Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/210

 196 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

generative activity calls forth, not only emotions in direct relation with the satisfaction of the sexual instinct, but also an emotive state which is manifested in the tendency to combativeness, a complementary means to the satisfaction of the instinct itself.

The reality of such a fact is evident in the various degrees of the zoological scale, and it is a matter of daily observation that bullocks, cats, dogs, and monkeys, which before the puberal development were quiet, easily managed, become afterward indocile and more or less dangerous, according to the species. At the period of cestrus these animals are all more pugnacious and more ready for violent reaction. Even the dog becomes less obedient to the voice of his master.

In man, also, are observed evident manifestations of this natural condition. In his early years it may be admitted that his greatest relative cerebral activity is produced. On the physical side we observe that the forehead, the part of the skull corresponding to the cerebral hemispheres, and the brain itself are developed more rapidly in infancy than at any other age ; also on the psychic side it is a fact that the immense quantity of mnemonic images with which the brain is enriched, and the labor of association of ideas which takes place in one's mind, are beyond comparison with those of the other ages, in which, however, the fruits of this are in a certain way gathered. We have also a proof of these truths in the criminal tendencies of children. Their most frequent fault is lying, a kind of cheating, a crime characteristic of civilized man, while deeds of violence are characteristic of the barbarian. At the time of puberty, how- ever, together with the accelerated development of the genital organs, we observe the rapid growth of the skeleton ; the vital capacity is increased ; lungs, larynx, frontal cavity grow rapidly. And this development, quite evident in the white man, is much more so in the negro, who, at first orthognathous, becomes prog- nathous, acquiring a physical character of greater bestiality. The osseous projections which offer the muscles points of firmer insertion become more evident, giving the youth that virile appearance which constitutes one of the secondary sexual characteristics.