Among the Hebrews homosexuality must have been a very rare occurrence. Possibly because such practices were punished by death. “Qui dormierit cum masculo coitu femineo, uterque operatus est nefas morte moriantur” (Levit. XX, 13). The Bible never mentions these practices to have existed among the Jews.[BD] Lesbianism seems to have been entirely unknown. The Mosaic law is silent about this anomaly. If tribadism were known at that period it is difficult to assume that the law would not have forbidden it, as it forbids bestiality among women (Levit. XX, 15, 16). Still silence of the law is no proof of the non-existence of the crime, for paragraph 175 of the German Penal Code punishes paederastia and bestiality but not tribadism, in a country where there are as many tribade women as paederastic men. In the Middle Ages paederastia and tribadism were practiced chiefly in France. Paris, says Sanval, was full of Lesbian women. The sister of Louis XV., a prioress, practised tribadism with the young nuns of her convent. In our days homosexual practices can be found in every part of the world, and are forbidden by law, as far as men are concerned, in every civilized country. Concerning women the criminal code is, as a rule, silent in most countries. The reason for this defect in the criminal laws may be ascribed to the ignorance of the law-making power of the existence of this anomaly. The layman generally does not even surmise its existence. A woman is by nature not aggressive, and the inverted complexus venereus among women is not so easily detected as in men. Women’s attachments are considered mere friendships by outsiders. We are accustomed to much greater familiarity and intimacy among women than among men. We are, therefore, less apt to suspect the existence of abnormal passions among women. On the contrary, such friendships are often fostered by parents and guardians, such attachments are praised and commended. They are not in the least degree suspected of being of a homosexual origin. If two men were to lock themselves into a bathroom for a certain length of time, it would appear to us very queer indeed, but we are accustomed to look upon the same action in women as a matter of course. For this reason homosexuality among women is very seldom detected. Even physicians have very rarely opportunity to learn anything about this anomaly. Entirely normal women are most reticent regarding the manifestations of their sexual life. It is hence far more difficult to gain the confidence of sexually perverse women. Then again, sexual inversion does not render the woman impotent for copulation, so that she needed a physician’s advice which some invert male may seek.