l side of human nature. As our hands are developed
for grasping, and the various organs of the body for their respective
functions, so mental and emotional qualities are developed in their due
course for a rational social life. Biologically and psychologically,
male and female are at adolescence entering into a deeper and more
enduring relationship with the life of the race. There is no other
meaning to the process.

Naturally enough, the vast majority of people express their developing
nature in accordance with the fashion of their environment. If this
environmental influence were rationally non-religious, the language
would be that of a non-religious philosophy. As, however,
supernaturalism, in some form or other, is still a potent force we have
a contrary result. It is only here and there that one is found with the
inclination or the wit to analyse his or her impulses, and few possess
enough knowledge to make the analysis profitable. There is no wonder
that concerning many of the most important phenomena of human life we
are still little above the level of the fetish worshipper. We may have a
more elaborate phraseology, but the old ideas are still operative. The
consequence is that each newcomer finds certain ideas and forms of
speech ready for his acceptance, and is handed over, bound hand and
foot, to influences that are the least capable of sane direction. We do
not merely sacrifice our first-born; we immolate the whole of our
progeny. The ignorant past plays into the hands of the designing
present; the present conspires with the past to rob the future of the
good that might result from the growth of a wiser and a better race.

Were society really enlightened and genuinely civilised, the truth of
what has been said would be recognised as soon as stated. It would,
indeed, be unnecessary to labour what would then be a generally
recognised truth. But the mass of the people are not genuinely
enlightened, our civilisation is largely a veneer, and numerous agencies
prevent our reaping the full benefit of our available knowledge. Thus it
happens that in place of an explanation of human qualities in terms of
biologic and social evolution, we find current an explanation that is
based upon pre-scientific ideas. Because our less instructed ancestors
accounted for various manifestations of human qualities as due to a
supernatural influence, we continue to perpetuate the delusion. We teach
youth to express itself in terms of