econd class of women, more numerous than these, but still small as
compared with the whole of their sex, are more or less subject to strong
passion. Those of the first class can no more form an idea of the
strength of the impulse in other women, than the blind can of colors.
They therefore often err in their judgments. The third class comprises
the vast majority of women, in whom the sexual appetite is as moderate
as all other appetites.

It is a false notion, and contrary to nature, that this passion in a
woman is a derogation to her sex. The science of physiology indicates
most clearly its propriety and dignity. There are wives who plume
themselves on their repugnance or their distaste for their conjugal
obligations. They speak of their coldness and of the calmness of their
senses, as if these were not defects. Excepting those afflicted with
vices of conformation, or with disorders of sensibility,--which amount
to the same thing,--all wives are called upon to receive and pay the
imposts of love; and those who can withdraw themselves from the
operation of this mysterious law without suffering and with
satisfaction, show themselves by that fact to be incomplete in their
organization, and deficient in the special function of their being.
There should be no passion for one which is not shared by both.
Generation is a duty. The feeling which excites to the preservation of
the species is as proper as that which induces the preservation of the
individual. Passionate, exclusive, and durable love for a particular
individual of the opposite sex, it has been well said, is characteristic
of the human race, and is a mark of distinction from other animals. The
instinct of reproduction in mankind is thus joined to an affectionate
sentiment, which adds to its sweetness and prolongs infinitely its
duration.

Many physiologists have assigned to the feelings an important _role_ in
conception, the possibility of which has even been doubted if there be
no passion on the side of the woman. Although this extreme view is not
tenable in the light of modern research, yet all recent authorities
agree that conception is more assured when the two individuals who
co-operate in it participate at the same time in the transports of which
it is the fruit. It is also without doubt true that the disposition of
the woman at that time has much power in the formation of the foetus,
both in modifying its physical constitution and in determining the
charac