THE WONDERS OF LIFE 



occurrence. By means of public baths, gymnasiums, 

 popular restaurants, public gardens, etc. , greater care is 

 taken of the health of the community. The arrangement 

 of modem houses and their heating and lighting have 

 been immensely improved. Modem social politics 

 strives more and more to extend these benefits of civil- 

 ization to the lower classes. Philanthropic societies are 

 busy supplying the material and spiritual wants of va- 

 rious classes of sufferers. It is true there is still a broad 

 margin for the improvement of the national well-being. 

 But, on the whole, it cannot be denied that the provision 

 of food in the modem state is an immense advance upon 

 that of the Middle Ages and of the barbaric period. 



The great value of modern civilization and its vast 

 progress beyond the condition of the savage is seen in 

 no branch of physiology so conspicuously as in the 

 wonderful process of reproduction and the maintenance 

 of the species. In most savages and barbarians the satis- 

 faction of their powerful sexual impulse is at the same 

 low stage as in the ape and other mammals. The wom- 

 an is merely an object of lust to the man, or even a slave 

 without rights, bought and exchanged like all other prop- 

 erty. Improvement is slow and gradual in the value of 

 this property, until it reaches a high guarantee of per- 

 manency in the formal marriage. The family life proves 

 a source of higher and finer enjoyment for both parties. 

 The position of woman advances with civilisation; her 

 rights obtain further recognition, and in addition to 

 sensual love the psychic relation of man and wife be- 

 gins to develop. The common concern for the proper 

 care and education of the children, which we find to an 

 extent even in the case of many animals, leads to the 

 further development of family life and the founding of 

 the school. With the advent of a higher stage of 

 civilization begins the refinement of sexual love, which 

 finds its highest satisfaction, not in the momentar}' 



402 



