Page:Psychopathia Sexualis (tr. Chaddock, 1892).djvu/325

Rh and the performance of which made him tired and weak. He denied having had sexual intercourse with men, but his blushing and embarrassment, and, still more, an occurrence in N., where the patient, some time before, provoked a scandal by attempting to have sexual intercourse with youths, gave him the lie.

Too, his external appearance, habitus, form, gestures, manners, and dress are remarkable, and decidedly recall the feminine form and characteristics. The patient, however, is over middle height, but thorax and pelvis are decidedly of feminine form. The body is rich in fat; the skin is well cared for, delicate, and soft. This impression of a woman in masculine dress is further increased by a thin growth of hair on the face, which is shaven, with the exception of a small moustache; by the mincing gait; the shy, effeminate manner; the feminine features; the swimming, neuropathic expression of the eyes; the traces of powder and paint; the curtailed cut of the clothing, with the bosom-like prominence of the upper garments; the fringed, feminine cravat; and the hair brushed down smoothly from the brow to the temples. The physical examination makes undoubted the feminine form of the body. The external genitals are well developed, though the left testicle has remained in the canal; the growth of hair on the mons veneris is thin, and the latter is unusually rich in fat and prominent. The voice is high, and without masculine timbre.

Too, the occupation and manner of thought of v. H. are decidedly feminine. He has a boudoir and a well-supplied toilet-table, with which he spends many hours in all kinds of arts for beautifying himself. He abhors the chase, practice with arms, and such masculine pursuits, and calls himself an æsthete; speaks with preference of his paintings and attempts at poetry. He is interested in feminine occupations, which—e.g., embroidery—he engages in, and calls his greatest pleasure. He could spend his life in an artistic and esthetic circle of ladies and gentlemen, in conversation, music, and æsthetics. His conversation is preferably about feminine things,—fashions, needlework, cooking, and household work.

The patient is well nourished, but anemic. He is of neuropathic constitution, and presents symptoms of neurasthenia, which are maintained by a bad manner of life, lying abed, living in-doors, and effeminateness. He complains of occasional pain and pressure in the head, and habitual obstipation. He is easily frightened; complains of occasional lassitude and fatigue, and drawing pains in the extremities, in the direction of the lumbo-abdominal nerves. After pollutions, and regularly after eating, he feels tired and relaxed; he is sensitive to pressure over the spinous processes of the dorsal vertebræ, as also to pressure along accessible nerves. He feels peculiar sympathies and antipathies for certain persons, and, when he meets people for whom he has an antipathy, he falls into a condition of peculiar fear and confusion. His pollutions, though now they occur but seldom, are pathological, in that they occur by day, and are unaccompanied by any sensual excitement.