can be added to the perverts. This is not only because neurotics
represent a very large proportion of humanity, but we must consider also
that the neuroses in all their gradations run in an uninterrupted series
to the normal state. Moebius was quite justified in saying that we are
all somewhat hysterical. Hence, the very wide dissemination of
perversions urged us to assume that the predisposition to perversions is
no rare peculiarity but must form a part of the normally accepted
constitution.

We have heard that it is a question whether perversions should be
referred to congenital determinations or whether they originate from
accidental experiences, just as Binet showed in fetichisms. Now we are
forced to the conclusion that there is indeed something congenital at
the basis of perversions, but it is something _which is congenital in
all persons_, which as a predisposition may fluctuate in intensity and
is brought into prominence by influences of life. We deal here with
congenital roots in the constitution of the sexual impulse which in one
series of cases develop into real carriers of sexual activity
(perverts); while in other cases they undergo an insufficient
suppression (repression), so that as morbid symptoms they are enabled to
attract to themselves in a round-about way a considerable part of the
sexual energy; while again in favorable cases between the two extremes
they originate the normal sexual life through effective restrictions and
other elaborations.

But we must also remember that the assumed constitution which shows the
roots of all perversions will be demonstrable only in the child, though
all impulses can be manifested in it only in moderate intensity. If we
are led to suppose that neurotics conserve the infantile state of their
sexuality or return to it, our interest must then turn to the sexual