THE ETHICS OF SEX 183 



and sublimed physical fondness, aesthetic 

 appeal, affection, intellectual sympathy, and 

 some capacity of working together. We 

 are encouraged towards that ideal by knowing 

 that the trend of evolution is in that direction. 

 For most men, however, there is a long way 

 to travel before they get free from the risk 

 of a reversion which so often drags their 

 evolution in the mud. Perhaps man's diffi- 

 culties have been increased by the absence 

 (or more commonly by the loss) of any very 

 definite periodicity in his sexual appetite. 

 We see the same dropping out of periodicity in 

 domesticated or artificially sheltered animals, 

 and we know how dangerous it is. 



MAN'S DISTINCTIVENESS. Man's affiliation 

 to the rest of creation must be kept in mind 

 if we are to think rightly about sex ; but let 

 us hasten on to say that man's differences 

 from animals are as important as the resem- 

 blances. For with man all things became new 

 sublimed in a rational experience. The 

 primary impulses and emotions (including 

 those of sex), the raw materials of morality, 

 and the springs of conduct which man inhe- 

 rited from prehuman ancestors all became 

 new. This makes a world of difference. 

 Man not only loves, but he knows that he 

 loves. He thinks and speaks and dreams 

 about love. He has ideas on the subject, 

 and ideals to which he would make his love 

 conform. He not only feels sex-impulses ; he 

 passes them, when he has got that length, 

 under the review of his judgment. He has 

 also, even in spite of himself, to think racially 

 and socially, to consider the gratification of 



