Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 2: Sexual InversionEllis, Havelock
Science
Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 2: Sexual Inversion
Ellis, Havelock
Sex; Sex (Psychology)
Olmstead, who was 30 years of age, was born near Danville, Ill.,
in which city he lived for many years. Both parents were born in
Illinois. His father, some twenty years ago, shot and nearly
killed a wealthy coal operator, induced to commit the crime, it
is said, by a secret organization of a hundred prominent citizens
to whom the victim had made himself obnoxious by bringing suits
against them for trivial causes. The victim became insane, but
the criminal was never punished, and died a few years later at
the age of 44. This man had another son who was considered
peculiar.
Guy Olmstead began to show signs of sexual perversity at the age
of 12. He was seduced (we are led to believe) by a man who
occupied the same bedroom. Olmstead's early history is not clear
from the data to hand. It appears that he began his career as a
schoolteacher in Connecticut, and that he there married the
daughter of a prosperous farmer; but shortly after he "fell in
love" with her male cousin, whom he describes as a very handsome
young man. This led to a separation from his wife, and he went
West.
He was never considered perfectly sane, and from October, 1886,
to May, 1889 he was in the Kankakee Insane Asylum. His illness
was reported as of three years' duration, and caused by general
ill-health; heredity doubtful, habits good, occupation that of a
schoolteacher. His condition was diagnosed as paranoia. On
admission he was irritable, alternately excited and depressed. He
returned home in good condition.
At this period, and again when examined later, Olmstead's
physical condition is described as, on the whole, normal and
fairly good. Height, 5 feet 8 inches; weight, 159 pounds. Special
senses normal; genitals abnormally small, with rudimentary penis.
His head is asymmetrical, and is full at the occiput, slightly
sunken at the bregma, and the forehead is low. His cephalic index
is 78. The hair is sandy, and normal in amount over head, face,
and body. His eyes are gray, small, and deeply set; the zygomæ
are normal. The nose is large and very thin. There is arrested
development of upper jaw. The ears are excessively developed and
malformed. The face is very much lined, the nasolabial fissure is
deeply cut, and there are well-marked horizontal wrinkles on the
forehead, so that he looks at least ten years older than his
actual age. The upper jaw is of partial V-shape, the lower well
developed. The teeth and their tubercles and the alveolar process
are normal. The breasts are full. The body is generally well
developed; the hands and feet are large.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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