Page:Psychopathia Sexualis (tr. Chaddock, 1892).djvu/40

22 novel, “La Maison du Vent.” It was the case of a wife who fell in love with a tenor’s voice, and thus became untrue to her husband. Belot’s romance, “Les Baigneuses de Trouville,” speaks in favor of this assumption. Binet thinks that many marriages with singers are due to the fetich of their voices. He also calls attention to the interesting fact that among singing-birds the voice has the same sexual significance as odors among quadrupeds. The birds allure by their song, and the male that sings most beautifully flies at night to his charmed mate.

The pathological facts of masochism and sadism show that mental peculiarities may also act as fetiches in a wider sense.

Thus the fact of idiosyncrasies is explained, and the old saying, “De gustibus non est disputandum,” retains its force.