Page:Psychopathia Sexualis (tr. Chaddock, 1892).djvu/92

74 Impotence exists, likewise, in the next three cases. It may be psychical, however, in that the principal tone of the vita sexualis lies in the sadistic inclination, and the normal elements are distorted:—

Case 28. The girl-cutter of Augsburg (reported by Demme, “Buch der Verbrechen,” vii, p. 281). Bartle, wine-merchant. He was subject to lively sexual excitement at the age of fourteen, though decidedly opposed to its satisfaction by coitus, his aversion going so far as disgust for the female sex. At that time he already had the idea to cut girls, and thus satisfy his sexual desire. He refrained from it, however, on account of lack of opportunity and courage. He practiced masturbation, and now and then had pollutions with erotic dreams of girls that had been cut. At the age of nineteen he first cut a girl. During the act he had a seminal emission, and experienced intense pleasure. From that time the impulse became constantly more powerful. He chose only young and pretty girls, and, as a rule, asked them before the deed whether they were still single. The ejaculation or sexual satisfaction occurred only when he was sure that he had actually wounded the girls. After such an act he always felt tired and bad, and was also troubled with qualms of conscience. Until thirty-two years old he carried on this process of cutting, but always with care not to wound the girls dangerously. From that time until his thirty-sixth year he was able to control his impulse. Then he sought to satisfy himself by simply pressing the girls on the arm or neck; but this gave rise to erections and not to ejaculation. Then he sought to attain his object by pricking the girls with a knife in its sheath; but this did not suffice. Finally, he stabbed with the open knife and had complete success, for he thought that a girl when stabbed bled more and had more pain than one that was merely cut. In his thirty-seventh year he was detected and arrested. In his dwelling was found a collection of daggers, sword-canes, and knives. He said that the mere sight of these weapons, and still more the grasping of them, gave him an intense feeling of sensual pleasure, with violent excitement. According to his confession he had injured, in all, fifty girls. His external appearance was rather pleasing. He lived in very good circumstances, but was peculiar and shy.

Case 29. J. H., aged 25, in 1883 came for consultation concerning severe neurasthenia and hypochondria. Patient confesses that he has practiced onanism since his fourteenth year, infrequently up to his eighteenth year; but since that time he has been unable to resist the impulse. Up to that time he had no opportunity to approach females, for he had been anxiously cared for and never left alone, on account of his invalidism. He had had no real desire for this unknown pleasure; but he accidentally learned what it was when one of his mother’s maids