There is an accompanying reticence of speech concerning the
pleasure, which, therefore, appears to be unnatural, like the
eating of stolen fruit. After such an event, one seems to require
to fly to the woods, and to listen to the song of the birds, so
as to shake off after-effects."
In a letter dated some months later, she writes: "I think I have
risen above the masturbation habit." In the same letter the
writer remarks: "If I had consciously abnormal or unsatisfied
appetites I would satisfy them in the easiest and least harmful
way."
Again, eighteen months later, she writes: "It is curious to note
that for months this habit is forgotten, but awakens sometimes to
self-assertion. If a feeling of pressure is felt in the head, and
a slight irritation elsewhere, and experience shows that the time
has come for pacification, exquisite pleasure can be enjoyed,
never more than twice a month, and sometimes less often."
OBSERVATION VI.--Unmarried, actively engaged in the practice of
her profession. Well-developed, feminine in contour, but boyish
in manner and movements; strong, though muscles small, and
healthy, with sound nervous system; never had anaemia. Thick brown
hair; pubic hair thick, and hair on toes and legs up to
umbilicus; it began to appear at the age of 10 (before pubic
hair) and continued until 18.
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