Page:Edward Prime-Stevenson - The Intersexes.djvu/114

 for him to think of such a step, even with his dearest female friends".

"R— smokes and drinks the milder spirituous liquors very moderately. He has intimate friends whom he values as "merely friends". That is, he feels closely attached to them, but without sexual emotion. He is a member, since early boyhood, of a Protestant church; but he has now no dogmatic religious belief of any sort; the less because he says frankly that he has tried to overcome his sexual nature by religion and has found religion of no help. In fact, R— has lost religious sentiment from the effort. He makes the impression of a perfectly upright, high moral nature, and of strength of character in general."

"I could advise him only against any idea of marriage as an artificial attempt at changing his inborn similisexual nature; against losing faith in himself as to being morally depraved, etc., on account of his misfortune and the secret unhappiness it entailed; against allowing himself time to brood; urging him to as much intellectual and physical distraction as possible, to strong efforts toward sell-control; and suggesting other generalities".



Such is one interesting instance of the uranistic passion. It affords the reader good opportunities of "translating" the abnormal andsimilisexual love into the workings of the 'normal-sexual' sort; or vice-versa. In the chapter on "The Uranian in Military Life" will be found a case quite as suggestive.

Continuing the examples, may follow four memoranda, of the eminent Austrian psychiater, lately deceased, of the University of Vienna, Dr. Richard von Krafft-Ebing, a man whose work for a juster view of similisexual tendencies has been invaluable; and who probably was consulted previous to his retirement from his labour by more eminent uranistic sufferers than any physician in Europe.