2i6 THE BIOLOGY OF THE SEASONS 



only externally, but in its inmost recesses. The trans- 

 formation may be almost violent in man as in beast, 

 especially in the male sex or it may be as gentle as the 

 coming of Spring. 



The change is often a new beginning of life it is to 

 be allowed for and respected. It should be seen in its 

 biological setting as part of a world-wide process yet 

 it is not to be hastily materialised. It should be seen 

 in an evolutionary light, in line with the evolution of 

 love in the animal kingdom. It may humble us at 

 times to recognise that adolescent experience in man- 

 kind is in some measure bound to be recapitulative, but 

 it will always make us hopeful to feel that it is part and 

 parcel of a great evolutionary movement, sharing in the 

 phylogenetic ascent from crude expressions of physical 

 fondness to what we must, in some sense, call spiritual 

 affection. 



Considering the profound importance of the subject, we 

 may be pardoned for going a step further recalling the 

 main thesis of an important paper by Mr. James Oliphant 

 in the International Journal of Ethics, in which it is pointed 

 out that in the course of civilisation there has been estab- 

 lished a sane tradition which sublimes sexuality by as- 

 sociating it with the best that is in us chivalry, devotion, 

 self-control, worship. Unconsciously, for its own pre- 

 servation, humanity has idealised the sexual-impulse, 

 has detected its true inwardness, has linked passion to fine 

 feeling. In literature and art the ideal types of love in its 

 sublimest aspects have been immortalised, and with these 

 the minds of those who rejoice in their youth should be 

 filled, not as an artifice, but because thus a deeper meaning 

 and joy may be found. To fail duly to honour the sexual- 

 instinct means forcing it back in isolation as an animal 

 passion, whereas the lesson to be learned, until it become 



