"Whether there is any direct harm in these friendships I have not been able to make up my mind. In the case of school-girls, if there is not too much emotion generated and if the sexual feelings are not indulged in, I think they may do more good than harm. Later on in life, when all one's desires and feelings are at their strongest, it is more doubtful."
III.
That the phenomena as found in the girls' colleges of America are exactly similar to those in Italy and England is shown, among other evidence, by some communications sent to Mr. E.G. Lancaster, of Clark University, Worcester, Mass., a few years ago.
Mr. E.G. Lancaster sent out a _questionnaire_ to over 800 teachers and older pupils dealing with various points connected with adolescence, and received answers from 91 persons containing information which bore on the present question.[279] Of this number, 28 male and 41 female had been in love before the age of 25, while 11 of each sex had had no love experiences, this indicating, since the women were in a majority, that the absence of love experience is more common in men than in women. These answers were from young people between 16 and 25 years of age. Two males and 7 females have loved imaginary characters, while 3 males and not less than 46 females speak of passionate love for the same sex. Love of the same sex, Lancaster remarks, though not generally known, is very common; it is not mere friendship; the love is strong, real, and passionate. It may be remarked that these 49 cases were reported without solicitation, since there was no reference to homosexual love in the _questionnaire_. Many of the answers to the syllabus are so beautiful, Lancaster observes, that if they could be printed in full no comment would be necessary. He quotes a few of the answers. Thus a woman of 33 writes: "At 14 I had my first case of love, but it was with a girl. It was insane, intense love, but had the same quality and sensations as my first love with a man at 18. In neither case was the object idealized. I was perfectly aware of their faults; nevertheless my whole being was lost, immersed in their existence. The first lasted two years, the second seven years. No love has since been so intense, but now these persons, though living, are no more to me than the veriest stranger." Another woman of 35 writes: "Girls between the ages of 14 and 18 at college or girls' schools often fall in love with the same sex. This is not friendship. The loved one is older, more advanced, more charming or beautiful. When I was a freshman in college I knew at least thirty girls who were in love with a senior. Some sought her because it was the fashion, but I knew that my own homage and that of many others was sincere and passionate. I loved her because she was brilliant and utterly indifferent to the love shown her. She was not pretty, though at the time we thought her beautiful. One of her adorers, on being slighted, was ill for two weeks. On her return she was speaking to me when the object of our admiration came into the room. The shock was too great and she fainted. When I reached the senior year I was the recipient of languishing glances, original verses, roses, and passionate letters written at midnight and three in the morning." No similar confessions are recorded from men.
IV.
In South America corresponding phenomena have been found in schools and colleges of the same class. There they have been especially studied by Mercante in the convent High Schools of Buenos Aires where the students are girls between the ages of 10 and 22.[280] Mercante found that homosexuality here is not clearly defined or explicit and usually it is combined with a predisposition to romanticism and mysticism. It is usually of a passive kind, but in this form so widespread as to constitute a kind of epidemic. It was most manifest in institutions where the greatest stress was placed on religious instruction.
The recreations of the school in question were quiet and enervating; active or boisterous sports were prohibited to the end that good manners might be cultivated. In the play-rooms, the girls observed the strictest etiquette, and discipline was maintained independent of oversight by teachers. Mercante could hardly believe, however, that the decorum was more than external.
Later, when the girls broke up, they were found in pairs or small groups, in corners, on benches, beside the pillars, arm in arm or holding hands. What they were speaking of could be surmised. "Their conversation and confidences came to me indirectly. They were sweethearts talking about their affairs. In spite of the spiritual and feminine character of these unions, one element was active, the other passive, thus confirming the authorities on this matter, Gamier, Régis, Lombroso, Bonfigli."
Mercante found the points of view of the two members of each pair to be quite different in moral aspect. "One takes the initiative, she commands, she cares for, she offers, she gives, she makes decisions, she considers the present, she imagines the future, she smoothes over difficulties, gives encouragement and initiative, she commands, she cares for, she offers, she gives, she docile, gives way in matters of dispute, and expresses her affection with sweet words and promises of love and submission. The atmosphere, silent and quiet, was, however, charged with jealousy, squabble, desires, illusions, dreams, and lamentations."
Mercante's informant assured him that practically every girl had her affinity, and that there were at least twenty well-defined love affairs. The active party starts the conquest by making eyes, next she becomes more intimate, and finally proposes. Women being highly adaptable, the neophyte, unless she is rebellious, gets into the spirit of it all. If she is not complaisant, she must prepare for conflict, because the prey becomes more desirable the more the resistance encountered.
Opportunity was offered to Mercante to observe some of the correspondence between the girls. Though of indifferent training and ability in other respects, the girls speak and write regarding their affairs with most admirable diction and style. No data are given regarding the actual intimate relations between the girls.
FOOTNOTES: FOOTNOTES: [279] E.G. Lancaster, "The Psychology and Pedagogy of Adolescence," _Pedagogical Seminary_, July, 1897, p. 88.
[280] Victor Mercante, "Fetiquismo y Uranismo feminino en los internados educativos," _Archivos de Psiquiatria y Criminologia_, 1905, pp. 22-30; abstracted by D.C. McMurtrie, _Urologic Review_, August, 1914.
INDEX OF AUTHORS.
Abraham Adler, A. Adler Bey Alain de Lille Aletrino Ammon Angell, J.R. Anselm Arber Ariosto Aristophanes Aristotle Aschoff Aubrey Bacchaumont Bailly-Maitre Ballantyne Balzac Bartels, Max Bascoul Baumann Bazalgette Beardmore Bell, Clark Bell, Blair Benkert Benson, A. C Berkman Berrichon Bertz Besenval Bethe Biervliet Binet Binet-Valmer Birnbaum Bleuler Bloch, Iwan Blyth, J. Body Bombarda Bond, C.J. Borel Bouchard Brandt, P. Brehm Brill Brown, H. Brouardel Brun, C. Buchanan Bucke Buffon Burchard Burckhardt Burton, Sir R.
Calesia Campanella Carlier Carpenter, Edward Carretto Casanova Casper Castle Cazanova Charcot Chevalier Claiborne Clarke, A.W. Clayton Coelius Aurelianus Coleridge Coriat Corre Croiset, A. Crusius Cust, R.H.H.
Dante Darwin Daville Davitt, M. Davray Dejob Descaves Dessoir D'Ewes Diaz, B. Diderot Dostoieffsky Dubois Duflos Dukes, O. Dupré Duviquet Edmonds, J.M. Eekhoud Ellis, Havelock Engelmann Escoube Essebac Eulenburg Ewart, C.T.
Féré Ferenczi Fernan Ferrero Flatau Fliess Flournoy Flynt, Josiah Foley Forel Frazer, Sir J.G. Freimark Freud Frey, L. Fuchs, A.
Galton Gandavo Garrod, A.B. Gasparini Gaudenzi Gautier, A. Gautier, T. Gide Gilford, H. Gillen Gleichen-Russwurm Gley Godard Goldschwend Gomperz Gurlitt Haddon, A.C. Haeckel Hahn Halban Hammer Hamon Hardman Harris-Liston Hart, Berry Heape Hegar Heim Herman Herondas Hirschfeld Hoche Hochstetter, S. Holder Holmberg Holmes, W.G. Homer Home, H. Horneffer Hössli Hughes, C.H.
Ingegnieros Jacobs James, W. Jastrow Jekels John of Salisbury Johnston, J. Jones, Ernest Jones, W. Juliusburger Justi Karsch Kiefer Kiernan Klaatsch Knapp Kocher Konradin Krafft-Ebing Krauss, F.S. Kupffer, E. von Kurella Laborde Lacassagne Lancaster, E.G. Langsdorff Lapointe Lasnet Laupts, _see_ Saint-Paul, G. Laurent Laycock Lefroy, E.C. Legludic Lepelletier Leppmann L'Estoile, P. de Letamendi Levetzow Lévi Libert Licht Lisiansky Lombroso Lorion Löwenfeld Lowie Lydston Macdonald, A. Magnan Maitland Mantegazza Marchesini Marie de France Marro Marshall, F.H.R. Martineau Martius Mason Matignon Mayne, Xavier McMurtrie Meige Meissner, B. Mercante Merzbach Meynert Middleton Möbius Moerenhout Moffat, D. Moll Monk of Evesham Montaigne Morache Moreau Morel Moskowski Moyer Muccioli Müller, F.C. Mure, W.
Näcke Neugebauer Niceforo Nicholson, J.G. Nicklin Norman, Conolly Nortal Obici Oefele Olano Oppenheim Ordericus Vitalis Ortvay Otis, M.
Parent-Duchâtelet Parish Parlagreco Pavia Petronius Pfister Plant Platen Plato Platt, J.A. Ploss Plutarch Pocock, R. Poisson Pollock Praetorius, Numa Preuss, J. Prynne Queringhi Rachilde Raffalovich Rank, O. Ransome Reclus, Elie Reid, Forrest Ribot Ritti Rivers, W.C. Rode, Léon de Rohleder Römer Rosenstein, G. Roth Roubinovitch Roux Rowley Rüling, A. Rutherford Sadger Saint-Paul, G. Sainte-Claire, Deville Salillas Savage, Sir G. Scheffler Schmid, A. Schopenhauer Schouten Schrenck-Notzing Schultz Schur Scott, Colin Seitz Seligmann Selous, E. Sérieux Shattock Shufeldt Smith, Theodate Smollett Spranger Steinach Stekel Stephanus Strauch Stubbes Sturgis, H.O. Sutton, Sir J. Bland Symonds, J.A.
Talbot Tamassia Tarde Tardieu Tarnowsky Tennyson Thoinot Tilly Traubel Turnbull Ulrichs Vanbrugh Virchow Vivien, Renée Weeks Weigand Weismann Weissenberg Westermarck Wey, H.D. Weysse Wheeler Whitman, Walt. Wilamowitz-Moellendorff Wilhelm, E. Willy Wilson, J.M. Wise Witry Wright, T.
Zola Zuccarelli INDEX OF SUBJECTS.
Abnormalities, physical Abnormality and disease, difference between Acquired inversion Actors and homosexuality Actresses, homosexuality among Adaptation therapy Advertisements, homosexual Africa, homosexuality in Albanians, homosexuality among Aleuts, homosexuality among Ambisexuality Anal eroticism Anglo-Saxons Animals, homosexuality in Arabs, homosexuality among Artistic aptitudes of inverts Association therapy Australia Austrian law Autobiographies, homosexual Auto-erotism Bacon, Lord Bali, homosexuality among women in Barnfield Bastille, inverts in the Bazzi Bearded women Berlin Birds, homosexuality among Bisexual, the term Bisexuality Blackmailing Blavatsky, Madame Bonheur, Rosa _Boté_ Brazil, homosexuality in Buggery, the term _Burdash_ Byron Castration Cellini Charke, Charlotte Chastity, the ideal of Christina of Sweden Classification of the homosexual Clitoris in inverted women Clothes, inverted women in men's _Code Napoléon_ Coeducation Color-blindness compared to inversion Congenital inversion Contrary sexual feeling, the term Convents, homosexuality in Costume Creoles, homosexuality among Criminals, homosexuality among Cross-dressing _Cudinas_ _Cunnilinctus_ Dadon Degeneration and inversion Disease and abnormality, difference between Dolben Dorians Dramatic aptitude and inversion Dreams, erotic Duquesnoy Egypt, homosexuality in ancient modern England, homosexuality in English law and homosexuality Eonism Erasmus Erotic dreams Eskimo Eunuchoidism Factories, homosexuality among women in _Fellatio_ Feminine characteristics of inverts Fetichism, erotic Fitzgerald, Edward France, homosexuality in Freudianism Friendship Frith, Mary Genital organs and inversion Genius, homosexuality among men of Germany, homosexuality in law in relation to homosexuality in Gleim Goethe Greece, homosexuality in ancient Green, inverts, preference for Gynandromorphism Gynecomasty Hair on body Hall, Murray Handwriting Harems, homosexuality in Hatschepsu, Queen Health of inverts, general Heliogabalus Heredity in inversion Heresy and homosexuality Hermaphroditism Hobart, Miss Homogenic, the term Homosexuality, the term Hormones _Horror feminæ_ Hössli Humboldt, A. and W., von Hygiene of homosexuality Hyperesthesia of inverts, sexual Hypertrichosis Hypnotism in treatment of homosexuality India, homosexuality in Indians, homosexuality among American Infantilism in inverts Insanity and inversion Insects, homosexuality among Internal secretions Inversion, the term Italy, homosexuality in law in James I Julius Cæsar Justinian's enactments Kleist Krupp, F.A.
Larynx in inverted women Law in relation to homosexuality Lefthandedness Lesbianism Lincken, Catharina London, homosexuality in Madagascar, homosexuality in _Mahoos_ Marlowe Marriage of inverts Masculine protest Masochism in inverted women Masturbation Maupin, Madame Medico-legal aspects of homosexuality Michel, Louise Michelangelo Mihiri _Mika_ operation Mitchell, Alice Molly houses Monkeys, homosexuality among Moral attitude of inverts Moral leaders, inversion in _Mujerados_ Muret Musculature Music Narcissism Neurasthenia and inversion New Caledonia, homosexuality in New Guinea, homosexuality in New Zealand, homosexuality among women in Normans Nosology and pathology Novels, homosexual Oedipus complex Oligotrichosis Ovaries _Paiderastia_ Partridges, homosexuality in Pathology and nosology _Pedicatio_ Persia Phallus, use of artificial Physical abnormalities Pigeons, inversion in Platen Precocity of inverts Prevalence of homosexuality Prevention of homosexuality Priests and inversion Prisons, homosexuality in Prostitutes, homosexuality among Prostitution, male Pseudo-homosexuality Pseudo-sexual attraction Psycho-analysis Psycho-sexual hermaphroditism _and see_ Bisexuality. Psycho-therapeutics Race and inversion Rats, homosexuality among Raylan, N. de Red, invert's preference for Renaissance and inversion, the Retarded inversion Rome, homosexuality in ancient Russian law Sadism in inverted women Sakaltaves, homosexuality among Sappho Sapphism Savages, homosexuality among Schools and homosexuality _Schopans_ _Seoatra_ Secondary sexual-characters and inversion Seduction and inversion Senile homosexuality Sex, the theory of Sexo-esthetic inversion Sexual organs Sexual precocity of inverts Shakespeare Society and inversion Sodoma Sodomy, the term Soldiers, homosexuality among Sotadic zone, Burton's Spain, homosexuality among women in Spurious homosexuality Suicide and inversion Suggestion as an exciting cause of inversion Switzerland, law in Tahiti Tarn, Pauline Tasso Templars Theaters and homosexuality Tramps, homosexuality among Transvestism Treatment of inversion Tribadism Turkey, homosexuality in Udall Ulrichs Undifferentiated sex stage in youth United States, homosexuality in Uranism, the term Urning, the term Vanity of inverts Vasectomy Vay, Sarolta Verlaine Vinci, L. da Virgil Vivien, Renée Voice in inversion War and homosexuality Whisky and inversion Whitman, Walt Wilde, Oscar William III William Rufus Winkelmann Women movement and homosexuality Working classes, homosexuality in Zanzibar, homosexuality in