Page:The evolution of marriage and of the family ... (IA evolutionofmarri00letorich).pdf/47

 human adventure, proving for the hundred-thousandth time that the heart, or what we call by that name, is versatile; that conjugal fidelity does not always resist a strong impression arising from a chance encounter; that novelty has a disturbing effect; and, finally, that indifference and coldness can rarely hold out against the persistent advances of one who loves ardently enough not to yield to discouragement. Dante has already made this last reflection in his celebrated line—

"Amor ch'a null' amato amar perdona."

To quote Dante à propos of the illicit amours of a pintail and a wild duck may shock the learned, but the aptness of the quotation proves once more the essential identity of the animal and human organisms. III. The Family amongst Animals.

If the study of the modes of sexual union amongst animals is not useless to the sociologist, that of the animal family is at least quite as interesting. This latter confirms the inductions of theorists relative to the primitive form of the human family. The animal family is especially maternal. The female of birds, immediately she has laid her eggs, experiences a sort of intoxication; to sit becomes for her an imperious need, which completely transforms her moral nature. In January 1871, during the bombardment of Paris, a German shell, bursting in the loft of a house inhabited by one of my friends, was powerless to disturb a female pigeon absolutely enchained by the passion of incubation.

It is amongst birds that the animal family is best constituted; this, however, differs much according to the species, especially as regards the participation of the male in the rearing of the young.

Amongst ducks, the male has no care for his progeny. The male eider resembles the duck in this respect (Audubon). Male turkeys do much worse: they often devour the eggs of their females, and thus oblige the latter