MOTHERLY INSTINCTS 145 



streams met and mingled. Stretching back- 

 ward from me in two everwidening chan- 

 nels is the precious heritage all concentrat- 

 ed in me. By this means, I am a part of the 

 thousands of generations that have gone 

 before. Their achievements, their self- 

 sacrifices, the selective agencies of society 

 and nature, ■which lifted them to positions 

 of influence and worth, are mine by heri- 

 tage. I am not only a product of the count- 

 less multitude which has gone before, but 

 I am the guardian of a share of immortal 

 plasm, a plasm ladened and vitalized by the 

 evolution of my race. This plasm endows 

 me with a creative power which even the 

 gods do not possess. This inestimable pow- 

 er is mine because of the hereditary strains 

 which created me. It is my duty to keep it 

 untarnished, and to pass it along to com- 

 ing generations, improved and benefited by 

 each generation, 



MOTHEELY INSTINCTS. 



Especially among the literary, we find 

 refined and sensitive women to whom sex- 

 ual intercourse is repugnant, but, deep 



