In some women the excitability of the genital nerves reaches such a degree that the mere touch of the gynaecologist’s finger during an examination will immediately induce orgasm. Since erection ceases in both sexes after the orgasm, this anomaly is of great importance in men, because the conjugal embrace cannot be consummated. In women, on the other hand, with their passive rôle during concarnatio, and with whom erection of the clitoris is not requisite for sexual congress, the act may be continued as in the normal woman. The anomaly is hence of less importance in women. Still it has some bearing upon the woman’s fecundity. In the ideal commixtione the female orgasm ought to take place immediately after that of the male, so that aspiration of some amounts of sperma could be effected. In the anomaly of orgasmus praecox the spermatozoa have to rely upon their own power of motion to reach the interior of the uterus. The anomaly may, therefore, sometimes lead to sterility. Otherwise medical aid is never sought for. The pathological condition is extremely rare, anyway. In the same way the anomaly of a diminished frequency is of no importance to the physician when occurring in women. He may be asked for advice when it is met in men, for it may lead to some incongruities in the matrimonial life of the couple, especially when the wife is of a sensual nature. But a woman who is able even very rarely to experience orgasm will never seek the advice of her physician. CHAPTER XVII HYPERAESTHESIA Sexual hyperaesthesia signifies an abnormal intensity of the sexual instinct. The intensity of the impulse of voluptas varies in different individuals, and the line of demarkation between the physiological and the pathological increase of the impulse is not always distinctly pronounced. With some individuals the intensity may reach a high degree and still be within the physiological bounds. This is especially the case where the intensity of experiencing libido is correspondingly increased. But when there is a conflict between the two potencies, the potency of voluptas and that of libido, the least exaggeration in the intensity of voluptas becomes pathological. Such an anomaly where there is a decrease of the intensity of libido and at the same time an increase of a higher or lesser degree in the intensity of voluptas, is the phenomenon of mixoscopy. Mixoscopy thus stands upon the border-land of anaesthesia and hyperaesthesia. _Mixoscopy._—Literally, mixoscopy means assisting or rather looking at animals or at persons while they are in concarnatione. In this degree the anomaly is a very rare occurrence. In a broader sense, however, mixoscopy means every active interest in the erotic relations of others in so far as this interest bears an erotic character. In this broader sense, mixoscopy is a widely spread anomaly.