SOME HUMAN INSTINCTS. 679 



of unnatural vice, of which the notion affects us with horror, is proba- 

 bly a mere case of the way in which this instinct may be inhibited by 

 habit. We can hardly suppose that the ancients had by gift of Nature 

 a propensity of which we are devoid, and were all victims of what is 

 now a pathological aberration limited to individuals. It is more prob- 

 able that with them the anti-sexual impulse toward a certain class of 

 objects was inhibited early in life by habits formed under the influ- 

 ence of example / and that then a kind of sexual appetite, of which 

 very likely most men possess the germinal possibility, developed itself 

 in an unrestricted way. That the development of it in an abnormal 

 way may check its development in the normal way, seems to be a well- 

 ascertained medical fact. And that the direction of the sexual instinct 

 toward one individual tends to inhibit its application to other indi- 

 viduals, is a law, upon which, though it suffers many exceptions, the 

 whole regime of monogamy is based. These details are a little un- 

 pleasant to discuss, but they show so beautifully the correctness of the 

 general principles in the light of which our review has been made, that 

 it was impossible to pass them over unremarked. 



Jealousy is unquestionably instinctive. 



Parental Love is an instinct stronger in woman than in man, at 

 least in the early childhood of its object. I need do little more than 

 quote Schneider's lively description of it as it exists in her : 



" As soon as a wife becomes a mother her whole thought and feel- 

 ing, her whole being, is altered. Until then she had only thought of 

 her own well-being, of the satisfaction of her vanity ; the whole world 

 appeared made only for her ; everything that went on about her was 

 only noticed so far as it had personal reference to herself ; she asked 

 of every one that he should appear interested in her, pay her the requi- 

 site attention, and as far as possible fulfill her wishes. Now, however, 

 the center of the world is no longer herself, but her child. She does 

 not think of her own hunger, she must first be sure that the child is 

 fed. It is nothing to her that she herself is tired and needs rest, so 

 long as she sees that the child's sleep is disturbed ; the moment it 

 stirs she awakes, though far stronger noises fail to arouse her now. 

 She, who formerly could not bear the slightest carelessness of dress, 

 and touched everything with gloves, allows herself to be soiled by the 

 infant, and does not shrink from seizing its clouts with her naked 

 hands. Now, she has the greatest patience with the ugly, piping cry- 

 baby " (Schreihals), " whereas until now every discordant sound, every 

 slightly unpleasant noise, made her nervous. Every limb of the still 

 hideous little being appears to her beautiful, every movement fills her 

 with delight. She has, in one word, transferred her entire egoism to 

 the child, and lives only in it. Thus, at least, it is in all unspoiled, 

 naturally-bred mothers, who, alas ! seem to be growing rarer ; and 

 thus it is with all the higher animal-mothers. The maternal joys of a 

 cat, for example, are not to be disguised. With an expression of infi- 



