Sexual Perversion and Crime important thing now to be considered is that the very eminent counsel who defended these cases never investigated this phase of the question. While in sanity has frequently been relied upon as a defense, its existence has usually . been considered sufficiently established when it is shown that the accused has a crazy aunt or had been hit on the head during his childhood. The fact that a knowledge of wellauthenticated sexual phenomena would often furnish a key for the solution of many of our most mysterious crimes is not understood by lawyers, simply be cause it is not generally recognized that such a science as sexology exists. While the taboo imposed upon the study of all sciences by a dogmatic religion has greatly retarded human progress in many respects, it has undoubtedly been more successful in suppressing investigations of the sex problems than any other branch of human knowledge. The an tagonism of many today to a spread of a knowledge of these subjects is almost as strong as that of the early Christians to the bath. But, as the importance and utility of such knowledge becomes better understood, the prejudice will pass away. While sexology is essentially a modern science, it must not be understood that a knowledge of sexual phenomena is limited entirely to modern times, for many primitive peoples have had quite a comprehensive knowledge of the vita sexualis, blended, more or less, with superstition. The passionless social ideal of the past several generations together with the lingering influence of Puritanism have practically eclipsed the results of scientific investigation, particularly in English-speaking countries. While sev eral countries of continental Europe have surpassed us in collecting and classifying data concerning sexual phenomena dur
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ing the last century, it is doubtful whether their contributions have ex celled or even equaled those of English and American scientists during the past decade or so. It has remained, more over, for these more recent investigators to improve upon the work ot the older writers, to more thoroughly separate the truth from the error, and to so classify the facts that they may be studied in their relation to other social phenomena. In analyzing the sexual impulse we have learned that there are two com plementary emotional states, which, for convenience, are called "sadism" and "masochism." The sadistic emotion is one which prompts one to dominate, use force or inflict pain upon the object of adoration, and usually predominates in the masculine. The masochistic is that emotion which prompts a person to cherish the domination of, and to experi ence pleasure from pain caused by a loved one. This is usually the predomi nating emotion in the female. It must be understood, however, that these terms are only relatively accurate; that the emotional states they designate are com plementary and not opposed, and that they not infrequently occur in the same person. While these emotions are most potent forces in every normal animal, we will here only consider a few conditions where they have become accentuated in cer tain respects in individuals who are usually entirely normal, and are, except when dominated by sexual excitement. The most familiar manifestations of these accentuated emotions are found in acts of biting, cutting, whipping, strangula tion, and many so-called cases of rape, and in the corresponding passive conduct during these acts, although a much larger classification might be made. Of all of these manifestations biting is undoubtedly the most common. The
