THE EARLY RELATIONSHIP OF THE SEXES
“Great effects are everywhere
produced in animated Nature, by minute causes....
Think of how many curious phenomena sexual relation
gives rise to in animal life; think of the results
of love in human life; now all this had for its
raison d’etre the union of two cellules....
There is no organic act which approaches this
one in power and force of differentiation.”-HAECKEL.
What is the practical outcome to us
of this early relation of the sexes in Nature’s
scheme?
In attempting to answer this question
it will be necessary to take an apparently circuitous
route, going back over some of the ground that already
has been covered; to examine in further detail the
process of sexual love as it presents itself among
our pre-human ancestors. It is well worth while
to do this. If we can find in this way an answer,
we shall come very near to solving many of the most
difficult of woman’s problems. At the same
time we shall have made clear how deep-rooted are
the foundations of those passions of sex which agitate
the human heart, and are still the most powerful force
amongst us to-day.
In the light of the facts I have briefly
summarised, we have been able in the former chapters
to indicate how sexuality began, with the male element
developed from the primary female organism, his sole
function being her impregnation; how this was seized
upon and continued through the advantage gained by
the mixing of the two germ-plasms, which, on the whole,
resembling one another somewhat closely, yet differ
in details, and thus introduce new opportunities of
progress into the life-elements; and how, in this
way, differentiation of function between the male
and the female was set up. We saw, further, how
the development of the male, at first often living
parasitically upon the female, continued; but how,
under certain conditions of life, such parasitism
was transferred to the female, so that it is she who
is sacrificed to the sex function; and, lastly, taking
the extreme cases of the bee-hive and the spider,
we suggested certain warnings to be drawn from these
early parasitic relations between the sexes. It
is necessary now to penetrate deeper; to trace more
fully the evolution of the sexual passion, which,
from this line of thought, may be said to be the process
which carried on the development and modification of
the male, creating him-as surely we may
believe-by the love-choice of the female.
To do this we have once more to return to the consideration,
under a somewhat new aspect, of the relative position
of the female and the male in their love-courtships
in some examples among the humbler types of animal
life. After these have been considered, not only
in themselves, but in the relation they bear to the
higher forms which developed from them, we shall be
in a surer position to re-ascend the ladder of life.
We shall come to understand the biological significance
of love-something of the complexity and
beauty and force of the passions that we have inherited.
We shall find also the causes, so important to us,
which led to the reversal of the early superiority
of the female in size and often in function, replacing
it by the superiority of the male. Then, and then
only, shall we be ready to approach the difficult
problems of the sexual differences which have persisted,
separating women from men among human races, and to
estimate if these differences are to be considered
as belonging essentially to the female and the male,
or whether they have arisen through special environmental
causes.
If we look back anew to the very start
of sexuality, where two cells flow together, thereby
to continue life, we find the very simplest expression
of the sex-appetite. There is what may be called
instinctive physical attraction, and the whole process
is very much a satisfaction of protoplasmic hunger.
Now it was, of course, a long step from this incipient
cell-union to the varied function of sex in animal
life, and it was a long process from these to the yet
more complex manifestation of the love-passion among
men. But in reality the source of all love is
the same; throughout the entire relations of the sexes
we find this cell-hunger instinct; in every case, it
matters not how fine and ennobling the love may be,
the single, original, impelling motive is the union
of two cells-the male element and the female
driven to seek one another to continue life. I
find it necessary to insist on this physical basis
of all love. Women are so apt to go astray.
It is one of the vicious tendencies of the female
mind to think that the needs of sex are something to
be resisted. Let us face the truth that this
great force of love has its roots fastened in cell-hunger,
and it dies when its roots are cut away.
It is evident that at first this sex-appetite
cannot have been purposive, but acted subconsciously
by a kind of interaction between the want of the organism
and its power of function. Even in many complex
multicellular organisms the liberation of the sex-elements
continues very passive; and although the differentiation
of the sexual-cells is already complete in plants
and animals comparatively low in the scale, it at
first makes little difference in the development of
the other parts of the individual. Among many
lower animals, and most plants, each individual develops
within itself both kinds of cells-that
is, female and male. This union of the two sex
functions in one organism is known as hermaphroditism.
There is little doubt that it was once common to all
organisms, an intermediate stage in the sex-progress,
after the differentiation of the sexes had been accomplished.
Hermaphroditism must be regarded as
a temporary or transitional form. It is found
persisting in various degrees in many species-snails,
earth-worms, and leeches, for example, can act alternately
as what we call male and female. Other animals
are hermaphrodite in their young stages, though the
sexes are separate in adult life, as, for example,
tadpoles, where the bisexuality of youth sometimes
linger into adult life. Cases of partial hermaphroditism
are very common, while in many species which are normally
unisexual, a casual or abnormal hermaphroditism occurs-this
may be seen in the common frog, and is frequent among
certain fishes, when sometimes the fish is male on
one side and female on the other, or male anteriorly
and female posteriorly.
There would seem to be a constant
tendency to escape from these early and experimental
methods of reproduction, and to secure true sexual
union, with complete separation of the sexes and differences
in the parents. We have noticed the many instances
of tiny complemental males, in connection with hermaphrodite
forms, which, as Darwin states, must have arisen from
the advantage ensuring cross-fertilisation in the
females who harbour them. Even among hermaphrodite
slugs we find very definite evidence of the advance
of love; and in certain species an elaborate process
of courtship, taking the form of slow and beautiful
movements, precedes the act of reproduction. Some
snails, again, are provided with a special organ, a
slightly twisted limy dart, which is used to stimulate
sexual excitement. What do such marvellous manifestations,
low down in the ladder of life, go to prove, if not
that there must be the closest identity between the
development of life and the evolution of love?
These examples of hermaphrodite love
lead us forward to a further step, where no reproduction
takes place without the special activity and conjugation
of two kinds of specialised cells, and these two kinds
are carried about by separate individuals. In
some species-fishes, for example-the
two kinds of special cells meet outside the bodies
of the parents. At this humble level the sexes
are in many cases very like one another, and there
is, as we should expect, a good deal of haphazard
in the production of offspring. Among fishes,
for instance, the eggs and sperms are liberated into
the sea, or the shallow bed of a river, and, if the
sperms (the milt of the males) are placed near to
the spot where the eggs (the spawn) have been laid,
fertilisation occurs, for within a short distance
the sperms are attracted-in a way that
is imperfectly understood-to enter the eggs.
By this method there is of necessity great waste in
the production of offspring, many thousands of eggs
are never fertilised. The union of the sexual
cells must be something more than haphazard for further
development. There must be some reason inherent
in the female or male inducing to the act of reproduction.
In other words, there must be a psychic interest preceding
the sex act. In this way a higher grade is reached
when the presence of one sex attracts the other.
Gradually the female and the male begin to associate
in pairs.
We may illustrate this important step
in the evolution of love by reference to the familiar
case of the salmon. The male courts the female
and is her attendant during the breeding season, fertilising
the deposited ova in her presence. He guards her
from the attention of all other males, fighting all
rivals fiercely, with a special weapon, developed
at this time, in the form of a hooked lower jaw with
teeth often more than half-an-inch long. Darwin
records a case, told to him by a river-keeper, where
he found three hundred dead male salmon, all killed
through battle. Thus even among cold-blooded fishes
(though it may appear folly to use the word “love”
in this connection) a very clear likeness with our
human sex-passions can be traced.
Sex differences now become more frequent.
The males are in some cases distinguished by bright
colours and ornamental appendages. During their
amours and duels certain male fishes flash with beautiful
and glowing colours. Reptiles exhibit the same
form of sexual-passion, and jealous combat of rival
males. The rattle of certain snakes is supposed
to act as a love-call. Snakes of different sexes
appear to feel some affection for each other when
confined together in cages. Romanes relates the
interesting fact that when a cobra is killed, its
mate is often found on the spot a day or two afterwards.
Darwin cites an instance of the pairing in spring
of a Chinese species of lizard, where the couples
appear to have considerable fondness for one another.
If one is captured, the other drops from the tree to
the ground and allows itself to be caught, presumably
from despair.
A further development is reached by
those animals among whom what has well been called
“the note of physical fondness” is first
sounded. We find the males playing with the female,
wooing and caressing her, it may be dancing with her.
The love-play is often extraordinary, as, for
instance, in the well-known case of the stickleback.
Not only does the male woo the female with passionate
dances, but by means of its own secretions it builds
a nest in the river weeds. The males at this
season are transformed, glowing with brilliant colours,
and literally putting on a wedding garment of love.
The stickleback is passionate, polygamous and very
jealous of rivals. His guardianship of the nest
and vigilance in protecting the young cannot be observed
without admiration.
It is certainly significant to find
one of the earliest instances of genuine parental
affection exhibited by the male. This reversal
of the usual rôle of the sexes is common among fishes,
among whom care of offspring is very little developed.
In some species the eggs are carried about by the
father-the male sea-horse, for instance,
has a pouch developed for this purpose; in other cases
the male incubates, or cares for the ova. Sometimes,
however, it is the female who performs this duty,
but the known cases are few. Some exceedingly
curious examples of male parental care occur among
the amphibians. One of the most interesting is
that of the obstetric frog, where the male helps to
remove the eggs from the female, then twists them in
the coils around its hind legs and buries himself
in the water, until the incubation period is over
and the tadpoles escape and relieve him of his burden.
In other species the croaking sacs of the males,
which were previously used for amatory callings, become
enlarged to form cradles for the young. There
are also instances of the female co-operating with
the male in this care of offspring. Thus in the
Surinam toad the male spreads the ova on the back of
the female, where skin cavities form in which the
tadpoles develop. In other cases the eggs are
carried in the dorsal pouches of the females.
It would almost seem that in this early time Nature
was making experiments as to which parent was the
better fitted to rear and protect the young!
But let us return to our present examination
of animal love-making. In many diverse forms
there is a very remarkable courtship of touch, often
prolonged and with beautiful refinements, before the
climax is reached, when the two bodies unite.
Racovitza has beautifully described the courtship
of the octopus, which is carried out with considerable
delicacy, and not brutally as before had been believed.
“The male gently stretches out
his third arm on the right and caresses the female
with its extremity, eventually passing it into
the chamber formed by the mantle. The female contracts
spasmodically, but does not attempt to move.
They remain thus about an hour or more, and during
this time the male shifts his arm from one viaduct
to the other. Finally, he withdraws his arm,
caresses her with it for a few moments, and then replaces
it with his other arm.”
The various phenomena of primitive
animal courtship may be illustrated further by the
love-parades of butterflies and moths, the love-gambols
of certain newts, the amatory serenading of frogs,
the fragrant incense of reptiles, the love-lights
of glow-worms, the duels of many male beetles and
other insects, many of whom have special weapons for
fighting with their rivals. Among insects the
sexes commonly associate in pairs, and it seems certain
there is some psychic attraction added to the primitive
tactile courtship. In some cases the association
of the sexes is maintained for a lengthened period,
with many hints of what must be regarded as love.
There are many examples also of parental forethought,
amounting sometimes to a sort of divining pre-science,
as the habit of certain insects in preparing and leaving
a special nourishment, different from their own food,
for the sustenance of the future larvae. We even
find instances of co-operation of the sexes in work
together, affording a first hint of this linking-force
to the development of love in its later and full expression.
Such are the activities of the dung-rolling beetle,
where the two sexes assist each other in their curious
occupation. The male and female of another order
of beetle (Lethrus cephalotes) inhabit the
same cavity, and the virtuous matron is said greatly
to resent the intrusion of another male.
In insects, as in the higher animals,
and as in man, sexual association takes many different
forms. But obviously I must not linger over these
early types of love. My object is to bring forward
examples, which seem to me useful as preliminary studies
to throw light on the origin of sex-passion, and proving
that the love-process throughout the whole of life
is identical. Those who are acquainted with the
work of Fabre, “The Insects’ Homer,”
will have no difficulty in accepting this. The
studies he has given us of wonderful behaviour of
insects, their arts and crafts, their courtships and
marriages, their domestic and social relationships,
opens up a new drama of animal life.