.

On the other hand reason must intervene. The instructive transports of
maternal love soon require a counterpoise. It is important to prevent
them from degenerating into unreasonable spoiling, by scientific and
medical education of the infants. Modern medical art has made great
progress in this direction, but unfortunately, egoism, negligence,
routine, the desire of enjoyment, or often the poverty of many mothers
prevent them from benefiting from this progress and applying it as
they should. Instead of looking after their children they leave them
to nurses. The latter may be necessary to help and instruct young
wives during their first childbirth; but a natural mother will profit
by these instructions and will herself become an excellent nurse,
because she will feel her natural ties and will consecrate herself to
them with the devotion of a maternal love heightened and refined by
reason and knowledge. Among the lower classes the poverty and
ignorance of mothers, often also their thoughtlessness and indolence,
are an obstacle to the rational education of infants.

"=Monkey's Love.="--Maternal love thus constitutes the most important
irradiation of the sexual instincts in woman. It very easily
degenerates into weakness, that is to say into unreasonable passion
and blind compliance with all the faults of the child, which the
mother excuses and transforms into virtues. The foibles of maternal
love do much harm to the child and are often the origin of bitter
deceptions. Hereditary weakness of character here plays a great, or
even the principal part. Nevertheless, maternal foibles have other
causes--riches, absence of culture, idleness, too few children, etc.

The best antidote for this unreasonable maternal love, which the
Germans call "monkey's love" consists in active occupations for the
mother, combined with a healthy education of her character. Work alone
is not sufficient, if the mother has limited ideas, and if she is not
freed from routine, ignorance, superstition and weakness of will.

=Sentiments and Perseverance.=--The power of love in woman does not
rest alone on the varied harmony of her sentiments of sympathy for her
husband and children, and on the extraordinary finesse and natural
tact which she adds to it; such qualities make her, no doubt, the ray
of sunshine in the family life, but more powerful still are the
tenacity and perseverance of her love.

In general, it is by will-power that woman is superi