nchors that are holding him to the
past and to start out on the voyage alone.

At this time of change, the chemistry of the body plays an important
part in the development of the mental traits; all half-developed
tendencies are given power through the maturing of the sex-glands,
which bind them into an organization ready for their ultimate purpose.
The current is now turned on, and the machinery, which has been
furnished from the beginning, is ready for its task. After a few false
starts in the shape of "puppy love," the mature instinct, if it be
successful, seeks until from among the crowd it finds its mate. It has
graduated from the training-school and is ready for life.

CIVILIZATION'S PROBLEM

=When Nature's Plans Fall Through.= We have been describing the normal
course of affairs. We know that all too often the normal is not
achieved. Inner forces or outer circumstances too often conspire to
keep the young man or the young woman from the culmination toward
which everything has been moving. If the life-force cannot liberate
itself from the old family grooves to forge ahead into new channels,
or if economic demands or other conditions make postponement
necessary, then marriage is not possible. All the glandular secretions
and internal stimuli have been urging on to the final consummation,
developing physical and emotional life for an end that does not come;
or if it does come, is not sufficient to satisfy the demands of the
age-old instinct which for millions of years knew no restraint. In any
case, man finds himself, and woman herself, face to face with a
pressing problem, none the less pressing because it is in most cases
entirely unrecognized.

=Blundering Instincts.= The older a person is, the more fixed are his
habits. Now, an instinct is a race-habit and represents the
crystallized reactions of a past that is old. Whatever has been done
over and over again, millions of times, naturally becomes fixed,
automatic, tending to conserve itself in its old ways, to resist any
change and to act as it has always acted. This conserves energy and
works well so long as conditions remain the same. But if for any
reason there comes a change, things are likely to go wrong. By just so
far as things are different, an automatic habit becomes a handicap
instead of a help.

This having to act under changed conditions is exactly the trouble
with the reproductive instinct. Under civilization, conditions have
changed but the