THE NATURAL 



having fecundated her with all his blood, he must feed her 

 with all his flesh. 



This male flesh is doubtless powerful comforting to the 

 mother to be. Female mammifers, after delivery, devour 

 the placenta. One has given different interpretations to 

 this habitual act. Some see a precaution against enemies: 

 it is necessary to obliterate traces of a condition which 

 clearly shows that one is feeble, defenceless, surrounded 

 by young, a tasty prey at the mercy of any tooth; others 

 say it is a recuperation of energy. This latter opinion 

 seems more likely, especially if one consider the habits 

 of locustians. The spermatophore is indeed the preceding 

 analogy to the placenta. On the other hand, fecundation, 

 before being a specific act, belongs to the general phe- 

 nomena of nutrition: it is the integration of one force in 

 another force, and nothing more. The devouring of the 

 male, partial or complete, represents, then, only the most 

 primitive form of the union of cellules, this junction of 

 two unities in one, which precedes the segmentation, feeds 

 it, makes it possible during a limited time, after which 

 a new conjunction is necessary. If the actual acts are 

 only a survival, if they have lasted after their utility has 

 disappeared, it is another question, and one which I leave 

 again to experimenters. It will be enough for me if I 

 have gained acceptance of the general principle that ani- 

 mals' acts, whatever they may be, can not be understood 

 unless one strip them of the sentimental qualifications 

 beneath which ignorant humanity has covered them, cor- 

 rupting them with providential finalism. 



While fully recognizing the immense social value of 

 prejudices, analysis should be permitted to excoriate 

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