,religion and ,lust   ,,or   ,,the      
,,psychical ,,correlation   ,,of        
,,religious ,,emotion   ,,and ,,sexual  
,,desire    ,,by    ,,james ,,weir1     
,,jr41 ,m4 ,d4   ,,author ,,of ,,the    
,,dawn ,,of ,,reason1 ,,animal          
,,intelligence1   ,,etc4    ,,third     
,,edition   ,,revised ,,and ,,enlarged  
,,with ,,additional ,,notes4            
,,chicago   ,,chicago ,,medical ,,book  
,,co4   #aije    ,copyrighted ,august1  
#ahig1   ,by   ,james ,weir1 ,jr41 ,m4  
,d4    ,copyrighted ,march1 #aije1   ,by
   ,james ,weir1 ,jr41 ,m4 ,d4          
,,preface ,,to ,,first ,,edition4   ,the
 author of this monograph has been      
incited to its publication by the       
commendations of three of the most      
eminent critics and editors of magazines
 in the ,united ,states1 to whom it was 
submitted in manuscript4 ,in this essay1
 he discusses his subject from a        
physio-psychical standpoint1 and        
believes that he has kept intact the    
canons of scientific investigation1     

observation1 and discussion4  ,waveland1
 ,june #h1 #ahig4     ,,preface ,,to    
,,second ,,edition4   ,in preparing ,the
 ,psychical ,correlation of ,religious  
,emotion and ,sexual ,desire for its    
second edition1 the author has          
incorporated in it a considerable amount
 of additional evidence in support of   
his theory4 ,he has carefully verified  
all references2 he has endeavored to    
eliminate all unnecessary material2 and1
 finally1 he has changed the style of   
the work by dividing it into three      
parts1 thus greatly simplifying the     
text4 ,he feels under many obligations  
to his critics1 both to those who       
thought his little book worthy of       
commendation1 and to those who deemed   
his premises and conclusions erroneous4 
,he feels grateful to the former1       
because they have caused him to believe 
that he has added somewhat to the       
literature of science2 he thanks the    
latter1 because in pointing out that    
which they considered untrue1 they have 

forced him to a new and more searching  
study of the questions involved1 thereby
 strengthening his belief in the        
truthfulness of his conclusions4  ,to   
the second edition of ,the ,psychical   
,correlation of ,religious ,emotion and 
,sexual ,desire1 the author has seen fit
 to add certain other essays4 ,in       
preparing these essays for publication1 
he has borrowed freely from his         
published papers1 therefore1 he desires 
to thank the publishers of the ,new     
,york ,medical ,record1 ,century        
,magazine1 ,denver ,medical ,times1     
,charlotte ,monthly and ,american       
,naturalist for granting him permission 
to use such of his published material   
7belonging to them7 as he saw fit4  ,the
 author asks the indulgence of the      
reader for certain repetitions in the   
text4 ,these have not been occasioned by
 any lack of data1 but occur simply     
because he believes that an argument is 
rendered stronger and more convincing by
 the frequent use of the same data      

whenever and wherever it is possible to 
use them4 ,when this plan is followed1  
the reader1 so the author believes1     
becomes familiar with the author's line 
of thought1 and is1 consequently1 better
 able to comprehend and appreciate his  
meaning4  ,finally1 the author has been 
led to the publication of these essays  
by a firm belief in the truthfulness of 
the propositions advanced therein4 ,he  
may not live to see these propositions  
accepted1 yet he believes that1 in the  
future1 perhaps1 in worthier and more   
able hands1 they will be so weightily   
and forcibly elaborated and advanced    
that their verity will be universally   
acknowledged4  ,waveland1 ,september    
#ag1 #ahig4     ,,preface ,,to ,,third  
,,edition4   ,the author1 after mature  
consideration1 has thought it advisable 
to confine the subject matter of the    
,third ,edition of ,religion and ,lust  
almost wholly to the psychical          
correlation of religious emotion and    
sexual desire4 ,he has eliminated       

certain of the psychical problems       
embraced in the ,first and ,second      
,editions and has added instead a       
bibliography4 ,the student1 he thinks1  
will find these changes of value1       
especially in the matter of reference4  
,the author has also added certain data 
to the thesis of the work1 as well as   
foot-notes2 which1 he thinks1 will      
strengthen the deductions and           
conclusions therein enunciated4 ,he has 
carefully and conscientiously edited and
 verified all notes and quotations to be
 found in the book and rests satisfied  
in the conviction that1 whatever may be 
lacking in his little volume1 it will   
not be the truth1 the whole truth1 and  
nothing but the truth4  ,waveland1      
,owensboro1 ,ky41 ,feb4 #be1 #aije4     
,,contents4                             
,page   ,religion and ,lust      ,chap4 
,i4 ,the ,origin of ,religious ,feeling 
#i      ,chap4 ,,ii4 ,phallic ,worship  
#da      ,chap4 ,,iii4 ,the ,psychical  
,correlation of ,religious     ,emotion 

and ,sexual ,desire                     
#ii    ,viraginity and ,effemination    
#aba    ,borderlands and ,crankdom      
#ace    ,genius and ,degeneration       
#aee    ,the ,effect of ,female         
,suffrage on ,posterity                 
#age    ,is ,it the ,beginning of the   
,end8                                   
#aii    ,bibliography                   
#bca     ,,chapter ,i4  ,,the ,,origin  
,,of ,,religious ,,feeling4   ,i believe
 that man originated his first ideas of 
the supernatural from the external      
phenomena of nature which were          
perceptible to one or more of his five  
senses2 his first theogony was a natural
 one and one taken directly from nature4
 ,in ideation the primal bases of       
thought must have been founded1 ab      
initio1 upon sensual perceptions2 hence1
 must have been materialistic and       
natural4 ,spencer1 on the contrary1     
maintains that in man1 the first        
traceable conception of a supernatural  
being is the conception of a ghost4#a   

#a ,spencer3 ,principles of ,sociology1 
vol4 i1 p4 #bha4  ,primitive man's      
struggle for existence was so very      
severe that his limited sagacity was    
fully occupied in obtaining food and    
shelter2 many thousands of years must   
have passed away before he evolved any  
idea of weapons other than stones and   
clubs4 ,when he arrived at a psychical  
acuteness that originated traps1 spears1
 bows and arrows1 his struggle for      
existence became easier and he had      
leisure to notice the various natural   
phenomena by which he was surrounded4   
,man evolved a belief in a god long     
before he arrived at a conception of a  
ghost1 double1 or soul4 ,he soon        
discovered that his welfare was mainly  
dependent on nature1 consequently he    
began to propitiate nature1 and finally 
ended by creating a system of theogony  
founded on nature alone4,a       ,a     
,theology and religion are of service in
 morals and conduct in      direct      
proportion as they have become adapted  

to our knowledge of      natural        
phenomena--,lydston3 ,the ,diseases of  
,society1 p4 #fh4  ,it is an evident    
historical fact that man first          
personified natural phenomena1 and then 
made use of these personifications to   
personify his own inward acts1 his      
psychical ideas and conceptions4 ,this  
was the necessary process1 and external 
idols were formed before those which    
were internal and peculiar to himself4#b
 ,sun1 moon1 and star2 mountain1 hill1  
and dale2 torrent1 waterfall1 and rill1 
all became to him distinct              
personalities1 powerful beings1 that    
might do him great harm or much good4   
,he therefore endeavored to propitiate  
them1 just as a dog endeavors to get the
 good will of man by abjectly crawling  
toward him on his belly and licking his 
feet4 ,there was no element of true     
worship in the propitiatory offerings of
 primitive man2 in the beginning he was 
essentially a materialist--he became a  
spiritualist later on4 ,man's first     

religion must have been1 necessarily1 a 
material one2 he worshiped 7propitiated7
 only that which he could see1 or feel1 
or hear1 or touch2 his undeveloped      
psychical being could grasp nothing     
higher2 his limited understanding could 
not frame an idea involving a spiritual 
element such as animism undoubtedly     
presents4 ,apropos of the dream birth of
 the soul1 all terrestrial mammals      
dream1 and in some of them1 notably the 
dog and monkey1 an observer can almost  
predicate the subject of their dreams by
 watching their actions while they are  
under dream influence2 yet no animal    
save man1 as far as we know1 has ever   
evolved any idea of ghost or soul4,b ,it
 may be said1 on the other hand1 that   
since animals show1 unmistakably1 that  
they are1 in a measure1 fully conscious 
of certain phenomena in the economy of  
nature1 and while ,i am not prepared to 
state that any element of worship enters
 into their regard1 ,i yet believe that 
an infinitesimal increase in the        

development of their psychical beings   
would1 undoubtedly1 lead some of them to
 a natural religion such as our         
pithecoid ancestors practiced4       #b 
,tito ,vignoli3 ,myth and ,science1 p4  
#he4       ,b ,clarke in his interesting
 book gives us some very readable       
stories anent the ability of animals    
seeing imaginary objects4 ,i      myself
 have seen a parrot with a marked case  
of delirium tremens1      due to        
excessive use of alcoholic stimulants   
7,vid4 ,author3 ,the      ,dawn of      
,reason74 ,romanes also gives valuable  
data in his ,mental      ,evolution 7in 
,animal1 and in ,man7 concerning this   
subject4 ,the fox      terrier 7,vid4   
,author3 ,dawn of ,reason7 which carried
 his dreams      into his awakened state
 is apropos4  ,the ,egyptians noticed1  
over four thousand years ago1 that      
cynocephali1 the dog-headed apes of the 
,nile ,valley1 were in the habit of     
welcoming the rising sun with dancing   
and with howls of joy6 ,the habit of    

certain monkeys 7cynocephali7           
assembling1 as it were1 in full court1  
and chattering noisily at sunrise and   
sunset1 would almost justify the1 as    
yet1 uncivilized ,egyptians in          
intrusting them with the charge of      
hailing the god morning and evening as  
he appeared in the east or passed away  
in the west4#c ,an ,english fox-terrier 
of my acquaintance is very much afraid  
of thunder or any noise simulating      
thunder4 ,a load of coal rushing through
 a chute into the coal cellar will send 
him1 trembling and alarmed1 to his      
hiding-place beneath a bed4 ,this dog   
has never been shot over1 nor has he1 as
 far as ,i know1 ever heard the sound of
 a gun4 ,i am confident that he         
considers the thunder as being          
supernatural1 and that he would         
propitiate it1 if he only knew how4     
#c ,maspero 7,sayce73 ,the ,dawn of     
,civilization1 p4 #ajc1 and             
,maspero3 ,etudes de ,mythologie et     
d',archiologie ,egyptiennes1 vol4       

ii1 pp4 #cd1 #ce4  ,it is not probable  
that1 at the present time1 there exists 
a race of people which has not          
formulated an idea of ghost or soul2 yet
 in ancient times1 and up to a century  
or so ago1 there existed many peoples   
who had not conceived any idea of ghosts
 or doubles4  ,according to ,maspero1   
,sayce1 ,champollion1 and other         
,egyptologists1 the ancient ,egyptians  
probably had a natural theogony long    
before they arrived at any idea of a    
double4 ,in the beginning they treated  
the double or ghost with scant ceremony2
 it was only after many years that an   
element of worship entered into their   
treatment of the ghosts of their dead   
ancestors4 ,they believed1 at first1    
that the double dwelt forever in the    
tomb along with the dead body2          
afterward1 they evolved the idea that   
the double of the dead man journeyed to 
the ,islands of the ,blessed1 where it  
was judged by ,osiris according to its  
merits4#d ,we have no reason for        

believing that the ancient ,hebrews at  
the time of the ,exodus had any         
knowledge of1 or belief in1 the         
existence of the soul or double1 yet1   
that they did believe in the            
supernatural can not be questioned4,c   
,when ,cook touched at ,tierra del      
,fuego1 he found a people in whom there 
existed mental habitudes but little     
above those to be found in the          
anthropoid apes4 ,they had no knowledge 
whatever of the soul or double and but a
 dim concept of the powers of nature2   
they had not yet advanced far enough in 
psychical development to evolve any     
consistent form of natural theogony4    
,they had only a shadowy concept of evil
 beings1 powers of the air that         
inhabited the dense brakes of the       
forest1 whom it would be dangerous to   
molest4 ,father ,junipero ,serra        
declares that when he first established 
the ,mission ,dolores1 the ,ahwashtees1 
,ohlones1 ,romanos1 ,altahmos1          
,tuolomos1 and other ,californian tribes

 had no word in their language for god1 
ghost1 or devil4#e ,the ,inca ,yupangui 
informed ,balboa that there were many   
tribes in the interior which had no idea
 of ghost or soul4#f ,another writer    
says1 that the ,chirihuanas did not     
worship anything either in heaven or on 
earth1 and that they had no belief      
whatever in a future state4#g ,modern   
travelers have1 however1 found distinct 
evidences of phallic worship in certain 
observances and customs of this tribe4#h
       #d ,maspero 7,sayce73 ,the ,dawn 
of ,civilization1 p4 #ahc et seq4       
,c ,that the patriarchs had their       
household gods1 we have every           
reason for believing2 these household   
gods were1 however1 tutelary            
divinities1 such as were kept in the    
house of every ,chaldean1 and      were 
not the images of ancestors4 ,rachel1   
the wife of ,jacob1 stole      the      
household gods of ,laban1 her father1   
who is called a ,syrian4      ,abraham  
himself was a ,chaldean4 ,gen4 #aa3ca2  

also ,gen4 #ca3ai-bj4       #e          
,bancroft3 ,the ,native ,races of the   
,pacific ,states of ,north              
,america1 vol4 i1 p4 #djj4       #f     
,balboa3 ,history of ,peru4       #g    
,garcilasso3 ,the ,royal ,commentaries  
of the ,incas4       #h ,browlow3       
,travels1 p4 #acf4  ,certain autochthons
 of ,india1 when first discovered1 were 
exceedingly immature in religious       
beliefs2 they had neither god nor devil2
 they wandered through the woods        
subsisting on berries and fruits1 and   
such small animals as their undeveloped 
and feeble sagacity allowed them to     
capture and slay4 ,they did not even    
provide themselves with shelter1 but1 in
 pristine nakedness1 roamed the forests 
of the ,ghauts1 animals but slightly    
above the anthropoid apes in point of   
intelligence4 ,in ,central ,california  
we find1 says ,bancroft1 whole tribes   
subsisting on roots1 herbs1 and insects2
 having no boats1 no clothing1 no laws1 
no ,god4#i       #i ,bancroft3 ,the     

,native ,races of the ,pacific ,states  
of ,north      ,america1 vol4 i1 p4     
#djj4  ,in the northwestern corner of   
the ,american continent there dwells a  
primitive race1 which1 for the sake of  
unification1 ,i will style the          
,aleutians4 ,when these people were     
first discovered they were in that state
 of social economics which they had     
reached after thousands of years of     
psychical and social evolution2 a       
primitive people1 such as our own       
ancestors were in the very beginning of 
civilization4 ,the word civilization is 
used advisedly2 civilization is         
comparative1 and its degrees begin with 
the inception of man himself4  ,in their
 theogony1 the ,aleutians had arrived at
 an idea of the double or soul1 thus    
showing that their religion had         
progressed several steps toward         
abstraction1 that triumph of civilized  
religiosity2 yet there remained enough  
veneration of natural objects to show   
that the origin of the religious feeling

 began1 with them1 in                   
nature-propitiation4 ,the bladder of the
 bear1 which viscus1 in the estimation  
of the ,aleutians1 is the seat of life1 
is at once suspended above the entrance 
of the kachim or communal dwelling and  
worshiped by the hunter who has slain   
the beast from which it was taken4      
,moreover1 when the bear falls beneath  
the weapons of an ,aleutian1 the man    
begs pardon of the beast and prays the  
latter to forgive him and to do him no  
harm4 ,a hunter who has struck a mortal 
blow generally remains within his hut   
for one or several days1 according to   
the importance of the slain animal4#aj  
,the first herring that is caught is    
showered with compliments and blessings2
 pompous titles are lavished upon it1   
and it is handled with the greatest     
respect and reverence2 it is the        
herring-god6#aa       #aj ,reclus3      
,primitive ,folk1 p4 #ah4       #aa     
,dall3 ,alaska and its ,resources1 p4   
#if4  ,sidne1 chief god of the ,aleutian

 theogony1 on final analysis1 is found  
to be the ,earth1 mother of all things4 
,the angakouts1 or priests1 of this     
people individualize and deify1 however1
 all the phenomena of nature2 there are 
cloud-gods1 sea-gods1 river-gods1       
fire-gods1 rain-gods1 storm-gods1 etc41 
etc41 etc4 ,everywhere1 throughout all  
nature1 the ,inoit1 or ,aleutian system 
of theology1 penetrates1 stripped1 it is
 true1 of much of its original          
materialism1 yet retaining enough to    
show its undoubted origin in the sensual
 percepts1 recepts1 and concepts of its 
primal founders4  ,as ,i have observed  
above1 the religion of these people has 
gained a certain degree of abstraction1 
and this abstraction is further shown by
 the presence of certain phallic rites  
and ceremonies in their religious       
observances2 but of this1 more anon4,d  
,d ,in a letter to me1 a naval officer  
of high rank states that1      beyond   
question of doubt1 the ,aleutian priests
 keep male concubines      whom they use

 in their religious observances4 ,he1   
also1 gives other      evidences of     
phallic worship among these people4  ,in
 most of the tribes of ,equatorial      
,africa1 nature-worship has been        
superseded by ghost-worship1            
devil-worship1 or witch-worship1 or1    
rather1 by ghost1 devil1 or witch       
propitiation2 yet1 in the sanctity of   
the fetich1 which is everywhere present1
 we see a relic of nature-worship4      
,moreover1 many of these tribes deify   
natural phenomena1 such as the sun1 the 
moon1 the stars1 thunder1 lightning1    
etc41 etc41 etc41 showing that here1    
too1 in all probability1 religious      
feeling had its origin in nature        
propitiation4  ,abstraction also enters1
 to a certain extent1 into the religious
 beliefs of most of these negroes1 in   
whom primal materialism has given place 
to the unbridled superstition of crude  
spiritism4 ,the curious habit these     
people have of scraping a little bone   
dust from the skull of a dead ancestor  

and then eating it with their food1     
thus1 as they think1 transmitting from  
the dead to the living the qualities of 
the former1 is close kin to1 and1 in my 
opinion1 is probably derived from1 a    
worship of the generative principle4    
,when we take into consideration the    
fact that circumcision1 extensio        
clitoridis1 and other phallic rites are 
exceedingly common and prevalent among  
these negroes1 this opinion has strong  
evidence in its support4#ab       #ab   
,negroes of ,benin and ,sierra ,leone   
7,bosman1 loc4 cit41 p4      #ebf71     
,mandingoes 7,waitz1 vol4 ii1 p4 #c71   
,bechuanas 7,holub1 loc4      cit41 p4  
#cih72 quoted also by ,westermarck1     
,human ,marriage1 p4      #bjf4  ,the   
,wa-kamba may have some idea of         
immortality1 though observers have never
 been able to determine this definitely4
 ,the dead bodies of chiefs are not     
thrown to the hyenas1 as with the       
,masai1 but are carefully buried        
instead4444 ,the bodies of less         

important members of the tribe are      
simply thrown to the hyenas4#ac         
#ac ,gregory3 ,the ,great ,rift ,valley1
 p4 #cea4  ,in this people1 religious   
ideas are exceedingly primitive and     
indefinite4 ,they seem to propitiate    
nature1 however1 when they wish rain1   
for they offer up to the rain-spirit    
votive offerings of bananas1 grain1 and 
beer1 which they place beneath the      
trees4 ,this seems to be their only     
religious rite according to ,gregory1   
who1 in all probability is in error4    
,for1 in the next sentence1 he informs  
us that these negroes practice          
circumcision4 ,he thinks that they      
perform this operation for sanitary     
reasons1 as the natives have continually
 to ford streams and wade through swamps
 abounding in the larvae of ,bilharzia  
haematuria1 the rite no doubt lessens   
the danger of incurring haematuria4#ad  
,this is bestowing upon ignorant and    
savage negroes a psychical acuteness    
which far transcends that of the laity  

of civilized races6 ,what do the        
,wa-kamba know of sanitation1           
haematuria1 and the larva of            
,bilharzia6,e ,circumcision among these 
people always occurs at puberty1 and is1
 unquestionably1 a phallic rite4        
,parenthetically1 it may be stated here 
that a few of the primitive peoples     
still in existence appear to have       
grasped the idea of the life-giving     
principle1 and to have established      
worship of the functio generationis     
without having experienced certain      
preliminary psychical stages necessary  
for its evolution from nature-worship4  
,i believe1 however1 that this is       
apparent and not real2 nature-worship1  
very probably1 at one time existed among
 all these people4       #ad ,gregory3  
,the ,great ,rift ,valley1 p4 #cea4     
,e ,inasmuch as the haematuria          
occasioned by the larvae of ,bilharzia  
has its origin in the parenchyma of the 
kidney1 and1 since we have      no      
reason for believing that this race has 

any idea of histology or      pathology1
 it is manifest folly to ascribe        
circumcision as a      prophylactic     
measure against this parasite4          
,bilharzia is now      considered a true
 parasite by ,wolfe4  ,the ,kikuyu have 
a very elaborate system of theogony1 in 
which all of the phenomena of nature    
with which they are acquainted are      
deified4 ,a goat is invariably          
sacrificed to the sun when they set out 
on a journey1 and its blood is carried  
along and sprinkled on the paths and    
bridges in order to appease the spirits 
of the forest and the river4  ,stuhlmann
 places this tribe among the ,bantu2    
from the evidence of other observers1   
however1 they seem to be ,nilotic       
,hamites1 and belong properly to the    
,masai4#ae ,this would account for the  
similarity of method in circumcision1   
which1 among both ,kikuyu and ,masai1 is
 incomplete4 ,johnston calls attention  
to this very peculiar method and        
describes it minutely in a ,latin       

foot-note4#af       #ae ,stuhlmann3 ,mit
 ,emin ,pasha1 p4 #hdh4       #af       
,johnston3 ,the ,kilima-,njaro          
,expedition1 p4 #dab4  ,the ,masai are  
mixed devil1 nature1 and phallic        
worshipers2 the last mentioned cult     
being evolved1 beyond question1 from    
nature-worship4 ,it may be set down as  
an established fact that1 where         
nature-worship does not exist in some   
form or other among primitive peoples1  
phallic worship is likewise absent4     
,indeed1 such peoples generally have no 
religious feeling whatever4 ,they may   
have some shadowy idea of an evil spirit
 like the ,aurimwantya dsongo ngombe    
auri kinemu1 the ,old ,man of the       
,woods#ag of the ,wa-pokomo1 but that is
 all4       #ag ,gregory3 ,the ,great   
,rift ,valley1 p4 #cdd4  ,carl          
,lumholtz1 writing of the ,australians1 
says3 ,the ,australian blacks do not1   
like many other savage tribes1 attach   
any ideas of divinity to the sun or     
moon4 ,on one of our expeditions the    

full moon rose large and red over the   
palm forest4 ,struck by the splendor of 
the scene1 ,i pointed at the moon and   
asked my companions1 ',who made it8'    
,they answered1 ',other blacks4'        
,thereupon ,i asked1 ',who made the     
sun8' and got the same answer4 ,the     
natives also believe that they          
themselves can produce rain1            
particularly with the help of wizards4  
,to produce rain they call milka4 ,when 
on our expeditions we were overtaken by 
violent tropical storms1 my blacks      
always became enraged at the strangers  
who had caused the rain4#ah ,in regard  
to their belief in the existence of a   
double or soul1 the same author sums up 
as follows3 ,upon the whole1 it may be  
said that these children of nature are  
unable to conceive a human soul         
independent of the body1 and the future 
life of the individual lasts no longer  
than his physical remains4#ai ,mr4      
,mann1 of ,new ,south ,wales1 who1      
according to ,lumholtz1 has made a      

thirty years' study of the ,australians1
 says that the natives have no religion 
whatever1 except fear of the            
devil-devil4#bj ,another writer1 and one
 abundantly qualified to judge1 says    
that they acknowledge no supreme being1 
have no idols1 and believe only in an   
evil spirit whom they do not worship4   
,they say that this spirit is afraid of 
fire1 so they never venture abroad after
 dusk without a fire-stick4#ba       #ah
 ,lumholtz3 ,among ,cannibals1 p4 #bhb4 
#ai ,ibid41 p4 #bgi4       #bj          
,lumholtz3 ,among ,cannibals1 p4 #bhc4  
#ba ,ibid41 p4 #bhc4  ,i verily believe 
we have arrived at the sum total of     
their religion1 if a superstitious dread
 of the unknown can be so designated4   
,their mental capacity does not admit of
 their grasping the higher truths of    
pure religion1 says ,eden4#bb ,it is    
simply an inherent fear of the unknown2 
the natural1 inborn caution of thousands
 of years of inherited experiences4     
#bb ,eden3 ,the ,fifth ,continent1 p4   

#fi2 quoted also by ,lumholtz3          
,among ,cannibals4  ,in these savages we
 see a race whose psychical status is so
 low in the intellectual scale that they
 have not evolved any idea of the double
 or soul4 ,the mental capacity of the   
,australians1 ,i take it1 is no lower   
than was that of any race 7no matter how
 intellectual it may be at the present  
time7 at one period of its history4 ,all
 races have a tendency toward psychical 
development under favorable             
surroundings2 it has been a progress    
instead of a decadence1 a rise instead  
of a fall6 ,evolution has not ceased2   
nor will it end until ,finis is written 
at the bottom of ,time's last page4     
,there are yet other people who believe 
in the supernatural1 yet who have no    
idea of immortality4 ,when ,gregory     
ascended the glacier of ,mount ,kenya1  
the water froze in the cooking-pots     
which had been filled over night4 ,his  
carriers were terribly alarmed by the   
phenomenon1 and swore that the water was

 bewitched6 ,the explorer scolded them  
for their silliness and bade them set   
the pots on the fire1 which1 having been
 done1 the men sat round and anxiously  
watched2 when it melted they joyfully   
told me that the demon was expelled1 and
 ,i told them they could now use the    
water2 but as soon as my back was turned
 they poured it away1 and refilled their
 pots from the adjoining brook4#bc      
#bc ,gregory3 ,the ,great ,rift ,valley1
 p4 #agj4  ,stanley declares that no    
traces of religious feeling can be found
 in the ,wahuma4 ,they believe most     
thoroughly in the existence of an evil  
influence in the form of a man1 who     
exists in uninhabited places1 as a      
wooded1 darksome gorge1 or large extent 
of reedy brake1 but that he can be      
propitiated by gifts2 therefore the     
lucky hunter leaves a portion of the    
meat1 which he tosses1 however1 as he   
would to a dog1 or he places an egg1 or 
a small banana1 or a kid-skin1 at the   
door of the miniature dwelling1 which is

 always at the entrance to the          
zeriba4#bd       #bd ,stanley3 ,in      
,darkest ,africa1 vol4 ii1 p4 #djj4     
,this observer shows that he does not   
know the true meaning of the word       
religion2 the example that he gives     
demonstrates the fact that these negroes
 do have religious feeling4 ,the simple 
act of offering propitiatory gifts to   
the evil influence is1 from the very    
nature of the deed1 a religious         
observance4 ,furthermore1 these savages 
have charms and fetiches innumerable1   
which1 in my opinion1 are relics of     
nature-worship4 ,the miniature house    
mentioned by ,stanley is common to the  
majority of the equatorial tribes1 and  
seems to be a kind of common fetich2 i4 
e41 one that is enjoyed by the entire   
tribe4 ,it is mentioned by ,du ,chaillu1
 ,chaille ,long1 ,stanley1 and many     
others4#be       #be ,du ,chaillu3      
,equatorial ,africa2 ,chaille ,long3    
,naked ,truths      of ,naked ,people2  
,stanley3 ,in ,darkest ,africa4  ,du    

,chaillu tells of one tribe1 the        
,bakalai1 in which the women worship a  
particular divinity named ,njambai4#bf  
,this writer is even more inexact than  
,stanley1 hence1 we get very little     
scientific data from his voluminous     
works4 ,from what he says of ,njambai1,f
 ,i am inclined to believe that he is a 
negro ,priapus2 this1 however1 is a     
conjectural belief and has no scientific
 warrant4       #bf ,du ,chaillu3       
,equatorial ,africa1 p4 #bdj4       ,f  
,possibly1 this god is the same as the  
god mentioned by      ,livingstone1     
,baker1 and ,stanley4  ,the ,tucuna     
,indians of the ,amazon ,valley1 who    
resemble the ,passes1 ,juris1 and       
,muahes in physical appearance and      
customs1 social and otherwise1 are      
devil-worshipers4 ,they are very much   
afraid of the ,jupari1 or devil1 who    
seems to be simply a mischievous imp1   
who is at the bottom of all those       
mishaps of their daily life1 the causes 
of which are not very immediate or      

obvious to their dull understandings4   
,the idea of a ,creator or a beneficent 
,god has not entered the minds of these 
,indians4#bg       #bg ,bates3 ,the     
,naturalist on the ,river ,amazon1 p4   
#cha4  ,the ,peruvians1 at the time of  
the ,spanish conquest1 worshiped nature2
 that is1 the sun was deified under the 
name of ,pachacamac1 the ,giver of      
,life1 and was worshiped as such4 ,the  
,inca1 who was his earthly              
representative1 was likewise his chief  
priest1 though there was a great ,high  
,priest1 or ,villac ,vmu1 who stood at  
the head of the hierarchy1 but who was  
second in dignity to the ,inca4#bh ,the 
moon1 wife of the sun1 the stars1       
thunder1 lightning1 and other natural   
phenomena were also deified4 ,but1 as it
 invariably happens1 where              
nature-worship is allowed to undergo its
 natural evolution1 certain elements of 
phallic worship had made their          
appearance4 ,these ,i will discuss later
 on4       #bh ,prescott3 ,the ,conquest

 of ,peru1 vol4 i1 p4 #aja4  ,the great 
temple of the sun was at ,cuzco1 where1 
under the munificence of successive     
sovereigns1 it had become so rich that  
it received the name of ,coricancha1 or 
'the ,place of ,gold4'#bi ,according to 
the relacion of ,sarmiento1 and the     
commentaries of ,garcilasso and other   
,spanish writers1 this building1 which  
was surrounded by chapels and smaller   
edifices1 and which stood in the heart  
of the city1 must have been truly       
magnificent with its lavish adornments  
of virgin gold6       #bi ,prescott3    
,the ,conquest of ,peru1 vol4 i1 p4 #ie4
  ,unlike the ,aztecs1 a kindred race of
 people1 the ,peruvians rarely          
sacrificed human beings to their        
divinities1 but1 like the religion of   
the former1 the religion of the latter  
had become greatly developed along      
ceremonial lines1 as we will see later  
on in this essay4  ,it is a far cry from
 ,peru to ,japan1 from the ,incas to the
 ,ainus1 yet these widely separated     

races practiced religions that were     
almost identical in point of fundamental
 principles4 ,both worshiped nature1 but
 the ,peruvians were far ahead of the   
,ainus in civilization1 and their       
religion1 as far as ritual and ceremony 
are concerned1 far surpassed that of the
 ,hairy ,men when viewed from an        
aesthetic standpoint4 ,ethically1 ,i am 
inclined to believe the religion of the 
,ainus is just as high as was that of   
the ,incas4  ,literature is indebted to 
the ,rev4 ,john ,batchelor for that     
which is1 probably1 the most readable   
book that has ever been published about 
these interesting people2 from a        
scientific standpoint1 however1 this    
work is greatly lacking4 ,many          
ethnologists and anthropologists        
considered the ,ainu autochthonic to    
,japan2 ,i am forced to conclude from   
the evidence1 however1 that he is an    
emigrant1 and that he came originally   
from ,north ,china or ,east ,siberia4   
,be he emigrant or indigene1 one thing  

is certain1 namely1 that he has been an 
inhabitant of the ,japanese ,archipelago
 for thousands of years4 ,the oldest    
book in the ,japanese language has this 
in it anent the ,ainus3 ,when our august
 ancestors descended from heaven in a   
boat1 they found upon this island       
several barbarous races1 the most fierce
 of whom were the ,ainu4,g       ,g     
,batchelor3 ,the ,ainu of ,japan1 p4    
#ac4  ,the ,ainu is probably the purest 
type of primitive man in existence4 ,i  
had been led to believe by the work of  
,miss ,bird#cj that these people were on
 a par with the ,australians1 and that  
they had no religious ideas whatever4   
7,vogt seems to advance this conclusion 
also1#ca while ,de ,quatrefages#cb;,h   
appears to have omitted this people from
 his tabulation4 ,peschel places them   
among the ,giliaks on the ,lower ,amoor1
 and the inhabitants of the ,kurile     
,islands4#cc ,these tribes are mixed    
nature1 devil1 and phallic worshipers47 
,batchelor1 however1 shows very clearly 

that these people do have a religion1   
and that this religion is highly        
developed4       #cj ,bird3 ,unbeaten   
,tracks in ,japan4       #ca ,vogt3     
,lectures on ,man4       #cb ,de        
,quatrefages3 ,the ,human ,species4     
,h ,de ,quatrefages1 in his ,hommes     
,fossiles1 places the ,ainus            
anthropologically among the ,primeval   
,teutons6       #cc ,peschel3 ,the      
,races of ,man1 p4 #chh4  ,their chief  
god1 or rather goddess 7for the ,ainus  
regard the female as being higher than  
the male as far as gods are concerned71 
is the sun4#cd ,like the ,peruvians1    
they regard the sun as the ,creator1 but
 they are unlike them in the fact that  
they think that they cannot reach the   
goddess by direct appeal4 ,she must be  
addressed through intermediaries or     
messengers4 ,these messengers1 the      
goddess of the fire1 the goddess of the 
water1 etc41 are in turn addressed      
through the agency of inao1 or          
prayer-sticks4 ,this intermediary idea  

is curiously like some practices of the 
,roman ,catholic church1 or1 rather1 of 
communicants1 who get the saints to     
carry their petitions to ,god4       #cd
 ,batchelor3 ,the ,ainu of ,japan1 p4   
#hi4  ,the inao are peculiar1 inasmuch  
as nothing exactly like them is known4  
,the feather prayer-plumes of some of   
the ,western ,indians are used for like 
purposes1 but these are offered directly
 to the ,great ,spirit1 and not to      
intermediaries4 ,inao1 briefly          
described1 are pieces of whittled willow
 wood1 having the shavings attached to  
the top4#ce ,like the ,aleutians1 when  
these people kill a bear or other wild  
animal1 they propitiate its spirit by   
bestowing upon it the most fulsome      
compliments1 and1 like the religion of  
these ,indians1 the religion of the     
,ainus has developed along natural      
lines1 and shows certain phallic        
elements4       #ce ,batchelor3 ,the    
,ainu of ,japan1 p4 #hg4  ,we see from  
the examples here given1 that religious 

feeling had its origin in the idea of   
propitiation2 in fact1 that it was born 
in fear1 and by fear was it fostered4   
,we see1 furthermore1 that man was not  
created with religious feeling as a     
psychical trait1 but that he acquired it
 later on4 ,we see1 finally1 that       
religious feeling is based1 primarily   
and fundamentally1 on one of the chief  
laws of nature--self-protection4 ,the   
evolution and growth of ,ethics         
demonstrate this beyond peradventure4   
,it is not at all probable that man in  
the beginning1 just after his evolution 
from his ape-like ancestor1 had1 at     
first1 any belief whatever in           
supernatural agencies4 ,in his struggle 
for existence1 all of his powers were   
directed toward the procurement of his  
food and the preservation of life2 the  
pithecoid man was only a degree higher  
than the beasts in the scale of animal  
life4 ,his psychic being1 as yet1       
remained1 as it were1 in ovo1 and a long
 period of time must have elapsed before

 he began to formulate and to recognize 
a system of theogony4 ,after years of   
experience1 during which the laws of    
heredity and progressive evolution      
played prominent parts1 he took         
precedence over other animals1 and his  
struggle for existence became easier4   
,he then had time to study the wonderful
 and1 to him1 mysterious phenomena of   
nature4 ,his limited knowledge could not
 explain the various natural operations 
by which he was surrounded1 therefore he
 looked upon them as being mysterious   
and supernatural4 ,his psychical being  
became active and inquiring1 to satisfy 
which he created a system of gods which 
was founded on natural phenomena4 ,at   
first1 the gods of primitive man were1  
probably1 few in number1 and the chief  
god of all was the sun4 ,man early      
recognized the sun's importance in the  
economy of nature2 this beautiful star1 
rising in the east in the morning1      
marching through the heavens during the 
day1 and sinking behind the western     

horizon in the evening1 must have been1 
to the awakening soul of man1 a source  
of endless conjecture and debate4 ,what 
was more natural than his making the sun
 the greatest god in his system of      
theogony8 ,man recognized in him the    
source of all life1 and1 when he arrived
 at an age when he could use abstract   
ideation in formulating his religion1 he
 deified the life-giving function as he 
noticed it in himself2 he began to      
worship the generative principle4 ,solar
 worship and its direct descendant1     
phallic worship1 at one time or another 
were the religions of almost every race 
on the face of the globe4 ,solar        
worship1 owing to its material quality1 
has long since been abandoned by        
civilized man2 but phallic worship1 the 
first abstract religion evolved by man1 
has taken deeper root2 its fundamental  
principles are still present1 though    
they have their seat in our subliminal  
consciousness1 and we are1 therefore1   
not actively conscious of their         

existence4 ,but before entering on the  
discussion of this last point1 let us   
turn for a time to a study of phallic   
worship4     ,,chapter ,,ii4  ,,phallic 
,,worship4   ,phallic worship1 in some  
form or other1 has been practiced by    
almost every race under the sun4        
,indeed1 among primitive peoples1 those 
who do not practice this cult are so few
 in number that they have1 practically1 
no weight whatever in a discussion of   
this subject4 ,moreover1 those primitive
 peoples who do not worship the         
generative principle1 either directly or
 indirectly1 are without any religion   
whatsoever1 and are the very lowest of  
all mankind in point of intelligence4 ,i
 have only to cite the ,tierra del      
,fuegians1 the ,bushmen1 the            
,australians1 and the ,akka or          
,ticki-,ticki1 the ,pygmies of ,central 
,africa1 to prove the truthfulness of   
this assertion4 ,there are other peoples
 who would serve as examples1 but it    
would be a work of supererogation to    

enumerate them to even the casual       
reader4  ,d',hancarville1 in his        
magnificent work1 has traced the        
progress of the worship of the          
generative principle over the entire    
world1 while ,knight1 in his scholarly  
essay1#cf has brought out its           
psychological truths in a manner which  
cannot be surpassed4 ,it is not my      
purpose to enter into a detailed account
 of this cult2 ,i propose rather to     
discuss its probable origin in the      
beginning1 and to give a brief outline  
of its history1 as it is to be observed 
among living peoples4 ,i wish to show1  
also1 its connection with certain       
religious ceremonies and festivals of   
,christian peoples1 which had their     
origin1 ab initio1 in the worship of    
,priapus4 ,and1 before beginning the    
discussion of this subject1 ,i beg to   
remind the reader that a priest of      
,priapus regarded his sistrum as being  
just as sacred as a ,catholic priest now
 considers any vessel or robe used in   

the service of mass1 and that the       
priests of ,brahma look on the ,lingam  
with as much reverence and awe as did   
the ,levites on the ,ark of the         
,covenant and the ,holy of ,holies4     
,phallic worship is a religion1 the     
oldest abstract religion in existence4  
,fundamentally the ,creator--the ,life  
,giver--is the phallic worshiper's god4 
,is he very far wrong in all that is    
absolutely essential8 ,men think they   
know because they are sure they feel1   
and are firmly convinced because        
strongly agitated4 ,hence proceed that  
haste and violence with which devout    
persons of all religions condemn the    
rites and doctrines of others1 and the  
furious zeal and bigotry with which they
 maintain their own1 while1 perhaps1 if 
both were equally understood1 both would
 be found to have the same meaning1 and 
only to differ in the modes of conveying
 it4#cg       #cf ,knight3 ,the ,worship
 of ,priapus4       #cg ,knight3 ,the   
,worship of ,priapus1 p4 #ad4  ,the     

,pueblo ,indians of ,new ,mexico are    
worshipers of the generative principle1 
and1 like most religious sects1 have    
evolved some very curious rites and     
ceremonies4 ,the ancient temples of     
,venus or ,aphrodite were filled with   
hetarae1 who were necessary adjuncts for
 the proper performance of the mysteries
 of ,priapus4 ,these ,indians1 however1 
will not allow women to enter into their
 sacred ceremonies1 but1 on the         
contrary1 emasculate men 7by occasioning
 organic and functional degeneration of 
the sexual organs71 who serve as hetarae
 to the chiefs and shamans or priests4,i
 ,these androgynes are called mujerados1
 a term which aptly describes their     
sexual condition4       ,i ,the         
,aleutians1 according to the testimony  
of unimpeachable      witnesses1 make   
their neophytes pass through like       
physical      exercises in preparing    
them for their duties in celebrating    
,priapic      ,rites4  ,in order to     
cultivate a mujerado1 a very powerful   

man is chosen1 and he is made to        
masturbate excessively and ride         
constantly4 ,gradually such irritable   
weakness of the genital organs is       
engendered that1 in riding1 great loss  
of semen is induced4 ,this condition of 
irritability passes into paralytic      
impotence4 ,then the testicles and penis
 atrophy1 the hair of the beard falls   
out1 the voice loses its depth and      
compass1 and physical strength and      
energy decrease4 ,inclinations and      
disposition become feminine4 ,the       
mujerado loses his position in society  
as a man4 ,he takes on feminine manners 
and customs1 and associates with women2 
yet1 for religious reasons1 he is held  
in high honor4#ch ,the phallic          
ceremonies of the ,pueblos take place in
 the spring1 when the life principle is 
exceedingly active throughout all       
nature4       #ch ,krafft-,ebing3       
,psychopathia ,sexualis1 p4 #bja2 see   
also      ,hammond3 ,impotence in the   
,male4  ,in all probability the botes of

 the ,montana ,indians and the burdachs 
of the ,washington tribes serve as      
masculine hetarae to the chiefs and     
medicine men1 though this has not been  
definitely determined4 ,dr4 ,holder     
described a typical bote of the         
,absaroke tribe in the ,new ,york       
,medical ,journal1 #ahhi4 ,this         
androgyne1 in many respects1 resembled  
the mujerados of the ,pueblo ,indians1  
and probably served a like purpose in   
his tribe4  ,according to ,ross1 a      
,konyaga woman1 when she has a          
good-looking boy1 dresses him in girl's 
clothes and brings him up as a female4  
,when he arrives at a suitable age he is
 sent to wait on the priests of the     
tribe and is introduced by them into the
 sacred mysteries of their cult2 in     
fact1 he becomes a masculine hetara4    
,when we read of such things we feel    
pretty much as ,herodotus felt when he  
saw the naked women of ,mendes          
submitting themselves openly ,,greek    
,,small ,,letter ,,epsilon,,greek       

,,small ,,letter ,,final ,,sigma ,,greek
 ,,small ,,letter ,,epsilon,,greek      
,,small ,,letter ,,pi,,greek ,,small    
,,letter ,,iota,,greek ,,small ,,letter 
,,delta,,greek ,,small ,,letter         
,,epsilon,,greek ,,small ,,letter       
,,iota,,greek ,,small ,,letter          
,,xi,,greek ,,small ,,letter            
,,iota,,greek ,,small ,,letter ,,nu     
,,greek ,,small ,,letter ,,alpha,,greek 
,,small ,,letter ,,nu,,greek ,,small    
,,letter ,,theta,,greek ,,small ,,letter
 ,,rho,,greek ,,small ,,letter          
,,omega,,greek ,,small ,,letter         
,,pi,,greek ,,small ,,letter            
,,omega,,greek ,,small ,,letter ,,nu    
,transliteration3 es epideixin anthropon
 to the embraces of the sacred goat4,j  
,to the ,greek historian this act was   
simply horrible 7,,greek ,,small        
,,letter ,,tau,,greek ,,small ,,letter  
,,epsilon,,greek ,,small ,,letter       
,,rho,,greek ,,small ,,letter           
,,alpha,,greek ,,small ,,letter ,,final 
,,sigma ,transliteration3 teras72 and   

yet these ,egyptians experienced no     
repugnance whatever4 ,to them it        
represented the incarnation of the      
deity1 and was1 therefore1 a sacred and 
holy action1 just as masculine hetarism 
is regarded as a holy profession among  
the ,konyagas4 ,phallic hetarism is one 
of the sacraments of the ,konyaga       
church1 and1 as such1 it is held in all 
that reverence and awe with which the   
savage devotee endows the mysteries of  
his faith4,k       ,j ,herodotus3       
,euterpe1 #df4       ,k ,masculine      
hetarism is still in vogue among many   
primitive      peoples1 and is          
distinctly a religious rite4 ,the       
,kanats of ,new      ,caledonia         
frequently assemble at night in a cabin 
to give      themselves up to this kind 
of debauchery4444 ,in the whole of      
,america1 from north to south1 similar  
customs have existed or still           
exist4 ,letourneau3 ,the ,evolution of  
,marriage1 p4 #fb4 ,the same      author
 says3 ,it was also a widely spread     

custom throughout      ,polynesia1 and  
even a special deity presided over it4  
,the ,southern      ,californians did   
the same1 and the ,spanish missionaries1
 on their      arrival in the country1  
found men dressed as women and assuming 
their part4 ,they were trained to this  
from youth1 and often      publicly     
married to the chiefs4 ,nero was        
evidently a mere      plagiarist4 ,the  
existence of analogous customs has been 
proved      against the ,guyacurus of   
,la ,plata1 the natives of the ,isthmus 
of      ,darien1 the tribes of          
,louisiana1 and the ancient ,illinois4  
,the ancient ,hebrews1 ancestors of one 
of the most ancient of the civilized    
races of the earth1 held it in high     
honor4 ,even wise ,king ,solomon1 in the
 days of his old age1 turned from the   
abstractedly pure religion of his father
 to ,astoreth1 the goddess of the       
,zidonians1 and to ,milcom1 the         
abomination of the ,ammonites4#ci ,he   
was guilty of constructing a high place 

for ,chemosh1 the abomination of        
,moab4#dj ,any good modern biblical     
encyclopedia will tell the reader about 
,astoreth and her worship1 and what the 
high places and the groves were4        
#ci ,i ,kings3 chap xi1 verse #e4       
#dj ,ibid41 verse #g4  ,even the good   
kings1 such as ,asa1 ,amaziah1 et al41  
did not remove the high places and the  
groves1 for we read that1               
notwithstanding the fact that these     
kings did that which was right in the   
sight of the ,lord1 they did not remove 
the high places4 ,in the case of        
,amaziah1 it is written3  ,and he did   
that which was right in the sight of the
 ,lord1 yet not like ,david1 his father2
 he did according to all things as      
,joash1 his father1 did4  ,howbeit1 the 
high places were not taken away3 as yet 
the people did sacrifice and burnt      
incense on the high places4#da ,all of  
the so-called wicked kings were phallic 
worshipers1 and both male and female    
hetarism flourished during their reigns4

 ,we read of ,josiah1 a good king1 ,and 
he broke down the houses of the         
sodomites 7kedescheim7 that were by the 
house of the ,lord4#db ,here1 in        
unmistakable terms 7kedescheim71 the    
phallic act of the hetara is specified4 
#da ,,ii ,kings3 chap4 xiv1 verses #c1  
#d4       #db ,ibid41 chap4 xxiii1 verse
 #g4  ,herodotus wrote3 ,almost all     
mankind consort with women in their     
sacred temples1 except in ,greece and   
,egypt4#dc ,this is a queer mistake for 
a ,greek to make1 yet this historian is 
noted for his unreliability1 and we     
should not feel surprised at this gross 
error4 ,concerning the ,aphrodite of    
,abydos1 what she was and what took     
place in her temples1 is a matter of    
history4 ,indeed1 this goddess was      
surnamed ,porne6 ,in ,corinth1 delubral 
hetarism was openly practiced2 also at  
,bubastis and ,naucratis in ,egypt4     
,royal princesses were pallacides in the
 temple of ,ammon2 in fact1 they took   
pride in the title of pallakis6,l ,it is

 known what excessive debauchery took   
place in the 'groves' and 'high places' 
of the ',great ,goddess4' ,the custom   
was so deeply rooted that in the grotto 
of ,bethlehem what was done formerly in 
the name of ,adonis is to-day in the    
name of the ,virgin ,mary by ,christian 
pilgrims2 and the ,mussulman hadjis do  
likewise in the sanctuaries of          
,mecca6#dd,m       #dc ,herodotus3      
,euterpe1 #fd4       ,l ,strabo1 when   
writing of the ,armenians1 who were     
phallic      worshipers1 says3 ,it is   
the custom of the most illustrious      
personages to consecrate their virgin   
daughters to this goddess               
7,anaitis74 ,this in no way prevents    
them from finding husbands1 even        
after they have prostituted themselves  
for a long time in the      temples of  
,anaitis4 ,no man feels on this account 
any repugnance to      take them as     
wives4 ,strabo3 vol4 xi41 #ad2 quoted   
also by      ,letourneau3 ,the          
,evolution of ,marriage1 p4 #df4        

#dd ,reclus3 ,primitive ,folk1 p4 #fi2  
,sepp3 ,heidenthum u4                   
,christenthum4       ,m ,brugsch ,bey is
 of this same opinion4  ,but let us     
return to primitive peoples1 from whose 
customs and beliefs we can learn what   
our own ancestors must have believed    
before the besom of civilization swept  
aside the crudities of savagery4  ,the  
,khonds of ,india are phallic           
worshipers1 and1 in the practice of     
their religion1 ,priapus saves many a   
girl who would be1 otherwise1 offered up
 on the bloody altars of their          
divinities4 ,the pregnant woman is      
sacred1 hence1 religious prostitution is
 exceedingly prevalent4 ,but it         
frequently happens that some unfortunate
 creature1 who is not pleasing to the   
shamans1 is seized1 tied to the stake   
and butchered4#de ,as the blood flows   
down and deluges the ground1 the divine 
spirit enters into the priest and       
inspires him4#df ,this sacrifice is of  
itself a phallic rite2 the              

blood-offering is supposed to be        
exceedingly acceptable to ,earth1 the   
mother of all things4 ,blood is the     
essence of the life-giving principle2   
hence1 the essence is returned to the   
great ,giver1 as a propitiatory         
offering4,n       #de ,sherwill3 ,the   
,rajmahal ,hills4       #df ,reclus3    
,primitive ,folk1 p4 #cag4       ,n     
,among certain peoples the blood and the
 semen bore a close      relationship2  
by certain races they were considered   
analogous4 ,the      ,old ,testament1   
the ,vedas1 the ,sagas1 and many        
references of ,greek1      ,latin1      
,egyptian1 ,hindu1 and ,persian         
mythology point to this as      being   
conclusive4  ,in point of fact1 the     
worship of the generative principle is  
everywhere prevalent in ,india4,o ,in   
the ,lingam1 or holy altar of the       
,brahmins1 we see a conjunction of the  
male and female sexual organs1 while    
religious prostitution1 in the shape of 
hetarism1 crowds the inner courts and   

corridors of almost every temple in the 
land with hierodules and bayaderes4 ,the
 ,vedas abound in references1 either    
direct or indirect1 to phallic worship4 
,indeed1 according to some authorities1 
the ,hindu ,brahma is the same as the   
,greek ,pan1,p who is the creative      
spirit of the deity transfused through  
matter4#dg       ,o ,speaking of the    
ceremony of priestly prelibation as it  
was      practiced in the ,kingdom of   
,malabar1 ,forbes writes as follows3    
,the      ecclesiastic power took       
precedence of the civil on this         
particular      point1 and the sovereign
 himself passed under the yoke4 ,like   
the      other women1 the queen had to  
submit to the right of prelibation      
exercised by the high priest1 who had a 
right to the first three      nights1   
and who was paid fifty pieces of gold   
besides for his      trouble4 ,forbes3  
,oriental ,memoirs1 vol4 i1 p4 #ddf2    
quoted also      by ,letourneau3 ,the   
,evolution of ,marriage1 p4 #dh4 ,de    

,remusat says      that1 in ,cambodia1  
the daughters of poor parents retain    
their      virginity longer than their  
richer sisters simply because they have 
not the money with which to pay the     
priest for defloration6       ,p ,the   
people have put the idol named ,coppal  
in a neighboring      house2 there she  
is served by priests and ,devadichi1 or 
slaves of      the gods4 ,these are     
prostitute girls1 whose employment is to
 dance      and to ring little bells in 
cadence while singing infamous songs1   
either in the pagoda or in the streets  
when the idol is carried out      in    
state1 writes ,letourneau in ,the       
,evolution of ,marriage1      quoting   
from ,letters edifiantes4 ,coppal was   
and is a      ,brahminical ,venus1 and  
her worship is wholly phallic in        
character4      ,the ancient            
,indo-,iranians worshiped a similar     
deity4 ,the worship of      ,coppal1    
both in ritual and in significance1 is  
identical with that      of the ,greek  

,aphrodite4       #dg ,brugsch1 ,knight1
 ,mueller1 et al4  ,hundreds of pages   
have been written on snake-worship1 in  
which a wonderful amount of metaphysical
 lore has been expended4 ,mr4 ,herbert  
,spencer devotes several pages to the   
snake1 and the reason for its appearance
 in the religion of primitive peoples4  
,he ascribes to savages a psychical     
acuteness that ,i am by no means willing
 to allow them1 inasmuch as he makes    
them give a psychical causation for     
their adoption of the serpent as a      
deity1 such as no ignorant and          
uncultivated savage could have possibly 
evolved4 ,i am inclined to believe that1
 like all great students and thinkers1  
,mr4 ,spencer has a hobby1 and that this
 hobby is animism or ancestor-worship4  
,when he gives out1 as a reason for the 
snake's almost universal appearance in  
the religions of primitive peoples1 that
 the latter consider it an animal which 
has assumed the returning ghost1 double1
 or soul of an ancestor1#dh ,i think    

that he is very much in error4 ,there   
are very few primitive folk1            
comparatively speaking1 who believe in  
metempsychosis4 ,in all probability1    
when a race1 like the ancient           
,egyptians1 for instance1 had reached a 
high degree of civilization1 they       
idealized many of their religious       
beliefs and customs2 hence1 the serpent 
probably lost its initial and simple    
symbolical meaning1 and stood for       
something higher and more ethical during
 the reign of the great ,pharaohs1 and  
the ,golden ,age of the ,greeks and     
,latins4 ,i am positive1 however1 that  
the snake's original significance was   
wholly phallic in character1 and that   
its adoption as a symbol was simple and 
material1 as ,i explain elsewhere in    
this essay4,q       #dh ,spencer3       
,principles of ,sociology1 vol4 i1 p4   
#gih4       ,q ,the appearance of the   
erect male organ of generation is quite 
sufficient to explain why the snake     
should be chosen as a symbol in         

phallic rites4  ,i am forced to this    
conclusion by its presence among phallic
 symbols in almost every race that      
practiced or practices a worship of the 
generative principles4 ,the ,pueblo     
,indians1 whom ,i have mentioned        
elsewhere in this treatise1 regard the  
snake symbol with reverence2 the ,moqui 
,indians have their sacred snake dance1 
in which they worship the reptiles1     
handling the most vicious and poisonous 
rattlesnakes with seeming impunity2 the 
,apaches hold that every rattlesnake is 
an emissary of the devil2#di the ,piutes
 of ,nevada have a demon deity in the   
form of a serpent still supposed to     
exist in the waters of ,pyramid         
,lake2#ej on the wall of an ancient     
,aztec ruin at ,palenque there is a     
tablet1 on which there is a cross       
standing on the head of a serpent1 and  
surmounted by a bird4 ,the cross is the 
symbol of the four winds2 the bird and  
serpent the rebus of the rain-god1 their
 ruler4#ea ,the ,quiche god1 ,hurakan1  

was called the ,strong ,serpent1 and the
 sign of ,tlaloc1 the ,aztec rain-god1  
was a golden snake4,r ,all of these     
tribes are or were worshipers of the    
generative principles1 though1 in most  
of them1 phallic worship has or had lost
 much of its original significance4#eb  
,in ,yucatan and elsewhere in ,south and
 ,central ,america1 notably among the   
ruins of ,chichen ,itza1 the serpent    
symbol is frequently in evidence4#ec    
,the ,indians of the ,tocantins in      
,brazil1 as well as the ,muras1         
,mundurucus and ,cucamas1 are mixed     
nature and devil worshipers2,s as a     
sequence1 certain phallic rites are to  
be observed in their religious          
ceremonies4       #di ,bancroft3 ,native
 ,races1 etc41 p4 #ace4       #ej ,ibid4
       #ea ,bancroft 7,brinton73 ,native
 ,races1 etc41 p4 #ace4       ,r ,in the
 celebrated calendar stone of the       
,aztecs1 there have been      found     
certain hieroglyphics pointing to sun   
worship1 coincidently1      to          

phallicism4       #eb ,ibid41 p4 #acd4  
#ec ,stephens3 ,yucatan4       ,s       
,consult ,frantz ,keller3 ,the ,amazon  
and ,madeira ,rivers4  ,many of the     
native tribes of ,north ,america perform
 phallic rites at puberty4 ,james ,owen 
,dorsey1 who has made a study of the    
,siouan cults1 writes as follows3       
,every male ,dakota sixteen years old   
and upward is a soldier1 and is formally
 and mysteriously enlisted into the     
service of the war prophet4 ,from him he
 receives the implements of war1        
carefully constructed after models      
furnished from the armory of the gods1  
painted after a divine prescription1 and
 charged with a missive virtue--the     
tonwan--of the divinities4 ,to obtain   
these necessary articles the proud      
applicant is required for a time to     
abuse himself and serve him1 while he   
goes through a series of painful and    
exhausting performances1 which are      
necessary on his part to enlist         
favorable notice of the gods4 ,these    

performances consist chiefly of vapor   
baths1 fastings1 chants1 prayers1 and   
nightly vigils4 ,the spear and the      
tomahawk being prepared and consecrated1
 the person who is to receive them      
approaches the wakan man 7priest71 and  
presents a pipe to him4 ,he asks a      
favor1 in substance as follows3 ',pity  
thou me1 poor and helpless1 a woman1 and
 confer on me the ability to perform    
manly deeds4'#ed ,according to ,miss    
,fletcher1 when an ,oglala girl arrives 
at puberty1 a great feast is prepared1  
and favored guests invited thereto4 ,a  
prominent feature in the feast is the   
feeding of these privileged persons and 
the girl in whose honor the feast is    
given1 with choke cherries1 as the      
choicest rarity to be had in the        
winter4444 ,in the ceremony1 a few of   
the cherries are taken in a spoon and   
held over the sacred smoke and then fed 
to the girl4#ee ,this is considered one 
of the most sacred of their feasts4     
#ed ,dorsey3 ,siouan ,cults1 ,an4 ,rep4 

,bur4 ,eth41 #ahhi-ij1 p4 #ddd4         
#ee ,fletcher3 ,peabody ,museum ,report1
 vol4 iii1 p4 #bfj4  ,while discussing  
the phallic observances of the ,north   
,american races1 ,i will introduce the  
subject of tattooing1 though it properly
 belongs elsewhere in this treatise4    
,at puberty1 the ,hudson ,bay ,eskimos  
invariably tattoo their boys and girls4 
,lucien ,m4 ,turner writing of the      
latter1 says3  ,when a girl arrives at  
puberty she is taken to a secluded      
locality by some old woman versed in the
 art of tattooing1 and stripped of her  
clothing4 ,a small quantity of          
half-charred lamp wick of moss is mixed 
with oil from the lamp4 ,a needle is    
used to prick the skin1 and the pasty   
substance is smeared over the wound4    
,the blood mixes with it1 and in a few  
days a dark-bluish spot is left4 ,the   
operation continues four days4 ,when the
 girl returns to the tent it is known   
that she has begun to menstruate4#ef    
,both ,eastern and ,western ,inoits     

celebrate puberty with certain rites4   
,it is rather difficult1 however1 to get
 them to say much about this matter1 so 
,i will not present the evidence1 meager
 as it is1 which has been gleaned from  
the works of various explorers4 ,one can
 readily see that much of it is         
conjecture1 therefore of little         
scientific value4       #ef ,turner3    
,an4 ,rep4 ,bur4 ,eth41 #ahhi-ij1 p4    
#bjh4  ,not far from the ,place of      
,gold1 the magnificent temple in which  
the ancient ,peruvians worshiped the    
,life ,giver1 was another great edifice1
 styled the ,house of the ,virgins of   
the ,sun4 ,this was the domicile of the 
pallacides or hetarae of the ,chief     
,priest1 the ,inca4 ,no one but the     
,inca and the ,coya1 or queen1 might    
enter the consecrated precincts4444 ,woe
 to the unhappy maiden who was detected 
in an intrigue6 ,by the stern laws of   
the ,incas she was buried alive1 her    
lover strangled1 and the town or village
 to which he belonged was razed to the  

ground and sowed with stones as if to   
efface every memorial of his existence4 
,one is astonished to find so close a   
resemblance between the institutions of 
the ,american ,indian1 the ancient      
,roman1 and the modern ,catholic4       
,chastity and purity of life are virtues
 in woman that would seem to be of equal
 estimation with the barbarian and with 
the civilized--yet the ultimate         
destination of the inmates of these     
religious houses 7there were hundreds of
 them71 was materially different4444    
,though ,virgins of the ,sun1 they were 
the brides of the ,inca4#eg ,the monarch
 had thousands of these hetarae in his  
various palaces4 ,when he wished to     
lessen the number in his seraglios1 he  
sent some of them to their own homes1   
where they lived ever after respected   
and revered as holy beings4#eh ,the     
religion of the ,peruvians had reached a
 high degree of development1 and many of
 the crudities of simple phallic worship
 had either been entirely abandoned or  

so idealized that they had been lost in 
the mists of ritual and ceremony4 ,for  
the ritual of the ,incas involved a     
routine of observances as complex and   
elaborate as ever distinguished that of 
any nation1 whether pagan or            
,christian4#ei       #eg ,prescott3     
,conquest of ,peru1 vol4 i1 p4 #aaj et  
seq4       #eh ,ibid41 p4 #aab4         
#ei ,ibid41 p4 #ajc4  ,notwithstanding  
the fact that the descendants of the    
,incas have been under the guardianship 
of the priests of the ,catholic church  
for hundreds of years1 a close1 careful1
 painstaking1 and accurate observer     
informs me that he has repeatedly       
noticed unmistakable phallic rites      
interwoven with their ,christian        
ceremonials and beliefs4 ,the same can  
be said of a kindred race and a kindred 
religion4 ,biart1 writing of the        
descendants of the ,aztecs1 says3 ,in   
grottoes unexpectedly discovered1 ,i    
have frequently found myself in the     
presence of ,mictlanteuctli1 at the foot

 of which a recent offering of food had 
been placed4#fj ,how exceedingly basic  
and fundamental the worship of the      
generative principle must be in ,psychos
 itself1 is indicated by these facts6   
#fj ,biart3 ,the ,aztecs1 p4 #aci4  ,in 
the very beginnings of history we find  
that many races of people held the      
worship of the generative principle in  
high honor4 ,not only has the knowledge 
of this fact come to us through the     
sculptured monuments of the ,egyptians  
and the tablets1 cylinders1 etc41 of the
 ,chaldeans1 but it has also been set   
before us by ancient historians4        
,speaking of the ,chaldeans ,herodotus  
7#a1aii7,t says1 ,every woman born in   
the country must enter once during her  
lifetime the inclosure of the temple of 
,aphrodite1 must there sit down and     
unite herself to a stranger4 ,many who  
are wealthy are too proud to mix with   
the rest1 and repair thither in closed  
chariots1 followed by a considerable    
train of slaves4 ,the greater number    

seat themselves on the sacred pavement1 
with a cord twisted about their         
heads--and there is always a crowd      
there1 coming and going2 the women being
 divided by ropes into long lanes1 down 
which strangers pass to make their      
choice4 ,a woman who has once taken her 
place here cannot return home until a   
stranger has thrown into her lap a      
silver coin1 and has led her away with  
him beyond the limits of the sacred     
inclosure4 ,as he throws the money he   
pronounces these words3 ',may the       
goddess ,mylitta make thee happy6' ,now 
among the ,assyrians1 ,aphrodite 7the   
goddess of love1 desire7 is called      
,mylitta4 ,the woman follows the first  
man who throws her the money1 and repels
 no one4 ,when once she has accompanied 
him1 and has thereby satisfied the      
goddess1 she returns to her home1 and   
from thenceforth1 however large the sum 
offered to her1 she will yield to no    
one4 ,maspero declares that this custom 
still existed in the fifth century      

before our era1 and the ,greeks who     
visited ,babylon about that time found  
it still in force4#fa       ,t          
,herodotus3 ,clio2 ,see also ,cary's    
translation of ,herodotus1      page #hf
 et seq4       #fa ,maspero 7,sayce73   
,the ,dawn of ,civilization1 p4 #fdj4   
,he also calls attention to the fact    
that we meet with a direct allusion to  
this same custom in the ,bible1 in the  
,book of ,baruch3 ,the women1 also1 with
 cords about them1 sitting in the ways1 
burn bran for perfume2 but if any of    
them1 drawn by some that passeth by1 lie
 with him1 she reproacheth her fellow1  
that she was not worthy of herself1 nor 
her cord broken4 ,ch4 ,,vi1 verse #dc4  
,phallic rites and observances entered  
very largely into the religion of the   
,assyrians1 and can be traced back1 in  
some form or other1 even to the religion
 of the ancient ,sumerians1 the         
root-stock from which the ,chaldeans had
 their origin4  ,in the third chapter of
 ,hebrew history according to ,moses    

7,genesis ,,iii71 we have an            
unmistakable allusion to phallic worship
 in the use of the serpent in the myth  
of man's temptation and fall4 ,the      
serpent was an almost universal symbol  
of priapic adoration throughout ,egypt  
and ,assyria2 it achieved this          
distinction1 in all probability1 from   
its resemblance to the instrumentum     
masculinum generationis4,u ,in a        
beautiful bronze plaque1 representing   
,nergal1 the ,chaldean god of ,hades1   
the glans penis of the god is distinctly
 the head of the snake4 ,a splendid     
drawing of this plaque by               
,faucher-,gudin is given in ,maspero's  
,dawn of ,civilization4#fb ,it may be   
stated here that the uraeus1 or asp1    
which was so prominently in evidence as 
one of the principle signs of ,egyptian 
royalty1 was also the symbol of the     
life-giving principle of ,ra1 the       
sun-god4       ,u ,the author is fully  
aware of the fact that writers on       
phallic      worship ascribe other      

reasons for the adoption of the snake as
 one      of the chief symbols of the   
worship of the generative principle4 ,he
      believes1 however1 that the       
primitive originators of this cult      
were1 psychically1 too immature to      
evolve any other than simple and        
objective ideas in regard to this       
subject2 hence he considers the         
above as the true origin of this symbol4
 ,furthermore1 this belief      is      
strengthened by the appearance of the   
snake in the myths and      folklore    
tales of race-preservation in all       
peoples where the      serpent was a    
familiar object4       #fb ,op4 cit41 p4
 #fia4  ,abraham1 in all probability1   
instituted the rite of circumcision in  
remembrance of the ,chaldean genital    
worship4,v ,this sexual fetichism was   
eminently religious in character from   
its very inception among the ancient    
,hebrews2 yet ,westermarck1 in his      
,history of ,human ,marriage1 considers 
this custom as being of ornamental      

origin4#fc ,now1 it is known beyond     
question of doubt that the ,hebrews and 
,abyssinians1 who practiced this rite1  
covered their nakedness1 hence1 it is   
folly to suppose that they ornamented a 
portion of their bodies which always    
remained carefully hidden4 ,moreover1   
since it has been in use from very      
ancient times among most of the tribes  
inhabiting the ,african ,west ,coast1   
among all the ,mohammedan peoples1 among
 the ,kaffirs1 among nearly all the     
peoples of ,eastern ,africa1 among the  
,christian ,abyssinians1 ,bogos1 and    
,copts1 throughout all the various      
tribes inhabiting ,madagascar1 and1 in  
the heart of the ,black ,continent1     
among the ,monbuttu and ,akka2 and since
 it is practiced very commonly in       
,australia1 in many islands of          
,melanesia1 in ,polynesia1 universally1 
in some parts of ,america1 in ,yucatan1 
on the ,orinoco1 and among certain      
tribes in ,rio ,branco in ,brazil2#fd   
and since most of these people wholly or

 partially hide their nakedness1 it     
cannot1 necessarily1 have had its origin
 in the desire for ornamentation4       
,again1 since the rite of circumcision  
among these peoples always takes place  
at puberty1 when vita sexualis begins1  
and is always accompanied by other rites
 and ceremonies of deeply religious     
significance1 it must be a religious    
observance and phallic in its nature4   
,girls1 also1 at puberty1 among many    
tribes of ,africa1 among certain races  
of the ,malayan ,archipelago and ,south 
,america have an operation performed    
upon them4 ,sunt autem gentes1 quarum   
contrarius mos est1 ut clitoris et labia
 minora non exsecentur1 verum           
extendantur1 et saepe longissime        
extendantur4#fe ,surely such a peculiar 
and uncalled-for performance has a      
deeper significance than mere           
ornamentation1 and does not warrant the 
expression atque ista etiam deformatio  
insigne pulchritudinis existimatur4     
,v ,abraham was a ,chaldean1 and1 in    

instituting circumcision1 was           
undoubtedly influenced by the religious 
beliefs of his people4                  
,circumcision1 however1 was1 with him1 a
 new and special phallic      rite1 and 
one not in vogue among the ,chaldeans4  
,vid4 ,genesis1      #ah3aj4       #fc  
,westermarck3 ,history of ,human        
,marriage1 p4 #bjb et seq4       #fd    
,westermarck3 ,history of ,human        
,marriage1 p4 #bja et seq4      ,see1   
also1 ,wallace3 ,travels on the ,amazon1
 p4 #aag et seq4       #fe ,westermarck3
 op4 cit4 ante41 p4 #ajf4  ,tattooing1  
among certain races1 is a phallic rite1 
and in the ,tahitians the priapic origin
 of this procedure has been preserved in
 an interesting myth4 ,hinaereeremonoi  
was the daughter of the god and goddess 
,taaroa and ,apouvaru4 ,as she grew up1 
in order to preserve her chasity1 she   
was made pahio1 or kept in a kind of    
inclosure1 and constantly attended by   
her mother4 ,intent on her seduction1   
her brothers invented tattooing1 and    

marked each other with the figure called
 ,taomaro4 ,thus ornamented1 they       
appeared before their sister1 who       
admired the figures1 and1 in order to be
 tattooed herself1 eluding the care of  
her mother1 broke the inclosure that had
 been erected for her preservation1 was 
tattooed1 and became1 also1 the victim  
to the designs of her brothers4         
,tattooing thus originated among the    
gods1 and was first practiced by the    
children of ,taaroa1 their principle    
deity4 ,in imitation of their example1  
and for the accomplishment of the same  
purposes it was practiced among         
men4,w#ff       ,w ,after the ceremony  
of tattooing had been performed1 the    
candidates were admitted to a religious 
society called ,areois1      which had  
for its object an unrestrained and      
public abandonment to      amorous      
pleasures4 ,letourneau3 ,the ,evolution 
of ,marriage1 p4 #fa4       #ff ,ellis3 
,polynesian ,researches1 vol4 i1 p4     
#bfb2 quoted1 also1      by             

,westermarck1 op4 cit4 ante41 p4 #agi4  
,with very few exceptions1 primitive    
peoples1 wherever found1 have given or  
still give unmistakable evidence of a   
knowledge of phallic worship in some    
form or other4 ,many of them still      
practice it1 generally combined with the
 religion from which it was evolved1 i4 
e41 sun worship4 ,the ,ainu of ,japan is
 a notable example of a race whose      
religion shows the presence of the      
elements of both worships4 ,the religion
 of this remarkable people1             
notwithstanding the fact that it has    
become decidedly ethical 7they having   
arrived at a knowledge of the good and  
evil principles71 shows its sun birth4,x
 ,until very recently the couvade       
existed in full force and vigor4 ,as    
soon as a child was born1 the father had
 to consider himself very ill1 and had1 
therefore1 to stay at home1 wrapped up1 
by the fire4 ,but the wife1 poor        
creature6 had to stir about as much and 
as quickly as possible4 ,the idea seems 

to have been that life was passing from 
the father into his child4#fg       ,x  
,herodotus gives an interesting instance
 of the evolution of      phallic       
worship from nature worship4 ,see ,clio1
 #aca4       #fg ,batchelor3 ,the ,ainu 
of ,japan1 p4 #dd4  ,among ,slavonic    
races in early times1 the worship of the
 generative principle was almost        
universal4 ,this continued1 in a        
measure1 even after the establishment of
 ,christianity1 and we find phallic     
rites masquerading in the garb of       
,christian observances as late as the   
sixteenth century in parts of ,russia   
and ,hungary4 ,westermarck1 in his      
chapter on the human rut season in      
primitive times1 says3 ,writers of the  
sixteenth century speak of the existence
 of certain festivals in ,russia1 at    
which great license prevailed4          
,according to ,pamphil1 these annual    
gatherings took place1 as a rule1 at the
 end of ,june1 the day before the       
festival of ,st4 ,john the ,baptist1    

which in pagan times was that of a      
divinity known by the name of ,jarilo1  
corresponding to the ,priapus of the    
,greeks4#fh ,if my memory serves me     
correctly1 ,wappaeus says that a like   
festival was in existence among the     
,hungarians two hundred years ago4#fi   
,to this day certain religious sects of 
,russia and ,hungary are in the habit of
 holding orgies at which all the        
ceremonies of the ancient ,liberalia1   
,floralia1 and ,saturnalia are          
duplicated4 ,these devotees claim that1 
when they have reached the acme of      
religious enthusiasm1 the spirit of ,god
 directs them1 hence their licentious   
and lustful acts cannot be immoral4     
#fh ,westermarck3 ,the ,history of      
,human ,marriage1 p4 #cj4       #fi     
,wappaeus3 ,allgem4                     
,bevoelkerungsstatistik4  ,when ,great  
,britain was invaded and conquered by   
northern savages1 the latter1           
unquestionably1 introduced their own    
religious beliefs1 which were largely   

phallic in character4 ,the ,teutonic god
 ,frea was the same as the ,latin       
,priapus2 while ,friga1 from whom our   
,friday gets its name1 because this day 
was sacred to her1 was the ,teutonic    
,venus4 ,frea is called ,freyr in old   
,norse1 and in old ,german1 ,fro4       
,among the ,swedes he was worshiped     
under the name of ,fricco1 and a statue 
of him at ,upsala represented him in the
 characteristic attitude of the god of  
procreation4 ,tertius est ,fricco1 pacem
 voluptatemque largiens mortalibus1     
cujus etiam simulachrum fingunt ingenti 
priapo4#gj ,from this god a vulgar word 
for copulation had its origin4 ,this    
word is in use to-day among the         
descendants of the ,anglo-,saxons1 thus 
proving that the worship of the         
generative principle was in vogue among 
our own immediate ancestors4       #gj  
,bremens3 ,de ,situ ,daniae1 p4 #bc2    
quoted1 also1 by the author      of ,the
 ,worship of the ,generative ,powers1 p4
 #abf4  ,statuettes of ,priapus1 bronzes

 representing the sexual organs1 and    
pottery covered with phallic scenes have
 been found all over ,england4 ,these   
relics are remembrances of the ,roman   
occupation when the worship of ,priapus 
prevailed4 ,in the parish of ,adel1     
,yorkshire1 was found an altar erected  
to ,priapus1 who seems to be called in  
this instance ,mentula4 ,at this place  
were found many other priapic relics1   
such as lamps1 bracelets1 amulets1 etc41
 etc4#ga ,several images of the triple  
phallus1 as well as the single phallus1 
have been brought to light in ,london2  
also phallic lamps1 bracelets1 etc4     
#ga ,the ,worship of the ,generative    
,powers1 p4 #abd4  ,all over ,england   
the ,anglo-,saxon ,frea1 or ,friga1 has 
left remembrances of his or her worship 
in place-names4 ,fridaythorpe in        
,yorkshire1 and ,friston 7,frea's       
stone71 which occurs in several parts of
 ,england1 are examples4 ,we seem       
justified in supposing that this and    
other names commencing with the syllable

 ,fri or ,fry1 are so many monuments of 
the existence of phallic worship among  
our ,anglo-,saxon forefathers4#gb ,there
 are other words in the ,english        
language which point directly to this   
ancient religion2 for instance1         
fascinate and fascination4 ,these words 
were derivede directly from the ,latin  
word fascinum1 which was one of the     
names of the male organ of generation4  
,the fascinum was worn suspended from   
the necks of women1 and was supposed to 
possess magical powers2 hence1 to       
fascinate4 ,horace makes use of the word
 in ,priapeia3       #gb ,the ,worship  
of the ,generative ,powers1 p4 #abg4    
,placet1 ,priape8 ,qui sunt arboris coma
     ,sotes1 sacrum revinct pampino     
caput1     ,ruber sedere cum rubente    
fascino4#gc       #gc ,horace3 ,priap4  
,carm41 lxxxiv4  ,that the worship of   
the fascinum was in vogue during the    
eighth century,y in ,italy and in other 
countries under the religious           
jurisdiction of the ,pope1 the following

 from the ,judicia ,sacerdotalia        
,criminibus1 clearly indicates3 ,if any 
one has performed incantation to the    
fascinum1 or any incantation whatever1  
except one who chaunts the ,creed or the
 ,lord's ,prayer1 let him do penance on 
bread and water during three            
,lents4#gd,z       ,y ,a well informed  
,jesuit priest once told me that several
 laws      had been made about this time
 forbidding the worship of the female   
sexual organ1 under the name of abricot 
or apricot4 ,rabelais      used the word
 abricot fendu when speaking of the     
female genital      organs4 ,see his    
works4 ,was this term derived from the  
,biblical      narrative of the genesis 
of the human race 7the apple71 or was it
      taken from the phallic symbol1 the
 pomegranate8 ,did ,moses get it        
from the ,assyrians in the first place8 
,i think he did4       #gd ,martene and 
,durand3 ,veterum ,scriptorum           
,amplissima ,collectio1      tom4 vii1  
p4 #ce4 ,si quis praecantaverit ad      

fascinum1 vel      qualescumque         
praecantationes excepto symbolum sanctum
 aut orationem      dominicam qui cantat
 et cui cantatur1 tres quadrigesimas in 
pane et      aqua poeniteat4       ,z   
,as has been pointed out elsewhere in   
this work1 ancient peoples      were    
essentially symbolical and              
materialistically symbolical at         
that2 they were very apt to typify      
nature1 sexually1 by some object      or
 objects which bore a resemblance real  
or fancied1 to the sexual      organs4  
,the red halves of the ripe apricot at  
the insertion of the      stem1 look    
very much like the external genitalia of
 the human      female4 ,the            
significance and importance of the      
pomegranate in the      mixed religion  
of the ,ancient ,hebrews are well       
brought out in rules      laid down for 
the ornamentations and embroidery of the
 robes of the      priests1 etc41 etc41 
,vid4 ,old ,testament4  ,during the     
ninth century the ,council of ,chalons  

promulgated a similar law1 and in the   
twelfth century ,buchardus repeats it1  
thus showing that the worship of the    
generative principle was continuous     
throughout that time4#ge ,that the      
worship of the fascinum was in vogue as 
late as #abdg is proven by the statutes 
of the ,synod of ,mans1 which declare   
that he who worships the fascinum shall 
be seriously dealt with4#gf       #ge   
,d4 ,burchardi3 ,decretorum libri1 lib4 
x1 c4 #di4       ,some of these clerical
 references are taken from the ,worship 
of      ,priapus1 but1 since this work  
is exceedingly rare and costly1 and     
is not apt to come under the notice of  
the general reader1 ,i have      thought
 best to give the original authorities4 
#gf ,martene and ,durand3 ,veterum      
,scriptorum ,collectio ,amplissima1     
tom4 vii1 col4 #acgg4  ,in ,scotland1 as
 late as #abfh1 according to the        
,chronicles of ,lanercroft1 the people  
were in the habit of rubbing two pieces 
of wood together until fire was         

produced4 ,at the same time an image of 
the phallus was elevated1 and certain   
prayers were said to ,priapus4 ,this was
 the famous need fire1 and was obtained 
in this way in order that it might have 
the power of saving the cattle from the 
plague4 ,need fire was produced in this 
manner in the ,highlands as late as     
#acef1 at which time a cattle plague    
ravaged the country side4 ,in           
,inverkeithing1 a ,catholic priest      
gathered all the young girls of the     
village and made them dance around a    
statue of ,priapus4 ,he himself led the 
dance1 carrying a large wooden image of 
the phallus1 and excited these medieval 
bacchantes to licentious movements and  
actions by his own actions and language4
  ,when called to account by his bishop1
 he excused his action by stating that  
such performances were common in his    
parish4 ,these phallic observances      
occurred in ,easter week1 ,march        
#bi-;,april #ae1 #abhb4gg       #gg ,the
 ,chronicles of ,lanercroft4  ,in       

,ireland1 the female sexual organs seem 
to have been the symbol of phallic      
worship most in use4 ,in the arches over
 the doorways of churches1 a female     
figure1 with the person fully exposed1  
was invariably so placed that the       
external organs of generation at once   
caught the eye4 ,these figures were     
called ,shela-na-gig1 which in ,irish   
means ,julian the giddy4 ,sometimes     
these images were placed on the walls   
and used as caryatides4 ,from this      
symbol the horseshoe's power to ward off
 evil and bring good luck has been      
evolved4 ,the people in olden times were
 in the habit of painting1 or sketching 
with charcoal1 drawings of the female   
genitalia over the doors of their houses
 to ward off bad luck4 ,these drawings  
were necessarily rude1 and probably     
resembled a horseshoe more than they did
 the object for which they were         
intended4 ,in course of time1 when the  
symbol had lost its original            
significance1 the horseshoe entirely    

took the place of the phallic image4    
,herodotus says that ,sesostris1 king of
 ,egypt1 was in the habit of erecting   
pillars in the countries conquered by   
his armies1 on which he had the female  
genitals engraved in order to show his  
contempt4#gh ,i think that the historian
 misinterprets the meaning of the       
pillars2 the ,egyptians were phallic    
worshipers1 and these obelisks were1 in 
all probability1 altars to ,priapus4    
#gh ,herodotus3 ,euterpe1 #ajb4  ,the   
beneficent influence of this particular 
phallic symbol has been well brought out
 in several classical stories4 ,when    
,ceres was wandering over the world in  
her search after ,proserpine1 she came  
to the house of a peasant woman1 ,baubo 
by name4 ,baubo saw that the goddess was
 heart-sick and miserable1 so she       
offered her a drink of cyceon 7,,greek  
,,small ,,letter ,,kappa,,greek ,,small 
,,letter ,,upsilon,,greek ,,small       
,,letter ,,kappa,,greek ,,small ,,letter
 ,,epsilon,,greek ,,small ,,letter      

,,omega,,greek ,,small ,,letter ,,nu    
,transliteration3 kykeon74 ,the goddess 
refused the refreshing mixture1 and     
continued her lamentations4 ,fully      
believing in the virtue and efficacy of 
the symbol1 ,baubo lifted her robe and  
showed ,ceres her genitals4,,aa ,the    
goddess burst into laughter and at once 
drank the cyceon4#gi ,the same          
superstition appears in a celebrated    
book of the sixteenth century1 ,le      
,moyen de ,parvenir4 ,the author of the 
,worship of the ,generative ,powers     
gives the following instructive extract 
from this work3       ,,aa ,for an      
analogous ceremony1 see ,herodotus1     
,euterpe1 #fj4       #gi ,arnobius3     
,adversus ,gentes1 lib4 v1 c4 #e4       
,hermes4 ,on nomme ainsi ceux qui n'ont 
point vu le con de leur femme ou de leur
 garce4 ,le pauvre valet de chez nous   
n'etoit donc pas coquebin2 il eut beau  
le voir4  ,varro4 ,quand8  ,hermes4     
,attendez1 etant en fiancailles1 il     
vouloit prendre le cas de sa fiancee2   

elle ne le vouloit pas3 il faisoit le   
malade1 et elle lui demandoit3 ,qu'y    
a-t-il1 mon ami8 ,helas1 ma mie1 je suis
 si malade1 que je n'en puis plus2 je   
mourrai si je ne vois ton cas4 ,vraiment
 voire8 dit-elle4 ,helas6 oui1 si je    
l'avois vu1 je guerirois4 ,elle ne lui  
voulut point montrer2 a la fin1 ils     
furent maries4 ,il advint1 trois ou     
quatre mois apres1 qu'il fut fort       
malade2 et il envoya sa femme au medicin
 pour porter de son eau4 ,en allant1    
elle s'avisa de ce qu'il lui avoit dit  
en fiancailles4 ,elle retourna vitement1
 et se vint mettre sur le lit2 puis1    
levant cotte et chemise lui presenta son
 cela en belle vue1 et lui disoit3      
,jean1 regarde le con1 et te gueris4#hj 
#hj ,the ,worship of the ,generative    
,powers1 p4 #ace4  ,sir ,william        
,hamilton writes to ,richard ,payne     
,knight from ,naples in the year #agha1 
as follows3  ,having last year made a   
curious discovery1 that in a province of
 this kingdom1 not fifty miles from its 

capital1 a sort of devotion is still    
paid to ,priapus1 the obscene divinity  
of the ancients 7though under another   
denomination71 ,i have thought it a     
circumstance worth recording2           
particularly as it offers a fresh proof 
of the similitude of the ,popish and    
,pagan religion1 so well observed by    
,dr4 ,middleton in his celebrated       
,letter from ,rome2 therefore ,i mean to
 deposit the authentic proofs of this   
assertion in the ,british ,museum when a
 proper opportunity shall offer4 ,sir   
,william goes on to relate how he found 
many phallic amulets1 charms1 etc41 in  
the possession of the people1 and then  
describes the votive offerings laid upon
 the altar at a feast given in honor of 
,saints ,cosmus and ,damianus1 in a     
church called by their names4 ,the      
offerings were waxen images of the      
phallus4 ,the vows are chiefly presented
 by the female sex1 continues he1 and   
they are seldom such as represent legs1 
arms1 etc41 but most commonly the male  

parts of generation4 ,a person who was  
at this fete in the year #aghj1 told me 
that he heard a woman say1 at the time  
she presented a vow1 ',santo ,cosimo    
benedetto1 cosi lo voglio4'#ha       #ha
 ,knight3 ,the ,worship of ,priapus1 pp4
 #c-f1g4  ,this church was in ,isernia1 
a little village about fifty miles from 
,naples1 and away from the direct line  
of travel1 hence its inhabitants saw    
little of the world1 and therefore kept 
to their old customs longer than their  
more favored neighbors4 ,thus it        
happened that1 even in the latter half  
of the eighteenth century1 ,priapus had 
his votaries almost within the shadow of
 the ,vatican6 ,these phallic rites were
 finally abolished by episcopal command4
  ,one of the most common amulets or    
charms against jettitura1 or the evil   
eye1 the bete noire of every ,italian1  
is a little coral hand4 ,the middle     
finger of this hand is extended1 thus   
representing the penis1 while the other 
fingers are closed on the palm1 thus    

representing the testicles4 ,in ancient 
times1 when a man extended his hand1    
closed in this manner1 it was a gesture 
of insult and anger2 to-day this gesture
 is only made in derision and contempt4 
,the hand closed in this way1 or1       
rather1 with the thumb projecting       
between the first and second fingers    
7another very common phallic symbol or  
sign71 was called a fig2 hence1 the old 
expression of contempt and indifference1
 a fico for you1 sir1 now modernized    
into ,i don't care a fig4,,ab       ,,ab
 ,a modification of this is seen in the 
derisive gesture of the      street     
,arab who closes all of his fingers1    
except the middle one1      on his palm4
 ,the middle finger he holds stiffly    
erect and the hand      is then extended
 towards the object of his contempt4    
,this gesture1      once performed as a 
deeply religious rite1 has now become   
the      contemptuous sign of a boy of  
the street6  ,france1 as well as ,italy1
 had her phallic charms and her phallic 

saints4 ,priapus was a god to the       
ancients--to the people of the ,middle  
,ages he was a saint4 ,according to ,m4 
,dulaure1 in the south of ,france1      
,provence1 ,languedoc1 and the          
,lyonnais1 he was worshiped under the   
name of ,st4 ,foutin4 ,this name is     
derived from that of the first bishop of
 ,lyons1 ,fotinus1 to whom the people   
had transferred 7as they have done to   
many other sainted individuals7 the     
distinguishing characteristics of a god2
 in this instance1 ,priapus4 ,at ,lyons 
there was an immense wooden phallus1 and
 the women were in the habit of scraping
 this image1 and then steeping the      
wood-dust in water1 which they drank as 
a remedy against barrenness4 ,sometimes 
they gave it to the men in order to     
stimulate sexuality or sensuality4 ,at  
,varailles1 in ,provence1 waxen images  
of the male and female sexual organs    
were offered to ,st4 ,foutin1 and1 since
 these images were suspended from the   
ceiling and moved by every vagrant      

current of air1 the effect was sometimes
 very astonishing4 ,temoin ,saint       
,foutin de ,varailles en ,provence1     
auquel sont dediees les parties         
honteuses de l'un et de l' autre sexe1  
formees en cire2 le plancher de la      
chapelle en est fort garni1 et1 quand le
 vent les fait entrebattre1 cela        
debauche un peu les devotions a         
l'honneur de ce ,saint4#hb       #hb    
,l',estoile3 ,confession de ,sancy1 pp4 
#chc1 #cia4  ,this worship at ,varailles
 was identical with that of ,isernia2   
the votive offerings were waxen images  
or models of the genital organs1 while  
the saints differed only in name1 not in
 character4 ,at ,embrun the worship of  
,st4 ,foutin was a little different4    
,the women at this last mentioned place 
poured wine on the phallus2 this wine   
was collected in a bucket1 and1 when it 
became sour1 it was used as a medicine  
for barrenness4  ,when ,embrun was      
besieged and taken by the ,protestants  
in #aehe1 this phallus was found among  

the other sacred relics1 and its head   
was red with the wine which had been    
poured upon it4#hc ,in the church of    
,st4 ,eutropius1 at ,orange1 a large    
phallus covered with leather was seized 
and burnt by the ,protestants in #aefb4 
,dulaure says that the sexual organs    
were objects of worship at ,porighy1    
,viviers1 ,vendre in the ,bourbonnais1  
,cives1 ,auxerre1 ,puy-en-,velay1 and at
 hundreds of other places4 ,some of     
these phalli were recreated as fast as  
they were worn away by zealous devotees4
 ,they were so arranged in the walls of 
the churches that1 as the phallic end in
 front became shortened 7by scrapings71 
a blow from a mallet from behind thrust 
it forward1 so that it was restored to  
its original length4#hd       #hc ,the  
,worship of ,priapus1 p4 #ada4       #hd
 ,ibid4  ,in the public square of       
,batavia there was formerly kept a      
bronze cannon which had been captured   
from the natives4 ,the touch-hole of    
this piece of ordnance was made in the  

shape of a phallic hand or fig1 which ,i
 have described elsewhere4 ,the barren  
,malay women were in the habit of       
seating themselves on this hand in order
 that they might become pregnant4,,ac   
,an analogous custom was prevalent in   
,france and elsewhere in ,europe during 
the ,middle ,ages4 ,this habit led to   
sexual abuses1 and was finally condemned
 by the ecclesiastical authorities4     
,indeed1 the ,church inflicted severe   
penances on the women who were guilty of
 using phalli3 ,mulier qualique molimine
 aut se ipsam aut cum altera fornicans  
tres annos poeniteat1 unum ex his pane  
et aqua4 ,cum sanctimoniali per machinam
 fornicans1 annos septem poeniteat1 duos
 ex his in pane et aqua4#he ,we see by  
this that nuns were more severely       
punished than were other women4         
,,ac ,according to ,abel de ,remusat    
7,nouv4 ,mel4 ,asiatiques1 p4           
#aaf71 the custom of tchin-than1 or     
religious defloration1 was      formerly
 in use in ,cambodia and ,malabar4 ,this

 custom seems to be      analogous to   
the jus primae noctis1 as practiced by  
many tribes1      where the woman1 on   
her bridal night1 has to yield herself  
up to      the male marriage guests--jus
 primae noctis1 as thus practiced1      
must not be confounded with the         
seignorial right1 the right of the      
lord1 or ruler4 ,the former right is    
regarded in the light of a      quasi   
religious observance1 while the latter  
is not4 ,the former      was in vogue in
 ancient times in the ,balearic ,isles  
and among the      ancient ,peruvians2  
recently among several aboriginal tribes
 of      ,india1 in ,burmah1 in         
,cashmere1 in ,madagascar1 in ,arabia1  
and in ,new      ,zealand4 ,vid4        
,teulon3 ,orig4 de la ,famille1 p4 #fi4 
#he ,martene et ,durand3 ,coll4 ,antiq4 
,can4 ,paenit41 iv1 #eb4  ,this use of  
the phallus is mentioned in the ,bible1 
where it is bitterly condemned by one of
 the prophets3 ,thou hast also taken thy
 fair jewels of my gold and of my       

silver1 which ,i had given thee1 and    
madest to thyself images of men1 and    
didst commit whoredom with them4#hf     
,finally1 it was the custom of the young
 girls of ,france during the ,middle    
,ages 7like the maidens of certain      
savage races71 who were on the eve of   
marriage1 to offer up to ,st4 ,foutin   
their last maiden robes4 ,from the      
evidence here adduced1 we see that      
phallic worship existed in some parts of
 ,europe as late as the latter half of  
the eighteenth century1 and that it was 
almost universal during the ,middle     
,ages4 ,according to ,becan1#hg         
,golnitz1#hh and other historians1 there
 were several other phallic saints      
besides ,st4 ,foutin who were worshiped 
in ,belgium1 ,spain1 ,germany and other 
,european countries2 but1 since their   
adoration was similar to that of ,st4   
,foutin1 ,i do not think it necessary to
 give a description of it here4 ,it has 
been shown conclusively that worship of 
the generative principle was in vogue   

among the ,latins1 the ,greeks1 the     
ancient ,germans1 the ,saxons1 the      
,danes1 the ,gauls1 the ,iberians1 the  
,picts1 the ,celts and the ,britons4 ,it
 has been demonstrated1 also1 that      
vestiges of phallic worship existed in  
,england1 ,france1 ,italy1 ,spain and   
,germany during the ,middle ,ages4 ,as  
late as the latter part of the          
eighteenth century wax images of the    
phallus were used as votive offerings in
 the town of ,isernia1 not many miles   
from ,naples2 the beribboned ,maypole of
 our ,mayday festival is but the flower 
decked phallus of the ,roman matrons2   
charms against jettitura1 the evil eye1 
little coral hands with the middle      
finger extended 7in ancient days one of 
the most common symbols of ,priapus7 can
 still be purchased in the streets of   
,rome4,,ad ,this worship 7that of       
,priapus7 which was but part of that of 
the generative powers1 appears to have  
been the most ancient of the            
superstitions of the human race1 and has

 prevailed more or less among all known 
peoples before the introduction of      
,christianity2 and1 singularly enough1  
so deeply it seems to have been         
implanted in human nature that even the 
promulgation of the gospel did not      
abolish it1 for it continued to exist1  
accepted and often encouraged by the    
medieval clergy4#hi       #hf ,ezekiel3 
chap1 xivi1 v4 #ag4       i             
,transcriber's ,note - ,this has been   
corrected in handwriting to      'xvi'4 
#hg ,becan3 ,origines ,antwerpianae1    
lib4 i1 pp4 #bf1 #aja4       #hh        
,golnitz3 ,itinerarium                  
,belgico-,gallicum1 p4 #eb4       ,,ad  
,the phallic hand in some form or other 
is frequently found in      the ruins of
 ,herculaneum and ,pompeii4 ,the        
so-called maison d'      joie found in  
one of the streets of ,pompeii is       
considered by some      authorities to  
have been a minor temple to ,venus where
 priapic      rites were celebrated4    
,the stone phallus at the entrance as   

well as      the erotic frescoes on the 
wall1 point to this as being true4      
#hi ,knight3 op4 cit4 ante41 p4 #aag4   
,so very ancient was the inception of   
the worship of the generative principle 
that we have some reason for believing  
that even the cave-dwellers practiced   
this cult4 ,it was stated in the        
,moniteur1 ,january1 #ahfe1 that in the 
province of ,venice1 in ,italy1         
excavations in a bone-cave have brought 
to light1 beneath ten feet of           
stalagmite1 bones of animals1 mostly    
post-tertiary1 of the usual description 
found in such places1 flint implements1 
with a needle of bone having an eye and 
point1 and a plate of argillaceous      
compound1 on which was scratched a rude 
drawing of the phallus4#ij ,thus we see 
that1 possibly1 from the time of the    
cave-dwellers to almost the beginning of
 the nineteenth century1 phallic worship
 existed in ,southern ,europe6 ,from the
 ,sagas1 folklore tales1 and myths of   
the ,norse we have every reason for     

believing that it existed for almost as 
great a length of time in ,northern     
,europe4 ,that in ,western ,europe1     
before and during the ,middle ,ages1 it 
flourished in a variety of forms1 we    
have unimpeachable testimony4       #ij 
,the ,worship of the ,generative        
,powers1 footnote p4 #aag4  ,in this    
brief outline of phallic worship ,i have
 endeavored to show that the worship of 
the generative principle has been       
universal2 that it is still practiced by
 primitive peoples1 and that vestiges of
 it lingered among certain civilized    
peoples until1 comparatively speaking1 a
 recent time4 ,in order to show what a  
height of idealization and abstraction  
it had reached at a time when ,greece   
stood at the head of the civilized      
world1 ,i will close this part of my    
essay with the following quotation from 
,knight's strong1 erudite1 and          
exhaustive treatise3 ,the ancient       
theologists 444 finding that they could 
conceive no idea of infinity1 were      

content to revere the ,infinite ,being  
in the most general and efficient       
exertion of his power--attraction2 whose
 agency is perceptible through all      
matter1 and to which all motion may1    
perhaps1 be ultimately traced4 ,his     
agency being supposed to extend through 
the whole material world1 and to produce
 all the various revolutions by which   
its system is sustained1 his attributes 
were1 of course1 extremely numerous and 
varied4 ,these were expressed by various
 titles and epithets in the mystic hymns
 and litanies1 which the artists        
endeavored to represent by various forms
 and characters of men and animals4 ,the
 great characteristic attribute was     
represented by the organ of generation  
in that state of tension and rigidity   
which is necessary to the due           
performance of its functions4 ,many     
small images of this kind have been     
found among the ruins of ,herculaneum   
and ,pompeii1 attached to bracelets1    
which the chaste and pious matrons of   

antiquity wore round their necks and    
arms4 ,in these the organ of generation 
appears alone1 or accompanied by the    
wings of incubation1 in order to show   
that the wearer devoted herself wholly  
and solely to procreation1 the great end
 for which she was ordained4 ,so        
expressive a symbol1 being constantly in
 view1 must keep her attention fixed on 
its natural object1 and continually     
remind her of the gratitude she owed the
 ,creator for having taken her into his 
service1 made her partaker of his most  
valuable blessings1 and employed her as 
the passive instrument in the exertion  
of his most beneficial power4 ,the      
female organs of generation were revered
 as symbols of the generative power of  
nature or matter1 as the male's were of 
the generative powers of ,god4#ia       
#ia ,knight3 ,the ,worship of ,priapus1 
p4 #bg1 et seq4     ,,chapter ,,iii4    
,,the ,,psychical ,,correlation ,,of    
,,religious ,,emotion ,,and ,,sexual    
,,desire4   ,that there exists a        

relationship between the cultivated     
ethical emotion1 religious feeling1 and 
the essentially natural physio-psychical
 function1 sexual desire or libido1 is a
 fact noticed and commented on by many  
thinkers and writers4 ,the literature of
 the subject is1 however1 exceedingly   
fragmentary and disconnected1 no author 
7as far as ,i have been able to         
determine7 having devoted as much as one
 thousand words to the consideration of 
this very interesting psychical         
phenomenon4 ,hence1 my data have been   
gathered from many sources1 which are as
 diversified as they are numerous4      
,beyond a question of doubt1 man becomes
 religiously enthused most frequently   
either early in life1 when pubescence   
is1 or is about to be1 established1 or  
late in life1 when sexual desire has    
become either entirely extinct or very  
much abated4 ,young boys and girls are  
exceedingly impressionable at1 or just  
before1 puberty1 and are apt to embrace 
religion with the utmost enthusiasm4 ,a 

distinguished evangelist declares that  
men and women seldom or never enter into
 the kingdom of ,god after they have    
arrived at maturity4 ,out of a thousand 
converts1 seven hundred are converted   
before they are twenty years old4#ib    
#ib ,b4 ,fay ,mills1 ,sermon to ,young  
,men and ,young ,women1 at              
,owensboro1 ,ky41 ,may #bj1 #ahid4  ,the
 ,roman ,catholic church is keenly alive
 to these facts1 therefore requires the 
rite of confirmation to be administered1
 if possible1 to its would-be           
communicants at1 or before1 the age of  
puberty4,,ae       ,,ae ,this knowledge 
is not confined to the ,catholic church 
alone2      in all denominations the    
pubescent human being is considered most
      susceptible to religious          
influences4 ,the cause or raison d 'etre
      of this susceptibility is1 by no  
means1 generally recognized4  ,of all   
the insanities of the pubescent state1  
erotomania and religious mania are the  
most frequent and the most pronounced4  

,sometimes they go hand in hand1 the    
most inordinate sensuality being coupled
 with abnormal religious zeal4 ,a young 
woman of my acquaintance1 whose conduct 
has given rise to much scandal1 is1 at  
times1 a reincarnate ,messalina1 while  
at other times she is the very          
embodiment of ethical and religious     
purity4 ,another young girl1 in whom    
vita sexualis was about to be           
established1 became religiously insane  
and had delusions in which she declared 
that she was in heaven and sitting at   
the right hand of ,god4 ,she declared   
this over and over again1 while         
shamelessly committing manustrupation6  
,krafft-,ebing calls attention to this  
relation between religious and sexual   
feeling in psycho-pathological states4  
,it suffices1 says he1 to recall how    
intense sensuality makes itself manifest
 in the clinical history of many        
religious maniacs2 the motley mixture of
 religious and sexual delusions that is 
so frequently observed in psychoses 7e4 

g41 in maniacal women who think they are
 or will be the mother of ,god71 but    
particularly in masturbatic insanity2   
and finally1 the sexual1 cruel          
self-punishment1 injuries1              
self-castrations1 and even              
self-crucifixions1 resulting from       
abnormal religio-sexual feeling4#ic     
#ic ,krafft-,ebing1 ,psychopathia       
,sexualis1 p4 #h4  ,an example of the   
last mentioned self-immolation          
7self-crucifixion7 is given by          
,berghierri1 and is a remarkable        
instance of the interchangeableness of  
religious emotion and sexual desire in  
psychopathic individuals4 ,the man in   
question1 who had been intensely        
sensual1 manufactured a cross1 nailed   
himself to it1 and ingeniously managed  
to suspend himself and cross from the   
window of his sleeping apartment4  ,all 
through the history of insanity the     
student has occasion to observe this    
close alliance of sexual and religious  
ideas2 an alliance which may be partly  

accounted for because of the prominence 
which sexual themes have in most creeds1
 as illustrated in ancient times by the 
phallus worship of the ,egyptians1 the  
ceremonies of the ,friga cultus of the  
,saxons1 the frequent and detailed      
reference to sexual topics in the ,koran
 and several other books of the kind1   
and which is further illustrated in the 
performances which1 to come down to a   
modern period1 characterize the         
religious revival and camp-meeting as   
they tinctured their medieval model1 the
 ,muenster ,anabaptist movement4#id     
#id ,spitzka3 ,insanity1 p4 #ci4  ,men1 
owing to their greater freedom1 soon    
learn the difference of the sexes and   
the delights of sexual congress2 women1 
hedged in by conventionalities and      
deterred by their innate passivity1     
remain1 for the most part1 in ignorance 
of sexual knowledge until their         
marriage4 ,for this reason it happens   
that very many more women than men      
experience religious emotion4 ,young    

married men and women1 who are in       
perfect sexual health1 and who have not 
experienced religion before marriage1   
seldom give this emotion a single       
thought until late in life1 when both   
libido and vita sexualis are on the wane
 or are extinct4 ,voltaire cynically1   
though truthfully1 observes that when   
woman is no longer pleasing to man she  
then turns to ,god4 ,a woman who has    
been disappointed in love almost        
invariably seeks consolation in         
religion4 ,the virtuous unmarried woman1
 who has been unsuccessful in the       
pursuit of a husband1 invariably turns  
to ,god and religion with impassioned   
zeal and energy4  ,ungratified1 or1     
rather1 unsatisfied1 sensuality very    
frequently gives rise to great          
religio-sexual enthusiasm4 ,the         
circumcised foreskin of ,christ1 where  
it was and what had become of it1 was a 
source of continual worriment to the nun
 ,blanbekin2 in an ecstacy of           
ungratified libido1 ,st4 ,catherine of  

,genoa would frequently cast herself on 
the hard floor of her cell1 crying3     
,love6 love6 ,i can endure it no longer2
 ,st4 ,armelle and ,st4 ,elizabeth were 
troubled with libido for the child      
,jesus2#ie an old prayer is quite       
significant3 ,oh1 that ,i had found     
thee1 ,holy ,emanuel2 ,oh1 that ,i had  
thee in my bed to bring delight to body 
and soul6 ,come and be mine1 and my     
heart shall be thy resting-place4#if    
,francis ,parkman calls attention to the
 fact that the nuns sent over to        
,america in colonization days were      
frequently seized with religio-sexual   
frenzy4 ,she heard1 writes he of ,marie 
de l',incarnation1 in a trance1 a       
miraculous voice4 ,it was that of       
,christ1 promising to become her spouse4
 ,months and years passed1 full of      
troubled hopes and fears1 when again the
 voice sounded in her ear1 with         
assurance that the promise was          
fulfilled1 and that she was1 indeed1 his
 bride4 ,now ensued phenomena which are 

not infrequent among ,roman ,catholic   
female devotees1 when unmarried1 or     
married unhappily1 and which have their 
source in the necessities of a woman's  
nature4 7,the italics are my own47 ,to  
her excited thought1 her divine spouse  
became a living presence2 and her       
language to him1 as recorded by herself1
 is of intense passion4 ,she went to    
prayer1 agitated and tremulous1 as if to
 a meeting with an earthly lover3 ',oh1 
my ,love1' she exclaimed1 'when shall ,i
 embrace you8 ,have you no pity on the  
torments that ,i suffer8 ,alas6 alas6 my
 ,love1 my ,beauty1 my ,life6 ,instead  
of healing my pain1 you take pleasure in
 it4 ,come1 let me embrace you1 and die 
in your sacred arms6'#ig ,the historian 
remarks that the holy widow1 as her     
biographers call her1 is an example1 and
 a lamentable one1 of the tendency of   
the erotic principle to ally itself with
 high religious excitement and          
enthusiasm4 ,further along he says that 
some of the pupils of ,marie de         

l',incarnation1 also1 had mystical      
marriages with ,christ2 and the         
impassioned rhapsodies of one of them   
being overheard1 she nearly lost her    
character1 as it was thought that she   
was apostrophizing an earthly lover4#ih 
#ie ,krafft-,ebing3 op4 cit4 ante41 p4  
#h1 footnote4       #if ,ibid4       #ig
 ,francis ,parkman3 ,the ,jesuits in    
,north ,america1 p4 #age4 ,o      amour1
 quand vous embrasserai-je8 ,n'avez vous
 point pitie de moi      dans le        
tourment que je souffre8 ,helas6 mon    
amour1 ma beaute1 ma      vie6 au lieu  
de me guerir1 vous vous plaisez a mes   
maux4 ,venez donc      que je vous      
embrasse et je meure entre vos bras     
sacres4 ,journal      de ,marie de      
l',incarnation4       #ih ,francis      
,parkman3 ,the ,jesuits in ,north       
,america1 p4 #agf4  ,the instances of   
religio-sexual outbursts in nuns and    
,roman ,catholic female devotees who    
lead celibate lives are very numerous2  
,i will1 however1 call attention to but 

one other3 ,st4 ,veronica was so much in
 love with the divine lion that she took
 a young lion to bed with her1 fondled  
and kissed it1 and allowed it to suck   
her breasts4#ii ,throughout sacred      
literature1 beginning with the ,bible   
itself1 religio-sexual feeling is very  
much en evidence4 ,hosea married a      
prostitute because--so he declared--,god
 commanded him so to do4 ,if ,solomon's 
beautiful song is typical of the ,church
 and the ,christ 7as some theologians   
teach71 then it is an unmistakable      
instance of religio-sexual feeling2     
religious emotion and sexual desire walk
 hand in hand through the measures of   
this impassioned verse4 ,circumcision1  
now eminently a religious ceremony1 was1
 unquestionably1 a sexual fetich and a  
phallic rite1 which has been handed down
 from antiquity1 when all the world were
 phallic worshipers6 ,the very pillars  
set up by the patriarchs in             
commemoration of certain events were but
 rude images of the phallus1 while not a

 few of the mysteries of the ,holy of   
,holies itself were but vestiges of     
,chaldean and ,egyptian genital         
worship6,,af       #ii ,friedreich3     
,psychologie1 p4 #chi4       ,,af ,a    
recent writer1 ,dr4 ,lydston1 expresses 
surprise that the      brothel should   
occupy such a prominent place in the    
ancient      chronicles4 ,when the      
universality and high honor of phallic  
worship      is taken into              
consideration1 the entertainment of the 
,captain of      the ,host in a brothel 
ceases to be a matter or cause for      
surprise2      the prominence given such
 entertainment by the ancient historians
      is perfectly natural and to be    
expected4 ,compare ,lydston3 ,the       
,diseases of ,society1 p4 #cje4  ,that a
 relationship between1 and an           
interchangeableness of1 these two widely
 dissimilar psychical operations1 i4e41 
religious emotion and sexual desire1    
does exist1 there can be no doubt4,,ag  
,now1 what is the cause of1 the reason  

for1 this relationship8 ,mantegazza1    
,maudsley1 ,schleiermacher1             
,krafft-,ebing1 and many others have    
endeavored1 incidentally1 to assign     
reasons for this relationship1 but have1
 in my opinion1 signally failed4        
,spitzka has tentatively1 and without   
elaborating his idea in the least1      
suggested a theory which1 ,i believe1   
solves the problem in every essential   
point4 ,says he in ,insanity1 page #ci3 
,this alliance 7between religious       
emotion and libido7 may be partly       
accounted for because of the prominence 
which sexual themes have in most creeds1
 as illustrated in ancient times by the 
phallus worship of the ,egyptians1 the  
ceremonies of the ,friga cultus of the  
,saxons1 the frequent and detailed      
reference to sexual topics in the ,koran
 and several other books of the kind1   
etc4 ,dr4 ,spitzka does not enter into  
any discussion of the matter2 he simply 
asserts his belief in the cause of the  
relationship1 and then dismisses the    

subject without further comment4        
,,ag ,the author believes that upon the 
correlation of religious      emotion   
and sexual desire depends1 in a great   
measure1 the      stability of sexual   
morality4 ,were it not for this         
correlation1      sexual promiscuity    
would be the rule throughout the world4 
,now1 permit me1 as briefly as possible1
 to designate the cause of the          
relationship between1 and the           
interchangeableness of1 religious       
feeling and sexual desire1 which1 as ,i 
believe1 is to be found in the once     
widespread existence of phallic worship4
  ,some ten or twelve years ago1 in an  
article on ,suicide1 which was published
 in the ,american ,practitioner and     
,news1 ,i suggested 7as a possible      
explanation for certain psychical       
phenomena7 the existence in man of two  
consciousnesses1 an active1 vigilant    
consciousness and a pseudo-dormant      
consciousness4 ,again1 in the ,american 
,naturalist1 in an essay entitled ,the  

,psychology of ,hypnotism1#ajj ,i       
reasserted this theory and1 to a certain
 extent1 elaborated it4 ,i placed man's 
active consciousness in the cortical    
portion of the brain1 and his           
pseudo-dormant1 unconscious             
consciousness 7arbitrarily1 be it       
confessed7 in the basilar ganglia1 and  
called this latter consciousness1       
ganglionic consciousness4       #ajj    
,loc4 cit41 ,november1 #ahid4           
,recently1 much has been written on the 
doctrine of duplex personality1 notably 
by ,mr4 ,f4 ,w4 ,h4 ,myers1 in a series 
of papers read before the ,society of   
,psychical ,research4 ,professor        
,newbold has also written very          
entertainingly and instructively on this
 subject4 ,while not fully accepting the
 theory of duplex personality1 i4 e41   
active consciousness and subliminal     
consciousness 7,myers' name for the     
pseudo-dormant consciousness71 as having
 been proven1 ,newbold says3 ,of all the
 theories developed from the point of   

independence1 ,mr4 ,myers' is the most  
comprehensive in its scope1 is kept in  
most constant touch with what the author
 regards as facts1 and displays the     
greatest philosophic insight4#aja       
,according to the theory of duplex      
personality1 many instincts1 desires1   
and emotions have been crowded out of   
the active consciousness and have been  
relegated to the pseudo-dormant         
consciousness4 ,this has been brought   
about by a process of selection out of  
an infinity of possible elements solely 
on the grounds of utility4 ,thus the    
cause for our horror of incest is hidden
 away in our subliminal consciousness2  
yet we cannot but think1 with           
,westermarck1 that this instinct is but 
the result of natural selection1#ajb the
 utility of the factor or factors       
occasioning it being no longer in       
evidence or required4 ,again1 at certain
 seasons1 man is seized with waldliebe  
7forest-love7 and longs to flee from the
 haunts of men1 and1 with gun and rod1  

to revert1 as far as possible1 to the   
state of his savage ancestors4 ,the     
desire is safely hidden away in his     
subliminal consciousness until favoring 
circumstances tempt it forth4 ,it is not
 alone in sleep1 dreams1 hypnosis1      
trance1 and ecstacy that we see a       
temporary subsidence of the upper       
consciousness and the upheaval of a     
subliminal stratum2 there are many other
 states and many other causes for this  
strange psychical phenomenon4       #aja
 ,newbold3 ,appleton's ,popular ,science
 ,monthly1 ,february1      #ahig1 p4    
#eaf4       #ajb ,westermarck3 ,history 
of ,human ,marriage1 p4 #ceb4  ,i have  
demonstrated in the preceding pages that
 the worship of the generative principle
 was almost1 if not wholly1 universal2  
,i have also shown that the beliefs1    
rites1 and ceremonies of this cult made 
a lasting impression upon the minds of  
every people among whom it gained a     
foothold4 ,take the case of the ancient 
,hebrews4 ,notwithstanding the fact that

 they were tried in the furnace of      
,javeh's awful wrath time and again2    
notwithstanding the fact that famine1   
pestilence1 war1 and imprisonment       
destroyed them by thousands2 and1       
notwithstanding the fact that they were 
threatened with utter and absolute      
annihilation--all on account of this    
cult--they would not wholly abandon it4 
,the words of the prophets become almost
 pathetic as we read1 over and over     
again1 that1 although the kings did that
 which was pleasing in the sight of the 
,lord1 the high places and the groves   
were not destroyed4 ,take the case of   
the ,aztecs4 ,crushed beneath the iron  
heels of ,spain's hardy buccaneers1 an  
utterly broken and conquered race1      
,cortez turned them over to the         
ministering care of his zealous priests4
 ,the prison1 agonizing torture1 and the
 awful stake succeeded1 at last1 in     
,christianizing them2 they became       
children of ,holy ,mother ,church6 ,and 
yet1 hundreds of years after this       

glorious victory of the cross1 ,biart   
finds the humble offerings of their     
descendants at the feet of              
,mictlanteuctli6 ,the modern ,christian 
,indian1 in the deep shadows of the     
night1 steals forth to offer up in      
secrecy a prayer at the feet of one of  
the phallic trinity6 ,what matters it to
 the modern ,aztec that his petition is 
offered to the ruler of ,mictlan1 the   
hell of his forefathers1 instead of to  
the mighty ,ipalnemoani1 the            
,life-,giver8#ajc ,in his opinion1      
,mictlanteuctli represents the entire   
,aztec theogony1 for has not his white  
priest kept the name of this god green  
in his memory8 ,all the other gods have 
been forgotten2 their personalities have
 been absorbed into that of the god of  
hell1 for he has had advertisers in the 
shape of ,catholic priests ever since   
the fall of the ,aztec ,empire6 ,take   
the case of the ,peruvians4 ,although   
the ,place of ,gold and the beautiful   
,virgins of the ,sun are not even       

memories to the descendants of the      
,incas1 the religion which gave rise to 
them is not wholly forgotten2 phallic   
rites and ceremonies are to be observed 
interwoven with their ,christian ritual 
and belief6 ,take the case of the ,roman
 ,catholic devotees of ,isernia1 of     
,varailles1 of ,lyons1 of hundreds of   
other places during the latter half of  
the eighteenth century4 ,priapus died   
when the first ,christian emperor took  
his seat on the throne of ,imperial     
,rome1 and yet1 hundreds and hundreds of
 years thereafter1 we behold some of the
 mysteries of ,eleusis almost within the
 shadow of ,st4 ,peter's6       #ajc    
,biart3 ,the ,aztecs1 p4 #aaj4  ,now1   
why is this8 ,there can be but one      
answer1 and that is that these people   
simply inherited a portion of the       
psychos of their forefathers1 which made
 the tenets of this religion natural and
 easy of belief4 ,i have demonstrated1  
,i believe1 that religious feeling was  
not a psychical trait in the beginning2 

like a number of other mental           
attributes1 it was the result of        
evolution4#ajd ,mental abstraction1     
especially as associated with religious 
feeling1 was the result of psychical    
growth1 of psychically inherited        
experiences4,,ah ,as psychos grew       
beneath the fostering influence of ages 
of experience1 the mind became able to  
formulate abstract thought4 ,in the     
beginning1 the process of ratiocination 
was1 necessarily1 very simple2 but1     
simple as it was1 it was able to        
recognize the source of life--first1 in 
the sun1 then1 in the second place1 in  
man himself2 and1 finally and           
abstractly1 in a source outside of1 but 
connected with1 man4 ,this abstract     
source1 which sprung from sexuality1 ab 
initio1 they deified and worshiped4     
,thus we see that1 in the very          
beginning1 the worship of the generative
 principle sprung from1 and was a part  
of1 man himself4 ,throughout thousands  
and thousands of years1 religious       

feeling and sexual desire1 the component
 parts of phallic adoration1 were       
intimately associated2 finally1         
religio-sexuality became an instinct1   
just as a belief in the existence of a  
double or soul became an instinct4      
#ajd ,huxley3 ,essays2 ,haeckel3 ,the   
,history of ,creation2      ,haeckel3   
,the ,evolution of ,man2 ,peschel3 ,the 
,races of ,man2 ,de      ,quatrefages3  
,the ,human ,species2 ,draper3 ,the     
,conflict ,between      ,religion and   
,science2 ,white3 ,history of the       
,warfare of ,science      with          
,theology2 ,romanes3 ,mental ,evolution 
in ,man2 ,wallace3 ,the      ,malay     
,archipelago 7,the ,races of ,man in the
 ,malay ,archipelago1 c4      xl72      
,darwin's ,works2 ,maudsley3 ,the       
,physiology of ,mind2 ,tylor3           
,anthropology2 ,spencer3 ,synthetic     
,philosophy--,prin4 ,psych41      ,prin4
 ,sociol4       ,,ah ,the sense of      
familiarity implies previous perception 
now      dissociated1 but subconsciously

 present and struggling up toward       
the surface of the upper consciousness  
to gain recognition4 ,boris      ,sidis3
 ,multiple ,personality1 p4 #ea4        
,belief in the existence of a soul has  
never been repressed2 its utility is    
still recognized2 hence1 it is present  
in our active consciousness4 ,the       
accumulated experiences of civilization 
have1 however1 declared the inutility of
 phallic worship1 hence1 it has been    
crowded out of our active consciousness 
by a process of selection and has been  
relegated to the innermost recesses of  
our subliminal consciousness1 where also
 dwell many other formerly active       
instincts of our savage ancestors4 ,when
 circumstances favoring their           
appearances occur1 these pseudo-dormant 
instincts always become evident2 it is  
due to this fact that the correlation of
 religious emotion and sexual desire    
exists4     ,,viraginity ,,and          
,,effemination4   ,in following up the  
chain of evolution in animal life from  

its inception in primordial protoplasm  
to its end1 as we now find it1 we       
discover that the interlinking organisms
 are1 in the beginning1 either asexual  
or hermaphroditic4 ,the moneron1 the    
lowest form of animal life1 simply      
multiplies by division4 ,the different  
elements through which propagation and  
generation are carried on1 are          
undoubtedly present even in the moneron1
 but are not differentiated4 ,the       
moneron is an organless1 structureless  
organism1 consequently asexual4 ,the    
cell1 on the contrary1 is               
hermaphroditic1 for it contains within  
itself the necessary elements for       
reproducing itself4 ,the amoeba is the  
connecting link which connects all      
terrene life with primitive bathybian   
protoplasm1 and is1 strictly speaking1 a
 true hermaphrodite4 ,ascending at once 
to the sixth stage in the ancestry of   
man1 we come to the acoelomi1 or worms  
without body cavity4 ,these worms are   
phylogenetic1 consequently              

hermaphroditic4 ,i do not mean to say   
that these worms have the organs of each
 sex equally developed2 therefore1 in   
the use of the word hermaphrodite1 ,i   
use it in its broadest sense4 ,i simply 
mean that they are autogenetic4 ,in the 
rhabdocoela the sexual organs appear in 
their simplest forms--a testis anterior 
to a single or double ovary4 ,other     
gliding worms have a more complex       
arrangement of the sexual organs1 but   
most of them are true hermaphrodites4   
,next in the chain of evolutionary      
development1 and one step nearer man1 we
 find the soft worms 7scolecidae72 from 
a branch of this family the parent group
 of vertebrates was developed4 ,the     
immediate ancestor of the vertebrates   
was either the amphioxus 7lancelet7 or  
some other notochordate animal1 whose   
type is now extinct4 ,thus we have      
traced hermaphroditism from the amoeba  
to the amphioxus1 from the ancestor of  
the parent cell to the ancestor of the  
vertebrates4 ,we could carry it further1

 but it is unnecessary4 ,effemination   
and viraginity1 are due directly to the 
influence of that strange law laid down 
by ,darwin--the law of reversion to     
ancestral types4 ,it is an effort of    
nature to return man to the old         
hermaphroditic form from which he was   
evolved4 ,it is an effort on the part of
 nature to incorporate the              
individualities of the male and female1 
both physical and psychical1 in one     
body4 ,the phenomenon of atavism is more
 apt to occur in feeble types than in   
strong1 healthy and well-developed      
types4 ,microcephalism1 occurring1 as it
 most frequently does1 among ignorant1  
ill-nourished1 and unhealthy people1 is 
an example4 ,dolichocephalism and a     
flattening of the cranial arch1 with    
corresponding loss of capacity in the   
skull--types that we see everywhere     
among the depraved and vicious--are     
other examples of this tendency of      
atavism to seize on weakened and        
unhealthy subjects4 ,effemination finds 

more victims among the wealthy and the  
educated than among the poor and        
uneducated4 ,this phenomenon is a       
psychic rather than a physical          
hermaphroditism1 and is directly        
traceable to the enervation produced by 
the habits of the wealthy and           
unemployed4 ,wealth begets luxury1      
luxury begets debauchery and consequent 
enervation4 ,periods of moral decadence 
in the life of a nation are always      
coincident with periods of luxury and   
great wealth1 with consequent enervation
 and effemination2 examples of this may 
be found in the histories of ,rome1     
,greece1 and ,france4 ,during the reign 
of ,louis ,,xv41 examples of            
effemination crowded into the court and 
vied with the royal fop in the splendor 
of their raiment and effeminacy of their
 bearing4 ,psychic hermaphroditism does 
not occur naturally in uncivilized or   
half-civilized races4 ,the reason for   
this is patent4 ,atavism finds among    
them no weakened and enervated subjects 

on whom to perpetrate this strange      
travesty on nature4  ,large cities are  
the hotbeds and breeding-places of the  
various neuroses4 ,there general paresis
 treads closely upon the heels of sexual
 neurasthenia1 while the victims of     
hysteria and kindred ills are almost    
countless in their number4 ,what wonder1
 then1 that the offspring of such       
parents should be weak and neurasthenic1
 and fall easy victims to the thousand  
and one erotic fancies which beset them6
 ,what wonder that here atavism finds   
its richest field1 and plays its        
strangest and most fearful pranks1      
sending men into the world with the     
tastes1 desires1 and habits of women1   
and women with all the mental hibitudes 
of men6 ,juvenal wrote in scathing1     
searing sarcasm of the degeneracy of the
 ,roman youth2 effemination was very    
prevalent1 and this bitter satirist     
wrote burning words against their       
degrading and bestial practices4 ,it    
seems to me that we are beginning to    

need a ,juvenal for this day and        
generation6  ,people divide themselves  
into classes1 and these classes are     
generally exceedingly clannish4 ,it is  
not considered good form to marry out of
 the class to which an individual may   
belong1 consequently1 no new types of   
individuals are added4 ,luxury and      
debauchery enervate the classes which   
indulge in them4 ,the people of these   
classes intermarry among themselves1 no 
new blood is added1 hence1 in a very few
 generations1 degeneration sets in4     
,effemination and viraginity are common 
types of degeneration which always      
follow in the wake of luxury and        
debauchery4 ,effemination makes its     
appearance early in life4 ,the young boy
 likes the society of girls2 he plays   
with dolls1 and1 if permitted1 will don 
female attire and dress his hair like a 
girl4 ,he learns to sew1 to knit1 to    
embroider1 to do tatting4 ,he becomes a 
connoisseur in female dress1 and likes  
to discuss matters pertaining to the    

toilet of females4 ,he does not care for
 boyish sports1 and when he grows older1
 takes no pleasure in the amusements and
 pursuits of his masculine              
acquaintances4 ,he prefers to spend his 
time with women and to engage in their  
employments and amusements4 ,as the     
change in his psychic being becomes more
 pronounced and more overpowering1 he   
will endeavor to approach the female in 
gait1 attitude1 and style of dress4  ,i 
have seen mothers guilty of incalculable
 harm by fostering such inclinations in 
their sons4 ,they think 7the thought is 
a natural one7 that such perversions of 
taste indicate gentleness and           
kindliness1 and induce their sons to    
continue in the practice of them1 thus  
assisting atavism in its baneful work4  
,effemination is a disease which1 taken 
at its inception1 can generally be      
eradicated and cured4 ,as soon as it is 
discovered1 the boy's surroundings      
should be changed2 his mind should be   
directed into new channels1 and his     

dormant boy's nature aroused4 ,outdoor  
exercise and a free intercourse with    
companions of his own sex should be made
 important factors in the treatment of  
an incipient effeminant4 ,he should be  
carefully watched until vita sexualis   
has been established2 he should then be 
taught the dangers of youthful follies  
and indiscretions4  ,a dandified man is 
always ridiculous1 but when he adds to  
his foppery1 effemination1 he then      
becomes contemptible4  ,several years   
ago ,i had the opportunity of studying a
 pronounced effeminant4 ,he is one of   
the best known young men of a ,southern 
city1 and is a leader in society4 ,he   
took me to his boudoir and showed me his
 lingerie4 ,the words quoted are his    
own4 ,his nightgowns were marvels of    
artistic needlework1 as far as ,i was   
able to judge1 and were made by himself4
 ,his nightcaps were sweetly pretty1 and
 one of them was a perfect dream of     
beauty4 ,on his dressing-table were all 
the accessories of a modern society     

woman's toilet1 including rouge1 powder1
 a complete manicure set1 and numerous  
bottles of perfumes and toilet waters4  
,in his wardrobe he had displayed on    
forms1 some six or eight corsets and    
chemisettes--corset-covers1 as he       
designated them4  ,this man's voice and 
manner of speaking are decidedly        
feminine2 all the little mannerisms and 
affectations of a society woman being   
faithfully reproduced4 ,i understand    
from his associates that he is a        
splendid business man1 and that not a   
breath of scandal has ever tarnished his
 good name4 ,he was reared by his       
mother1 and never associated with boys  
until his sixteenth year4 ,i understood 
from him that she always treated him as 
a girl1 and consulted him in all things 
pertaining to her toilet4 ,he seemed    
utterly unconscious of his anomalous    
condition1 and as his business          
associates are gentlemen1 and his       
intimate friends are ladies1 he may     
drift through life without a single jar 

to mar the serenity of his existence4   
,viraginity is1 comparatively1 an       
infrequent occurrence1 but under its    
influence the unfortunate victims are   
guilty of startling vagaries4 ,the      
recent case of ,alice ,mitchell1 who    
killed ,miss ,ward1 at ,memphis1 ,tenn41
 is an example of pronounced viraginity4
 ,we see daily in the newspapers        
accounts of women who masquerade as men1
 and history abounds in like instances4 
,the celebrated writer ,count ,sandor   
,v4 was a woman who posed as a man1 and 
who was in fact ,sarolta 7,charlotte71  
,countess ,v4 ,among many foolish things
 that her father encouraged in her was  
the fact that he brought her up as a    
boy1 called her ,sandor1 allowed her to 
ride1 drive1 and hunt1 admiring her     
muscular energy4 ,at the age of thirteen
 she ran away from school1 where she had
 been sent by her mother1 and returned  
home4 ,sarolta returned to her mother1  
who1 however1 could do nothing and was  
compelled to allow her daughter to again

 become ,sandor1 wear male clothes1 and1
 at least once a year1 to fall in love  
with persons of her own sex4  ,mothers1 
early in life1 though not from any sense
 of danger to their daughters1 begin to 
eradicate the tom-boy inclinations in   
their female children2 hence the        
comparative infrequency of viraginity4  
,the congenital viragint will always    
remain somewhat masculine in her tastes 
and ideas1 but her inclinations and     
desires having been turned toward       
femininity early in life1 she will      
escape the horrors of complete          
viraginity or gynandry4 ,the victim of  
effemination1 however1 is saved by no   
such accidental forethought4 ,the       
ignorant mother fosters feminine        
inclinations and desires in her         
effeminate son until his psychic being  
becomes entirely changed1 and not even  
the establishment of vita sexualis will 
save him from effemination4  ,an only   
son1 who is in the least degree         
neurasthenic1 runs the risk of becoming 

an effeminant under the tutelage of a   
loving but ignorant mother who          
encourages his feminine tastes and      
inclinations4 ,a young man of my        
acquaintance1 who is an only son1 is so 
situated4 ,this young man devotes his   
entire attention to matters of the      
toilet4 ,he paints his cheeks and       
powders his face2 even his eyebrows and 
eyelashes are anointed with some        
dark-colored ointment or pomade4        
,effemination and viraginity are more   
prevalent in the ,old ,world than in the
 ,united ,states4 ,the civilization and 
settlement of the ,united ,states are1  
comparatively speaking1 new4 ,the people
 are1 as yet1 a young1 strong1 and      
vigorous nation4 ,years of luxury and   
debauchery have not yet brought the     
penalty of enervation and neurasthenia  
to the masses1 though in certain circles
 of society1 it is becoming painfully   
evident that that penalty is being even 
now exacted4  ,in this article ,i have  
described only mild types of viraginity 

and effemination4 ,in the more          
pronounced types of these singular      
examples of atavism or reversion1 the   
victims commit the most unheard of and  
the most unnatural acts4  ,almost every 
case of effemination or viraginity can  
be cured if recognized and treated in   
its incipiency4 ,the parents should be  
the physicians4 ,they should keep a     
watchful supervision over their         
offspring1 and as soon as any evidences 
of effemination or viraginity become    
apparent1 treatment1 both physical and  
psychical1 should at once be instituted4
  ,effemination has occasioned the      
downfall of many nations2 let us guard  
against it with all our power4 ,let us  
train up our boys to be manly men1 and  
our girls to be womanly women4          
,,borderlands ,,and ,,crankdom4   ,when 
that bilious critic and merciless       
crucifier of human foibles1 ,carlyle1   
himself a degenerate1 wrote that        
nine-tenths of the world were fools1 he 
was much nearer truth than most men     

think4 ,when we take an introspective   
view of our sane personality1 we shudder
 to see how near it is to the           
borderlands of insanity and the bizarre 
and eccentric world of crankdom4 ,there 
hardly lives a man who does not possess 
some eccentricity1 or who does not      
cherish1 hidden1 perhaps1 deep within   
himself1 some small delusion1 which he  
is ashamed to acknowledge to the outside
 world4 ,social relations and the iron  
rules of custom hold in place the       
balance-wheel of many a disordered mind4
 ,the mental equipoise is kept at the   
normal standard only by the powerful aid
 of the will1 supported and assisted by 
extraneous adjuvants1 such as fear of   
punishment1 fear of personal harm1 and1 
above all1 by the fear of ridicule4     
,many a man hugs his delusions closely  
to his heart1 indulges them only in the 
secret recesses of his soul1 and1 their 
sole owner and acquaintance1 carries    
them with him to his grave4  ,any man   
who has a retentive memory1 and one     

capable of minute analysis1 can look    
back in his life and recall moments when
 his insane personality got the better  
of his will1 and ran riot in forbidden  
pathways4 ,he may not have committed an 
insane act2 yet the thought1 the        
impulse1 the delusion was there and only
 outside influences kept it from        
breaking forth4 ,who fails to remember  
certain times in his life when he has   
had an almost overpowering desire to cry
 out in church1 or to laugh on some sad 
or solemn occasion2 or1 having a razor  
in his hand1 has had an impulse1 sudden 
and intense1 to draw it across his      
throat2 or1 being on some high place1   
has been seized with the desire to hurl 
himself downward8 ,this shows how near  
indeed the healthy mind ever hovers on  
the borderlands of insanity4  ,man      
stands so close to the portals of       
insanity that he can look through the   
gateway1 when he takes an introspective 
view of his psychical being1 and can see
 the phantoms and mental ghosts of his  

insane personality4  ,we have every     
reason to believe that1 among civilized 
races1 there is a vast amount of latent 
insanity4 ,taking the tables of our     
insane asylums1 we find a thousand and  
one causes given as the exciting factors
 in the mental overthrow4 ,love1        
religion1 anger1 disappointment1 etc41  
down through the long list of psychic   
and aesthetic emotions1 until it seems  
as though even a breath of wind would be
 sufficient to destroy the mental       
equipoise4  ,among savage and           
uncivilized races1 insanity is of       
infrequent occurrence4 ,only when a race
 begins to elevate itself and take on a 
higher view of morality1 when new rules 
and new laws1 new customs and           
innovations1 tending to place           
individuals in a state of comparison1   
arise1 does insanity make its           
appearance4 ,the untutored savage1      
living in a state of communism1 is      
untroubled by the jealousies and        
heart-burnings of his civilized         

congener4 ,he lives in the to-day and   
allows the to-morrow to take care of    
itself4 ,devoid of ambition1 a mere     
animal1 sensual and indolent1 he cares  
only for the gratification of his       
physical desires4 ,the mental attributes
 of a civilized being are1 in him1      
wanting4  ,psychos is the result of     
evolutionary development1 and the chief 
reason why insanity is not as prevalent 
in the savage as in the civilized man1  
is because the brain of the savage lacks
 development4 ,i do not wish to convey  
the idea that insanity is purely        
psychical in its nature4 ,insanity is   
the result of a material change in the  
structure of the brain produced by      
morbific action4 ,the manifestations of 
insanity are merely the symptoms of a   
disease that involves the brain4 ,the   
savage has less development of psychical
 function1 consequently he is less      
liable to mental lesion4 ,i mean by     
psychical function that portion of the  
brain in which psychos has its origin4  

,alienists consider the habits of men as
 being the factor in the production of  
insanity4 ,habits and heredity are      
undoubted factors in the production of  
diseased minds1 and1 in fact1 are the   
chief agents4 ,you cannot1 however1     
expect to find a disordered function    
where that function is absent4 ,savages 
have paresis1 apoplexy1 and imbecility1 
seldom or never insanity4 ,the reason is
 patent--they lack the psychic function1
 that peculiar element1 whatever it may 
be1 which raises civilized man so high  
above them4 ,that this element can be   
developed in savages ,i do not for one  
instant deny4 ,the ploughshare of       
evolutionary civilization will bring it 
to the surface sooner or later1 and when
 it does insanity follows4 ,i have only 
to point to the ,american negro to prove
 the truth of my proposition2 even he is
 partially exempt1 simply because his   
civilization is of such recent date that
 his brain has not yet acquired its full
 quota of the psychic element4  ,i will 

venture to assert1 so true is the fact  
that insanity is the product of         
civilization1 that1 if it were not for  
the combating influences of social laws1
 assisted not a little by scientific    
medical aid1 all ,north ,america could  
not contain the vast and enormous army  
that would constitute the civilized     
world's array of lunatics4  ,there seems
 to be in the minds of men an           
instinctive awe of anything that        
appertains to the insane4 ,in olden     
times a disordered mind was considered  
of divine or diabolic origin as it      
evinced good or evil tendencies4 ,this  
belief lasted even until the present    
century4 ,many old women who were the   
victims of senile dementia and kindred  
ills1 were accused of witchcraft and    
intercourse with the devil1 here in the 
,united ,states1 not a century ago4     
,witches were executed in ,england and  
men burned at the stake in ,spain1 not  
two hundred years ago1 for the crime of 
demoniacal possession4 ,even in this    

enlightened age men are accustomed to   
consider insanity rather from its       
psychical standpoint than from its      
physical aspect4 ,they do not take into 
consideration the fact that insanity is 
due to a physical lesion1 and that its  
vagaries are but the symptoms of brain  
disease or brain deformity4 ,the        
inhabitants of the borderlands are      
invested with a certain shadowy mystery 
which separates them from the rest of   
mankind1 and which makes them appear to 
us as denizens of another psychical     
world than ours4  ,in the ,middle ,ages1
 cranks1 whose eccentricities took a    
religious turn1 were considered holy4   
,st4 ,simon ,stylites was a very        
pronounced crank1 and a very holy man   
also1 because he chose to live the      
greater portion of his life perched on a
 pillar seventy feet high4 ,st4 ,anthony
 was another holy crank who never1 in   
all his life1 washed his feet4 ,poor    
,joan of ,arc was burned at the stake   
because she was possessed of a false and

 lying devil4 ,she has been recently    
proposed for canonization by the same   
church that burned her1 and thus1 in a  
measure1 had justice done her4 ,i do not
 think1 however1 that this is any       
recompense for the terrible agony       
inflicted on this unfortunate victim of 
hystero-epilepsy4  ,says ,maudsley in   
,responsibility in ,mental ,disease3    
,some of the prophets of the ,old       
,testament presented symptoms which can 
hardly be interpreted as other than the 
effects of madness2 certainly if they   
were not mad1 they imitated very closely
 some of its most striking features4    
,jeremiah takes a long journey to the   
river ,euphrates and hides a linen      
girdle in a hole of a rock4 ,he then    
returns home and in a few days makes the
 same journey1 and finds the girdle     
rotten and good for nothing4 ,ezekiel   
digs a hole in the wall of his house1   
and through it removes his household    
goods1 instead of through the door4     
,hosea marries a prostitute because he  

said he had been commanded by ,god so to
 do4 ,isaiah stripped himself naked and 
paraded up and down in sight of all the 
people4  ,some of the greatest changes  
in the world's history have been        
effected by dwellers in the borderlands4
 ,mahomet was an epileptic1 and his     
first vision was the result on an       
epileptic convulsion or seizure4 ,the   
character of his visions was exactly    
like that of those visions which an     
epileptic sees and describes at the     
present time4 ,mahomet believed in his  
visions1 and1 what is more1 got more    
than half the world to believe in them  
also4 ,gautama was a dweller in the     
borderlands1 yet his followers now      
number five hundred millions4  ,the     
novel mode in which an insane man       
regards things may be an inspiration    
which reflection could never attain1 and
 it sometimes happens that opinions     
which seem to the world to be the       
ravings of a madman1 have turned out to 
be true4 ,the insane man has the world  

against him1 and though he may pose for 
a short time as a reformer1 sooner or   
later lands in the asylum4  ,it         
sometimes happens that the crank will   
succeed in getting converts4 ,a notable 
instance is ,schweinfurth1 or the       
,christ1 as he calls himself4 ,i am     
firmly convinced that this man believes 
in his delusions4 ,one thing is certain1
 and that is1 his disciples believe in  
him implicitly4 ,this man is dangerous  
to society1 inasmuch as he has caused   
the separation of several wives from    
their husbands2 the wives abandoning    
their husbands to follow him to ,heaven1
 as he calls his farm house4  ,the crank
 is1 generally1 a harmless individual1  
and is not anti-social unless his       
delusions take the form of homicidal    
impulse1 pyromania1 kleptomania1 etc4   
,homicidal impulse is the most dangerous
 to society of the many mental vagaries 
and derangements which afflict the      
dwellers in the borderlands4 ,its       
invasion is sudden and its impulse is1  

generally1 overpowering4 ,a man may be  
walking the streets presumably in       
perfect health1 and yet have1 all the   
while1 a voice whispering in his ear    
kill1 kill4 ,his insane desire at length
 reaches its acme1 and he throws aside  
every mental restraint and kills the    
first individual he may chance to meet4 
,again1 he may desire to kill some      
particular individual1 and will         
carefully and systematically arrange his
 plans for the successful enactment of  
the homicide4 ,the murderers of         
,garfield and ,harrison probably belong 
to this latter class1 though in the case
 of ,prendergast1 the slayer of ,mayor  
,harrison1 this opinion may be          
erroneous4 ,there is something about his
 photograph that leads me to believe    
that he is a moral imbecile1 rather than
 an intellectual dyscrasiac4  ,a clerk  
in a solicitor's office1 at ,alton1     
,hampshire1 ,england1 one afternoon took
 a walk outside the town1 when he met   
some children4 ,he persuaded one of     

these1 a girl of nine1 to go with him   
into a neighboring garden4 ,a short     
while after1 he was seen walking quietly
 home2 he was seen to wash himself in   
the river and then go back to his       
office4 ,the little girl did not return 
home1 and1 search having been           
instituted1 her dismembered body was    
found strewn about the garden4 ,the     
clerk was arrested1 and in his diary was
 found this entry1 recently made3       
,killed a little girl2 it was fine and  
hot4 ,this man was either a sadistic    
sexual pervert1 or a victim of homicidal
 impulse4 ,maudsley gives this instance 
as an example of the latter1 while      
,krafft-,ebing gives it as an example of
 the former4 ,there is a great          
difference between these two mental     
derangements4 ,the victim of homicidal  
impulse kills without any ulterior      
object1 while the sadist kills in order 
to gratify his unnatural and perverted  
sexual appetite4  ,the victim of        
homicidal impulse is1 to all outward    

appearances1 perfectly sane otherwise4  
,his impulse frequently leaves him for  
years and then returns with overpowering
 force4  ,epileptics who have just      
passed through violent convulsions1 will
 frequently attack bystanders with great
 fury4 ,some alienists declare that     
homicidal mania is frequently only a    
masked epilepsy4 ,all epileptics should 
be carefully watched2 they may become   
dangerous to society at any moment4     
,numerous instances are recorded of     
murder committed by sufferers from petit
 mal1 a form of epilepsy4 ,i once saw a 
negro walk up to a white man1 who was a 
stranger and unknown by him1 and fell   
him to the earth by striking him with a 
club4 ,the negro was arrested1 and the  
next day swore that he was entirely     
unconscious of having struck anyone4 ,it
 was proven at his trial that he was    
subject to mild epileptic attacks4  ,i  
believe that all suicides are due to    
mental aberration4 ,it may be the result
 of a momentary and sudden loss of      

mental equipoise1 or the final and fatal
 ending of a premeditated desire carried
 through days1 weeks1 months1 and even  
years4  ,we see a man1 blessed with     
everything that makes life enjoyable1   
genial1 gay1 with a ready smile and     
kindly word for everyone1 suddenly1 in a
 moment1 pass forever out into the      
unknown--self-killed1 a victim of his   
own creation4 ,we stand amazed6 ,why did
 he do it8 ,we can find nothing in his  
past or present condition to warrant    
such an action4  ,he was the victim of  
momentary aberration1 or1 perhaps1 deep 
in his mind1 buried and hidden even from
 himself1 there dwelt a desire for      
self-slaughter1 when a physical pain1 an
 unexpected impression1 a moral         
affection1 an indiscreet proposition    
uncovered this desire1 and he at once   
committed the deed6  ,there are         
epidemics of suicide4 ,let the papers   
chronicle some peculiar method of       
suicide selected by some unfortunate1   
and others will immediately follow his  

example4 ,unconscious cerebration also  
hurls many souls out of the world4 ,i   
was called to see a gentleman who had   
attempted suicide by slashing the radial
 artery at the wrist4 ,i found him      
holding a compress on the severed vessel
 and greatly alarmed4 ,he swore to me   
that he was totally unconscious how he  
had come to do the deed1 and that he did
 not know that he had cut himself until 
he felt the pain and saw the blood      
flowing from the wound6  ,viraginity and
 effemination1 while not mental         
insanities1 strictly speaking1 are1     
nevertheless1 mental deformities1 and   
their unfortunate victims are dwellers  
in the borderlands4 ,mild forms of these
 types of degeneration are very         
abundant4 ,the effeminate1              
cigarette-smoking1 soda-drinking young  
man of the comic weeklies1 and the loud1
 horsy1 slang-using1 vulgar1 masculine  
young woman are seen everywhere4        
,effemination and viraginity are the    
results of the weakening effects of     

luxury and consequent debauchery4       
,nations1 time and again1 have felt the 
dire effects of effemination and have   
sunk beneath them4 ,the ,grecian1 the   
,roman1 the ,egyptian nations are       
familiar examples4 ,the satirists of the
 golden age of the ,latin people dipped 
their stili1 metaphorically1 in gall and
 bitter wormwood and berated the        
effeminate nobility time and again4 ,one
 of them advised the ,roman ladies to   
look for men among the gladiators and   
the peasants6 ,anacreon's poems are     
filled with allusions to effemination   
and the delights of psychic             
hermaphroditism4  ,in the time of ,louis
 ,,xiv41 of ,france1 the royal palaces  
were filled to repletion with           
effeminants1 who vied with the women in 
the splendor of their robes and the     
salacious eccentricities of their       
conduct4 ,the case of ,alice ,mitchell1 
who killed ,freda ,ward in ,memphis not 
long ago1 was one of pronounced         
viraginity4  ,fortunately1 for the good 

of the community at large1 there are1   
comparatively speaking1 few viragints4  
,the careful mother restrains1 tempers1 
and abolishes the hoydenish habits of   
her tom-boy girl early in life1 and     
turns her thoughts toward feminine      
pursuits and desires4 ,the unfortunate  
effeminant1 however1 is encouraged in   
his feminine tastes and habits by his   
unwise mother1 who likes her boy to sit 
beside her and sew and knit1 if he so   
desires4 ,she discusses matters of the  
toilet with him1 and1 in fact1 treats   
him as she would a daughter4 ,in the    
end1 his psychic hermaphroditism becomes
 complete1 and one more unfortunate goes
 out into the world to swell the ranks  
of crankdom6  ,kleptomaniacs are greatly
 to be pitied1 for they are generally   
women in whom the moral sense is very   
much developed4 ,the victim of          
kleptomania will steal any and          
everything2 they are like magpies in    
this respect4 ,an acquaintance of mine1 
a most estimable lady1 a devout         

,christian1 and a most exemplary wife   
and mother1 is the most incorrigible    
thief ,i ever saw4 ,she has often picked
 my pockets while ,i was engaged about  
her sick-bed4 ,the merchants of the city
 where she lives know her infirmity1    
watch her while she is in their shops1  
and respectfully and kindly relieve her 
of her pilferings when she starts to    
leave4 ,she expresses great sorrow for  
her unfortunate insane impulse1 and has 
often begged her husband to have her    
placed in an asylum4 ,this he refuses to
 do1 as she is perfectly sane otherwise4
 ,the husband was called away for       
several weeks1 and1 on his return1 took 
me to his house and showed me her room4 
,in the room were the objects stolen    
during his absence4 ,it was the most    
miscellaneous collection of valuables   
and trash ,i ever saw4 ,she had gathered
 together everything from a             
darning-needle to a tombstone1 a small  
specimen of the latter forming a unit of
 this heterogeneous whole4 ,this form of

 mental dyscrasia is much more frequent 
than people suppose1 and the antecedents
 of shop-lifters and the like should be 
carefully examined before a judgment on 
their criminality is passed4            
,eccentricity is certainly not always   
insanity1 but there can be no question  
that it is often the outcome of insane  
temperament1 and may approach very near 
to1 or actually pass into1 insanity4    
,alienists rely on the eccentric and    
peculiar changes which take place in the
 characters of their patients1 who      
either present themselves or are brought
 to them for treatment1 to establish    
their diagnosis4 ,if a modest and       
truthful man suddenly becomes a braggart
 and a liar2 or1 if a humane man becomes
 cruel1 or a neat man slovenly1 there is
 reason to suspect brain trouble4 ,the  
intellect may appear intact1 so also the
 reasoning powers1 but these            
eccentricities indicate a deviation     
which may lead to mental destruction4   
,the last faculty to develop in the mind

 of man is the moral faculty2 this      
faculty is the one first lost by        
diseased brains4 ,if a man1 who suddenly
 becomes dissolute and licentious 7who1 
heretofore1 has led a virtuous1 moral   
life71 be examined1 in nine cases in ten
 his brain will be found to be diseased4
 ,the little cloud1 which at first is no
 larger than a man's hand1 grows ever   
larger and larger1 and in the end       
overspreads the entire mental sky6      
,,genius ,,and ,,degeneration4   ,that  
the psychical function or               
intellectuality is frequently developed 
at the expense of the physical organism 
is well known1 and that genius is seldom
 or never unaccompanied by physical and 
mental degeneration is a fact that can  
be no longer denied4 ,i use the word    
degeneration in its broadest sense1 and 
intend it to include all kinds of       
abnormalities4 ,the facts noted above   
are by no means recent knowledge1 but   
were vaguely recognized and commented on
 centuries and decades of centuries ago 

by the ,hebrews and kindred races of    
people4 ,the ,hebrew word nabi means    
either madman or prophet1 and it is now 
admitted that most of the prophets gave 
evidences of insanity as well as genius4
 ,the ,greeks and the ,romans recognized
 this kinship1 and we read in the ,bible
 of a certain ,festus1 who1 when        
confronted by a man of genius1 and being
 unable to answer his arguments1 said to
 him1 ,paul1 much learning hath made    
thee mad6 ,lauvergne1 when speaking of  
the oxycephalic 7sugarloaf7 skull1 an   
unquestionable example of degeneration1 
wrote many years ago1 ,this head        
announces the monstrous alliance of the 
most eminent faculty of man1 genius1    
with the most pronounced impulses to    
rape1 murder1 and theft4  ,the purpose  
of this paper is to show that wherever  
genius is observed1 we find it          
accompanied by degeneration1 which is   
evinced by physical abnormalties or     
mental eccentricities4 ,it is a strange 
fact1 however1 and one not noticed by   

,lombroso1 or any other writer1 as far  
as ,i know1 that mechanical geniuses1 or
 those who1 for the most part1 deal with
 material facts1 do not1 as a rule1 show
 any signs of degeneration4 ,i have only
 to instance ,darwin1 ,galileo1 ,edison1
 ,watts1 ,rumsey1 ,howe1 and ,morse to  
prove the truth of this assertion4 ,it  
is only the genius of aestheticism1 the 
genius of the emotion1 that is generally
 accompanied by unmistakable signs of   
degeneration4  ,saul1 the first king of 
,israel1 was a man of genius and1 at    
times1 a madman4 ,we read that1 before  
his coronation1 he was seized with an   
attack of madness and joined a company  
of kindred eccentrics4 ,his friends and 
acquaintances were naturally surprised  
and exclaimed3 ,is ,saul among the      
prophets8 i4 e41 ,has ,saul become      
insane8 ,again1 we are told that he was 
suddenly seized with an attack of       
homicidal impulse1 and tried to kill    
,david4 ,before this time he had had    
repeated attacks of madness1 which only 

the harp of ,david could control and    
subdue4 ,david himself was a man whose  
mental equilibrium was not well         
established1 as his history clearly     
indicates4 ,he forsook his ,god1        
indulged in licentious practices1 and   
was1 withal1 a very1 immoral man at     
times4 ,at his time1 the ,hebrews had   
reached a high degree of civilization4  
,abstract ethics had become very much   
developed1 and any example of great     
immorality occurring during this epoch  
is proof positive of atavism or         
degeneration4  ,as ,i have intimated    
before1 many of the ancient ,hebrew     
prophets1 who were unquestionably men of
 genius1 gave evidences of insanity2    
notably ,jeremiah1 who made a long      
journey to the ,river ,euphrates1 where 
he hid a linen girdle4 ,he returned     
home1 and in a few days made the same   
journey and found the girdle rotten and 
good for nothing2 ,ezekiel1 who dug a   
hole in the wall of his house1 through  
which he removed his household goods1   

instead of through the door2 ,hosea1 who
 married a prostitute1 because ,god1 so 
he declared1 had told him so to do2 and 
,isaiah1 who stripped himself naked and 
paraded up and down in sight of all the 
people4 ,king ,solomon1 a man of        
pre-eminent genius1 was mentally        
unbalanced4 ,the ,song of ,solomon shows
 very clearly that he was a victim of   
some psychical disorder1 sexual in its  
character and origin4 ,the poems of     
,anacreon are lascivious1 lustful1 and  
essentially carnal1 and history informs 
us that he was a sexual pervert4        
,swinburne's poems show clearly the     
mental bias of their author1 who is     
described as being peculiar and         
eccentric4 ,many of the men of genius   
who have assisted in making the history 
of the world have been the victims of   
epilepsy4 ,julius ,caesar1 military     
leader1 statesman1 politician1 and      
author1 was an epileptic4 ,twice on the 
field of battle he was stricken down by 
this disorder4 ,on one occasion1 while  

seated at the tribune1 he was unable to 
rise when the senators1 consuls1 and    
praetors paid him a visit of ceremony   
and honor4 ,they were offended at his   
seeming lack of respect1 and retired1   
showing signs of anger4 ,caesar returned
 home1 stripped off his clothes1 and    
offered his throat to be cut by anyone4 
,he then explained his conduct to the   
senate1 saying that he was the victim of
 a malady which1 at times1 rendered him 
incapable of standing4 ,during the      
attacks of this disorder he felt shocks 
in his limbs1 became giddy1 and at last 
lost consciousness4 ,moliere was the    
victim of epilepsy2 so also was         
,petrarch1 ,flaubert1 ,charles ,v41     
,handel1 ,st4 ,paul1 ,peter the ,great1 
and ,dostoieffsky2 ,paganini1 ,mozart1  
,schiller1 ,alfieri1 ,pascal1           
,richelieu1 ,newton1 and ,swift were the
 victims of diseases epileptoid in      
character4  ,many men of genius have    
suffered from spasmodic and choreic     
movements1 notably ,lenau1 ,montesquieu1

 ,buffon1 ,dr4 ,johnson1 ,santeuil1     
,crebillon1 ,lombardini1 ,thomas        
,campbell1 ,carducci1 ,napoleon1 and    
,socrates4  ,suicide1 essentially a     
symptom of mental disorder1 has hurried 
many a man of genius out into the       
unknown4 ,the list begins with such     
eminent men as ,zeno1 ,cleanthes1       
,dionysius1 ,lucan1 and ,stilpo1 and    
contains the names of such immortals as 
,chatterton1 ,blount1 ,haydon1 ,clive1  
and ,david4  ,alcoholism and morphinism1
 or an uncontrollable desire for alcohol
 or opium in some form or other1 are now
 recognized as evidences of             
degeneration4 ,men of genius1 both in   
the ,old ,world and in the ,new1 have   
shown this form of degeneration4 ,says  
,lombroso3 ,alexander died after having 
emptied ten times the goblet of         
,hercules1 and it was1 without doubt1 in
 an alcoholic attack1 while pursuing    
naked the infamous ,thais1 that he      
killed his dearest friend4 ,caesar was  
often carried home intoxicated on the   

shoulders of his soldiers4 ,neither     
,socrates1 nor ,seneca1 nor ,alcibiades1
 nor ,cato1 nor ,peter the ,great 7nor  
his wife ,catherine1 nor his daughter   
,elizabeth7 were remarkable for their   
abstinence4 ,one recalls ,horace's line1
 ',narratur et prisci ,cantonis saepe   
mero caluisse virtus4' ,tiberius ,nero  
was called by the ,romans ,biberius     
,mero4 ,septimius ,severus and ,mahomet 
,,ii4 succumbed to drunkenness or       
delirium tremens4  ,among the men and   
women of genius of the ,old ,world who  
abused the use of alcohol and opium1    
were ,coleridge1 ,james ,thomson1       
,carew1 ,sheridan1 ,steele1 ,addison1   
,hoffman1 ,charles ,lamb1 ,madame de    
,stael1 ,burns1 ,savage1 ,alfred de     
,musset1 ,kleist1 ,caracci1 ,jan ,steen1
 ,morland ,turner 7the painter71 ,gerard
 de ,nerval1 ,hartley ,coleridge1       
,dussek1 ,handel1 ,glueck1 ,praga1      
,rovani1 and the poet ,somerville4 ,this
 list is by no means complete1 as the   
well-informed reader may see at a       

glance2 it serves to show1 however1 how 
very often this form of degeneration    
makes its appearance in men of genius4  
,in men of genius the moral sense is    
sometimes obtunded1 if not altogether   
absent4 ,sallust1 ,seneca1 and ,bacon   
were suspected felons4 ,rousseau1       
,byron1 ,foscolo1 and ,caresa were      
grossly immoral1 while ,casanova1 the   
gifted mathematician1 was a common      
swindler4 ,murat1 ,rousseau1 ,clement1  
,diderot1 ,praga1 and ,oscar ,wilde were
 sexual perverts4  ,genius1 like        
insanity1 lives in a world of its own1  
hence we find few1 if any1 evidences of 
human affection in men of genius4 ,says 
,lombroso3 ,i have been able to observe 
men of genius when they had scarce      
reached the age of puberty2 they did not
 manifest the deep aversions of moral   
insanity1 but ,i have noticed among all 
a strange apathy for everything which   
does not concern them2 as though1       
plunged in the hypnotic condition1 they 
did not perceive the troubles of others1

 or even the most pressing needs of     
those who were dearest to them2 if they 
observed them1 they grew tender1 at once
 hastening to attend them2 but it was a 
fire of straw1 soon extinguished1 and it
 gave place to indifference and         
weariness4  ,this emotional anaesthesia 
is indicative of psychical atavism1 and 
is an unmistakable evidence of          
degeneration4 ,lombroso gives a long    
list of the men of genius who were      
celibates4 ,i will mention a few of     
those with whom the ,english-speaking   
world is most familiar3 ,kant1 ,newton1 
,pitt1 ,fox1 ,beethoven1 ,galileo1      
,descartes1 ,locke1 ,spinoza1 ,leibnitz1
 ,gray1 ,dalton1 ,hume1 ,gibbon1        
,macaulay1 ,lamb1 ,bentham1 ,leonardo da
 ,vinci1 ,copernicus1 ,reynolds1        
,handel1 ,mendelssohn1 ,meyerbeer1      
,schopenhauer1 ,camoens1 and ,voltaire4 
,la ,bruyere says of men of genius3     
,these men have neither ancestors nor   
descendants2 they themselves form their 
entire posterity4  ,there is a form of  

mental obliquity which the ,french term 
folie du doute4 ,it is characterized by 
an incertitude in thought cooerdination1
 and often leads its victims into the   
perpetration of nonsensical and useless 
acts4 ,men of genius are very frequently
 afflicted with this form of mental     
disorder4 ,dr4 ,johnson1 who was a      
sufferer from folie du doute1 had to    
touch every post he passed4 ,if he      
missed one he had to retrace his steps  
and touch it4 ,again1 if he started out 
of a door on the wrong foot he would    
return and make another attempt1        
starting out on the foot which he       
considered the correct one to use4      
,napoleon counted and added up the rows 
of windows in every street through which
 he passed4 ,a celebrated statesman1 who
 is a personal friend of the writer1 can
 never bear to place his feet on a crack
 in the pavement or floor4 ,when walking
 he will carefully step over and beyond 
all cracks or crevices4 ,this           
idiosyncracy annoys him greatly1 but the

 impulse is imperative1 and he can not  
resist it4  ,those who have been        
intimately associated with men of genius
 have noticed that they are very        
frequently amnesic or absent-minded4    
,newton once tried to stuff his niece's 
finger into the bowl of his lighted     
pipe1 and ,rovelle would lecture on some
 subject for hours at a time and then   
conclude by saying3 ,but this is one of 
my arcana1 which ,i tell to no one4 ,one
 of his students would then whisper what
 he had just said into his ear1 and     
,rovelle would believe that his pupil   
had discovered the arcanum by his own   
sagacity1 and would beg him not to      
divulge what he himself had just told to
 two hundred persons4  ,lombroso has    
combed history1 as it were1 with a      
fine-tooth comb1 and very few geniuses  
have escaped his notice4 ,this paper1 so
 far1 is hardly more than a review of   
his extraordinarily comprehensive work2 
therefore1 ,i will conclude this portion
 of it with a list of men of genius1    

their professions1 and their evidences  
of degeneration1 as gathered from his   
book3  ,carlo ,dolce1 painter1 religious
 monomania4  ,bacon1 philosopher1       
megalomania1 moral anaesthesia4         
,balzac1 writer1 masked epilepsy1       
megalomania4  ,caesar1 soldier1 writer1 
epilepsy4  ,beethoven1 musician1        
amnesia1 melancholia4  ,cowper1 writer1 
melancholia4  ,chateaubriand1 writer1   
chorea4  ,alexander the ,great1 soldier1
 alcoholism4  ,moliere1 dramatist1      
epilepsy1 phthisis pulmonalis4  ,lamb1  
writer1 alcoholism1 melancholia1 acute  
mania4  ,mozart1 musician1 epilepsy1    
hallucinations4  ,heine1 writer1        
melancholia1 spinal disease4  ,dr4      
,johnson1 writer1 chorea1 folie du      
doute4  ,malibran1 epilepsy4  ,newton1  
philosopher1 amnesia4  ,cavour1         
statesman1 philosopher1 suicidal        
impulse4  ,ampere1 mathematician1       
amnesia4  ,thomas ,campbell1 writer1    
chorea4  ,blake1 painter1               
hallucinations4  ,chopin1 musician1     

melancholia4  ,coleridge1 writer1       
alcoholism1 morphinism4  ,donizetti1    
musician1 moral anaesthesia4  ,lenau1   
writer1 melancholia4  ,mahomet1         
theologian1 epilepsy4  ,manzoni1        
statesman1 folie du doute4  ,haller1    
writer1 hallucinations4  ,dupuytren1    
surgeon1 suicidal impulse4  ,paganini1  
musician1 epilepsy4  ,handel1 musician1 
epilepsy4  ,schiller1 writer1 epilepsy4 
,richelieu1 statesman1 epilepsy4        
,praga1 writer1 alcoholism1 sexual      
perversion4  ,tasso1 writer1 alcoholism1
 melancholia4  ,savonarola1 theologian1 
hallucinations4  ,luther1 theologian1   
hallucinations4  ,schopenhauer1         
philosopher1 melancholia1 omniphobia4   
,gogol1 writer1 melancholia1 tabes      
dorsalis4  ,lazaretti1 theologian1      
hallucinations4  ,mallarme1 writer1     
suicidal impulse4  ,dostoieffsky1       
writer1 epilepsy4  ,napoleon1 soldier1  
statesman1 folie du doute1 epilepsy4    
,comte1 philosopher1 hallucinations4    
,pascal1 philosopher1 epilepsy4         

,poushkin1 writer1 megalomania4  ,renan1
 philosopher1 folie du doute4  ,swift1  
writer1 paresis4  ,socrates1            
philosopher1 chorea4  ,schumann1        
musician1 paresis4  ,shelley1 writer1   
hallucinations4  ,bunyan1 writer1       
hallucinations4  ,swedenborg1           
theologian1 hallucinations4  ,loyola1   
theologian1 hallucinations4  ,j4 ,s4    
,mill1 writer1 suicidal impulse4        
,linnaeus1 botanist1 paresis4  ,the     
reader will observe that ,i have made   
use of the comprehensive word1 writer1  
to designate all kinds of literary work 
except theology and philosophy4 ,the    
above list is by no means complete1 and 
only contains the names of those        
geniuses with whom the world is well    
acquainted4  ,when we come to the       
geniuses of the ,new ,world1 we find    
that1 though few in number1 they1       
nevertheless1 show erraticism and       
degeneration4 ,poe was undoubtedly a man
 of great genius1 and his degeneration  
was indicated by his excessive use of   

alcohol4 ,aaron ,burr was the victim of 
moral anaesthesia1 and ,jefferson was   
pseudo-epileptic and neurasthenic4      
,randolph was a man of marked           
eccentricity1 and ,benedict ,arnold was1
 morally1 anaesthetic4 ,daniel ,webster 
was addicted to an over-indulgence in   
alcohol1 likewise ,thomas ,marshall and 
the elder ,booth4 ,booth also had       
attacks of acute mania4 ,his son ,edwin 
had paresis2 so also had ,john          
,mc,cullough1 ,john ,t4 ,raymond1 and   
,bartley ,campbell4 ,a distinguished    
statesman and politician1 and a man who 
stands high in the councils of the      
nation1 has1 for a number of years1     
given evidence of mental obliquity by   
his uncontrollable desire for alcohol4  
,no power1 outside of bodily restraint1 
can control him and keep him from       
indulging his appetite for alcohol when 
this desire seizes him4 ,one of the most
 noted poets of to-day1 whose verses    
stir the heart with their pathos and    
bring smiles to the gravest countenances

 with their humor1 was1 for a number of 
years 7and still is1 so ,i have been    
told71 an inordinate user of alcohol4   
,robert ,ingersoll was undoubtedly a man
 of genius and of considerable          
originality1 and a close study of his   
writings shows conclusively his mental  
eccentricity4 ,judging wholly from his  
printed utterances1 ,mr4 ,ingersoll was 
only a superficial scientist and        
mediocre scholar4 ,his power lay in his 
wonderful word imagery1 and his         
intricately constructed verbal          
arabesques4 ,he was a verbal symbolist4 
,symbolism1 wherever found1 and in      
whatever art1 if carried to any extent1 
must necessarily be an evidence of      
atavism1 consequently of degeneration4  
,thomas ,paine gave evidences of a lack 
of mental equipoise4 ,we find scattered 
throughout his works the most brilliant1
 irrefutable1 and logical truths side by
 side with the most inane1 illogical1   
and stolid crudities4 ,among other men  
of genius who showed signs of           

degeneration we may include ,alexander  
,stevens1 ,joel ,hart1 ,adams1 ,train1  
,breckenridge1 ,webster1 ,blaine1 ,van  
,buren1 ,houston1 ,grant1 ,hawthorne1   
,bartholow1 ,walt ,whitman4 ,we must not
 confound genius and talent--the two are
 widely different4 ,genius is           
essentially original and spontaneous1   
while talent is to some extent acquired4
 ,genius is a quasi abnormality1 and one
 for which the world should be devoutly 
grateful4 ,psychos1 in the case of      
genius1 is not uniformly developed1 one 
part1 being more favored than the       
others1 absorbs and uses more than its  
share of that element1 whatsoever it be1
 which goes to make up intellectuality1 
hence the less favored or less          
acquisitive parts show degeneration4    
,,the ,,effect ,,of ,,female ,,suffrage 
,,on ,,posterity4       ,the greatest1  
best1 and highest law of higher         
civilization is that      which declares
 that man should strive to benefit1 not 
himself      alone1 but his posterity4  

,i4 ,,the ,,origin ,,of ,,the           
,,matriarchate4  ,in the very beginning 
woman was1 by function1 a mother2 by    
virtue of her surroundings1 a housewife4
 ,man was then1 as now1 the active1     
dominant factor in those affairs outside
 the immediate pale of the fireside4    
,life was collective2 communal was the  
habitation1 and communal the wives with 
the children2 the men pursued the same  
prey1 and devoured it together after the
 manner of wolves2 all felt1 all        
thought1 all acted in concert4          
,primitive men were like their simian   
ancestors1 which never paired1 and which
 roamed through the forest in bands and 
troops4 ,this collectivism is plainly   
noticeable in certain races of primitive
 folks which are yet in existence1      
notably the autochthons of the ,aleutian
 ,islands4 ,huddled together in their   
communal kachims1 naked1 without any    
thought of immodesty1 men1 women1 and   
children share the same fire and eat    
from the same pot4 ,they recognize no   

immorality in the fact of the father    
cohabiting with his daughter--one of    
them naively remarking to ,langsdorf1   
who reproached him for having committed 
this crime3 ,why not8 the otters do it6 
,later in life the men and women mate2  
but even then there is no sanctity in   
the marriage tie1 for the ,aleutian will
 freely offer his wife to the stranger  
within his gates1 and will consider it  
an insult if he refuses to enjoy her    
company4 ,as with many savages and      
half-civilized people1 the man who would
 not offer his guest the hospitality of 
the conjugal couch1 or the company of   
his best-looking daughter1 would be     
considered an ill-bred person4  ,this   
laxity in sexual relations was1 at      
first1 common to all races of primitive 
men1 but1 after a time1 there arose     
certain influences which modified1 to a 
certain extent1 this free and           
indiscriminate intercourse4 ,frequent   
wars must have occurred between hostile 
tribes of primitive men1 during which1  

some of them 7physically or numerically 
weaker than their opponents7 must have  
been repeatedly vanquished1 and many of 
their females captured1 for1 in those   
old days 7like those of more recent     
times1 for that matter7 the women were  
the prizes for which the men fought4    
,under circumstances like these1 the few
 remaining women must have served as    
wives for all the men of the tribe2 and1
 in this manner polyandry had its       
inception4 ,polyandry gives women       
certain privileges which monandry       
denies1 and she is not slow to seize on 
these prerogatives1 and to use them in  
the furtherance of her own welfare4     
,polyandry1 originating from any cause  
whatever1 will always end in the        
establishment of a matriarchate1 in     
which the women are either directly or  
indirectly at the head of the           
government4  ,there are several         
matriarchates still extant in the world1
 and one of the best known1 as well as  
the most advanced1 as far as            

civilization and culture are concerned1 
is that of the ,nairs1 a people of      
,india inhabiting that portion of the   
country lying between ,cape ,comorin and
 ,mangalore1 and the ,ghats and the     
,indian ,ocean4  ,the ,nairs are        
described as being the handsomest people
 in the world2 the men being tall1      
sinewy and extraordinarily agile1 while 
the women are slender and graceful1 with
 perfectly modeled figures4 ,the ,nair  
girl is carefully chaperoned until she  
arrives at a marriageable age1 say1     
fourteen or fifteen years1 at which time
 some complaisant individual is         
selected1 who goes through the marriage 
ceremony with her4 ,as soon as the groom
 ties the tali1 or marriage cord1 about 
her neck1 he is feasted and is then     
dismissed2 the wife must never again    
speak to1 or even look at1 her husband4 
,once safely wedded1 the girl becomes   
emancipated1 and can receive the        
attentions of as many men as she may    
elect1 though1 ,i am informed1 it is not

 considered fashionable1 at present1 to 
have more than seven husbands1 one for  
each day of the week4  ,of no importance
 heretofore1 after her farcical marriage
 the ,nair woman at once becomes a power
 in the councils of the nation2 as a    
matter of course1 the higher her lovers 
the higher her rank becomes and the     
greater her influence4 ,here is female  
suffrage in its primitive form1 brought 
about1 it is true1 by environment1 and  
not by elective franchise4  ,as far as  
the children are concerned1 the power of
 the mother is absolute2 for they know  
no father1 the maternal uncle standing  
in his stead4 ,property1 both personal  
and real1 is vested in the woman2 she is
 the mistress and the ruler4 ,the mother
 reigns and governs2 she has her eldest 
daughter for prime minister in her      
household1 through whom all orders are  
transmitted to her little world4        
,formerly1 in grand ceremonials1 the    
reigning prince himself yielded         
precedence to his eldest daughter1 and1 

of course1 recognized still more humbly 
the priority of his mother1 before whom 
he did not venture to seat himself until
 she had given him permission4 ,such was
 the rule from the palace to the        
humblest dwelling of a ,nair4  ,during  
the past fifty years1 these people have 
made rapid strides toward civilization1 
monandry and monogamy taking the places 
of polyandry and polygamy1 and fifty or 
a hundred years hence1 this matriarchate
 will1 in all probability1 entirely     
disappear4  ,i have demonstrated1 ,i    
think1 clearly and distinctly1 that     
matriarchy1 or female government1 is    
neither new nor advanced thought1 but   
that it is as old1 almost1 as the human 
race2 that the ,new ,woman was born many
 thousands of years ago1 and that her   
autotype1 in some respects1 is to be    
found to-day in ,mangalore6 ,a return to
 matriarchy at the present time would be
 distinctly and emphatically and        
essentially retrograde in every         
particular4 ,the right to vote carries  

with it the right to hold office1 and if
 women are granted the privilege of     
suffrage1 they must also be given the   
right to govern4 ,now let us see if we  
cannot find a reason for this atavistic 
desire 7matriarchy7 in the physical and 
psychical histories of its foremost     
advocates4 ,i will discuss this question
 in ,part ,,ii of this paper4   ,,ii4   
,,the ,,viragint4  ,there are two kinds 
of genius4 ,the first is progressive    
genius1 which always enunciates new and 
original matter of material benefit to  
the human race1 and which is1           
consequently1 non-atavistic2 the second 
is atavistic or retrogressive genius1   
which is imitative and which always     
enunciates dead and obsolete matter long
 since abandoned and thrown aside as    
being utterly useless4 ,the doctrines of
 communism and of nihilism are the      
products of retrogressive genius and are
 clearly atavistic1 inasmuch as they are
 a reversion to the mental habitudes of 
our savage ancestors4 ,the doctrines of 

the matriarchate are likewise degenerate
 beliefs1 and1 if held by any civilized 
being of to-day1 are evidences of       
psychic atavism4  ,atavism invariably   
attacks the weak2 and individuals of    
neurasthenic type are more frequently   
its victims than are any other class of 
people4 ,especially is this true in the 
case of those who suffer from psychical 
atavism4  ,the woman of to-day who      
believes in and inculcates the doctrines
 of matriarchy1 doctrines which have    
been1 as far as the civilized world is  
concerned1 thrown aside and abandoned   
these many hundred years1 is as much the
 victim of psychic atavism as was ,alice
 ,mitchell1 who slew ,freda ,ward in    
,memphis several years ago1 and who was 
justly declared a viragint by the court 
that tried her4  ,without entering into 
the truthfulness or falseness of the    
theory advanced by me elsewhere in this 
book1 in regard to the primal cause of  
psychic hermaphroditism1 which ,i       
attributed and do still attribute to    

psychic atavism1 ,i think that ,i am    
perfectly safe in asserting that every  
woman who has been at all prominent in  
advancing the cause of equal rights in  
its entirety1 has either given evidences
 or masculo-femininity 7viraginity71 or 
has shown1 conclusively1 that she was   
the victim of psycho-sexual aberrancy4  
,moreover1 the history of every viragint
 of any note in the history of the world
 shows that they were either physically 
or psychically degenerate1 or both4     
,jeanne d',arc was the victim of        
hystero-epilepsy1 while ,catharine the  
,great was a dipsomaniac1 and a creature
 of unbounded and inordinate sensuality4
 ,messalina1 the depraved wife of       
,claudius1 a woman of masculine type1   
whose very form embodied and shadowed   
forth the regnant idea of her           
mind--absolute and utter rulership--was 
a woman of such gross carnality1 that   
her lecherous conduct shocked even the  
depraved courtiers of her lewd and      
salacious court4 ,the side-lights of    

history1 as ,douglas ,campbell has so   
cleverly pointed out in his ,puritan in 
,holland1 ,england1 and ,america1       
declare that there is every reason to   
believe that the ,virgin ,queen1        
,elizabeth of ,england1 was not such a  
pure and unspotted virgin as her        
admirers make her out to be4 ,sir       
,robert ,cecil says of her that she was 
more man than woman1 while history shows
 conclusively that she was a pronounced 
viragint1 with a slight tendency toward 
megalomania4 ,in a recent letter to me1 
,mr4 ,george ,h4 ,yeaman1 ex-,minister  
to ,denmark1 writes as follows3 ,whether
 it be the relation of cause and effect1
 or only what logicians call a mere     
coincidence1 the fact remains that in   
,rome1 ,russia1 ,france1 and ,england1  
political corruption1 cruelty of        
government1 sexual immorality--nay1     
downright1 impudent1 open1 boastful     
indecency--have culminated1 for the most
 part1 in the eras of the influence of  
viragints on government or over         

governors4  ,viraginity has many phases4
 ,we see a mild form of it in the       
tom-boy who abandons her dolls and      
female companions for the marbles and   
masculine sports of her boy             
acquaintances4 ,in the loud-talking1    
long-stepping1 slang-using young woman  
we see another form2 while the          
square-shouldered1 stolid1 cold1        
unemotional1 unfeminine android 7for she
 has the normal human form1 without the 
normal human psychos7 is yet another4   
,the most aggravated form of viraginity 
is that known as homo-sexuality2 with   
this form1 however1 this paper has      
nothing to do4  ,another form of        
viraginity is technically known as      
gynandry1 and may be defined as follows3
 ,a victim of gynandry not only has the 
feelings and desires of a man1 but also 
the skeletal form1 features1 voice1     
etc41 so that the individual approaches 
the opposite sex anthropologically1 and 
in more than a psycho-sexual way        
7,krafft-,ebing74  ,as it is probable   

that this form of viraginity is         
sometimes acquired to a certain extent1 
and that1 too1 very quickly1 when a     
woman is placed among the proper        
surroundings1 ,i shall give the case of 
,sarolta1 ,countess ,v41 one of the most
 remarkable instances of gynandry on    
record4 ,if this woman1 when a child1   
had been treated as a girl1 she would in
 all probability have gone through life 
as a woman1 for she was born a female in
 every sense of the word4 ,at a very    
early age1 however1 her father1 who was 
an exceedingly eccentric nobleman1      
dressed her in boy's clothing1 called   
her ,sandor1 and taught her boyish games
 and sports4  ,sarolta-,sandor remained 
under her father's influence till her   
twelfth year1 and then came under the   
care of her maternal grandmother1 in    
,dresden1 by whom1 when the masculine   
play became too obvious1 she was placed 
in an institute and made to wear female 
attire4 ,at thirteen she had a love     
relation with an ,english girl1 to whom 

she represented herself as a boy1 and   
ran away with her4 ,she was finally     
returned to her mother1 who could do    
nothing with her1 and was forced to     
allow her to resume the name of ,sandor 
and to put on boy's clothes4 ,she       
accompanied her father on long journeys1
 always as a young gentleman2 she became
 a roue1 frequenting brothels and cafes 
and often becoming intoxicated4 ,all of 
her sports were masculine2 so were her  
tastes and so were her desires4 ,she had
 many love affairs with women1 always   
skillfully hiding the fact that she     
herself was a woman4 ,she even carried  
her masquerade so far as to enter into  
matrimony with the daughter of a        
distinguished official and to live with 
her for some time before the imposition 
was discovered4 ,the woman whom ,sandor 
married is described as being a girl of 
incredible simplicity and innocence2 in 
sooth1 she must have been6              
,notwithstanding this woman's passion   
for those of her own sex1 she distinctly

 states that in her thirteenth year she 
experienced normal sexual desire4 ,her  
environments1 however1 had been those of
 a male instead of a female1            
consequently her psychical weakness1    
occasioned by degeneration inherited    
from an eccentric father1 turned her    
into the gulf of viraginity1 from which 
she at last emerged1 a victim of        
complete gynandry4 ,i have given this   
instance more prominence than it really 
deserves1 simply because ,i wish to call
 attention to the fact that environment 
is one of the great factors in          
evolutionary development4  ,many women  
of to-day who are in favor of female    
suffrage are influenced by a single     
idea2 they have some great reform in    
view1 such as the establishment of      
universal temperance1 or the elevation  
of social morals4 ,suffrage in its      
entirety1 that suffrage which will give 
them a share in the government1 is not  
desired by them2 they do not belong to  
the class of viragints1 unsexed         

individuals1 whose main object is the   
establishment of a matriarchate4  ,woman
 is a creature of the emotions1 of      
impulses1 of sentiment1 and of feeling2 
in her the logical faculty is           
subordinate4 ,she is influenced by the  
object immediately in view1 and does not
 hesitate to form a judgment which is   
based on no other grounds save those of 
intuition4 ,logical men look beyond the 
immediate effects of an action and      
predicate its results on posterity4 ,the
 percepts and recepts which form the    
concept of equal rights also embody an  
eject which1 though conjectural1 is yet 
capable of logical demonstration1 and   
which declares that the final and       
ultimate effect of female suffrage on   
posterity would be exceedingly harmful4 
,we have seen that the pronounced       
advocates and chief promoters of equal  
rights are probably                     
viragints--individuals who plainly show 
that they are psychically abnormal2     
furthermore1 we have seen that the      

abnormality is occasioned by            
degeneration1 either acquired or        
inherent1 in the individual4 ,now let us
 see1 if the right of female suffrage   
were allowed1 what effect it would      
produce on the present environment of   
the woman of to-day1 and1 if any1 what  
effect this changed environment would   
have on the psychical habitudes of the  
woman of the future4 ,this portion of   
the subject will be discussed in ,part  
,,iii of this paper4   ,,iii4 ,,the     
,,decadence4  ,it is conceded that man  
completed his cycle of physical         
development many thousands of years ago4
 ,since his evolution from his pithecoid
 ancestor the forces of nature have been
 at work evolving man's psychical being4
 ,now1 man's psychical being is         
intimately connected with1 and dependent
 upon1 his physical being2 therefore it 
follows that degeneration of his        
physical organism will necessarily      
engender psychical degeneration also4   
,hence1 if ,i can prove that woman1 by  

leading a life in which her present     
environments are changed1 produces      
physical degeneration1 it will naturally
 follow that psychical degeneration will
 also accrue2 and1 since one of the     
invariable results of degeneration1 both
 physical and psychical1 is atavism1 the
 phenomenon of a social revolution in   
which the present form of government    
will be overthrown and a matriarchate   
established in its stead1 will be not a 
possibility of the future1 but a        
probability4  ,that the leaders of this 
movement in favor of equal rights look  
for such a result1 ,i have not the      
slightest doubt2 for1 not many days ago1
 ,susan ,b4 ,anthony stood beside the   
chair of a circuit judge in one of our  
courthouses and1 before taking her seat1
 remarked that there were those in her  
audience who doubtless thought that she 
was guilty of presumption and usurpation
 7in taking the judge's chair71 but that
 there would come a day when they would 
no longer think so6  ,statistics show   

clearly and conclusively that there is  
an alarming increase of suicide and     
insanity among women1 and ,i attribute  
this wholly to the already changed      
environment of our women4 ,as the matter
 stands they have already too much      
liberty4 ,the restraining influences    
which formerly made woman peculiarly a  
housewife have been1 in a measure1      
removed1 and woman mixes freely with the
 world4 ,any new duty added to woman as 
a member of society would modify her    
environment to some extent and call for 
increased nervous activity4 ,when a duty
 like suffrage is added the change in   
her environment must necessarily be     
marked and radical1 with great demands  
for an increased activity4 ,the right of
 suffrage would1 unquestionably1 very   
materially change the environment of    
woman at the present time1 and would    
entail new and additional desires and   
emotions which would be other and most  
exhausting draughts on her nervous      
organism4  ,the effects of degeneration 

are slow in making their appearance1 yet
 they are exceedingly certain4 ,the     
longer woman lived amid surroundings    
calling for increased nervous           
expenditure1 the greater would be the   
effects of the accruing degeneration on 
her posterity4 ,periods of moral        
decadence in the life of a people are   
always contemporaneous with times of    
effeminacy1 sensuality1 and luxury4     
,these conditions can only be conceived 
as occurring with increased demands on  
the nervous system1 which must meet     
these requirements4 ,as a result of     
increase of nervousness there is        
increase of sensuality1 and since this  
leads to excess among the masses it     
undermines the foundations of           
society--the morality and purity of     
family life 7,krafft-,ebing74  ,the     
inherited psychical habitudes1 handed   
down through hundreds and thousands of  
years1 would prevent the immediate      
destruction of that ethical purity for  
which woman is noted1 and in the        

possession of which she stands so far   
above man4 ,i do not think that this    
ethical purity would be lost in a day or
 a year1 or a hundred years1 for that   
matter2 yet there would come a time when
 the morality of to-day would be utterly
 lost1 and society would sink into some 
such state of existence as we now find  
en evidence among the ,nairs4 ,in       
support of this proposition ,i have only
 to instance the doctrines promulgated  
by some of the most advanced advocates  
of equal rights4 ,the free love of some 
advanced women1 ,i take it1 is but the  
free choice doctrine in vogue among the 
,nairs and kindred races of people4     
,john ,noyes1 of the ,oneida ,community1
 where equal rights were observed1      
preached the same doctrines4 ,it is true
 that the people who advocate such      
unethical principles are degenerate     
individuals1 psychical atavists1 yet    
they faithfully foreshadow in their own 
persons that which would be common to   
all men and women at some time in the   

future1 if equal rights were allowed1   
and carried out in their entirety4      
,this is an era of luxury1 and it is a  
universally acknowledged fact that      
luxury is one of the prime factors in   
the production of degeneration4 ,we see 
forms and phases of degeneration thickly
 scattered throughout all circles of    
society1 in the plays which we see      
performed in our theaters1 and in the   
books and papers published daily        
throughout the land4 ,the greater       
portion of the clientele of the alienist
 and neurologist is made up of women who
 are suffering with neurotic troubles1  
generally of a psychopathic nature4 ,the
 number of viragints1 gynandrists1      
androgynes1 and other psycho-sexual     
aberrants of the feminine gender is very
 large indeed4  ,it is folly to deny the
 fact that the right of female suffrage 
will make no change in the environment  
of woman4 ,the ,new ,woman glories in   
the fact1 that the era which she hopes  
to inaugurate will introduce her into a 

new world4 ,not satisfied with the      
liberty she now enjoys1 and which is    
proving to be exceedingly harmful to her
 in more ways than one1 she longs for   
more freedom1 a broader field of action4
 ,if nature provided men and women with 
an inexhaustible supply of nervous      
energy1 they might set aside physical   
laws1 and burn the candle at both ends  
without any fear of its being burned up4
 ,nature furnishes each individual with 
just so much nervous force and no more2 
moreover1 she holds every one strictly  
accountable for every portion of nervous
 energy which he or she may squander2   
therefore1 it behooves us to build our  
causeway with exceeding care1 otherwise 
we will leave a chasm which will engulf 
posterity4  ,the baneful effects        
resulting from female suffrage will not 
be seen to-morrow1 or next week1 or week
 after next1 or next month1 or next     
year1 or a hundred years hence1 perhaps4
 ,it is not a question of our day and   
generation2 it is a matter involving    

posterity4 ,the simple right to vote    
carries with it no immediate danger1 the
 danger comes afterward2 probably many  
years after the establishment of female 
suffrage1 when woman1 owing to her      
increased degeneration1 gives free rein 
to her atavistic tendencies1 and hurries
 ever backward toward the savage state  
of her barbarian ancestors4 ,i see1 in  
the establishment of equal rights1 the  
first step toward that abyss of immoral 
horrors so repugnant to our cultivated  
ethical tastes--the matriarchate4 ,sunk 
as low as this1 civilized man will sink 
still lower--to the communal kachims of 
the ,aleutian ,islanders4     ,,is ,,it 
,,the ,,beginning ,,of ,,the ,,end8     
,when we come to examine the history of 
the world we find evidence that certain 
nations have1 at times1 reached a high  
state of prosperity1 and have then      
degenerated to such a degree that they  
have either passed entirely out of      
existence1 or have lapsed into a state  
of semi-barbarity4 ,this has generally  

been brought about by conquest1 but the 
races conquered had first become        
enfeebled by their habitudes of thought 
and manner of living4 ,it is a          
well-established fact that luxury brings
 debauchery1 and that debauchery        
occasions degeneration4 ,all nations    
that have1 heretofore1 reached the      
zenith of their prosperity1 have been   
engulfed1 at some time or other1 in the 
maelstrom of luxurious habits1 and have 
fallen under the lethal influence of a  
degeneration occasioned solely by       
debauchery2 for the luxury and          
debauchery of one class brought         
increased poverty on1 as well as excess 
in1 other classes1 and poverty and      
excess are prominent factors in the     
production of degeneration1 as we shall 
see further on in this paper4 ,says the 
brilliant author of ,psychopathia       
,sexualis1 ,krafft-,ebing3 ,periods of  
moral decadence in the life of a people 
are always contemporaneous with times of
 effeminacy1 sensuality1 and luxury4    

,these conditions can only be conceived 
as occurring with increased demands upon
 the nervous system1 which must meet    
these requirements4 ,as a result of     
increase of nervousness1 there is       
increase of sensuality1 and1 since this 
leads to excesses among the masses1 it  
undermines the foundations of           
society--the morality and purity of     
family life4 ,when this is destroyed by 
excesses1 unfaithfulness1 and luxury1   
then the destruction of the state is    
inevitably compassed in material1 moral1
 and political ruin4  ,such was the     
condition of the ,latin race when the   
fierce and hardy ,vandals overran the   
,roman peninsula2 such was the condition
 of the ,assyrians when ,babylon fell   
beneath the onslaughts of the great     
,macedonian2 such was the condition of  
the ,egyptians when the northern myriads
 swept down upon the fertile valley of  
the ,nile1 and destroyed forever the    
once powerful and all-conquering kingdom
 of the ,pharaohs2 and such1 too1 was   

the condition of the ,french nation in  
#agid1 when ,anarchy unfurled its red   
banner at the head of the most gigantic 
social revolution the world has ever    
known4  ,at the present time1 community 
of interests1 as well as higher         
civilization1 would utterly forbid the  
total subjugation of one civilized      
nation by another1 such as occurred in  
the olden times2 hence no nation need   
fear annihilation from such a source4   
,the danger comes from another point1   
and consists in the almost certain      
uprising1 at some time in the future1 of
 degenerate individuals in open warfare 
and rebellion against society4  ,the    
question whether the world is growing   
better or worse is often debated1 and   
can be answered affirmatively on both   
sides4 ,better1 because superstition1   
bigotry1 and dogmatism have given way1  
to a great extent1 to the tolerance and 
freedom of higher civilization and purer
 ethics in normal1 healthy man2 worse1  
because crime 7and ,i mean by crime all 

anti-social acts7 has greatly increased 
on account of the pernicious influence  
of degeneration4  ,that superstition1   
bigotry1 and dogmatism are on the wane1 
and that they will1 sooner or later1 be 
entombed in that depository of obsolete 
savage mental habitudes--absolute and   
utter oblivion--a glance at the success 
that science has achieved in the warfare
 waged against it by the ,church1 will  
at once declare4 7,throughout this      
article ,i use the word ,church to      
express priests of any and every        
denomination1 whether ,jew1 ,gentile1 or
 ,pagan1 ,protestant or ,catholic47 ,a  
short incursion into this subject1 i4   
e41 the ,church's warfare on science1 is
 absolutely necessary4 ,for the triumph 
of science over its                     
enemies--superstition1 bigotry1 and     
dogmatism1 coincidently1 ignorance and  
illiterateness--shows that the civilized
 world1 at the present time1 is markedly
 different in some respects from the    
world of ancient1 medieval1 and even    

comparatively recent times2 and1 in     
summing up1 this changed condition will 
be a weighty factor in making up an     
answer to the question which heads this 
paper4  ,when ,olympus first faded away 
from the enlightened eyesight of the    
,greeks1 and changed into space         
besprinkled with stars2 when ,zeus no   
longer held his divine court on its     
mystic summit2 when oracles became mute 
and the fabled wonders of the ,odyssey  
either vanished1 or resolved themselves 
into prosaic commonplaces under the     
investigations of the skeptic or the    
accidental discoverer1 the ,church made 
a most strenuous protest against the    
destruction of its traditions4  ,many of
 these early seekers after truth were   
even killed and their goods confiscated4
 ,the ,church issued its edict against  
heresy 7and any doctrine that taught a  
belief antagonistic to the accepted     
tenets of pagan mythology and theogony  
was heresy71 and hurled its anathemas   
against the heretic4 ,olympus1 in the   

eyes of the ,church1 still existed1 and 
,zeus1 the man-god1 still quaffed the   
sacred ambrosia in its shady groves4    
,the ,sirens still sang their entrancing
 songs1 while ,scylla and ,charybdis    
were ever stretching out eager arms     
toward unwary mariners4 ,gigantic       
one-eyed ,cyclops1 with ,polyphemus as  
their leader1 still patrolled the shores
 of ,sicily1 and kept their             
ever-watchful eyes turned toward the    
open sea4  ,the hardy ,greek sailor     
landed on the ,cyclopean island1 and    
discovered that ,polyphemus1 and ,arges1
 and ,brontes1 and ,steropes1 and all   
the other one-eyed monsters were nothing
 but sea-wrack1 bowlders1 and weeds4 ,he
 sailed farther1 past ,scylla and       
,charybdis1 and discovered no greater   
dangers than sharp rocks and whirlpools4
 ,yet farther he sailed out into the    
unknown sea1 and the only ,siren's song 
he heard was the whistling of the wind  
through the cordage of his vessel4  ,in 
vain the ,church thundered against the  

daring investigator4 ,neither fire1 nor 
sword1 nor imprisonment1 nor death      
itself could check the march of truth4  
,mythology and pagan theogony had       
received their death-blows2             
superstition1 bigotry1 and dogmatism    
were elbowed aside and gave place to    
dawning science4 ,the ,church held that 
that which had been believed by pious   
men for untold ages must necessarily be 
true4 ,science1 in the garb of          
philosophy1 with cold1 dispassionate    
criticism1 proved that these hitherto   
accepted truths were arrant fallacies4  
,the poets and writers then took up the 
subject1 and finally the people fell    
into line1 so superstitious1 bigoted1   
dogmatic mythology died1 intellectuality
 took its place1 and higher civilization
 took a step forward4  ,thomas ,h4      
,huxley writes1 in his preface to       
,science and ,christian ,tradition1 as  
follows3 ,i have never 'gone out of my  
way' to attack the ,bible or anything   
else2 it was the dominant1              

ecclesiasticism of my early days1 which1
 as ,i believe1 without any warrant from
 the ,bible itself1 thrust the book in  
my way4  ,i had set out on a journey1   
with no other purpose than that of      
exploring a certain province of natural 
knowledge2 ,i strayed no hair's breadth 
from the course which it was my right   
and my duty to pursue2 and yet ,i found 
that1 whatever route ,i took1 before    
long ,i came to a tall and formidable   
looking fence4 ,confident as ,i might be
 in the existence of an ancient and     
indefeasible right of way1 before me    
stood the thorny barrier with its       
comminatory notice-board--',,no         
,,thoroughfare4 ,by order4 ,,moses4'    
,there seemed no way over2 nor did the  
prospect of creeping round1 as ,i saw   
some do attract me4444 ,the only        
alternatives were either to give up my  
journey--which ,i was not minded to     
do--or to break the fence down and go   
through it4  ,huxley found that this    
,mosaic fence1 as erected by dogmatic   

theologians and scholasticists1 was but 
a flimsy structure at best1 and one that
 was easily overthrown and destroyed4   
,dogmatic theology teaches that man was 
created from the dust of the earth1 and 
that he at once fell heir to an estate  
of physical and psychical habitudes     
which were ,god-like in character2      
scientific investigation1 on the        
contrary1 demonstrated the fact that    
man's inception begins in bathybian     
protoplasm and culminates1 as far as his
 general physical organism is concerned1
 in the last link of an evolutionary    
chain that reaches back and back1       
through countless eons of ages1 to the  
very beginnings of life4  ,the ,history 
of ,life written upon the rocky         
frame-work of this gray and hoary old   
world1 declares that man's physical     
being is but the result of the laws of  
evolution4 ,he did not spring into      
being1 like the sea-born ,venus1 a      
creature of physical grace1 and         
strength1 and beauty2 nor did the sacred

 flame of an inborn intelligence at once
 illumine his countenance4 ,for         
thousands of years1 the forbears of the 
present civilized homo sapiens were but 
slightly above the ,alalus 7ape-like    
man7 of ,haeckel in point of personal   
pulchritude2 and for thousands of years1
 the ancestors of the civilized man of  
to-day were savages1 with all the       
psychical traits of primitive peoples4  
,social ethics are as much the result of
 evolutionary growth as is man himself4 
,civilization1 which is but another name
 for ethical culture1 is the outcome of 
the inherited experiences of thousands  
of years4 ,these experiences were the   
results of law1 and that law can be     
embraced in one comprehensive           
word--evolution4  ,now1 one of the most 
noticeable facts in biological history  
is the tendency that animal structures  
or organisms1 under certain             
circumstances1 have toward atavism or   
reversion to ancestral types4 ,not only 
is this to be observed in the physical  

organisms of animals1 but also in their 
psychical beings as well4  ,atavism is  
invariably the result of degeneration1  
as ,i will endeavor to demonstrate later
 on in this paper4  ,i believe that we  
are rapidly hurrying toward a social    
cataclysm1 beside which the downfall of 
the ,roman ,empire1 the destruction of  
ancient ,egyptian and ,babylonian       
civilizations1 and the bloody days of   
the ,french ,revolution will sink into  
utter insignificance4 ,i believe1 also1 
and think that ,i can demonstrate the   
truthfulness of my belief1 that the     
inciting cause of this social revolution
 will not be found in those citizens of 
the ,united ,states of ,anglo-,saxon and
 ,celtic parentage1 but that it will be 
observed among our ,slavonic1 ,teutonic1
 and ,latinic citizens4 ,but1 in order  
to furnish a parallel 7from which you   
may draw your own conclusions71 before  
,i enter fully into the discussion of   
this part of my subject1 ,i wish to     
review1 very briefly1 certain historical

 epochs4  ,when the first conquerors of 
,egypt1 about whom history can tell us  
so little1 first occupied the fertile   
valley of the ,nile1 the country1 in all
 probability1 was inhabited by negroes4 
,the conquering race drove out or       
enslaved the native population and      
founded the ancient kingdom of ,egypt4  
,this kingdom waxed strong and mighty   
until1 at the time of ,rameses the      
,great1 more than three thousand two    
hundred years ago1 it was the most      
powerful monarchy in the whole world4   
,the mighty son of ,ra1 ,meiamoun ,ra1  
or ,rameses1 as he is most generally    
styled1 was a warrior and a statesman4  
,he led his victorious troops north1    
east1 and west1 conquering nations as he
 went1 until he dominated and brought   
into a state of vassalage over          
two-thirds of the then known world4     
,wealth flowed into his kingdom from all
 the surrounding countries1             
consequently1 luxury1 with its          
never-failing associate1 debauchery1    

made its appearance1 and the decadence  
of this mighty kingdom set in4  ,it is  
true that many ,pharaohs reigned after  
,rameses1 and that the monarchy         
maintained its greatness for a long     
period of time1 but luxury had taken    
hold on the ,egyptians at the time of   
their greatest prosperity and had sown  
the seeds of degeneration1 which        
flourished and grew apace1 until the    
emasculated and effeminate people       
yielded up their independence to the    
conquerors1 and passed out of existence 
as a nation forever4  ,the ,roman       
people1 under the leadership of their   
ancient heroes1 was a nation of hardy   
warriors and husbandmen4 ,that          
preeminent military genius1 ,julius     
,caesar1 had carefully fostered this    
warlike spirit in the bosoms of his     
compatriots1 and1 by a series of        
brilliant campaigns1 had made the ,roman
 nation the most powerful on the face of
 the globe4 ,the ,roman legions were not
 only victorious on land1 extending     

their conquests into ,iberia1 farther   
,gaul1 and still farther ,britain1 but  
the ,roman triremes also swept the      
,mediterranean1 from the ,pillars of    
,hercules to the shores of ,syria and   
,egypt4 ,wealth poured into the country 
from all sides1 and the people reveled  
in a boundless prosperity4  ,luxury had 
already begun to enervate the hardy     
soldiery at the time of ,caesar's       
assassination1 yet not enough to show   
the full effects of degeneration and    
demoralization4 ,the empire under the   
first emperors steadily grew richer and 
more powerful1 and the luxury of the    
rich more unlimited and licentious4 ,at 
length a change can be noticed4 ,the    
,roman legions1 hitherto victorious over
 every foe1 are now frequently          
vanquished2 conquered tribes uprear the 
standard of revolt and refuse to pay    
tribute2 the territorial boundaries of  
the empire materially shrink1 and its   
once conquered provinces pass out of its
 dominion forever4  ,the gradual        

degeneration of this nation is          
faithfully mirrored in the character of 
the emperors who governed it4 ,nero1    
,caligula1 ,tiberius1 ,caracalla1 and   
,messalina1 the depraved wife of        
,claudius and the daughter of ,domitia  
,lepida1 herself a licentious and       
libidinous woman1 were but accentuated  
types of the luxurious and debauched    
nobility4 ,not only did the nobility    
become victims of degeneration1 but the 
poorer classes also lost their virility1
 until at last we find the stability of 
the nation preserved through the        
instrumentality of foreign mercenaries4 
,the greatness of this once widespread  
empire dwindled away 7the freedom of its
 institutions contracting along with its
 shrinking boundaries71 until we find it
 lapsed into a state of barbarian       
despotism under the son of ,aurelius2   
and1 had it not been for outside        
influences1 it would have eventually    
fallen into a state of utter and        
complete savagery4  ,now let us turn to 

a recent civilization4 ,at the time of  
,louis ,,xvi41 the ,french nation was   
thoroughly under the influence of       
degeneration consequent to a luxury and 
licentiousness that had had a cumulative
 action for several hundred years4 ,the 
peasantry and the inhabitants of the    
faubourgs1 owing to their extreme       
poverty1 itself a powerful factor in the
 production of degeneration1 had lapsed 
into a state closely akin to that of    
their savage ancestors4 ,the nobility   
were weak and effeminate1 the majority  
of them either sexual perverts or       
monsters of sensuality and lechery4     
,the middle class1 as ever the true     
conservators of society1 seeing this    
miserable state of affairs1 attempted to
 remedy it4 ,not fully understanding the
 danger of such a procedure1 they       
allowed the degenerate element to share 
in their deliberations4 ,their moderate 
and sensible counsels were quickly      
overruled by their savage associates1   
who brought about a ,reign of ,terror   

7with such psychical atavists as ,marat1
 ,danton1 and ,robespierre at its head71
 the like of which the world had never  
seen before1 nor has ever experienced   
since4  ,i have demonstrated1 in the    
three instances of history just cited1  
that degeneration has invariably        
followed luxury1 and that a social and  
political cataclysm has been1           
invariably1 the result of this          
degeneration4 ,that certain classes of  
the ,old ,world1 and of the ,new ,world1
 also1 are living in inordinate luxury2 
and that certain other classes are1 even
 now1 struggling in the very depths of  
poverty1 is a well-known fact4 ,that    
this state of affairs is rapidly        
increasing the percentage of            
degenerates1 such as sexual perverts1   
insane individuals1 and congenital      
criminals1 is not generally known2 yet  
it is a woeful truth4  ,the factors in  
the production of degeneration are as   
multitudinous as they are varied1 and ,i
 can find space for only a few of them4 

,the artificiality of many peoples'     
lives1 wherein night is turned into day1
 is a prominent factor in the production
 of degeneration4 ,now1 the long        
continued influence of artificial light 
exerts a very deleterious effect on the 
nervous system2 hence it is not to be   
wondered at that so many men and women  
of society are neurasthenic4 ,not only  
are those individuals who1 voluntarily  
and preferably1 spend the greater       
portions of their lives in artificial   
light1 rendered nervously irritable1 but
 those1 also1 who are driven by force of
 circumstances to turn night into day   
are likewise afflicted4 ,several years  
ago1 ,i met a distinguished editor at   
,waukesha1 who was suffering greatly    
from nervous exhaustion4 ,he told me    
that he was so situated that he did all 
of his work at night1 often writing     
until three o'clock in the morning4 ,i  
advised him to quit this and to do his  
editorial work during daylight4 ,not    
long after1 he wrote me that he had     

followed my advice1 and that he was a   
new man in point of health4  ,the loss  
of nervous vitality makes itself evident
 by a feeling either of exhaustion or   
irritability4 ,the fashionable devotee1 
in order to counteract this1 either     
stimulates the system with alcohol1 or  
exorcises the fidgets by the use of     
sedatives1 such as chloral or morphia4  
,the baneful effects of such medication 
are not at once appreciable1 but1 if    
continued for any length of time1 they  
will eventually result in a total       
demoralization of the nervous system4   
,time and again have ,i seen fashionable
 men and women1 at the close of the     
season1 veritable nervous wrecks4  ,what
 necessarily would be the effect of     
physical and psychical lesions like     
these on a child begotten by such       
parents8 ,the inevitable result would be
 degeneration in some form or other4    
,again1 many men and women stand the    
drain of a fashionable season on their  
nervous systems without attempting to   

recoup through the agency of drugs1 and 
at the end find themselves physically   
and psychically exhausted4 ,they go to  
the seaside or some other resort1 and1  
in a measure1 recover their nervous     
vitality1 only to lose it again during  
the next season4 ,this continues for    
season after season1 the nervous system 
all the time becoming weaker1 until some
 day there is a collapse1 ending in     
hysteria1 paresis1 or some other of the 
hundred forms of neurotic disorder4     
,what will be the effect on the progeny 
resulting from the union of such        
individuals8 ,again the answer must     
necessarily be--degeneration4  ,the long
 and continued intercourse of the sexes 
in the ball-room1 where the women are   
dressed so decollete that they excite   
sensuality in the men1 very frequently  
without the men being conscious of the  
fact1 must necessarily exert a          
deleterious effect on the nervous       
system4  ,contact of the sexes in the   
dance is only pleasurable because of    

that contact4 ,i am fully aware of the  
fact that this idea is scouted and      
denied by those who indulge in the waltz
 and kindred dances4 ,they claim that no
 thought of carnality ever enters into  
their feelings4 ,i know from personal   
experiences that they are honest in this
 declaration1 yet1 from a psychical     
standpoint1 they are woefully in error4 
,aestheticism and carnality are by no   
means as dissociate as the aesthete     
would have us believe4 ,all pleasurable 
emotions that have their inception in   
the senses are1 fundamentally1 of carnal
 origin4 ,the waltz is aesthetic1 yet   
all of its pleasure is based on an      
emotion closely akin to sensuality4 ,men
 derive no pleasure from waltzing with  
one another1 nor do women under like    
circumstances4  ,nature demands in the  
interest of health a certain amount of  
exercise4 ,the luxurious society man or 
woman utterly disregards this demand of 
nature1 consequently indigestion1 with  
all of its associated ills1 steps in1   

and becomes an additional factor in the 
production of nervous exhaustion4 ,to   
tempt the appetite1 highly seasoned     
foods1 many of which are deleterious and
 injurious1 are prepared and taken into 
the torpid and crippled stomach4        
,finally nature rebels and the          
unfortunate dyspeptic is forced to go   
through life on a diet of oatmeal1 or1  
weakened by lack of healthy sustenance1 
the brain gives way1 and the victim     
passes the remainder of his or her life 
in a lunatic asylum4 ,children begotten 
by miserable invalids like these1 beyond
 a peradventure1 must necessarily be    
degenerate4  ,indigestion is not the    
only ill that nature inflicts for any   
disregard of her laws4 ,she is a rough  
nurse but a safe one1 consequently she  
forbids the rearing of her hardiest     
creation1 man1 in hot houses1 as though 
he were a tender exotic4 ,the luxurious 
individual pampers his body1 following  
the dictates of his own selfish desires 
and utterly disregarding the laws of    

nature1 and before he reaches middle    
age1 discovers that he has become an    
old1 old man1 weak in body1 but still   
weaker in mind4  ,the children resulting
 from the union of the various          
neurasthenics described above are       
necessarily degenerate4 ,as they grow   
up1 they show this degeneration by      
engaging in all kinds of licentious     
debauchery1 and unnatural and perverted 
indulgences of appetite4 ,in nine cases 
out of ten1 they will spend the fortunes
 inherited from their parents in riotous
 debauchery1 and will eventually sink1  
if death does not overtake them1 to the 
level of their fellow degenerates--those
 who have been brought into existence by
 poverty and debauchery1 and who await  
them at the foot of the social ladder4  
,among such degenerate beings1 the      
doctrines of socialism1 of communism1 of
 nihilism1 and of anarchy have their    
origin4  ,now let us turn our attention 
to the evidences of luxury and          
debauchery1 and the consequent evidences

 of degeneration1 which obtrude         
themselves on all sides4 ,the reckless  
extravagance of the nobility of the ,old
 ,world is well known4 ,vice and        
licentiousness even penetrate to royal  
households1 and princes of the blood    
pose as roues and debauchees4 ,as ,i    
have demonstrated elsewhere1            
degeneration in the wealthy classes of  
society generally makes itself evident  
by the appearance of psycho-sexual      
disorders4 ,the horrible abominations of
 the ,english nobility1 as portrayed in 
the revelations of ,mr4 ,stead1 are well
 known4 ,charcot1 ,segalas1 ,fere1 and  
,bouvier give clear and succinct        
accounts of the vast amount of sexual   
perversion existing among the ,french1  
while ,krafft-,ebing informs us that the
 ,german empire is cursed by the        
presence of thousands of these          
unfortunates4 ,when we come to examine  
this phase of degeneration in our own   
country1 we find that it is very        
prevalent4 ,this is especially          

noticeable in the larger cities1 though 
we find examples of it scattered        
broadcast throughout the land4  ,the    
editor of one of our leading magazines1 
in a remarkable series of letters1 has  
shown that the wealthy ,new ,yorkers    
revel in a luxuriousness that is        
absolutely startling in its license4    
,thousands are expended on a single     
banquet1 while the flower bills for a   
single year of some of these modern     
,luculli would support a family of five 
people for three or four years6         
,bacchanalian orgies that dim even those
 of the depraved1 corrupt1 and          
degenerate ,nero are of nightly         
occurrence4,,ai ,drunkenness1 lechery1  
and gambling are the sports and pastimes
 of these ultra rich men1 and it is even
 whispered that milady is not much      
behind milord in the pursuit of         
forbidden pleasures4       ,,ai ,i know 
from personal observation that ,seeley  
,dinners are of      frequent occurrence
 in ,new ,york1 as well as in other     

large cities4      ,j4 ,w41 ,jr4        
,psycho-sexual disorders are not the    
only evidences of degeneration in the   
wealthy1 by any means4 ,many a          
congenital criminal is born in the      
purple1 who shows his moral imbecility  
in many ways4 ,sometimes he sinks at    
once to the level of a common thief1 but
 generally his education keeps him      
within the pale of the law4 ,always1    
however1 his sensuality is unbounded1   
and he will hesitate at nothing in order
 to gratify his desires4 ,this unbridled
 license has already had its effect     
elsewhere4 ,we see that it has even     
corrupted the guardians and conservators
 of the public peace4 ,the recent       
investigation of the police board of    
,new ,york shows a degree of corruption 
that is simply overwhelming1 and that   
the same state of affairs exists in     
,chicago1 ,new ,orleans1 ,st4 ,louis1   
and other large cities1 ,i have every   
reason to believe4  ,there are yet other
 evidences of degeneration2 witness the 

eroticism that is to be found in our    
literature4 ,unless a book appeals to   
the degenerate tastes of its readers it 
might just as well never have been      
published4 ,this is not cynicism2 it is 
plain1 unvarnished truth4 ,again1 turn  
to the stage1 and we find the same      
thing4 ,the tragedies and comedies of   
,shakespeare are shelved1 while immoral 
society plays and living pictures and   
problem plays hold the boards4          
,salacity1 with only sufficient and that
 is1 degeneration4 ,that which happened 
centuries ago will happen again1 for    
covering to hide downright lewdness1 is 
everywhere apparent4 ,now what is the   
result of this8 ,there can be but one   
answer1 man is governed by the same laws
 of nature now as he was then4          
,statistics show that insanity is       
markedly on the increase4 ,this is not  
to be wondered at when we take into     
consideration the fact that debauchery  
is the rule1 and not the exception1     
among certain classes of people4        

,syphilis1 one of the most productive   
causes of degeneration1 is exceedingly  
active throughout the whole civilized   
world4 ,blashko states that one out of  
every ten men in the city of ,berlin is 
tainted with this terrible malady4 ,this
 is wholly attributable to the unbounded
 sensuality of the people4 ,crime of    
every description is rearing its        
hydra-head1 and clasping in its         
destroying embrace an alarming          
proportion of human beings4  ,i have    
shown elsewhere1 that the congenital    
criminal is the result of degeneration1 
and that he comes from all classes of   
society4 ,he is1 however1 most          
frequently the product of the lower     
classes1 and lives and dies among his   
congeners4 ,i have shown1 also1 that the
 anarchist1 the nihilist1 and the       
socialist belong to the same category of
 degenerate beings4 ,poverty1 brought on
 by high taxation1 by war1 and by       
overcrowding1 has been1 during the last 
millenary period1 very fertile in the   

production of degenerates in the ,old   
,world4 ,lack of food and sanitation1   
the usual adjuncts of poverty1 are      
powerful factors in the production of   
degenerate individuals4 ,the ,old ,world
 has gotten rid of these people as      
rapidly as possible by unloading them on
 our shores4 ,year after year1          
practically without restriction1        
thousands of these anti-social men and  
women have swarmed into our country1    
until we1 comparatively speaking1 a     
nation just born1 contain as many of    
these undesirable citizens as any of the
 older nations4 ,they still continue to 
enter our gates1 and we ourselves are   
adding to their number1 as ,i have      
shown1 by our own production4  ,some    
day--and ,i greatly fear that day is not
 very far distant--some professional    
anarchist 7for there are professional   
anarchists as well as professional      
thieves7 will consider the time ripe for
 rebellion1 and1 raising the fraudulent 
cry of ,labor against ,capital6 instead 

of his legitimate cry of ,rapine6       
,murder6 ,booty6 will lead this army of 
degenerates1 composed of anarchists1    
nihilists1 sexual perverts1 and         
congenital criminals1 against society4  
,and who will bear the brunt of this    
savage irruption8 ,the ultra-rich8 ,by  
no means6 ,the great middle class--the  
true conservators of society and        
civilization--will fight this battle4   
,it will be a fight between civilization
 and degeneration1 and civilization will
 carry the day4 ,there would have been  
no ,french revolution had the middle    
class been as wise then as it is to-day4
 ,it was taken by surprise at that      
savage1 bloody time1 but as soon as it  
recovered1 how quickly it brought order 
out of chaos6  ,education is the bulwark
 of civilization1 and the great middle  
class1 freed of dogmatism1 bigotry1 and 
superstition1 is welcoming education    
with outstretched hands4 ,it is gaining 
recruits1 and is strengthening its      
defenses1 so that when the time comes   

its enemies may find it fully prepared4 
,from the signs of the times and the    
evidence before me1 ,i have no          
hesitation in declaring that ,i believe 
that the beginning of the end is at     
hand6 ,this social cataclysm may not    
occur for many years1 yet the agencies  
through which it will finally be evolved
 are even now at work1 and are bringing 
the culmination of their labors ever    
nearer and nearer as time passes6       
,,bibliography4   ,,arnobius3 ,adversus 
,gentes4  ,,balboa3 ,history of ,peru4  
,,bancroft3 ,native ,races of the       
,pacific ,states of ,north ,america4    
,,bates3 ,the ,naturalist on the ,river 
,amazon4  ,,batchelor3 ,the ,ainu of    
,japan4  ,,becan3 ,origines             
,antwerpianae4  ,,biart3 ,the ,aztecs4  
,,bird3 ,unbeaten ,tracks in ,japan4    
,,bosman3 ,africa4  ,,bremen3 ,de ,situ 
,daniae4  ,,browlow3 ,travels4          
,,buchardi3 ,decretorum ,libri4  ,,cary3
 ,translations of ,herodotus4           
,,chaille-,,long3 ,naked ,truths of     

,naked ,people4  ,,darwin3 ,works4      
,,dall3 ,alaska and its ,resources4     
,,de ,,remusat3 ,lettres ,edifiantes4   
,,de ,,remusat3 ,nouv4 ,mel4            
,asiatiques4  ,,draper3 ,the ,conflict  
between ,religion and ,science4  ,,de   
,,quatrefages3 ,the ,human ,species4    
,,de ,,quatrefages3 ,hommes ,fossiles4  
,,dorsey3 ,siouan ,cults2 ,an4 ,rep4    
,bur4 ,eth41 #ahhi-ij4  ,,du ,,chaillu3 
,equatorial ,africa4  ,,eden3 ,the      
,fifth ,continent4  ,,ellis3 ,polynesian
 ,researches4  ,,forbes3 ,oriental      
,memoirs4  ,,fletcher3 ,peabody ,museum 
,report4 ,vol4 iii4  ,,friedreich3      
,psychologie4  ,,garcilasso3 ,the ,royal
 ,commentaries of the ,incas4           
,,golnitz3 ,itinerarium                 
,belgico-,gallicum4  ,,gregory3 ,the    
,great ,rift ,valley4  ,,haeckel3 ,the  
,history of ,creation4  ,,hammond3      
,impotence in the ,male4  ,,haeckel3    
,the ,evolution of ,man4  ,,herodotus3  
,euterpe1 ,clio1 ,etc4  ,,horace3       
,priap4 ,carm41 ,lxxxiv4  ,,johnston3   

,the ,kilima-,njaro ,expedition4        
,,keller3 ,the ,amazon and ,madeira     
,rivers4  ,,knight3 ,the ,worship of    
,priapus4  ,,krafft-,,ebing3            
,psychopathia ,sexualis4  ,,lanercroft3 
,the ,chronicles of4  ,,letourneau3     
,evolution of ,marriage4  ,l',,estoile3 
,confession de ,sancy4  ,,lydston3      
,diseases of ,society4  ,,lumholtz3     
,among ,cannibals4  ,,martene ,,and     
,,durand3 ,scrip4 ,ampliss4 ,collect4   
,,maspero3 ,the ,dawn of ,civilization4 
,,martene ,,et ,,durand3 ,coll4 ,antiq4 
,poenit4  ,,maspero3 ,egypt4 ,ant4      
,etud4  ,,maudsley3 ,the ,physiology of 
,mind4  ,,newbold3 ,appleton's ,pop4    
,sci4 ,month41 ,feb4 #ahig4  ,,parkman3 
,the ,jesuits in ,north ,america4       
,,peschel3 ,the ,races of ,man4         
,,prescott3 ,the ,conquest of ,peru4    
,,rabelais3 ,works4  ,,romanes3 ,mental 
,evolution in ,animals4  ,,reclus3      
,primitive ,folk4  ,,romanes3 ,mental   
,evolution in ,man4  ,,sepp3 ,heidenthum
 u4 ,christenthum4  ,,sidis3 ,multiple  

,personality4  ,,sherwill3 ,the         
,rajmahal ,hills4  ,,spencer3           
,principles of ,sociology4  ,,spitzka3  
,insanity4  ,,stanley3 ,in ,darkest     
,africa4  ,,stephens3 ,yucatan4         
,,stuhlman3 ,mit ,emin ,pasha4          
,,strabo3 ,works4  ,,teulon3 ,orig4 de  
la ,famille4  ,,tylor3 ,anthropology4   
,,vignoli3 ,myth and ,science4  ,,vogt3 
,lectures on ,man4  ,,wappaus3 ,allgem4 
,bevoelkerungsstatistik4  ,,wallace3    
,travels on the ,amazon4  ,,westermarck3
 ,human ,marriage4  ,,white3 ,history of
 the ,warfare of ,science with          
,theology4  ,,wallace3 ,the ,malay      
,archipelago4  ,,weir3 ,dawn of ,reason4
                                        
----------------------------------------
----------------------                  
,transcriber's ,notes and ,errata       
,there are two series of footnotes in   
this book4 ,footnotes        with       
,arabic numbers are references to       
external sources4          ,footnotes   
with uppercase ,english letters are the 

author's        notes4 ,there is one    
hand-written correction in the book     
which has been marked with a third type 
of footnote1 one         with a         
lowercase roman number4                 
,the trasliteration of a few ,grek      
phrases has been inserted       in the  
text in square brackets immediately     
after the text4                         
,the following words are found in both  
hyphenated and             unhyphenated 
form4 ,the number of each instance is   
given in       parentheses4             
foot-note 7#a7 footnote 7#b7            
,the following words were found in the  
text with acented and      unaccented   
letters1 with ligatures and separated   
letters4        ,the number of each     
instance is given in parentheses4       
anaesthesia 7#b7 anaesthesia 7#b7       
haematuria 7#a7  haematuria 7#c7        
hetarae 7#a7     hetarae 7#d7           
,martene 7#b7     ,martene 7#c7         
poeniteat 7#b7   poeniteat 7#a7         
,remusat 7#b7     ,remusat 7#b7         

saepe 7#a7       saepe 7#a7             
,wappaus 7#a7     ,wappaeus 7#b7        
,the following typographic errors have  
been corrected4                         
,error        ,correction               
sancity      sanctity                   
phophylactic prophylactic               
,pharoahs     ,pharaohs                 
hun-hundreds hundreds                   
errotic      erotic                     
,voltair      ,voltaire                 
enverated    enervated                  
considerd    considered                 
,kraft-,ebing  ,krafft-,ebing           
neuroloogist neurologist                
,brittain     ,britain                  
----------------------------------------
----------------------