me to ask my advice
about his younger brother, a lad of thirteen. This latter, an
intelligent boy, was attending the upper third class of the higher
school. The boy confessed to his brother that he masturbated to excess,
and that he found that scenes of cruelty especially aroused sexual
stimulation. I asked the student to bring his young brother to see me,
and the latter made on me a very favourable impression, especially in
the matter of his frankness. He spoke to me quite openly, and attended
most carefully to all my advice. I explained to him truthfully that his
future was endangered, not only by the masturbation, but also by the
perverse ideas; I told him that the danger of a combination of
masturbation with perverse ideas was especially serious; and I assured
him that he was still at an age when it remained possible for him to
develop into a normal man. Some years later, I saw the young man once
more. His subsequent development had been excellent, and he was almost
free from perverse sexual sensibility.

In this case it would have been utterly wrong to insist on the lad's
being enlightened by his father, his mother, his guardian, or his
schoolmaster. The particular circumstances of the life often point out
the right way. In this instance, it was his older brother in whom the
lad had complete confidence. Now, if the elder brother had consulted the
parents in this difficulty, such a course would not merely have
destroyed the younger's confidence in his elder brother's silence and
discretion, but would have undermined the lad's confidence in general.
Especially towards the parents, but also towards other relatives, a
feeling of shame commonly exists--perhaps a mistaken feeling, but one
with which we have to reckon. Often it is the parents' own fault, when
they fail to gain the confidence of their children.

The question has also been mooted whether the sexual enlightenment of
girls should not be entrusted to some companion of the same sex, more
especially in cases in which the mother is for one reason or another
unfitted for this task. This view is altogether erroneous. Sex has
comparatively little to do with the question. For example, Heidenhain,
whose practical experience in these matters is most extensive, has shown
that the enlightenment of girls may be effected most admirably by a male
physician endowed with the requisite qualities.[144] The thing that
matters is not the sex of the person who effects the enlight