The masturbation of female infants while really not common occurs with moderate frequency. At the meeting of this society in 1907, Dr. B. K. Ratchford in his presidential address reported fifty-two cases of masturbation in infancy observed by members of this society, only four of which occurred in male infants.
This habit, if neglected, leads to a considerable amount of moral depravity, and on the other hand, it may be fairly controlled by proper treatment. It is, therefore, a serious condition which is fairly controllable and one to which too little attention has been devoted. I say nothing of the masturbation of male infants, for sufficient attention is paid to the hygiene of the male sexual organs so that the sort of irritation which leads to masturbation in infants rarely exists in boy babies. On the other hand, in the female infant there exist fairly regularly marked adhesions between the