That conclusion need by no means render us pessimistic concerning the future of sexual hygiene, nor unduly anxious to cling to the policy of the past. But it may induce us to be content to move slowly, to prepare our movements widely and firmly, and not to expect too much at the outset. By introducing sexual hygiene we are breaking with the tradition of the past which professed to leave the process by which the race is carried on to Nature, to God, especially to the devil. We are claiming that it is a matter for individual personal responsibility, deliberately exercised in the light of precise knowledge which every young man and woman has a right, or rather a duty, to possess. That conception of personal responsibility thus extended to the sphere of sex in the reproduction of the race may well transform life and alter the course of civilization. It is not merely a reform in the class-room, it is a reform in the home, in the church, in the law courts, in the legislature. If sexual hygiene means that, it means something great, though something which can only come slowly, with difficulty, with much searching of hearts. If, on the other hand, sexual hygiene means nothing but the introduction of a new formal catechism, and an occasional goody-goody perfunctory exhortation, it may be introduced at once, quite easily, without hurting anyone's feelings. But, really, it will not be worth worrying about, one way or the other. FOOTNOTES: [181] For a full discussion of the movement, see Havelock Ellis, _Studies in the Psychology of Sex_, Vol. VI, "Sex in Relation to Society," chaps. II and III. [182] Basedow (born at Hamburg 1723, died 1790) set forth his views on sexual education--which will seem to many somewhat radical and advanced even to-day--in his great treatise Elementarwerk (1774). His practical educational work is dealt with by Pinloche, _La Reforme de l'Education en Allemagne au Dix-huitieme Siecle_. [183] The best of these papers have been printed in a volume entitled _Am Lebensquell_. [184] The elaborate and admirable initiation of boys among the natives of Torres Straits furnishes a good example of this education, and has been fully described by Dr. A.C. Haddon, _Reports of the Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits_, Vol. V, chaps. VII and XII. [185] Moll in his wise and comprehensive work, _The Sexual Life of the Child_ (German ed., p. 225), lays it down emphatically that "_we must clearly realize at the outset that the complete exclusion of sexual stimuli in the education of children is impossible_." He adds that the demands made by some "fanatics of hygiene" would be dangerous even if they were practicable. Games and physical exercises induce in many cases a considerable degree of sexual stimulation. But this need not cause us undue alarm, nor must we thereby be persuaded to change our policy of recommending such games and exercises.