PSYCHOLOGICAL AND ETHICAL ASPECTS. 261 



self-regarding, egoism, on the one hand ; love, other-regarding, 

 altruism, on the other. These find a basal unity in the primi- 

 tively close association between hunger and love, between 

 nutritive and reproductive needs. Each plane of ascent marks 

 a widening and ennobling of the activities ; but each has its 

 corresponding bathos, when either side unduly preponderates 

 over the other. The actual path of progress is represented by 

 action and reaction between the two complementary functions, 

 the mingling becoming more and more intricate. Sexual attrac- 

 tion ceases to be wholly selfish; hunger may be overcome by love ; 

 love of mates is enhanced by love for offspring ; love for off- 

 spring broadens out into love of kind. Finally, the ideal before 

 us is a more harmonious blendinsj of the two streams. 



