Athletes are enjoined to be continent; the racing stallion is not permitted to be weakened by frequent copulation; and the bull moose, the elephant, and undomesticated animals generally, have their short season of mating, and then are continent for long periods. Among them there is no undue bullying of the females, whose favors are few and purposeful.
Before the propagating act there should be preparation for parenthood. The vigor of the constitution should be kept at its highest point, and alcohol, the excessive use of tobacco, late hours, and overwork should be avoided. The wife should not be harassed and wounded, but petted and loved. In other words, if fine children are a desideratum they should have every benefit which preliminary training and hygiene can supply. It is one of the saddest effects of war that children born during times of great anxiety and alarm very frequently display tendencies to nervous disorders.
In a presocial stage when there were few inhabitants in a land, the customs and sentiments were normally different from those which are necessary where the increase of population is very great. In certain lower stages of progress the inferior forms of marriage may have been proper, but monogamy, with its moral and birth restricting checks, is necessary for the formation of stable communities. Where it prevails, without accessory concubinage, there are permanent marital relations, well ordered family life, and high altruism.
A high social stage would never have been possible unless the majority had sustained the idea that the interests of the race predominate over the interests of the individual, and every tribe and group of people condemn any manner of individualistic life which has mischievous consequences for their ethnical stock. In this fundamental feature all tribal codes of ethics are alike.
Here and there there is an individual who, while heartily agreeing that it is absolutely necessary for mankind in general to live with full regard for the stability of society, nevertheless regards himself in a quite exceptional light. All of us, in fact, are inclined to be more lenient to ourselves than to others, and we are very ready to present exceptions in our own favor for the clemency, or even the complete pardon, of our consciences. In certain particulars each of us feels that his position in life is in some way peculiar; that his temperament differs from others; that his wealth, or poverty, or bachelorhood, or defective married life, or some other special circumstance, pleads for him and permits him to do what others may not do. But this same nature which tempts us to pursue evil, in almost every case tells us what is right and what is wrong. If we act leniently with ourselves we shall probably act wrongly.
Very many will complacently do things which are radically anti social, while the minor moralities and conventionalities are rigidly adhered to. To fail in lifting one's hat to a lady; to neglect sending an answer of acceptance or regrets to an invitation; to display awkwardness ; or to make conventional slips which in any way offend polite society, frequently cause great mental distress. Curiously enough the very nations and people who are the greatest sticklers in these respects, are the greatest offenders against moralities of the highest importance, Japan, France, Austria, royalty. It should not be so, but it is.
The original, wild, undomesticated man had no shame, but went unclothed, untaught, and untamed, and was brutal in his ideas. He gave himself absolute liberty. But the selfish traits of even the unmoral savage were overcome in a measure by compassion for his progeny, whose welfare came to take precedence of his own. We, however, who are born of civilized parents, have the advantage of an immense accumulation of experiences ancestrally received through the nervous systems of our progenitors, and should learn our lesson quickly.
By methods which favor home life and orderly conditions we have eliminated innumerable harmful things and appropriated countless beneficial ones. Physiology has come to show us that the most sacred obligations which confront us are dependent on the healthy functions of our lives. In both medicine and morals charlatanry is being pushed aside and appropriate methods are more and more employed; and we hope that in due time they will have full scope until aims and actions are the best possible.