PHILOSOPHY OF LOVE 



helmet. To what purpose? Possibly to scare naive 

 enemies. True to her role of protege the female can not 

 throw this bluff, which is used by Chinese warriors, by 

 certain insects like the mantis and by the cobra among 

 serpents. 



She-brown bears and she-kangaroos are smaller than 

 males. In all the deer tribes save reindeer the male 

 alone is horned, and this is the by no means ridiculous 

 origin of a very old joke, for the does are lascivious and 

 are pleased to receive the attentions of a number of males. 

 The difference of bull and cow is distinct enough, that 

 of stallion and mare less so, diminishing still further be- 

 tween dog and bitch, and being almost null among cats. 

 In all cases where the dimorphism is slight, and is the 

 direct consequence of the possession of sexual organs, 

 castration inclines the male toward the female type. 1 

 This is as apparent in cattle as in eunuchs or gelded 

 horses. One may see in this yet another proof of the 

 primitivity of the female, since the abstraction of testicles 

 suffices to give the male that softness of form and char- 

 acter which typifies females. Masculinity is an aug- 

 mentation, an aggravation of the normal type represented 

 by femininity; it is a progress, and in this sense it is a 

 development. But this reasoning, good for mammals, 

 would be detestable among insects, where the accentua- 

 tion of type is nearly always furnished by the female. 

 There are no general laws in nature, unless they be 

 those which regulate all matter. With the birth of life, 



1 Castration of females seems, at least, among humans, to bring 

 them nearer the male type. Effects of castration vary, neces- 

 sarily, according to the age of the subject. 



47 



