y rate in most. Such desires may
generally be overcome by the aid of a true and noble love, and by
sentiments of duty and fidelity toward the family and toward a
respected wife. We cannot, however, deny that they exist, nor that
they are the cause of the worst excesses, and the most violent scenes,
often with a tragic result. We shall return to this subject later.

=Excitation and Cooling of the Sexual Appetite.=--Without touching the
domain of pathology, I must again dwell on the great individual
diversity of the objects of the male sexual appetite. It is usually
young but mature female forms of healthy appearance, and especially
the sight of the nudity of certain parts of the body which are usually
covered, particularly the breasts and sexual organs, which most
strongly excite the sexual appetite in man. It is the same with the
corresponding odors. The voice, the physionomy, the clothing and many
other details may also provoke his desires. There are, however, men
who are more excited by thin and pale women.

Certain attributes excite one and not another; for instance, the hair,
certain odors, certain forms of face, a certain fashion of clothing,
the form of the breasts, etc. The peculiarities, which are absent in
women with whom a man has been on familiar terms in his youth are
generally those which attract the most. In sexual matters contrasts
tend to mutual attraction. Thin people often become enamored of fat,
short ones of long ones, and inversely. One cannot, however, fix any
rules. One often sees young men excited at the sight of women of older
age, and old men enamored of very young women, even of children. All
these discrepancies constitute the more important points of origin of
sexual pathology. In spite of all, there still exist a great number of
tranquil men with monogamous instincts and not fond of change. Lastly,
we must not forget that super-abundant feeding and idleness exalt the
sexual appetite and tend to polygamy, while hard work, especially
physical, and frugal diet diminish it.

It is needless to say that the mental qualities react powerfully on
the sexual appetite. A quarrelsome temper, coldness and repulsion on
the part of a woman cool the desires of the man, while an ardent
sexual desire on the part of the woman, her love and tenderness, tend
to increase and maintain them. We are dealing here with purely animal
sexual instinct, and we may state that the sexual appetite of woman
generally excit