52 A VAIN DESIRE 



It has been said by certain writers of books which 

 the reader is invited to regard as prophetic that there 

 is nothing he desires which is unattainable by man, 

 if only he desires it ardently and persistently enough 

 — if he hopes and believes that the desire itself will 

 eventually bring about its fulfilment. But of this 

 desire of the mind to be able to project itself, con- 

 sciously, at will, to a distant one, we can only say that 

 it exists in millions of men, that it has so existed for 

 untold generations, and is still nothing but a vain 

 dream and desire. The delusion of a mind abnor- 

 mally excited; and as that form of excitement goes 

 as far back as the existence of man on the earth, we 

 may say that the wish and the delusion it gives rise 

 to begins when and where thought begins. 



We ourselves sometimes cherish the delusion, 

 probably imparted to us by anthropological and other 

 masters, that the passion of love, in all its forms of 

 devotion to a loved one, is different both in character 

 and degree in savage and primitive people from the 

 feeling in us. Doubtless it is true in some cases, in 

 some degraded tribes or races, but it is not a general 

 truth. Savage men are capable of every form of love 

 and self-sacrifice as well as ourselves (there are many 

 exceptions among ourselves), and not only so, but 

 the love of another goes further back to the lower 

 animals, which are often known to pine and perish of 

 grief and misery at the loss of a mate or companion. 



I dare say that many a reader will be ready to 

 challenge every word I am writing on this obscure 

 subject. I can challenge much of it myself. For 



