24 THE COURTSHIP OF ANIMALS 



by the twin Demons Envy and Jealousy. These dis- 

 turbers of the peace are parasites on Society, their very 

 existence depends on it. They have played a larger part 

 in fashioning its rules and regulations than is generally 

 realized. Their influence is as powerful to-day as ever 

 in the past. It expresses itself in varying degrees in 

 different individuals, and is roused by varying causes. 

 But the most potent of all is jealousy in regard to sexual 

 matters. 



Amorousness, a word with a deep meaning, was, and 

 is, the underlying factor which shaped, and is sustaining, 

 human society ; and is no less powerful among the beasts 

 that perish. The motive force in this has not been the 

 desire for offspring, but for the satisfaction of the 

 elemental animal passion, the gratification of the purely 

 sexual emotions which at their height are irresistible. 

 There may be some who will see in this contention a 

 degrading aspect of life. But this view will obtain only 

 among those who prefer the man-made sophistries of life 

 to its Divine mysteries. This dominance of what are 

 popularly called the animal passions is the outcome of 

 a perfectly natural process, whereby those in which these 

 passions were defective died without offspring, while 

 those who tended to excess were similarly eliminated. 

 The desire for offspring for its own sake may exist 

 among our own species to-day but, normally, offspring 

 follows as an effect not as a cause. Many of our social 

 problems would straighten themselves out if these facts 

 were once faced and acknowledged ; we are apt to con- 

 cern ourselves with what should be — according to our 

 ideals — rather than what is. Let it be granted that this 

 rendering is true, and much else that mystifies becomes 

 clear. 



