
of sixteen and even of eighteen years, was in a position to allay the
grave anxiety awakened by the first occurrence of nocturnal emissions.
But where the mother is not the confidant, some other person must take
this place, as, for instance, a governess or a near relative. In the
case of boys, the father is often the person best able to undertake the
sexual enlightenment; or it may be a physician who enjoys the lad's
confidence, and especially a family physician in the old and excellent
se