In cases in which menstruation is in abeyance, we sometimes witness, instead of vicarious hæmorrhages, the occurrence of non-sanguineous vicarious discharges from various mucous membranes. Thus, vicarious leucorrhœa is seen, especially in chlorotic patients, in whom, from the time of the menarche onward, such a discharge may occur every month, instead of the delayed menstruation. Similarly, vicarious diarrhœa and vicarious salivation have been observed. THE SEXUAL IMPULSE. By the term _sexual impulse_, we understand the impulse shared by women and by men towards intimate physical contact and sexual intercourse with individuals of the opposite sex. In the child this impulse slumbers, to awaken at the menarche with the onset of puberty, to increase slowly at first, and then more rapidly, after the manner of an avalanche, until it becomes a powerful passion, dominant throughout the active sexual life of the woman, and it may even continue far beyond this period. The proper aim for whose attainment the sexual impulse in woman strives is by no means (as is asserted in some quarters) the fulfilment of “the impulse toward motherhood,” but is merely the complete satisfaction of sensual passion by intercourse with the male. Still, the sexual impulse is often satisfied by the minor degrees of sexual gratification in the form of the mutual contact, so agreeable to the sense of touch, of portions of the body, and even by the play of imagination and illusion under the dominion of love. Finally, also, love amounts to what _Buffon_, the celebrated naturalist, expressed with coarse incisiveness in the phrase, “L’amour c’est le frôlement de deux intestins.” In the sexually mature woman, the sexual impulse always exists, though its strength varies in accordance with individual inheritance, with physical and mental condition, and with external circumstances, and though its manifestation may be repressed by force of will. The sensation of the sexual impulse in a maiden during the years of development is described by _Goethe_ in a masterly manner in the verses.[33] “Meine Ruh ist hin Mein Herz ist schwer, Ich finde sie nimmer Und nimmermehr. Mein Busen drängt Sich nach ihm hin, Ach, dürft ich ihn fassen Und halten ihn Und küssen ihn, So wie ich wollt, An seinen Küssen Vergehen sollt.”