PART III. PARENTHOOD 



JUST as courtship is only a prelude to the more im- 

 portant function of mating, so we have seen that 

 mating leads to pairing and marriage. All these 

 processes form, as it were, a series of events which 

 have the ultimate purpose of procreation. The 

 usual idea is, that the body is the bearer of the germ 

 cell, and so of the future generation. In the modern 

 scientific view, however, it is more correct to treat 

 the germ cells as the all-important factor. They 

 continue the race in a successive line, while the body 

 is merely a repository of the germ cells, being only 

 " something temporary and non-essential, destined 

 merely to carry for a time and nurse the more im- 

 portant germs of the future generations." Now we 

 find that with the progressive development of animal 

 organization the care of the germ cells extends even 

 beyond the time when they are hatched that is, 

 when the young have been born; and, furthermore, 

 the time devoted to rearing the young becomes longer 

 and longer with the advance in the animal series, 

 until we reach Man. Here a whole social system 

 has arisen especially for the upbringing and fostering 

 of children. This is being constantly extended as the 

 importance of childhood becomes more and more 

 appreciated for the full realization of manhood and 

 womanhood; for, as Wordsworth has said: "The 

 child is father to the man." 



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