CORRUPTIO OPTIMI PESSIMA 149 



deeper, more temperamental dispositions by 

 the life-habits and codes of conduct of we 

 know not what unnumbered hosts of ancestors, 

 which like a cloud of witnesses are present 

 throughout our lives, and our souls are echo- 

 chambers in which their whispers reverberate." 



Even in animals we sometimes see an 

 occasional occurrence of the abnormalities 

 and diseases which occur in mankind. This 

 is chiefly in domestic animals, for in wild 

 conditions abnormality and disease are 

 weeded out by natural selection. It is 

 known, however, that hysteria, epilepsy, 

 mania, and the like may crop up among 

 animals, and the same is true of sexual 

 perversions. Thus the parental instinct 

 among animals may break down, in the 

 madness of rut, or otherwise. Either parent 

 may destroy or desert the offspring, or may 

 act in a strange blind way under the influence 

 of panic or pain. Mammals occasionally have 

 false pregnancies ; birds often incubate on 

 nothing ; melancholia may occur in connection 

 with some bodily disturbance; and abortion 

 among sheep and cattle seems sometimes to 

 become contagious where no external pre- 

 disposing cause can be discovered. 



Quite a number of mammals display an 

 erotic fury, especially if their sexual appetite 

 is unsatisfied. Creatures ordinarily quiet 

 become savage and dangerous to man, as in 

 the case of the male elephant. Madly excited 

 males may sexually attack other males or 

 immature females. There may be satyriasis 

 and nymphomania among the beasts, and the 

 ways of monkeys are often repellent. It is 



