are liable to be bitten by lizards, and to guard against this risk they
wear drawers during the period. In Germany, again, it was believed, up to
the eighteenth century at least, that the hair of a menstruating woman, if
buried, would turn into a snake. It may be added that in various parts of
the world virgin priestesses are dedicated to a snake-god and are married
to the god.[359] At Rome, it is interesting to note, the serpent was the
symbol of fecundation, and as such often figures at Pompeii as the _genius
patrisfamilias_, the generative power of the family.[360] In Rabbinical
tradition, also, the serpent is the symbol of sexual desire.

There can be no doubt that--as Ploss and Bartels, from whom some of these
examples have been taken, point out--in widely different parts of the
world menstruation is believed to have been originally caused by a snake,
and that this conception is frequently associated with an erotic and
mystic idea.[361] How the connection arose Ploss and Bartels are unable to
say. It can only be suggested that its shape and appearance, as well as
its venomous nature, may have contributed to the mystery everywhere
associated with the snake--a mystery itself fortified by the association
with women--to build up this world-wide belief regarding the origin of
menstruation.

This primitive theory of the origin of menstruation probably brings before
us in its earliest shape the special and intimate bond which has ever been
held to connect women, by virtue of the menstrual process, with the
natural or supernatural powers of the world. Everywhere menstruating women
are supposed to be possessed by spirits and charged with mysterious
forces. It is at this point that a serious misconception, due to ignorance
of primitive religious ideas, has constantly intruded. It is stated that
the menstruating woman is "unclean" and possessed by an evil spirit. As a
matter of fact, however, the savage rarely discriminates between bad and
good spirits. Every spirit may have either a beneficial or malignant
influence. An interesting instance of this is given in Colenso's _Maori
Lexicon_ as illustrated by the meaning of the Maori word _atua_.

The importance of recognizing the special sense in which the word
"unclean" is used in this connection was clearly pointed out by Robertson
Smith in the case of the Semites. "The Hebrew word _tame_ (unclean)," he
remarked, "is not the ordinary word for things physically foul; it is a
ritual term, and corresponds exactly to the idea of _taboo_. The ideas
'unclean' and 'holy' seem to us to stand in polar opposition to one
another, but it was not so with the Semites. Among the later Jews the Holy
Books 'defiled the hands' of the reader as contact with an impure thing
did; among Lucian's Syrians the dove was so holy that he who touched it
was unclean for a day; and the _taboo_ attaching to the swine was
explained by some, and beyond question correctly explained, in the same
way. Among the heathen Semites,[362] therefore, unclean animals, which it
was pollution to eat, were simply holy animals." Robertson Smith here
made no reference to menstruation, but he exactly described the primitive
attitude toward menstruation. Wellhausen, however, dealing with the early
Arabians, expressly mentions that in pre-Islamic days, "clean" and
"unclean" were used solely with reference to women in and out of the
menstrual state. At a later date Frazer developed this aspect of the
conception of taboo, and showed how it occurs among savage races
generally. He pointed out that the conceptions of holiness and pollution
not having yet been differentiated, women at childbirth and during
menstruation are on the same level as divine kings, chiefs, and priests,
and must observe the same rules of ceremonial purity. To seclude such
persons from the rest of the world, so that the dreaded spiritual danger
shall not spread, is the object of the taboo, which Frazer compares to "an
electrical insulator to preserve the spiritual force with which these
persons are charged from suffering or inflicting, harm by contact with the
outer world." After describing the phenomena (especially the prohibition
to touch the ground or see the sun) found among various races, Frazer
concludes: "The object of secluding women at menstruation is to neutralize
the dangerous influences which are supposed to emanate from them at such
times. The general effect of these rules is to keep the girl suspended, so
to say, between heaven and earth. Whether enveloped in her hammock and
slung up to the roof, as in South America, or elevated above the ground in
a dark and narrow cage, as in New Zealand, she may be considered to be out
of the way of doing mischief, since, being shut off both from the earth
and from the sun, she can poison neither of these great sources of life by
her deadly contagion. The precautions thus taken to isolate or insulate
the girl are dictated by regard for her own safety as well as for the
safety of others.... In short, the girl is viewed as charged with a
powerful force which, if not kept within bounds, may prove the destruction
both of the girl herself and of all with whom she comes in contact. To
repress this force within the limits necessary for the safety of all
concerned is the object of the taboos in question. The same explanation
applies to the observance of the same rules by divine kings and priests.
The uncleanliness, as it is called, of girls at puberty and the sanctity
of holy men do not, to the primitive mind, differ from each other. They
are only different manifestations of the same supernatural energy, which,
like energy in general, is in itself neither good nor bad, but becomes
beneficent or malignant according to its application."[363]

More recently this view of the matter has been further extended by the
distinguished French sociologist, Durkheim. Investigating the origins of
the prohibition of incest, and arguing that it proceeds from the custom of
exogamy (or marriage outside the clan), and that this rests on certain
ideas about blood, which, again, are traceable to totemism,--a theory
which we need not here discuss,--Durkheim is brought face to face with the
group of conceptions that now concern us. He insists on the extreme
ambiguity found in primitive culture concerning the notion of the divine,
and the close connection between aversion and veneration, and points out
that it is not only at puberty and each recurrence of the menstrual epoch
that women have aroused these emotions, but also at childbirth. "A
sentiment of religious horror," he continues, "which can reach such a
degree of intensity, which can be called forth by so many circumstances,
and reappears regularly every month to last for a week at least, cannot
fail to extend its influence beyond the periods to which it was originally
confined, and to affect the whole course of life. A being who must be
secluded or avoided for weeks, months, or years preserves something of the
characteristics to which the isolation was due, even outside those special
periods. And, in fact, in these communities, the separation of the sexes
is not merely intermittent; it has become chronic. The two elements of the
population live separately." Durkheim proceeds to argue that the origin of
the occult powers attributed to the feminine organism is to be found in
primitive ideas concerning blood. Not only menstrual blood but any kind of
blood is the object of such feelings among savage and barbarous peoples.
All sorts of precautions must be observed with regard to blood; in it
resides a divine principle, or as Romans, Jews, and Arabs believed, life
itself. The prohibition to drink wine, the blood of the grape, found among
some peoples, is traced to its resemblance to blood, and to its
sacrificial employment (as among the ancient Arabians and still in the
Christian sacrament) as a substitute for drinking blood. Throughout, blood
is generally taboo, and it taboos everything that comes in contact with
it. Now woman is chronically "the theatre of bloody manifestations," and
therefore she tends to become chronically taboo for the other members of
the community. "A more or less conscious anxiety, a certain religious
fear, cannot fail to enter into all the relations of her companions with
her, and that is why all such relations are reduced to a minimum.
Relations of a sexual character are specially excluded. In the first
place, such relations are so intimate that they are incompatible with the
sort of repulsion which the sexes must experience for each other; the
barrier between them does not permit of such a close union. In the second
place, the organs of the body here specially concerned are precisely the
source of the dreaded manifestations. Thus it is natural that the feelings
of aversion inspired by women attain their greatest intensity at this
point. Thus it is, also, that of all parts of the feminine organization it
is this region which is most severely shut out from commerce." So that,
while the primitive emotion is mainly one of veneration, and is allied to
that experienced for kings and priests, there is an element of fear in
such veneration, and what men fear is to some extent odious to them.[364]

These conceptions necessarily mingled at a very early period with men's
ideas of sexual intercourse with women and especially with menstruating
women. Contact with women, as Crawley shows by abundant illustration, is
dangerous. In any case, indeed, the same ideas being transferred to women
also, coitus produces weakness, and it prevents the acquisition of
supernatural powers. Thus, among the western tribes of Canada, Boas
states: "Only a youth who has never touched a woman, or a virgin, both
being called _te 'e 'its_, can become shamans. After having had sexual
intercourse men as well as women, become _t 'k-e 'el_, i.e., weak,
incapable of gaining supernatural powers. The faculty cannot be regained
by subsequent fasting and abstinence."[365] The mysterious effects of
sexual intercourse in general are intensified in the case of intercourse
with a menstruating woman. Thus the ancient Indian legislator declares
that "the wisdom, the energy, the strength, the sight, and the vitality of
a man who approaches a woman covered with menstrual excretions utterly
perish."[366] It will be seen that these ideas are impartially spread over
the most widely separated parts of the globe. They equally affected the
Christian Church, and the Penitentials ordained forty or fifty days
penance for sexual intercourse during menstruation.

Yet the twofold influence of the menstruating woman remains clear when we
review the whole group of influences which in this state she is supposed
to exert. She by no means acts only by paralyzing social activities and
destroying the powers of life, by causing flowers to fade, fruit to fall
from the trees, grains to lose their germinative power, and grafts to die.
She is not accurately summed up in the old lines:--

"Oh! menstruating woman, thou'rt a fiend
From whom all nature should be closely screened."

Her powers are also beneficial. A woman at this time, as AElian expressed
it, is in regular communication with the starry bodies. Even at other
times a woman when led naked around the orchard protected it from
caterpillars, said Pliny, and this belief is acted upon (according to
Bastanzi) even in the Italy of to-day.[367] A garment stained with a
virgin's menstrual blood, it is said in Bavaria, is a certain safeguard
against cuts and stabs. It will also extinguish fire. It was valuable as a
love-philter; as a medicine its uses have been endless.[368] A sect of
Valentinians even attributed sacramental virtues to menstrual blood, and
partook of it as the blood of Christ. The Church soon, however, acquired a
horror of menstruating women; they were frequently not allowed to take the
sacrament or to enter sacred places, and it was sometimes thought best to
prohibit the presence of women altogether.[369] The Anglo-Saxon
Penitentials declared that menstruating women must not enter a church. It
appears to have been Gregory II who overturned this doctrine.

In our own time the slow disintegration of primitive animistic
conceptions, aided certainly by the degraded conception of sexual
phenomena taught by mediaeval monks--for whom woman was "_templum
aedificatum super cloacam_"--has led to a disbelief in the more salutary
influences of the menstruating woman. A fairly widespread faith in her
pernicious influence alone survives. It may be traced even in practical
and commercial--one might add, medical--quarters. In the great
sugar-refineries in the North of France the regulations strictly forbid a
woman to enter the factory while the sugar is boiling or cooling, the
reason given being that, if a woman were to enter during her period, the
sugar would blacken. For the same reason--to turn to the East--no woman is
employed in the opium manufactory at Saigon, it being said that the opium
would turn and become bitter, while Annamite women say that it is very
difficult for them to prepare opium-pipes during the catamenial
period.[370] In India, again, when a native in charge of a limekiln which
had gone wrong, declared that one of the women workers must be
menstruating, all the women--Hindus, Mahometans, aboriginal Gonds,
etc.,--showed by their energetic denials that they understood this
superstition.[371]

In 1878 a member of the British Medical Association wrote to the _British
Medical Journal_, asking whether it was true that if a woman cured hams
while menstruating the hams would be spoiled. He had known this to happen
twice. Another medical man wrote that if so, what would happen to the
patients of menstruating lady doctors? A third wrote (in the _Journal_ for
April 27, 1878): "I thought the fact was so generally known to every
housewife and cook that meat would spoil if salted at the menstrual
period, that I am surprised to see so many letters on the subject in the
_Journal_. If I am not mistaken, the question was mooted many years ago in
the periodicals. It is undoubtedly the fact that meat will be tainted if
cured by women at the catamenial period. Whatever the rationale may be, I
can speak positively as to the fact."

It is probably the influence of these primitive ideas which has caused
surgeons and gynaecologists to dread operations during the catamenial
period. Such, at all events, is the opinion of a distinguished authority,
Dr. William Goodell, who wrote in 1891[372]: "I have learned to unlearn
the teaching that women must not be subjected to a surgical operation
during the monthly flux. Our forefathers, from time immemorial, have
thought and taught that the presence of a menstruating woman would pollute
solemn religious rites, would sour milk, spoil the fermentation in
wine-vats, and much other mischief in a general way. Influenced by hoary
tradition, modern physicians very generally postpone all operative
treatment until the flow has ceased. But why this delay, if time is
precious, and it enters as an important factor in the case? I have found
menstruation to be the very best time to curette away fungous vegetations
of the endometrium, for, being swollen then by the afflux of blood, they
are larger than at any other time, and can the more readily be removed.
There is, indeed, no surer way of checking or of stopping a metrorrhagia
than by curetting the womb during the very flow. While I do not select
this period for the removal of ovarian cysts, or for other abdominal work,
such as the extirpation of the ovaries, or a kidney, or breaking up
intestinal adhesions, etc., yet I have not hesitated to perform these
operations at such a time, and have never had reason to regret the course.
The only operations that I should dislike to perform during menstruation
would be those involving the womb itself."

It must be added to this that we still have to take into consideration not
merely the surviving influence of ancient primitive beliefs, but the
possible existence of actual nervous conditions during the menstrual
period, producing what may be described as an abnormal nervous tension. In
this way, we are doubtless concerned with a tissue of phenomena,
inextricably woven of folk-lore, autosuggestion, false observation, and
real mental and nervous abnormality. Laurent (loc. cit.) has brought
forward several cases which may illustrate this point. Thus, he speaks of
two young girls of about 16 and 17, slightly neuropathic, but without
definite hysterical symptoms, who, during the menstrual period, feel
themselves in a sort of electrical state, "with tingling and prickling
sensations and feelings of attraction or repulsion at the contact of
various objects." These girls believe their garments stick to their skin
during the periods; it was only with difficulty that they could remove
their slippers, though fitting easily; stockings had to be drawn off
violently by another person, and they had given up changing their chemises
during the period because the linen became so glued to the skin. An
orchestral performer on the double-bass informed Laurent that whenever he
left a tuned double-bass in his lodgings during his wife's period a
string snapped; consequently he always removed his instrument at this time
to a friend's house. He added that the same thing happened two years
earlier with a mistress, a _cafe-concert_ singer, who had, indeed, warned
him beforehand. A harpist also informed Laurent that she had been obliged
to give up her profession because during her periods several strings of
her harp, always the same strings, broke, especially when she was playing.
A friend of Laurent's, an official in Cochin China, also told him that the
strings of his violin often snapped during the menstrual periods of his
Annamite mistress, who informed him that Annamite women are familiar with
the phenomenon, and are careful not to play on their instruments at this
time. Two young ladies, both good violinists, also affirmed that ever
since their first menstruation they had noted a tendency for the strings
to snap at this period; one, a genuine artist, who often performed at
charity concerts, systematically refused to play at these times, and was
often embarrassed to find a pretext; the other, who admitted that she was
nervous and irritable at such times, had given up playing on account of
the trouble of changing the strings so frequently. Laurent also refers to
the frequency with which women break things during the menstrual periods,
and considers that this is not simply due to the awkwardness caused by
nervous exhaustion or hysterical tremors, but that there is spontaneous
breakage. Most usually it happens that a glass breaks when it is being
dried with a cloth; needles also break with unusual facility at this time;
clocks are stopped by merely placing the hand upon them.

I do not here attempt to estimate critically the validity of these alleged
manifestations (some of which may certainly be explained by the
unconscious muscular action which forms the basis of the phenomena of
table-turning and thought-reading); such a task may best be undertaken
through the minute study of isolated cases, and in this place I am merely
concerned with the general influence of the menstrual state in affecting
the social position of women, without reference to the analysis of the
elements that go to make up that influence.

There is only one further point to which attention may be called. I
allude to the way in which the more favorable side of the primitive
conception of the menstruating woman--as priestess, sibyl, prophetess, an
almost miraculous agent for good, an angel, the peculiar home of the
divine element--was slowly and continuously carried on side by side with
the less favorable view, through the beginnings of European civilization
until our own times. The actual physical phenomena of menstruation, with
the ideas of taboo associated with that state, sank into the background as
culture evolved; but, on the other hand, the ideas of the angelic position
and spiritual mission of women, based on the primitive conception of the
mystery associated with menstruation, still in some degree persisted.

It is evident, however, that, while, in one form or another, the more
favorable aspect of the primitive view of women's magic function has never
quite died out, the gradual decay and degradation of the primitive view
has, on the whole, involved a lower estimate of women's nature and
position. Woman has always been the witch; she was so even in ancient
Babylonia; but she has ceased to be the priestess. The early Teutons saw
"_sanctum aliquid et providum_" in women who, for the mediaeval German
preacher, were only "_bestiae bipedales_"; and Schopenhauer and even
Nietzsche have been more inclined to side with the preacher than with the
half-naked philosophers of Tacitus's day. But both views alike are but the
extremes of the same primitive conception; and the gradual evolution from
one extreme of the magical doctrine to the other was inevitable.

In an advanced civilization, as we see, these ideas having their ultimate
basis on the old story of the serpent, and on a special and mysterious
connection between the menstruating woman and the occult forces of magic,
tend to die out. The separation of the sexes they involve becomes
unnecessary. Living in greater community with men, women are seen to
possess something, it may well be, but less than before, of the
angel-devil of early theories. Menstruation is no longer a monstrific
state requiring spiritual taboo, but a normal physiological process, not
without its psychic influences on the woman herself and on those who live
with her.


FOOTNOTES:

[353] Several recent works, however, notably Frazer's _Golden Bough_ and
Crawley's _Mystic Rose_, throw light directly or indirectly on this
question.

[354] Robertson Smith points out that since snakes are the last noxious
animals which man is able to exterminate, they are the last to be
associated with demons. They were ultimately the only animals directly and
constantly associated with the Arabian _jinn_, or demon, and the serpent
of Eden was a demon, and not a temporary disguise of Satan (_Religion of
Semites_, pp. 129 and 442). Perhaps it was, in part, because the snake was
thus the last embodiment of demonic power that women were associated with
it, women being always connected with the most ancient religious beliefs.

[355] In the northern territory of the same colony menstruation is said to
be due to a bandicoot scratching the vagina and causing blood to flow
(_Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, p. 177, November, 1894). At
Glenelg, and near Portland, in Victoria, the head of a snake was inserted
into a virgin's vagina, when not considered large enough for intercourse
(Brough Smyth, _Aborigines of Victoria_, vol. ii, p. 319).

[356] Frazer, _Golden Bough_, vol. ii, p. 231. Crawley (_The Mystic Rose_,
p. 192) also brings together various cases of primitive peoples who
believe the bite of a snake to be the cause of menstruation.

[357] Meyners d'Estrez, "Etude ethnographique sur le lezard chez les
peuples malais et polynesiens," _L'Anthropologie_, 1892; see also, as
regards the lizard in Samoan folk-lore, _Globus_, vol. lxxiv, No. 16.

[358] _Journal Anthropological Society of Bombay_, 1890, p. 589.

[359] Boudin (_Etude Anthropologique: Culte du Serpent_, Paris, 1864, pp.
66-70) brings forward examples of this aspect of snake-worship.

[360] Attilio de Marchi, _Il Culto privato di Roma_, p. 74. The
association of the power of generation with a god in the form of a serpent
is, indeed, common; see, e.g. Sir W.M. Ramsay, _Cities of Phrygia_, vol.
i, p. 94.

[361] It is noteworthy that one of the names for the penis used by the
Swahili women of German East Africa, in a kind of private language of
their own, is "the snake" (Zache, _Zeitschrift fuer Ethnologie_, p. 73,
1899). It may be added that Maeder ("Interpretation de Quelques Reves,"
_Archives de Psychologie_, April, 1907) brings forward various items of
folk-lore showing the phallic significance of the serpent, as well as
evidence indicating that, in the dreams of women of to-day, the snake
sometimes has a sexual significance.

[362] W.R. Smith, _Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia_, 1885, p. 307.
The point is elaborated in the same author's _Religion of Semites_, second
edition, Appendix on "Holiness, Uncleanness, and Taboo," pp. 446-54. See
also Wellhausen, _Reste Arabischen Heidentums_, second edition, pp.
167-77. Even to the early Arabians, Wellhausen remarks (p. 168), "clean"
meant "profane and allowed," while "unclean" meant "sacred and forbidden."
It was the same, as Jastrow remarks (_Religion of Babylonia_, p. 662),
among the Babylonian Semites.

[363] J.C. Frazer, _The Golden Bough_, Chapter IV.

[364] E. Durkheim, "La Prohibition de l'Inceste et ses Origines," _L'Annee
Sociologique_, Premiere Annee, 1898, esp. pp. 44, 46-47, 48, 50-57.
Crawley (_Mystic Rose_, p. 212) opposes Durkheim's view as to the
significance of blood in relation to the attitude towards women.

[365] _British Association Report on North Western Tribes of Canada_,
1890, p. 581.

[366] _Laws of Manu_, iv, 41.

[367] Pliny, who, in Book VII, Chapter XIII, and Book XXVIII, Chapter
XXIII, of his _Natural History_, gives long lists of the various good and
evil influences attributed to menstruation, writes in the latter place:
"Hailstorms, they say, whirlwinds, and lightnings, even, will be scared
away by a woman uncovering her body while her monthly courses are upon
her. The same, too, with all other kinds of tempestuous weather; and out
at sea, a storm may be stilled by a woman uncovering her body merely, even
though not menstruating at the time. At any other time, also, if a woman
strips herself naked while she is menstruating, and walks round a field of
wheat, the caterpillars, worms, beetles, and other vermin will fall from
off the ears of corn."

[368] See Bourke, _Scatologic Rites of all Nations_, 1891, pp. 217-219,
250 and 254; Ploss and Max Bartels, _Das Weib_, vol. i; H.L. Strack, _Der
Blutaberglaube in der Menschheit_, fourth edition, 1892, pp. 14-18. The
last mentioned refers to the efficacy frequently attributed to menstrual
blood in the Middle Ages in curing leprosy, and gives instances, occurring
even in Germany to-day, of girls who have administered drops of menstrual
blood in coffee to their sweethearts, to make sure of retaining their
affections.

[369] See, e.g., Dufour, _Histoire de la Prostitution_, vol. iii, p. 115.

[370] Dr. L. Laurent gives these instances, "De Quelques Phenomenes
Mecaniques produits au moment de la Menstruation," _Annales des Sciences
Psychiques_, September and October, 1897.

[371] _Journal Anthropological Society of Bombay_, 1890, p. 403. Even the
glance of a menstruating woman is widely believed to have serious results.
See Tuchmann, "La Fascination," _Melasine_, 1888, pp. 347 _et seq._

[372] As quoted in the _Provincial Medical Journal_, April, 1891.




APPENDIX B.


SEXUAL PERIODICITY IN MEN.

BY F.H. PERRY-COSTE, B. Sc. (LOND.).


In a recent _brochure_ on the "Rhythm of the Pulse"[373] I showed _inter
alia_ that the readings of the pulse, in both man and woman, if arranged
in lunar monthly periods, and averaged over several years, displayed a
clear, and sometimes very strongly marked and symmetrical, rhythm.[374]
After pointing out that, in at any rate some cases, the male and female
pulse-curves, both monthly and annual, seemed to be converse to one
another, I added: "It is difficult to ignore the suggestion that in this
tracing of the monthly rhythm of the pulse we have a history of the
monthly function in women; and that, if so, the tracing of the male pulse
may eventually afford us some help in discovering a corresponding monthly
period in men: the existence of which has been suggested by Mr. Havelock
Ellis and Professor Stanley Hall, among other writers. Certainly the mere
fact that we can trace a clear monthly rhythm in man's pulse seems to
point strongly to the existence of a monthly physiological period in him
also."

Obviously, however, it is only indirectly and by inference that we can
argue from a monthly rhythm of the pulse in men to a male sexual
periodicity; but I am now able to adduce more direct evidence that will
fairly demonstrate the existence of a sexual periodicity in men.

We will start from the fact that celibacy is profoundly unnatural,
and is, therefore, a physical--as well as an emotional and
intellectual--abnormality. This being so, it is entirety in accord with
all that we know of physiology that, when relief to the sexual secretory
system by Nature's means is denied, and when, in consequence, a certain
degree of tension or pressure has been attained, the system should relieve
itself by a spontaneous discharge--such discharge being, of course, in the
strict sense of the term, pathological, since it would never occur in any
animal that followed the strict law of its physical being without any
regard to other and higher laws of concern for its fellows.

Notoriously, that which we should have anticipated _a priori_ actually
occurs; for any unmarried man, who lives in strict chastity, periodically
experiences, while sleeping, a loss of seminal fluid--such phenomena being
popularly referred to as _wet dreams_.[375]

During some eight or ten years I have carefully recorded the occurrence of
such discharges as I have experienced myself, and I have now accumulated
sufficient data to justify an attempt to formulate some provisional
conclusions.[376]

In order to render these observations as serviceable as may be to students
of periodicity, I here repeat (at the request of Mr. Havelock Ellis) the
statement which was subjoined, for the same reasons, to my "Rhythm of the
Pulse." These observations upon myself were made between the ages of 20
and 33. I am about 5 feet, 9 inches tall, broad-shouldered, and weigh
about 10 stone 3 lbs. _net_--this weight being, I believe, about 7 lbs.
below the normal for my height. Also I have green-brown eyes, very
dark-brown hair, and a complexion that leads strangers frequently to
mistake me for a foreigner--this complexion being, perhaps, attributable
to some Huguenot blood, although on the maternal side I am, so far as all
information goes, pure English. I can stand a good deal of heat, enjoy
relaxing climates, am at once upset by "bracing" sea-air, hate the cold,
and sweat profusely after exercise. To this it will suffice to add that my
temperament is of a decidedly nervous and emotional type.

Before proceeding to remark upon the various rhythms that I have
discovered, I will tabulate the data on which my conclusions are founded.
The numbers of discharges recorded in the years in question are as
follows:--

In 1886, 30. (Records commenced in April.)
In 1887, 40.
In 1888, 37.
In 1889, 18. (Pretty certainly not fully recorded.)
In 1890,  0  (No records kept this year.[377])
In 1891, 19. (Records recommenced in June.)
In 1892, 35.
In 1893, 40.
In 1894, 38.
In 1895, 36.
In 1896, 36.
In 1897, 35.
Average, 37. (Omitting 1886, 1889, and 1891.)

Thus I have complete records for eight years, and incomplete records for
three more; and the remarkable concord between the respective annual
numbers of observations in these eight years not only affords us intrinsic
evidence of the accuracy of my records, but, also, at once proves that
there is an undeniable regularity in the occurrence of these sexual
discharges, and, therefore, gives us reason for expecting to find this
regularity rhythmical. Moreover, since it seemed reasonable to expect
that there might be more than one rhythm, I have examined my data with a
view to discovering (1) an annual, (2) a lunar-monthly, and (3) a weekly
rhythm, and I now proceed to show that all three such rhythms exist.


THE ANNUAL RHYTHM.

It is obvious that, in searching for an annual rhythm, we must ignore the
records of the three incomplete years; but those of the remaining eight
are graphically depicted upon Chart 8. The curves speak so plainly for
themselves that any comment were almost superfluous, and the concord
between the various curves, although, of course, not perfect, is far
greater than the scantiness of the data would have justified us in
expecting. The curves all agree in pointing to the existence of three
well-defined maxima,--viz., in March, June, and September,--these being,
therefore, the months in which the sexual instinct is most active; and the
later curves show that there is also often a fourth maximum in January. In
the earlier years the March and June maxima are more strikingly marked
than the September one; but the uppermost curve shows that on the average
of all eight years the September maximum is the highest, the June and
January maxima occupying the second place, and the March maximum being the
least strongly marked of all.

Now, remembering that, in calculating the curves of the annual rhythm of
the pulse, I had found it necessary to average two months' records
together, in order to bring out the full significance of the rhythm, I
thought it well to try the effect upon these curves also of similarly
averaging two months together. At first my results were fairly
satisfactory; but, as my data increased year by year, I found that these
curves were contradicting one another, and therefore concluded that I had
selected unnatural periods for my averaging. My first attempted remedy was
to arrange the months in the pairs December-January, February-March, etc.,
instead of in January-February, March-April, etc.; but with these pairs I
fared no better than with the former. I then arranged the months in the
triplets, January-February-March, etc.; and the results are graphically
recorded on Chart 7. Here, again, comment would be quite futile, but I
need only point out that, _on the whole_, the sexual activity rises
steadily during the first nine months in the year to its maximum in
September, and then sinks rapidly and abruptly during the next three to
its minimum in December.

The study of these curves suggests two interesting questions, to neither
of which, however, do the data afford us an answer.

In the first place, are the alterations, in my case, of the maximum of the
discharges from March and June in the earlier years to September in the
later, and the interpolation of a new secondary maximum in January,
correlated with the increase in age; or is the discrepancy due simply to a
temporary irregularity that would have been equally averaged out had I
recorded the discharges of 1881-89 instead of those from 1887 to 1897?

The second question is one of very great importance--socially, ethically,
and physically. How often, in this climate, should a man have sexual
connection with his wife in order to maintain himself in perfect
physiological equilibrium? My results enable us to state definitely the
minimum limits, and to reply that 37 embraces annually would be too few;
but, unfortunately, they give us no clue to the maximum limit. It is
obvious that the necessary frequency should be greater than 37 times
annually,--possibly very considerably in excess thereof,--seeing that the
spontaneous discharges, with which we are dealing, are due to
over-pressure, and occur only when the system, being denied natural
relief, can no longer retain its secretions; and, therefore, it seems very
reasonable to suggest that the frequency of natural relief should be some
multiple of 37. I do not perceive, however, that the data in hand afford
us any clue to this multiple, or enable us to suggest either 2, 3, 4, or 5
as the required multiple of 37. It is true that other observations upon
myself have afforded me what I believe to be a fairly satisfactory and
reliable answer so far as concerns myself; but these observations are of
such a nature that they cannot be discussed here, and I have no
inclination to offer as a counsel to others an opinion which I am unable
to justify by the citation of facts and statistics. Moreover, I am quite
unable to opine whether, given 37 as the annual frequency of spontaneous
discharges in a number of men, the multiple required for the frequency of
natural relief should be the same in every case. For aught I know to the
contrary, the physiological idiosyncrasies of men may be so varied that,
given two men with an annual frequency of 37 spontaneous discharges, the
desired multiple may be in one case X and in the other 2X.[378] Our data,
however, do clearly denote that the frequency in the six or eight summer
months should bear to the frequency of the six or four winter months the
proportion of three or four to two.[379] It should never be forgotten,
however, that, under all conditions, both man and wife should exercise
prudence, both _selfward_ and _otherward_, and that each should utterly
refuse to gratify self by accepting a sacrifice, however willingly
offered, that may be gravely prejudicial to the health of the other; for
only experience can show whether, in any union, the receptivity of the
woman be greater or less than, or equal to, the _physical_ desire of the
man. To those, of course, who regard marriage from the old-fashioned and
grossly immoral standpoint of Melancthon and other theologians, and who
consider a wife as the divinely ordained vehicle for the chartered
intemperance of her husband, it will seem grotesque in the highest degree
that a physiological inquirer should attempt to advise them how often to
seek the embraces of their wives; but those who regard woman from the
standpoint of a higher ethics, who abhor the notion that she should be
only the vehicle for her husband's passions, and who demand that she shall
be mistress of her own body, will not be ungrateful for any guidance that
physiology can afford them. It will be seen presently, moreover, that the
study of the weekly rhythm does afford us some less inexact clue to the
desired solution.

One curious fact may be mentioned before we quit this interesting
question. It is stated that "Solon required [of the husband] three
_payments_ per month. By the Misna a daily debt was imposed upon an idle
vigorous young husband; _twice a week_ on a citizen; once in thirty days
on a camel-driver; once in six months on a seaman."[380] Now it is
certainly striking that Solon's "three payments per month" exactly
correspond with my records of 37 discharges annually. Had Solon similarly
recorded a series of observations upon himself?


THE LUNAR-MONTHLY RHYTHM.

We now come to that division of the inquiry which is of the greatest
physiological interest, although of little social import. Is there a
monthly period in man as well as in woman? My records indicate clearly
that there is.

In searching for this monthly rhythm I have utilized not only the data of
the eight completely-recorded years, but also those of the three years of
1886, 1889, and 1891, for, although it would obviously have been
inaccurate to utilize these incomplete records when calculating the
yearly rhythm, there seems no objection to making use of them in the
present section of the inquiry. It is hardly necessary to remark that the
terms "first day of the month," "second day," "third day," etc., are to be
understood as denoting "new-moon day," "day after new moon," "third lunar
day," and so on; but it should be explained that, since these discharges
occur at night, I have adopted the astronomical, instead of the civil,
day; so that a new moon occurring between noon yesterday and noon to-day
is reckoned as occurring yesterday, and yesterday is regarded as the first
lunar day: thus, a discharge occurring in the night between December 31st
and January 1st is tabulated as occurring on December 31st, and, in the
present discussion, is assigned to the lunar day comprised between noon of
December 31st and noon of January 1st.

Since it is obvious that the number of discharges in any one
year--averaging, as they do, only 1.25 per day--are far too few to yield a
curve of any value, I have combined my data in two series. The dotted
curve on Chart 9 is obtained by combining the results of the years
1886-92: two of these years are incompletely recorded, and there are no
records for 1890; the total number of observations was 179. The broken
curve is obtained by combining those of the years 1893-97, the total
number of observations being 185. Even so, the data are far too scanty to
yield a really characteristic curve; but the _continuous_ curve, which
sums up the results of the eleven years, is more reliable, and obviously
more satisfactory.

If the two former curves be compared, it will be seen that, on the whole,
they display a general concordance, such differences as exist being
attributable chiefly to two facts: (1) that the second curve is more even
throughout, neither maximum nor minimum being so strongly marked as in the
first; and (2) that the main maximum occurs in the middle of the month
instead of on the second lunar day, and the absence of the marked initial
maximum alters the character of the first week or so of this curve. It is,
however, scarcely fair to lay any great stress on the characters of curves
obtained from such scanty data, and we will, therefore, pass to the
continuous curve, the study of which will prove more valuable.[381]

Now, even a cursory examination of this continuous curve will yield the
following results:--

1. The discharges occur most frequently on the second lunar day.

2. The days of the next most frequent discharges are the 22d; the 13th;
the 7th, 20th, and 26th; the 11th and 16th; so that, if we regard only the
first six of these, we find that the discharges occur most frequently on
the 2d, 7th, 13th, 20th, 22d, and 26th lunar days--i.e., the discharges
occur most frequently on days separated, on the average, by four-day
intervals; but actually the period between the 20th and 22d days is that
characterized by the most frequent discharges.

3. The days of minimum of discharge are the 1st, 5th, 15th, 18th, and
21st.

4. The curve is characterized by a continual see-sawing; so that every
notable maximum is immediately followed by a notable minimum. Thus, the
curve is of an entirely different character from that representing the
monthly rhythm of the pulse,[382] and this is only what one might have
expected; for, whereas the _mean_ pulsations vary only very slightly from
day to day,--thus giving rise to a gradually rising or sinking curve,--a
discharge from the sexual system relieves the tension by exhausting the
stored-up secretion, and is necessarily followed by some days of rest and
inactivity. In the very nature of the case, therefore, a curve of this
kind could not possibly be otherwise than most irregular if the discharges
tended to occur most frequently upon definite days of the month; and thus
the very irregularity of the curve affords us proof that there is a
regular male periodicity, such that on certain days of the month there is
greater probability of a spontaneous discharge than on any other days.

5. Gratifying, however, though this irregularity of the curve may be, yet
it entails a corresponding disadvantage, for we are precluded thereby from
readily perceiving the characteristics of the monthly rhythm as a whole. I
thought that perhaps this aspect of the rhythm might be rendered plainer
if I calculated the data into two-day averages; and the result, as shown
in Chart 10, is extremely satisfactory. Here we can at once perceive the
wonderful and almost geometric symmetry of the monthly rhythm; indeed, if
the third maximum were one unit higher, if the first minimum were one unit
lower, and if the lines joining the second minimum and third maximum, and
the fourth maximum and fourth minimum, were straight instead of being
slightly broken, then the curve would, in its chief features, be
geometrically symmetrical; and this symmetry appears to me to afford a
convincing proof of the representative accuracy of the curve. We see that
the month is divided into five periods; that the maxima occur on the
following pairs of days: the 19th-20th, 13th-14th, 25th-26th, 1st-2d,