“In the midst of his worries he was suddenly embraced and kissed—his mother held him tightly in her arms; she drew his little face to her cheek and their tears mingled while she consoled him until his eyes again mirrored a smile. These were unforgettable experiences in the life of the homosexual child. He felt that his mother was his truest friend, and in his grateful heart he planned to recompense her above all other mothers. His whole life and hope was centered in her; it was for her sake that he was willing to prepare his school lessons, and because of her he avoided arousing his father’s wrath; he did not want her to be scolded on his account. To make her happy was his ambition in life. Because she was not happy, he felt as if it were his fault and with redoubled tenderness he clung to her, the quiet sufferer. “He reached 16 years of age, he became sexually ripe and a perplexing unrest troubled him. His comrades told him about their gallant adventures. But he remained unresponsive to everything that seemed to make them so happy. On the contrary, he was terribly distressed when his best friend ‘betrayed’ him in favor of a girl. He began to be aware of his peculiarity and the terrible thought that he must hide his awful feelings made him tremble. He tried very hard to turn into the right path. But he could not live at home while harboring his secret; his mother, whom he loved above all else, he wanted to spare; he felt he had to leave; so he abandoned his home and went into the world trying to direct properly his sexual feelings. While away he received most tender messages from his mother to whom he wrote as to a beloved. After an absence of two years he returned home. From that time on his life developed _under the eyes of his mother, in whom he saw the highest quintessence of all womanhood_. His relations with women were marked by timidity. He adored them and felt he would like to serve them. He became early their confessor for his womanly soul made him their natural comrade. But in the midst of all he was very unhappy, his feelings for them never turned into physical love—_the sexual attraction was absent_.” (_Hirschfeld_, l. c., p. 105.) This urning actually confessed, in his own words, that in his mother he saw the quintessence of all womanhood. The condition is obvious. Every woman represents the mother, in part. At first I had occasion to observe cases of this kind and that is how I came to the hasty conclusion that every homosexual is emotionally fixed upon his mother and avoids women because his inhibition towards them is due to the mother _Imago_ which he carries within him.[45] * * * * * Another observation of _Hirschfeld’s_ seems to me of very great interest: