PHILOSOPHY OF LOVE 



One need not wait for a minute description of the ex- 

 terior love mechanism of all animal species. It would be 

 long, difficult and boresome. A few characteristic ex- 

 amples will be enough. The duration of the coition is 

 extremely variable, even in superior mammals. Very 

 slow for dogs, coupling is but a thunderclap for the bull, 

 the ram's is called the "lutte" (strife). The bull merely 

 enters and leaves, and it is a spectacle for philosophers, 

 for one understands immediately that what drives the 

 fiery beast at his female is not the lure of a pleasure too 

 swift to be deeply felt, but a force exterior to the individ- 

 ual although included in his organism. By its long 

 grievous duration the coition of dogs leads to analogous 

 reflections 



In triviis quum saepe canes discedere aventes 

 Diversi cupidine summis ex viribus tendunt. 



LUCRETIUS. 



This is because the dog's penis contains a hollow bone 

 giving passage to the urethra. Around this bone are 

 gathered the erectile tissues whereof one, the node of the 

 prong, swells disproportionately during coition and pre- 

 vents the separation of the two animals after the act is 

 accomplished. They remain a long time uncomfortable, 

 not managing to free themselves until long after their 

 desire has turned to disgust, grotesque and lamentable 

 symbol of many a human liaison. 



Our other familiar animal, the cat, is not more happy 

 in his affections. His penis is indeed furnished with 

 thorns, with horny papilla toward the tip, and the intro- 

 mission as well as the separation is only accomplished 

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