There can be no doubt that among ourselves the simple and direct attitude of the child towards nakedness is so early crushed out of him that intelligent education is necessary in order that he may be enabled to discern what is and what is not obscene. To the plough-boy and the country servant-girl all nakedness, including that of Greek statuary, is alike shameful or lustful. "I have a picture of women like that," said a countryman with a grin, as he pointed to a photograph of one of Tintoret's most beautiful groups, "smoking cigarettes." And the mass of people in most northern countries have still passed little beyond this stage of discernment; in ability to distinguish between the beautiful and the obscene they are still on the level of the plough-boy and the servant-girl. FOOTNOTES: [18] These manifestations have been dealt with in the study of Autoerotism in vol. i of the present _Studies_. It may be added that the sexual life of the child has been exhaustively investigated by Moll, _Das Sexualleben des Kindes_, 1909. [19] This genital efflorescence in the sexual glands and breasts at birth or in early infancy has been discussed in a Paris thesis, by Camille Renouf (_La Crise Génital et les Manifestations Connexes chez le Foetus et le Nouveau-né_, 1905); he is unable to offer a satisfactory explanation of these phenomena. [20] Amélineau, _La Morale des Egyptiens_, p. 64. [21] "The Social Evil in Philadelphia," _Arena_, March, 1896. [22] Moll, _Konträre Sexualempfindung_, third edition, p. 592. [23] This powerlessness of the law and the police is well recognized by lawyers familiar with the matter. Thus F. Werthauer (_Sittlichkeitsdelikte der Grosstadt_, 1907) insists throughout on the importance of parents and teachers imparting to children from their early years a progressively increasing knowledge of sexual matters. [24] "Parents must be taught how to impart information," remarks E.L. Keyes ("Education upon Sexual Matters," _New York Medical Journal_, Feb. 10, 1906), "and this teaching of the parent should begin when he is himself a child." [25] Moll (op. cit., p. 224) argues well how impossible it is to preserve children from sights and influence connected with the sexual life. [26] Girls are not even prepared, in many cases, for the appearance of the pubic hair. This unexpected growth of hair frequently causes young girls much secret worry, and often they carefully cut it off. [27] G.S. Hall, _Adolescence_, vol. i, p. 511. Many years ago, in 1875, the late Dr. Clarke, in his _Sex in Education_, advised menstrual rest for girls, and thereby aroused a violent opposition which would certainly not be found nowadays, when the special risks of womanhood are becoming more clearly understood.