It thus happens that even the elementary characters of the sexual impulse in women still arouse, even among the most competent physiological and medical authorities,--not least so when they are themselves women,--the most divergent opinions. Its very existence even may be said to be questioned. It would generally be agreed that among men the strength of the sexual impulse varies within a considerable range, but that it is very rarely altogether absent, such total absence being abnormal and probably more or less pathological. But if applied to women, this statement is by no means always accepted. By many, sexual anesthesia is considered natural in women, some even declaring that any other opinion would be degrading to women; even by those who do not hold this opinion it is believed that there is an unnatural prevalence of sexual frigidity among civilized women. On these grounds it is desirable to deal generally with this and other elementary questions of allied character. I. The Primitive View of Women--As a Supernatural Element in Life--As Peculiarly Embodying the Sexual Instinct--The Modern Tendency to Underestimate the Sexual Impulse in Women--This Tendency Confined to Recent Times--Sexual Anæsthesia--Its Prevalence--Difficulties in Investigating the Subject--Some Attempts to Investigate it--Sexual Anesthesia must be Regarded as Abnormal--The Tendency to Spontaneous Manifestations of the Sexual Impulse in Young Girls at Puberty. From very early times it seems possible to trace two streams of opinion regarding women: on the one hand, a tendency to regard women as a supernatural element in life, more or less superior to men, and, on the other hand, a tendency to regard women as especially embodying the sexual instinct and as peculiarly prone to exhibit its manifestations.