conspire to make it difficult for women to assert publicly the wisdom and
knowledge which, in matters of love, the experiences of life have brought
to them. The ladies who, in all earnestness and sincerity, write books on
these questions are often the last people to whom we should go as the
representatives of their sex; those who know most have written least. I
can therefore but express again, as in previous volumes I have expressed
before, my deep gratitude to these anonymous collaborators who have aided
me in throwing light on a field of human life which is of such primary
social importance and is yet so dimly visible.

HAVELOCK ELLIS.

Carbis Water,

Lelant, Cornwall, England.




CONTENTS.


ANALYSIS OF THE SEXUAL IMPULSE.

Definition of Instinct--The Sexual Impulse a Factor of the Sexual
Instinct--Theory of the Sexual Impulse as an Impulse of Evacuation--The
Evidence in Support of this Theory Inadequate--The Sexual Impulse to Some
Extent Independent of the Sexual Glands--The Sexual Impulse in Castrated
Animals and Men--The Sexual Impulse in Castrated Women, After the
Menopause, and in the Congenital Absence of the Sexual Glands--The