In the female sex onanism is, in _Löwenfeld’s_ opinion, less widely practiced than in the male; none the less, it is in the former sex far commoner than is generally believed, a fact on which _Eulenburg_ likewise insists. Frequently, also, in females, a congenital neuropathic tendency plays a part in the causation of masturbation, in so far as this tendency takes the form of premature sexual excitement or of excessive intensity of the sexual impulse. In the absence of this tendency, masturbation rarely leads to the production of well-marked nervous disturbances, and does so only when practiced to very great excess. _Beard_ reports that in the powerful and full-blooded working-class girls of the Irish race, masturbation, even when practiced for many years, did not result in any notable disorder to health. As regards the nature of the nervous manifestations met with in women as a result of masturbation, there develops, according to _Löwenfeld_, in one group of the cases, the sexual form of myelasthenia, characterized principally by sacrache and lumbago, hyperæsthesia and paræsthesia in the domain of the genital organs (ovarie,[25] pruritus vulvæ et vaginæ, etc.), irritable bladder, coccygodynia, weakness and paræsthesia of the legs (feelings of fatigue and chilliness), finally, the onset of erotic dreams. In many cases, in the course of time, to these symptoms are superadded the manifestations of cerebral and visceral neurasthenia (headache, insomnia, nervous dyspepsia, palpitation), so that the clinical picture comes to be one of general neurasthenia. In addition to the neurasthenic troubles, manifold hysterical manifestations may occur. _Disorders of Digestion._ Disorders of the digestive apparatus are quite common in girls during the period of puberty, and usually take the form of nervous dyspepsia. Disturbances of sensibility predominate, with a sensation of pressure after meals, sometimes increasing to nausea, retching, and vomiting, as manifestations of general hyperæsthesia of the gastric mucous membrane, loss of appetite, a pasty or acid disagreeable taste, sometimes bulimia, perverse sensations of taste, and pyrosis. Especially in chlorotic girls, periodic attacks of pain occur, localized in the epigastrium and its neighbourhood, and exhibiting no relation to the ingestion of food. The free hydrochloric acid varies in amount, being now normal, now diminished, sometimes also increased. In chlorotic cases, the symptoms of round ulcer of the stomach are sometimes observed. Intestinal activity is usually depressed, peristalsis is diminished, so that more or less obstinate constipation is one of the most frequent symptoms.