often still lacking at an age when the sexual life in general has attained an extensive development. Still less importance must be attached to other occasional signs. According to Marc d'Espine[83] "puberty occurs early in girls with dark hair, grey eyes, a delicate white skin, and of powerful build; late, on the other hand, in girls with chestnut hair, greenish eyes, a coarse, darkly-pigmented skin, and of delicate, weakly build;" but the evidence to justify any such generalisation is lacking. It is possible that the opinion quoted is supported to some extent by certain associated racial peculiarities, but we must be on our guard against accepting inferences of too sweeping a character. Still less, of course, are such peculiarities a trustworthy aid for the diagnosis of the occurrence of sexual acts at an early age. The safest way of obtaining accurate information as to the practice of masturbation and other sexual acts is by means of confessions made to some person in the child's confidence. Cases are known to me in which children have very readily confided in some elder person. If this does not often occur, the fault commonly lies with the child's elder associates, who do not understand how to establish a truly confidential relationship with the children under their care. If a child finds that no one will speak to it about sexual matters, it must ultimately become secretive about its own sexual life. The child sees very clearly that every word it utters about such things is repressed as improper, and soon learns that the whole field of sexuality is regarded as something unclean, about which not a word must be uttered. The ordinary behaviour of adults inevitably produces this impression in the child's mind, and it will readily be understood what an effect this has in preventing us from gaining information about the sexual life of the child. In many mothers, the abhorrence of the sexual is carried to such an extreme that while in other respects they keep their children scrupulously clean, they feel so strongly that the genital organs must not be touched, that they neglect to secure the ordinary cleanliness of this region of the body.