their lover, or speech with such a one, will cause them to
ejaculate their semen.

There is, however, a closely allied, and, indeed, overlapping form of
auto-erotism which may be considered here: I mean that associated with
revery, or day-dreaming. Although this is a very common and important
form of auto-erotism, besides being in a large proportion of cases the
early stage of masturbation, it appears to have attracted little
attention.[226] The day-dream has, indeed, been studied in its chief form,
in the "continued story," by Mabel Learoyd, of Wellesley College. The
continued story is an imagined narrative, more or less peculiar to the
individual, by whom it is cherished with fondness, and regarded as an
especially sacred mental possession, to be shared only, if at all, with
very sympathizing friends. It is commoner among girls and young women than
among boys and young men; among 352 persons of both sexes, 47 per cent.
among the women and only 14 per cent. among the men, have any continued
story. The starting-point is an incident from a book, or, more usually,
some actual experience, which the subject develops; the subject is nearly
always the hero or the heroine of the story. The growth of the story is
favored by solitude, and lying in bed before going to sleep is the time
specially sacred to its cultivation.[227] No distinct reference, perhaps
naturally enough, is made by Miss Learoyd to the element of sexual emotion
with which these stories are often strongly tinged, and which is
frequently their real motive. Though by no means easy to detect, these
elaborate and more or less erotic day-dreams are not uncommon in young
men and especially in young women. Each individual has his own particular
dream, which is always varying or developing, but, except in very
imaginative persons, to no great extent. Such a day-dream is often founded
on a basis of pleasurable personal experience, and develops on that basis.
It may involve an element of perversity, even though that element finds no
expression in real life. It is, of course, fostered by sexual abstinence;
hence its frequency in young women. Most usually there is little attempt
to realize it. It does not necessarily lead to masturbation, though it
often causes some sexual congestion or even spontaneous sexual orgasm. The
day-dream is a strictly private and intimate experience, not only from its
very nature, but also because it occurs in images which the subject finds