Page:Love and its hidden history.djvu/142

 "divine," a "spiritual," or "angelic" love. Why? Because the common sense of all mankind affirms that the sentiment of admiration, the transcendentalist's "love," is a mere sentiment; but that the outflow of the love of the body entailed a positive loss, and was, and is, and ever will be, productive of positive injury. The universal human instinct of this fact lies at the bottom of jealousy. If love is only a mental state, why do men, even " philosophers," take physical vengeance on the despoilers of love's treasure-house? 2. Cases have occurred wherein a patient has been so ill as to require a fresh supply of blood. This blood has been transfused from the veins of one person to those of the other, — generally from a man to a woman; and there never yet occurred a case of this kind but that a deathless attachment sprung up between the parties. " Ah, that is gratitude!" you say. It is not; for a case is on record where the blood from a man's arm was conveyed into the veins of a young girl while she was in a swoon. The man fainted, was carried out, recovered, and went to sea. The girl got well, — grew up. Ten years elapsed; she became melancholy, — remained so; felt an inexpressible longing for something, she knew not what. War broke out; she left her country; went to a distant one; still was unhappy. At length she was walking along the streets, passed through a crowd, went directly to a poorly-clad sailor man, took his hand, felt her longing gratified; took him home, — she was rich, — had him cleaned up, married him in ten days; lived with him four years; was inexpressibly happy; found out that he was the very man whose blood ran through her veins! I advise all the wives to get some of their husbands' blood transfused into their veins; it's a capital experiment, — will pay well! The inference is plain that love is a physical element, else how came that nameless longing?

3. That love is a physical element is proved by its effects; for hunger conquers it. How many free-lovers live on cooling diet? Nary one! They go in for beef to a man — or woman. Women, under the pangs of hunger, have been known to dine off a child. Poverty kills love by cutting off the supply of highly flavored food. Condiments increase love ; acids and alkalies very soon destroy it. Drunkards abuse wives and children, because the fusil oil and aquafortis, constituting the bases of the liquors drank,