The Truth About Woman Part 4

[33] _Pure Sociology_, pp. 317, 318.

[34] _Birds of Britain_, by J. Lewis Bonhote, p. 208; also pp.

190-221.

[35] A similar condition will be found in the even more complex societary forms of ant-hills. Among the vast population of the ants all the workers and soldiers are arrested in their s.e.xual development, remaining, as it were, permanent children of both s.e.xes. It seems probable that this explains the limit that has been reached in the evolution of these wonderful creatures, which in certain directions have attained to an extraordinary development, and have then become curiously and immovably arrested. See _Problems of s.e.x_, by J.A.

Thomson and Prof. Patrick Geddes, p. 24; _Mind in Animals_, by Buchner, p. 60; and _Woman and Labour_, by Olive Schreiner, p. 78.

[36] _Problems of s.e.x_, p. 34. I would recommend this admirable little book to all students.

[37] _Descent of Man_, Vol. I. p. 329.

[38] _Pure Sociology_, p. 316; _Science_, Vol. VIII., Oct. 1886, p.

326. Letter by Dr. L.O. Howard.

CONTENTS OF CHAPTER IV

THE EARLY RELATIONSHIP OF THE s.e.xES

Summary of conclusions arrived at in the previous chapters--The necessity of a further examination of s.e.xual love among our pre-human ancestors--The question approached from a different point of view--The impelling motive of love the union of two cells--Hermaphroditism--Its various forms--The first step in the ladder of s.e.x--Reproduction among fishes--The next step--The attraction of one s.e.x for the other--The female and the male begin to a.s.sociate in pairs--Ill.u.s.tration of the salmon--s.e.xual differences become more frequent--The males distinguished by bright colours and ornamental appendages--s.e.xual pa.s.sion and jealous combats of rival males--Examples--A further step--The note of physical fondness--The male plays with the female, wooing and caressing her--The love play often extraordinary--The case of the stickleback--The males, pa.s.sionate, polygamous, and jealous--The paternal instinct of the stickleback--Nature making experiments in parenthood--Parental forethought among insects--Ill.u.s.trations of male parental care--The obstetric frog--Further examples of primitive animal courtships--A psychic attraction added to the physical--The courtship of the octopus--A final step--The co-operation of the s.e.xes in work together--The dung-rolling beetle--The significance of these early courtships--a.n.a.logy with our s.e.x-pa.s.sions--The love-process identical throughout the whole of life.

CHAPTER IV

THE EARLY RELATIONSHIP OF THE s.e.xES

"Great effects are everywhere produced in animated Nature, by minute causes.... Think of how many curious phenomena s.e.xual relation gives rise to in animal life; think of the results of love in human life; now all this had for its _raison d'etre_ the union of two cellules.... There is no organic act which approaches this one in power and force of differentiation."--HAECKEL.

What is the practical outcome to us of this early relation of the s.e.xes in Nature's scheme?

In attempting to answer this question it will be necessary to take an apparently circuitous route, going back over some of the ground that already has been covered; to examine in further detail the process of s.e.xual love as it presents itself among our pre-human ancestors. It is well worth while to do this. If we can find in this way an answer, we shall come very near to solving many of the most difficult of woman's problems. At the same time we shall have made clear how deep-rooted are the foundations of those pa.s.sions of s.e.x which agitate the human heart, and are still the most powerful force amongst us to-day.

In the light of the facts I have briefly summarised, we have been able in the former chapters to indicate how s.e.xuality began, with the male element developed from the primary female organism, his sole function being her impregnation; how this was seized upon and continued through the advantage gained by the mixing of the two germ-plasms, which, on the whole, resembling one another somewhat closely, yet differ in details, and thus introduce new opportunities of progress into the life-elements; and how, in this way, differentiation of function between the male and the female was set up. We saw, further, how the development of the male, at first often living parasitically upon the female, continued; but how, under certain conditions of life, such parasitism was transferred to the female, so that it is she who is sacrificed to the s.e.x function; and, lastly, taking the extreme cases of the bee-hive and the spider, we suggested certain warnings to be drawn from these early parasitic relations between the s.e.xes. It is necessary now to penetrate deeper; to trace more fully the evolution of the s.e.xual pa.s.sion, which, from this line of thought, may be said to be the process which carried on the development and modification of the male, creating him--as surely we may believe--by the love-choice of the female. To do this we have once more to return to the consideration, under a somewhat new aspect, of the relative position of the female and the male in their love-courtships in some examples among the humbler types of animal life. After these have been considered, not only in themselves, but in the relation they bear to the higher forms which developed from them, we shall be in a surer position to re-ascend the ladder of life. We shall come to understand the biological significance of love--something of the complexity and beauty and force of the pa.s.sions that we have inherited. We shall find also the causes, so important to us, which led to the reversal of the early superiority of the female in size and often in function, replacing it by the superiority of the male. Then, and then only, shall we be ready to approach the difficult problems of the s.e.xual differences which have persisted, separating women from men among human races, and to estimate if these differences are to be considered as belonging essentially to the female and the male, or whether they have arisen through special environmental causes.

If we look back anew to the very start of s.e.xuality, where two cells flow together, thereby to continue life, we find the very simplest expression of the s.e.x-appet.i.te. There is what may be called instinctive physical attraction, and the whole process is very much a satisfaction of protoplasmic hunger.[39] Now it was, of course, a long step from this incipient cell-union to the varied function of s.e.x in animal life, and it was a long process from these to the yet more complex manifestation of the love-pa.s.sion among men. But in reality the source of all love is the same; throughout the entire relations of the s.e.xes we find this cell-hunger instinct; in every case, it matters not how fine and enn.o.bling the love may be, the single, original, impelling motive is the union of two cells--the male element and the female driven to seek one another to continue life. I find it necessary to insist on this physical basis of all love. Women are so apt to go astray. It is one of the vicious tendencies of the female mind to think that the needs of s.e.x are something to be resisted. Let us face the truth that this great force of love has its roots fastened in cell-hunger, and it dies when its roots are cut away.

It is evident that at first this s.e.x-appet.i.te cannot have been purposive, but acted subconsciously by a kind of interaction between the want of the organism and its power of function. Even in many complex multicellular organisms the liberation of the s.e.x-elements continues very pa.s.sive; and although the differentiation of the s.e.xual-cells is already complete in plants and animals comparatively low in the scale, it at first makes little difference in the development of the other parts of the individual. Among many lower animals, and most plants, each individual develops within itself both kinds of cells--that is, female and male. This union of the two s.e.x functions in one organism is known as hermaphroditism. There is little doubt that it was once common to all organisms, an intermediate stage in the s.e.x-progress, after the differentiation of the s.e.xes had been accomplished.

Hermaphroditism must be regarded as a temporary or transitional form.[40] It is found persisting in various degrees in many species--snails, earth-worms, and leeches, for example, can act alternately as what we call male and female. Other animals are hermaphrodite in their young stages, though the s.e.xes are separate in adult life, as, for example, tadpoles, where the bis.e.xuality of youth sometimes linger into adult life. Cases of partial hermaphroditism are very common, while in many species which are normally unis.e.xual, a casual or abnormal hermaphroditism occurs--this may be seen in the common frog, and is frequent among certain fishes, when sometimes the fish is male on one side and female on the other, or male anteriorly and female posteriorly.[41]

There would seem to be a constant tendency to escape from these early and experimental methods of reproduction, and to secure true s.e.xual union, with complete separation of the s.e.xes and differences in the parents. We have noticed the many instances of tiny complemental males, in connection with hermaphrodite forms, which, as Darwin states, must have arisen from the advantage ensuring cross-fertilisation in the females who harbour them. Even among hermaphrodite slugs we find very definite evidence of the advance of love; and in certain species an elaborate process of courtship, taking the form of slow and beautiful movements, precedes the act of reproduction.[42] Some snails, again, are provided with a special organ, a slightly twisted limy dart, which is used to stimulate s.e.xual excitement.[43] What do such marvellous manifestations, low down in the ladder of life, go to prove, if not that there must be the closest ident.i.ty between the development of life and the evolution of love?

These examples of hermaphrodite love lead us forward to a further step, where no reproduction takes place without the special activity and conjugation of two kinds of specialised cells, and these two kinds are carried about by separate individuals. In some species--fishes, for example--the two kinds of special cells meet outside the bodies of the parents. At this humble level the s.e.xes are in many cases very like one another, and there is, as we should expect, a good deal of haphazard in the production of offspring. Among fishes, for instance, the eggs and sperms are liberated into the sea, or the shallow bed of a river, and, if the sperms (the milt of the males) are placed near to the spot where the eggs (the sp.a.w.n) have been laid, fertilisation occurs, for within a short distance the sperms are attracted--in a way that is imperfectly understood--to enter the eggs. By this method there is of necessity great waste in the production of offspring, many thousands of eggs are never fertilised. The union of the s.e.xual cells must be something more than haphazard for further development. There must be some reason inherent in the female or male inducing to the act of reproduction. In other words, there must be a psychic interest preceding the s.e.x act. In this way a higher grade is reached when the presence of one s.e.x attracts the other. Gradually the female and the male begin to a.s.sociate in pairs.

We may ill.u.s.trate this important step in the evolution of love by reference to the familiar case of the salmon. The male courts the female and is her attendant during the breeding season, fertilising the deposited ova in her presence. He guards her from the attention of all other males, fighting all rivals fiercely, with a special weapon, developed at this time, in the form of a hooked lower jaw with teeth often more than half-an-inch long. Darwin records a case, told to him by a river-keeper, where he found three hundred dead male salmon, all killed through battle.[44] Thus even among cold-blooded fishes (though it may appear folly to use the word "love" in this connection) a very clear likeness with our human s.e.x-pa.s.sions can be traced.

s.e.x differences now become more frequent. The males are in some cases distinguished by bright colours and ornamental appendages. During their amours and duels certain male fishes flash with beautiful and glowing colours. Reptiles exhibit the same form of s.e.xual-pa.s.sion, and jealous combat of rival males. The rattle of certain snakes is supposed to act as a love-call. Snakes of different s.e.xes appear to feel some affection for each other when confined together in cages.

Romanes relates the interesting fact that when a cobra is killed, its mate is often found on the spot a day or two afterwards. Darwin cites an instance of the pairing in spring of a Chinese species of lizard, where the couples appear to have considerable fondness for one another. If one is captured, the other drops from the tree to the ground and allows itself to be caught, presumably from despair.[45]

A further development is reached by those animals among whom what has well been called "the note of physical fondness" is first sounded. We find the males playing with the female, wooing and caressing her, it may be dancing with her. The love-play is often extraordinary,[46] as, for instance, in the well-known case of the stickleback. Not only does the male woo the female with pa.s.sionate dances, but by means of its own secretions it builds a nest in the river weeds. The males at this season are transformed, glowing with brilliant colours, and literally putting on a wedding garment of love. The stickleback is pa.s.sionate, polygamous and very jealous of rivals. His guardianship of the nest and vigilance in protecting the young cannot be observed without admiration.

It is certainly significant to find one of the earliest instances of genuine parental affection exhibited by the male. This reversal of the usual role of the s.e.xes is common among fishes, among whom care of offspring is very little developed. In some species the eggs are carried about by the father--the male sea-horse, for instance, has a pouch developed for this purpose; in other cases the male incubates, or cares for the ova. Sometimes, however, it is the female who performs this duty, but the known cases are few.[47] Some exceedingly curious examples of male parental care occur among the amphibians. One of the most interesting is that of the obstetric frog, where the male helps to remove the eggs from the female, then twists them in the coils around its hind legs and buries himself in the water, until the incubation period is over and the tadpoles escape and relieve him of his burden. In other species the croaking sacs of the males, which were previously used for amatory callings, become enlarged to form cradles for the young. There are also instances of the female co-operating with the male in this care of offspring. Thus in the Surinam toad the male spreads the ova on the back of the female, where skin cavities form in which the tadpoles develop. In other cases the eggs are carried in the dorsal pouches of the females. It would almost seem that in this early time Nature was making experiments as to which parent was the better fitted to rear and protect the young!

But let us return to our present examination of animal love-making. In many diverse forms there is a very remarkable courtship of touch, often prolonged and with beautiful refinements, before the climax is reached, when the two bodies unite. Racovitza[48] has beautifully described the courtship of the octopus, which is carried out with considerable delicacy, and not brutally as before had been believed.

"The male gently stretches out his third arm on the right and caresses the female with its extremity, eventually pa.s.sing it into the chamber formed by the mantle. The female contracts spasmodically, but does not attempt to move. They remain thus about an hour or more, and during this time the male shifts his arm from one viaduct to the other. Finally, he withdraws his arm, caresses her with it for a few moments, and then replaces it with his other arm."

The various phenomena of primitive animal courtship may be ill.u.s.trated further by the love-parades of b.u.t.terflies and moths, the love-gambols of certain newts, the amatory serenading of frogs, the fragrant incense of reptiles, the love-lights of glow-worms, the duels of many male beetles and other insects, many of whom have special weapons for fighting with their rivals. Among insects the s.e.xes commonly a.s.sociate in pairs, and it seems certain there is some psychic attraction added to the primitive tactile courtship. In some cases the a.s.sociation of the s.e.xes is maintained for a lengthened period, with many hints of what must be regarded as love. There are many examples also of parental forethought, amounting sometimes to a sort of divining pre-science, as the habit of certain insects in preparing and leaving a special nourishment, different from their own food, for the sustenance of the future larvae. We even find instances of co-operation of the s.e.xes in work together, affording a first hint of this linking-force to the development of love in its later and full expression. Such are the activities of the dung-rolling beetle, where the two s.e.xes a.s.sist each other in their curious occupation. The male and female of another order of beetle (_Lethrus cephalotes_) inhabit the same cavity, and the virtuous matron is said greatly to resent the intrusion of another male.[49]

In insects, as in the higher animals, and as in man, s.e.xual a.s.sociation takes many different forms. But obviously I must not linger over these early types of love. My object is to bring forward examples, which seem to me useful as preliminary studies to throw light on the origin of s.e.x-pa.s.sion, and proving that the love-process throughout the whole of life is identical. Those who are acquainted with the work of Fabre, "The Insects' Homer," will have no difficulty in accepting this. The studies he has given us of wonderful behaviour of insects, their arts and crafts, their courtships and marriages, their domestic and social relationships, opens up a new drama of animal life.

FOOTNOTES:

[39] _Evolution of s.e.x_, p. 265.

[40] There are some who believe that the higher animals pa.s.s through a state of embryonic hermaphroditism, but decisive proof of this is wanting. In this connection the structural resemblance of the male and female s.e.xual organs should be noticed; in each s.e.x there is a complete but rudimentary set of parallels to the organs of the other s.e.x. This primitive and fundamental unity of the male and female s.e.x organs is very significant. Indeed, the whole question of hermaphroditism is one of deep suggestion when these embryological facts are brought into relation with the abnormalities which occur in the expression of the s.e.xual impulses. See _Evolution of s.e.x_, chapter on "Hermaphroditism," pp. 65-80; also Bloch, _s.e.xual Life of Our Times_, pp. 11-12, 551-554. Wieninger's _s.e.x and Character_, pp. 6, 7, 13, 45, is also interesting.

[41] A similar condition has been noted among b.u.t.terflies, where, in some cases, differences in the colouring of the wings on two sides has been found to correspond to an internal co-existence of the male and female s.e.x-organs. It seems probable that this interesting phenomenon of abnormal hermaphroditism is of much commoner occurrence than the cases that have been recorded (_Evolution of s.e.x_, p. 67).

[42] "The Love of Slugs," article by James Bladon, _Zoologist_, Vol.

XV., 1857, p. 6272.

[43] "Molluscs," article by Rev. L.H. Cooke, _Cambridge Natural History_, Vol. III. p. 143. Both these cases are quoted by Havelock Ellis in his illuminative "a.n.a.lysis of the s.e.xual Impulse," the opening chapters in the third volume of the _Studies in the Psychology of s.e.x_.

[44] Trout also fight during the breeding season. _Chapters on Human Love_, by Geoffrey Mortimer (W.M. Gallichan), pp. 13-14.

[45] _Evolution of s.e.x_, pp. 625-626. _Chapters on Human Love_, p. 14.

[46] _Problems of s.e.x_, by J.A. Thomson and Prof. Patrick Geddes, p.

20.

[47] _Evolution of s.e.x_, pp. 270-272, 295.

[48] _Natural Science_, Nov. 1894, quoted by Havelock Ellis, _Psychology of s.e.x_, Vol. III. p. 30.

[49] _Evolution of s.e.x_, p. 265.

CONTENTS OF CHAPTER V

COURTSHIP, MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY