also is the conclusion that, because such has hitherto been the
state of things, it is unchangeable and will ever be so. It is here that
the Darwinians slide and fall: they study natural science and
anthropology, but not sociology, and thoughtlessly fall in line with our
bourgeois ideologists. Hence they drop into their false conclusions.

The sexual instinct is perennial in man; it is his strongest instinct
and demands satisfaction, lest his health suffer. Moreover, as a rule,
this instinct is strong in proportion to man's health and normal
development--just as a good appetite and a good digestion bespeak a
healthy stomach, and are the first prerequisites for a healthy body. But
gratification of the sexual instinct and begetting and conceiving are
not the same thing. The most varied theories have been set up on the
fecundity of the human race. On the whole, we are still groping in the
dark on this important field, mainly because for a couple of thousand
years a senseless shyness has stood in the way of man's occupying
himself freely and naturally with the laws of his own origin, and to
study thoroughly the laws of human procreation. That is gradually
changing and must change much more.

On one side the theory is set up that higher mental development and
strenuous mental exertion, in short, higher nervous activity, exert a
repressing influence upon the sexual impulse and weaken the procreative
power. This is disputed by the other side. The fact is pointed to that
the better situated classes have, on an average, fewer children and
that this is not to be ascribed solely to preventive measures.
Undoubtedly, intense mental occupation has a depressing influence upon
the sexual impulse, but that such occupation is indulged in by the
majority of our property classes is not so certain. On the other hand,
an excess of physical labor also has a repressing influence. But all
excessive effort is harmful, and therefore objectionable.

Others, again, claim that the manner of life, especially the food eaten,
coupled with certain physical conditions on the part of the woman,
determine the power to beget and to conceive. The nature of food more
than any other cause, this side argues, determines, as experience shows
in the instance of animals also, the effectiveness of the act of
procreation. Possibly, this is in fact, the determining factor. The
influence of the nature of nourishment on the organism of certain
animals manifests itsel