THE SEXUAL INSTINCT. II9 



of poetry and literature ? What is the inex- 

 haustible subject of lyric poetry ? What of the 

 novels that form nine-tenths of the reading of 

 mankind ? Are they not all of them tales of love, 

 and do not nine-tenths of them inculcate as their sole 

 fragment of philosophy that love is the one redeem- 

 inor feature in life ? Would it not then be a 

 miracle if men did not accept this doctrine and 

 cherish their animal instincts to their own destruc- 

 tion and that of others ? 



For what does society do for the feelings it has 

 thus trained up ? Does it render satisfaction poss- 

 ible ? Far from it ; it makes marriage difficult 

 and sordid, and all other means odious and 

 dangerous both to body and soul. Even one 

 hundred years ago Kant could say that men 

 were physically adult fifteen years before they 

 were economically adult, i.e., capable of support- 

 ing a household, and since then the age of mar- 

 riage has gone on becoming later and later. 

 And women in many cases never get a chance 

 of marrying at all ! On the effect such a condition 

 of things must have upon morality it is unnecess- 

 ary to say anything, except that it renders all 

 preaching a ghastly and unavailing mockery; but 

 from the point of view of human misery the con- 

 sequences of immorality form too great and too 

 growing a contribution to its sum total to be ignored 

 by Pessimism. And let us consider whether there 

 can be happiness in the soul whose strongest feeling 

 can find no vent in the only way which can give it 

 permanent satisfaction, and reflect upon the myriads 

 who are, and will be, in this condition, and then, if 

 we dare, let us assert that the world is growing 

 happier ! Is it not certain, rather, that it must be 



