Human Physiology 267 



CHAPTER V. 



PHYSICAL LOVE. 



Sexual Attractions Blind and Regulated Instinct Phenomena of Impreg- 

 nation Law of Sexual Union among Animals Normal Period of 

 Conception The Natural Law of Human Sexual Relations The Law 

 of Exercise The Law of Chastity Dangers of Childhood and Youth. 



THE continuation of life on the earth by the successive repro- 

 duction of individuals of all species of vegetables and animals 

 requires special organs, processes, and adaptations. The union 

 of the masculine and feminine elements requires strong attrac- 

 tions between them, and means and contrivances for bringing 

 them together. Some of these have been already noticed in 

 the sexual organs of plants, the beautiful and odorous flowers 

 which make the vegetable kingdom so delightful. In most 

 flowers the organs of the two sexual elements are in proximity 

 and attract each other. The stamens are seen, one after the 

 other, to bend toward the stigma, embrace, leave some grains of 

 fertilising pollen, and retire. In other cases the intervention of 

 insects, or of the winds, produces the desired result. In every 

 case some wise provision of nature has ensured the continua- 

 tion of the species. A plant may be dwarfed and starved, but 

 all the life it has is expended in the reproductive process. 



Insects, and all the animal creation, are moved to the perform- 

 ance of the procreative function by the most powerful instincts. 

 The lives of many creatures seem to consist entirely in two opera- 

 tions, nutrition and reproduction. Insect life is, in most species, 

 divided into two stages, one occupied with voracious eating, the 

 other devoted to the production and care of offspring. 



In all cases there comes at the proper time that attraction of 

 the sexes for each other which results in the bringing together 

 of the two elements required, as already explained, in the 



