ly freed himself
from these bonds in order to advocate dogmatic, unscientific, and
sometimes mischievous opinions which have been evolved in entire
ignorance of the real facts. As Moll says (Das _Sexualleben des
Kindes_, p. 276), necessary as sexual enlightenment is, we cannot
help feeling a little skeptical as to its results so long as
those who ought to enlighten are themselves often in need of
enlightenment. He refers also to the fact that even among
competent authorities there is difference of opinion concerning
important matters, as, for instance, whether masturbation is
physiological at the first development of the sexual impulse and
how far sexual abstinence is beneficial. But it is evident that
the difficulties due to false tradition and ignorance will
diminish as sound traditions and better knowledge become more
widely diffused.

The girl at puberty is usually less keenly and definitely conscious of her
sexual nature than the boy. But the risks she runs from sexual ignorance,
though for the most part different, are more subtle and less easy to
repair. She is often extremely inquisitive concerning these matters; the
thoughts of adolescent girls, and often their conversation among
themselves, revolve much around sexual and allied mysteries. Even in the
matter of conscious sexual impulse the girl is often not so widely
different from her brother, nor so much less likely to escape the
contamination of evil communications, so that the scruples of foolish and
ignorant persons who dread to "sully her purity" by proper instruction are
exceedingly misplaced.

Conversations dealing with the important mysteries of human
nature, Obici and Marchesini were told by ladies who had formerly
been pupils in Italian Normal Schools, are the order of the day
in schools and colleges, and specially circle around procreation,
the most difficult mystery of all. In England, even in the best
and most modern colleges, in which games and physical exercise
are much cultivated, I am told that "the majority of the girls
are entirely ignorant of all sexual matters, and understand
nothing whatever about them. But they do wonder about them, and
talk about them constantly" (see Appendix D, "The School
Friendships of Girls," in the second volume of these _Studies_).
"The restricted life and fettered mind of girls," wrote a
well-known physi