210 BIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF HUMAN PROBLEMS 



fully modified by the interests and care of the family. 

 It is wholly out of accord with the primitive and 

 acquired tendencies of man that one human male 

 should, in all respects, satisfy the needs of a human 

 female ; and the converse of this is also true. Each 

 human being is so complex in mental, moral, and 

 emotional make-up that no one nature can be suffi- 

 ciently rich to recognize, meet, and call forth all that 

 is best in another, whether this other being is of the 

 same or the opposite sex. So long as harsh circum- 

 stances of life suppress development, a man or woman 

 may be blinded to his or her spiritual needs. But 

 when there is leisure for thought and opportunity for 

 a multiplying of human contacts, the limitations of 

 the life mate must become apparent to any honest 

 mind, dimly at first, sooner or later more plainly. 

 So it happens that every intelligent and well-endowed 

 man requires the friendship and stimulus of more 

 than one woman, and every intelligent and well- 

 endowed woman requires the friendship and stimulus 

 of more than one man. If spiritual and physical 

 charm enter into the attraction of such friendship, 

 this is well, for the sentiment that is born of charm 

 is a strong developmental and civilizing force. 

 Marriages are the result of accidental propinquity. 

 It is a pretty sentiment that such accidents have 

 brought together two persons who are exactly fitted 

 for each other, and that no other choice could have 

 been possible. But it is an idea for children and 

 not for men and women, and it carries with it a 



