Brit.J. Psychiat.(1979) 134, 522—27 Havelock Ellis and his ‘¿Studies in the Psychology of Sex' By JOHN JOHNSON SUMMARY The life of Havelock Ellis is described; his personality and life experiences are related to the writing of his major work. Important sections of the ‘¿Studies'are summarized and their relevance to contemporary sexology is emphasized. Introduction Sexology had its origin with the publication of Psychopathia Sexualis in 1886 (Johnson, 1973). The end of the last century was the golden era of German psychiatry, and in sexology major contributions were made by Moll, Bloch, Hirschfeldt and Freud. Havelock Ellis was the only major contributor to the subject from the English-speaking world, and his Studies made a major impact on Victorian attitudes to the normal and the abnormal aspects of sexuality (Hoenig, 1977). Isaac Goldberg (1926) wrote the first biography of Ellis, and said of him ‘¿It seems appropriate that the first book upon Havelock Ellis should appear in the United States : for it is in Germany and America, rather than his native England, that Ellis has been appreciated at anything like his true worth'. Ellis has been described as a pioneer in the scientific study of sex, a thinker, a critic, an essayist and editor. His life paralleled that of Freud, and they both died in the same year, 1939, Ellis then being eighty. In addition to his Studies Ellis wrote extensively on social and literary topics, and made early suggestions about the setting up of a National Health Service (Ellis, 1917). He made contributions on such diverse topics as forensic psychiatry (Ellis, 1890) and sexual dimorphism (Ellis, 1894), and even attempted to emulate Galton by writing a book on British genius (Ellis, 1927). His capacity for research was, however, limited in comparison with his literary talent and enormous output. He was born in Croydon in 1859, the eldest of five children, the others all being girls who never married. He grew up in a close, affec Donate maternal relationship, while his father, who was a ship's captain, exerted little influence on him in his early years. He was a sensitive, intellectually precocious child, who wrote his first book, Gems of the Bible, at the age of 12. As a young man, he was good-looking and attractive to women. He first used the word ‘¿narcissistic' to describe a specific type of sexual attitude, and there are grounds for describing Ellis himself as a narcissistic person ality—he devoted five full pages of his auto biography, My L@/è, to the description of his own looks (Ellis, 1940). His wife, Edith Lees, was later to describe him as ‘¿embarrassingly shy, with awkward movements, a high thin voice, a lack of small talk and a habit of never looking you in the eye'. He left school and the female environment of his home at the age of 17 to accompany his father to Australia, where he became a teacher. He spent three years in an obscure settlement, Sparkes Creek, where he underwent an adoles cent crisis, experienced an intense religious conversion and was tortured with self-doubt about his own emerging sexuality. It was as a result of this that he decided to devote his life to the study of sexual behaviour, and said ‘¿I would make it the main business of my life to get to the real natural facts of sex for all, and so spare the youth of future generations the trouble and perplexity which this ignorance has caused me'. At the age of 21 he decided that a medical training was necessary to achieve this, and returned to England to become a medical student at St Thomas's Hospital.From the outset, however he had no desire for ‘¿the ordinary physician's life', and largely because of his extra-curricular activities took seven years to 522