Affective Tendencies 381 



its lips; and these efforts are continued until the little 

 animal sucks." 24 



This example is very significant for it shows clearly 

 how the necessity for the elimination of the milk must 

 end in arousing an attachment for the nursling as the 

 customary means for attaining this end, just as we have 

 seen that the need for the elimination of the germinal 

 substance must lead to an affectivity for the other sex, 

 here again as the customary means to effect this 

 elimination. 



Just as "sexual attraction" ceases after the elimina- 

 tion of the germinal substance, so also does "mother 

 love" disappear as soon as the need for lactation is no 

 longer felt. "Maternal affection does not generally sur- 

 vive the causes which produced it and only vague traces 

 of it are noticeable after lactation has ceased." 25 



Finally, the fact that the mother's affection is stronger 

 than that of the father, and that the parents' love for 

 their children is stronger than that of the children for 

 their parents confirms the hypothesis that all these affec- 

 tivities have arisen exclusively by way of habit, for it 

 shows that affection for those with whom we have cer- 

 tain relations is the more intense the more numerous 

 and prolonged these relations are. "Among animals as 

 a whole," remarks Ribot, "paternal love is rare and in- 

 constant and among the lower representatives of man- 

 kind it is a feeble sentiment and forms but a slight 

 bond." 26 Paternal love exists only where the union of 

 the sexes is close, that is, where the communal life 



24 Lloyd Morgan, Habit and Instinct, p. 115, New York, Arnold. 

 1896. 



25 Giard, op. cit., p. 273. 

 26 Ribot, psych, des sent., 285. 



