SEX AND THE INDIVIDUAL 201 



The chief aim of the sex instinct is to beget chil- 

 dren. But while mere production may satisfy this 

 instinct in its elementary form, intelligence and the 

 instinct of affection make two demands of an im- 

 portant kind as to the quality of the offspring and 

 the conditions of its development. The desire to 

 have healthy and well-formed children is universal 

 among parents, and the presence of a malformation 

 in any part of the body (as clubfoot or hair lip) 

 excites regret or arouses commiseration or disgust. 

 Similarly, the appearance of mental defects causes 

 distress to all parents except those of the lowest 

 order. Instinctively, then, there is a demand for a 

 good heredity, bodily and mental. Parents are, 

 however, wretchedly ignorant of the best ways of 

 securing these good qualities in their offspring, and 

 very few give any thought to such known laws of 

 heredity as might, in a measure, guide them. Man 

 looks with nice care to the pedigree of his dogs, horses, 

 and cattle when he mates them, yet seldom considers 

 in his marriage the possible influence of his selection 

 upon his children. It is thinkable that people might 

 err in marriage based too largely on calculating 

 choice, and not enough on instinctive attraction, 

 but it is clear that they could safely take more 

 interest in trying to secure, not only better physical 

 traits, but also better moral and intellectual ones. 



