64 PERVERSIONS OF THE NATURAL AFFECTIONS. 



begets an excitement of a dangerous character that leads, on 

 the one hand, to a morbid impulse to destroy them, and on 

 the other, to conjugal quarrels in consequence of the pro- 

 tective resistance of her mate (Darwin). There is sometimes 

 an unfortunate rivalry between a mother cat and her own un- 

 offending and unconscious kittens in the good graces of their 

 mistress, and the result involves, in the case of a greater 

 favour being shown to them than to the mother cat herself, 

 her tormenting by biting them, or otherwise, and finally 

 killing them by exposure to the cold, or other means. The 

 ouistiti monkey again bruises her young against trees when 

 tired of them (Houzeau). 



Aversion to her own young, in the cat, sometimes amounts 

 to a very marked abhorrence or detestation, the very sight 

 of them causing shuddering and fear. Fixed or rooted 

 hatred to the young leads sometimes to infanticide (Pier- 

 quin). 



Desertion of the young in various stages of their growth, 

 from the egg upwards, occurs in several birds, such as the 

 cuckoo, raven, swallow, and the house martin, as well as in 

 the marmozet (monkey) and other animals. Swallows and 

 house martins leave their offspring to perish in the deserted 

 nests, whenever the period for migration arrives (Darwin). 

 In other words, the migratory would here appear to be 

 stronger than the maternal instinct. The desertion of her 

 eggs by the cuckoo is a very familiar fact (Baird), and the 

 result of the abandonment of their young, by swallows 

 the death of the former by cold and inanition in winter or 

 earlier, are equally well known (Houzeau). The crocodile, 

 ostrich, and other animals, also abandon their eggs. 



There is sometimes a total absence of regret, or any 

 other natural feeling in the desertion of young (Pierquin). 



In addition to permanent deficiency of maternal love, 

 there are also singular revulsions, or waves of feeling ebbing 

 and flowing tides of affection coldness being succeeded by 

 fervour, or vice versa (Gall). 



If, however, there are unnatural mothers, there are also 

 unnatural fathers in whom there is perversion of the paternal 

 feelings or affections. It is one of what we may believe to 



