though I can see nothing wrong in the mutual act of two persons drawn together by love.  I am and always have been an extremely religious man, and if I am not altogether an orthodox Catholic, do my duties and have a high sense of the supernatural.  I suffered much from melancholy from my earliest years.  At 18, though nothing definitely was wrong, a vague but profound malaise induced me to open the veins of my arm.  I fainted, however, and was promptly succored.  At the age of 35, after a return from abroad, I took an enormous dose of poison.  This time again a singular coincidence saved me, and I once more came back to life.  After this I purposely went abroad to obtain death and sought it in every possible way.  Quite in vain, as you see.  One thing I have never had a fear of, but have always longed for—­Death.  I am sure that if we only knew what joys lay on the other side of death, the whole world would rush madly to suicide.  I have, apart from any perversion of taste, an honest and genuine passion for children and animals, and I am never happier than when in their society.  Both adore me.

“My life has not dimmed nor deadened my faculties, for I am occupied at the present time with very important work and I write steadily.  But my real life is passed in my visions, which take me into another world quite as real as this sensuous one, and where I always retreat on all occasions possible.  And yet, a strange paradox—­I am a convinced Stoic and almost confine my reading to Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, and the ‘Imitation.’  I am extremely emotional, fond of the society of women, though I loathe the sexual side of them, and when I love, though passion is certainly inextricably mixed, the prevailing sentiment is spiritual.  I shall probably end by being a Carthusian or a fakir.”

    HISTORY XXIII.—­Englishman, aged 70, of German descent on
    father’s side.  Was first child of his mother, who was 36 at his
    birth; a younger brother normal; has no other relatives.

He was brought up in England, and went to school at the age of 13.  At a very early age, between 6 and 8, was deeply impressed by the handsome face of a young man, a royal trumpeter on horseback, seen in a procession.  This, and the sight of the naked body of young men in a rowing-match on the river, caused great commotion, but not of a definitely sexual character.  This was increased by the sight of a beautiful male model of a young Turk smoking, with his dress open in front, showing much of the breast and below the waist.  He became familiar with pictures, admired the male figures of Italian martyrs, and the full, rich forms of the Antinous, and he read with avidity the Arabian Nights and other Oriental tales, translations from the classics, Suetonius, Petronius, etc.  He drew naked models in life schools, and delighted in male ballet-dancers.  As a child, he used to perform in private theatricals;